The Best Tournament

In the past week, the America East conference has seen Dennis Wolff, the league’s “elder statesman” and longest tenured coach (15 years) fired from Boston University, and had to endure league commissioner Patrick Nero stick his foot squarely in his mouth when he went public with his conspiracy theories about why Binghamton’s D.J. Rivera was omitted from 1^st team All-Conference honors. Conference message boards have degraded into a war of words between Binghamton fans and Binghamton bashers.

What’s important for conference fans is to not forget just how good this year was for the America East as a whole. The conference will finish the season either 16^th or 17^th in RPI, up from 27^th last year. The league was competitive from top to bottom, and on any given night anyone in the conference could beat anyone else.

The America East’s terrific season was capped by one of the most remarkable conference tournaments in league history. From the opening tip-off of Friday night’s “play-in game” between 9^th seeded Hartford and 8^th seeded Maine, to Sunday’s semi-final between top ranked Binghamton and upstart UNH, the tournament was a war. All eight teams who advanced to Saturday genuinely believed they could win the whole thing, and all eight played like it.

The America East has never seen more collective blood, sweat, and tears left on the floor during one of it’s tournaments, and fans shouldn’t lose sight of this.

So here’s a look at the highlights of what may be the most competitive, and best played America East tournament ever.

Best single game performance: Darryl Proctor, UMBC versus Boston University. There were plenty of terrific games during the tournament: Jay Greene’s 29 point, 6 assist performance in the Retriever’s semi-final win over Albany was certainly impressive. D.J. Rivera was huge with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and a game ending steal and dunk against UNH. Corey Lowe tied a tournament high with 33 points in BU’s loss to UMBC. Malik Alvin was also big with 29 points in Binghamton’s win over Hartford. Tyrece Gibbs was just clutch, scoring 18 in back-to-back games. But it was Proctor who stood head and shoulders above the rest with his 33 point, 11 rebound, one-man demolition of Boston University. Boston University swarmed Proctor every time he touched the ball, but they still couldn’t stop him. Proctor fought off double and triple teams and scored from everywhere on the floor. And on the defensive end he held John Holland to three first half points, before switching over and frustrating Corey Lowe for the second half and overtime period. With 2.5 seconds left Proctor gathered in a loose ball and nailed a 10 foot fade-away jumper over two defenders to send the game into overtime, and proceeded to lead the Retrievers to victory in the extra session.

All-Tournament Team: The America East likes to wait until after the championship game to hand out All-Tournament awards, but here are the five guys who played the best during the best conference tournament in recent memory:

Darryl Proctor, UMBC: 2 games, 24 ppg, 42 mpg, 9.5 rpg, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.

Tyrece Gibbs, UNH: 2 games, 18 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 8 assists, 2 blocks.

Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben, Binghamton: 2 games, 20 ppg, 5rpg, 7 assists, 4 steals.

D.J. Rivera, Binghamton: 2 games, 19 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block.

Corey Lowe, BU: 1 game, 33 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists.

Tournament MVP: Darryl Proctor, UMBC. Proctor didn’t have a particularly good shooting night in his second game, scoring 15 points while going 6-18 from the floor (perhaps his worst shooting performance of the year considering the number of good looks he missed). But no other player put together two great tournament games, no one had as big a game as Proctor’s quarterfinal game against Boston University, and despite his shooting, Proctor helped UMBC beat Albany: He finished off two huge fast breaks, ripped down big rebounds, and helped to shut down Albany’s will Harris in the second half.

Gutsiest performance: Mike Trimboli, Vermont vs Albany. No one in the league has been as polarizing as Trimboli during his four years at Vermont, and I’ve made no bones about some of my qualms with Mike in the past. But let’s get this out on the table, Trimboli was as sick as anyone I’ve ever seen play in a game, far sicker than what was reported in the press. Trimboli left everything on the court, he just didn’t have enough on Saturday, and no one (certainly not Trimboli) deserves to have their career end the way his did. And Trimboli was a MAN after the game, as with tears in his eyes he answered every single question thrown at him honestly and openly (I for one want to know who the clown was in the press conference who first spelled out every single shortcoming of Vermont during Trimboli’s four years of playing, and then asked him just “how devastated” he was. Who the !#$%!*! does that?).

Best Stat-line: Clint Kuban, Hartford vs Binghamton. Kuban’s stat line will be hard to duplicate: 6 points, 2-2 from 3, 1 steal, 0+ minutes, and it was well earned. A four year walk-on is a terrific student and fine young man whom has maintained a GPA close to 4.0 while juggling the rigors of Division I ball while majoring in Psychology. Kuban has seldom left the bench during his career, but Saturday he single handedly made Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus pull out his own reserves, as Kuban’s corner three, steal, and ensuing three in a six second span cut Binghamton’s lead from 12 to 6 with twelve seconds left.

