Huskies Look Like They’ve Learned Their Lesson

BOSTON – With an 11-game winning streak and an 8-1 start in the CAA, one had to wonder if Northeastern could avoid a repeat of last season, where they clearly peaked too soon.  They never played at the same level after they reached 9-1 in the CAA with a win at VCU, which followed wins over George Mason (home) and Old Dominion (road).  This season would provide a chance to see if they learned from the experience.

The early indication is that they have.  Last year, the Huskies may have won at Drexel and at Wright State in the BracketBusters game, but they didn’t have a win like Saturday’s 74-64 win over Old Dominion during the last month of play.  The Monarchs rode an eight-game winning streak into the contest and were looking very much like the conference favorites they were projected to be in the preseason.

Not only that, but the Huskies had to survive a pretty good second half from the Monarchs, who disrupted them constantly but couldn’t get much going on offense to take advantage.  The Monarchs had the momentum on several occasions, and when they got within 52-46 Husky fans had to wonder if this team could hold them off.

But this team is different.  This team has already been humbled thanks to a 2-7 start with a very tough non-conference schedule.  They already survived a very difficult stretch.  This team with an odd mix of seasoned veterans and young players has learned how to get through a rough patch, and it showed.

After the Monarchs got within six, the Huskies scored the next six points and led by double digits until just under two minutes were left, at which point they got the lead back to double digits on the next possession.  At that point, they could breathe a little easier while sealing the game with more free throws.

Without question, the win itself is important as they bounced back.  But just as important is how they won, withstanding a big second half by Old Dominion and stretches where they seemed on the verge of breaking through and taking over the game.  They did it the way they have won games since late December, when they recommitted themselves to being a good defensive team.  The Monarchs shot 40 percent from the field in the second half.

“We came in the huddle at the first TV timeout and decided we needed to step up our defense,” said junior guard Chaisson Allen, who had a game-high 19 points and six assists with just one turnover.  “When you can’t find your offense, you know you can work on defense and get turnovers that turn into points.”

That the Huskies continued the solid defense and played a better overall game is exactly why this game is a big positive sign for them.  The feeling is that they didn’t play well as a team against Drexel, often playing too much one-on-one basketball against a team that isn’t a good matchup for them in that style of game.  Old Dominion, with its size and length, would be a bad matchup in a similar sense, and the difference in how the Huskies played could be seen in the end result.

It all adds up to a feeling that last season was a lesson learned, along with earlier this season.

“I think it definitely is a huge learning experience, especially for us older guys, and now we can pass what we went through down to some of the freshmen that are playing big minutes for us this year,” said senior Matt Janning.  “We went through that stretch last year where we won some big games, and then it’s like the energy level completely dropped off.  I don’t think it’s going to happen this year – it hasn’t yet – and we’ve just got to, like Chase said, maintain our focus, keep the energy high, and keep using each other and getting better.”

Northeastern is back on track after this win.  They are right back in the thick of the CAA race, but more importantly, they are looking like a team that won’t repeat the last month and a half of last season.  They don’t look like a team that has peaked yet, which would be too soon.

Bracket Breakdown: Pac-10′s Struggles Will Benefit Mountain West, Atlantic 10

With the Pac-10 experiencing more upheaval than the conference has had in 20 years, it’s increasingly likely that the Pac-10 won’t field more than one team in the NCAA Tournament if California wins the conference’s automatic bid.

Since 1989, the Pac-10 has had no fewer than three bids in the NCAA Tournament, and that only happened twice. In the past three tournaments, the Pac-10 has placed six teams in the field. With the sudden decline of traditional powerhouses such as Arizona and UCLA, a couple other conferences stand to benefit, specifically the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West.

Entering the final weekend of January, only one Pac-10 team, California, has an RPI better than 50. And Cal’s solid computer profile — an RPI of 18 — largely depends on the second toughest schedule in the country. But the Golden Bears have fared poorly against those tough teams, losing all four games against top 50 opponents. Only half the conference has any wins against teams in the RPI top 50.

Besides California, every other Pac-10 team has significant hurdles to overcome. The second-place team, Arizona, already has nine losses and is only two games better than .500. The Wildcats probably need to win eight or nine of their final 10 conference games to have a legitimate shot at the NCAA Tournament. Part of the problem is that with so many struggling teams, it’s hard for a team like Arizona to notch any résumé-building victories.

Meanwhile, the Mountain West has four teams in contention for at-large bids. BYU is 20-2 and has an RPI of 22.  The second-place team, New Mexico, is 19-3 and has a higher RPI, at 11. UNLV and San Diego State also are in the top 50 and figure to remain in the at-large discussion until Selection Sunday. In existence since 1999, the conference has never fielded four teams in the NCAA Tournament.

On the East Coast — and Midwest and Southeast — the Atlantic 10 Conference, which has 14 teams, looks ever stronger. The conference’s pre-season favorite, Dayton, sits at seventh place entering the final weekend of January. The Flyers match the Pac-10′s best, California, with a 14-6 record, but Dayton has two wins against teams in the RPI top 50. The team’s non-conference strength of schedule is excellent at No. 20, and the best win is against surging Georgia Tech. No offense to the Ohio Valley Conference’s premier program, but California’s best win is against Murray State on opening day. If you had to pick right now, whom do you want in the NCAA Tournament — California or Dayton?

Besides the Flyers, Temple, Xavier, Charlotte and Rhode Island all have compelling arguments for automatic bids. Temple has the best victory of any team in the Atlantic 10, Mountain West or Pac-10 with an upset of Villanova — the Wildcats’ only loss entering the last weekend of January.

So while the Pac-10 could flirt with one-bid conference status, several strong teams in the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West are poised to seize an opportunity to grab more automatic bids for two non-power conferences. Based on the Pac-10′s performance this season, it’s hard to consider it a power conference on par with the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC.

Princeton Quietly Moving Back to Contender Status

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – While Cornell and Harvard grab most of the Ivy League headlines, there’s a quiet resurgence going on in one corner of the league.  Without fanfare, Sydney Johnson has Princeton on the way back to contention.

The Tigers were picked second in the Ivy League’s preseason poll this year, which might have seemed a little optimistic to some.  But there could be no mistaking where the program has been headed since the former league Player of the Year took over nearly three years ago.  It’s been on the rise from the beginning.  And now that Johnson has added some young talent to go with his veterans, the Tigers may be ready to surprise some people.

In Johnson’s first season, he took the same players who struggled mightily and made them a respectable team.  The difference from year-to-year was of the night-and-day variety despite a 3-11 Ivy League record.  Last season, the Tigers were the last team to be undefeated in league play en route to finishing tied for second place at 8-6.  This past weekend, the Tigers began league play by sweeping Brown and Yale on the road, which improves their overall road record to 6-4.  At 11-5, the Tigers are just two wins away from last season’s total.

Princeton starts a pair of seniors in Marcus Schroeder and Pawel Buczak and a junior in Dan Mavraides.  Senior Zach Finley also plays significant minutes.  While they all provide leadership in addition to the obvious contributions, the Tigers are getting a big boost from some younger talent.

“I do think we have good young players, and I don’t know if everybody knows that,” Johnson said after the Tigers knocked off Brown with some solid defense.  “If you look at our program, I think we have some older guys who are providing leadership, but we’ve got some talented younger guys.”

Leading the way are sophomores Douglas Davis and Patrick Saunders, who comprise two-thirds of the starting backcourt.  Davis was an honorable mention All-Ivy selection as a freshman last season and leads the team in scoring this season.  He shoots from long range at a better than 40 percent clip, and he had that on display Friday night as he was 4-8 from behind the arc.  Saunders entered the weekend second in the Ivy League in three-point percentage at 48.5 percent and had a good stretch before league play began.

It doesn’t stop there, though.  Look into the frontcourt, and you see talented freshmen Ian Hummer and Will Barrett.  Hummer is fourth on the team in scoring and came through on Friday when Buczak and Finley got in early foul trouble, and has also won a league Rookie of the Week honor.  Barrett hasn’t played a lot of minutes thus far, but they are increasing of late and players like him – long, with the ability to shoot and talented enough to play at a slightly higher level – aren’t overly common in the Ivy League.  Barrett is buried behind veterans, but is worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

Players like Davis and Saunders have helped accelerate the return of Princeton to the status of a contender in the league.  The players Johnson inherited from the prior staff have all improved, but Davis came in and made an impact right away and Saunders has come alive this season.  It was already clear that Johnson was picking up some key recruiting wins, and now we’re seeing the early results of it.

