MBB: NEWMAC

nescac1 · September 30, 2021, 11:13:59 AM

Speaking of players new to NEWMAC, keep an eye out for Bobby Crouch, a tough incoming PG out of Florida who could be very good at Babson. He is attending with his older brother Davey who also looks like a solid player. They seem to really fit the Babson mold. Along with highly touted big man Parker Mason, Babson should have a really strong incoming class to work with.

BaboNation · September 30, 2021, 08:50:30 PM

Quote from: Floppah on July 08, 2021, 07:57:28 AM
21-22 Babson schedule out today. https://www.babsonathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/2021-22/schedule

It's a pretty brutal out of conference schedule with 4/5 possible top 25 opponents. Their 8-game winning streak vs. NESCAC teams will be severely tested with 5 games (assuming a match-up with Tufts in the Big 4 tournament). SOS should not be an issue.

If they can win 3 out of these 5 I'd sign up now: St. Joe's (H); Colby (A); Brandeis (A); Tufts (N); Amherst (A). And Bates (H) won't be easy.

Glass half full - they should be toughened up by January.

nescac1 · October 14, 2021, 10:14:18 AM

MIT's roster (see below) for this season shows that Ian Hinkley and Hamilton Forsythe are back for fifth years. MIT should be much better than its down year in 2019-20. Everyone who contributed significantly other than Kael Kordonowy is back, and Forsythe took that season off, so he is a massive addition to the core roster. WPI (which will have three grad students in the starting lineup) looks like the class of NEWMAC this year, but MIT and maybe Babson look like contenders if WPI slips, and don't sleep on Emerson, which could be a surprise team with at least one and possibly two grad transfers from NESCAC added to a good core of returning talent.

https://mitathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2021-22

BaboNation · October 14, 2021, 11:56:04 AM

Quote from: nescac1 on October 14, 2021, 10:14:18 AM
MIT's roster (see below) for this season shows that Ian Hinkley and Hamilton Forsythe are back for fifth years. MIT should be much better than its down year in 2019-20. Everyone who contributed significantly other than Kael Kordonowy is back, and Forsythe took that season off, so he is a massive addition to the core roster. WPI (which will have three grad students in the starting lineup) looks like the class of NEWMAC this year, but MIT and maybe Babson look like contenders if WPI slips, and don't sleep on Emerson, which could be a surprise team with at least one and possibly two grad transfers from NESCAC added to a good core of returning talent.

https://mitathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2021-22

Maybe you posted the wrong link, but I don't see Forsythe listed. Nor did he play in 19-20 (and of course 20-21). No doubt if he plays and he's improved even a little it's a whole different story in the NEWMAC. He is a former ROY and was a stud and matchup nightmare.

As for the NEWMAC as a whole, with the obvious caveat that so much is unknown, I think WPI has a slight edge, but not as much as consensus opinion seems to suggest. They lost a lot of experience (seniors) in the Covid year and I'm not sure they have dependable go-to guys on offense. They'll always be good defensively and they have a + coaching staff.
I see MIT, Emerson, and Babson interchangeable in 2-4. Each team (on paper, and going off the last time they played) has its weakness: MIT (shooters); Emerson (experience); Babson (rebounding). That's an oversimplification, but if any of these 3 can address these areas they become contenders for the top spot.

nescac1 · October 14, 2021, 12:17:48 PM

Maybe I'm going crazy but I could have SWORN he was on there when last I looked. Either I just had a total brain freeze, or he was once listed and has since been removed. Without him I'm a lot cooler on MIT, certainly ...

Your overall take sounds good and certainly you know more about NEWMAC than I do!

WPI89 · October 18, 2021, 10:58:50 AM

Should be fun - WPI went from what would have been their most experienced and deep team perhaps ever last year - to extremely young. They will have 12 FR/SO - almost certainly several in the starting lineup. I have seen conflicting rosters - one indicating a few of the last year's seniors (Downing, Walker, McNamara) coming back for graduate school - not sure if that is true? Watched tape on some of the freshman - they added some size for sure - remains to be seen how the scoring will translate from HS/Prep school.

PoppersMacsLive · October 18, 2021, 01:54:29 PM

From what I've been told, Downing and McNamara are back, and Walker is not.

Quote from: WPI89 on October 18, 2021, 10:58:50 AM
Should be fun - WPI went from what would have been their most experienced and deep team perhaps ever last year - to extremely young. They will have 12 FR/SO - almost certainly several in the starting lineup. I have seen conflicting rosters - one indicating a few of the last year's seniors (Downing, Walker, McNamara) coming back for graduate school - not sure if that is true? Watched tape on some of the freshman - they added some size for sure - remains to be seen how the scoring will translate from HS/Prep school.

nescac1 · October 18, 2021, 02:09:40 PM

The (not-yet-published-but-accessible) roster seems to have all three of them as grad students. If they have those three plus Lowther starting (so four guys who started at least 9 games, all of whom averaged between 9 and 12 ppg), plus some combo of Adams, O'Donnell and Biberon manning the middle, that seems like a very potent lineup on paper .... depth on the perimeter is a big question mark, so they will need 2-3 of the big group of frosh and sophomores to be solid players off the bench.

https://athletics.wpi.edu/sports/mbkb/2021-22/roster

BaboNation · October 18, 2021, 03:24:25 PM

Lowther is a strong candidate for NEWMAC POY (with the caveat that he's been under wraps for 2 years).

