If you wrote off the Tufts men when they were 2-7, just know that preseason first team All-America big man Luke Rogers is back and made a huge impact right away. Tufts athletics file photo

By Ryan Scott
D3hoops.com

If it seems like your team (and everyone else’s) had a longer than usual layoff over the holiday break this year, you’re probably not wrong.

With the Omicron surge currently affecting the US, we’re likely to see more postponements and cancellations through the end of January. Regardless, most conference schedules are barreling along as planned and we did have a relatively normal first six weeks of Division III basketball, so it seems appropriate, as we enter 2022, to do a reset – check in on where we stand and set the stage for what would be our first full NCAA Tournament in three years.

For the women, defending champion Thomas More is already on to their third athletic association – having moved to the NAIA just after the 2019 tournament and recently announced another move to NCAA Division II. In that same span of time, Hope hasn’t lost, currently riding a 56-game winning streak into a unanimous place atop the D3hoops.com Top 25. It’s pretty unlikely they’ll give up that spot unless Trine beats then twice more.

Below them, though, is a free for all. Undefeated teams like NYU, Christopher Newport, and Transylvania haven’t played many teams who might test them. Amherst just flat-out hasn’t played; the Mammoths have been off for more than a month already. We are very accustomed to the WIAC having three ranked teams (Whitewater, Eau Claire, and Oshkosh), but it’s a new occurrence this week for the OAC, with Marietta joining John Carroll and Baldwin Wallace.

We have five Texas schools receiving votes and they’ve all played and beaten each other in various configurations. East Texas Baptist, Mary Hardin-Baylor, UT-Dallas, Hardin-Simmons, and Trinity are a combined 41-11, but only two of those loses have come to unranked teams that aren’t part of the group of five. A big second half story line will be whether the ASC teams ruin each other’s Pool C resume or if Texas can overfill a pod come tournament time.

Beyond the traditional power conferences, there will be some tough league battles for supremacy in the NEWMAC (Smith and Springfield, among others), and the ARC (Simpson and Wartburg are both ranked). One of the more unexpected battles is the newly remodeled and renamed Coast to Coast Conference, with CNU and Mary Washington ranked and Salisbury at 10-2, there will be a battle for the automatic bid in February at UC Santa Cruz, who just took out No. 5 Whitman in their last outing.

On the men’s side, I imagine everyone (including both participants) is ready to move beyond the much-hyped Yeshiva-Illinois Wesleyan game and on to conference slates that have fans drooling over the possibilities. The Maccabees should cruise through the Skyline, but Illinois Wesleyan faces not only No. 9 Wheaton and No. 14 Elmhurst, but one of the deeper CCIW slates we’ve seen in recent years.

Conference depth is the story across men’s basketball. The extra year of COVID eligibility has produced deeper, more experienced teams across the country.

No. 1 Randolph-Macon has already played one of the toughest schedules in the country, but will face a renewed ODAC with Roanoke and Lynchburg having been in the Top 25 poll this year, Hampden-Sydney current receiving votes, and Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford being the only schools Massey rates as having played tougher schedules thus far than R-MC.

Marietta might be the class of the OAC, but they’ll have to battle ranked foes, Mount Union and Heidelberg for the title. The WIAC is both more top heavy AND deeper than we’ve ever seen, with Platteville at No. 2, Oshkosh at No. 4, La Crosse at No. 11, and four-time national champion, Stevens Point somehow the “easiest” conference game, on paper.

Because of its multi-region makeup and the new 10-region alignment, it’s likely seven of the UAA’s eight members will be regionally ranked at some point this season, with as many as five in line for Pool C consideration (in addition to whichever team winds up champion).

On the other hand, there’s a real possibility our champion will come from a conference without a grand history of success. That could be if Yeshiva learns from its loss to IWU or St. Joseph (Conn.) pays off the investment Jim Calhoun made in building that program from scratch just four years ago. Maybe it’s Maryville or Mary Hardin-Baylor or some other team I didn’t manage to mention. There’s a lot to look forward to, and a lot to see.

If you don’t typically watch much beyond your own team, mark Saturday, Jan. 15, on the calendar. For the women, COVID-willing we’ll have CNU traveling to Mary Washington, Amherst at Tufts, and Puget Sound at Whitman, spaced out so you can watch back-to-back-to-back.

For the men, it’s even more action packed, with Lynchburg at Randolph-Macon, Tufts at Amherst, and Heidelberg at Marietta in the afternoon; the evening rounds out with two big CCIW rivalry games at IWU and Wheaton, followed by Pacific Lutheran looking to dethrone Whitworth on the west coast.

If you’re a real Division III basketball geek, tune in the night before when undefeated North Central (Minn.) faces Bethany Lutheran for the first time. BLC’s Hannah Geistfeld is one of the best players in the country and on pace to finish her career with 2,000 points and 1,000 boards. Then follow that up the next day with a knock-down, drag-out rivalry game between Altoona and Behrend for bragging rights in the AMCC.

Whatever happens, we’re in for something we haven’t seen in a long time: the crowning of champions. Defending champs, UW-Oshkosh may still be near the top of the polls, but they have only two guys with rings left on the roster. COVID may continue to bring us surprises, but no one seriously believes the tournaments are in danger at this time.

Besides, everything seems new anyway: we have coaches with new teams and teams with new coaches. The conference shuffle has been through a few rounds, and we’ve got two extra regions when it comes time to select Pool C.

The best part of Division III basketball are the surprises and 2021-22 is shaping up to contain a whole lot more. Enjoy the second half of the season and good luck to everyone!