Johnson knows that his team isn’t going to get a lot of attention easily, not with talk of a possible at-large between Cornell and Harvard if the right scenario happens.  But they are playing well and looking very much like a team on their way to being a contender, and while that might not happen this season, they’re on track to do so next season.

UNC-Wilmington: Seahawks Boot Moss From Coaching Gig

Coach Benny Moss will not lead UNC-Wilmington to the conclusion of this season after the university decided to reassign him within the athletics department, according to a school press release.

The Seahawks are 7-14 this season, on pace to record their third losing season in four years with Moss at the helm. In his stead, assistant coach Brooks Lee will be interim head coach.

Moss arrived in Wilmington after working as an assistant at Charlotte for six seasons. This position was his first Division I head coaching job. He finishes it with a 41-74 record.

Lee will step into his first head coaching gig after working as an assistant with the Seahawks, Wofford, East Carolina and UNC-Greensboro.

Quick Hitters – January 29, 2010

Quick hitters as we head into another weekend, the first full weekend of Ivy League play:

• Boston College is suddenly relevant again after knocking off Clemson 75-69 on Tuesday night.  The Eagles looked dead after a 1-3 start in ACC play, with all three losses being by double digits, and a tough loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday didn’t help.  But the Eagles took over Tuesday’s game with the press – something that has more often killed the Eagles when other teams have done it – and played their best game in a while.  Reggie Jackson sparked the Eagles as soon as he came off the bench, and led the way with 18 points and seven assists.
  While he’s the second-youngest player on the team (Brady Heslip has displaced him as the youngest), Jackson clearly has a keen sense of where his team stands in the grand scheme of things.

  “We figured, we want to win to be a contender in this league and make the NCAA Tourney,” Jackson said.  “Also, I preached to the team when we came out at halftime that if we want (the fans) to keep showing up, we’re going to have to get W’s, because this is basically a professional city.  With the Red Sox, the Patriots and Celtics, if we want people to show up, we’re going to have to put up more W’s and stop letting people down.”

  The Eagles still have a lot of work to do to reach the NCAA Tournament, but knocking off Clemson makes the case that a run by them can’t be counted out just yet.

• Clemson was without junior point guard Demontez Stitt due to a sprained foot, but that wasn’t why the Tigers lost.  In the first half, after running out to an 8-3 lead they simply didn’t look like they were in the game.  The offense didn’t have much life to it, and Oliver Purnell hasn’t had quite the depth he’s had in the past as his freshmen don’t appear to be as good right now as those he’s had in past years were as freshmen to help spell the starters for a few minutes.
  “For whatever reason, I thought we were a bit flat in the first half – flat-footed, we weren’t tough with the basketball, missed layups, and just weren’t sharp and tough,” Purnell said after the game.

• Purnell added that while Stitt still played over 30 minutes in games since the injury, he turned it over again in each game and got to the point where it would be more prudent to hold him out given the time in between games.  The Tigers don’t play again until they host Maryland on Sunday.

• One had to wonder how Providence would bounce back from the meltdown against South Florida.  In their first game after it, the Friars showed no ill effects in beating Connecticut 81-66.
  “I couldn’t have dreamed that we’d bounce back like this,” said head coach Keno Davis, after what he called “our best game of the year.”

• Bryant stayed with Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday for a while, but the Knights had too much in the backcourt with Terence Grier and Sean Baptiste, who combined to go 7-9 from long range.  The Bulldogs, who remain short-handed due to injuries as Cecil Gresham is done for the season, aren’t far away but that first win is still proving elusive.
  “I can’t fault our effort in any way,” said head coach Tim O’Shea.  “I said in the locker room, they really are a much better team than they were a few months ago, it’s just a matter of trying to get over the hump here.”

• Santa Clara made a pretty good bid to knock off Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs played like a conference leader in coming back to basically win the game going away on the road.  There might not be a player more valuable to his team than Matt Bouldin is to Gonzaga, and Thursday night marked the eighth straight game in which he played at least 37 minutes.  With Demetri Goodson having some growing pains at the point, Bouldin has had to handle a lot of responsibility, but he just keeps winning games.

Stanford: Cardinal QB Moves to the Hardwood

Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard has turned in his shoulder pads and helmet for a pair of sneakers and a jersey that wouldn’t make a referee feel protected on the football field.

After completing his eligibility as Stanford’s quarterback, Pritchard will continue his career as a Cardinal with the basketball team, giving coach Johnny Dawkins some much-needed depth, according to the Associated Press. Only six players average more than 14 minutes per game this season for the 10-9 Cardinal. Despite the mediocre record, Stanford is 4-3 in Pac-10 play, winning all four of their home games.

Pritchard will sit on the bench for the first time during the team’s game against Arizona. He just started practicing with the team, so don’t expect him in a game until next week.

On the gridiron, Pritchard had 2,865 yards and 15 touchdowns during his career..

Huskies’ Athletes Having Trouble Scoring, Winning

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – For a long time, the philosophy of a lot of winning coaches and programs when it came to recruiting included two key words: recruit athletes.  You always want players with skill, and ideally with that and physical gifts, but you can’t go wrong recruiting athletes since they can develop.  But they have to develop, and if they don’t on a team that doesn’t have enough skill in a key area or two, it might not work.

So it goes for the Connecticut Huskies this season.

Look at their roster, or watch them before the game, and they look impressive.  They pass the look test, with a lot of length and athleticism.  But once the game begins, it’s not long before the feeling changes.  And on Wednesday night, when the Huskies lost 81-66 at Providence, it was right there for many to see.

Like many of Jim Calhoun’s teams at Connecticut, this one is excellent defensively.  The Huskies entered the game tops in the Big East in field goal percentage defense, with Syracuse not far behind.  On Wednesday, they held Providence to 40 percent shooting, which on many nights would be good enough to win.  The Huskies have been remarkably consistent defensively, as there is basically no difference in the opponent’s field goal percentage in their wins or losses.  It’s the offense that wins or loses games, and for too much of this season it has been losing games.

Another thing this team shares with many of Calhoun’s teams is that there is a lot of athleticism.  This team is dangerous in a fast-paced game with a lot of running, as they are at their best when they get transition baskets.  When it’s a slow, half court game, the opponent has this team right where they want them.  Past Connecticut teams could win these games, often quite convincingly, but not this one.

It starts with the lack of shooters.  Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson are capable shooters, but neither strikes fear in opposing perimeter players and neither seems fond of taking jumpers.  Stanley Robinson is shooting well, but he, too, strikes more fear in opposing players with his ability to score closer to the basket.  He isn’t a sniper.

The lack of a shooter might not be so bad if not for the fact that this team has a lot of the same player.  The Huskies are loaded with athletes who can score but not shoot, and that has hurt this team.  In their seven losses, the Huskies have shot below 22 percent from long range, a major difference from their 38.5 percent shooting from deep in their 13 wins.  Knowing that the Huskies like to score off the bounce, teams can play a zone against them or just sag back and force them to prove they can make shots.  Even when given those openings, they don’t always opt for the jumpers because the mindset is to go to the basket.

Get past that, and this team doesn’t have the post scorers they have had in the past.  When you’re in the Big East and your best post scorer is Gavin Edwards – a nice player and slight over-achiever who is at best a complementary player in the Big East – you could be in for some difficult times.  Freshman Alex Oriakhi has rebounded well and had his moments, but has always been a bit soft and tries too hard to out-finesse opponents inside, evidenced by his average of 2.5 free throw attempts per game in over 28 minutes per contest.  Ater Majok is long and has some athleticism, but is also clearly over-hyped.  Jonathan Mandeldove was over-recruited, and Charles Okwandu is a role player at best.

