Purdue: Without Hummel, Boilermakers Seek Validation

With a 24-3 record that includes four wins against the RPI top 25, Purdue appeared on pace to receive a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing junior forward Robbie Hummel to a torn ACL for the remainder of the season.

But with Hummel out, Purdue should consider the team’s record 0-0, at least until this weekend. The NCAA Tournament selection committee will be watching the Boilermakers closely to see whether the team that ends the regular season without Hummel resembles the team that played its first 27 games with the team’s second-leading scorer. Hummel was a critical piece to Purdue’s attack, averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while shooting 36.4 percent from three-point range and 90.2 percent from the free throw line.

Purdue’s new season starts Sunday when Michigan State comes to West Lafayette seeking revenge for a 76-64 loss in East Lansing a few weeks ago. If the Boilermakers can rack up its seventh win against the RPI top 50, they will take a major step forward in validating a fantastic season, even with Hummel watching from the sidelines. And the Spartans might be the right team for Purdue to face in its first game without Hummel. Although the national runner-up from a year ago has a potentially potent roster, Michigan State has lost four of its past six games, and five of the team’s seven losses have been away from the Izzone.

After Michigan State, Purdue ends the regular season against Indiana and Penn State. If Purdue falls to the Spartans, the Boilermakers must bounce back against the Big Ten’s bottom-feeders to avoid dropping significantly in seeding. Penn State and Indiana have an RPI of 200 or worse. Considering that the Boilermakers have no losses to teams outside the RPI top 100, a loss to the Nittany Lions or Hoosiers would signify that Purdue is not as potent without Hummel.

The bottom line is that experts and fans won’t know what to expect until the Boilermakers return to action. However, if Tuesday’s come-from-behind win at Minnesota is any indication, coach Matt Painter will have his team ready to play stifling defense. And the team will likely continue to play efficient offense. The Boilermakers finished the Minnesota game with 45.3 percent shooting from the field, including 35 percent from three-point territory, while committing only seven turnovers. Purdue is one of the best teams in Division I at avoiding mistakes, and Painter will emphasize that the team has a slimmer margin for error without Hummel.

Harvard Still Has Much to Play For

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Contrary to popular belief, Harvard’s season didn’t end with Friday night’s loss to Cornell.  To be sure, the Crimson need help – a lot of it, in fact – if they are to win the Ivy League now.  But Tommy Amaker knows his team still has plenty to play for, and made sure his players knew it.  And on Saturday night, they bounced back like a team on a mission as they blew out Columbia 77-57.

With the win, Harvard tied the program’s second-best total for wins in a season with 18, previously set in 1996-97.  With at least four games left, they have a good chance to top the school record of 19 set back in 1945-46.  That starts with their final two home games against Brown and Yale this weekend.

“It’s a long way from things being over, and we can’t allow our guys to lick our wounds or hang our heads,” said Amaker.  “We’re at home, we’re excited, and we get a chance to suit back up and have a good feeling in our stomachs about how we played.  We also talked about seeing if we can make history.”

Friday night’s loss wasn’t going to be easy to bounce back from.  The next game was less than 24 hours away, but besides that, there was the big buildup to the game and the importance of it.  But the Crimson looked just fine against a Columbia team that is struggling.  On that night, the Crimson’s play had as much to do with the outcome as anything, although Lions head coach Joe Jones was a bit subdued talking about where his team stands.

Amaker said the possibility of this team making history resonated with the players.  It showed right away as the Crimson were in control before the first half was out, shooting 55.6 percent from the field en route to a 45-26 halftime lead.  They were 8-13 from long range, and they kept up the lead in the second half.

It’s important to remember that this is still a young team.  The Crimson start two seniors, a sophomore and two freshmen, but that’s not all.  The primary healthy reserves (senior Pat Magnarelli is still out with an injury) are freshmen or sophomores.  While their heart and soul is senior Jeremy Lin, there’s a lot of young talent on this team.  The youth showed in Friday night’s loss, but perhaps some of it showed on Saturday as well in being resilient.

While the Crimson need a good deal of help to win the Ivy League, postseason play can still happen.  If the Crimson win out, an NIT bid would not seem far-fetched considering they have some good wins.  It’s not likely the Ivy League will get two teams in the NIT, so if the Crimson finish third and the second place team gets an NIT bid, that might not come.  But it is certainly a possibility, and that would add to this team’s place in the program’s history book.

