Navy on 11/2 as the home and season opener, and American at home on 12/9, both at home, per release today

Final exams are December 11-17 so students should still be around.

Some thoughts on the other confirmed teams on the slate so far:

Navy
Preseason Bart Torvik Rank: #307
Key Returners: Jinwoo Kim, Cameron Cole
Key Transfers: None. It is Navy after all...
Thoughts: Navy would have been a more intriguing team to play a year ago under first year coach Jon Perry. Their top two scorers in Austin Benigni (95th in scoring) and Aidan Kehoe (6th nationally in rebounding) depart. That's definitely a good thing, because I can still remember Benigni beating GW off the dribble when we last played them a few years ago. Stretch Akingbola's 11 blocks was the lone highlight in a game that shouldn't have gone to overtime. Returners Kim and Cole were two of the Navy's better shooters last year, so maybe the Midshipmen feature the perimeter more (only 314th in 3PA% last year). Defense was their stronger side of the ball (111th per KenPom), but regression is likely coming as Navy benefitted from some three point shooting luck. Opponents shot just 30% from behind the arc (7th nationally) despite foes taking 46% of their shots from there against them (343rd nationally). Expect a slow tempo. The last time Navy played fast was 2011 under now-NBA champion Billy Lange.

Harvard
Preseason Bart Torvik Rank: #124
Key Returners: Robert Hinton, Tey Barbour, Thomas Batties III, Austin Hunt, Ben Eisendrath
Key Transfers: None. Few schools in the Ivy really do transfers.
Thoughts: Harvard enjoyed their best season since COVID last year. Tommy Amaker enters year 20 along the sideline, trying to recapture the success from the 2010s. Yale has emerged as the top dog since then and improvement from other teams has left Harvard as the forgotten team. Torvik has them preseason #1 in the league, but I'm a bit skeptical of that. They should be solid regardless and continuity is a strength. Leading scorer Robert Hinton is back, as are two other double figure scorers/local products in Tey Barbour (who had a GW offer out of HS) and Thomas Batties III - their top two three point shooters. Expect another slow tempo team - Harvard was 359th in pace last year. The Crimson have been top 25 in FT% the last two years but have rarely got to the line (bottom 10 nationally during this time), which feels like a waste. Defense has been the better end for them the last five years. They are consistently good at keeping teams off the line, generally have decent rim protection, and make teams grind out possessions in the halfcourt.

American
Preseason Bart Torvik Rank: #184
Key Returners: Pretty much everyone outside Geoff Sprouse
Key Transfers: None. Sensing a theme here...
Thoughts: American is currently Torvik's top team in the Patriot thanks to really good continuity. All three double figure scorers in Madden Collins, Greg Jones, and Julen Iturbe return (although the departed Sprouse was their top three point shooter). They played slightly faster last year compared to the first two years under Simpkins but are still on the slower side. Like Harvard, the Eagles rely on efficient halfcourt shooting to put points on the board because offensive rebounding and free throw shooting are largely ignored. Defensively, AU has been decent forcing turnovers and defensive rebounding but rim protection has been nonexistent under Simpkins and teams have had little trouble finishing against them. This year's game should be a bit closer than last year for sure.
 

MG14 wrote:

https://x.com/i/status/2078268336454987840

Looks like we're getting BC

 
Calendar that one - Bill Murray at Smitty next December. Nice.

I believe Army has been removed from the schedule and that we are playing LIU and Southeastern Louisiana, both at home.