With all of this, it’s not a surprise that offense lost Wednesday night’s game first.  Mind you, this came against a Providence team that has had its struggles on the defensive end and had a meltdown there in their last game, a 109-105 overtime loss to South Florida.  While the Friars were able to get good penetration against the Husky guards and turn them into a number of dunks and layups, that’s not where the Huskies lost this game.

“We get ahead, we got right where we wanted to be, then we stopped playing offense,” said associate head coach George Blaney, coaching the team in Calhoun’s absence for medical reasons.

As a result, the Huskies are 13-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big East.  That puts them likely on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble at the moment, especially since they lacked a resume win before knocking off Texas on Saturday.  They have plenty of opportunities left to get quality wins while improving their record, but it’s not going to come easily with the offense being what it is.

“We have the talent to do it,” said Dyson.  “We’re playing tentative at times, giving up way too many points by taking a break.  If we keep giving teams 10-0 runs, 12-0 runs, it’s difficult to win games.”

The way this team plays offense, that might be an understatement.

Connecticut has a team with plenty of physical gifts, as they have certainly recruited athletes.  They are translating into some success defensively, but you have to score to win, and right now the Huskies are having trouble scoring.  As a result, they are also having trouble winning.

South Carolina: Gamecocks Embrace $25K Win

South Carolina earned a $25,000 fine after fans rushed the court following the team’s 68-62 win against No. 1 Kentucky, according to an Associated Press report.

Fans celebrated with the team immediately after the final buzzer sounded, which violates an SEC policy intended to prevent mayhem that could endanger fans, coaches, referees or players. The rule was a product of the madness in Detroit when a fan threw a beer onto Ron Artest, then of the Indiana Pacers, and a players vs. fans brawl erupted.

On Tuesday, Kentucky coach John Calipari immediately left the floor instead of shaking hands the South Carolina team. The rule stands in place to especially protect members of the opposing team, who must navigate a path through unruly celebrating fans to the locker room. They’re not happy about losing; hundreds of fans are delirious about winning. It’s a volatile mix.

“This policy is designed to create a safe environment for everyone who participates and attends our athletic contests,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. “The security and protection of our student athletes, coaches, officials and fans is our primary concern.”

Despite the rule, it’s hard to find an appropriate release for thousands of emotional fans. Devan Downey, who led South Carolina to the victory with 30 points, encouraged fans to join the team on the court.

Downey pointed to the crowd, yelling “I told you so” after the win. When asked about a potential SEC fine Tuesday night, he smiled and said, “I’m pretty sure the university’s got some money somewhere to pay the fine.”

“I’m not saying it’s right, wrong or whatever, but when you beat a No. 1 team in the country, you want to remember that moment in a special way,” he said. “Yeah, I told them to come on the court.”

Catching Up on America East – January 26, 2010

(Author’s note: I would like to take a second to apologize to my readers, as well as the loyal fans of the America East conference, for my prolonged absence. I had several things that I was juggling on my plate that prevented me from writing more during the past few months, however I have still been able to keep my finger on the pulse of the America East conference – by my current count I have still managed to attend far too many America East games thus far. I hope that my readership will return to Hoopville, as I dive back into the action of covering the America East for the stretch run).

There’s no way to sugar coat it: The America East just isn’t good this year. After spending last season ranked in the mid-teens, the America East looks destined to end the season ranked in the mid-twenties. And to be blunt, in the nine years that I have followed the conference, this is the weakest it has ever been.

The silver lining, however, is that the “down year” could produce a tremendous conference tournament. Last season parity reigned supreme in the America East, and while there was no real “power” like Vermont and Boston University during the first part of the decade, Albany of a few years ago, or even UMBC from two years ago, what resulted was the most competitive conference tournament in recent memory, as every single game seemed to go down to the buzzer. With even more parity this season, the 2010 “AE” Tournament could prove to the most hard-fought, dramatic, and compelling in conference history. The common phrase thrown around every season is “on any night, any team can beat any other,” but nowhere has this phrase ever been more true than the upcoming tournament, as on a neutral court in Hartford, literally any of the nine America East squads has a real chance of beating any of the other eight.

For the conference as a whole, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as the league will be better next season (it couldn’t get any worse, right?)  The vast majority of the America East’s talent lies within it’s junior (John Holland, Joe Zeglinski, Dane DiLiegro, Greer Wright, Sean McNally, Tyrone Conley, Alvin Abreu, Tim Ambrose), and sophomore (Tommy Brenton, Gerald McLemore, Jake O’Brien, Brian Dougher, Dallis Joyner) classes.

Having seen all nine teams play live at least three times, here are some quick thoughts on the year:

• While parity reigns supreme, the foursome of Stony Brook, Vermont, Boston University, and Maine have separated themselves from the rest of the league (yes, that’s right, Maine!)  Amazingly, Binghamton (yes, the same Binghamton that lost its top 3 talents, head coach, Athletic Director and 3 other players, and struggled against division II schools early on) has already knocked off two of the top four teams in the standings, and looks to be straddling the middle ground between the top-four and bottom-four in the league.
• As always, winning on the road is going to play a large roll in determining the final standings, which is why I like Stony Brook as my top-team right now. Granted the Seawolves have had close calls at home against lesser conference foes (six-point wins over New Hampshire and Albany), and have lost to both Binghamton and Maine (perhaps the least “talented” of the top 5 teams in the conference). But Stony Brook has played the toughest conference schedule to start the league slate, playing all of the top teams in the league (Vermont, BU, Maine, Binghamton) on the road. The Seawolves went into Boston and punched BU in the mouth, thoroughly beating the Terriers in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score (84-75), and trekked up to Vermont and out-toughed the Catamounts for a five-point win in a gritty, physical game. The Seawolves have depth (they use a ten-man rotation), play super-physical (toughest team in the league), and crash the boards and defend the heck out of the ball as a team, no matter who is on the floor. They also have the league’s most diverse offense, with Brian Dougher (and to a lesser degree Marcus Rouse) providing big-time shooting from downtown, Muhammad El-Amin, Chris Martin, and Tommy Brenton attacking the basket on drives, and Brenton and Dallis Joyner giving the Seawolves a threat in the low post. With that said, Stony Brook is still very short on experience, and has a tendency to rely on three-point shooting too much while ignoring their low-post scorers, and while I see the Seawolves as the favorites as of now, it is by the slimmest of margins.
• The two surprises of the conference have been Maine and Binghamton, and both deserve a tremendous amount of credit.
• Coming off of a season in which they won eight games, played completely uninspired ball, and “phoned it in” during their play-in game loss in the conference tournament, no one (myself included) expected much out of Maine, a team that seemingly hasn’t found a way to string two wins together since head coach Ted Woodward took over five years ago. The Black Bears shocked Boston College on the road for the America East’s “biggest” non-conference win (the Black Bears should expect that BC head coach Al Skinner will be removing them from his schedule from here on out), and currently sit atop the league standings at 5-1.  That includes a home win over Stony Brook and a win on the road at Binghamton.  Sophomore Gerald McLemore continues to impress, ranking 7^th in the conference in scoring (14.8 ppg), and junior center Sean McNally continues to play the role of school yard bully in the paint (11 ppg, 7.6 rpg). But the difference for the Black Bears has been their play on the defensive end, and the emergence of several very solid role players. Maine has controlled the tempo of the game – playing physical, clogging passing lanes, contesting shots, and generally slowing it down to a snail’s pace – and is holding America East opponents to a league-best 58.5 points per game.  For all his scoring, McLemore, who is a prolific three-point shooter who also gets tough buckets on drives to the basket, has made an equally big impact on the defensive end.Newcomers Murphy Burnatowski and Mike Allison, as well as the return of junior Malachi Peay and emergence of Troy Barnies, has given Maine a legitimate cast of complementary players to McNally and McLemore. Burnatowski, a freshman from Canada, is the Black Bears’ best athlete, and while still rough and without a position offensively, the 6’7″, 230-pound (more like 6’5″, 245) has a mean streak and toughness on the court that Maine has been missing for years, and makes things tough on the defensive end. Fellow Canadian Allison has given the Black Bears a nice touch and an offensive boost off of the bench, and at 6’9″ he should only get better when he puts some weight on his skinny frame. Peay returned after missing the first half to concentrate on academics, and is a defensive tornado who seems to always have his hands in the passing lane, and also gives the Black Bears a new dimension on the offensive end as he has a knack for getting to the hoop. Barnies may never develop into the player that Black Bears fans had hoped, but since being moved to the bench halfway through the non-conference season, he seems to finally be understanding that he’s 6’7″ and a decent athlete playing in a conference of 6’5″ post players, and is finally beginning to defend and rebound.
• As surprising as Maine has been, the biggest jaw-dropper of the season has been the play of the Binghamton Bearcats, who witnessed the implosion of last season’s conference championship squad, yet have found a way to not only be competitive, but frankly, be a very solid team. To be fair, the Bearcats do benefit from playing in front of the conference’s largest fan base, and the Events Center in Binghamton is the one true home court advantage in the America East.  The Bearcats are also a much more pedestrian team on the road than they are at home. But still, this is a team suiting up seven scholarship players.  This is a team which didn’t return one of its top four scorers from last season, and one which has ridden through more controversy and bad press than any team in the history of the America East. What is going on at Binghamton is a credit to the collective hearts of their remaining players. Binghamton has also benefitted greatly from the play of Greer Wright, a JuCo transfer who has played himself onto the 1^st team All-Conference. A springly 6’7″, Wright can score from all over and is proving to be a huge match-up problem in the America East. In Binghamton’s home victory over Vermont, Wright outplayed two-time Player of the Year Marcus Blakely, and poured in 30 points on 10-15 shooting. The Bearcats have also benefitted from the play of freshman Dylan Talley, who looks like the conference Rookie of the Year, and is also a tough match-up as a very strong 6’5″ guard. Binghamton doesn’t have enough bullets to win any shoot-outs, but they defend the hell out of the ball, play with tremendous heart for 40 minutes, and at home in front of their vocal fan base are going to be a very tough out for anyone.
• For all the talk of parity, the America East champion is going to be one of three teams: Boston University, Vermont, or Stony Brook. Binghamton just doesn’t have it to win on the road, and as excited as I am to see Maine competing, I still don’t have a ton of faith in Woodward, and they just don’t have the athletes or experience. Vermont is a “one trick pony” with Marqus Blakely carrying their team on both ends, but the America East might just be bad enough for that one trick to win. Boston University has absolutely no depth, but when John Holland, Corey Lowe, and Jake O’Brien are all playing to their potential  and they finally have been clicking at the same time as of late – they are going to be very tough to beat. Stony Brook is the most balanced team, as they are tough and athletic, they defend, and have a mean streak.

