By Riley Zayas

February 12, 2024

Welcome back to another week! I’ll have a Top 25 ballot breakdown for you soon, but wanted to first take a look at the teams whose resumes rose and fell the most over this past week. These are my thoughts and assessments, and not necessarily the way it will be perceived by the regional advisory committees in putting together regional rankings today. Additionally, as I will note throughout this, not all of these teams are in Pool C contention, so some of the teams I mention are still only able to reach the national tournament via Pool A, even with an improved set of results.

But here are a few thoughts for you as we begin the FINAL week of the regular season (for everyone except the UAA)!

Teams whose resumes are on the rise
Trinity (CT): The Bantams are 18-6 overall, but 8-2 in the NESCAC, which is tough to do considering the depth in the league this season. With five straight wins heading into the NESCAC Tournament, something has certainly clicked for Trinity as of late. A 59-45 win over Bates on Friday really pushes the Bantams into a position where they could host in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, an opportunity that appeared pretty doubtful when they dropped four games between Nov. 26 and Dec. 9. Reilly Campbell has recorded four-straight double-digit scoring performances and the Bantams currently lead the NESCAC in scoring defense and free throw percentage. I will not be surprised if we see Trinity still playing in the second weekend of the national tournament.

Concordia-Moorhead: The Cobbers’ 2-0 week was highlighted by their 73-65 win over #4 Gustavus Adolphus, as it not only makes the MIAC title race a bit more interesting, but very much keeps Concordia in the Pool C conversation. The Cobbers are 9-0 at home this season, and by splitting the season series with Gustavus, solidified their spot within the Region 9 regional rankings. Now 17-4, and 16-2 in MIAC play, Concordia is on the rise and playing some of its best basketball at the right time of year.

Smith: The Pioneers went 3-0 on the week, opening things up with a 68-61 win at Tufts before holding Mount Holyoke to 26 points in yet another victory, followed by Saturday’s 68-63 road win at MIT. Two of those wins (both on the road) came against Massey Top 100 opponents along with another RRO win over MIT for Smith. The Pioneers have reached the 20-win mark now, as well, and are 20-3, sitting atop the NEWMAC standings along with Springfield. Smith should be a solid No. 2 in Region 2 behind Rhode Island College.

UW-Stout: The Blue Devils were sitting dead last in the WIAC three weeks ago, with a 1-5 league record. But in a pretty remarkable turnaround, Stout has won four straight and five of its last six. The Blue Devils now sit in fourth place in the league standings, and are 16-7 overall, playing with plenty of confidence and momentum in a late-season surge. Raegan Sorensen had 35 points to lead Stout to a dominant win at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, 96-64. Why is Stout’s stock rising so much? Well, they beat both UWEC and UW-La Crosse on the road by double-digit margins this past week, and the fact that they previously lost to both of those teams at home makes the victories that much more impressive. The Blue Devils head into the final week of the regular season with a pair of home games upcoming against UW-River Falls and UW-Platteville and are #14 in Massey.

Willamette: The Bearcats now likely have the No. 1 resume in Region 10 after a pair of huge home wins over Pacific and Puget Sound this past week. Willamette now holds a two-game lead in the NWC and just continues to find ways to win. The Pacific win came on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Elyse Waldal in a dramatic conclusion to such a back-and-forth game and Saturday’s 57-47 victory over a quality Puget Sound squad saw Willamette lead 34-17 at halftime. The Bearcats are really in a good position to close the regular season this week with a 12-2 record since January. That’s impressive.

Albion: There are a couple potential bid stealers in the MIAA, and Albion is certainly one of them. The Britons have won five straight, including a statement 67-41 over Calvin on Wednesday that now puts them a half-game back of Trine in the MIAA standings. Albion isn’t in position to be ranked in the Top 25 or contend for a Pool C spot, but the win over Calvin was an impressive result. Going further back, Albion has wins over Trine and Alma and while the Britons are just 5-5 on the road this season, I do think this is a team with the capability to spring an MIAA Tournament upset, especially with the way they are playing lately.

