Way-Too-Early Top 30: Ranking No. 26 to No. 30
The first installment of my Way-Too-Early ranking looking ahead to the 2024-25 season, featuring teams from coast to coast!
I said I would do a Way-Too-Early ranking last year, then never got around to it. But this year, I made sure that wasn’t the case. I’ve put together my Top 30 and will release it in five-team segments over the next several days. I wanted to have enough space to put down my thoughts on each team while keeping each post to a reasonable length, so hopefully releasing it this way will serve that purpose.
A few things to note here. First, due to the nature of several top players having a Covid year available, my roster assessments in terms who is back and who has moved on may be inaccurate. In general, I am putting down any non-seniors from 2023-24 as “returners” and any seniors, unless I have been given information otherwise, as “departures”. I will do my best to point out situations in which a key player may have another year of eligibility, but these rankings will be based primarily on the players I know for sure should be back, though I also understand the involvement of transfer portal and other factors, which can lead to roster changes amongst non-seniors.
All of that to say, I may not be spot-on with every roster (despite my best efforts), but hopefully this will give the readers a good idea of the teams that appear to be amongst the nation’s best heading into 2024-25. After all, we’re about six months away from tip-off, and it’s never too early to start looking ahead to next season!
Willamette (2023-24 record: 17-10): Willamette was one of the real surprises in the 2023-24 season, a team that started slow early, but finished the regular season red-hot. It was hard to know what to make of the Bearcats in November, as they got past a talented Whittier squad, but were beaten handily by Mary Hardin-Baylor and Chapman in back-to-back games. Yet, things quickly came together, starting with an early December win over Whitman. Willamette ended up going 14-2 in the NWC (their overall record vs D3 opponents was 17-7), and won the NWC regular season title by two games. With that in mind heading into 2024-25, the Bearcats deserve a spot in this early ranking. If they can replicate the performance they put on the floor over the second half of last season, and do that from start to finish, Willamette will undoubtedly be a major contender come tournament time.
Elyse Waldal, a transfer forward from Linfield who averaged 12.1 points per game, highlights the returners for Willamette. Waldal was incredibly impressive as last year progressed, and I was particularly struck by her 3-point shooting ability. The range of her shot-making ability challenged opposing defenses quite often, as the 5-10 forward shot the ball comfortably both inside and outside the arc. She went 40.6% from 3-point range (54-for-134), converted on 80.6% of her free throws, and had a field goal percentage of 43.0%. It was a breakout season for Waldal, who averaged just 14.5 minutes/game and 4.9 PPG at Linfield one year prior. Now, she is in the NWC Player of the Year conversation.
Elyse Waldal highlights Willamette’s returning group (Photo courtesy of Willamette Athletics) Kaitlin Imai, who was one of two players on Willamette’s roster to average 30+ minutes/game last season, is set to return as a junior. This is another huge piece to the puzzle, as Imai averaged 10.3 PPG as one of the Bearcats’ starting guards. She also ranked third on the team in assists, at 2.7 per game, and contributed significantly to Willamette’s defensive success as well.
Now, I don’t know how things will look beyond those two as far as returning starters. Carolyn Ho, Ava Kitchin, and Megan River each appear to have at least one year of eligibility remaining, but all three graduated in May. As with many of these teams, the variable of 5th-year returners will play a factor, which is why this ranking will almost certainly end up being different from my actual Preseason Top 25 ballot for D3hoops in October. But the point I’ll make is that, in some cases, while personnel is extremely important to success, style of play is also a factor necessary to consider. And Willamette’s offensive style will give the Bearcats a chance to win no matter who is on the floor. This was an offense that led the NWC in scoring last season, in team shooting percentage, and team 3-point percentage. The balance of the offense, with six players averaging at least 7.2 PPG in NWC play, kept opponents on their toes, and led to several strong offensive showings. Having that balance is ideal for most offenses, but it is difficult to achieve. I really like the direction Willamette is going, and between them, Whitman, and Puget Sound, the NWC should be an exciting conference race once again.
