MBB: NESCAC

[D3BBALL]

Congrats to all that made it, but I think we could all do a better job than some that get to vote for these awards.
I do think Johnson deserved first team. My guess on Okorougo over Gyimesi, is that Okorougo shut him down twice.
On Dana Smith it was bad that he did not make second team NESCAC last year, just shows how voters don't always use the right criteria, he was trinity's best player last year, imo.
Also agree on Lazarre I think he is the second leading rebounder on Trinity as well and he is not close to his listed height of 6'2".

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I've never seen Westfield play but their FY who won ROTY must be really good to beat out Ray Cuevas, who lit it up as a rookie the way few in NESCAC can do.

Kenny Rogers (yes) was MASCAC POY as a freshman.  I saw him in person in the tournament a couple weeks ago.  He's definitely a freshman and Randolph-Macon found ways to bother him, but he's a very good player.

[D3boarder]

Am I wrong to be a little surprised by all the Okorougo love in the past few weeks? The stats are definitely good and I know he won DPOY (never been an area across the league I am good at analyzing) but I guess when I watch I don't see a top 5-10 player in the region.

For example, Dana Smith seemed much more impactful to me on last year's Trinity team and he didn't get any all region nod. Maybe Callahan-Gold was taking a lot of the love and someone on Trinity besides Vetter needed some.

Completely agree with this sentiment. Not a knock on Okorougo, he's a very good player, there's just no way that he should have gotten the nod over Johnson, Gyimesi, or Morakis. All three have better stats and are more important to their team's overall success. What makes Trinity so good is how they play together as a team, their success is not the result of major contributions from one or two guys. I understand that voters want to reward team success, but that is not the point of these awards. They are meant to highlight individual achievement.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Am I wrong to be a little surprised by all the Okorougo love in the past few weeks? The stats are definitely good and I know he won DPOY (never been an area across the league I am good at analyzing) but I guess when I watch I don't see a top 5-10 player in the region.

For example, Dana Smith seemed much more impactful to me on last year's Trinity team and he didn't get any all region nod. Maybe Callahan-Gold was taking a lot of the love and someone on Trinity besides Vetter needed some.

Completely agree with this sentiment. Not a knock on Okorougo, he's a very good player, there's just no way that he should have gotten the nod over Johnson, Gyimesi, or Morakis. All three have better stats and are more important to their team's overall success. What makes Trinity so good is how they play together as a team, their success is not the result of major contributions from one or two guys. I understand that voters want to reward team success, but that is not the point of these awards. They are meant to highlight individual achievement.

You have to remember it's done by position.  It's quite possible Okorougo had just one point more than Gyimesi and the voters basically saw them as even.  Okorougo also won DPOY for the NESCAC - if non-NESCAC voters are trying to differentiate between the two without as much first hand knowledge as you guys, that might've been the difference.

[RollConts25]

I came on here a few weeks ago after Hank scored 36 of his teams 60 points on 13/21 shooting with one turnover, and the rest of the starting lineup combining for 4 points, against the number 1 defense in the country, and had to read some people on this blog use this game as a knock against him for Player of the Year because they lost. At that point I realized yall wanted to push narratives more than you actually cared about ball knowledge, logic, or actually watching these teams play when forming your opinions, so I cooled off on here. There was never one ounce of doubt who player of the year was going to be, and I'm glad the coaches were on the same page as me. As great as Shane Regan is, and he is great, Hank is closer to a National Player of the Year than Regan was to NESCAC player of the year. The numbers are just unreal, and I'm a big eye test guy and watching them, Hank just does so much more and draws so much more attention than Regan does.

You guys really came on here and used language like "Regan is the clear better player", and "every coach in the league picks Regan and Gyimesi over Morgan" to make it sound like yall knew what yall were talking about, and now not only did the NESCAC coaches disagree but d3hoops picked Morgan as the region 1 player of the year. I will give credit where credit is due, Wesleyan has looked great all year, and I am excited to watch Wesleyan vs. Trinity Part III on Thursday, and Regan deserves his flowers for being the biggest part of that.