Besides that, a chance for this young team to play again would obviously help from the standpoint of more experience and getting the feel of postseason play.  That can only make the players who will return even more hungry next season, because they would surely want more after experiencing it one time.

The Crimson haven’t given up on winning the Ivy League, although they don’t control their own destiny now.  But they still have plenty to play for, and four games left with the hope at least one more to follow.

Texas: Longhorns Look for Lead Dog at Point Guard

Already having defied logic through a colossal midseason meltdown that saw the Longhorns lose six of nine games after starting the season 17-0 and obtaining the holy No. 1 ranking, now-No. 21Texas (21-6) was at it again Saturday in a Big 12 Conference dogfight at United Spirit Arena against unassuming Texas Tech (16-10).

A little more than a month ago, Texas vs. Texas Tech would have been a pit bull vs. chihuahua kind of dogfight. But Saturday, the Longhorns continued to be shih-tzus, barely hanging on to beat the Red Raiders, 71-67, after the Red Raiders’ Nick Okorie missed a would-be game-tying jumper with 12 seconds to go.

“We really survived here against a team that showed a lot of heart,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said afterward.

Surviving is all Texas has been doing lately. The Longhorns are trying hard not to fall out of the top 25 altogether. But after finding out that starting point guard Dogus Balbay will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, which he suffered early during the Saturday win, that might just prove impossible — especially in the talent-packed Big 12, which features the No. 1 team in the nation: Kansas.

Although Balbay’s numbers didn’t exactly lead the league — 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game — the junior gave Barnes something he feels he’ll have difficulty finding in Balbay’s comrades, J’Covan Brown and Justin Mason: backcourt leadership.

Following two previous calls into  the starting lineup, Brown, a freshman who averages 10 points per game, was sent to the bench Saturday and played only five minutes despite the unavailability of Balbay. Mason, a senior, ran the team for 38 minutes. His numbers weren’t impressive: Eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, five assists and four turnovers.

It’s tough to make much of a one-game audition, but it surely looks like Texas will have to rely on its big men more than it already does to prevent further plunging of its NCAA Tournament-seeding stock. Good thing Texas has plenty of beef in the paint, highlighted by forward Damion Jones, who averages 17.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

“We’re an inside-out team,” said Gary Johnson, voicing the likely strategy his team will have to follow with four regular-season games remaining. “That’s what got us to the point in the season when we were undefeated.”

Not that anything can really get Texas back to its undefeated-times level, but it has no other choice, and the testing starts right away. The Longhorns have a date against Oklahoma State (19-7) today, a daunting task considering Texas’ recent struggles. Following that, they’ll have a road nightmare at No. 23 Texas A&M, a must-win — along with a decent Big 12 Tournament run — if Texas aspires to get at least a No. 4 seed in the tournament as our latest Mock Tournament predicts.

Texas won’t go far in the Dance, but perhaps it can go out barking louder than it has been lately.

Duke: Blue Devils Don’t Get Enough Credit

In recent years, the two teams that bookend Tobacco Road have garnered so much national praise that by March, many college basketball fans are reciting their ABCDs: Anybody But Carolina or Duke!

But this year has a different feel. North Carolina has suffered a full nuclear meltdown, and the ACC has only one representative in either poll: Duke. And for some reason, the Blue Devils don’t seem to be receiving much attention. However, in about six weeks in Indianapolis, the basketball nation will likely be wondering where in the world these Devils came from.

Entering the final week of February, Duke possesses the most potent offense in basketball with an efficiency rating of 123.6, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency statistics. To better appreciate Duke’s offensive prowess, consider that only 14 teams in the past six NCAA Tournaments have had an offensive efficiency rating of 123.0 or better. Nine of those 14 teams reached the Final Four, and four of them cut down the nets in the past five years. Of those 14 teams, only Wake Forest in 2005 failed to reach the Sweet 16, which can largely be attributed to a terrible defense that was ranked No. 72 in defensive efficiency.

The trio of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith runs Duke’s offensive juggernaut. As Ken Pomeroy’s team reports indicate, Scheyer is one of the most productive offensive players in the country. His statistics back up that rating: 18.9 points per game, 39.8 percent shooting from three-point range, 88.5 percent shooting from the free throw line and a better than 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Combined, the three lead Devils average 53.7 points, 13.5 rebounds, 10.6 assists and 3.9 steals per game. They each shoot better than 39 percent from three-point range and 77 percent from the free throw line.

