• 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.“The last two games, we’ve done a much better job on the glass,” said head coach Joe Jones. “We’re just trying to make a concerted effort to be a better offensive rebounding team as well.”
• One of the keys to Marquette‘s play has been the play of transfer Jamil Wilson. The Oregon transfer isn’t putting up big numbers, but he had 16 points on Saturday night at Providence to go with three blocked shots. Three nights later, he blocked three more shots to help the Golden Eagles shut down USF, and he is filling the stat sheet more and more.”I think he’s become incredibly, incredibly important to what we’re doing,” said head coach Buzz Williams. “I think with each passing day, regardless of game day or practice day, I think his confidence continues to grow. I think he helps us hide some of our deficiencies because of his intelligence, particularly on the defensive end.”
• Northeastern somehow pulled out a win on Wednesday night over Delaware that may make a difference for them. The Huskies had lost two straight after a good start, but came home for a win that may get them going again. Joel Smith hit his second game-winning basket in less than a month, having made a buzzer-beater at Vermont on December 30, and looks to be playing much better although he struggled in the two recent road losses. The big key, he said, is being engaged at both ends of the floor, and head coach Bill Coen noted that they have only lost once when Smith has six or more rebounds.”I’m trying to be more involved, especially rebounding and defense,” said Smith. “Once you do the little things, the game just flows and it comes to you.”
• St. John’s showed on Wednesday night that although they are young, they will be able to beat a top team or two before the season is out. They beat West Virginia convincingly, and all along they have looked like a scrappy team that will not go down easily.
• Staying in the Big East, Notre Dame‘s win at Seton Hall is another solid win for the Fighting Irish. If they keep this up, Mike Brey should be in the mix for Big East Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, Seton Hall has come back to earth a bit of late as they are now 4-4 in Big East play.
• St. Mary’s picked up a big road win on Thursday night as they went to Los Angeles and came away with a 71-64 win over Loyola Marymount. There are more road tests ahead for this team, but getting a win in LA is a good way to keep up the winning.
• Five teams are tied atop the Atlantic 10 with 4-2 records, but Xavier and Temple are not among them. Instead, it’s Dayton, La Salle, UMass, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure. Temple and Xavier are right behind them, but chances are few figured a five-way tie would not include those two.
• Iona heads to Fairfield on Friday night in a game that may have lost a bit of luster from before MAAC play began in earnest. The Stags are 5-3, and they could make things a little more interesting with a win as Iona is 7-2 and being talked about as a team that should be in one of the better BracketBusters matchups.

• 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.

• Speaking of the Terriers, if they are to continue this run, they will need to improve on the glass. Albany beat them badly on the backboards Monday night, and that wasn’t an isolated event. It was so bad Monday that if there was a time of possession stat like in football games, the Great Danes would have had a big advantage. It made the Terriers’ defense in the first half that much more impressive.

  “It’s an area of major concern for me,” said head coach Joe Jones, “because I think if we’re going to continue to have success in this league, we’re going to need to defend and rebound at a high rate, much better than we did tonight in terms of the glass, especially when we go on the road.”

• Brown said that the big reason he sat Gerardo Suero, America East’s top scorer, for a lot of the second half against the Terriers was simple. He found that the group he put in was playing well, but also wanted his star to gain something else from it. Suero was just 1-10 from the field on the night for six points, and had eight turnovers.

  “He got frustrated,” said Brown. “With the combination of BU doing a really good job on him and him getting frustrated, it got to a point where he just wasn’t there today.”

• On Thursday, Lafayette used a big second half to overcome a terrible shooting first half to beat Holy Cross in a matchup of two teams that can probably be best characterized as consistently inconsistent this season. The Leopards, who shot 19.4 percent from the field in the first half before shooting 52 percent in the second, haven’t been able to put together a streak of more than two wins together. But they are 2-0 on the road in early Patriot League play and their only loss came against league favorite Bucknell. With co-captain Tony Johnson back and being in better game shape now that he has a few games under his belt, they may be ready to turn a corner.

  “I feel really good about it,” said freshman Dan Trist, one of three Leopards who scored 11 points on the night. “The seniors were telling me how hard it is to win on the road in the Patriot League. Every gym is like a fortress, pretty much.”

• On the other side, Holy Cross head coach Milan Brown was at a loss for words to describe his team’s effort. The real oddity is that the Crusaders got next to nothing from the first unit in the second half, while a new group from a wholesale substitution early on led a rally to regain the lead. Holy Cross has had times where they have played very well, but Thursday’s second half hasn’t been an isolated case although it was probably their worst half of the season.

• It hasn’t been the best stretch for North Carolina. First, they got blown out by 33 at Florida State on Saturday, then Dexter Strickland tore his ACL and is done for the season. It’s not a small loss for this team, as he’s the closest thing they have to a backup point guard.

• Every year, there is at least one key player who is academically ineligible for the second semester. The first one to make news this time around is California sophomore forward Richard Solomon, who started eight of the Golden Bears’ 13 games and led the team in rebounding. That’s a big blow to a team that figures to contend for the Pac-12 title, something which just got more difficult.

Not only did the Terriers start winning games over a month ago, but they looked ready to win more. They seemed to have adjusted to new head coach Joe Jones more by that time, for starters. It also looked like they had found a post scorer to complement the perimeter duo of D.J. Irving and Darryl Partin, something they desperately needed.

In the three games in Rhode Island, senior Patrick Hazel came alive and looked to be as confident as ever. Long a defensive specialist, he had two near double-doubles, missing by two rebounds each time, and then closed out the weekend with one as the Terriers made a concerted effort to get the ball to him. Hazel made that move pay off that weekend, but he never built on it after that. Since that weekend, he has scored in double figures just once and has yet to reach double figures in rebounding.

