“We never win games decisively like that,” said senior guard Alvin Abreu. “It feels good to get a win like that.”

In the second half, the Wildcats ran often. They ran on misses, they ran on turnovers, and then they consistently broke Marist’s press and turned it into 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 breaks for easy baskets. Before you knew it, the lead was in double digits and Marist had called two timeouts in short order.

Then it was the steady play of veterans like Chandler Rhoads and Abreu that carried the Wildcats home. Rhoads was in the middle of the action most of the game and filled the stat sheet, while Abreu had a very good game without settling for three-point shots for a lot of his offense. Abreu had a game-high 18 points with just one attempt from behind the arc. What might have epitomized the second half was a quick three-pointer off an inbounds pass by Marist’s Devin Price, which Rhoads rebounded after it was no good and quickly got ahead to Abreu for an easy layup. That put them up 66-41 at the time.

The game didn’t start out so well, as Marist went up 12-2 in the early going. The Wildcats then got a boost from the bench, as Ferg Myrick and Garrett Jones led the charge back into the game. Myrick made two plays right in a row for baskets, one of which was a hustle play, while Jones had a couple of assists and brought a lot of energy off the bench.

The Wildcats really got the job done at the defensive end, as they often have of late. They held Marist below 33 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers. Proof of how they ran the Red Foxes off the floor was a 16-0 edge in fast break points. Offensively, they made over 46 percent of their shots, and less than a quarter of the attempts were from behind the arc, also a big plus as they have tended to settle for three-pointers instead of take such shots in flow.

One reason this year’s UNH team has the potential it does is that they have more weapons at the offensive end than they have had in Bill Herrion’s tenure as head coach. That’s also the reason why how they have run the offense has been the biggest variable with this team’s play thus far. Herrion is happy with the defense, but offensively they have had a tendency to not show much discipline and settle for jumpers. This team has enough athleticism that they shouldn’t have to do that, and the coaching staff is emphasizing getting points from the defense.

“That’s how we’ve got to play,” said Herrion. “We don’t have a legitimate five man inside that we can throw it in and score.”

The Wildcats do have Brian Benson inside, but he’s mainly a rebounder and has never been a big scoring threat inside. He had 14 rebounds on Saturday to help lead the defensive effort, and averages 10 per game on the season but less than nine points per game. Chris Matagrano isn’t a big post scoring threat, although he has improved to at least be a serviceable backup.

But on the whole, Herrion’s point is that this team is a new look in terms of what they have for offensive talent. And it’s a big reason why this team might have a chance to break through this season.

“I think the problem that we’ve had is that our offense has never been as good as our defense,” Herrion reflected.

Another bright spot on Saturday was that the good outing from Myrick. There’s no doubting the talent the junior wing has, but he has struggled for a lot of this season and his tendency to be a black hole on offense doesn’t help. But if he plays like he did on Saturday, there’s no question this is a better team and they would have one more scoring threat at the offensive end.

“He’s still not in great shape,” said Herrion, noting that Myrick hasn’t made it all the way back from the season-ending knee injury he suffered last year. “His wind and his conditioning has to get better.”

Offense will likely continue to be what will make or break this team. The Wildcats have an improved point guard in Jordon Bronner, a solid combo in Rhoads, the seasoned veteran in Alvin Abreu and a versatile forward in Patrick Konan who is shaking off the rust more all the time. Benson isn’t lacking offensive ability despite never being a big scorer, and perhaps they don’t need more than a few points a game out of him.

“I think the challenge that we’re going to have is, can we continue to score?” said Herrion. “That’s been our Achilles heel, consistent offense, putting enough points on the board. That’s why we’re really trying to emphasize getting it off of our defense.”

New Hampshire heads to Providence on Tuesday night to play a Friars team that has had a good start to the season. Given what the two teams have shown thus far, it might be quite a defensive battle. If the Wildcats can somehow pull it out, it might spring them forward in a big way not only because it’s a Big East team, but also because it would mean consecutive victories for the first time this season.

I’m sure others have said it, but I remember ESPN’s Buster Olney once remarking that when you’re in the media, you become a fan of the game instead of a particular team. It’s very true, and part of that is being a fan of the people involved in the game. This is a people business in every respect, and those who succeed the most in this industry, no matter what capacity they are in, know how to deal with people.