Besides the big three, Duke has some key role players who can take the pressure off Singler, Smith and Scheyer. The Plumlee brothers, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek give coach Mike Krzyzewski more depth in the frontcourt than he’s had in years. The Blue Devils are perilously thin in the backcourt. But Scheyer and Smith show no signs of diminishing production despite averaging more than 35 minutes per game.

Duke also has a good shot at making a deep NCAA Tournament run because the team is  well balanced. Duke ranks No. 12 in defensive efficiency and is the second-best team in the nation at guarding the three-point line. That’s a critical skill to have in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, when many upset-minded teams use the three-point line to score in bunches.

The scary part about Duke is that the Blue Devils figure to be an even better, more balanced team next season. Duke has Stephen Curry’s baby brother, Seth, sitting on the bench as a sweet-shooting transfer from Liberty. Curry averaged 20.2 points per game and hit 102 three-pointers last season. In addition, Duke will add five-star recruit Kyrie Irving to provide more depth at point guard, and freshman guard Andre Dawkins will have one season of experience under his belt.

But these Blue Devils are focused on the present, with senior guard Scheyer prepared to lead Duke to the promised land of the Final Four for the first time since 2004. Unless this team runs out of steam in the next few weeks, only bad luck — meaning drawing Kansas in its bracket — will keep Duke out of Indianapolis.

CAA: Colonial Teams Get Bracket Busted

Entering the ESPN BracketBusters event this weekend, the Colonial Athletic Association had possibly the most to gain. Twelve games later, the CAA lost more ground in race for the NCAA Tournament than any other conference.

According to the RPI, the CAA is the 12^th best conference in the country. But the conference’s top teams lost to the cream of the crop from the Missouri Valley Conference, Southern Conference and Western Athletic Conference. William & Mary, which has one of the CAA’s best profiles for an at-large bid, suffered the most damaging loss in a road game against Iona, ranked No. 92 in the RPI, by 16 points. The only elite CAA team to win was VCU, which won a home game against Akron, ranked No. 100 in the RPI. The rest of the CAA pack didn’t fare much better as the conference ended BracketBusters with a 3-9 record.

Old Dominion, Northeastern and William & Mary had the most to gain in their BracketBusters match ups. But Old Dominion couldn’t solve Northern Iowa’s suffocating defense en route to a 71-62 loss. Despite the defeat, the Monarchs have a solid résumé anchored by a marquee win at Georgetown. Old Dominion doesn’t have too many other great wins to brag about, but the Moncarchs have notched good wins against Charlotte, William & Mary (twice) and Marshall. As co-leader of the CAA, Old Dominion should receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament even if the Monarchs lose early in the CAA Tournament.

Unfortunately for the CAA, the Monarchs are the only team that can feel comfortable about their NCAA Tournament prospects. William & Mary has stumbled too many times since racking up non-conference victories against Richmond, Wake Forest and Maryland. The Tribe has two ugly losses to James Madison and UNC-Wilmington, both of which have RPIs worse than 200. The loss to Iona in the BracketBusters event, which was televised on ESPNU, might be the death knell for the Tribe’s tournament aspirations.

After starting 2-7, Northeastern had won 16 of 18 games heading into its home match up against Louisiana Tech in the BracketBusters event. The best wins were against Kent State and CAA-foes like Old Dominion and VCU. The Huskies likely needed to beat Louisiana Tech to prove that their turnaround was complete. However, a three-point loss drops Northeastern to 18-10 and likely in need of the CAA’s automatic bid to reach the NCAA Tournament.

The lone member of the CAA elite to win a BracketBusters game was VCU, which stands at No. 61 in the RPI. The Rams have a couple of quality wins against Rhode Island and Old Dominion. But those are offset by bad losses to James Madison and Western Michigan. VCU closes the regular season at Old Dominion, which is an opportunity to pick up a quality road win. That would be the team’s fifth win against the RPI top 50. Even if the Rams enter the CAA Tournament with a 21-7 record, VCU almost certainly would need to win the automatic bid to reach the Big Dance.

Come Selection Sunday, the second-to-last weekend of February will likely be one of the big reasons why the CAA remains a one-bid conference when the selection committee reveals the brackets at the end of the second weekend of March.