On Sunday, Hazel was better and at times Dom Morris played assertively. The latter is something that hasn’t happened enough, and as talented as Morris is he is on his way to being an under-acheiver if he continues to not play aggressively to meet his potential.

“We need those guys every game, and in the six-game losing streak we had, they haven’t been there,” Irving said of the frontcourt players. “We’re trying to really get it in their heads that we need them to crash the glass and be aggressive on offense.”

It’s not as though the Terriers simply played poorly for six games. They played some tough teams in that stretch, with Quinnpiac being the one game that might stand out as a game they should win. Four of the six came on the road (Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, La Salle and Quinnipiac) and they had to play Harvard and Bucknell, both favorites in their respective leagues, at home. That stretch is unique in America East this season, as their non-conference strength of schedule is in the top 100, while every other team played a non-conference slate whose strength of schedule was north of 200.

That stretch is also likely a part of why Jones doesn’t seem overly worried about the mental state of his team.

“I think you’ve just got to try to keep things at bay in terms of not being too down, because we played some really tough teams,” said Jones. “I think we let the losses affect us, which any team would, once they started mounting up. Hopefully this gives us a little more confidence going forward.”

Not helping during the losing streak is that D.J. Irving missed three games due to a concussion he suffered against Villanova. While he was out, Partin wasn’t any better, as defenses focused in on him more. In his first game back a few days earlier, Irving wasn’t himself. But he looked much better on Sunday as he had eight assists with no turnovers an ran the offense like he hadn’t missed a minute of play. He combined with Matt Griffin for 13 assists without a turnover, and if there’s any question of his importance to the team, it comes in the form of being second on the team in scoring to go along with a 2.17 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Besides having Irving back to normal, the Terriers got a big lift off the bench from Malik Thomas. Thomas missed the first seven games of the season due to an injury suffered in preseason practice, so he was slow to get going at first because of that in addition to being a freshman. Thomas had 14 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes, but mainly he was in the game and made plays. He said he feels like he’s all the way back from the injury, and in time should help this team significantly.

“That was an unfortunate injury for him, because I thought he was playing well before he got injured,” said Jones. “He’s one of the more talented guys that we have.”

Boston University is hopeful that Sunday’s win gets them back on track. It would come at a good time since they head to Maine on Wednesday before hosting Stony Brook and Albany, all of whom came into Sunday at 2-0 in early conference games. Now would be a good time to be back where they were after the win at Boston College.

The Terriers didn’t exactly start out the weekend on a good note. They lost a heart-breaker to Cleveland State on Friday afternoon, a game that was more than just there for the taking. But they bounced back to take out the host team on Saturday and then pull out a 68-61 decision over Hofstra, and that’s the biggest thing they will take out of this weekend.

“We knew it was a heart-breaker,” said senior forward Patrick Hazel. “We didn’t want to turn one heart-breaker into more.”

The Terriers have had to battle back seemingly all season long. In the season opener against arch-rival Northeastern, they rallied from an 11-point deficit to force overtime before falling to the Huskies. They had to battle back in the next game at Cornell to make it a ballgame before losing. And they entered this weekend winless on the season, which was tough enough, but they opened with Friday’s loss that could have devastated them. Not only would that have been their first win, but it would have come against a Cleveland State team that could be in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid down the road given their good start.

Jones knew the Terriers would get going once the team and coaching staff had established more familiarity with each other. One thing he saw from his team was that Hazel could be an inside threat offensively, something this team could use since perimeter scoring isn’t a concern thanks to Darryl Partin and D.J. Irving. Since then, there has been a real effort to establish him as an inside threat, and it’s starting to pay some dividends.

Hazel has always been a defensive specialist. He began his career at Marquette, where he was surrounded by Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal, so there wasn’t a big need for him or any other frontcourt player to be a big scorer. Last year, his first at BU after transferring, he was decidedly not much of an offensive option with players like John Holland, Jake O’Brien (until late December) and Darryl Partin among his teammates.

This season, though, the Terriers need an inside scorer to complement Partin and D.J. Irving on the perimeter. While sophomore Dom Morris has plenty of talent, he’s not a true post player. Hazel fits the bill, however, and he had a big weekend as he got the ball often. He scored a career-high 15 points on Friday, added 14 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s win over Rhode Island, then posted his first career double-double on Sunday with 11 points and 10 rebounds. That went with his usual work defensively as he blocked 10 shots in the three games.

“We’re trying to get (Pat) and Dom going,” Jones said. “Those are two guys we’ve got to get going inside. We’d really like to have four guys in double figures.”

“His confidence is high right now, so we’ve got to keep feeding him so we can get baskets,” Irving said of Hazel.

Morris has the tools to score inside and out, in addition to being more athletic than he looks with his big body. Last year, he was often deferential to the veterans, but now he’s one of the veterans on a younger team, especially with O’Brien redshirting this season. With the scoring prowess of their perimeter players, one gets the idea that if Morris ever got the confidence to be the player he can be, they might be unstoppable.

“He establishes his presence in practice,” Hazel said of Morris. “We’re just waiting for that one big game from him, and once he gets it, he’s going to hit the ground running.”

The Terriers have started the season coming from behind, and they’re getting better at it as they have now broken through to win games. No team wants to come from behind all the time, but that’s been the fate of this team thus far. If the Terriers keep this up and then start better, the first few weeks may turn out to be a microcosm of the season.

And sadly, it’s relevant to things to come in the larger picture of college basketball.