To that end, I give you Ken Dempsey, the associate head coach at New Hampshire. Tuesday is an important day for him.

Dempsey recently shared on the National Coaches’ Diary Series on College Chalktalk that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. On Tuesday, he goes for surgery to address it, and will take an undetermined leave of absence from the basketball team. He is not the first and won’t be the last college coach to have to deal with this dreaded disease, but fortunately the outlook is good and there’s some personal significance.

We all have people who have helped us get where we are. Dempsey has helped many people in that respect in 25 years of coaching at several Division I schools, but it isn’t just players who have benefited from knowing him. I have no better friend in basketball than Ken Dempsey.

When I was an undergraduate at Northeastern, Dempsey joined the basketball staff when Dave Leitao took over as the head coach my freshman year. Dempsey was the first coach I met, and after a badly failed attempt to walk on to the team, he didn’t forget me. I would see him around the gym (back then, Cabot Gym was not only where the team practiced, but also the student recreational facility), especially if I was playing basketball before the team came to practice. He sensed that I liked the game, and encouraged me to join them as a manager. I would stop by the office and have conversations with him and Darryl Hilliard, also an assistant there at the time, and the relationship grew from there.

The next year, I became a manager. My experience in doing that was tremendous for a lot of reasons, from being so close to the game that I love to traveling to places I had never been to understanding what goes into a team’s season. There is not enough space to share how much that helped me to get where I am today, and that’s before I mention some of the things external to my role as a manager. Dempsey gave me access to recruiting reports so I could see what they looked like and start having a feel for the next college stars, and introduced me to Bob Gibbons when he visited Northeastern one time. This was back when there weren’t nearly as many people covering recruiting as there are now, as the Internet was still in its infancy in terms of its effects on athletic media.

That was only the beginning. When Dempsey left Northeastern just before I graduated, we made sure to stay in touch, and have done that. After some time away from the northeast, he’s been back for several years now. Interestingly, I covered what proved to be his last game as an assistant coach at UMKC before coming to New Hampshire – a tough loss in the then-Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League) Tournament in Tulsa.

Dempsey is optimistic that his leave from the team will be on the order of weeks. He is well-connected and has been in contact with some people who have dealt with this to learn from their experiences, and has had great support from everyone in Durham. And as he goes in for surgery on Tuesday to start the battle against prostate cancer, I know I am one of many people who is praying for a positive result at the end of all of this.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• About that brawl: Cincinnati and Xavier each suspended four players for their roles in the well-chronicled brawl at the end of Saturday’s meeting between the two teams. Cincinnati suspended Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbodj and Octavius Ellis for six games each and Ge’Lawn Guyn for one game, while Xavier suspended Dez Wells and Landen Amos for four games each, Mark Lyons for two and Tu Holloway for one.
• Indiana scored a dramatic win over Kentucky with a buzzer-beater on Saturday. It’s the biggest win for the Hoosiers under Tom Crean.
• Murray State knocked off Memphis on Sunday night, which improves the Racers to 10-0. But what has unfortunately received a little more buzz from that game than how good the Racers look is Memphis’ public address announcer announcing John Calipari as the Tigers’ head coach, which was greeted with a round of boos.
• It’s a light week of game action, and Monday night was no exception as the most notable game was probably Oregon’s 79-70 win over Portland State.

Games to watch on Tuesday

• Wisconsin at Milwaukee, 8 pm EST
• Belmont at Middle Tennessee, 8 pm EST

“The challenge that we’ve been handing to our guys is, can we go on the road now and win a game?” said head coach Bill Herrion.

The potential for this team isn’t hard to see. There’s talent on the perimeter with Jordon Bronner, Chandler Rhoads and Alvin Abreu, and Liberty transfer Patrick Konan has talent. Ferg Myrick has become something of a forgotten man, but he’s not lacking talent although he doesn’t have the best feel for the game. Up front, there’s steady senior Brian Benson, who led America East in rebounding last season. But they’re all flawed just like the team as a whole, and some of those flaws have been obvious thus far this season.

“I really like our team a lot,” Herrion said. “I think the ceiling for this team is really high.”

Bronner has more confidence and really competes, but also still has to learn the game and appears to have just one speed. He was one of the keys on Wednesday night, as he had six assists with no turnovers. A year ago, it was clear he has the physical gifts for the point guard spot but also had a good ways to go to be what he could. Now he’s progressed, and while there’s still a good deal of room for improvement, it’s easier to look at that as upside for him.