But what do I know? After all, here’s how I ranked the team in the pre-season:

1. BU
2. Stony Brook
3. Vermont
4. New Hampshire
5. Albany
6. Hartford
7. UMBC
8. Maine
9. Binghamton

And with half of the season in the books, here’s how the league standings look as of now:

1. Maine 5-1: (13-6 overall)
2. Stony Brook 6-2: (14-7)
3. Boston University: 6-2 (11-9)
4. Vermont: 5-2 (14-7)
5. Binghamton: 3-3 (8-13)
6. Hartford: 3-4 (5-15)
7. New Hampshire: 2-4 (7-10)
8. Albany: 1-6 (6-16)
9. UMBC: 0-7 (1-19)

I’ve got two right, that’s gotta’ count for something… right?

Make sure to check back in to Hoopville for upcoming bi-weekly conference notebooks, game stories, and player features, as well as a multi-part trip down memory lane.

It’s good to be back.

Expanding the NCAA Tournament Would be More NCAA Doubletalk

The NCAA has produced more than its fair share of bad ideas in recent years.  We can run off a checklist of them – taking away recruiting access to coaches in basketball and outsourcing any semblance of a national championship in Division I-A football and renaming it the “Football Bowl Subdivision” top the list.  In light of that, it would seem quite likely that they will make adopt another bad idea before long, but we have to hope it doesn’t happen.  If it does, it will be just another case of the NCAA engaging in doubletalk.

In recent weeks, news has spread that the NCAA is considering expanding the NCAA Tournament.  That has come about because the NCAA can opt out of its current contract with CBS to broadcast the best event in college sports in 2010 and try to get more money for it.  Along with getting more money, the thinking is that it would be an opportune time to change around the NCAA Tournament since a new contract could include logistical changes that would be a nightmare if they had to be done under the current contract.

With the bowl system in Division I, too many teams already go to a bowl game.  In fact, almost as many teams go to a bowl game – 64 – as the NCAA Tournament.  The problem is that in football, that’s 64 out of 120 teams – more than half.  It’s one more reason why college football is a joke.  There are teams in bowl games with records of 7-5 and 6-6, records that can get some coaches fired (see: Weis, Charlie).  In fact, the Insight Bowl was a matchup of two 6-6 teams, meaning one was destined to finish with a losing record.

The NCAA Tournament doesn’t need to be expanded.  65 teams – just under 20 percent of all the teams in Division I – is quite enough.  While there are always a few teams that might have legitimate claims to a bid, those teams could easily have won a few more games for a better claim.  It’s simple: win enough games and you get a chance to play for a national championship.  Don’t win enough games and you don’t get a chance to play.

If the NCAA starts expanding the tournament any further, before long it will get watered down just like the bowl games and just like some pro sports leagues.  In the NBA and NHL, more than half of the teams make the playoffs.  That’s not what is needed here.

Expanding the NCAA Tournament would, at some point, lessen the importance of the regular season.  Think about that against the NCAA’s staunch refusal to have a football playoff in what is now the FBS in Division I.  An oft-cited rationale by chairs of the BCS and conference commissioners from conferences like the SEC and Big Ten is that they want to emphasize the importance of the regular season.  An expansion of the basketball tournament to 96 teams, which has been bandied about in recent weeks, would probably mean teams get into the NCAA Tournament with similar winning percentages to some of the football teams that somehow make bowl games.  That doesn’t sound like emphasizing the regular season to me.

A recent column in the Wall Street Journal advocating a move to 96 teams confirms this.  The column has a sidebar showing the teams that made the NIT last season, projecting them as the most likely additional teams if the NCAA Tournament had a 96-team field last season.  Included in the field are teams that had wonderful regular seasons like Baylor, which went 5-11 in the Big 12 (yes, the Bears did get all the way to the NIT final, but that doesn’t justify their selection); Miami, which went 7-9 in the ACC and lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament; Virginia Tech, which also had a 7-9 ACC record; Northwestern, which went 8-10 in the Big Ten; and Notre Dame and Georgetown, who had 8-10 and 7-11 Big East records, respectively.  Georgetown made the NIT with a 16-14 overall record and no conference tournament title – that’s supposed to be good enough to play for a national championship?  That’s supposed to emphasize the regular season?  I don’t care if you lost twice to each of the top seven teams in the country, 14 losses is too many for a team to be in a national championship event unless they grab an automatic bid.

This is not an isolated case.  In years past, even teams who finished at or near the bottom of their conference have made it to the NIT.  2006 was especially full of such examples, as Wake Forest went despite finishing last in the ACC in a down year for the conference, while Penn State and Minnesota finished eighth and tenth, respectively, in the 11-team Big Ten, but that was apparently good enough – and with identically sterling 15-14 overall records to boot.  Meanwhile, mid-majors who won 19 or more games and finished in second or third place in their conference were among those left out.  This not only shows that the regular season didn’t matter, but also that expanding the NCAA Tournament likely isn’t going to be a panacea for mid-major inclusion as some may think.

Indeed, an oft-cited argument of late is that expanding the tournament would give more mid-majors a chance to play in it.  To this end, commissioners of mid-majors that support expansion, such as Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley) and Bernadette McGlade (Atlantic 10), have been cited in articles that advocate for expanding the field.  But anyone who knows how the NCAA Tournament selection works – and Elgin has served on the selection committee – should know that the likelihood of that happening is very slim.  All one needs to do is look at the NIT field every year and see how it caters to high-majors just like the NCAA Tournament does, even schools that finish near the bottom of their conference.  In addition, the play-in game in the NCAA Tournament always pits two automatic qualifiers against one another, which eliminates one mid-major right away – as opposed to having the last two at-large teams that make it battling each other.