Northeastern’s 82-74 win over Boston University in overtime isn’t a story of utmost national significance all by itself. It barely registers on an opening night with several intriguing matchups to go with the Carrier Classic. And the rivalry between these schools isn’t exactly Duke-North Carolina; in fact, it’s not even on the level of Old Dominion-VCU. But it’s an old rivalry that means something to both schools and their fans.

It’s hard to remember the last time Case Gym was as packed as it was on Friday night, save for the occasions the Terriers have hosted a conference title game. At times, you could feel the floor shaking on press row. There were fans sitting in the aisles and on the front row (not in seats) on Friday night, a sign of how many people showed up. Both schools made an effort to get people to come to the game, and it showed. The fact that it was the season opener for both teams surely helped, as every team hopes to have a good crowd for their home opener.

And while the NBA lockout is no doubt a contributor, this is still Boston, where most sports fans probably cared a lot more about reports of Jonathan Papelbon signing with the Philadelphia Phillies than the great game being played at Case Gym.

It was a game between two cross-town rivals, one that means something to the teams and their fans, hence they got up for it. The two schools have now met 139 times in their history. And unfortunately, such rivalries are losing their feeling and impact because of the changing landscape.

Already, it’s a shame that Northeastern and Boston University only play once a season. The two schools are perhaps a ten-minute drive through the city from each other and are very similar. They’ve been rivals away from the athletic playing field, to the point where Northeastern used to market itself as the school that gets all the kids that can’t afford to go to Boston University. (Nowadays, if you can’t afford one you can’t afford the other.) And their basketball teams have a long history that includes some memorable showdown games in regular season and in the conference tournament back when they were in the same conference.

Look throughout the landscape, and you’ll see there are lots of great rivalries – bigger than Northeaster-Boston University – that we have lost and will soon lose with conference realignment. When Boston College left the Big East, that meant they only play Providence once a year. Syracuse’s imminent departure from the Big East means they don’t play Georgetown or Connecticut, or at least will play them no more than once a year. Pittsburgh’s departure for the ACC, followed by West Virginia leaving for the Big 12, means an end to their games with West Virginia (or at least, just once a year). We will soon lose Texas A&M-Texas, which is a bigger rivalry in football much like Colorado-Nebraska. In the worst one of all, Kansas and Missouri may no longer play unless they meet in a postseason tournament now that Missouri is heading for the SEC.

And the list will go on, as the picture hardly seems settled. There are surely more maneuvers still to come, and most feel that four 16-team conferences is an inevitable result.

It didn’t take being in Case Gym on Friday night to drive it home, but anyone who was there had to wonder: is it really worth making the move to another conference in exchange for, among other things, losing great rivalries?

Friday night’s game was a great way for both schools to open the college basketball season. The last couple of years, the game has felt like a rivalry game with its atmosphere, and that’s how it should be. But it also leaves you wanting more. It leaves you looking forward to the next meeting between the two, in this case across town near Huntington Ave. Then reality sets in: they’re only playing once this season. And before long, more rivalries just like this will still be fierce on game day, but it won’t feel the same because they only play once each season.

John Holland is one player who will be in the NCAA Tournament that college basketball fans can be happy about getting the experience.

To say Holland keyed Boston University’s drive to the America East championship would be a great understatement. Already the conference Player of the Year and a 2,000-point scorer, Holland carried the Terriers back from a 15-point deficit in the second half starting with a personal 14-point run on Saturday. His head coach, who has seen a few great performances, said, “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that. It was pretty amazing.”

It’s a performance that will certainly be remembered for a long time, and not just by Boston University fans. It’s one more thing for the history books that will have Holland’s name all over it. Yet if Holland had his way, you get the feeling he’d gladly remove his name from the headlines about it.

Holland might be described as a reluctant star. He’s not a guy who talks about the team instead of himself in the usual way. Certainly, he cares about the team, and no one will doubt that. His teammates and coaches all rave about him on and off the court. Even former coach Dennis Wolff, with whom Holland seemed to have a rocky relationship at times, once described him as an “unbelievable kid” when not prompted.

But there’s more to Holland than that. He’s really a simple young man, one who doesn’t care for the trappings of being a star player. He would just as soon blend in with his team and be just another player, which is one reason they didn’t make him a captain this season. They know he doesn’t care about things like that. Just as he doesn’t care about awards or other recognition, a title like that doesn’t matter to him, either. While they needed him to be a leader this year as the only senior on the team, he did it without the title and without being conspicuous with it.

“He does it in little ways that you don’t know,” said head coach Pat Chambers. “In huddles, he’ll say more than he said in the past.”

This is a young man who wasn’t big on the Senior Night ceremonies a month earlier. It was a time with all the attention on him, and that doesn’t fit him. Not surprisingly, when fans on that night were trying to get his attention after the game as if they wanted him to jump into the crowd while they saluted him, he wanted no part of it and just flashed the same shy smile he’s shown many times over the years. His parents, both of whom are educators, got to experience it with him, and that’s who came to mind for him on that occasion.

“I really don’t like moments like that,” Holland said. “I guess it was nice for them. It was a good thing that they got to experience it. They’ve supported me my whole life, both of them and my aunt. That must have been really special for them. It was really special to be with them and allow them to have that moment.”

If you’re looking for memorable quotes or great insights, Holland isn’t your guy. He’s very soft-spoken and has often seemed at a loss for words in press conferences, which is no sin. It fits with his personality of not wanting the attention on him, and he mixes in an apparent nervous smile along the way. Observe him in press conferences, and a picture emerges of someone who loves the game and is good at it, but who doesn’t care about being perceived as an important player or even a star. You get the sense that he understands he’s blessed to have this opportunity and plays without the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Holland is more than just well-liked by his teammates. They certainly love playing with him, but off the court the native of the Bronx is no different. Darryl Partin, who transferred into the program after spending two seasons at La Salle, describes him as “an incredible guy.”