Biggest tear-jerker: Watching Eric Gilchrese leave the floor for the last time. Gilchrese had to overcome the death of his mother, a woman he calls his hero, in the middle of the season, and missed 12 games dealing with the grief.

Best Dunk: There weren’t many dunks in the tournament, but that wasn’t a reflection of the overall athleticism or dunking ability of the conference as a whole: This was most athletic, and best dunking year the America East has had in a very, very long time. Every team (sans Maine) had at least one BIG TIME dunker on their roster (and teams like Binghamton, UNH, and Stony Brook had several). The lack of dunks in the tournament was a reflection of just how hard every single team defended the ball for forty minutes, especially around the basket. With that said, Hartford’s Anthony Minor had a very nice two-handed caulk-back dunk in traffic against Maine, and New Hampshire’s Dane DiLiegro almost ripped the rim off with a two-handed power slam over half of Binghamton’s roster in Sunday’s semi-final night cap. However, easily the dunk of the tournament was New Hampshire’s Tyrone Conley absolutely posterizing Binghamton’s Reggie Fuller with a two-handed fast break slam. Conley snuck into the passing lane and snatched a Binghamton dish past half-court and took off at full speed towards the hoop with Fuller, one of the best shot blockers in the conference, and an All-Defensive team selection, in hot pursuit. Fuller caught up with him about 30 feet away from the hoop and chased him every step of the way. Most players would have pulled up, or tried to go up and under the hoop for a lay-up, but not Conely, who more than lived up to his nickname “Skyrone” as he launched himself like a missile at the rim. Fuller, who has a good 4 inches in height and much more in length over Conely (who’s 6’2” in shoes) jumped with him. Conely threw down a monster two-handed slam while taking a viscious hit from Fuller, which sent Conley head first on the floor. Fuller came away with a “hard-foul” call, and Conely a concussion, a leg injury, and one fantastic dunk.

Best individual pre-game dunk-show: Chauncey Gilliam. Before UMBC’s Sunday semi-final against Albany, Gilliam put on what was the best pre-game dunk performance that I have seen from an America East player since Matt Turner. Gilliam threw down almost every dunk imaginable: reverses, double-pump reverses, windmills, 360’s, the 360 the off the glass alley-oop, the off the glass reverse, the off the glass through the legs, the off the glass 360… It could only be described as REDONKULOUS.

Best team pre-game dunk show: Stony Brook. Tommy Brenton, Demetrius Young, Muhammad El-Amin, Jermol Paul, Danny Carter, Dallis Joyner, and even walk-on Michal Zylinski put on quite the show of “top-this.”

Best dunker you’ve never seen… and would never expect: David Fine. Binghamton’s junior walk-on can flat out dunk the ball. He might not look like it, but man can the kid get airborne, and he can do some really creative stuff above the rim with the ball.

Best display of sportsmanship: It’s hard to come up with only one, because the class and camaraderie that all of these kids carried themselves with on the court went above and beyond even America East standards. Sure, there was some trash-talking, but there wasn’t any disrespect on the court from one player to another (just fans to players and vice versa). But in the finale of the weekend UNH’s Dane DiLiegro helped both Tiki Mayben and Reggie Fuller of Binghamton up off the floor on separate occasions after bowling them over in the paint, giving each a hug and pat on the back, and both Mayben and Fuller later returned the favor to DiLiegro.

Best display of what being a teammate, and what America East basketball, is all about: Michael Turner. After fouling out of the last game of his college career, it would have been understandable if Turner, who played in last season’s title game and began the year with championship dreams in his head, had covered his eyes with a towel, cried, sulked, or bemoaned the basketball gods. After all, he could see that the game was in hand for Binghamton and his career, and life for the past three years, was over. So what did Turner do? He spent the rest of the game politicking and then pleading with the Hartford coaching staff to put in Kuban, a fellow senior and the only player to have spent four years in a Hawks jersey. And it was Turner who lead the cheers following both of Kuban’s three’s. And when the final buzzer sounded, Turner put aside the devastation he felt and instead wrapped up Kuban in a big bear-hug: No one moment better summed up what America East basketball is all about.

Best performance by a freshman: Many of the conference’s top freshmen during the regular season played like, well, freshman during the conference tournament. And who could blame them: They’ve never played in a pressurized situation like that before. But some other freshman stepped up and performed beautifully. Stony Brook’s Brian Dougher was nails against New Hampshire, hitting several huge three’s and driving the paint with no fear. And Seawolves big man Dallis Joyner showed of a beautiful mid-range jumper rarely seen at the America East level in a 6’8” 250 pound big man. Joyner scored 11 points on 5-7 shooting. Hartford’s Genesis Maciel jump started the Hawks Friday night win over Maine with four huge buckets in a 3 minute span, and was huge on the defensive end down the stretch. UMBC’s Chauncey Gilliam scored 16 points in the Retrievers’ overtime win against Boston University, and figuratively (and literally) quieted the Albany crowd in UMBC’s semi-final win over the host school. And no freshman was asked to do more than New Hampshire freshman Russell Graham, who had to carry most of the point guard load against Binghamton and the league’s best backcourt.

