MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

From the Bolles School in Florida:

Congratulations to Bolles Basketball player Ben McGraw on his commitment to the admissions process at Williams College. They are getting a wonderful young man and phenomenal player.

McGraw, a 6'3 guard, is a stellar shooter ... 46 percent from 3 (on a high volume) and 88 from the line for his career.

[nescac1]

Here is a shot at a pre-season all-NESCAC team based on what has been reported about who is or is not back (based on how things went with football rosters, I doubt we know for sure until a day or two before the season starts at many schools, and maybe after at Amherst). 

First Team:
Grant Robinson, Amherst
Luke Rogers, Tufts (POY)
Will King, Colby
Cole Prowitt-Smith, Williams
Donald Jorden, Trinity

Second Team:
Garrett Day, Amherst
Brennan Morris, Tufts
Matt Hannah, Colby
Sam Peek, Wesleyan
Jordan James, Wesleyan

Third Team:
Nkosi Cooper, Hamilton
Ben McPherron, Conn College
Omar Sarr, Bates
Brandon Roughley, Williams
Noah Tyson, Colby

Also considered: Dylan Thoerner, Tufts; Stephon Baxter, Bates; Ben Callahan-Gold, Trinity; Antone Walker, Wesleyan; Alex Sobel, Middlebury; Eric Anderson, Hamilton

All rookie (I THINK all of these guys will be class of 2025, and i don't think 2024 guys will be eligible):
Brandon Roughley, Williams (ROY) (originally 2024 but took a gap year)
Sam Stevens, Middlebury
Cole Bryant, Wesleyan
Will Dorion, Trinity (gap year I believe)
Declan Porter, Williams (gap year)

Also considered: Canin Reynolds, Amherst; Jaden Bobbitt, Middlebury; Andrew Hartell, Conn College (gap year I believe); James McGowan, Bowdoin

I could have gone either way with Day or Robinson, or included them both, but ultimately I think a healthy Robinson is one of the best players in the league and Day's junior year was a bit of an outlier from the rest of his career, so I went with Robinson, as I don't think Amherst warrants two guys on the first team.  Day is certainly worthy as well, though.  After the second team, the pickings actually get pretty slim and very speculative.  A lot of guys who would clearly be in the mix (Farrell, Che, Eastman, Draffan, Bosco, Grad, Colin Donovan - I think?, ) ended up foregoing an extra year of eligibility, or are grad transfers elsewhere. 

[jayhawk]

Another person to consider for Rookie of Year is Ryker Vance of Amherst appears to be talented and athletic

[nescac1]

Thanks Jayhawk will keep an eye out.  With three starters graduating up front, Amherst definitely has an opportunity for a young forward to stand out.  Stevens and Bobbit at Midd are also strong contenders as the Panthers will likely rely heavily on their two well-regarded frosh. 

[Painter66]

If Alex Sobel is back, it changes the entire Midd equation and likely the all-league picks. So far, no solid news on that front. Big year of change for the Panthers after a remarkable run for many years.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If Alex Sobel is back, it changes the entire Midd equation and likely the all-league picks. So far, no solid news on that front. Big year of change for the Panthers after a remarkable run for many years.

Sobel has class of '23 on his linkedin profile, so it seems he's at least planning to be in school.

[SpringSt7]

Middlebury lost their 4 best players and essentially the entire core of a team that hasn't been able to get out of the first round of the NESCAC tournament since 2017. I don't think adding Sobel "changes the entire equation".

[Bucket]

If Alex Sobel is back, it changes the entire Midd equation and likely the all-league picks. So far, no solid news on that front. Big year of change for the Panthers after a remarkable run for many years.

Sobel has class of '23 on his linkedin profile, so it seems he's at least planning to be in school.

Yes, Alex is back on campus this fall.

[SpringSt7]

2021-22 schedules are slowing starting to trickle in. For the most part the non-conference matchups look similar---i.e. Springfield vs. Amherst/Trinity/Williams, Middlebury vs. Keene St./Endicott, Amherst vs. every winless school in the Northeast, etc, but I tried to highlight some notable differences:

-Amherst's 2021-22 schedule is not listed on their website but they have 15 games listed on d3hoops.com, most notably no holiday tournaments. I would usually chalk that up to just being incomplete but with Amherst's track record of the last 18 months I wonder if they are limiting travel due to the pandemic.

-Brandeis has replaced Amherst and Wesleyan with Colby and Bates, while Colby will also participate in WPI's opening weekend tournament. A noticeable effort from the Mules to improve their non-conference schedule.