“He’s a happy person to be around. You can come to him about anything,” said the junior guard.

The senior wing is a good student who flew under the radar in high school, which is hard to do in the New York area. He also played varsity baseball in high school, but basketball was the sport that came calling for the next level. In keeping with the theme of the importance of others, Holland has also done community service work with autistic children, no doubt influenced by his parents’ background in education.

Boston University will take on Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. The team faces long odds of moving on past that game, as Kansas is one of the No. 1 seeds. Asked what will be the biggest thing he will take away from this experience, Holland said being with his teammates will stand out above all. It’s the kind of thing you can expect from the young man.

No matter what happens, Holland will be one young man that fans can be happy about getting the chance to compete in such a game. There are a lot of quality young men, both on and off the court, who never get this chance. And John Holland probably wouldn’t mind if you don’t notice he has this chance in the first place.

“Even though they were up 15, we knew we were going to try to get stops, we knew eventually we were going to make some shots, and we got ourselves to the foul line,” said head coach Pat Chambers. “To only take the lead with two seconds to go is not how I drew it up, but we’ll take it.”

Stony Brook led until the final seconds of the game. This was a Seawolves team that no one expected to be in the title game, not in the preseason after top player Tommy Brenton went down with a knee injury in the off-season that forced him to redshirt this season, and not before last weekend when they entered as the fifth seed. They had to play freshmen more than they might have wanted to and had to play differently because of how Brenton impacted the game on the boards. And not surprisingly, with no pressure on them and a supportive fan base that made the trip up to Boston, the Seawolves played very freely and controlled the game for the first half and some of the second half.

That was something Chambers told his team they needed to do. They needed to play more freely, and he gave them a message at halftime that had nothing to do with X’s and O’s. It was similar to something he has told his young team often this season.

“It was more talking to them about, just play, have fun, enjoy this, embrace it,” said Chambers. “Don’t fear failure. I drew up a diagram on the board, and I didn’t use it. It was more about the mental part of the game than anything. I just said to go out there and play loose with confidence.”

As happened a number of times on the season, and indeed on the season itself, the Terriers got going after a slow start. There have been many times this season where they fell behind and even trailed in the second half, then got a big second half to come away with a win. As was often the case, John Holland was the key to it, although not always like on Saturday when a personal 14-0 run cut a 41-26 lead down to one and set the stage for the finish. The senior scored 23 of his 27 points in the latter frame en route to Most Outstanding Player honors.

The Terriers have as much talent as anyone in the conference this season, but they also have a lot of youth. Holland is the only senior, and alongside him in the starting lineup on Saturday were two freshmen and two transfers, neither of whom played major minutes in their careers before becoming eligible this season. There was certainly a learning curve, and when Jake O’Brien went down with what proved to be a season-ending injury in late December, the Terriers took a hit.

January wasn’t easy for this team between the youth and adjusting to life without O’Brien. But by February, the team started to hit its stride. They won every game that month, including a big win without Holland at Vermont after he went down with a sprained ankle at Binghamton a few nights earlier. That may have been a blessing in disguise, because at times they probably rode Holland too much. Too often, the freshmen were a little deferential to the upperclassmen, and thus weren’t as effective as they could be.

“We played a game and a half without John, and I really believe that helped us last weekend and today,” Chambers said, referring as well to the quarterfinals and semifinals of the conference tournament. “Our guys still had confidence that we could defend and rebound, and we won the games John was out.”

Then they got him back, and won the ones that counted the most. And there was never a doubt in anyone’s mind that would happen.

“I’ll start off by saying, obviously, we need to play better defense,” said the second-year head coach. “And we’ll get there. These guys are committed to playing defense.”

The Terriers were something of a surprise first place pick in the America East preseason poll. There is no shortage of talent on the team, but a lot of it is young or new to the team. From transfers like Darryl Partin and Patrick Hazel to freshmen like Dom Morris and D.J. Irving, there is plenty of new talent alongside senior John Holland and junior Jake O’Brien.

That means they won’t be over-matched very often, if at all. But with so much youth, you don’t know what you’ll get right away, and that’s been evident thus far. It was even evident against the Hawks, where they were behind for much of the game and were down 65-53 with 10:34 left after an 8-0 run. That might have spelled defeat earlier in the season.

“We’ve really been struggling when it comes to end-of-game situations like closing teams out,” said Holland, who had 19 points and eight rebounds. “Today it finally came together, and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.”

Because he’s the lone senior, Holland is the guy one would naturally look to for leadership. Chambers moved him to the bench early on because he wanted exactly that from him, and said he would stay there until he got more of that. Chambers said it wasn’t punishment as much as trying to lighten the load on him since there’s a lot of pressure on him. Besides being the team’s only senior and best player, he’s the preseason America East Player of the Year. The Terriers certainly got leadership from him on Tuesday night, and Chambers feels like he’s responding better to the challenge.

“John carried us in that run, and when we weren’t making shots he carried us,” Chambers said. “He did some really good things getting to the basket, not relying on the three. I thought he did a really good job of mixing it up and getting to the foul line. He’s our best player, he’s a senior, and some days he’s got to put us on his back and he did that during that stretch.”

Holland was slow to get going in the first half, as he had just three points until two baskets in the final 1:06 of the half. He got going in the second half, and while he did make some plays during their comeback run, the players who really carried them during that stretch were Partin (nine of his game-high 29 in the final 10:34) and Irving (eight of his nine in that stretch).

