By: Phil Kasiecki in: Newswire
1 Mar 2010Mike Deane has been fired by Wagner after the young Seahawks finished 5-26 this season.
By: Alonso Tacanga in: Conference Notes
1 Mar 2010Despite playing in two of the weakest conferences, Bryant, of the NEC, and Alcorn State, of the SWAC, have managed only one win this season. Which team can claim to be better than at least one of the 347 Division I teams?
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
14 Feb 2010Since Mike Rice took over at Robert Morris, the program has had nothing but success. The Colonials have won back-to-back regular season titles and could be on their way to a third in a row. There’s been a formula that he has stuck to all along, and it’s seen good success again this season as he works with a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen, although there have been bumps in the road.
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
14 Feb 2010Saturday’s loss against Robert Morris probably hurts a little more than many others Bryant has suffered this season.
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
12 Feb 2010When you’re rebuilding a program, sometimes little milestones help more than one might think. It’s also true that as meaningful as those milestones might be at the time, it doesn’t change what the bottom line goal is. It’s not the end of the growth. For Don Friday’s St. Francis (Pa.) team, that’s the story after their first road win of the season.
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
5 Feb 2010About a month ago, Central Connecticut State was struggling offensively. Now, the Blue Devils aren’t a powerhouse, but they have improved a great deal and are winning more because of it.
By: Ray Floriani in: Columns
10 Jan 2010Some notes on Syracuse using the 2-3 zone defense successfully, Fairleigh Dickinson coming alive in 2010, a doubleheader coming up and St. John’s reversal of fortune in early conference games.
By: Zach Smart in: Columns
3 Feb 2008Unity A Key For Red Flash
by Zach Smart
Adversity.
It’s an aspect of life that simply none of us can eschew. No matter how hard you try, nobody gets out of life unscathed.
Last season, the St. Francis (Pa.) men’s basketball team’s pursuit of the Northeast Conference post-season took a bone-crushing hit when center J.R. Enright left [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
21 Jan 2008Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Ah, to be an NEC team during this juncture of the season. This is when the league begins to turn up the volts, when the top-of-the-line team floats down to the middle of the pack before the blink of an eye. The NEC world is where out-of-conference action rarely affects [...]
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
9 Jan 2008Home-Bound Senior Leads Big Win For Robert Morris
by Phil Kasiecki
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Mike Rice isn’t planning to downplay Monday night’s win, at least not right away. If anything, he and senior Tony Lee wanted to play it up.
“It’s enormous. It’s Boston College. These guys are a perennial Top 25 team,” [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Columns
15 Dec 2007Moore Returns To UConn, Mentor Jimmy
by Zach Smart
Tom Moore was angry. He was angry at his team for a sub-par practice. He was angry that the practice squads didn’t bear any resemblance to what he was expecting to see on the floor this season. He was angry at a certain freshman for making some [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
14 Dec 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Mt. St. Mary’s Sitting At The Top of the Mountain
A message to anyone intrigued by a Northeast Conference that just might flee from obscurity this season: the college basketball conference that’s about as topsy-turvy as this year’s college football season is back in the fold.
The NEC, commonly tattooed by the [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
28 Nov 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Blackbirds A Pleasant Surprise, Pioneers Freefalling
In a conference that’s about as predictable as a Mike Tyson interview, the clear favorite has abruptly sunk to the bottom-echelon while the team that the skeptics figured would be flattened due to the loss of their go-to, do-it-all combo guard has emerged on top.
Sacred [...]
By: Phil Kasiecki in: Columns
26 Nov 2007Robert Morris is Focused on a Conference Title in November
by Phil Kasiecki
PHILADELPHIA – Mike Rice is a realist. He knows that the Northeast Conference simply doesn’t produce at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. So when talking about what his team is trying to do in their non-conference schedule, it all leads to [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
15 Nov 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Working Overtime, Bobcats Get First W
It was around the mid-way mark of the second half when it hit Quinnipiac: capturing the first victory of the 2007-2008 campaign would entail a little less of DeMario Anderson, and a little more of their backcourt and bench players.
Anderson, a prolific scorer who’s already [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
2 Nov 2007Northeast Conference 2007-08 Preview
by Zach Smart
Pre-Season All-Conference
G-Tristan Blackwood, Central Connecticut
G-Chris Vann, Mount St. Mary’s
G/F-DeMario Anderson, Quinnipiac
F-Jeremy Chappelle, Robert Morris
F-Robert Hines, St. Francis N.Y.
