It was about as good as it could be for Division 3 basketball in New England last year. Trinity and Wesleyan tangled in an epic national semifinal before the Bantams beat NYU to lift the program’s first national title banner.
Now the race to Indianapolis begins, and the slate of teams in New England ready to lay a claim at national glory is just as strong as last season. Trinity will kick off its national title defense on Nov. 15 against Lehman College with the national semifinal rematch slated for Jan. 24 at Wesleyan.
What should be a frenetic NEWMAC race kicks off its conference in early December with WPI-Babson opening it up on Dec. 3, and we’ll see more on them in a bit.
A rollercoaster of a ride begins tomorrow, and these 10 teams will all be worth you taking a drive on a winter Saturday to see them.
Babson
Head coach: Stephen Brennan (31st season)
Last year: 16-10 NEWMAC Quarterfinals
This is a team that graduated its top three scorers from last season including the one-man stat sheet Nate Amado. So why are the Beavers on the list? The coaching staff. Brennan has gotten the most out of his team every year. Whether it was the national championship in 2017 or guiding an injury-plagued team to the conference title in 2024, Brennan’s Beavers find a way. And this year, more will be asked of NEWMAC Rookie of the Year Timmy Mulvey (9.5 points per game last year) and senior combo guard Timmy O’Toole (5.6 points, 5.9 rebounds).
St. Joseph’s (Maine)
Head coach: Tyler Ackley (5th season)
Last year: 24-5, won GNAC championship, lost to Redlands in NCAA Tournament first round
If everyone stays healthy this team will repeat as GNAC champions and will win an opening round game in the NCAA Tournament, mark my words. The top four scorers are back on a team that averaged 91.4 points per game. All four averaged 14 or more points per game, led by Remijo Wani (18.3 points) and Silvano Ismail (16.5). Ismail (Portland, Maine) also averaged nearly five assists per game in 27 starts as a freshman.
The non-conference schedule is brutal with five matchups against NCAA Tournament teams from last year, including national runner-up NYU and a WPI team that made the Sweet 16. Buckle up. This Monks squad is going for a ride and it has all the ingredients for getting to a historically memorable destination.
Trinity
Head coach: James Cosgrove (16th season)
Last year: 30-3, won NESCAC championship, won national championship
The Bantams had nine players average 11 or more minutes game last year. Seven returned this year, including the top four scorers: Henry Vetter (15.9), Jarrel Okorougo (12.6), Drew Lazarre (11.2) and Jared Berry (9.3). Oh, and all of them shot at least 42 percent from the field. It truly feels like an unfair amount of riches for Cosgrove and his staff, but that’s the reality in Hartford as the Bantams have all the pieces to be the first Div. 3 side to go back to back since Washington University in 2008-2009.
Tufts
Head coach: Brandon Linton (5th season)
Last year: 22-6, reached NESCAC semifinals, lost to Redlands in NCAA Tournament second round
Cousens Gym is going to be the place to be for some of the best basketball in the immediate cities around Boston. The Jumbos hosted NCAA Tournament games and just missed the Sweet 16 after a raucous two-point overtime loss to Redlands. Tufts returns its top five scores, six of the seven players who averaged more than 15 minutes a game, and a coach in Linton who has improved in the win column all four years he’s helmed the sidelines in Medford. James Morakis (17.9 points per game) and Scott Gyimesi (15.3 points) will handle the bulk of the offensive load, but this is as deep a team as there is in the country this year.
WPI
Head coach: Chris Bartley (25th season)
Last year: 26-4, reached NEWMAC final, lost to Wesleyan in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
What a wildcard this squad is. The Engineers graduated NEWMAC Player of the Year and All-American Aidan Callahan, and Brett Marelli, who played 109 games in his WPI career. And Tech still drew a preseason No. 19 rating from D3hoops.com thanks to having some of the most confident shooters in the land, plus a team of defenders more akin to a pit of scorpions.