Guilford (2023-24 record: 18-7): One of the best indicators of a team’s potential for success is undoubtedly the returning production, a theme you will see throughout my Way-Too-Early Top 30. While this isn’t always true, teams with larger numbers of key returners begin the season with a slight advantage, considering chemistry and knowledge of the playbook/offensive and defensive schemes are already present, and that formula puts a team in position for a strong season to follow.
Guilford is one of those squads, a team that went 13-5 in the ODAC last season without a single senior on the roster. That’s right, the Quakers have a good chance of bringing back their entire starting five in 2024-25, including three players who started all 25 games a season ago. That includes 6-1 forward Anna Giannopoulou, a native of Athens, Greece, who enters her junior year after averaging 12.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game in 2023-24. If anyone in the ODAC is going to go toe-to-toe with W&L’s Mary Schleusner, one has good reason to believe it’ll be Giannopoulou.
Guilford’s Anna Giannopoulou will be a player to watch for Guilford in 2024-25 (Photo courtesy of Guilford Athletics) Carleigh Perry, a 5-10 forward who averaged 27.1 minutes/game last season, will enter her junior year as well, and should be a key part of the offense, especially after averaging 2.6 assists per game in 2023-24. Courtney McMillan is another scoring threat for the Quakers, as she heads into her senior year having averaged 12.9 points per game and shot 52.2% from the field a season ago. Keep an eye on Zoe Bayer as well. A 5-7 guard, Bayer averaged 9.0 points per game in 17.8 minutes/game as a true freshman in 2023-24, and could be in for a breakout year. She had 21 in Guilford’s double-overtime loss to Bridgewater in the ODAC Tournament, and had 13+ points in each of the season’s final three games.
This was a team that beat Shenandoah (who went 21-8 and reached the NCAA Tournament) by 9 on the road last season, and fell by 4 to a very talented W&L team at W&L in early January. Guilford battled with the best in the ODAC last season, and while their last NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2017, I have a good feeling that six-year drought will end next March.
Whitman (2023-24 record: 20-6): Whitman missed the NCAA Tournament last season, but still managed to reach the 20-win mark, something this program has accomplished every season since 2016 (with the exception of 2020-21). That’s pretty impressive. The standard of success is present in Walla Walla, and that won’t change in 2024-25, especially with at least three starters set to return.
Whitman head coach Michelle Ferenz used the exact same starting five from November to March, which is valuable, as there will be a significant amount of experience on the roster this next season. That said, perhaps the biggest variable in my opinion is whether Korin Baker and Lindsey Drango, both seniors, come back for another year. Both were exceptional forwards, and Baker led Whitman in scoring at 16.2 PPG. Having that level of experience and talent at the forward position is huge, and would certainly increase Whitman’s ranking if one or both opt to return.
Amongst the other three starters from last year, Carly Martin, a 5-6 guard who enters her senior year, was second on the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game. Christiane Carlisle will join Martin in the backcourt after putting up a solid 7.9 PPG, 2.8 RPG stat line in 23.5 minutes/game in 2023-24. Natalie Lundberg, also a guard, is set to return after seeing 27.4 minutes/game on the floor last season, highlighted by her 3.5 assists per game. In total, two of three projected returning starters played 27+ minutes/game, and Carlisle was arguably Whitman’s best 3-point shooter.
Carly Martin was 2nd on the team in scoring last season and is set to return as a senior (Photo courtesy of Whitman Athletics) Then there’s the younger players, whose stats from last year don’t fully reflect just how valuable they could be in the season ahead. 5-11 forward Briana Andrade, who averaged 4.0 PPG and 3.0 RPG in just 14.0 minutes/game as a First-Year last season certainly could be in for a big year, especially if Whitman has to replace one or both of its starting forwards from this past year. Emmie Ogden, a 5-10 forward heading into her senior year, could be another post player with a breakout year in store—you just never know. As long as Whitman can get its post play figured out, and I have great confidence they will, the Blues will be a contender in the NWC, and hopefully on the national level, too.