Central Connecticut (22-12, 16-2 Northeast)
Two-thirds of the NEC’s best three-headed monster are gone from last season. Player of the Year Javier Mojica (17PPG, 7RPG) has taken his game to the Puerto Rico [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Columns
21 Jun 2007Burrell Hired As Assistant Coach
by Zach Smart
The latest addition to the Quinnipiac men’s basketball coaching staff comes with much excitement – and a bit of fanfare as well.
Scott Burrell, a former NBA player and the first American athlete to be selected in the first round of both the NBA and MLB drafts, was hired [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
15 Jun 2007Northeast Conference 2006-07 Season Recap
by Zach Smart
NEC Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Javier Mojica, Sr. Central Connecticut
Simply put, Mojica was the best player on the best team in the Northeast Conference this season. After playing a supporting role the past two seasons, Mojica came into his element, averaging 17 points and seven boards while [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
2 Mar 2007Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinal Recap
by Zach Smart
Forget what happened during the regular season. Everything. It’s meaningless at this point. It’s been echoed time and time again, and that “anyone can beat anyone” talk is only going to persist as playoff arrives.
The quarterfinals kicked off tonight and were strong indicators of this. It’s why St. [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
25 Feb 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
A Devil Of A Time
This year’s Central Connecticut team possesses a three-headed monster that all of two conference teams have been able to maintain.
This is, however, the Northeast Conference we’re talking about now. The top dog can never be inked in as the champion, regardless of how many top-tier teams [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
3 Feb 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Joe DeSantis never lost hope. Not amid the small crowds, the detractors, the off-court distractions, the grueling seven-game losing streak. Not even amid pink slip rumors which zipped through Hamden like the Connecticut Transit. Indeed, the man who was here when Quinnipiac was a Division-II program (and he only [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
19 Jan 2007Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
The beat goes on and on for one of college basketball’s laughing-stock conferences. In fact, one of the primary reason this conference is viewed by skeptics as such a joke is because there are no forces, no perennial powerhouses one can ink in for a tournament appearance every year. Some [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
16 Dec 2006Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
FDU, SHU Early Favorites
We’re all familiar with the scenario. One team starts the season of sizzling, establishes itself on the radar with a collection of victories both in and out of conference, before another team emerges out of the blue to take the title. The truth is, the Northeast Conference, [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
14 Nov 2006Northeast Conference 2006-07 Preview
by Zach Smart
To the outside world, the Northeast Conference is the laughing-stock conference of college basketball. It’s a safe haven for standout high school players that received few to no Division I offers their senior year. It’s the weakest piece of the puzzle, the compartment containing the worst brand of basketball [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
4 Aug 2006Northeast Conference 2005-06 Season Recap
by Zach Smart
Farleigh Dickinson (20-12, 14-4): It was a special year for the Knights. The season had nearly all the right ingredients: a regular season conference championship, a conference Player of the Year award, and two players being named to the Division I All-MET second team. Throw an 11-game winning [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
10 Mar 2006Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
NEC Teams Gear Up For Playoffs With Knights On Top
It’s been said time and time again, dating back to the beginning of the season and wiith playoff action opening up this Thursday (matchups-sites-time TBA), it will only be repeated. The truth be known, determining who will capture this year’s [...]
By: Ray Floriani in: Columns
9 Mar 2006Knights Reach the Title Game, Will Play Monmouth
by Ray Floriani
TEANECK, N.J. – In all ways it was the closest sixteen-point game you would hope to see. With a minute to go and the verdict sealed, FDU fans began chanting “we want Monmouth.” They and their Knights will get Monmouth at this same Rothman Center [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
13 Jan 2006Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
It was said at the beginning of the season that the Northeast Conference is one in which any team can knock off any opponent on any given night. Well, that statement has proved to be somewhat accurate thus far. The NEC appears to be wide open, with Farleigh Dickinson remaining [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
23 Dec 2005Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Coleman Making Some Noise For RMU
Robert Morris Guard Derek Coleman, not long after putting on an outside shooting clinic to lead the Colonials to a hard fought victory over Quinnipiac, continued his fine play this season with a 31-point performance that lifted the Colonials to a 97-85 triumph over Charleston [...]
By: Zach Smart in: Conference Notes
8 Dec 2005Northeast Conference Notebook
by Zach Smart
Bobcats Improve To 4-2 with Victory over Red Raiders
HAMDEN, Conn. – The expression “Be a senior” is one coined by a former University of South Carolina-Spartanburg (USC Upstate) coach named Chris Ward. Ward, who helped resurrect an ailing program during his stay as a Spartan coach, could always be found [...]

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Managing Editor Phil Kasiecki spent Friday (3/20) discussing NCAA first-round action on ESPN 1040 in Tampa. Download the broadcast! (5.7 MB)