Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2008-09 Preview
by Matthew Moll

Davidson Who?
The rest of the nation’s small schools have spent the off season recalling the run of a 10th-seeded team from North Carolina that was a basket away from the Final Four. MAAC teams lie awake and long to be the next Siena. Including Siena.
The [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2007-08 Season Recap
by Matthew Moll

How the MAAC interrupted your Office Pool
Everyone likes cheering for the little guy and the MAAC is a conference filled with little guy-esque schools.
This season the Siena Saints embodied the role of David slaying two of the NCAA’s goliaths – one on the sport’s largest stage.
Siena [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

Here is a look at the MAAC conference so far this season.
Rider Broncos (14-6 Overall, 7-2 MAAC)
Tied for first: Six straight W’s propelled the Broncos into first place with Marist. Rider, who began the MAAC schedule with at 1-2 record, is now at the top of the standings [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2007-08 Preview
by Matthew Moll

The cyclical nature of amateur sports is painstakingly pronounced in college basketball. This is particularly true in a conference like the MAAC, where small schools, their fans and coaches begrudgingly assume some peak or valley every two to four years. No right-minded fan would foolishly foresee [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2006-07 Season Recap
by Matthew Moll

Unpredictability – the sine quan non of college basketball – took a year hiatus from the sport as a whole and from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season.
Marist, prognosticators’ pick for the regular season crown, dispensed all those who threatened the top spot. But [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

Six teams within striking distance
Over half of the MAAC field is within one game in the loss column from the all-important number-one seed. Currently there is a three-way tie for first and a four-way tie for second heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
No longer [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

The MAAC is now fully in its conference schedule. Here is how each team has fared up to this point.
1. Siena Saints (8-5 overall, 4-0 MAAC)
Four straight: The Saints’ four-win-to-no-loss conference start has been done so convincingly. As conference play kicks into its longest stint, the Saints are [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2006-07 Preview
by Matthew Moll

Thirty years of experience has exited the MAAC since the end of last season. Canisius, Fairfield, Manhattan and St. Peter’s are starting anew on the coaching end while veteran players hope to adjust to new systems as new players are introduced the MAAC.
MAAC mainstays such as [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2005-06 Season Recap
by Matthew Moll

Rivalries were embittered (pick one), records were set (Mr. Clark), teams were upset (Loyola), others were surprised, others surprised to be disappointing (Canisius), all the while shots that appeared to be sure went clank (Manhattan), some looked good but rattled out (St. Peter’s), and still others [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference First Round Preview
by Matthew Moll

The Week
One team sits for two, three teams sit for one, and the rest cannot rest if intentions are for tomorrow. Four days from now, the 10-team tournament will tally one touting a MAAC trophy; a testament of the time-honored trial of elimination and success. [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

Judgment Weeks
Ten teams, each with three games remaining and with little officially set for the MAAC tourney. In the last two weeks, the middle five teams can shuffle into first round byes or the bruising seven-eight seed. Who will be where, to follow.
Game of the week
Bracketology [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

The Pepsi Center Looms
With less than a month remaining, most teams are confined to a certain destiny. A much clearer picture of which team’s previous perniciousness will relegate them to flounder in the first round in Albany will emerge this week. Here are things to watch [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

No longer alone at the top
Manhattan’s winning streak was snapped and they are no longer the only team called “a first place team.” The longest winning run under Bobby Gonzalez came to a halt after Marist took a 77-68 win at home over the then-first place Jaspers. [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

They are back
Ten straight wins (including a perfect 6-0 MAAC record), blemishing some spotless records, and vindicating predictors will put you back in the spotlight. For now that spotlight rests squarely on the Manhattan Jaspers.
Manhattan is in the midst of their longest winning streak under Bobby Gonzalez, [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

Still a single bid
Conference play is upon us and now the MAAC’s season will begin. The previous two months has been relegated to preseason largely because MAAC participants were unable to deliver any big-ticket upsets to large school juggernauts. Georgetown, Villanova, Kentucky, Seton Hall, Syracuse, and [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2005-06 Preview
by Matthew Moll

Five months. One bid. This is clear to all those attached to the MAAC and its giant slaying cohorts’ conferences. There will be no waiting by the phone on selection Sunday, no RPI peeking, no Dickey V anointings, just one bid, only one team [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 2004-05 Recap
by Matthew Moll

Transition and mirror images defined this past season for the MAAC contenders. Transitioning out were the past victors and dominators of the league, as recently successful teams like Manhattan, Seina, and Iona all had off seasons. Individuals such as Juan Mendez, Jerry Johnson, and Deng [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament Recap
by Matthew Moll

First Round Recaps
No. 5 Iona 69, No. 10 Siena 51
Despite the absence of second-leading scorer Greg Jenkins, who was out with an injured back, the Gaels were able to hand the Saints their earliest exit from the MAAC tournament in eight years.
The rebuilding No. 10 seed allowed [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament Preview
by Matthew Moll

The seeding: The MAAC Tournament will take place at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY March 4-7. Ninth seed Loyola, No. 8 seed Marist, No. 7 seed Canisius, No. 3 seed Fairfield and No. 2 seed Rider will all compete on one side of the [...]

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Notebook
by Matthew Moll

MAAC seeding fight
The conference tournament looms and the MAAC has its own share of drama the final week of the regular season before the MAAC tournament enters stage right. Two teams will tangle for the top seed and the middle conference contenders will cavort for tournament candidacy.
What [...]