“He’s taken big steps,” Rhoads said of Bronner. “He really controls the game. His defense is what sets the tone for our team, pressuring the other team’s point guard and getting us into a flow. He’s playing really well, and he’s one of the keys to our team.”

Rhoads looks improved but has more turnovers than assists in the early going. Abreu too often settles for jumpers and hasn’t approached the 36 percent he shot from behind the arc as a freshman. Konan still has some rust to shake off after sitting out last year as a transfer, but gives them the option of going big with him at small forward or going small with him at power forward. And while Benson can rebound, he’s never been a big scoring threat.

Rhoads looks like one of the big keys. He’s a primary ball-handler and has improved as a shooter over time. On Wednesday, he did a lot of things to help the team, especially late as he grabbed key rebounds and got big baskets and free throws.

“I know all the time he’s going to figure out something,” Konan said of Rhoads. “He made big plays, and that’s what big players do.”

The Wildcats would like to get Benson going inside at the offensive end. He leads America East in rebounding by a wide margin and is helping them put up the second-best margin in the conference. Chris Matagrano has improved enough to be more than serviceable off the bench, so the Wildcats’ frontcourt is in reasonably good shape.

The Wildcats haven’t shown a lot of patience on a consistent basis. All too often, they would settle for jumpers after just a couple of passes and with a defender somewhere in the area. That was clear on Wednesday night, when they were aggressive in trying to go to the basket and moved the ball around at first. After that, a few jumpers went in. It was a far cry from their prior game a few nights earlier at Holy Cross, where Herrion felt they shot too many three-pointers and too often shot them early in the possession without moving the ball.

The physical effort hasn’t been in question, but the team hasn’t quite figured out the other aspects of the game. Herrion spoke of the team not playing 40 minutes, and in particular the start of the second half has been a trouble spot for them. On Wednesday night, they didn’t have a great start, but it was better than it has been and didn’t put them in a hole, so that was a step forward.

New Hampshire got the road win they were looking for on Wednesday night. Their hope is that it will boost them for more of the same later, and to keep moving toward the potential they have.

“These kids have been in a tough situation with injuries and suspensions, our numbers have been down,” head coach Bill Herrion said. “I’m really proud of these guys for hanging in there and sticking with it.”

A look at the Wildcat bench on Sunday showed the situation. In street clothes due to injury were Alvin Abreu, lost for the season with a torn ACL, and leading scorer Ferg Myrick, lost for the season with a ruptured patella tendon. Reserve Kazadi Nyanguila is injured as well and didn’t play Sunday. Joining them was another starter, Dane DiLiegro, who was suspended for Sunday’s game due to a violation of team rules. Herrion said they will get DiLiegro back on Tuesday when they play at America East leader Maine.

The injury situation has been the big factor, as Abreu is also a team leader and the roommate of Tyrone Conley, who has lately stepped it up. The staff hoped that having Abreu back on campus with Conley would help him out because the two are close, and that has happened as Conley’s effort on Sunday was just the latest good game he has had. He went for 22 points on 8-15 shooting and had seven assists with no turnovers, helping the Wildcats hand out 17 assists with just eight turnovers. In America East play, he is averaging 19 points per game, good for third in the conference.

“Tyrone Conley, I can’t say enough how he’s playing,” said Herrion. “The way he’s playing right now, he’s an all-conference player. He’s really, really leading us right now.”

His backcourt mate, Chandler Rhoads, has been shooting well above his career numbers over about the last month. Not known for his stroke, since Christmas Rhoads is shooting 48.4 percent (15-31) from long range. With his 4-4 effort on Saturday, he is 8-11 from deep in the last two games and has now scored in double figures in five straight games.

The player whose numbers on Sunday would jump off the stat sheet belong to Brian Benson, who appears to be coming into his own. The junior forward has always had potential, and of late he looks like he may be ready to start living up to it. A week after grabbing 22 rebounds against Stony Brook, he had 15 points and 16 rebounds on Sunday, and he blocked five shots. He struggled in between those games against Vermont, a team that plays physical basketball and especially with their inside players, and Herrion said he wasn’t happy with what the post players gave him in that game.