Teams whose resumes took a hit
Dickinson: I’m not sure what happened to Dickinson this past week, but the Red Devils looked very much out of sorts. They dropped three straight games in the span of seven days, including a 70-67 OT loss to Massey #147 Washington College (MD) on Saturday. That came on the heels of double-digit home losses to Centennial Conference foes Gettysburg and Johns Hopkins, and Dickinson is now 16-7 overall with a 13-5 mark in the league. In a very tough Region 5, I’m not sure the win percentage will hold up, despite a projected SOS of .550, much less earn Dickinson a Pool C bid. This week’s performance may put Dickinson in that “Pool A or bust” category, especially because Elizabethtown holds a 1-0 head-to-head against them, and has a good chance to move ahead of Dickinson, potentially “blocking” the Red Devils from even getting to the Pool C table until late in the process.

Mary Hardin-Baylor: The Cru are 1-3 on the road in their last four road games and two of those losses came this past week to UT-Dallas and Ozarks. UMHB has now dropped to second place behind Hardin-Simmons and while the Crusaders are still in a fairly comfortable Pool C position, UMHB does have McMurry and Hardin-Simmons coming up this week at home in a two very tough conference duels. The offense has stagnated, even with Arieona Rosborough back on the floor this week, and UMHB is now shooting below 40% from the field on the season (39.7%).

Messiah: Out of the MACC, the Falcons still have a Pool C shot, but it is fairly low, and a loss at Widener on Wednesday hurt those chances quite a bit more. Ranked #153 by Massey, Widener sprung the 56-50 upset and I’m interested to see how the Region 5 committee evaluates both this loss for Messiah as well as Dickinson’s results that I mentioned above. Credit to Messiah, we saw a bounce-back win at York, 52-39, two days ago, but in a league like the MACC, you really can’t afford any conference losses if you want to be in a prime Pool C position.

Colorado College: The Pool C chances are essentially nonexistent for Colorado College (now 16-7, 10-4 in SCAC), but still, the Tigers were in close contention with Trinity (TX) for the SCAC regular season title and No. 1 SCAC Tournament seed entering the week. Instead, CC heads back to Colorado with back-to-back losses, having dropped consecutive games for just the second time all season (the first came when they played NYU and Tufts in consecutive order). Having watched both games, credit goes to both Schreiner and Trinity (TX) for the big wins over CC, and the travel schedule isn’t easy for the Tigers. But they certainly looked out of sorts in a 69-63 overtime loss at Schreiner on Friday, and yesterday, Trinity hit several big 3-pointers and the CC defense struggled to keep up in a 90-80 loss. Their resume took a hit, and from a logistics standpoint, CC will now most likely be the No. 3 seed in the SCAC Tournament, meaning Trinity and TLU get the coveted first-round tournament byes while CC will now need to win three games in three days to make it to March.

There are several other teams that would qualify for this conversation, but these were a handful that stuck out to me. We don’t have a very large slate of games at all tonight, but the schedule really ramps up as the week progresses. Lots of marquee matchups are on tap especially on Friday and Saturday! Plus, the NESCAC Tournament tips off this weekend. Also, stay tuned for tomorrow’s release of the ordered regional rankings, as we’ll find out how many of these regions are shaping up, and what the Pool C order could look like based on where the committee placed several teams, especially in the deeper regions. Until then, have a great rest of your day!

By Riley Zayas

February 10, 2023

Good morning! We’ve got Saturday basketball in February and the postseason is now in sight. Today, countless teams across the country are quite literally playing with their conference tournament hopes on the line. Others are trying to maintain their place within Pool C, and first-place battles are also unfolding with only a few games left in the regular season. It is certainly a fun time of year, and here’s a few thoughts on last night’s action, with a quick look ahead to today’s slate of games.