There’s another reason this move would be hypocritical.  In the first month of 2009, when the move was made to make all travel team tournaments in the month of April dead to Division I coaches, there was a lot of talk about academics and missed class time among the rationales for the move.  I won’t get into how this doesn’t stand up to reality in this space because that’s not the main subject and I have discussed that before.  But expanding the tournament significantly would translate into more weekdays with practice and media availability plus games, which would then translate to more missed class time by college students – the ones the NCAA actually has jurisdiction over.  (The NCAA would love to also have jurisdiction over high school student-athletes, but they haven’t quite been able to pull that off yet.)

In light of that, such a move would not seem to mesh with the reasoning of missed class time being a major concern.  Besides, we already have mixed messages being sent from athletic directors about the importance of academics.  Just look at the way they talk about missed class time and the importance of it when trying to keep coaches away from travel team tournaments, but turn right around and fire coaches who graduate most or all of their players.  Ironically enough, the job security of coaches is another thing proponents of expanding the field often mention.

There are lots of reasons to hope the NCAA Tournament does not get expanded.  Given the NCAA’s recent history of bad moves, chances are they will expand the tournament.  It also fits their history, especially in recent times, of engaging in doubletalk.

How Will Providence Bounce Back From This?

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There are tough losses, there are blowout losses, and then there are losses like the one Providence suffered on Saturday night.  That’s the kind of loss that is beyond words as far as describing it goes, both for those who participated and those who witnessed it.  Long-time Providence Journal columnist Bill Reynolds even said that he’s seen a lot of games, especially in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, but none quite like this one.

It’s hard to fathom this one.  Providence led by as many as 15 points in the game, a lead they held with 10:44 left.  They led by 13 with just over two minutes to go, and still led by nine with 49 seconds left.  Yet they found a way to lose the game in overtime, giving up 109 points along the way.

How they lost the game is actually not that difficult to figure out.  The Friars allowed South Florida to shoot nearly 53 percent from the field for the game, including 60 percent in the second half.  A lot of it was just simply letting them get to the basket with little resistance, as it wasn’t like the Bulls were taking and making open jump shots or having one of those nights where every three-point shot fell.  South Florida made just four three-pointers all night and outscored the Friars 36-22 in the paint in the second half.  And while the Friars have been able to force turnovers much of the season, the Bulls gave the ball up just 11 times all night.

It led Keno Davis to have one main focus in his post-game press conference.

“What we don’t have is we don’t have players that are able to stop one-on-one penetration,” said the second-year head coach.  “We’re not sound enough defensively.  We have some guys that are very good scorers that are big weak spots for us defensively.”

Davis has threatened lineup changes before because of players not doing things besides scoring, but little changed.  This time, one wonders if something will change.

He talked a lot about defense and an increased focus on it.  He knows the team he currently has isn’t exceedingly talented, especially when one adds in the experience factor as this freshman-laden team is lacking in that area.  With that being the case, intangibles have to come into play, and that’s not quite happening right now.  It certainly didn’t on Saturday night.

“It points out that the team we have right now isn’t good enough,” said Davis.  “It’s not good enough to be able to fight through some miscues offensively or missed free throws or missed defensive assignments.  We’re just not as talented as we need to be in this league to be able to fight through some of these situations.”

Davis said that defense and toughness are going to be bigger factors in who plays going forward.  There’s no question this team can score; that’s been shown time and time again this season.  They average 83 points per game and have topped 100 on three occasions.  But Saturday night wasn’t the first time this team has struggled defensively, as they give up over 78 points per game (84 in Big East games) and opponents are shooting over 44 percent from the field.

A loss like this can take a toll on a young team.  The Friars will certainly get a test in the next game to see how they respond, as their neighbors to the west visit the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Wednesday.  The Huskies will certainly test this team’s resolve, especially since they’re a good defensive team and could force the Friars to have to come up with a big defensive effort to have any shot at winning.

Improbable Overtime Win May Be Just What South Florida Needs

PROVIDENCE – Stan Heath doesn’t know how his team did it.  But he’s sure glad they pulled it off.

“I’ve got to watch the tape myself to figure out how we got the game into overtime, but we did, and once we got a second chance, we did a great job of taking advantage of it,” South Florida’s head coach said after his team’s 109-105 win at Providence.

The final stretch couldn’t have started and ended more differently.  With 49 seconds left, the Bulls were down by nine after a layup by Providence guard Vincent Council.  A three-pointer by Chris Howard brought the lead down to six.  Council made one of two free throws, then a dunk by Jarrid Famous brought it down to five.  Council missed two more free throws, then a layup by Dominique Jones made it a one-possession game.

After Sharaud Curry made two free throws, Jones made a short jumper just five seconds later to get it back to three.  Curry then turned it over shortly after he got the inbound pass, and Jones found Toarlyn Fitzpatrick for a three-pointer from the left wing that swished home with one second left to tie the game.

Keep in mind, the Bulls are hardly a Big East juggernaut.  They have struggled since they first joined the conference, came into the game 2-35 all-time in Big East road games and were 1-5 overall in the Big East this season.  So just winning would have been big, no matter what the fashion.

“Our road history hasn’t been very good, and this may be the biggest road win our program has had in a Big East game,” Heath said.

Once overtime started, the Bulls took over.  Certainly, the psychological aspect of blowing a lead was a major disadvantage for Providence, and the Bulls took advantage as they never trailed in the extra session.

Although the Bulls have struggled in the Big East, this isn’t a team lacking in talent, although depth is questionable.  Jones, who scored 46 points on Saturday, has been on a tear ever since he scored just five points in the conference-opening loss at Louisville.  Howard is passable at the point and Georgia transfer Mike Mercer can score, while Famous has some upside and Fitzpatrick has a chance to be very good as he grows up.  Ohio State transfer Anthony Crater has talent but hasn’t found his footing yet.

Heath said Fitzpatrick, whose game-tying three-pointer capped a 12-point, eight-rebound outing where he made all four shots from the floor, has made steady progress.  Fitzpatrick was fourth on the depth chart among post players when practice started, but moved into the starting lineup when Augustus Gilchrist went out with a severe ankle sprain.  He won’t be moving out of there anytime soon.

“His confidence is really growing,” Heath said.  “He’s really maturing.”

Speaking of Gilchrist, the Bulls could get him back soon.  He has missed the last 11 games and is almost certain to miss Thursday night’s game against Seton Hall.  Heath said Gilchrist is walking, and next Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh is a possibility.  If he doesn’t return then, the February 3 game at Georgetown is one Heath is confident he will be ready for.

“Within two or three games, I think we’ll see him,” Heath said.

If he comes back and is the player he was before the injury, the Bulls suddenly become a dangerous team.  This won’t make them a contender, but they could play spoiler late in the season if they come together the way they appear capable of.  Right now, they only go six deep, but being able to bring another good player off the bench will also help the team’s depth.

Saturday night’s win could be the first boost for this team.  Heath won’t figure out right away how his team did it, but he’s more than happy with it.  Once they get Gilchrist back, future wins might be easier to figure out.

Can Northeastern Avoid a Repeat of 2008-09?

BOSTON – A year ago, Northeastern knocked off VCU to improve to 9-1 in the CAA.  The Huskies were a top defensive team and in a great rhythm, having just knocked off George Mason, Old Dominion and VCU in succession, the last two coming on the road.  But they peaked at that point, never playing the same the rest of the way and limping into the CAA Tournament before losing to Towson in the quarterfinals.

Can this year’s team avoid that same finish and fate?

The parallels aren’t perfect, but they are pretty good.  On Saturday, Northeastern again knocked off VCU, this time at home (last year’s win came in Richmond, where the Huskies won again two weeks earlier), to improve to 8-1 in the CAA and run their current winning streak to 11 games.  That’s the team’s longest winning streak since the last days of Reggie Lewis 23 years ago.  Like last year, it’s late January and this team is playing very well.  So naturally, Husky fans have to hope that this year’s team has learned from what happened a year ago.

Certainly, there’s reason to believe they have.  They’re an important year older, especially the core players.  They know why they didn’t finish well last year.  They know it wasn’t the same team after the three wins over Virginia schools, even though they won the next game in an unconvincing fashion to go to 10-1 in the CAA.

