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| Photos by Ryan Coleman and Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
By Ryan Scott
D3hoops.com
The 2024-25 Division III basketball season starts with defending champions atop both the men’s and women’s D3hoops.com Top 25 polls, but they’re not unanimous selections and there are plenty of question marks entering the season.
The NYU women return two All-American team leaders in Natalie Bruns and Belle Pellecchia and the bring in another crop of high caliber talent, but few players who’ve seen big minutes for them before. There’s some question whether a new-look Violets squad can compete with really strong challengers who bring back the core of really good teams from a season ago.
The majority of the Top 10 return eight or more rotation players and look to build on last year’s success — that includes the surprise Washington & Lee squad, led by junior All-American Mary Schluesner, who put on the most dominant individual tournament performance in history last year. The Generals are breaking in a new coach, but look to be making waves.
Another team to watch is Gustavus Adolphus. Ranked fifth heading into March, the Gusties lost a heartbreaking double overtime game to Trine in the first round, which dropped them down the final poll, but doesn’t reflect the talent or experience of this squad. Led by three fifth-year players, Gustavus isn’t about to let their second chance slip away.
“We were not ready for Trine’s physicality,” says head coach, Laurie Kelly. Neither teams’ numbers were anything to brag about, as both defenses did their jobs well, but the rebounding advantage for the Thunder stands out.
“[The loss] never goes away,” says fifth-year guard, Emma Kniefel. “We talk about it all the time, because it leaves such a terrible gut feeling and we share that pain together. We know what it feels like and we know what it will take [to win]. There is no room for complacency.”
They’re also not shying away from tough games in preparation for the tournament. MIAC teams get just five non-conference games, but Gustavus plays literally half the WIAC with theirs, along with a Colorado College squad that constantly hovered around the Top 25 last season and boasts 6-2 senior center Zoe Tomlinson, who is as physical as they come down low.
On the men’s side, Trine lost Cortex Garland and Brent Cox, but return most of their production and a surprisingly young team that really grew into their potential on the way to the national championship. They’ve also got two all-conference transfers to bolster a title defense.
Their chief competition seems to be the team they knocked off to make the Final Four. Up 10 with 1:40 to go, UW-Platteville experienced one of the most improbable losses in recent memory, as seemingly everything that could go wrong, did, and the Thunder prevailed in overtime.
“That’s life, right? Things don’t always go your way. I don’t want to say it wasn’t our time last year, but it just wasn’t our time,” says head coach Jeff Gard. Adds Ben Probst, one of three players back for a fifth season: “We learned from the moment. It changed our mindset. You really understand how every little thing can change the game.”
Another fifth-year player, Logan Pearson, sums it up well: “We have to play every game all forty minutes. We led that game 39 minutes and they went on a 10-0 run. If we can’t finish a full game, we don’t deserve to win. You have to learn from your mistakes. New season on the 8th.”
If they had won, there’s a good chance this team wouldn’t be together. An All-American and one of the preseason favorites for national player of the year, Pearson certainly could have explored opportunities at the scholarship level, but he’s back, with sights set on the title once again.
Pearson and Probst had been planning to use this fifth year for a while — a luxury the extra COVID year provided to many of this year’s super seniors, who were freshmen when the pandemic first canceled games.
Kniefel, at Gustavus, was able to use this extra year to add a second major and also make another run with her team, which struggled to rise in the polls last year and will need to earn their reputation with those early non-conference games.
Kelly is hoping last year’s disappointment, along with the early-season WIAC competition, puts her squad on track to go all the way.
“It’s easy to be forgotten being so close to the WIAC. Those teams know they could lose any given night. Our league has traditionally had teams where, even if you didn’t have your best night, you thought you could squeak out a win. The intensity with which they have to play every night in Wisconsin really helps come tournament time and our league is getting there again.”
Avenging last season’s disappointment will be on the forefront of mind for many teams this year. One of the reasons there’s so much expectation from Platteville and Gustavus Adolphus in particular is the history of high level success.
“It takes a lot of luck to win,” says Kelly, who won a Division III women’s basketball national championship as a player in 1991 with St. Thomas. “It’s not always the most talented team. That’s always been the message. You have to remain in the moment and enjoy each moment, because you can’t make it happen.”
Kelly will get a reminder of this on opening night. Following her game against La Crosse, she and Eau Claire head coach Tonja Englund will drive to St. Thomas to participate in the Hall of Fame induction for their title team, before driving back to Eau Claire and playing each other the next day.
It’s a perfect illustration of success breeding success. Gard talks about the patience required to prepare properly and do the little things early to set up success, not just in March, but for years to come.
“Patience is the key,” says Gard. “You want to be in January, February mode right now, but there’s a process to get there. You can’t skip any steps.”
Kelly’s attitude is very much the same. She recognized the unique nature of a six-member senior class (especially when one of them is her own daughter), but her priority is clearly making sure those veteran leaders prepare the next generation of Golden Gusties to keep the level of play high into the future. In our interview, there was no focus on the possibilities of the season, but more on how much work it takes to bridge the gap between the younger players and her stellar seniors class.
Still, the benefit of experience cannot be overstated, even if it came at the price of extreme disappointment.
“I don’t find myself repeating much,” says Gard of Platteville’s preseason practices. “You turn it over to your leaders. They put in the work the last four years, so they understand the expectations. I can only have contact with them 114 days. When you have an older group, those guys can lead the way, they can teach the younger guys the right way to do things, even in pickup games. They are the coaches on the floor.”
The story is the same for a number of men’s teams running back largely the same roster. Emory , the preseason No. 8 team, was perhaps the most talented team not to make the tournament. They return most of the roster, as does fellow UAA squad, No. 18 Carnegie Mellon, who lost in the first round.
No. 15 Wisconsin Lutheran came one shot away from an overtime upset of WashU in St. Louis and brings a host of grad students back for a fifth year and a final shot at spoiling the power conference party.
While experience and focus may put your team in a position to succeed, we know there will always be surprises. That’s what makes the Division III hoops season so exciting and anticipated. Every team is on a mission. Regardless of the preseason polls, it’s all a blank slate.
Coaches stress one game at a time, but it’s really more acute than that. Gustavus and Platteville know, first hand, how much difference each second matters - and new teams will discover the same thing in the months to come. No one knows what will happen, but we do know there are more than 800 teams locked in and ready to go.
