Conference Predictions: NAC, NCAC, NACC, NWC
Hope the weekend is going well! We’re less than a week from tip-off, which is hard to believe. I made a commitment to make a prediction of every conference’s regular season champion for the coming season, and I plan to do that. Next season, I’ll start the “Conference Predictions” series sooner, but with the time I have left in this preseason, these predictions will be a bit more streamlined. So here’s four more conference predictions as we look towards the 2024-25 season!
NAC
Pick to Win: Maine Maritime
There’s a reason why the Mariners went 13-0 in NAC play last season. It seems they just might do the same again in 2024-25, returning 83% of their production, including leading scorer Erianna Moore. Moore averaged 13.0 PPG as a 6’0 guard last season, and with her height, she has a unique skill set that creates tough matchups for the opposing defense. Because she’s a true guard that shoots the 3 (43-of-128 from beyond the arc last season) but also rebounds and blocks shots at a fairly high rate. Her 42 blocks ranked fourth in the NAC last season and her 6.9 rebounds/game were tied for the team-high. But Moore isn’t the only starter back. In fact, four of Maine Maritime’s five starters from last season are returning, with the only exception being Maria Barela, who is now at Chatham. Joining Moore in the backcourt will be guards Evelyn Dagan and Makenzie Monzon, who were both in the starting lineup for all 27 games last season. Forward Sydney Briscoe, who put up 8.0 PPG and 6.9 RPG in 18.7 min/game in 2023-24, should be a solid post presence for the Mariners, who really seem to have a complete team this season. Defense was very much a strong suit last year, as Maine Maritime allowed just 54.7 PPG, though this is a squad that knows how to score as well; they put up 78 points in the NAC title game on a SUNY-Cobleskill defense that allowed just 44.7 PPG in 27 contests last season. As a side note, head coach Craig Dagan is closing in on his 400th career win with the program, entering the season with 396 victories. That is a huge accomplishment as he enters his 24th season as head coach.
NCAC
Pick to Win: DePauw
The Tigers have high expectations in what will again be a deep and talented league, with Ohio Wesleyan and Denison both in hot pursuit. I’ve said this before, but DePauw put together an exceptional season last year that maybe went under the radar just a bit, perhaps because a 67-62 win over UW-Oshkosh was really the Tigers’ lone “marquee” victory. However, playing Transylvania, Millikin, WashU, Oshkosh, and Wartburg really prepared DePauw well for the gauntlet of conference play, leading to an 11-3 record and an NCAC Tournament title. That performance last season, combined with DePauw returning everyone in the main rotation except for Lydia Stulken, really puts Kris Huffman’s team on a good path within the NCAC. DePauw used a large rotation last season, with 10 players averaging 14.0 min/game, and nine of them coming back for this year. That includes leading scorers and playmaking guards Ava Hassel and Riley Mont, along with top rebounders Diana Burgher and Ainsley Boras. The Tigers are built for success and we’ll see them challenged early on, facing UW-Whitewater, Transylvania, Illinois Wesleyan, and possibly WashU in the first five weeks of the season. Ohio Wesleyan has a preseason All-American in Kasey Shipfer and Denison brings back all five starters, so this is very much a three-team race from the looks of it.
NACC
Pick to Win: Edgewood
It’s going to be a battle between Edgewood and Wisconsin Lutheran in the NACC. WLC went 15-1 in conference play last year, winning the NACC’s automatic bid to the tournament. Edgewood went 13-3, but two of those losses came to WLC…by a combined four points. But WLC’s Sam Leisemann, two-time NACC Player of the Year, has graduated and that void won’t be easily filled. Edgewood, on the other hand, returns stellar senior forward Vivian Guerrero, who averaged a double-double last season with 13.2 PPG and 10.3 RPG. Guerrero is an early NACC Player of the Year frontrunner, a versatile player who recorded Edgewood’s second-ever triple-double last season. 6’0 forward Kallie Norby is back as a 5th-year after putting up 12.1 PPG which gives Edgewood a one-two punch in the post. Guards Jayden Nortier and Kenzie Senffner are returning too, along with the presence of transfer Jordan Carlquist, who started 26 games at Benedictine last season. Edgewood has enough quality depth to win this league as head coach Kole Vivian, who led Marietta to tremendous success over the last seven seasons, enters his first season at the helm. WLC will be tough a competitor, no doubt, and I’m not counting the Warriors out. Not one bit. Sophomore forward Margie Stevens comes off a big freshman year and should help alleviate the challenges with Leisemann not on the floor and Kara Troxel returns after making 20 starts last season. Keep a close eye on that race in the NACC. It’s too early to know if it’ll be a one-bid league or not as NPI may have an effect compared to the old system. But the stakes will be high regardless. Edgewood and WLC only meet once this season, on Feb. 15, and that is more than likely going to be the game that decides the regular season title. Be sure to circle that one on your calendar!
NWC
Pick to Win: Whitman
The Blues were nearly in my preseason Top 25, and in a league (and region) that doesn’t return a lot of production across the board, Whitman is an outlier. Unlike most of their NWC counterparts, they bring back the entire rotation from last season, led by preseason All-American Korin Baker. Few in Region 10 will have the same starting five in 2024-25 as they did a season ago, and I fully expect Whitman will use that to its advantage. The Blues put the same starting lineup for all 26 contests last season, and when you break it down, Whitman’s main returning group not only has plenty of collegiate experience, but also has an abundance of experience playing together. The chemistry there will be a valuable asset, especially early in the season as Whitman progresses through a difficult non-conference slate that includes a cross-country trip to Rochester, New York, neutral court games against Cal Lutheran and Redlands, and a pair of tough Texas opponents in East Texas Baptist and Mary Hardin-Baylor. Baker headlines this year’s squad, but with Carly Martin (3.2 APG), Lindsay Drango (30 blocks last season), and Natalie Lundberg (2.4 steals/game), Whitman is multi-dimensional and can beat you on both ends of the floor. I also anticipate seeing a very determined Whitman team this year, as the Blues look to reclaim their place atop the NWC after a second-place finish last season, their first without winning at least a share of the NWC regular season title since 2018-19.
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, MACF: Stevens, GNAC: Albertus Magnus, HCAC: Berea, Landmark: Catholic, Liberty: Vassar, LEC: UMass Dartmouth, MASCAC: Bridgewater State, MIAA: Trine, MWC: Ripon, MIAC: Gustavus Adolphus, NEWMAC: Springfield, NESCAC: Bowdoin, NJAC: Kean, NAC: Maine Maritime, NCAC: DePauw, NACC: Edgewood, NWC: Whitman
Up Next: OAC, ODAC, PAC, Skyline