With his efforts in conference play, Benson is now third in the conference in rebounding, with teammate DiLiegro in second. In conference games only, he has a slight lead in that category as he’s averaging 10.1 per game.

“He’s just much more confident, he’s a little bit stronger,” Herrion said of Benson. “Every day he steps on the floor, he’s getting better.”

Knowing what his players have had to go through, Herrion has been challenged in a different way. He’s had to work to be more positive with them, which can be a challenge because he expects a lot out of them. The team’s psyche hasn’t been what it was with the injuries taking a toll and the losses mounting.

“What I’m trying to do is push myself to stay as positive as I can and as upbeat as I can, because that’s how they’ll be,” said Herrion. “I’m a very competitive guy, I don’t like losing, and all I said to the kids is if you play as hard as you can, you compete and give everything you have, I’m okay with that. If we do that, we’re going to still win some games.”

Herrion still believes this team can contend in what looks to be a wide-open America East save for Maine, who appears to be the class of the conference thus far. He knows any team can get hot in March, and this team is one that’s capable of it despite the limited numbers. The team’s ability to get through the adversity they have already faced will also help shape them for a run through February and then early March. That might be as important as anything.

The Wildcats started off the final slowly, turning the ball over early and often. They had ten turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game, then gave it away just six times the rest of the way. With that, some offensive rebounding kept them somewhat in the game, although they never got closer than 13 points at any time in the second half.

A promising development was the shooting of Chandler Rhoads. Not known for his shooting, the sophomore had 15 points and was 2-3 from behind the three-point line on Thursday after making both of his attempts the night before. Entering the tournament, he was a career 14.6 percent shooter from deep. The coaching staff hopes he can bottle that up for America East play, especially since they have struggled shooting the ball from deep in part because Alvin Abreu has been lost for the season.

Speaking of Abreu, roommate Tyrone Conley was an all-tournament selection but hasn’t been the same player without him around. Conley is an explosive athlete but has been up and down shooting it, going 1-8 from deep on Thursday night. When they get back, Abreu will be around the team and help Conley. Add in Ferg Myrick, the team’s leading scorer, and the Wildcats still have a lot on the wing. When Myrick penetrates, he can make things happen.

The Wildcats have been solid on the glass and are holding opponents to 40.5 percent shooting. They out-rebounded VCU in the loss on Thursday and held the Rams to 36 percent shooting in the second half. Those will go a long way to winning a wide-open America East, especially if they can improve their touch from long range. They don’t have to shoot lights-out, but improving slightly on their current showing (below 30 percent) might be enough.

If the perimeter shooting improves, it should allow more chances inside for players like Dane DiLiegro and Brian Benson (11 rebounds against VCU). Both give them solid rebounding but could stand to give them more offensively, especially Benson. DiLiegro got off to a good start but didn’t play his usual minutes in the two games in Richmond, with foul trouble being a contributor to that in the semifinal.

There isn’t a clear favorite in America East, although Vermont had the best non-conference record as the only team above .500 and Boston University probably has the most talent, much of which is young. New Hampshire could certainly contend if they take some of what they did in Richmond back to Durham, and improve in a couple of areas. They aren’t in bad shape, and they will get a measure of where they are early with the first two conference games being on the road (at Albany and Boston University).

A few thoughts from Wednesday’s games:

• Cornell isn’t far away. The Big Red lost for the sixth time by five or fewer points, which means they’ve been right there. Cornell doesn’t have the star power of a year ago, but they do have veterans who have won like Chris Wroblewski (14 points, six assists), Errick Peck (game-high 19 points) and Adam Wire (team’s leading rebounder). But they’re all in different roles than before, an adjustment they haven’t quite made yet.
• Ferg Myrick makes a difference for New Hampshire. The Wildcats’ leading scorer had a nice night with 14 points and five assists in 31 minutes. Not only was the five assists a season high, but two more than he had all season prior to Wednesday night. When he drove, he made things happen, which he showed against Rhode Island before getting ejected.
• New Hampshire will need a repeat of the effort from Chandler Rhoads on Thursday. The sophomore point guard quietly put up 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists with just one turnover. VCU is a pressing team, and UNH struggled with that against Rhode Island, so he’ll need to play well against the press with help from guys like Tyrone Conley and Jordon Bronner, the latter of whom has been erratic with the ball.
• Wofford is good, but is having trouble breaking through. A big start to the second half gave the Terriers the lead, and they were neck-and-neck with host VCU for most of the game. But as has happened in some other games against very good teams, they couldn’t pull it out late. After getting within 69-66 with 50 seconds left, the Terriers were 0-4 from the field and 0-2 from the foul line the rest of the way.
• VCU has good reserves. All season long, VCU has gotten production off the bench. Part of it is because Brandon Rozzell is like a starter but comes off the bench, but players like Rob Brandenburg and Juvonte Reddic contributed nicely in Wednesday’s win and aren’t alone. Darius Theus, who has started the last three games, has helped there at times, as have Troy Daniels and David Hinton. Head coach Shaka Smart said he would like to get one more player in the mix regularly, and there’s no reason to think they can’t based on what they have done thus far.
• Oftentimes, the consolation game at a tournament like this isn’t of much interest to anyone not connected with the two teams, unless the host school is in it. This time around, it will have two teams that have had some tough losses in Wofford and Cornell. Perhaps this game can serve as a turning point for one of the teams.

