Mount St. Mary’s resets again to stay hot and advance

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The magic carpet ride continues for the hottest team in the Northeast Conference.  A Mount St. Mary’s team that few had going far this season, a season with a coaching change, is now in the NEC Tournament semifinals after a big 75-69 road victory at Bryant on Wednesday night, their eighth straight win.  It’s a team that won by doing something they’ve had to do a lot of over the last year – hit the reset button.

There have been a lot of moments where this team has had to his the reset button and pull things together.  There was the coaching change, for one, coming at the end of a long season.  There were some rough games early on this season.  There was the 1-4 start in NEC play.  There have been many times where the defense has had to do it as they allow opponents to shoot an unseemly 51 percent from the field on the season.  And on Wednesday night, there was the first half, where the Mountaineers shot 28 percent from the field and allowed the Bulldogs to shoot over 48 percent.

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An unexpected end to Bryant’s season

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – It wasn’t supposed to end this way.  The storybook season was supposed to include a magical run in March, completing the amazing turnaround from last year with an NCAA Tournament bid.  Perhaps a couple of things would fall right and they would even get to do it at home.

Instead, Bryant’s season came to an end on Wednesday night, the latest victims of the hottest team in the Northeast Conference after a 75-69 loss to Mount St. Mary’s.  And while there can be a look ahead to a brighter future, that’s for a later time.

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Robert Morris wins a hard-earned Northeast Conference regular season title

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Robert Morris has become arguably the flagship program in the Northeast Conference since about 2007.  They have been to four straight NEC championship games, having won it a couple of times, and a big constant during this run of success has been head coach Andrew Toole, who helped them win two outright regular season NEC titles and share another one as an assistant, and now has won an outright title in his third season running the program after Thursday night’s thrilling 77-75 win at Bryant.

This title didn’t come easily.  They never do, but some come a little harder than others, and Robert Morris’ 21-9 record, including a 13-4 mark in NEC play, hides some of that.

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Defense has been a struggle for Central Connecticut

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Every team has at least one team that is a bad matchup for one reason or another. For Central Connecticut, one of them would seem to be Bryant, a relentless offensive team that is tough enough to beat as it is and even tougher if they get some defensive stops. That was in evidence in the Blue Devils’ 88-67 loss to the Bulldogs on Thursday night, especially in the second half as Bryant broke open what was a close game for some of the first half and showed the growing pains this Central Connecticut team has had.

Central Connecticut has just one senior to go with four freshmen and a junior college transfer. Last season’s team had three seniors, all very experienced, along with a junior, so while last year’s team also had some youth they had more veterans to carry them. Head coach Howie Dickenmann is now starting three underclassmen and is bringing the one senior, Joe Efese, off the bench. How long he will stick with that lineup remains to be seen, but to a degree Tuesday night is an aberration because they struggled against a hot offensive team. The Bulldogs shot over 53 percent from the field on the evening.

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Bryant continues to win with offense

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – If you like offense, Bryant is a team you would like to see this season. That’s not something many would have figured prior to the season given their struggles in Division I, but an unexpected cast has become a team that can score with a lot of teams. Shootouts have been the norm with this team, and on Thursday night they won another one against St. Francis Brooklyn on account of their offense, this time by an 84-77 margin.

Scoring is the key to how this team wins games. After Thursday night, the Bulldogs are 13-2 when they score at least 70 points, which puts them at 3-4 when scoring less than 70 points. In past years, they weren’t built to win games like this, but a lot has changed and that includes the results.

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An unusual hero helps Bryant pull out another one

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Tim O’Shea knows there’s a long way to go. But the Bryant mentor also has enough experience to know that a game like Thursday night’s 79-78 overtime win against Mount St. Mary’s could be a difference-maker for a team that may be having a magical season.

“These are the games that make your season – when you win the two-pointer at Boston College, the one-pointer at Lehigh, the one-point overtime game tonight,” said O’Shea. “That’s a powerful swing in your confidence and your momentum as a team.”

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Mount St. Mary’s shows a lot in tough loss at Bryant

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With Mount St. Mary’s, you saw it all on Thursday night. You saw the reasons why the team is a few games below .500. You saw the stamp the new staff is putting on the program. You saw a team that has a new level of energy. You saw some hope for the future.

Unfortunately, you also saw a great effort come up short in a tough 79-78 overtime loss to Northeast Conference leader Bryant. You saw a loss that could have been a big win that might turn the season in a different direction.

New head coach Jamion Christian has started to get some life in the program again. The Mount was one of the top teams in the NEC during much of Milan Brown’s tenure following legendary coach Jim Phelan. Christian is an alum of the school, he’s personable and knows the school and is doing all he can to get it going again. It won’t happen right away, but his team almost got a big boost on Thursday night.

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Even on a good offensive night, Quinnipiac’s offense a key reason for a loss

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – If you looked at the box score, your first thought is probably that there wasn’t much defense played. You would be correct. You might also think it wasn’t a bad night for the losing team, a team that has been offensively challenged this season. But there’s more than just the reality of not desiring moral victories that would explain why the numbers don’t tell the whole story for Quinnipiac in their 103-95 loss at Bryant on Thursday night.

There’s the reality of how they got to a couple of those numbers and how the game was decided in the second half. In sum, the night was a good one for a team whose confidence at the offensive end has been flagging at times. But that wasn’t all there is to it, and in the end some old demons came into play.

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Bryant keeps setting records and accomplishing program firsts in Division I

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – There are more indications all the time of how far Bryant has come since its Division I beginning as plenty of program” firsts” in the Division I era keep coming. That continued on Thursday night in the Bulldogs’ 103-95 win over Quinnipiac in their return home after three big road wins.

Let’s begin with the program firsts and records on the night. The team reached 100 points for the first time in its Division I history, set a Division I program record with their fifth straight win and a Division I record for wins in a season as it was their tenth win of the season. They also reached three wins in Northeast Conference play faster than any other season, although they were close two seasons ago when they did it in four games.

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How the conferences shake out as 2013 approaches

Non-conference play is almost over, and it has been quite a stretch. We’ve learned a good deal about a lot of teams, while some are still a mystery for various reasons – injuries, suspensions, ineligibility and a light schedule are all possible reasons. In addition, a few conferences have already seen a game or two mixed in with the non-conference schedule.

Conference play is right around the corner, and while a non-conference resume doesn’t tell the whole story, it does shed some light on teams and conferences. In conference play, there is more familiarity since teams play each other every year, although the changing landscape is starting to diminish that factor a bit. That’s one reason why we see some teams put forth a very good non-conference showing, including some good wins, then go on to have a mediocre showing in conference play.

With that in mind, here’s a look at how every conference in America shapes up.

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