Best way to announce yourself to the league: Colby Santos, UNH. All last season the word was that the Wildcats had themselves a difference maker in Santos, who sat out as a transfer from James Madison. Santos struggled to crack New Hampshire’s lineup for most of the season, but he burst onto the scene in the Wildcats’ last game, going 5-7 from behind the arc and pouring in 17 points to go with 7 rebounds. Santos couldn’t miss, hitting tough, heavily contested three’s from all over, and shot the Wildcats back into their semifinal game against Binghamton. His play should give New Hampshire fans something to look forward to next year.

Best way to say “Goodbye” on the court: Tyrece Gibbs, UNH. Gibbs, a four-year Wildcat guard saved the best basketball of his career for last, taking his game to a new level down the stretch, scoring in double digits in all of the final nine games of his career. Gibbs was huge for the Wildcats, driving the lane fearlessly and hitting big shot after big shot to carry New Hampshire over Stony Brook in a thrilling 3-point quarterfinal win. And against top-seeded Binghamton, Gibbs took on the Bearcats trio of star-guards, taking the ball to the rack and finishing with several circus shots as well as hounding Malik Alvin all night on the defensive end. No player wants their career to end, and certainly no mid-major baller wants their career to end short of making the NCAA tournament, but if such a fate is unavoidable, Gibbs went out in the best possible way: Playing the best ball of his career with his guns a-blazing.

Best way to say “Goodbye” off the court: There we’re so many good moments after the game, from Covington and fellow senior Brian Connelly reflecting on their time at Albany to Hartford’s seniors Jaret von Rosenberg and Michael Turner sharing several laughs before somberly reflecting on how they want to be remembered. But perhaps the press conference that hit closest to the heart was hearing New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion reflect, while choking back a tear or two, on senior Tyrece Gibbs. Herrion talked about a young man who matured and grew more as a player, and a person, than anyone else he had ever coached. It was even more touching to hear Gibbs, whose road to UNH was marked by pot-holes that few men could imagine (He grew up in rough and tumble Brockton and had three brothers shot), talk about how proud he was to be a Wildcat, and how much it meant to him to know that he was leaving the program in a better place than it was when he first walked into Ludholm gymnasium as a freshman. What a phenomenal press conference. What a phenomenal young man.

Best display of fan sportsmanship: I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t describe a lot of what came out of the student sections of either Albany or Binghamton as particularly classy (“Fat and ugly” chants towards cheerleaders, and booing and taunting seniors who have just lost their final college game are just some of the “class” that was displayed at times). But Albany’s fans couldn’t help but give UMBC baton-twirler Staci a standing ovation after a fantastic, and world class, routine. I thought it was a nice gesture.

Best Mascot: Wolfie the Stony Brook Seawolf. Wolfie already earned a place as the leagues best Mascot (and a place in mascot lore) four years ago during the America East tournament when he clothslined and power-slammed “Official NCAA Mascot” JJ Jumper. This year, Wolfie once again delighted the crowd, leading the Stony Brook dance team through a choreographed dance routine set to Michael Jackson music. He danced to freaking thriller man… thriller! THRILLER!

Best fans: Binghamton certainly travelled the best, as you have to tip your cap to the “BU Zoo” for coming out in such numbers, the league needs that from more teams. And Albany’s fans definitely made a lot of noise in support of their team. But my favorites were the fans of UMBC, Hartford, and UNH. What a bunch of classy, and knowledgeable basketball fans. New Hampshire’s small but loyal bunch earned a special place in my heart, as they trekked down from the great white north to support a team that most people didn’t have winning a game, and cheered their hearts out in the face of top seeded Binghamton, and the most hostile fan base in the conference. It was also very, very encouraging to see Stony Brook’s fans travel in numbers.

Best dance performance by a team: UMBC players Chauncey Gilliam, Jake Wasco, Bakari Smith, Rich Flemming, and Brett Burrier were beyond entertaining during the second game Sunday (UNH vs Binghamton). UMBC’s “fab-five” (as far as rhythm is concerned) put on quite the performance after their semi-final win, dancing up a storm in the bleachers behind the far basket whenever music was played over the arena stereo. Gilliam gets top marks, but believe it or not, Wasco wasn’t that far behind.

Best dance performance by an individual player: Michael Turner’s celebratory shuffle after departing the team bus at the Marriot following Hartford’s Friday night win over Maine. I’m just kidding, that was quite possibly the worst display of rhythm I have ever seen in my entire life… ever. Mike, that was twelve-seconds of my life that I will never get back.

I kid because I love.

Highlight of the Tournament: Getting to spend three days of the most exhilarating basketball I’ve ever seen with my brother.