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.

With the win UNH improved to 3-1 on the season. Eric Gilchrese scored 20 points, while Mike Christensen added 17 and Alvin Abreu came off the bench for 14, as the Wildcats overcame 25 points each from Quinnipiac’s combo of DeMario Anderson and Evann Baker.

The local media might still be ignoring the Wildcats, but it’s apparent to everyone who’s seen them play that this New Hampshire team is for real. The Wildcats opened the season with a near upset of Boston College and haven’t lost since, improving every game. This years team isn’t the pushover that UNH has been in the past, and opponents are taking notice, as Wildcats’ Coach Bill Herrion reflected after the win.

“The more games you play, the more tapes get out, and in the first couple of games you can catch people off guard, maybe people don’t know you that well,” said Herrion. “Well guess what, were 3-1, were not going to be surprising people anymore.”

Quinnipiac’s game plan was to attack the Wildcats in the post, as head Coach Tom Moore stated, “Initially what we wanted to do was try to score inside on those guys.” However, this strategy seemed futile early on, as DiLiegro continued to make his presence felt in the middle for New Hampshire.

After winning the opening tip, the freshman ripped down the rebound of an errant shot over two defenders, flashed a nifty spin move in the post and finished off despite hard contact from Quinnipiac’s Justin Rutty. DiLiegro quickly established himself on the defensive end, as on the ensuing possession he first deflected Rutty’s jumper, and then annihilated Louis Brookins’ lay up, eliciting a road from the crowd.

His early performance won the respect of the opposing coach, as after the game Moore raved about the young freshman, saying, “DiLiegro is an aggressive player, he’s a good defender, he’s a really aggressive rebounder, he has great strength and great energy for a freshman. He’s going to be a terrific player for these guys.”

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, DiLiegro also picked up two offensive fouls within the first three minutes, and was forced to the bench for the rest of the first half.

“He’s still really learning how to play,” said Herrion, “He plays very hard. His fouls were just ticky-tack fouls that he doesn’t need to commit. He’s got to learn how to play without fouling, but he’s a big, strong, physical kid, and he plays hard.”

Without DiLiegro on the floor, what had been advantage in the post for UNH quickly became a disadvantage as they got much smaller and much less physical in a hurry. New Hampshire could normally count on sophomore captain Radar Onguetou to step in and provide physicality and smart, tough-nosed defense, but Onguetou has been dealing with a persistent leg injury early in the season, and his effectiveness has been greatly limited. “Radar is banged up,” said Herrion, “he’s hobbling, but he gives you terrific effort. He’s just struggling offensively.”

The injury to Onguetou, and DiLiegro’s foul trouble affected the Wildcats the most on the defensive end, as Quinnipiac immediately began to have success scoring around the basket. UNH was forced to play freshmen James Valladares and Rony Tchatchoua extensively, and while their efforts were admirable, the absence of DiLiegro was apparent.

“Losing Dane was big,” said junior guard Tyrece Gibbs. “It’s always good to know that your shot blocker is behind you when you get posted up. Without him, it was a lot more stressful.”

Quinnipiac’s guards, whom had struggled to shoot over DiLiegro in the first three minutes, began to score at will once he left the floor. DeMario Anderson and Evann Baker each scored twelve points in the first half, coming almost entirely from posting up on the low block, as the Bobcats scored twenty points in the post during the opening period.

