Non-conference is about as soft as I can remember. No early season tournament. USC and maybe Providence are the only higher echelon games. A couple of D-II’s in J&W and Elms. The rest are all probably 200 or worse rankings. Maybe Bryant or Vermont or someone is higher.
I suppose with young squad and more new players than usual, this is probably by design. Anyone have any insight?
I think your take on the young squad is probably the right one. They don’t leave New England proper until November 20th and don’t leave the East Coast until Christmas break. It looks like a schedule designed to keep the team on campus, which I suppose means more time for the freshmen to adjust to their new routines and more time for practice.
Based on Bart Torvik’s 2026 projections, which are far from perfect, it looks like a relatively strong start to the season, with Siena and Vermont both in the high 100s, followed by a string of stinkers - granted, Maine and UNH being bad has never stopped them from beating us in seasons past, especially on the road. Bryant has a new coach and URI has a bad one, so we’ll see where they are come December. I do like that we play the local rivals over the course of the same week, with Elms College mixed in the day after the Bryant game to give the freshmen a taste of a back to back.
I don’t have a problem with the D-2’s, it’s hard to find D-1’s then and it gives the bench guys some run. Otherwise the schedule looks okay.