This team has also been humbled already.  Their 2-7 start to the season, with a lot of close losses, has been well-documented.  Bill Coen loaded up the team’s non-conference slate, and it was risky.  Had they won a few more games, they might be in the conversation for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid with a good CAA run.  But the losses could easily have taken their toll on this team even though they came against good teams.  No one wants to be 2-7, even if it comes against good teams because that’s no consolation.

The turning point came right around Christmas.  After losing to Western Michigan in a game that wasn’t very close, the Huskies had a day off before playing for seventh place in the Diamond Head Classic.  They realized their season was hanging in the balance and that something had to change.  Not only were they losing, but they were losing thanks largely to a lack of defense, the very thing that helped them win last year.  That, and some down time in California between the Diamond Head Classic and Cable Car Classic, went a long way toward changing everything.

“We just really decided, in Hawaii after a couple of tough losses, to put our focus on us instead of worrying about who we were playing,” said senior guard Matt Janning.  “We said we want to become a defensive team, and that’s really what’s put us over the edge.”

The Huskies liked visiting the western part of the country, but they didn’t take in the scenery.  They had time to watch tape and further analyze their play in addition to practices and scouting sessions.  It was a stretch where a lot of insights came their way, and it started to show in the Cable Car Classic, which they won, and then once they got back home to start CAA play in earnest.

In CAA games, opponents are shooting below 40 percent against the Huskies.  VCU shot below 38 percent on Saturday, and thus far no CAA opponent has shot better than 45.1 percent.  In non-conference play, four teams shot better than 47 percent against the Huskies and four shot at least 50 percent from long range.

What’s more, the Huskies now have a real homecourt advantage this season.  As much as the renovations at Matthews Arena help in some ways, the biggest change is that there are more fans on the floor.  The Huskies now have a real student section with several hundred students lining the courtside area, making it a much better atmosphere than before.  This season’s attendance isn’t quite what it was for all of last season, but recent games have seen the attendance jump up; Saturday’s attendance was 2,858.  But even if the numbers are what they were last year, the atmosphere is different with students being right on the floor.

The meaning of it isn’t lost on the players, who also get a send-off from the fans after every game as they line up on the court to form an area where they walk off to the locker room.

“We’ve got to keep playing hard and keep putting on a show for them,” said Janning.

The Huskies will need to do that if they are to avoid a repeat of last season’s finish.  Very soon, we will get to see an early indication of whether or not that may happen.  The next two games are at home, as Drexel and Old Dominion come to town.  Both teams beat the Huskies at home during the latter part of last season and figure to be tough matchups.  Although the Huskies didn’t go winless after their 10-1 start, they didn’t beat a contending team in that stretch.

Like last season, the Huskies are riding high after a win over VCU in January.  What happens afterwards will determine if they will be riding high at the right time this season.

Yale Could Use Some Help For Zampier

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Yale relies on Alex Zampier for a lot.  And on Friday night, as they tried to salvage a split with Brown over an eight-day stretch, they called on him late and he delivered.

The Bulldogs allowed a big early lead to evaporate in the second half, and they never trailed thanks in part to Zampier, who scored 22 points and had four steals, including 13 points in the second half.  It was a better outing than the 6-16 effort he had from the field a week earlier, when they lost to the Bears in New Haven.

But more important than the final stat line was when he got a number of them.  The Bulldogs led by as many as 14 points, and led by double digits for a lot of the first half as they had a lot more energy coming out of the gates.  But Brown eventually rallied to within one possession several times in the second half.

With the lead down to 50-48, Zampier hit a three-pointer to push the lead back up to five.  After Brown scored the next four points, Zampier got to the foul line and made both free throws.  Although he missed the next time down, the Bulldogs got the lead back up to three before he assisted on a three-pointer by Porter Braswell.  The Bears got within four twice after the under-4 media timeout, and each time Zampier came up big to answer, first with a steal he turned into a layup at the other end and then a jumper that basically sealed the game.

“He’s always been able to do that,” head coach James Jones said of Zampier’s play late in the game.  “I think he’s a tough guard for most guys in the league one-on-one.”

It wasn’t lost on the opposing coach, who expected as much.

“When the chips were down, they went to their all-league guy, and he really stepped up and carried them,” said Brown head coach Jesse Agel.

Zampier is neck-and-neck with Cornell’s Ryan Wittman for the Ivy League lead in scoring, and that will probably remain the case given how much they rely on him.  They have several possibilities for second and third options, but the consistency hasn’t there.  Michael Sands is their second-leading scorer and had a good run of double-digit scoring games going, but had just seven on Friday.  Greg Mangano has shown signs of being one of the complementary options, as has Jordan Gibson.  But Mangano has missed time with injuries and Gibson is now coming off the bench.

Mangano was another notable player in the win, as he had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.  Although he was in foul trouble for much of the night, Jones found a positive there because he feels his post players could do a better job than they have of late.

“It’s nice to have somebody foul out,” Jones said.  “That means maybe he’s doing something.  I don’t know the last time we had a guy in foul trouble.  Having him take the fouls and take the hits, that’s what post play is all about.”

If Mangano or Sands, or the combination of them, can produce some reliable inside offense to complement Zampier, the Bulldogs can be a tough out.  Knocking off Cornell or Harvard will be difficult, but after those two the race in the Ivy appears to be wide open.  As they try to get there, Zampier will be the player they count on the most.

Despite Close Losses, Duquesne Not Far Away

SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – Ron Everhart knows his team’s record is deceiving.  He knows his team isn’t far away.

Duquesne lost for the sixth time in seven games on Wednesday night, dropping a 75-67 decision to Rhode Island.  The Dukes are now 0-4 in Atlantic 10 play, but they haven’t been out of a game yet.  A 12-point loss to Richmond in the opener stands out as the only double-digit loss, and the eight-point loss at Rhode Island was closer than the margin suggests since the Dukes had the lead with less than two minutes to go.  They have also lost a pair of overtime games, and the last two non-conference losses were by nine points each.

So it’s not as if the Dukes are getting blown out.  The hope is undoubtedly that these losses prove to be a good learning experience, as this is a young team.  The Dukes have one senior in former walk-on Jason Duty and four juniors, only two of which play significant minutes.  By class year, this is one of the youngest teams in the country.  That can certainly help explain the team’s inability to close out games right now, although some of the younger players have already played a good number of minutes in their careers.

Health is also a concern, as the Dukes have had their entire team available just once all year.  Only three players have been in every game, with junior Bill Clark becoming the latest to miss a game as he sat out Wednesday night’s game.  According to a report, Clark was sitting out due to an unspecified secondary violation of NCAA rules.  Everhart had no additional information on how long Clark may be out or how soon they may have a resolution with the NCAA, but he is no small loss as the team’s second-leading scorer.

“For all intents and purposes, we’ve really only had our full contingent of players for one game,” Everhart said.

Melquan Bolding missed 13 games due to wrist surgery, and it’s clear he’s still not back to form yet.  He looked out of sync and didn’t seem to be in the game on Wednesday.  Bolding has the potential to be a star for this team, but the injury has set him back aside from the obvious point of missing games.  Everhart started him on Wednesday, just his second start of the season and first since returning from the injury, and he struggled.

Despite the close losses, Everhart sees improvement in the team.

“We’re starting to make better decisions, we’re starting to be more efficient out there,” Everhart said.  “We just have to hang in there and keep our heads up and keep working, and we have to make plays down the stretch.”

That’s certainly what hurt them on Wednesday, as Rhode Island scored the last nine points of the game and outscored them 14-5 in the last five minutes of the game.

If this young team learns from the recent losses, they can turn a corner before long.  Most of the young players have played a lot of minutes in their careers already, so they’re accumulating experience.  And as an inexperienced team, they’re not far away right now.

Rhode Island Continues to Win Close Games

SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – At some point, a lot of close wins add up to a storybook season.  It’s rare that a team manages to win most, if not all, of the close games they have, and it shows that there’s not always a huge difference between winning and losing.  To win a high percentage of such games is remarkable, because it’s very hard to do.  So when a team does win most of those games, something special may be happening.