Tipping Off

Case Western Reserve/NYU

For really the second time all season, we saw NYU seriously challenged into the second half, as Case Western Reserve came to NYC with a very well-prepared gameplan. The 3-point shooting was very impressive from CWRU as I went back and watched the film from the first half, especially, as the Spartans were 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the opening quarter. NYU was definitely on upset alert, with the game tied at 42 at halftime and the Violets leading 57-55 at the end of the 3rd. But NYU cranked it up a gear, and pulled away in the 4th for the 15-point win, 82-67. Still, outside of the Whittier game (which was played the day before Thanksgiving), I hadn’t seen NYU pushed like that this season. Credit to CWRU for the approach and success on the road, which isn’t seen often, especially against the nation’s #1 team. NYU ended up shooting 54.8% and won the rebounding battle by +13, but hats off to CWRU for making it a very interesting final few minutes. Also, can we just think about what would happen if the UAA had a conference tournament? I can certainly appreciate the UAA rewarding the regular season champ and get the arguments for not having a league tournament, but at the same time, CWRU is just 1-9 in league play. Yet, this is a squad that just went on the road and challenged the almost-unanimous #1 team in the country. A conference tournament would be so interesting with the depth in this league, and better yet, nobody would be completely out of contention for NCAA Tournament play, which is the case right now. I get the arguments for both sides, but this was just another great example of the competitiveness found each weekend in the UAA.

WashU keeps its Pool C chances alive

Here’s another case of a UAA team whose only path to the NCAA Tournament lies in earning a Pool C bid, and in this case, elevated its resume last night. WashU has shown it can win big games, and win on the road, despite struggles are various points of the season. The Bears went to No. 19 Emory last night and took down the Eagles, 72-61, as Jessica Brooks had an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double. The rebounding margin was what surprised me…+23 in favor of WashU! That made up for a -7 turnover differential and WashU also really forced its way into the paint, scoring 48 points there. I have a hard time with WashU, because on one hand, I still like them as a Top 25 team. On the other, I think they’ve been more inconsistent than you’d like to see from a Top 25-caliber squad. The issue for WashU is that even if the Bears go 3-1 over their final four games, the win percentage would be .680, which is just below a threshold of .700 that the committee seems to favor. However, with the emphasis on SOS, WashU may benefit in a big way from the committee’s slant towards that metric. Keep an eye on how WashU navigates the next two weeks. It will be very interesting to see where they stack up in Region 8, and if they do get into the tournament, it is likely going to be right at the end of the selection process. If you’re a WashU fan, you need to be rooting for every conference tournament favorite to win, because the Bears really can’t afford any bid thieves if they want to preserve their Pool C chances.

Bantams are on the rise

I’ve definitely changed my thoughts as of late on Trinity (CT), a team I had in my Top 5 to start the year, but dropped out of my ballot after a very sluggish start. The tide has turned though, and Trinity (CT) now sits tied with Bates for second place in the NESCAC, just one game behind Bowdoin. Not only are the Bantams 7-2 in league play, but they’ve won 9 of their last 10 as well! Trinity is now in position to host in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and I’m more convinced of that after seeing last night’s big 59-45 win over Bates. We all know how good Bates has been, and for the Bantams outscore the Bobcats in the way they did over the final three quarters is impressive to see. Elsa Daulerio had 21 points and 13 boards, but as a team, Bates was fairly quiet, a testament to Trinity’s defensive approach. I like the momentum that the Bantams have, and with their regular season finale against Tufts today, I think it is possible we see Trinity head into the NESCAC Tournament with a five-game winning streak.

Interesting turn of events at the end of regulation as Oglethorpe defeats Sewanee

I was going to put this in the “fast breaks” section, but let’s just put it here. Oglethorpe and Sewanee played the highest-scoring game of the night, as the contest went in double-overtime, with Oglethorpe emerging in a 97-92 victory on Senior Day. But how they got to that final score is pretty interesting. Due to a very disappointing camera swivel, we never saw Sewanee’s go-ahead 3-pointer with five seconds left for a 75-73 lead (#d3problems!). But what we did see was the officials huddle up and assess a technical foul on Sewanee “for entering the court in celebration”. Again, that’s all I know as the camera operator kept the stream fixed on one end of the court. But regardless, it changed the game. While Oglethorpe did miss both free throws, the Stormy Petrels got the ball on their end of the court as part of the technical, which set up a drive to the lane by Malia Melton, and a foul call that sent her to the line with two seconds left. She came up clutch, made both free throws, and sent the game into OT. The two teams tied at 8-8 after the first OT before Oglethorpe outscored Sewanee 14-9 in the second OT. 54 of Oglethorpe’s points came in the paint, as the Stormy Petrels moved ahead of Sewanee with the head-to-head result for the No. 5 spot in the SAA standings.