The points in the paint were especially troubling to Herrion, as Quinnipiac didn’t make a single first half three-pointer, yet controlled the game twelve minutes in. “We need to get tougher, collectively, defensively around the basket,” said the third-year coach.

Trailing by six with eight minutes to go, UNH was on the verge of letting the game get out of control, but the Wildcats, in what has been a staple of theirs so far this year, dug their heels in and clawed their way back into the game. What was most impressive during the Wildcats run was that they did it largely without the help of their best players, as captain’s Mike Christensen and Gibbs struggled the entire half. Last season, UNH lacked scoring depth, as their offense revolved around getting departed senior Blogoj Janev the ball and getting out of his way. As Janev went, so went the team, and if Janev, and to a lesser extent Christensen and Gibbs, struggled on offense, UNH didn’t stand a chance.

This year’s Wildcats squad has done a complete one-eighty. While Gibbs and Christensen (and starter Tyrone Conley) struggled to find the hoop in the first half, UNH’s bench took over. The Wildcats’ transition from last season was on full display, as New Hampshire’s speed and athleticism combined with their newfound bench depth turned the tide. Valladares scored on a nifty reverse lay up, Alvin Abreu nailed a jumper in transition, and Tchatchoua threw down an acrobatic two-handed slam in traffic, and suddenly it was a two-point game.

Abreu and fellow guard Eric Gilchrese then took over, as they seemed to feed off each other and excel in transition, with Gilchrese scoring several buckets leading the fast break and setting up Abreu for two huge three-pointers. Mike Christensen then got in on the action, nailing a deep three, and Onguetuo finished off a gutsy drive in traffic, and New Hampshire went into the half with a commanding 40-30 lead.

Abreu, who scored eleven first half points, was especially huge for the Wildcats, as his three’s were not only timely, but momentum changing, as they were each from well beyond NBA range. Abreu was fearless shooting over defenders, and played with a confidence and poise rarely displayed by freshmen. Abreu’s play in the first half earned him praise from both his own coach, as well as his opponent’s.

“Alvin Abreu offensively gave us a big lift,” stated Herrion, while Moore added “Alvin Abreu is terrific, in terms of his offensive confidence and his swagger.”

The influx of new talent has been huge for the Wildcats, as they are much more athletic and much more fearless then they have been in years past. But the youth movement has also given Coach Herrion some heartburn in the early going, as they may lack the experience to go for the knockout punch when their opponent is weak.

“I don’t know if we’re old enough yet, or experienced enough yet, to really know how to put people away and run somebody out of the building” commented Herrion.

The Wildcats once again did not put their opponent away when they had the chance, as Quinnipiac’s combo of Andrerson and Baker once again went to work. Anderson scored in the post and found Baker for easy buckets when New Hampshire doubled down on him. New Hampshire’s inability to switch over to the open man when playing zone defense has been a troubling trend this year, and it was evident Sunday as Quinnipiac’s guard duo each scored 25 points.

“Defensively, I’m not real happy, I mean two guys get fifty out of their seventy,” said Herrion. Added Gibbs: “that’s lay ups all around the basket.”

But UNH’s veteran leadership, something that also seemed to be lacking last season, proved to be the difference, as Gibbs and Christensen came up big when it counted the most. With Quinnipiac surging Gibbs finished off a terrific up and under move to put New Hampshire up 59-53. Another Quinnipiac run cut the lead to one with five minutes left, but New Hampshire once again answered back, as Christensen first nailed a jumper in traffic to put UNH up three with five minutes left. The Cougars fired back, again cutting the lead to one, but Christensen once again stopped the bleeding, nailing a deep three to put the Wildcats up 65-61 with four minutes left.

Quinnipiac had one final run in them, but Eric Gilchrese, the America East player of the game, put on a gutsy performance when it mattered most to help seal the game. Gilchrese’s competitive streak had already been on display earlier, when he and Quinnipiac guard Casey Cosgrove got into a verbal dispute that escalated into a shoving match at halftime, resulting in offsetting technical fouls. Gilchrese downplayed the incident, saying, “He was competing, I was competing, we bumped heads, and that’s what happened. When the game gets close like that, I’m not backing down from anybody, and that’s what happens with good competitors.”

