Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press Herald reported on the great effort put up by Maine’s Shaun Lawton and Till Gloger to almost pull the upset, but Dre Wills showed why he is the best player in three states by hitting six of eight shots and adding three steals, six rebounds and five assists to rally Vermont 68-54 this past season.

Sure, the residents of the three northeastern most states may be more focused on skiing than team sports, but Wills has a shot to rank as one of the top 100 players in America this year. As one of the top players in steals and shooting percentage in the country, he projects, according to Value Add Sports, as adding 6.27 points per game to the Catamounts—more than two points more than any other player and the 106th best total of the 4000+ players in the country.

The Best Returning Players will be updated here.

Tad Neely anchors the offensive line for New Hampshire to come in second in the three-state region, and William Pelletier put in 16 goals and 25 assists, including two goals with one assist in the tough luck 4-3 loss in the NCAA D3 quarterfinals at Amherst.

Maine’s top player is linebacker Christophe Mulumba Tshimanga, a former hockey player who appears to be quite a character in this video from the school.

Vermont also boasts high school basketball stars coming up in Saxtons River High School’s Tyrique Jones (going to Xavier in 2016) and Bruce Brown (sought after by every conference).

Here are the top 40 players, with the Value Add rankings for basketball and football players.

Rnk Student-Athlete School Pos-State Value Add Sport Sport Nat’l
1 Wills, Dre Vermont Catamounts PG-VT 6.27 Basketball 106
2 McNeely, Tad New Hampshire Wildcats Oline-NH 3.03 Football 403
3 Pelletier, William Norwich University Cadets F-VT NA Hockey NA
4 O’Day, Ethan Vermont Catamounts C-VT 4.11 Basketball 416
5 Wright, Miles Dartmouth Big Green SF-NH 3.96 Basketball 465
6 Watson, Carly Middlebury Panthers D-VT NA Wom Hockey NA
7 Shippee, Jacob Dartmouth Big Green Javelin-NH NA Track/Field NA
8 Ward, Cam Vermont Catamounts PG-VT 3.82 Basketball 495
9 Whitehorn, Kaitlin Dartmouth Big Green Hjump-NH NA Track/Field NA
10 Cross, Taylor Norwich University Cadets D-VT NA Wom Hockey NA
11 McRoberts, Zach Vermont Catamounts SF-VT 3.8 Basketball 501
12 Anderson, Akil New Hampshire Wildcats LB-NH 2.79 Football 584
13 DeAndrade, Casey New Hampshire Wildcats Dback-NH 2.69 Football 687
14 Gill, Malik Dartmouth Big Green PG-NH 2.96 Basketball 759
15 Murphy, Brooke New Hampshire Wildcats F-NH NA Soccer NA
16 Bell-Haynes, Trae Vermont Catamounts PG-VT 2.79 Basketball 836
17 Tshimanga, Ch. Mulumba Maine Black Bears LB-ME 2.45 Football 977
18 Leissner, Tanner New Hampshire Wildcats C-NH 2.48 Basketball 982
19 Steidel, Kurt Vermont Catamounts SF-VT 2.44 Basketball 999
20 Brown, Bruce Saxtons River High School SG-VT NA HS-Basket NA
21 Smith, Jaleen New Hampshire Wildcats SG-NH 2.37 Basketball 1035
22 Johnson, Bruce Maine Black Bears Oline-ME 2.37 Football 1099
23 Jones, Tyrique Saxtons River High School PF-VT NA HS-Basket NA
24 Hatton, Brandon Vermont Catamounts SG-VT 1.92 Basketball 1385
25 Bates, Trevor Maine Black Bears Dline-ME 2.12 Football 1524
26 Reed, Jordan New Hampshire Wildcats-2017 PG-NH 1.7 Basketball 1562
27 Carpenter, Tommy Dartmouth Big Green SF-NH 1.29 Basketball 1927
28 Lawton, Shaun Maine Black Bears SF-ME 1.16 Basketball 2055
29 Speidel, Josh Vermont Catamounts PF-VT 1 Basketball 2445
30 Boudreaux, Evan Dartmouth Big Green PF-NH 1 Basketball 2490
31 Crescenzi, Kevin Dartmouth Big Green SG-NH 0.96 Basketball 2578
32 Ngwudo, Ikemefuna Dartmouth Big Green SF-NH 0.52 Basketball 2999
33 Boehm, Connor Dartmouth Big Green PF-NH 0.51 Basketball 3016
34 McDonnell, Brandon Dartmouth Big Green PF-NH 0.3 Basketball 3186
35 Harrison, Cole Dartmouth Big Green PF-NH 0.25 Basketball 3232
36 Camara, Iba New Hampshire Wildcats C-NH 0.24 Basketball 3251
37 Armstrong, Jacoby New Hampshire Wildcats PF-NH 0.22 Basketball 3267
38 Mackey, Ethan Maine Black Bears PF-ME 0.12 Basketball 3424
39 DeAndrade, Casey New Hampshire Wildcats Dback-NH 1.2 Football 3924
40 Milano, Matt Middlebury Panthers QB-VT 0.98 Football 4621
40 Minno, Matthew Middlebury Panthers Rec-VT 0.3 Football 5466