Enter the 2009-10 Rhode Island Rams.

There is still plenty of basketball to be played.  In fact, right in front of the Rams is a key stretch of days where they will be in Ohio for games at Xavier and Dayton, the only games they will play against the two teams picked atop the Atlantic 10 to start the season.  But right now the Rams look more and more like a team having as good a year as anyone could have imagined, especially after yet another close win on Wednesday night.

After scoring the last nine points against Duquesne for a 75-67 win, the Rams are now 15-2 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic 10.  The margin of victory is deceiving; the game went back and forth in the second half, with nine ties and six lead changes in the latter frame.  Duquesne took the lead with 1:38 left before the Rams closed it out with the aforementioned run.

In keeping with a season-long pattern, the Rams out-scored the Dukes 14-5 in the last five minutes of the game.  For the season, the Rams are out-scoring opponents by more than one point per game in the final five minutes and shooting significantly better than their opponent both from the field and at the line.  And in part because of this, the Rams are 8-2 in games decided by single digits.

With that success comes a certain confidence for this team, one that had a question about what kind of player leadership they would have entering the season.

“Going down the stretch, it’s our game,” said senior guard Keith Cothran.  “We feel confident enough that we can win whatever game we’re into, whether it’s a three-point game, five-point game or ten-point game.”

The Rams have especially done a lot of this in the last month.  They have won games in the final minutes against the likes of Providence, Northeastern, Fairfield, Drexel, Oklahoma State and Akron prior to the win over the Dukes.  They’ve won by getting clutch baskets and key stops, as well as sealing games with free throws.

On a couple of occasions, they have done this in dramatic fashion, like scoring six points in the final 39 seconds to turn a five-point deficit into a one-point win.  On Wednesday night, the final nine points included none from Cothran, the team’s unquestioned go-to guy, and began with a three-pointer by freshman Akeem Richmond.

“They continue to find a way,” head coach Jim Baron said of his team.  “They just have a lot of tenacity and they keep coming at you.”

That will certainly be important in the next week.  The Rams won’t play the Musketeers or Flyers at home this season, so this is their only shot at each team.  Pulling out at least one win will do wonders for their NCAA Tournament profile, and if they get into a close game, their play thus far suggests they have a pretty good chance to pull it out.

Quick Hitters – January 20, 2010

Quick hitters as we reach the middle of the week:

• As speculation on candidates for the Dartmouth head coaching job gets going, one thing to keep in mind is that Robert Ceplikas is an acting athletic director.  The school will probably need to have someone in that role before they can realistically hire a new head coach.  Director of Varsity Athletics Communications Rick Bender said he’s not sure if Ceplikas is a candidate for the job on a permanent basis.

• In the prep ranks, last week showed the potential for the Rivers School in the future as Andrew Mirken tries to build the program.  They picked up a 63-62 win at Class B stalwart Brimmer & May and also knocked off the Middlesex School at the end of the week.  Along the way, one could see what some of the young talent on the team will be capable of: athletic guard Taariq Allen running the floor and scoring, young point guard Carlin Haymon running the show, and wing Kyle Reardon being the consummate glue guy, among other things.  (Included was Reardon sealing the Middlesex game with four free throws in the final minute.)  One could also see how this team will lose games right now, but the young talent is getting better right now.

• Albany has talent, but the Great Danes didn’t seem to run any offense in their 79-58 loss at Boston University on Tuesday night.  The offense seemed to have no rhyme or reason, especially in the first half when they dug themselves a hole they could never get out of.  Shooting just over 39 percent from the field in the second half didn’t help.”We’re not a team that offensively can trade baskets with a team like Boston University when they’re clicking,” said head coach Will Brown, who characterized his team as “selfish offensively in the first half”.

• Sacred Heart is thought to be a contender in the Northeast Conference, and they certainly have a veteran bunch that’s good enough to be in the mix.  But if the Pioneers are going to win, they’ll have to play a lot better on defense than they did last weekend.  They couldn’t shut down a Bryant team that has struggled to score and didn’t have their best player in Cecil Gresham, who is done for the season, and two days later they gave up 88 points in a blowout loss to a Central Connecticut State team that doesn’t have its best player, Ken Horton, due to injury.

• Although his team is getting a lot of attention for it, Kansas State head coach Frank Martin is keeping a level head about the win.  The win is sure to mean only as much as their future performance allows, even though it will get them in the national spotlight for a short time and also had the benefit of helping to sell all remaining tickets to their home games.”To me, it means that we won a game on January 18,” Martin said.  ”I do not mean to be silly about it, but we do not get parades this time of year.”

Notes From the 2010 BABC Prep Classic

CHELSEA, Mass. – Some notes on Sunday’s action at the BABC Prep Classic at Chelsea High School.

• Worcester Academy opened the day with an 82-72 win over Brimmer & May, which had a tough week.  Earlier in the week, they lost home games to Rivers and St. Andrew’s, with the former being a one-point setback that they had a chance to win.  They also lost Bryant-bound Troy Robinson (6’5″ Sr. SF, Boston (MA)) to a wrist injury.  Robinson said he’s not in much pain and hopes to be back before the NEPSAC Class B tournament, although it’s not out of the realm of possibilities he returns significantly sooner than that.

• While Derek Retos (5’8″ Sr. SG, Attleboro (MA)) has long had a reputation for being able to shoot the ball from deep and had 16 points on the day for Brimmer & May, teammate Chris Sherwood (6’3″ Jr. SG-SF, Sharon (MA)) is showing some improvement with his jumper.  Sherwood is already very athletic and can score off the bounce, but has slowly shown some improvement shooting the ball, which will only make him that much tougher to guard.

• Robert Gilchrist (6’7″ Sr. SF-PF, London (England)) had a solid outing for Worcester Academy, leading the Hilltoppers with 18 points.  Although his motor is a bit inconsistent, he played with a lot of energy in this game and mixed some post baskets in with mid-range jumpers.

• Billy Baron (6’2″ Sr. PG-SG, East Greenwich (RI)) shined for the Hilltoppers as well, as he ran the team very well and showed his knowledge of the game often.  Although he’s not overly quick, on several occasions he recognized that his defender was basically locked in place and just went right by him for a basket or an assist to a cutter when a defender helped.

• The second game saw Brewster Academy jump out to a big lead against St. Thomas More, then hold off a couple of rallies by the Chancellors in the second half for a 76-65 win.  In the second half, the teams traded runs before the final minutes.

• Naadir Tharpe (6’0″ Jr. PG, Worcester (MA)) continues to improve for Brewster Academy and led the way with 26 points.  He was getting in the lane often and continued to show an improved shooting stroke.  Included in the arsenal now is a good step-back jumper after getting a defender to commit.

• Syracuse-bound C.J. Fair (6’7″ Sr. SF, Baltimore (MD)) isn’t someone you might easily notice at first, especially on the stacked Brewster team.  But you can’t miss him once the game gets going because he’s always effective and has deceptive length.  He had 15 points in the win over St. Thomas More.

• The Brewster player with the biggest national rep, Will Barton (6’6″ Sr. SG, Baltimore (MD)), has undeniable upside with his length and athleticism.  But he also has a tendency to try to do too much at the offensive end, and that can obscure his talent to someone who hasn’t seen him before.

• Andre Drummond (6’10″ So. PF-C, Middletown (CT)) had nine points but showed some good things in the losing effort for St. Thomas More.  Notably, he scored well inside and appears to be more comfortable playing with his teammates than he did early in the season.  He hasn’t yet regained the form of last summer, which got him ranked atop some national rankings of the class of 2012.

• Tre Bowman (6’4″ Sr. SG-SF, York (PA)) had 18 points to lead St. Thomas More in the losing effort, while Bryon Allen (6’3″ Sr. SG, Upper Marlboro (MD)) had a quiet 15.

• The last game of the day was a clash of NEPSAC Class B heavyweights as Tilton and St. Andrew’s faced off.  St. Andrew’s led for much of the first half, but Providence signee Gerard Coleman (6’4″ Sr. SG, Dorchester (MA)) led a big second-half charge as Tilton took home a 71-61 win.  Coleman talked to his team at halftime and didn’t feel they were playing hard enough, and he backed up his words by taking over the game en route to 28 points.  He made it look easy at times, as he’s very smooth and can finish with the best of them.