Fast Breaks

» Brandeis put together an impressive 26-point 4th quarter, and got past Carnegie Mellon, 72-70, for the Judges’ first UAA win of the season. Caitlin Gresko had 19 points for Brandeis.

» In Colorado College’s 69-63 loss to Schreiner, Zoe Tomlinson grabbed 26 rebounds, which is tied for the third-most rebounds in a women’s game in SCAC history. She also surpassed 800 career rebounds in the process.

» In a SUNYAC upset, Brockport handed Cortland an 84-80 loss, as Brockport fought off a late 4th-quarter rally from the Red Dragons. Brockport was 50.8% from the field and 11-of-20 from 3-point range, as SUNY New Paltz now holds a two-game lead in the SUNYAC standings.

» In a surprising NESCAC result, Wesleyan, who entered yesterday’s game at 1-7 in the league, took down Tufts. And it wasn’t close. 73-61 was the final as Tufts continues to struggle. It marked Wesleyan’s first win over Tufts since 2006 and keeps Wesleyan in contention for the NESCAC Tournament.

Looking Ahead

#18 DeSales at Lebanon Valley, 1:00 p.m. ET

#21 Smith at MIT, 1:00 p.m. ET

Capital at Ohio Northern, 2:00 p.m. ET

#25 Bates at Wesleyan, 3:00 p.m. ET

#8 Scranton at Susquehanna, 4:00 p.m. ET

#16 UW-Oshkosh at UW-River Falls, 4:00 p.m. ET

Randolph-Macon at Washington & Lee, 4:30 p.m. ET

UW-Stout at UW-Eau Claire, 5:00 p.m. ET

Puget Sound at Willamette, 7:00 p.m. ET

By Riley Zayas

Jan. 6, 2024

Good morning! A huge Saturday of D3 women’s basketball is ahead, and we’ve got so many key matchups on the slate. Nearly everybody is in action, including 21 teams ranked in the most recent Top 25. Here’s a look at how things transpired last night, as well as a quick look ahead to today’s action.

Tipping Off

Out West, Colorado College and Pacific earned big conference wins

Late last night, several hours after the East Coast matchups had wrapped up, basketball was still being played in the Western U.S. In Colorado Springs, Colorado College took a 35-27 lead at the half against Trinity (TX) and never looked back. CC won the rebounding battle 49-34 in what was a key aspect in keeping Trinity from fighting back into contention. 15 offensive rebounds from the Tigers of CC resulted in numerous second-chance opportunities, and down the stretch, it hurt Trinity’s chances at a comeback.

When you walk into the gym at CC, you’ll see a large message printed on one side of the court: “Welcome to 6,035 feet! Breathe Deeply”. It is an ode to the fact of the altitude at which Colorado Springs is located, and from a basketball standpoint, makes things just that much harder when you’re the visiting team. Over the course of a 40-minute game, exhaustion sets in quicker because of the altitude, and it is probably fair to say that CC has built-in home court advantage no matter how large or small the crowd is. That altitude is so tough to contend with. CC did everything it had to do to maintain its lead, and it creates an interesting situation atop the SCAC standings, with TLU and Trinity both 5-1 in league play, with CC is 4-1. And the SCAC is shaping up to be a one-bid league once again, which will make that conference tournament especially interesting.

But Colorado College wasn’t the only home team to score a big conference victory last night. Pacific stunned Puget Sound, 55-44, in a result that surprised me a little bit after the way Pacific had played as of late, having lost two straight in games they had been projected to win. But you never know in league play. The defensive presence from the Boxers was really good, and they pressured the ball on the perimeter really well. 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 10 second-chance points certainly helped as well, as Pacific attacked the boards and challenged Puget Sound in that aspect of the game. Neither team found much offensive traction, but Puget Sound just struggled to find consistency. Katie Minnehan was their only double-digit scorer, with 10 points. Credit to Pacific for finding a way to get the win, and it makes the NWC just a little more interesting moving forwards.

