Conference Predictions: Empire 8
We’ve arrived at the first official day of the 2024-25 #d3hoops season! Hard to believe. Yes, with some teams using up to eight days of practice already, October 15 doesn’t quite have the same importance that it used to. But it officially remains the first day of the Division III basketball calendar, when teams enter “season-mode” and get into their regular practice and game schedules. And that’s a great thing for those of us who love watching and covering this level of college hoops!
It just so happens that Scott Peterson and I scheduled our annual preseason D3 WBB livestream for this evening at 6 p.m. ET, so be sure to tune in as we look towards the season ahead! We’ll have plenty of topics to discuss from individual teams to watch, to transfers, to NPI, and much more. The YouTube link to watch is below, and it’ll be available on-demand afterwards if you aren’t able to watch it live. Send in any questions you might have and we’ll work on answering those on the livestream. Email me at rileyzayas@gmail.com, leave a comment below this post, or send a DM on X/Twitter (@ZayasRiley). You can also DM Scott at (@scott_peterson4) on X/Twitter with any questions.
Now for a look at the Empire 8….
Pick to Win: Nazareth
This was a team I had the chance to see play in-person last season, and while a game against Elmira is not a super beneficial data point, there was no doubt that the Golden Flyers were pretty talented. They ended up with a 22-4 record, but were denied a bid to the NCAA Tournament, falling victim to a conference tournament upset at the hands of Houghton, a team they struggled with in both regular season meetings. I’ll touch on Houghton in a second, as I think they’ll be a contender in this title race as well. But Nazareth is my pick to win it, in large part because head coach Kelly Dunne-Romig’s squad returns four of its five starters, and is expected to have 82% of last year’s roster back. For a team that went 22-4 last year, that’s pretty notable, especially when you consider that three of their top four scorers in 2023-24 were sophomores. That means that Nazareth not only has a solid core going into 2024-25, but 2025-26 could be a great year for the Golden Flyers too.
Molly Benetti is the first name to know, as the 6-0 forward brings a consistent post presence and really rose to the occasion in some of Nazareth’s biggest games last season. To average 13.8 PPG and 6.8 RPG as a sophomore is tough, and the Syracuse native will be one of the E8’s top returning players in 2024-25. Notably, she put up 21 points in a narrow loss to rival St. John Fisher, and overall, was a reliable scorer for Nazareth throughout the conference slate.
But it’s not just Benetti that will lead Nazareth towards another 20-win season. Guard Katie MacLachlan, who averaged 28.4 minutes per game last year, returns after averaging 10.8 PPG and dishing out 80 assists, the second-most on the team. MacLachlan will be key in making up for the production lost with the graduation of Olivia Dobrovosky, who led Nazareth in both assists and steals and posted the top assist-to-turnover ratio in the league (1.8). Kiara Anglin adds to the backcourt depth as another returning starter, one who ranked No. 1 on the roster in minutes/game last season (31.8) while putting up 9.7 PPG and 7.3 RPG. Rounding out the backcourt, Madilann Johnson is yet another returning starter, and dished out 58 assists a year ago. I also expect we’ll see Sarina McDowell factor into things in a prominent way, whether she starts or comes off the bench. McDowell played in all 26 game as a freshman last year, and was impressive while on the court, with 9.2 PPG in just 16.6 min/game. She also shot 60.3% from the floor, and grabbed 4.2 RPG to go along with it. McDowell was one of the more notable freshmen in the E8 last season, and will hopefully build on that experience in the coming year.
A quick word on Houghton. Houghton definitely surprised me last season, and I certainly don’t anticipate Nazareth just running away with the E8 title, even though the Golden Flyers are my pick to win. Houghton is going to contend well at the top of league, just as they did last year, stunning a St. John Fisher team that was receiving Top 25 votes in a 65-58 win before taking down Nazareth two days later. Houghton had lost to both earlier in the season, but by early February, things were clicking for that squad. They ended up going 23-5 overall, and hung close with SJF in the conference tournament final. Defense was the key for Houghton throughout last season, as the Highlanders allowed just 48.2 PPG, and that’s the thing about a strong defensive team. Players come and go, but a defensive identity isn’t so much reliant on skill (something that tends to factor much more into the offensive identity of a team) as it is on effort and cohesiveness. Houghton had both of those attributes last season, and with three starters back, plus Aurora grad transfer Samantha Barrett (2.7 assists/game at Aurora in 2023-24), and a solid amount of depth expected to be coming off the bench, I think the Highlanders might be one of the more underrated teams in Region 3.
As for St. John Fisher? Well, the Cardinals have gotten used to representing the E8 at the NCAA Tournament, winning the last three league tournament titles. And while there is a solid amount of talent still on the roster—starters Sidney Tomasso, Katie Moravec, and Presleigh Brunner return—that streak will be challenged this season. We may not see a huge dip in their conference record, but this is a program that saw head coach Melissa Kuberka leave for RIT over the offseason, and D3hoops.com Region 3 Rookie of the Year Joleen Lusk transfer to Cortland. Along with those two, Madeline Ramsgard, who averaged 21.8 min/game last season, transferred to RIT. The return of three starters helps offset those departures, but I worry about SJF’s depth beyond its starting five.
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Sidney Tomasso, St. John Fisher: Tomasso was one of the top scorers in the league last season (16.1 PPG) for an offense that led the E8 in scoring. While I don’t know what new schemes and offensive philosophies head coach Sarah Cartmill has brought to the program, Tomasso’s scoring role will be just as, if not more, important to SJF’s success in 2024-25.
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Kayla Camacho, Houghton: It’s tough to rank in the Top 15 of any league in both blocks and steals, but Camacho was a centerpiece of Houghton’s defensive success last season and will be again in 2024-25. She averaged 2.3 steals/game and 0.7 blocks/game during her junior year.
Picks so far → AMCC: PSU Behrend, A-R-C: Wartburg, ASC: ETBU, AEC: Marymount, Centennial: Johns Hopkins, CUNYAC: Baruch, C2C: Christopher Newport, CCIW: Illinois Wesleyan, CCS: LaGrange, CNE: Western New England, MACC: Messiah, E8: Nazareth,
Up Next: MAC Freedom