• Coleman’s teammate, Georges Niang (6’7″ So. PF, Methuen (MA)), continues to develop offensively.  He scored 13 points and is showing a little more range shooting the ball as well as getting some baskets in close.

• Watching St. Andrew’s guard Michael Carter-Williams (6’3″ Jr. SG, Hamilton (MA)), it seems like his jumper isn’t what it once was.  Carter-Williams, who led his team with 20 points, first came on the scene noticed for his shooting.  But as he has improved his skills off the dribble – although I don’t agree that he’s basically become a point guard as some feel, especially seeing some of the questionable decisions he made in the loss to Tilton – his jump shot doesn’t look as good.  He appears to have fallen into the trap of improving one facet of his game at the expense of another.  Still, he has time to get his jumper back to the level it was before.

• Tilton has another solid, unspectacular point guard in Jeff Adkins (5’10″ Sr. PG, Piscataway (NJ)).  Last year, it was Scotty Tavares who shined alongside their big three, and this year it’s Adkins who won’t jump out at you right away but is solid at the position.  On Sunday, he had 13 points, but more importantly, several clutch shots late in the game from mid-range.  Still a baby physically, he’s getting Division II looks, but if he keeps this up might find a low Division I school willing to take a chance on him.

Another Bad Effort Has Skinner At a Loss

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Al Skinner is normally soft-spoken and comes off as being quite mellow.  But even by his standards, the Boston College mentor seemed very subdued and at a loss for words following his team’s latest poor showing on Saturday.

In losing 73-57 to Maryland, the Eagles were never in the game and looked overmatched at times.  The margin of victory is very deceptive, as the game never felt that close.  The Eagles never got going offensively, and Maryland just picked them apart at the defensive end, which has been a concern for a while.  The Eagles fall to 1-3 in the ACC with the loss, but all three have been by double figures and the one win came last month.

“There’s nothing at all that I’m very pleased about,” said Skinner.  “Our attitude on the floor is not what it needs to be, particularly on the defensive end.  Until that improves, we’re going to remain where we are.”

Skinner has talked about this team’s effort before, and it was clearly the story on Saturday as they never seemed ready to play.  While the Terrapins played a terrific game and deserve all the credit, the Eagles certainly helped.  They never appeared to be in the game save for a little late momentum near the end of the first half.  But even with that, they went into the locker room down by 10 thanks to 34.6 percent shooting from the field and 11 turnovers.  Those turnovers led to 14 Maryland points and helped the Terrapins with a 22-4 edge in points in the paint.

The Eagles’ effort has come and gone this season, and it goes a long way to explaining the team’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personality.  In the past, Eagle teams have won games on their effort, but this season they have more often lost on the lack of it.  This team is experienced but not very talented, and more and more it looks like intangibles are going to be their downfall.

“I’ve had some teams that lacked talent, but didn’t lack a certain toughness,” Skinner said.  “This team is playing that way – it’s not that they lack it, because we’ve demonstrated it in different venues at different times.  Of late, we have not played the way I’ve had my teams play.”

In the past, the Eagles often had to fight off zone defenses when they didn’t have snipers or when their offense was dominated by inside play with studs like Craig Smith and Jared Dudley.  Lately, it seems like being pressed hurts them.  It hurt them against Clemson and again on Saturday, but that wasn’t all.  Even when they got past the press, the Terrapins had their way with the Eagles.

Despite the 1-3 start in the ACC, the Eagles can still turn it around.  With the non-conference losses they have, they’re running out of margin for error as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned.  They’re fast reaching a point where even a 9-7 ACC mark may not be enough, especially if it doesn’t include a couple of wins against the top teams.  Still, there’s no clear favorite right now as only surprising Virginia is undefeated in ACC play, which gives them more reason for hope.

“The water’s muddy in the league right now, meaning that there’s no clear-cut favorite,” Skinner noted.  “Everybody’s got a tarnish.  That’s why I’m feeling as strongly as I feel, because I know there’s still some light at the end of the tunnel and there’s some hope here.”

Added junior Joe Trapani: “I’m not worried.  We have 12 ACC games left, and I really think we can do some damage in this league.”

If the Eagles are to do so, they must show a better effort than they have on several occasions this season.  Skinner, who is nothing if not consistent in his demeanor, will surely still seem soft-spoken if that happens, but he probably won’t be at a loss for words to explain his team’s play.

Maryland Shows Its Potential in Dominating BC

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Maryland’s 73-57 win at Boston College was a game that showed just how good the Terrapins can be.  The Terrapins dominated the game at both ends of the floor and got significant contributions from a few key complementary players.  And while the Eagles haven’t been playing well lately, that can’t take away from what this game showed.

The Terrapins were in control pretty much from the outset.  They were all over the Eagles early on with their press, and when BC got into a half court game, the Terrapins still stopped them, often putting pressure on the ball to force a turnover or bad shot.  They led by as many as 18 in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field and having a 22-4 edge in points in the paint in large part due to easy baskets they were able to get.  They turned 11 Boston College turnovers into 14 points.

“We came to play,” said senior guard Greivis Vasquez.  “I thought we should have won that game against Wake Forest, and we came here to play.  We came here to play hard and to win this game.”

Vasquez led the Terrapins with 17 points and nine assists.  When the Terrapins weren’t stifling the Eagles with their defense, Vasquez helped them pick apart the Eagle defense.  They shot 49.1 percent for the game, including 7-12 from long range, and had 17 assists with nine turnovers.  He’s having a tremendous season in averaging over 18 points and six assists per game, with an assist/turnover ratio of nearly 2.

“I thought Greivis really did a good job of getting everybody involved in the game today, and early,” said head coach Gary Williams.  “When he plays like that, he’s a force, there’s no doubt about it.”

For about a month now, Vasquez has been playing on another level.  In a loss to Villanova in the BB&T Classic, Vasquez was 3-9 from the field and had seven assists but also seven turnovers.  Since then, he has been on a tear, scoring at least 20 points in each of the seven games leading up to Saturday.  While he fell short of that on Saturday, no one can say he had an off day on his birthday.

While Vasquez was the protagonist, he had plenty of support.  Landon Milbourne was active and had 13 points and six rebounds, playing the kind of basketball he’s capable of.  Sean Mosley had a solid game with six rebounds and good defense.  Eric Hayes didn’t put up big numbers but was steady.

Most of all, the Terrapins got a big effort off the bench, especially from Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker.  Bowie scored 15 points and helped keep the pressure on the Eagles, while Tucker, who might be their best athlete, had 14 on 5-6 shooting.  Tucker made all three of his shots in the second half and all three of his shots from behind the arc.

“I was really glad to see Cliff (Tucker) playing the way he played, he hit those threes, and I was really glad to see Adrian play the way he was playing,” said Vasquez, who helped both get going.

The Terrapins need to get bench production to take some pressure off the starters.  They average 17 points a game off the bench and entered Saturday’s game being out-scored in that area.  The reserves were a big reason the Terrapins looked very much like an NCAA Tournament team on Saturday.

“When the bench plays as well as it did, I think our team plays better,” said Bowie.  “A lot of games, the bench doesn’t really do that much, and we put a lot of pressure on the starters.”

The only drawback for the Terrapins was getting out-rebounded 40-28, with each half being a 20-14 margin in favor of the Eagles.  But the Terrapins dominated in every other facet of the game, so it wasn’t an issue.  Williams feels they can run if they rebound, but even with the rebounding edge for Boston College, the Terrapins still had a 20-4 edge in fast break points and a 34-10 edge in points in the paint.

Maryland heads home for three straight games having won three out of four.  The only loss was an overtime loss at Wake Forest where they certainly had a chance to win.  Williams feels like the team is playing well, but knows the challenge is to keep it up, especially after a game like Saturday.

“The hardest thing is to maintain a level of play like that,” said Williams.  “You see teams do that all the time.  You see them one week and they look like the best team in the country, and then two weeks later, what happened?  Well, it’s hard to keep that going.  That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

If they do, they will look like the NCAA Tournament team many projected them to be before the season.