As competitive as Gilchrese was in the first half, it paled in comparison to his gutsy performance in the game’s closing minutes. He has battled bad cramps often during the young season, but here he took a hard foul near the three-minute mark, and was visibly limping on his way to the free throw line before icing both chances from the charity stripe. A minute later, Gilchrese picked Evann Baker’s pocket and took it coast to coast for a lay up, pushing the score to 72-63. After once again converting in traffic, Gilchrese was limping badly as he got back on defense, and after an awkward attempt to block Cosgrove’s three, Gilchrese lay sprawled on the ground clutching his leg in obvious pain.

But with less than two minutes left, and Quinnipiac within six, leaving the game was not an option for Gilchrese, whom hobbled back onto the court to gut the rest of the game out.

“It was really my call,” said Gilchrese, “I looked up the clock and it said a minute fifty-four seconds left, and I just wanted to tough it out… when I got back over to the bench, I told Coach that I was ready and wanted to tough it out.”

Gilchrese’s physical abilities have given New Hampshire something that they have been sorely lacking in recent years, as he is a true point guard who can score in transition as well as set his teammates up by getting them the ball in scoring position. But it’s his toughness and leadership that may be the most beneficial to the young Wildcats. After his refusal to come out, New Hampshire put the game away, as Mike Christensen sank two free throws to put New Hampshire up 74 to 67.

In a true “statement game” for New Hampshire, DiLiegro closed it out with a statement of his own, as he corralled a half court pass from Christensen, and threw down an emphatic two-handed dunk right over Anderson while being fouled. DiLiegro completed the three-point play by icing his free throw and giving New Hampshire a 77-70 win.

The win was huge for New Hampshire, as the Wildcats are now riding a three-game winning streak, and the benefits of getting off to a good start are not lost on their coach.

“At UNH, we’re just trying to win games, we’re going to respect and appreciate every win that we get,” said Herrion. “Winning early in the year helps your confidence and it helps you’re practice.”

Herrion even joked that, “When you win early, you can keep their attention every day in practice, you can keep them motivated, and they will really listen to what you say.”

Just being able to joke after a game was an accomplishment of its own for Herrion, whom came under fire from fans early and often last season, as the Wildcats seemed unmotivated, and disorganized, and by the end of the season some fans were even calling for Herrion’s head. But fans need to understand that its not easy to turn around any program, especially one with the history of ineptitude that New Hampshire has. Turning around this program is one of the hardest jobs in college basketball, as it’s an incredibly tough sell on recruits, and fans need to temper their expectation. It will take time for Herrion to bring in a team full of players whom will play in his system.

“We missed the whole first year, we didn’t recruit anybody the first year when we got the job,” Herrion reflected. “And we only want kids who want to be here. I think we have kids right now that are really competitive, that love to play, and that want to be here and appreciate the opportunity. It’s not going to be a quick fix turning this around… and it’s not going to happen over night.”

The Wildcats still have a long way to go before they are truly contenders for a conference title, and dreams of an NCAA birth are still a long ways away, but it is easy to get excited about this team, as they are easily the best squad that New Hampshire has fielded in the past five years. And while the Wildcats have struggled on the defensive end, the positives far outweigh the negatives at this point, as UNH already can boast several things that have been lacking in the past, the first being a team which doesn’t need to rely on one player to provide most of the scoring.

“The nice thing about our team is that Tyrece Gibbs, who was huge versus BC, wasn’t a huge factor offensively today, and we won the game,” said Herrion. “Last week at Central Connecticut he gets three fouls five minutes into the game, he only plays like twenty minutes and we win the game, that’s positive.”

And while New Hampshire has struggled to put teams away, perhaps even more importantly they haven’t gotten rattled like many most teams have, and they have displayed the ability to recover from their mistakes and still come out on top. Said Herrion: “The nice thing is, in the Central game last Saturday and today, we had control of both games in the second half, then both teams made runs at us and we withstood it. That’s positive.”

But perhaps the biggest gain this season is simply the Wildcats’ ability to give everything they have day in and day out. Last season’s squad seemed to quit on Herrion half-way through the year, but there is absolutely no let up in these Wildcats.

“It’s clearly about us out there this year, we just come together as a team when things get rough and stick it through,” said Gibbs. “Heart is the biggest thing right now, because when it got late in the game, we could either fold or pull through, and we pulled through pretty well.”