On the inside the question for this year is whether either frosh can give them the production that Stephenson had in his last year. Don't overlook the matchup problems he presented within the NEWMAC, where bigs over 6'7" who work in the low post are rarer than say the NESCAC. It remains to be seen whether the new bigs are more comfortable on the wings or the paint.

On the outside the question is whether they have knock down wing shooters.

With WPI you know every year the coaching will be strong, the defense will be strong, and the depth will be there.

BaboNation · November 02, 2021, 10:16:53 AM

Babson has 21 players listed on their roster. I do believe that's an all-time high. Still playing with one basketball at a time, right? I don't envy the coaching challenges keeping everyone happy with minutes and assimilating 9 new young men. All of last year's underclassmen are back.

Of the 9 new guys only 5 are true freshmen. There are 2 D2 transfers (a grad from St. Anselm's (Cline) who may provide bench depth at C/F, and an intriguing F from Pace (Dorney) coming in as a sophomore. They also have a grad transfer from Claremont (Kirsch) who had started there since his sophomore year.

It's not unusual to have transfers filling out the roster at Babson. The Flannery years undoubtedly brought in the best group ever; who wouldn't have wanted to play alongside him? On the other hand, the 17-18 squad brought in 3 D1 xfers (2 are still playing pro ball in Europe), yet it showed how difficult it can be to get new guys to mesh with each other and play within the system in a short period of time.

I think, overall the team's ceiling is limited only by the caliber of help/depth for Bradanese on the inside.

(And the women's team has 10 FY. Crazy times).

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · November 02, 2021, 10:24:24 AM

I imagine it's hard to plan future rosters when you have three more classes of players who may or may not use that fifth year.

BaboNation · November 05, 2021, 10:19:35 PM

Around the NEWMAC on opening weekend:

A couple of city bragging right games and maybe one for southeastern MA bragging rights.

WPI delivered easily vs. Worcester State. They started a FY at PG (Callahan - 9 assists) and looked solid for the half I watched. But Adams was the guy I really wanted to check out and he looked really smooth on both ends. He's a potential double-double machine night in and night out (like tonight). And of course Lowther (23) is as strong and fundamentally sound as ever.
I don't know if Adams qualifies for ROY with the Covid off-year, and it's early, but he's got to be in the running.
So, a potential NEWMAC ROY and POY, and maybe a PG to run the offense. Not fair.

Springfield did nothing to dispel my feeling that this year would be a drop to the 2nd division. They'll surely lose their ORV points when the next poll comes out. WNEC is/was the better team tonight and may be a legitimate challenger for the CCC crown.

Wheaton got blown out late by a better, more athletic UMass-D team. Until proven otherwise I consider Wheaton in the 2nd division as well. In the replay I watched FY Bubar looked like he has potential.

BaboNation · November 06, 2021, 08:32:52 PM

Babson 69 UMass-Boston 63

Whew! There better not be 24 more nail-biters like this one. The Beacons gave the home team all they could handle for 39 minutes before James Welch hit a 3-pointer to extend a tenuous lead to 6 with 1:15 left. If UM-B is truly just the 5th best team in the Little East (preseason poll) we may need to rethink the power conferences of New England.

Babson started Bradanese and Gorgol, and FY Crouch, FY Amado, and Kirsch (grad xfer). In normal years if you were told Babson played 11, and had you not seen the game roster you'd assume a blowout or foul problems. But Babson has a 21-man roster in this odd year.

Babson does not win this game without a huge effort from Bradanese who finished with 13 & 14 and kept the team in this game when they were struggling. The best of the new blood was Amado, who was known as a prolific scorer in MA HS, but had a solid all-around game, finishing with 15 (team high) & 6 rebounds.

At times Brennan went with a 2-bigs lineup of Bradanese-Cline and Bradanese-Smith. I'll have to warm up to that combo. Both Cline and Smith struggled in the 1st half, but both settled in nicely in the 2nd with Smith scoring 6 straight points on 2 baseline reverse layups and one across the lane.

Both Mitchell brothers were matchup problems. Babson has historically had issues handling quick guards off the dribble, and that was certainly the case tonight.

Surprised that we didn't see blue chip FY Parker Mason. I don't know what that means. The other surprising absence from the floor was Andrew Kirkpatrick, who started much of the last 2 years.

Going forward it will be interesting to see who develops into the dependable wing shooters in this offense.

Need to do damage in these first 4 games and win a minimum of 3 if they want to be a tournament team.

Side note: It was a tough weekend for the NEWMAC

Greek Tragedy · November 07, 2021, 02:19:10 PM

I saw that MIT got smoked by RIC. Hinkley with a good game, but overshadowed by Darby?

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · November 07, 2021, 03:01:26 PM

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on November 07, 2021, 02:19:10 PM
I saw that MIT got smoked by RIC. Hinkley with a good game, but overshadowed by Darby?

I watched most of the first half. It didn't look like either team was playing all that well. RIC's played together a lot more than MIT and Darby is a very strong offensive player. I think MIT has a lot of learning and growing to do.