Seton Hall: Injuries Blast Holes in Pirates’ Tourney Hopes

Jeremy Hazell’s deep cut suffered during Seton Hall’s win against St. John’s Wednesday might mean the same to his team’s chances to appear in the NCAA Tournament: a cut out of the competition, a burst off the bubble of teams hopeful to be in the Big Dance.

Hazell, who needed eight stitches to close the cut on his shooting hand, was a miserable 2-for-10 from the field and scored only nine points in 33 minutes as the Pirates (15-10) lost a game they had to have on Saturday, 75-63 at West Virginia (21-5).

Numbers like that are almost unheard of from the Big East Conference’s second-leading scorer. Coming into Saturday, Hazell, who averages 21.9 points per game, had been held to less than 10 points in only three occasions.

“It’s a lot different,” center Herb Pope, Hazell’s teammate, said following the loss. “Guys have to come in and play unfamiliar roles. Different players have to step up and take Jeremy’s shots and try to win the game.”

Hazell’s injury couldn’t have been more untimely for a team hoping to get recognition in what’s arguably the toughest conference in college basketball. The Big East features five top 25 teams — tied with the Big 12 for the most in a single conference — and a second win against one of those squads was indispensable for fading Seton Hall.

The Pirates, whose best win of the season was a 64-61 downing of No. 21 Pittsburgh (20-6) Jan. 24, will now have to win their four remaining Big East games and hope inconsistent Louisville (18-9) and the rest of the monster-conference bubble teams, including the Cardinals, Cincinnati, Marquette and Connecticut, don’t strengthen their own cases too emphatically.

But with Hazell ‘s play clearly affected by the hand injury and Seton Hall still missing starting point guard Eugene Harvey with a bruised wrist, it’s questionable that the Pirates can even finish the regular season without anymore setbacks. And even with that, Seton Hall will need a deep run in the Big East Tournament to be offered an at-large bid. It’s either that or the NIT.

Seton Hall better hope it has some fast healers in Hazell and Harvey. They’re essential to make the cut.

Northern Iowa: No 7-Footer, No Problem for Panthers’ Tourney Chances

The road is long and winding in Missouri Valley Conference play, and although Northern Iowa (23-3) already clinched the league’s regular-season title by punishing Creighton (13-14) 70-52 Tuesday, the Panthers should know their work is far from finished.

If anything, they’re putting the finishing touches on an NCAA Tournament-worthy résumé.

Missing seven feet of production after their second-leading scorer and top rebounder, center Jordan Eglseder, was suspended for three games following a DUI arrest, Northern Iowa has encouraged selection committee members to consider the Panthers’ loss to Bradley (13-13) Saturday to be a fluke. The Panthers blew away the Blue Jays, the team they tied for the regular-season championship last season, and improved their home record to 12-0.

This all without Eglseder’s 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Northern Iowa will have to face the same circumstances twice more, starting with Old Dominion (21-7) in a Friday BracketBusters game on ESPN2.

Old Dominion, tied for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association, is an RPI top 50 team, a slight improvement in the challenge department compared to 13-14 Creighton.

An Eglseder-less win over the Monarchs would only help cement Northern Iowa’s already-solid case for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. According to ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi, should the tourney start today, the Panthers would be a No. 7 seed.

Old Dominion, according to the same guy, would be a No. 9 seed.

The BracketBusters match will be a break from what turns out to be meaningless-in-regards-to-conference-tournament-seeding games for the MVC champions. But neither the Panthers nor the Monarchs will want to lose any NCAA ground in the at-large bid discussions.

Once done with Old Dominion, the Panthers will only have to survive one more game without their 7-footer, on Tuesday at Evansville, which has lost 16 of its last 17 games and is dead last in the conference.

A home date with Illinois State, whom the Panthers beat last year in overtime to win the conference tournament, will be last on the regular-season schedule. A four-game winning streak to finish the year — without counting the three wins they could rack up in the MVC tourney — will be just what the Panthers need to strengthen their case for a better seed in the NCAA Tournament.

William & Mary: A Tribe Called on a Quest

William & Mary has been playing basketball for 104 years and never received an invitation to the Big Dance, one of 32 Division I teams that haven’t made it. With a few more wins and a little bubble love, the Tribe will set school history this season with a trip to the promised land of the NCAA Tournament.

