Northeastern is not yet a contender in the CAA

BOSTON – Wednesday night was an opportunity for Northeastern to show something. One way or another, we would find out if this Husky team is a contender or pretender at the moment, as they hosted Drexel. And after a 61-53 loss, one thing is clear: this team is not a contender right now in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Northeastern is now 7-5 in CAA play, which is a respectable mark. But take a closer look, and one notices problems. One is that they are now three games out of fourth place, which means they need some help if they are to ultimately get a bye in the conference tournament next month. That has meant everything over the years, and it’s very difficult to win four games in four days. Perhaps more importantly, the Huskies have put that record together only against the teams they “should” beat. The Huskies are 0-4 against the teams that are ahead of them in the standings.

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Drexel rounds into form among the CAA’s best teams

BOSTON – Once Drexel regained the lead in the second half of Wednesday night’s game at Northeastern, the Dragons were well on their way to another win. They closed out the Huskies in a fashion that one would expect of a conference contender, and it’s the latest example of the Dragons looking like the team they were predicted to be in the preseason.

Northeastern took an early 29-27 lead in the second half, which was their first lead since the first minute of the game. But that lead was short-lived, and once Drexel went up 36-31 on a layup by Frantz Massenat, the Huskies were never within one possession the rest of the way.

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Miami could make moves in the ACC

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Miami couldn’t seem to shake Boston College no matter what they did. They led often, but the game was played within a ten-point window even as the Hurricanes were doing a better job of defending the young Eagles as the game wore on. Suddenly, with the game tied at 49, all that changed, as the Hurricanes went on a 14-0 run and turned what was a close game into a 76-54 rout. It all went right with what head coach Jim Larranaga has preached to this team.

“I thought our guys stayed very poised,” said Larranaga, currently in his first season at the school. “Early in the season, we tended to go our own way and tried to do it on our own. Tonight, I thought we stuck with some things and were able to fight through it, and our defense got better as the game progressed. They were at 49 for a long time.”

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Harvard asserts itself in the opening weekend of Ivy League play

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The first full weekend of Ivy League play is in the books, and one thing that wasn’t too surprising happened: the league favorites asserted themselves as just that. Harvard looked like a team on a mission, and coming away with two convincing road wins is what was desired.

“I think it’s a team on a mission this year,” said junior Kyle Casey, who led Harvard with 20 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s 68-59 win at Brown. “Last year, we got down early, and being a veteran team, we learned from those experiences and tried to nip them in the bud.”

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Hofstra just can’t break through in close CAA games

BOSTON – What more was there for Mo Cassara to say? Saturday’s 58-51 loss at Northeastern was a case of déjà vu for Hofstra, as they’ve seen this one before.

“We continue to hang around and be in games and have opportunities,” said the Hofstra mentor.

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Dartmouth is on the cusp of being relevant again

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It’s been a while since Dartmouth was really relevant in the Ivy League. While a recent Player of the Year was a member of the Big Green, Alex Barnett did so on a team that tied for fourth place and had an overall 9-19 record, which doesn’t happen often in an eight-team league. Although Dartmouth is off to an 0-3 start in Ivy League play, there is reason to believe that they will be relevant again before long.

Dartmouth gave Harvard a battle for much of the game last month when they visited Cambridge for the league opener. For years while they have struggled, they have been known for giving even the best teams a run for their money in Hanover. Thus far, they are 0-3 in the early going after dropping a 66-59 decision at Brown on Friday night, and it’s a game they could have had. The bottom line isn’t going to show it, but the future is looking bright for this team.

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Bryant is better than season of tough luck might indicate

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant’s season may be best symbolized by a play in the last minute of Thursday night’s 66-63 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson. Down 62-58, Frankie Dobbs made a great hesitation move and drove uncontested to the basket for a layup that rolled out. Despite that, Bryant still had a chance late, but came out on the losing end.

The Bulldogs’ 2-19 record is a little deceptive. While they have been blown out a few times, with four losses by 25 points or more, they have had their share of close games like Thursday night. The Bulldogs are 2-6 in games decided by single digits and 1-4 in games decided by five points or less. Those are stats that can sometimes determine the course of a season for a team.