Middlebury (2023-24 record: 17-9): Middlebury was in contention in the NESCAC all season long, and honestly, it was early losses to Skidmore, Framingham State, and Springfield that hurt the Panthers’ chances to get into the NCAA Tournament. They had the SOS, but the win percentage lacked, and as it turned out, Middlebury didn’t even miss earning a Pool C bid by very much. Point being, this was a good team last year, and if there’s a year to make a big run, this feels like the season to do it.
Middlebury has one of the nation’s most prolific scorers on its roster in Alexa Mustafaj, a 5-5 guard who enters her senior year after averaging 23.6 points per game last season. Mustafaj is extremely tough to stop, and put up 16 20+ point performances in 2023-24, including a 43-point effort in the win over MIT.
Alexa Mustafaj will be one of the most prolific scorers in Division III next season and will be a key part of Middlebury’s success (Photo courtesy of Middlebury Athletics) Augusta Dixon should be back for her senior year as well, creating a dynamic one-two punch in NESCAC women’s hoops. Dixon, a 6-1 guard, averaged a double-double last season with 11.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, while tallying 54 assists and 36 blocks. While Mustafaj and Dixon accounted for the majority of Middlebury’s offensive firepower, Brooke Collins averaged 25.6 minutes/game last season as a starting guard, and should return for her junior year. In total, the only key rotational player that graduated from last year’s roster is Bethany Lucey, a guard/forward who averaged 21.7 minutes/game and made 14 starts.
With everyone else back, I have high hopes for Middlebury to break through in the NESCAC this year. It won’t be easy, as Bowdoin and Bates both bring back some serious starpower, but Middlebury is going to be right in the mix.
26. Concordia-Moorhead (2023-24 record: 20-6): The Cobbers nearly took down UW-Whitewater in the second game of their season last November, and only continued to improve from there, highlighted by a 73-65 home win over then-No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus on February 7. That victory snapped the Gusties’ 32-game MIAC win streak and Concordia went a perfect 12-0 at home during the 2023-24 campaign. The Cobbers reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade, and while the season ended with an opening-round loss to a powerful Illinois Wesleyan squad, it was the kind of season Concordia should expect to build on in 2024-25.
Amongst the returners will be forward Makayla Anderson, who led the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game and added 8.0 rebounds per contest, starting all 26 games. Anderson, who will be a senior, was nearly unstoppable in the post throughout the season, including in her 18-point performance against IWU in the tournament. She shot 51.6% from the floor this past season and will be one of the MIAC’s top post players entering 2024-25.
Makayla Anderson will be a big piece of Concordia’s success in 2024-25 (Photo courtesy of Concordia Moorhead Athletics) But Anderson isn’t the only returning threat the Cobbers will have. Carlee Sieben is set to lead the backcourt as a senior guard, having played 27.0 minutes/game last year, teaming up with Emily Beseman as an explosive duo at the guard position. Beseman graduated, which means Sieben will likely step into a more prominent role within the offense, especially as Beseman did so much on both ends of the floor for the Cobbers. Sieben averaged 3.0 assists per game in 2023-24, while also finishing second on the team in scoring, at 13.7 points per game. Sieben and Anderson will need to play at a high level if Concordia is going to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, but I also think Greta Tollefson is another player that will be key to Concordia’s success. A senior forward, Tollefson averaged 7.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and it is often important to have multiple scoring threats in the post from a schematic standpoint. Anderson may the go-to option in the paint, but having Tollefson right there as well, as a forward who can score in bunches and pull down key rebounds, is invaluable.
After what I saw from Concordia through last year, I feel good about the Cobbers’ chances to remain in the national conversation in 2024-25. Losing Beseman will be tough, no doubt, but with three starters back, it’s easy to see why the Cobbers belong in the Way-Too-Early Top 30. We’ll get the first edition of the highly-anticipated annual matchup between Gustavus and Concordia on Dec. 7 in Moorhead, which will certainly provide a great indication of where both teams are right off the bat in MIAC play.
Hope you enjoyed this first installment of my Way-Too-Early Top 30! I’ll take a look at #21-#25 in tomorrow’s edition. As always, you’re welcome to send feedback/questions/thoughts to rileyzayas@gmail.com or contact me via X/Twitter (@ZayasRiley). Have a great rest of your day!