At 19-7 as of Feb. 17, William & Mary will enter the CAA Tournament as one of the favorites to score the conference’s automatic bid, which would make Selection Sunday far less stressful for coach Tony Shaver and his Tribe. William & Mary’s biggest competition will come from Old Dominion, which claims two of the Tribe’s five CAA losses. Two of those conferences losses could jeopardize an otherwise spectacular season.

Entering conference play, William & Mary sported a top 35 RPI on the strength of three huge wins against Richmond, Wake Forest and Maryland. The Tribe took out the two ACC foes on the road, too, to goose the RPI even higher. In addition, William & Mary served notice in its first CAA game by taking out VCU, a perennial CAA favorite.

However, the Tribe sputtered against UNC-Wilmington and James Madison, two teams with an RPI below 200. Those are ugly losses that might stick out like a sore thumb to selection committee members. But that would be a disservice to William & Mary and trivialize the team’s fantastic non-conference wins. And the Tribe hasn’t slacked off much in conference play. As of Feb. 17, the Tribe remains in the RPI top 50, ranked No. 48, and are 3-3 against the four other top CAA teams.

Before William & Mary starts thinking about setting school history with its first trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Tribe will likely celebrate another rare feat. With one more win, the Tribe will notch its 20th win of the season, which would be only the third time in team history they reached that total. With Iona, Towson and a revenge game at UNC-Wilmington, the Tribe could easily have 22 wins entering the conference tournament.

If William & Mary reaches the semifinals of the conference tournament and loses to Old Dominion for a third time this season, the second week of March will seem like an eternity leading to Selection Sunday. The Tribe has a profile that looks better than bubble teams like Wichita State, Mississippi and Seton Hall. However, some bubble teams, like Connecticut, Louisville and Marquette, have the luxury of notching a marquee win against top 10 competition. Will the selection committee dock William & Mary because the Tribe don’t play in the Big East? If the Tribe can get to 23 wins, committee members would be making a huge mistake in taking a middle-of-the-pack major conference team over a mid-major powerhouse that has proven it can hang with the big boys from power conferences.

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.

St. Peter’s Defeats Marist in MAAC Action

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A strong defensive effort was the headline as St. Peter’s defeated Marist 61-49 at the Yanitelli Center. The win improves the Peacocks to 7-7 (2-2 MAAC) while Marist falls to 10-12 (1-2 MAAC).

The key, as noted, was defense.  Marist is basically a perimeter team. “With their dribble drive, they try to get mismatches with ball screens, cuts and handoffs,” St. Peter’s coach John Dunne said. “They do not have a true post game, so we didn’t want them to spread us out.  We were willing to give up a few threes.”

Marist shot 5 of 14 beyond the arc. Overall the Red Foxes were 15 of 42. Marist trailed 27-21 at the break, but in the first ten minutes of the second had managed only two field goals as St. Peter’s enjoyed a comfortable double-digit lead.

Execution and balance were also keys for Dunne’s club, seeing how they ran their offense and their inside/outside approach. Ryan Bacon (12 points, eight rebounds) established himself inside, while Nick Leon (a game-high 16 points) was effective on the perimeter and did a good job running the team from the lead guard spot. “Ryan had a good game against Marist last year, so he came in with confidence,” Dunne said. “If he didn’t miss a few easy ones early he could have had a monster game.”
All things considered, it was a solid win over a team that has lost several heart-breakers and was coming off a victory over Manhattan on Saturday. “They (Marist) are going to beat some people,” Dunne said. “I was pleased with our defensive intensity the first 32 minutes. The last eight, we let up a bit.” In those final eight, Marist never got the deficit under double figures.

Notes

• The Red Foxes were paced by Sam Prescott, a freshman guard who came off the bench to score 14 points. Devin Price, another freshman guard, added 12 points.
• Marist has no seniors in the starting lineup and went with a starting five of three freshmen and two juniors.
• Among those in attendance was Nick Mariniello, coach at Hudson Catholic, a school two blocks from St.Peter’s. Wesley Jenkins of St. Peter’s and RJ Hall of Marist both played for a few of Mariniello’s state champions at Bloomfield (NJ) Tech High School.
• Marist entered the game shooting 61 percent from the line. So much for tendencies, as they hit a perfect 14 of 14 for the night.