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Quick Hitters – January 27, 2012

Quick hitters as we get ready for the weekend:

• Boston University was not rebounding well in the early portion of their seven-game winning streak. But in the last two games, the Terriers have dominated the glass, and keeping that up will only help. Granted, it came against two of the worst teams in the conference, but one of them (UMBC) is normally a decent team on the glass. Part of that has come from an emphasis on rebounding of late, but not just at the defensive end. … Continue Reading

After tough loss at Northeastern, Delaware has to bounce back again

BOSTON – When Delaware has been on the wrong end of a final score this season, most of the time it has been a game like Wednesday night’s 62-61 loss at Northeastern. It’s tough because they’ve been so close, but the good thing is that they have bounced back. This time around, bouncing back won’t be easy, although there’s reason to believe they’ll do it.

In the final minutes of Wednesday night’s loss, the Blue Hens looked like they would be able to get a big win. While Northeastern isn’t a conference leader, this game was on the road and the Blue Hens came in looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season. They have won two straight on three occasions, but you get the sense that this team could really get a burst of confidence if they put together a three-game winning streak that could turn into more.

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UMBC is simply not in a good place right now

BOSTON – Just after the calendar turned over to 2012, UMBC seemed to have a new beginning of sorts. Their non-conference struggles meant nothing after a trip to New Hampshire led to a conference-opening win and an early lead in America East. It didn’t matter that they weren’t close in many games; for the moment, they were tied atop their conference and that was all that mattered. It was only one game, but perhaps that would help their confidence and ultimately their fortunes.

Three weeks later, the Retrievers are nowhere near the top of the conference, and look like a team that is going nowhere fast. Tuesday night’s 83-48 thrashing at Boston University might be as illustrative as anything of where this team is and how far they have fallen from their conference championship days of a few years earlier.

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Quinnipiac finally pulls one out to close road swing

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Quinnipiac can now head home with the hope that their last game in the current road stretch does more for them than add one into the left-hand column. The Bobcats had a few tough games recently, and had another one in which they managed to pull out a 78-71 win in overtime at Bryant on Saturday.

“I can’t stress enough how much we needed it, because this team is young,” head coach Tom Moore said.

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Three coaching legends lose on the same day

It’s not every day that three of the greatest coaches ever lose a game on the same day. Yet that’s what happened on another Saturday full of noteworthy games, as Syracuse suffered its first loss on the season, Duke lost at home to put an end to a long home winning streak and Connecticut lost as well.

And it all happened, ironically, on the day that a football coaching legend appeared close to losing his life. On Saturday night, there were conflicting reports about former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, but we did not learn for sure that he had passed until about 10:30 this morning. We send our condolences to Joe’s family and friends at this time.

The last time Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Mike Krzyzewski lost a game on the same day was January 18, 2003. The three coaches have combined for over 2,600 wins, so they have won a little more than they have lost, and one might even be surprised that this wasn’t the first day all three lost.

It started in the middle of the afternoon, with two of the games. Connecticut took on Tennessee in Knoxville, a return of a game played last year. The Volunteers got a double-double from freshman Jarnell Stokes and fended off a late Husky rally for a 60-57 win. Turning the ball over one time in the second half certainly helped, especially as taking care of the ball had been a problem for Tennessee of late. Connecticut shot just 36.4 percent from the field.

Around that same time, Florida State looked like they had a shot to end Duke’s 45-game home winning streak, as they were right there with the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They had leads late in the game as well. And finally, with the game tied at 73 in the final seconds, the Seminoles got the ball up the floor to Michael Snaer in front of his own bench, where he hit a three-pointer just as time expired to give Florida State their second big win in as many Saturdays, a 76-73 decision over Duke.

Not only had Duke not lost at home since North Carolina knocked them off in February 2009, but they also had a longer (64 games) home winning streak against unranked opponents. They had a chance to tie their own ACC record of 46 straight home wins, set between January 13, 1997 and February 9, 2000.

Florida State is now looking more and more like the team some thought they would be this season. In the preseason, a good number of prognosticators thought they might be the third-best team behind Duke and North Carolina. Virginia had emerged as that team, and probably still is, but now the Seminoles look like another formidable team in an ACC that is not looking much better than last year. They are in a three-way tie atop the ACC at 4-1, along with the two teams they have knocked off the past two Saturdays.

By the time the evening came around, one already had a sense that Syracuse could suffer its first loss of the season. The team announced earlier in the day that sophomore center Fab Melo would not make the trip to Notre Dame and Cincinnati and that junior forward Mookie Jones had left the school for personal reasons. The Orange are so deep, it would not have been a shocker if they came away with two wins, but if they dropped one it would not have been a surprise. Sure enough, a Notre Dame team that knocked off Louisville a couple of weeks ago beat Syracuse 67-58 in South Bend.