Sunday’s 68-37 thumping of the Wildcats was the 15th straight win in Boston for the Terriers against their rivals just to the north.  The last time New Hampshire beat the Terriers on Commonwealth Ave was a little less than 15 years ago, and the two head coaches prior to Bill Herrion, who was then the head coach at conference rival Drexel, never did it.  Sunday was not the first ugly score during that time, either.  Two years ago almost to the day, the score was 53-29; nearly 10 years ago, it was 84-49.

But this homecourt dominance of the Wildcats takes a major backseat in terms of significance on this day.  The Terriers had seemingly hit a couple of lows in recent weeks, with one poor performance after another during a five-game losing streak.  In consecutive games, they lost by 30 at Cornell and by 19 at home to a banged-up Holy Cross team before dropping a close one at Albany in their America East opener.  In the Albany game, they showed signs of coming around, but couldn’t pull out the win.

So it’s safe to say that there was a little more urgency to Sunday’s game for the home team, and a real happy feeling when they came away with the win.  It seemed like a relief for the team.

“It feels good to finally get off this losing streak,” said sophomore John Holland.

“Obviously we needed a win,” said head coach Dennis Wolff.  “I thought that we, for two straight games now, have looked way more cohesive than we had maybe even in the first semester when we were playing better.  To me, the credit goes to the kids.  No one’s liked the situation we have found ourselves in.  We played two bad games, we didn’t act right, we had two guys have terrible, terrible injuries, and we’re still playing.  So I think the kids deserve a lot of credit.”

The injuries Wolff alluded to are season-ending ones to guards Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong, two-thirds of the trio of guards that everyone expected over a year ago would help the Terriers rule the conference for three years.  But Morris has never been the same since an injury he suffered in the preseason last year, while Strong hasn’t improved since his freshman season when he showed a lot of promise.  Even so, losing two regulars for the season never helps.  With the other starting guard, Corey Lowe, out due to being ejected from the prior game, the Terriers played seven players at Albany, three of whom played all 40 minutes.

In fact, because the Terriers are basically down to seven or eight players, Wolff went with a zone defense against New Hampshire.  He would rather not do it, as he’s built his reputation on tough man-to-man defense, but needing to stay out of foul trouble was the major reason, and he’s also aware that most teams don’t really know how to attack a zone defense, even drawing on his team’s own issues in attacking opposing zone defenses.

Lowe didn’t have his best game, although he made a few key plays early on, so the support is what won this game.  Holland set a tone early and scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half, and is starting to look more like the player he was in the latter part of last season.  It was the second straight game in which he scored 25 points.

“I’ve been John’s biggest critic,” said Wolff, who then added, “John’s been fabulous the last two games.  That’s about the only way you could characterize his play.  He’s concentrating, he’s playing off two feet, he hasn’t been going in the lane out of control.  He probably has played two of the best games he’s played at BU the last two games.”

The other player who came up big in this game was Scott Brittain.  Largely a defensive presence for his two-plus seasons on Commonwealth Ave, the junior forward is perhaps the best candidate to give the team some much-needed post scoring.  Wolff has said all season long that he was concerned about the lack of it, no matter how good his perimeter players are, and with two key players there lost for the season, that gets magnified.

Brittain moved into the starting lineup at Albany, and Sunday was his second straight double-digit scoring game.  He scored 15 points on 5-7 shooting and was seemingly automatic when the ball got to him inside.  The 15 points surpassed his point total for the entire season prior to the Albany game; in the last two games, he has tripled his season point total.

“We need Scott to play the way he’s played in the last two games,” said Wolff.

The Terriers look more like a team on a mission.  Wolff feels that people are writing them off, especially after the injuries, but also that doing so is a bit hasty.  His comments are indicative of a team that is more focused and listening to what the staff is telling them, and they look like they might be more balanced offensively.  Even if the balance comes out of necessity, it’s a plus because the alternative is that the Terriers could simply not develop it in the first place.  It all comes at a good time since the team doesn’t have much margin for error.

“We’ve had two games where we’ve kind of stayed with what we thought we would like to accomplish beforehand, and we hadn’t done that in the two prior games,” Wolff said.

So the Terriers continue to dominate New Hampshire at home, making that matchup look more and more like a sure bet.  This time around, the timing couldn’t have been better for the home team, and the best thing that came out of it wasn’t the win itself.