Wrenball: A Preview

They’ve endured mostly lean times at William and Mary World Basketball Headquarters since She Who Shall Not Be Named blew up the competitive structure at the end of the last decade and went the entry-level route, with predictably dismal results. A change in leadership and a group of returning players intrigued by the new guy created a different vibe and the notion that Tribe hoops may be more than an innocuous winter diversion. 

School brass finally pulled the plug on the Dane Fischer Experiment and landed Cornell Big Whistle Brian Earl, whose Kaplan Arena debut is Nov. 4 against Dickinson College. A coach with a sub-.500 career record probably doesn’t qualify as a home run hire, but for William and Mary it’s inarguably an extra-base hit. 

Earl built and ran a solid program at a school with a comparable footprint. His last three years at Cornell produced a 54-30 overall record, 25-17 in the Ivy League. Last season’s Big Red won 22 games and earned the program’s first NIT invite. He seemed to have hit upon a formula, or at least assembled a quality group, which makes his decision to jump to a struggling program with limited success over the years curious. 

I’m generally loath to speculate without actual reporting and informed conversations, but I suspect that he thought the Big Red had approached its ceiling, while William and Mary has ample room above. Resources at any Ivy program not named Princeton, Harvard or Yale are limited. The Ivy does not permit redshirting. The transfer portal throughout the league is more egress than ingress. Earl now has a honeymoon with a supportive administration and greater roster flexibility, coupled with an attractive style of play that doesn’t require supreme size or athleticism. 

His teams play quickly, attempt to force the pace with pressure defense, and shoot a lot of 3-pointers. Cornell last season was sixth nationally in 3-point attempts per game (29.7), 10th in 3-pointers made per game (10.3), sixth in assists (18.1) and 16th in scoring (82.1 ppg). The Big Red ranked in the top 25 in adjusted tempo the past three seasons, according to stats guru Ken Pomeroy, and last season had the sixth-shortest average possession time (15 seconds) in Division I; conversely, the Tribe was No. 299 in possession time. 

Earl, a Princeton grad and Ivy League Player of the Year in 1999, has said that he does not aim to duplicate what his Cornell teams did – different personnel and all that – but that the style of play at W&M will rhyme with what they did in Ithaca. Players have spoken positively in preseason about goosed tempo and playing faster. The Tribe has nine new players – five transfers, four freshmen – but it’s a core group of upperclass returnees that likely will dictate results. 

Five players with a combined 156 career starts and that accounted for 60 percent of last season’s scoring output give Earl more experience and built-in camaraderie than many new coaches inherit. Start with brothers Gabe and Caleb Dorsey and Chase Lowe. Gabe Dorsey (14 ppg) is a versatile 6-6 wing whose 113 3-pointers last season ranked fourth nationally and was named preseason first-team all-conference. Brother Caleb (7 ppg, 6 rpg) is a 6-8, 235-pound forward who started 27 games last season. Lowe, a 6-5 junior, averaged 12.5 points and team highs in both rebounding (7.3) and assists (3.2). Noah Collier, a 6-8 senior, is healthy again after his last season-and-a-half was scuttled by injuries. He averaged 9.0 ppg and 8.2 rpg two seasons ago. Senior 6-5 wing Matteus Case (6.8 ppg, 4 rpg) averaged 27 minutes per game last season. 

The transfer class is heavy on versatility and 3-point shooting. Keller Boothby, a 6-7 grad student who accompanied Earl from Cornell, averaged 5.5 ppg and shot 41 percent from 3-point range. Kyle Pulliam, a 6-5 junior, averaged 14.3 ppg and shot 44 percent from 3 at D2 St. Thomas Aquinas, while 6-3 junior Kyle Frazier (10.1 ppg) shot 39 percent from 3 at D2 Belmont Abbey. Malachi Ndur, a 6-8, 225-pound grad student from Brown, averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds per game and shot 35 percent from 3. Finn Lally, a 6-9 native of New Zealand, averaged 9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game at regional junior college power Trinidad State in Colorado. 

Overall, there is sufficient length to be at least a nuisance defensively. The Tribe was picked to finish seventh out of 14 teams in the distended conglomerate that’s now the Coastal Athletic Association, which seems equal parts acknowledgement of returning production and healthy skepticism due to recent lower-tier finishes and a new coach. The non-conference schedule is largely state and regional schools (Old Dominion, VCU, Richmond, Radford, Norfolk State, Appalachian State, Navy, a tournament at Winthrop) and a marquee step up versus 2024 Final Four party crasher N.C. State, followed by the 18-game CAA slate. 

No telling what to expect from the Tribe other than a fresh look and a slew of new faces, including a coach with a vision who appears to know what he’s doing. After four grim seasons, that’s a healthy start.