Partin has come alive starting with the team’s last win before Tuesday night. In the last six games, he is averaging 18.3 points per game, scoring in double figures in every game except the loss at Bucknell. When he has shot it well from deep, he’s had big games: he was 5-6 from three-point range in his 32-point outing against Cornell, and 6-8 on Tuesday night.

The young talent has predictably had its ups and downs thus far. One thing that tends to happen is that younger players defer to the upperclassmen, and Chambers feels there is definitely some of that going on with players like Morris. Irving has shown a lot of potential, mixing in three double-digit scoring games with three scoreless outings, while more importantly handing out 36 assists with just 25 turnovers.

The Terriers also got Jeff Pelage back on Tuesday after he missed the first month and a half with a high ankle sprain. That gives them another veteran and another who has been in the program. It’s hard to believe he was once a player whose presence in a game was indicative of how thin the Terriers’ lineup was, but that tells you how far he has come. They can certainly use his presence and not just on the court.

“Jeff’s our Energizer Bunny,” said Partin. “Having him back is great, he’s a voice in the locker room.”

Sure enough, he impacted the game with seven rebounds and two blocked shots in just ten minutes. It was at that end of the floor that they can use his added impact the most. The Terriers aren’t a bad defensive team, as they’re in the middle of the pack of America East in most defensive categories. But if they are to be a championship team, they will need to be better.

You could sense a little bit of relief in Chambers with the win. But like any coach, there’s more at hand than just winning a game. They host Quinnipiac and head to UMass before starting America East play with a trip to Maine, a team projected to contend in the conference with a good veteran group. The Black Bears haven’t had a smooth non-conference run, but they head into Christmas with a four-game winning streak that began at UMass and most recently included a win at Penn State.

All of that is why Chambers liked the reaction of his team.

“You would think the guys would be jumping around, excited and happy, but they really weren’t,” said Chambers. “There was a different feeling, one of, we got a win, but we didn’t play as well as we could have. That excites me that they weren’t jumping around like it was a huge win, they know they’ve got to get better.”

With that mindset, they’re hopeful of not waiting about another month before their next win.

Without further ado, here are my America East Awards; they are based on who I feel merits each award, and not predictions of how the coaches will actually vote.

Coach of the Year:
·    Candidates: Steve Pikiell, Stony Brook; Ted Woodward, Maine.

There was much talk earlier this year about Binghamton interim coach Mark Macon for COY – absolutely not! Once the going got tough for Binghamton, Macon sat on the bench like a statue, and appeared as if he could have cared less about coaching – and leading – a team. Woodward deserves considerable consideration (did I just type that as a sentence?). Woodward has made Maine – a school that has been a perennial play-in game team, and never once seriously competed for a conference title – a contender. Woodward has gotten the Black Bears to win on the defensive end – something they haven’t done before – and perhaps even more impressive has gotten the Black Bears to the top of the conference with only one “All-Conference” player. Pikiell was shafted out of the COY award last year, and has continued to shine on Long Island: Pikiell completed the Seawolves transformation from worst to first, and has the Seawolves playing as a team, hard, for 40 minutes. He has fielded and coached the closest thing the league has to a complete team, and has gotten the job done recruiting, game-planning, and in the community.

·    Winner: Steve Pikiell, Stony Brook.

In a very close call, Pikiell should get the nod – no slight or disrespect to Woodward, but the job that Pikiell has done at Stony Brook is second to none; down the stretch the Seawolves never buckled, and showed up every time their backs were against the wall.

Player of the Year:
·   Candidates: Marqus Blakely, Forward, Vermont; John Holland, Guard/Forward, Boston Univeristy.

There are only two possible candidates in Blakely and Holland. Binghamton’s Greer Wright looked at one point like he might deserve some consideration, but he floundered down the stretch, and quite simply looked like he didn’t give a… when the going got tough – which removed him from any consideration. Muhammad El-Amin for Stony Brook put points up in bunches for the Seawolves; helping to propel Stony Brook to a regular season title – including a game winning shot against Albany. But El-Amin simply does not get the job done on the defensive end, does not play with the basketball IQ or the sense of urgency needed from a POY, and is surrounded by more overall talent that anyone else in the league. And it’s hard to make a case for El-Amin when many people on the Stony Brook’s staff don’t view him as the team’s best player. Holland was the league’s best offensive player – there is simply no argument. In years past, Holland has struggled mightily with consistency – and often disappeared when the Terriers needed him most – but this season he was a monster, leading the league in scoring (19.9 ppg overall, 19.5 ppg in conference games) while pouring it on down the stretch (including 43 points in the Terriers “Bracket Buster” game). Holland even made am impact on the defensive end – he still makes mistakes, but he gambled much less down the stretch and has become a solid defender. Blakely is simply the league’s best all-around player: he makes an impact every single night in one way or another – offense, defense, rebounding: He not only led the Catamounts in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, steals, and assists; he ranked among the America East leaders in those categories as well.

·    Winner: Marqus Blakely, Vermont.

It’s really not close – and that isn’t in any way disrespectful to Holland, who will most likely win a POY before graduating. Blakely simply impacts the game more than any other player in the league. Some fans still don’t give Blakely the respect he deserves – he’s never turned into the Taylor Coppenrath/Kenny Adeleke/T.J. Sorrentine/JJ Barea offensive juggernaut – and he can be stopped (or at least greatly slowed down) on the offensive end because, frankly, he can’t score from more than 4-feet away from the hoop. But he is a monster on the defensive end – he led the conference in steals and blocks (2.6 spg, 1.9 bpg) and disrupts the game both at the top of the 1-3-1 zone or defending in the paint. And on offense, Blakely is the catalyst for the league’s highest scoring team: far beyond his 17.4 points per game (16.5 ppg in conference games – good for 4th), Blakely draws constant double and triple-teams leaving his teammates WIDE OPEN. No one in the league gets to the line more, draws more fouls from opponents, or is more of a focus of opponent’s game-plans. Blakely will never be Coppenrath – but neither will anyone else in the league. Blakely is, quite simply, the best – overall, all-around – player in the league.

