The Seahawks finished 11th in the 12-team Northeast Conference this season with a 3-15 mark.  They ended the season with an 81-76 win over St. Francis (Pa.), a win that snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Bryant? All it can hope for is that the Braves (1-28) keep tumbling so it doesn’t have to go alone with the worst Division-I team title.

Heading into the last week of the regular season, Alcorn State will have two shots to move past the Bulldogs (1-29) in the 2009-10 season win column. Not being the team with the least wins wasn’t exactly what the Braves were looking to brag about this year, but at this point, they’ll take it.

It’s not like they have much else to hang on to. Just like Bryant, the Braves won’t have post-season play.

The Braves knew from the very beginning it was going to be bad. Their season opener was a 40-point defeat at the hands of Ohio State, followed by a 62-point humiliation to Arkansas. Check, please?

Alcorn State kept on playing. Ten games later, it was 10 more double-digit losses, including a couple more 60-point losses. By the time the Braves won their first game — in their 25th try, 55-54, against Mississippi Valley State Feb. 13 — only 750 fans showed up to see it.

Bryant‘s path was a bit less embarrassing. The Bulldogs started off with 43- and 24-point losses before dropping a close one, 59-56, to Bucknell. Five of their next 23 losses were by six points or less before finally becoming the last Division-I team to win a game. Bryant defeated Wagner, 53-51, on the road Feb. 18.

The Bulldogs closed the season with three more losses, including an overtime one, 69-60, to St. Francis, N.Y., Thursday.

The résumés are alarming for both squads, although Bryant seems to have a slim edge just because Alcorn State was blown out in all but three games this season. And even in that one, the Braves tried to give it away. They led 54-47 with 32 seconds to go, but Mississippi Valley State was within one point 26 seconds later.

Alcorn State clanked two free throws to give Mississippi Valley State a last chance at the winner, but it didn’t go.

A few more close games, a road win and being a team in transition from Division II are the sad edges Bryant has over Alcorn State even though the Braves still have two games to go and could potentially end up with three times as many wins as the Bulldogs. But it isn’t happening.And even though the Braves score nine points more per game than Bryant did this season (51.9), defense matters more when you’re trying to find an identity. The Bulldogs held opponents to 69.5 points per game while Alcorn State has allowed them to score 82.5.

One can compare attempting to give an edge to either of these awful teams through the previous statistics to trying to find light in two black holes, though. The bottom line is neither one will be bragging. Bryant already left the 2009-10-season room very quietly; Alcorn State will follow soon, tip-toeing.

Rice’s formula involves defense and having a bench.  From the moment he had the job, developing a bench was paramount, so he worked guys into the rotation early in the season with the idea of being ready for later in the season.  He doesn’t want his players wearing down from having to play too many minutes, especially at the defensive end, and the results thus far speak for themselves.  The Colonials are 44-6 in Northeast Conference play in the two-plus seasons with Rice at the helm.

“It’s the way we play,” said Rice.  “You play four minutes as hard as you can, and then get out, and then somebody plays as hard as they can.  It helps us out at the end of the year maybe to grind somebody out.”

This year’s reserves average over 23 points per game and give the team a bench scoring edge of almost eight points per game.  They go about eight deep solidly as a result and work a few other players in as well, and the win over Bryant was their tenth straight NEC win.  It also shows in the team’s defensive statistics, as opponents shoot just 41.3 percent from the field against the Colonials and turn the ball over nearly 16 times per game.  In NEC games, opponents shoot below 38 percent and turn it over more than 16 times per game.  And all the while, their leader in minutes averages 26.3 per game.

The bench certainly helped last year, when the Colonials won the conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament.  A year earlier, a loss before the championship game made them the team with the most regular season wins in NIT history.

The Colonials are doing it this time around in part with freshmen guards, something that doesn’t happen often.  They start redshirt freshman Velton Jones at the point and true freshman Karon Abraham at the shooting guard spot, although size-wise one would figure the other way around.  Since moving into the starting lineup on December 30, Abraham is averaging over 15 points per game and shooting over 44 percent from long range.  The team’s leading scorer, he has won the conference’s Rookie of the Week honors four times this season.  Jones, for his part, has won the award once while starting most of the season, and although he struggled on Saturday he hit the Colonials’ only three-pointer of the game, a dagger with 1:20 left that basically sealed the game.   Neither had their finest hour on Saturday, but players have off games and there are several explanations.

The Colonials left town a day early for a 12-hour bus ride to beat a snowstorm that hit the Pittsburgh area.  The game was also the back end of a Thursday-Saturday trip, and was their fifth game in over a week.  While they played five games in a shorter stretch from time to time in high school, those games were all in one spot or all within a short drive of one another.  The five games in this stretch were played in five different gyms in five different cities.

“They’ve been so consistent in NEC play, so for them to not come through for us may be a thing of us playing Thusrday-Saturday-Monday-Thursday-Saturday,” Rice said of his young guards.  “Maybe on that back end, maybe some of them have their legs taken from them a little bit.”