Notre Dame led throughout the game and beat a No. 1 team for the eighth time, which ties for the fourth-highest total. They did it led by junior big man Jack Cooley, who went for 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Fighting Irish out-rebounded Syracuse 38-25. While Melo’s absence hurt there, it wasn’t a big factor in the Orange’s offensive struggles on the night.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation

With Syracuse losing, that left just one team undefeated: Murray State. The Racers were 82-65 winners at SIU-Edwardsville to improve to 20-0 on the season.

Missouri got perhaps its most impressive win yesterday, going on the road to beat Baylor. That’s two in a row now for Baylor, and it seems that at the moment, Baylor is close, but not there when it comes to the top of the Big 12.

Georgetown got all they could handle from Rutgers, and needed to score the game’s last seven points to eke out a 52-50 win in the nation’s capital.

Louisville continued Pittsburgh’s misery as they went into the Peterson Events Center and left with a 73-62 win over the Panthers, who are now 0-7 in the Big East and have lost eight straight.

UNLV convincingly won a key matchup with New Mexico, the second straight loss for the Lobos as they took on the two favorites in the conference this past week.

Mississippi State won an overtime thriller at Vanderbilt in a key matchup among teams chasing Kentucky in the SEC.

Todd Bozeman returned to the bench at Morgan State, but his team’s struggles continued as they lost for the fifth time in seven games by dropping a 62-61 decision against visiting North Carolina A&T.

Late Saturday night, Long Beach State picked up a key road win at UC Santa Barbara. That makes the 49ers 7-0 in conference play, a full two games ahead of three teams in the loss column.

Wake Forest gets a much-needed road win at Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Wake Forest’s 71-56 win at Boston College on Saturday won’t make national headlines at all. It was a win over a team that most figure will battle to stay out of the ACC cellar. But the Demon Deacons are fresh off a bad year and in the midst of one with a lot of ups and downs, so they’re not about to downplay what this win means for them.

“This is another big step for us in our journey to be the type of team we all want to be,” said head coach Jeff Bzdelik.

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Quick Hitters – January 21, 2012

Quick hitters as we head into a busy Saturday:

• If there was any doubt as to the value of a point guard, look no further than Boston University and floor leader D.J. Irving. There are a few reasons the Terriers have now won five games in a row and is tied with Stony Brook (who they beat last Saturday) atop the America East Conference, but Irving’s return to health following a concussion last month is chief among them. That was readily apparent to one opposing coach, who thinks he’s the Terriers’ best player.

  “I think they’re at their best when the ball is in his hands and getting guys shots,” said Albany head coach Will Brown.

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Ron Hunter is already changing the culture at Georgia State

BOSTON – Ron Hunter knew what he inherited when he took the head coaching job at Georgia State. He knew he had a culture to change, and he knew he was in a different place. But thus far, he’s loving every minute of it, and the early results don’t hurt. Now he has a different issue on his hands with his team, which stands 5-2 in CAA play after a 60-57 loss at Northeastern on Wednesday night.

Hunter, who loved that he was able to walk to Fenway Park during the team’s trip to Boston, is full of energy and positive vibes. He’s pleasant to talk to and all along has felt good about this team, as well as the job itself. It would be easy to dismiss it as coach-speak, but he felt like a few players were ready to be better and liked the experience on the team, although it wasn’t winning experience. You can tell his confidence in the team is not misplaced by a long shot.

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An emerging freshman helps Northeastern play well at a good time

BOSTON – Northeastern is playing well and at a good time. The non-conference slate saw a lot of ups and downs, as well as question marks, so the Huskies were something of an unknown heading into CAA play. But after Wednesday night’s 60-57 win over Georgia State, the Huskies are right in the mix with a tough stretch ahead.

Northeastern started the non-conference slate with some promising results, winning at arch-rival Boston University in overtime in the season opener and picking up a win at St. John’s before November was out. The Huskies didn’t seem primed to be as good as they were a couple of years ago, but it was a good start as they were 3-1 after winning in Queens.

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Prep matchup headlines Sunday’s games at Spalding Hoophall Classic

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Sunday saw a number of prep schools take the court in five games at the Spalding Hoophall Classic. The day started with a blowout and then had two that were somewhat convincing wins for the victors, then came the game everyone was waiting for. The last game was well-contested, but wasn’t as good as its predecessor.

With that, we take a look back at the scores and some notes from Sunday’s games at Blake Arena.

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Boston College off to a surprising start in ACC play

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Don’t look now, but there’s a big surprise near the top of the ACC standings. With only Duke sporting an undefeated record, one team in the logjam at 2-1 is the very young Boston College Eagles, who beat Virginia Tech 61-59 on Saturday to claim both home games that had a quick turnaround.

