As you may know, I’ve recently relocated from Sterling, Va., to Norwalk, Conn., and I am using my new geography to get to see some new areas of Division III.

Until last night, the furthest Northeast I’d ever seen a Division III game was in the 2004 playoffs, when Ray Martel and I called a Lasell/Trinity (Conn.) game in Hartford. Last night I saw two new teams play in a gym that was new to me as well, when WPI and Nichols played at Becker.

I had been warned that Becker’s gym wasn’t very impressive — for those who are familiar with the area I came from, it’s basically a clone of Mary Washington’s gym, with the court moved about 15 feet away from the doors, making room for another three rows of bleachers.

The colors are even the same!

The lighting is better.

WPI lost a fair amount of talent from last season, but Antoine Coleman was by far the best player on the floor last night. Coleman (no relation) is a 6-3 swingman and had 29 points and 11 rebounds. Picture a more disciplined and muscular Rashaan Barner from William Paterson’s 2001 runner-up team or … shoot, I’m having a hard time pulling names out of my brain at the moment.

Ryan Cain didn’t have the type of game you’d expect from a preseason first team All-American.; he went 5-for-14 from the floor and 0-for-6 from downtown. But there’s plenty of season left for him to bounce back.

WPI rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Nichols 83-64 and win the Worcester County Tip-Off Tournament, which features four schools from the area. The pieces are there enough that this WPI team might do something as the season progresses.

And thanks to Rusty and Carey Williams Eggen for their hospitality, as always.