On a separate note, it is fun to know that a lot of the guys on this thread are former players, I probably played against a lot of you.

[SpringSt7]

Not that it really matters but last week would've been the time to take that victory lap - barring a really special season by someone in the GNAC or MASCAC (not impossible), the Region 1 POY is almost definitely going to be the NESCAC POY every year now that the NEWMAC, LEC, and CNE are in Region 2. No one in the NESCAC that isn't player of the year is going to win it and most non conference coaches will probably default to the same line of thinking that Ryan just applied for Okorougo.

[D3BBALL]

Not that it really matters but last week would've been the time to take that victory lap - barring a really special season by someone in the GNAC or MASCAC (not impossible), the Region 1 POY is almost definitely going to be the NESCAC POY every year now that the NEWMAC, LEC, and CNE are in Region 2. No one in the NESCAC that isn't player of the year is going to win it and most non conference coaches will probably default to the same line of thinking that Ryan just applied for Okorougo.

Yep agree!!!

[NEHoopScoutPH]

I've never seen Westfield play but their FY who won ROTY must be really good to beat out Ray Cuevas, who lit it up as a rookie the way few in NESCAC can do. 

I get that this is a NESCAC board, and yeah, Cuevas was the league's ROTY, but it probably wasn't even that close regarding Cuevas/Rogers. In fact, I'd think an arguement could be made that Cuevas would've been third in a voting behind both Rogers and St. Joe's (ME) Silvano Ismail, particularly given that the latter two helped lead their teams to NCAA Tournament births.

On top of that, Rogers was not only the MASCAC ROTY, but also the league's Co-POTY, which I'm sure held some weight.

Cuevas:25 G / 371 PTS / 15.5 PPG / 41.1% FG / 38.3% 3PT / 3.7 RPG / 1.8 APG / 19 STL (Bowdoin 11-13)

Rogers: 28 G / 517 PTS / 18.5 PPG / 45.1% FG / 31.5% 3PT / 8.9 RPG / 3.8 APG / 47 STL (Westfield 21-7)

Ismail: 27 G / 445 PTS / 16.5 PPG / 56.4% FG / 42.6% 3PT / 6.7 RPG / 4.4 APG / 50 STL (St. Joe's 24-5)

Regardless, Region I had a loaded group of first-years!

[jumbomumbo]

Ricardo Nieves Tufts freshman would likely be ROTY next year on any other team, suspect he will be a 6th man or so on the current tufts roster. His highlight reel is insane, jumbo's only getting stronger. Have heard great things about Deacon Baretta too. Next year is THE year for Tufts.

Suspect it'll be Tufts / Trin at the top. Hamilton and WES fall off

[nescac1]

NEHoopsScoutPH, good analysis of the rookies.  I'm curious what happened with Cameron Perkins on UMass Boston (from Region 2, but also New England-area), he had an insane first six games, averaging 26 ppg on ridiculous shooting splits, but then didn't play again - not sure if it was an injury situation, or something else, that ended his season.  It will be interesting to see if any of these guys who had huge frosh years look to transfer up ...

A (wholly unsurprising) report from HoopsDirt on the Midd job search:

Familiar Name in the Mix for D3 Middlebury Job
The hottest name to replace recently retired Jeff Brown at Middlebury is outgoing Columbia assistant Jake Brown. Brown had been at Columbia since 2021 and has also worked at NJIT and Howard. He is also a Middlebury alum, a two-time captain for the Panthers, and won two NESCAC Championships as a player.

[nescac1]

Jumbo, I agree that Tufts looks loaded next year but also, barring any player defections, Trinity has to be a clear one and Tufts a clear two, given how dominant Trinity has been in the league (and vs. Tufts) for two years running now.  If by some chance Regan returns to Wesleyan for a fifth year, then they are right there with Tufts as well.  If he does not, the number three spot in NESCAC looks WIDE open next season ... no one else really looks like a top 25 team on paper, but someone will surely emerge as a contender. 