Defensive Player of the Year:
·   Candidates: Marqus Blakely, Forward, Vermont; Tommy Brenton, Forward, Stony Brook; Russell Graham, Guard, New Hampshire.

The two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Blakely is a one-man tornado: He disrupts the game at both the top and the bottom of the 1-3-1 zone. He can take over a game defensively on the perimeter, or on the low-post. He was the overall leader in both steals and blocks. There isn’t much more that needs to be said – perhaps the only knock on Blakely is that he gambles a lot, and occasionally hurts his team because of it, and isn’t the best man-to-man defender in the league. The fact that Brenton and Graham even merit consideration speaks volumes about their quality as defenders: Brenton is almost a lesser version of Blakely – he blocks shots, picks pockets, and defends both in the post and on the perimeter – and is actually a better man-to-man defender. He murdered the defensive glass (leading the league in defensive rebounding both overall and in conference games). Graham, a fire-hydrant bull-dog guard, is the best man-to-man perimeter defender in the league.

·    Winner: Marqus Blakely, Forward, Vermont.

Blakely is the league’s best overall defender; not much argument necessary.

Rookie of the Year:
·    Candidates: Dylan Talley, Guard, Binghamton; Mike Black, Guard, Albany; Ferg Myrick, Forward, New Hampshire.
* This was by far the weakest overall freshman class that I have seen in the 9 years I have followed the America East.

Talley, a 6’5” strong-guard type, lead all league rookies in scoring, both in conference games and overall (13.5 ppg in AE games, 11.8 overall), despite playing out of position at the point guard spot.  Talley also did a decent job on the glass. The knock on Talley is that he wasn’t much of a defender, and was not a team player (his offensive strategy at the point guard position was to put his head down and basically try to go 1 on 5 every time down the court). Black looks like Albany’s point guard of the future (although, we’ve said that about two different freshmen during the previous 2 years). After a slow start to the season, he blossomed; playing the most demanding position on the floor, averaging 10.4 points per game and 3.4 assists (7th in the league in conference games), while shooting .467 from behind the arc in league games (third best in the league). Myrick is, hands down, the league’s most talented rookie – as far as physical gifts it’s not even close – he averaged 10 points per game in conference game despite playing limited minutes.

·    Winner: Mike Black, Guard, Albany.

Talley’s numbers are certainly impressive – but it’s not that hard to put up numbers if you have some talent and are simply “trying to get yours” every night. Myrick’s talent trumps anyone’s, but he didn’t get the consistent playing time needed to put up numbers equivalent of his talent. Black had a very nice season, and did it all; ran a team, scored, shot from behind the arc, and even defended well on the ball.

1st Team All-Conference:
·    Candidates: Marqus Blakely, Forward, Vermont; John Holland, Guard/Forward, Boston University; Greer Wright, Forward, Binghamton; Muhammad El-Amin, Guard, Stony Brook; Joe Zeglinski, Guard, Hartford; Gerald McLemore, Guard, Maine; Tommy Brenton, Forward, Stony Brook.

Blakely and Holland need no explanation: Best player in the league, and best offensive player in the league, respectively. A 6’7” wing who can put the ball on the floor and take opponents of the dribble, Wright sputtered a bit down the stretch, but he finished the season fifth in overall scoring (15 ppg) and fourth in scoring in conference games (16.8ppg)., In conference games, Wright also finished fourth in assists (3.9 apg), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio, and tenth in steals. El-Amin, McLemore, and Zeglinski are all pure-scorers. El-Amin – a 6’5” guard who is perhaps more adept at taking opponents off of the dribble than any other AE wing in recent history –  hit big shot after big shot for the 1st place Seawolves down the stretch, and was second in scoring in conference games (19.1 ppg), and third in overall scoring (16.8 ppg). McLemore ranked sixth in overall scoring, eight in conference scoring – and was the Black Bears offense. McLemore was a monster shooter from behind the three-point line, finished out the season on an unbelievable shooting streak from behind the arc, and his numbers become more impressive when considering that he was the focus of every opponent’s defensive scheme. Zeglinski bounced back from an ankle injury that derailed his previous season to rank fourth in overall scoring (16.7 ppg), and third in scoring in conference games (17.3). Zeglinski hit several big shots this season – including a buzzer beating game-winner at UNH – and made an impact on the glass as well. Brenton has been completely overlooked by most fans, because he has not become a scorer – yet. Brenton only averaged 7.7 points per game (7.9 in conference games), but he was the most important player for the Seawolves, and according to coach Pikiell, was the Seawolves best overall player. Brenton led the league in rebounding (both overall at 9.6 rpg, and in AE games at 9.8 rpg), and led Stony Brook in steals, assists, and field goal percentage. A 6’5” ball of super-athletic energy, Brenton was the heart and soul of Stony Brook, and the league’s toughest player. It was no coincidence that the Seawolves took off and ran the AE gauntlet precicesly when Pikiell turned Brenton into a “point-forward” and had him run the Seawolves offense as soon as Stony Brook crossed half court. Brenton is arguably the best defender in the league not named “Marqus Blakely” and was often put in man-to-man coverage with the opponent’s best offensive player – regardless of whether they were on the perimeter or in the paint.