Before the season, and even recently before conference play started, the question was being asked: will BC win an ACC game this year? The easy answer was “yes”, especially since the ACC is not a great conference this year. After Duke, North Carolina and Virginia, there’s a noticeable drop-off. And as the Eagles progress over the course of the season, chances are they might knock someone off at home. It’s already happened, and with two straight wins they have likely surprised just about everyone except for the people in their locker room.

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Virginia Tech needs to improve offensively with a key stretch ahead

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Over a week earlier, Seth Greenberg felt great about his team. Virginia Tech’s 0-3 start in the ACC hasn’t changed that, but it certainly hasn’t put the Hokies in a good position as they head into a stretch where the schedule doesn’t get any easier. That’s where the Hokies stand after a 61-59 loss at Boston College on Saturday, and it leaves them needing to do some things better surrounding their offense.

It didn’t help that the Hokies were without their top player, point guard Erick Green, who missed the game with a sprained LCL in his left knee. The Hokies had a pretty good idea that he might not be able to go, although he wound up being a game-time decision. That left them with Marquis Rankin as the only point guard and left players like Dorenzo Hudson and Robert Brown to have to handle the ball more than they are accustomed to. It showed, as Virginia Tech struggled mightily to score in the halfcourt offense with 17 turnovers and poor shooting for much of the second half.

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Several teams get much-needed resume wins on Saturday

Saturday saw a few teams get a victory they needed to jump-start their NCAA Tournament resume. A few others suffered bad losses in games they needed, or missed opportunities, but we’re going to stick with the positive and focus on the teams that got big wins. It’s too early to declare a number of these teams locks after what they did on Saturday, but they are in a better place than they were to start the day.

Let’s start with Florida State, which annihilated North Carolina 90-57 in Tallahassee. The Seminoles had a so-so non-conference run, as they came into Saturday lacking a win against the top 50 in three tries. Beating the Tar Heels is a remedy for that, although they need to make it relevant come March by playing well the rest of ACC play.

Next, we go to Northwestern, a team for whom heartbreak has become a regular occurrence. The Wildcats have had chances to play their way into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in recent years, but haven’t been able to pull out the games they needed to. It looked like this year might be another case of that, too, although they did win the Charleston Classic over Seton Hall, a win that is looking better all the time. They won at mediocre Georgia Tech and lost to Baylor, which is hardly a bad loss. But then they lost at Creighton, got hammered at Ohio State and lost tough ones to Illinois and Michigan by a combined three points. And on Saturday, they knocked off Michigan State in Evanston for their best win of the season. Add that to the Seton Hall win and the Wildcats, who don’t have a bad loss and an RPI of 33 at the start of the week, are in a good place for the moment.

Then there is Oklahoma, a team thought to be rebuilding. But the Sooners knocked off Kansas State 82-73 for their second win against a top 50 team. The Sooners are now 1-3 in Big 12 play, so they have a good deal of work to do. But if they get to .500 in conference and win a game or two in the conference tournament, they may have done enough work by then to be in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament team.  It helps that they don’t have a bad loss.

Lastly, San Diego State knocked off UNLV in a thriller, 69-67. The Aztecs were actually in a reasonably good place before Saturday, but perhaps now they can be called an NCAA Tournament lock if they win the games they should the rest of the way. The Mountain West figured to be rebuilding this season, but that hasn’t been the case thus far as both of these teams look like they will be in the field of 68.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Pittsburgh lost at Marquette, 62-57, and is now 0-5 in the Big East for the second time in program history and first in 12 years. They have never started 0-6, but they play at Syracuse on Monday.

Connecticut freshman Ryan Boatright was suspended by the NCAA and did not play in the Huskies’ 67-53 win at Notre Dame. The NCAA is investigating more eligibility matters with the freshman guard.

Iowa handily took out Michigan 75-59, and continues to be something of a Jekyll and Hyde team.

Jarnell Stokes gave Tennessee a boost in his debut, but Kentucky prevailed in Knoxville 65-62. The thinking is that although it was a loss, Saturday’s game bodes well for the Volunteers.

The Ivy League has started the season a little differently this time around, and Penn has started off 2-0 with wins at Columbia and Cornell. Normally teams play their travel partners over two weeks, save for Penn and Princeton, before the Friday-Saturday weekends start.

No America East team will go undefeated in conference play this season, as Stony Brook had its six-game winning streak end at Boston University, who has won three in a row after losing six straight.