The Colonials have gone with the lineup of freshman guards in part out of necessity, as senior Jimmy Langhurst – who Rice described as “my perimeter rock” – suffered a season-ending knee injury in December.  Langhurst was a steady player and a career 40.6 percent shooter from long range.  While Abraham has certainly played well, he is still a freshman, as is Jones, and there’s always some acclimation to the college game that happens in that first year.

On the other end of the spectrum is the senior leadership the Colonials get from Rob Robinson, Dallas Green and Mezie Nwigwe in the starting lineup and Josiah Whitehead off the bench.  Green is long and primarily gives them defense, while Nwigwe complements the young guards and Whitehead has been better of late.  Rice especially singled out Robinson for Saturday’s game, as he was the only double-digit scorer for them with 12 points.

“You need those seniors who have been through it and don’t get nervous, who make those plays,” he said, adding about Robinson, “He’s had an up-and-down senior year, probably not had the numbers as good as he should have, but the last 8-10 games in all the leadership things, he’s really stepped forward.”

Rice’s formula certainly appears to be working, and he’s been able to juggle his mix of personnel with success thus far.  Saturday’s game will look like an aberration, a game they had a chance to lose before the defense picked it up in the latter part of the second half.  The important thing is that they won the game.

Bryant hasn’t had an easy second season of Division I; one can probably figure that just from a look at their 0-26 record.  A big part of why it hasn’t been easy isn’t the wins and losses per se, but how they got there.  It’s not like they haven’t played hard, or can’t play.  But they came in without a huge margin for error, and what little they had just about evaporated as soon as Cecil Gresham sustained a knee injury that would ultimately end his season.  It’s one thing to be a team in a conference like the Big East or ACC and lose your best player to such an injury, but another to be a team like Bryant and have that happen.  In the Big East or ACC, that might be the difference between going 24-8 or 18-14 because there are other very talented players around your best player; in a conference like the Northeast, where Bryant is, it could make the difference between going 16-12 or 3-25.

Given the record, most probably didn’t give the Bulldogs a chance, even on their homecourt, against Northeast Conference leader Robert Morris on Saturday.  Even when the teams went into the locker room tied at 25, many probably figured the deeper Robert Morris team would probably wear them down and win going away.

Not only did that not happen, but Bryant scored the first five points of the second half and led for the majority of the latter frame.  They looked like a team that had answers, as they didn’t just hang on to a one-point lead the whole time.  Instead, they held a four-point lead on several occasions.  And as they continued to hold the lead, it looked more and more like they could pull this off.  Anytime the favorite allows the opponent to hang around or have the lead, the pressure goes up on the favorite.

And this was not against a bad team.  Bryant did this against Robert Morris, the defending NEC champion.

So when the Bulldogs went eight minutes without scoring, and never scored again after an Adam Parzych three-pointer brought them within 44-42, it wasn’t quite like every other loss this season.

“We’re really trying to play hard every game and give us an opportunity to be in every game,” said senior guard Chris Birrell.  “We did come out harder than they did, I thought.”

The Bulldogs have hit some scoring droughts this season, as putting points on the board has been a struggle.  This one struck a damaging blow.

Despite the lack of a win, the Bulldogs have shown improvement, and that includes their young players.  Vlad Kondratyev has clearly improved since the start of the season and has become the go-to guy in the frontcourt.  Raphael Jordan had a game on Saturday that he probably needed, as early on he looked good but hasn’t been the same player since then.  He was very much into Saturday’s game and played well at both ends with 11 points, four assists and three steals.

I think he knows now what it takes to play at this level, and I think he showed today,” Birrell said of Jordan.  “He came out with intensity.”

Robert Morris eventually got its act together and played like the conference leader in the latter part of the second half, which included the scoreless stretch for Bryant.  They won somewhat comfortably in the final box score, but know they got a scare put into them even after head coach Mike Rice warned his players about the Bulldogs’ record.

Most probably figured the Bulldogs’ best chance to get their first win in the final couple of weeks would be either St. Francis (Pa.) two nights ago or at Wagner next Thursday.  Few probably figured Robert Morris, even at home, would be such a close call.  And because it was a close call, where they led for a significant portion of the second half and against the conference leader, the loss to the Colonials probably hurts a little more than the others.

“To get a win like this, yes, it’s a good feeling to walk out of somebody’s place with a win,” Friday said following the game.

In the same breath, though, the second-year head coach was thinking about something larger.  Friday thought back a few weeks earlier, when the Red Flash blew a lead at Fairleigh Dickinson and lost.  How they lost was indicative of a lesson he tried to teach the team, and one they seemed to get since they played better even in losses to Northeast Conference leader Robert Morris.  The big keys were being aggressive and tough, things that were lacking after they got the lead against FDU.

Learning experiences matter, and Friday is also trying to get his younger players to understand that the season is a marathon.  To that end, one way he’s bridged the divide that can sometimes happen between younger players and veterans with a new coach is by assigning mentors to different players for both on- and off-court matters.  He got the seniors to understand that they are needed because the newcomers would not learn simply by being on the court.