·    Winners:
§    Marqus Blakely, Senior, Forward, Vermont: 17.4 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2.6 spg, 1.9 bpg.

§    John Holland, Junior, Guard/Forward, Boston University: 19.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.6 spg.

§    Greer Wright, Junior, Forward, Binghamton: 15.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.2 spg.

§    Muhammad El-Amin, Senior, Guard, Stony Brook: 16.8 ppg, 19.1 ppg in conference games.

§    Tommy Brenton, Sophomore, Forward, Stony Brook: 7.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.8 spg.

Blakely and Holland need no explanation – they were the two best players in the league. Despite sputtering down the stretch, Wright was phenomenal in his first season. El-Amin, McLemore, and Zeglinski were all scorers who really didn’t defend at all, and El-Amin gets the edge in the “pure scoring department” as he averaged more points, hit more big shots, and played for the best team. Brenton is probably a shock and head scratcher to most fans, but he was a better overall player than any of the trio of scorers up for consideration – by the Marqus Blakely and Jay Greene factor of overall impact, Brenton made a bigger difference on the floor when considering the impact he had defending, rebounding, and distributing the ball.

2nd Team All-Conference:
§    Joe Zeglinski, R-Junior, Guard, Hartford: 16.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg.

§    Gerald McLemore, Sophomore, Guard, Maine: 14.9 ppg, .402 3pt-fg

§    Alvin Abreu, Junior, Guard, New Hampshire: 14.6 ppg.

§    Jake O’Brien, Sophomore, Forward, Boston University: 13.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg.

§    Maurice Joseph, Senior, Forward, Vermont: 14.3 ppg.

Zeglinski and McLemore were the last two kept off of the first team; both were big-time scorers and carried their respective clubs on offense. Zeglinski, a pint-sized fire-hydrant of a guard managed to dominate some games on the offensive glass, and was the heart and soul of the Hawks. McLemore still isn’t a “stopper,” but he made huge strides on the defensive end and was the Black Bears offense. Abreu was streaky, but was instrumental in the Wildcats 20 point win over 2nd place Vermont and 22 point win over 1st place Stony Brook. When on, Abreu is as good a scoring guard as there is, and also made a big impact on the defensive end. O’Brien was the 2nd best player on the Terriers, and took an absolute beating during the season as the Terriers only option in the low-post. He stretched the floor from behind the arc, gave the Terriers a scorer near the hoop, defended, and blocked some shots. Joseph is a one-dimensional player, but good-god can he shoot it when he gets into a groove, and down the stretch he was huge for the Catamounts.

3rd Team All-Conference:
§    Evan Fjeld, Sophomore, Forward, Vermont: 10.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg.

§    Corey Lowe, Senior, Guard, Boston University: 14.1 ppg, 4.3apg.

§    Carlos Strong, Senior, Guard, Boston University: 10.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.6 spg.

§    Chris De La Rosa, R-Sophomore, Guard, UMBC: 11.8 ppg, 5.1 apg, 1.1 spg.

§    Brian Dougher, Sophomore, Guard, Stony Brook: 13.6 ppg, .423 3pt-fg.

Fjeld’s conference numbers were far greater than his overall numbers, as he became a real weapon during the conference slate. He also developed as a rebounder, and even shot blocker. What keeps Fjeld from the second team is that a great many of his buckets were completely uncontested, as he certainly benefitted from the double and triple-teams opponents employed on Blakely. Lowe’s numbers are considered a disappointment by many fans, but it wasn’t for lack of effort: Lowe completely bought into first-year head coach Pat Chambers’ scheme, and wore his heart on his sleeve during the season. For perhaps the first time in his career, Lowe truly sacrificed himself on both ends of the floor, played every game like it was his last, and put his team far above himself. Unfortunately, injuries took a heavy toll on Lowe down the stretch and prevented him from a 1st or 2nd team selection. Strong played the best basketball of his career down the stretch, and was instrumental in the Terriers late season surge. It is truly remarkable that De La Rosa lead the league in assists and assist to turnover ratio considering the team he was surrounded by. With any kind of supporting cast he might have been a 1st-teamer. Dougher was the best scorer and shooter on the league’s best team for a stretch, but cooled down the stretch. He was, however, still a terrific scorer.

All-Rookie Team:
·    Candidates: Dylan Talley, Guard, Binghamton; Mike Black, Guard, Albany, Ferg Myrick, Forward, New Hampshire; Murphy Burnatowski, Forward, Maine; Marcus Rouse, Guard, Stony Brook; Charles White, Guard, Hartford; Shawn Grant, Forward, UMBC; Adrian Satchell, Forward, UMBC; Logan Aronhalt, Guard, Albany.

·    Winners:
§   Dylan Talley, Guard, Binghamton
§    Mike Black, Guard, Albany
§   Ferg Myrick, Forward, New Hampshire
§    Murphy Burnatowski, Forward, Maine
§    Charles White, Guard, Hartford

Talley, Black, and Myrick are no-brainers. The other two spots were very much up in the air, but I give the edge to Burnatowski and White. Burnatowski was the best defender on a Black Bears squad that relied on defense. An incredibly tough, physical forward with athleticism and a mean-streak – the kind of good, Jason Grochowalski-Tommy Brenton mean-streak – Burnatowski made a huge impact on the defensive end, and showed some offensive flashes down the stretch while playing a crucial role in the Black Bears third-place finish. Charles White is a phenomenal perimeter defender – the best rookie defender in the league – and has done a remarkable job on some of the league’s best scorers (the job he did at home on Muhammad El-Amin was one of the more impressive performances by a freshman this season).