WPI led the nation in 3-point defense last year (26.1 percent). Tim Reidy (Needham, Mass.) returns for a grad year after tying for eighth in the country last year with 91 made threes. J.R. Newman is an intense and intelligent all-rounder that is set to put those outside the NEWMAC on notice, and Justin Molen can play all five positions on the floor in a way most in the region can’t. That game vs Tufts on Jan. 3 in Worcester will be must-see TV.
Western New England
Head coach: Colin Tabb (11th season)
Last year: 23-7, won CNE championship, lost to Trinity in NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
The Conference of New England final may have been the best basketball game in New England last year, and the Golden Bears used a thrilling victory over Suffolk to jumpstart a cinderella run to the Sweet 16. WNE lost quite a bit but returns Cody Palazzesi (11.5 points per game) and Luka Vlajkovic (10.2 points, 5.4 rebounds). Road dates at a trio of NCAA tournament teams (Keene State, Ithaca, and Wesleyan) will test the Golden Bears early.
Keene State
Head coach: Steven Enright (2nd season)
Last year: 23-6, won Little East championship, lost in NCAA Tournament second round to Trinity
It’s a whole new era in Cheshire County. The long-time leaders of Octavio Brito, Spencer Aronson, Nate Siow, and Mason Jean-Baptiste have all graduated. It’s the second year at the helm for Enright and he will look to continue the success of this proud program. Wesley Odiase (Dorchester, Mass.) is the lead returning scorer after averaging 10 points and 3.4 rebounds last year. Mitch Shettles (8.6 points) will be called on to do more on the offensive end as he did at his previous stop at Coast Guard. If seniors Ryan Blakey and Leo Chaikin (South Hero, Vt.), who both averaged under 16 minutes a game last year, can seamlessly step into bigger roles, the good times could keep rolling in Keene.
Nichols
Head coach: Tyler Hundley (2nd season)
Last year: 13-13, reached CNE first round
Nichols has been one of the best programs in New England for a decade. With nine seasons of 20-plus wins and two Elite Eights since 2014, the Bison have been a cut above. Last year, in Hundley’s first season, the Bison took a step back to .500, but expect them to be near the top of the table in the CNE. Javen Flowers-Smith (20.7 points per game), Dominic Mello (14.3 points), and leading rebounder Olivier Saint-Louis (8.3 points, 5.9 rebounds) return. Hundley won back-to-back conference championships at Worcester State, and expect this season to be the first contending in his new league.
Saint Joseph’s (Conn.)
Head coach: Glen Miller (5th season)
Last year: 19-8, reached GNAC semifinals
The Blue Jays drew a national ranking in the preseason, sneaking in at No. 25. Why? Because the Blue Jays return three of their top four scorers and all four players that averaged more than four rebounds a game. This team is deep, led by senior Lance Altenor (15.8 points per game) and Friedrich Feldrappe (13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists), and has several good depth pieces returning. A bonkers non-conference schedule features home games against both of last year’s national finalists in Trinity and NYU. If this team has an Achilles' heel, it will be finding the consistent third scorer beyond Altenor and Feldrappe. Both averaged north of 33 minutes a game last year with no other returner averaging more than 24.
Wesleyan
Head coach: Joe Reilly (18th season)
Last year: 30-2; reach NESCAC final, lost in NCAA Tournament Final Four to Trinity
Welcome to the most intriguing team in the country. There are a ton of pieces back from last year’s team that made the Final Four. What’s missing are the two leading scorers. The team’s second-leading scorer and leading assist man, Nicky Johnson, graduated. And Shane Regan, a third-team All-American, transferred to Chicago for his grad year. The pair averaged 31.7 of the Cardinals’ 76.4 points a game last year.
But six players who played in more than 30 games and averaged five or more points return, led by Ben Lyttle (8.3 points, 5.9 rebounds). This squad has been on the biggest stage. If players step into new roles with the confidence they played with last year, then the Cards will be just as dangerous as a season ago.