-Not only does Colby add a potential tournament matchup with WPI, they will also join Bates and Bowdoin in playing Babson, a popular non-conference opponent for the NESCAC. Babson still has their game with Amherst as well which has almost always been a great early season test.

-Wesleyan will also have the opportunity to play WPI in a tournament this year, at their Thanksgiving tournament in late November.

-Tufts and WPI will not meet on this year's schedule but Tufts will instead see MIT, which could be very interesting in a few years time if it stays on the docket. MIT struggled in 2019-20 but has a tendency to flip the switch in a hurry, it could be a great game this year as well.

-Clark joins the list of NEWMAC schools again loading up on NESCAC opponents: Bates and Conn College will both play them before Christmas. Clark has been steadily rebuilding under former Brown and Trinity assistant Tyler Simms.

-After suffering the consequences of having the #1 strength of schedule in the country in 2019-20, Williams has chosen to tone down their non-conference games and has taken a page out of the Amherst playbook. They add Curry, Salem St., SUNY Delhi, and Worcester St., to soften up their schedule. They do however head to Yeshiva again in what could potentially be the best matchup between the two yet.

-There certainly appears, for now at least, to be less travel around the conference. Most teams in the conference are either not participating in holiday tournaments or are staying in state or in region. The notable exceptions appear to be a Hamilton visit to Ohio to play Baldwin-Wallace and Case Western Reserve, a Williams holiday trip to VA and the Washington & Lee tournament, and a Tufts trip to Nashville to play Carthage and Simpson before New Year's.

[nescac1]

Good stuff Spring St!  Williams will play perennial power York (PA) in Virginia, so that's at least four extremely tough non-league games (counting the Little Three games).  But overall the Ephs' non-league schedule is much weaker than typical (especially since Springfield looks likely to be way down).

Babson's schedule is just ridiculous.  Harvard, Tufts (possibly), Brandeis, Amherst, St. Joe's, Colby, Bates, even Salve should be quite good this year.  Talk about running the gauntlet in New England!  Throw in two league games vs WPI and they are playing all the best teams in the region. 

[stlawus]

For some reason I am only just realizing that NESCAC only play 10 league games.  Why don't they do home-and-home?

[Pat Coleman]

The Amherst games we have on the schedule, 16 of them now, are the ones posted by their opponents. They may well still have these tournaments but we don't have the schedules for all of their opponents yet to know.

[Pat Coleman]

Good stuff Spring St!  Williams will play perennial power York (PA) in Virginia, so that's at least four extremely tough non-league games (counting the Little Three games).  But overall the Ephs' non-league schedule is much weaker than typical (especially since Springfield looks likely to be way down).

Babson's schedule is just ridiculous.  Harvard, Tufts (possibly), Brandeis, Amherst, St. Joe's, Colby, Bates, even Salve should be quite good this year.  Talk about running the gauntlet in New England!  Throw in two league games vs WPI and they are playing all the best teams in the region.

I'd pump brakes on perennial power status for York (Pa.). Here's their past 15 years.

2020-21 (0-0, 0-0 MACC)
2019-20 (23-6, 9-1 CAC)
2018-19 (22-8, 12-2 CAC)
2017-18 (24-5, 14-4 CAC)
2016-17 (17-10, 11-7 CAC)
2015-16 (10-15, 6-12 CAC)
2014-15 (5-20, 4-14 CAC)
2013-14 (5-20, 3-13 CAC)
2012-13 (7-19, 2-10 CAC)
2011-12 (18-11, 10-6 CAC)
2010-11 (17-9, 11-5 CAC)
2009-10 (19-7, 11-5 CAC)
2008-09 (9-17, 7-9 CAC)
2007-08 (18-8, 13-3 CAC)
2006-07 (16-10, 10-6 CAC)

[SpringSt7]

For some reason I am only just realizing that NESCAC only play 10 league games.  Why don't they do home-and-home?

To manipulate strength of schedule so that less CCIW and WIAC schools can make the tournament.

[nescac1]

re: York I stand corrected.  But still likely a strong opponent based on three straight 22 plus win seasons ... W&L could be too but I think its two stars graduated so maybe not.  That tourney will be a mini Eph reunion: W&L's President is beloved former Eph Will Dudley, and Sewanee's coach is former Eph center Brian Emerson.

As for the home and home question, you can find endless and often contentious discussion on that topic on these boards (weirdly I think much of it is probably in the CCIW page).  It's not worth revisiting, believe me ....