All-Defensive Team:
·    Candidates: Marqus Blakely, Forward, Vermont; Tommy Brenton, Forward, Stony Brook; Russell Graham, Guard, New Hampshire; Chretien Lukusa, Guard, Binghamton; Mahamoud Jabbi, Forward, Binghamton; Dane DiLiegro, Center, New Hampshire; Murphy Burnatowski, Forward, Maine; Garvey Young, Guard, Vermont; Dallis Joyner, Center, Stony Brook. Charles White, Guard, Hartford.

Blakely – who will, and should, win his third straight defensive player of the year – is a no brainer. Brenton is a defensive tornado who can lock down on both low-post and perimeter players and shut them down, and controls the defensive glass (he led the league in defensive rebounding – overall, and in conference games – by a considerable margin). Graham is the best perimeter defender in the league, with Lukusa and White battling for second. Jabbi – an incredibly bouncy forward – led the league in blocked shots in conference games. DiLiegro draws more charges than anyone in the conference, gets phenomenal low-post positioning, and is a monster on the defensive glass. Burnatowski is a physical forward who defends both the low-post and the perimeter, and was the best defender on a Black Bears squad that won games on the defensive end. Young is another very strong and physical perimeter defender.  Joyner came on late as a terrific low-post defender (the job he did on Blakely in the Seawolves regular-season championship clinching win over Vermont may well have been the best single defensive performance the league has seen this year).

·    Winners:
§    Marqus Blakely, Senior, Forward, Vermont
§    Tommy Brenton, Sophomore, Forward, Stony Brook
§    Russell Graham, Sophomore, Guard, New Hampshire
§    Mahamoud Jabbi, R-Junior, Forward, Binghamton
§    Charles White, Freshman, Guard, Hartford.

Blakely, Brenton, and Graham were locks. Jabbi’s shot blocking coupled with his rebounding, and White’s perimeter defense give them the slight edge over the rest of the competition.

All-Floor Burn/Blue Collar (The League’s five toughest guys):
§    Tommy Brenton, Sophomore, Forward, Stony Brook
§    Dane DiLiegro, Junior, Center, New Hampshire
§    Radar Ongeutou, Senior, Forward, New Hampshire
§    Joe Zeglinski, R-Junior, Guard, Hartford
§    Tyrone Conley, Junior, Guard, New Hampshire

All-Rim-Wreckers and Backboard-Shakers (Top in-game dunkers)
§    Marqus Blakely, Senior, Forward, Vermont
§    Tyrone Conley, Junior, Guard, New Hampshire
§    Tommy Brenton, Sophomore, Forward, Stony Brook
§    Dane DiLiegro, Junior, Center, New Hampshire
§    Dallis Joyner, Sophomore, Center, Stony Brook

Blakely may be the best all-around in-game dunker the conference has seen. Conley has the highest vertical leap in the conference and is an insane high-flying acrobat – much closer to 6’1” than his listed 6’3” – he has been finishing off alley-oops and dunking on people in a way the conference hasn’t seen (from a small-guard) since Matt Turner. Brenton is another top-end athlete, but unlike Blakely and Conley, his dunks aren’t about acrobatics: he just tries to dunk on people as hard as he physically can. Brenton has become the America East’s version of Charles Barkley when it comes to finishing off fast breaks like a runaway freight train. DiLiegro and Joyner are all about raw-power: they both try to rip the rim off every time.  Notables not making the list: John Holland, Chauncey Gilliam, and Carlos Strong – who are all terrific dunkers but just didn’t quite bring it enough this year.

All-Bust (The Biggest Disappointments)
§    Will Harris, Forward, Albany: Harris’s entire career as a Great Dane can be summed up in a line from Jay-Z: “You know the type, loud as a motorbike, but wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight.” No one in the league talks more trash, makes more noise, or pounds their chest more prior to tip-off than Harris. And no one is quieter in big-game situations and big moments in their career. Harris is easily one of the three most physically talented players in the league, yet he couldn’t even rank in the top 20 in either scoring or rebounding during the conference slate. Harris simply doesn’t care, or doesn’t get it, or both. At the end of the day, he will have began his career starting at Virginia, and finished it sitting on the bench at Albany.

§   Tim Ambrose, Guard, Albany: Like Harris, Ambrose has incredible physical gifts, but has never come close to getting much out of the gifts he was blessed with on the court. He still doesn’t defend ANYONE, and doesn’t seem to have much energy or passion for the game.

§    Joel Barkers, Forward, Hartford: Barkers came out of the gate on fire in his first season at Hartford, and looked like the physical presence they desperately needed on the low-blocks. Alas, it wouldn’t last, as Barkers has looked uninspired and disinterested during most of the season.

§    Robbie Jackson, Center, UMBC: A transfer from Marshall, Jackson was billed as a 7-footer who would change the game in the America East. Jackson took the floor out of shape, overweight, and without much passion or fire. At 7 feet (more like 6’10”) he plays the game like he’s 6’1”.

§    Athletic Director Joel Thirer/Head Coach Kevin Broadus/Tiki Mayben/D.J. Rivera/Malik Alvin et all: What more needs to be said about this collective group of clowns that has imploded the Binghamton basketball program? They single handedly turned Vestal, NY, into the setting of a Road Warrior movie. Cocaine and Marijuana Dealing, condom stealing, credit card fraud, paying players, pressuring admissions to let in unqualified students, pressuring teachers to change grades, and in general allowing student athletes at a low-major school to live completely above the law; that sort of thing isn’t acceptable at UConn, let alone Binghamton. To quote Adam Sandler’s Billy Madison, “I award them no points, and may god have mercy on their souls.”

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.