[el_jefe_90]

NEHoopsScoutPH, good analysis of the rookies.  I'm curious what happened with Cameron Perkins on UMass Boston (from Region 2, but also New England-area), he had an insane first six games, averaging 26 ppg on ridiculous shooting splits, but then didn't play again - not sure if it was an injury situation, or something else, that ended his season.  It will be interesting to see if any of these guys who had huge frosh years look to transfer up ...

https://umassmedia.com/37807/sports/mens-basketball-sinks-low-on-lec-rankings/

According to this article, during their exhibition game against UMass-Amherst, the Beacons "lost" Perkins. I'm assuming it was an injury.
 

[D3BBALL]

Jumbo, I agree that Tufts looks loaded next year but also, barring any player defections, Trinity has to be a clear one and Tufts a clear two, given how dominant Trinity has been in the league (and vs. Tufts) for two years running now.  If by some chance Regan returns to Wesleyan for a fifth year, then they are right there with Tufts as well.  If he does not, the number three spot in NESCAC looks WIDE open next season ... no one else really looks like a top 25 team on paper, but someone will surely emerge as a contender. 

100% agree. Trinity returns top 8 out of 10 players. Have no idea who they are recruiting but their biggest weakness is a true big a 6'7" or bigger. But they have done quite well without one. Besides that they are loaded with depth at every position and will have 4 seniors that have all played a ton, 3 of them for 3 years and the 4th Lazarre might be the best overall player on the team. 2 juniors, one who doesn't start and would start on just about any other team League next year. A freshman in Ayles who is going to be a very good player and Jordan the transfer from Pepperdine can only get better.
Tufts will be very good as well, but have to be considered preseason #2 until they can beat Trinity, who I think they play at home next year.
Wesleyan all depends on Regan, if he comes back they are top 3. I like Colby for 4th. Williams tons of talent but doesn't win. After that anybody's guess. Hamilton loses a ton, Amherst and Middlebury the same. Conn has Espinosa, but loses guard. Bates and Bowdoin should both be better, question is how much better.

[nescac1]

I realize it's hard to put Bates in the top 5 after a 1-9 season but I'll take a leap and do so.  They are not of course as talented as Wesleyan was this year, but have some of the same profile in terms of a team with a lot of good athletes ready to make a major leap as Wesleyan did after last year.  Everyone of note is back as they move from a very young team to a very experienced one.  They lost a ton of really close games that could have gone either way, including OT games to Midd, Wesleyan AND Tufts (!), and were in nearly every game but just couldn't close games out.  And they have a lot of young, athletic talent with a ton of upside.

Pouye is unlike really anyone else in the league as a two-way player and should easily be a first-team all-league guy next year and if he keeps improving, and gets a lot more consistent on the offensive end, he has eventual all-American upside.  Coyne is one of the best pure shooters in the league and could have a big senior year.  Psyhogeos is very crafty and could also have a very good senior year if he can get his outside shot to drop more.  Sparks and O'Leary were nice role players as FY starters and figure to only get better as the glue guys.  Mayen is a big rim protector off the bench who maybe can do a bit more as a senior.  Bates has two top-50 MA perimeter guys coming in as recruits who should provide further backcourt depth as well. 

The guy they need to take a major leap though is Begin.  He was hurt and then never really seemed to fit in when he came back from injury after his ROTY first year campaign, never got it going.  He's one of the most talented returning guards in the league but the question is can he fit into the team concept?  If he can mesh with the other guys they have, suddenly Bates has a lot of guys who can create plays with the ball. But that is a bit question mark. 

[jumbomumbo]

I like the Bates optimism. I want to see it happen and it makes sense. They're good. As a player, it was always the game you knew would be a dogfight and come down to the final possession. They always give tufts issues, win or lose. I just wish they would win more games each year against the rest of the league so that random loss to bates doesn't hurt as much in the future. lol