In a rivalry matchup, Amherst/Williams told us plenty about both teams

The Williams at Amherst matchup certainly lived up to its expectation as a great NESCAC battle (as it often is), with Amherst edging the Ephs, 71-68. The first half was all Amherst, and the second half featured much more of Williams, which nearly led to a dramatic comeback for the Ephs on the road, if not for a game-tying 3-point attempt that rimmed out with just seconds left.

Amherst did a nice job of solidifying its offensive presence early, jumping out to a 21-10 lead in the first 10 minutes. The Mammoths run an efficient offensive system and while not overly complex with their schemes and sets, they are incredibly effective and pushed the ball well in transition. It was one of the better offensive starts I’ve seen from Amherst this season, and a nice complement to the exceptional defense we see year-in and year-out from the Mammoths.

While that defensive presence really challenged Williams through the first two quarters, it seemed the Ephs made a few key adjustments when down 41-27 at the half. Williams tends to run a lot of motion, and likes to get go-to scorer Arianna Gerig in position for downhill drives to the basket, and we saw plenty of that in the second half, especially. Gerig finished with 33 points.

Overall, I saw a more complete offensive game from Amherst, but I also saw Williams find a way to score on Amherst’s incredibly strong defense. It gives me confidence for Williams moving further into NESCAC play, as Amherst is likely to be the toughest defensive team the Ephs will face. I like where I have Amherst right now in my ballot at #15, and we’ll see how they defend Alexa Mustafaj and Middlebury this afternoon. Should be another great NESCAC battle there.

Chicago/WashU might be the game to watch today

There are so many key games (as you’ll see in my “Looking Ahead” section below), but Chicago/WashU has some pretty serious Region 8 implications. Not only will it feature two UAA contenders in their conference opener, but both of these teams have, for one reason or another, taken some losses in getting to this point. While both are certainly in the NCAA Tournament Pool C bid conversation, Region 8 is stacked, and the difference of one spot in the regional rankings could be the difference between playing in March and staying home. The winner of this game will likely remain in a fairly comfortable No. 4 spot in the region, and close to a Pool C lock. The loser is likely to drop behind Carroll, and while there is plenty of season left, head-to-head matchups within region come into play as well. This is one of those cases, and the No. 6 spot in Region 8 is going to be very much “on the bubble”. Really interested to see how this one plays out. WashU has won its last four, while Chicago looks to snap a four-game losing skid.

Fast Breaks

» Willamette took down Linfield, 66-49, on Friday night, earning the Bearcats fifth straight D3 win. In fact, Willamette has not lost to a D3 opponent since Nov. 25 and interestingly, Friday’s win marked the Bearcats first home victory of the season since Nov. 12.

» In an offensive clinic, McKenna Snively and Alivia Giles each scored 19 points in Christopher Newport’s 103-49 win over Cheyney, as the Captains shot 53% from the field. The win moved CNU into a tie for the 14th-longest home winning streak in D-III history, at 45 games, and it is the longest home winning streak since Thomas More’s 64-game stretch in 2017.

» In another thriller in #NESCACtion last night, Middlebury edged Hamilton, 57-54. Middlebury’s Gabby Stuart sank a pair of huge free throws with 54 seconds left to put the Panthers in front, as they closed the win on a 6-1 run.

» Hollins pushed Randolph-Macon into OT in what was a major #UpsetAlert for a significant amount of time. Hollins led 27-19 at halftime, but slowly closed the gap and outscored Hollins 12-8 in OT. Very near upset for Hollins there in the ODAC.

Looking Ahead

#18 Smith at Springfield, 1:00 pm ET

WashU at Chicago, 2:00 pm ET

Baldwin Wallace at Marietta, 2:00 pm ET

Trine at #9 Hope, 3:00 pm ET

Trinity (CT) at #19 Bowdoin, 3:00 pm ET

Middlebury at #10 Amherst, 3:00 pm ET

UW-Oshkosh at #17 UW-Stout, 4:00 pm ET

Occidental at La Verne, 7:00 pm ET