“Those guys have been pretty consistent with these kids off the court,” Friday said of the seniors.

Not only have they done that, but it seems the freshmen have done more than just show the potential of this team.  Added Friday: “They’re feeding off the freshmen.”

Two freshmen start for the Red Flash, as Chris Johnson starts at the point and Will Felder starts inside.  Felder had ten points and eight rebounds on Thursday and looks like he can develop into an anchor inside.  Johnson had an off night against Bryant but has a nearly 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is rare for a freshman.  He moved into the starting lineup for NEC games and has stabilized the position at both ends of the floor.

“The thing that Chris has done for us that he’s really hung his hat on is pressuring the basketball, and he sets the tone for us out front,” said Friday.  “Our steals and deflections are a lot higher now because of Chris.”

Anthony Ervin sees the most minutes off the bench among the freshmen, and he has some potential.  He can score from the wing, and as he improves he could become the kind of instant offense player teams need off the bench or make his way into the starting lineup.

With their play and that of seniors like Devin Sweetney, the team’s best player, the Red Flash are now just a game away from .500 in NEC play.  They have already won three more NEC games than last season and the most since they went 10-8 in 2004-05.  Friday doesn’t want to stop there, naturally.  Just getting the first road win of the season or within a game of .500 in conference play is a small step toward larger goals.

“I want to win every game out of here that we can and make (the conference) tournament, so that I have a rallying cry for my freshmen and sophomores returning next year,” Friday said.  “This is what it’s going to take in the weight room, this is why you have to become stronger.”

He is already taking steps to help that happen in addition to what he’s done to help the freshmen grow and the seniors to be a big part of this.  Friday said that he’s cutting down the practices because he wants the team to have something left at the end of the season.  He’s using games like the FDU game as a teaching tool, as well as Thursday’s win as he wants the team to know how it feels to walk out of another team’s gym with a victory.

“You can’t take anything for granted when you’re trying to rebuild, so every opportunity is a learning opportunity,” said Friday, who was previously an assistant at Bucknell for nine seasons before spending five years as the head coach at Division III Lycoming College.

When Friday first got the job after the 2007-08 season, he started hustling.  He’s kept it up in the same way he tells his players now that everything is a marathon and not a sprint.  He knew he wasn’t in an established program like he had been during his last Division I stint, so he could take nothing for granted.  While patience is never easy because fans and alumni want to see their teams in the NCAA Tournament yesterday, Friday seems to be maintaining a balance between the impatience of wanting to win now and being patient in light of the youth of his team and the mission to build the program.

In the journey of building a program, sometimes small milestones help, even if not as much as one might think.  The Red Flash just reached one and might not be far away from getting another one in the form of a trip to the conference tournament, which would give the young players valuable experience in that setting.  That wouldn’t be a small milestone, but there’s no question it would help.

For the first two months of the season, the Blue Devils struggled offensively.  They scored 60 or more points just four times in the first 13 games.  Against Holy Cross at Mohegan Sun Arena, they might have hit their low, as a Crusader team that has struggled to defend all year shut them down completely.  They didn’t reach a season low in points – that came two games later in a 55-42 loss at Monmouth – and by a slim margin it wasn’t their lowest shooting percentage (29.3; they shot 29.2 percent five games later in a 76-45 shellacking against Quinnipiac).  But they looked about as inept as they have all season at the offensive end.

Things got so bad that head coach Howie Dickenman said he told his team “no more threes” at one point.  A big part of it was that the Blue Devils had a tendency to take ill-advised shots, as they weren’t running bad offense all the time and they have players capable of making shots.

“We would keep count of bad shots when breaking the film down, and there were some times when we had 16 or 17 ill-advised shots,” said Dickenman.  “We stressed, don’t take that, pass it to your teammate.  We’ve been getting a lot of assists in our last couple of games that we won.”

The early start from deep was partly the result of the Blue Devils driving inside and getting rejected several times by Bryant big man Papa Lo, who blocked six shots in the first half.  Once the Blue Devils started to knock down shots from long range – they were 8-12 in the first half – other things opened up just enough for them to keep up a good lead, especially since they shut down Bryant and held them to a season-low point total.

Although they barely did it this time around, it marked the seventh time in nine games that the Blue Devils have scored at least 60 points.  While they are just 4-3 in those games, their season record is 8-14, so it’s clear that some offense will certainly help.  It hasn’t been easy to come by, especially with their best player, Ken Horton, sidelined for the season with a hip injury.  More recently, leading scorer Robbie Ptacek has sat out six games with an injury, another hit to the offense.

Of late, the main players who have picked up the slack are the perimeter duo of Shemik Thompson and Joe Seymore.  It’s easy to forget that Thompson was the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year two years ago given that classmate Horton has become this team’s best player, but he’s regaining that form and is second on the team in scoring and now stands seventh all-time in career assists at the school.  Seymore had a game-high 19 points against Bryant and continued to shoot the ball well.  After going 11-44 from long range in the first 12 games of the season, Seymore has made 25 of 58 shots from deep in the last ten games.

“This is the best time for him to get hot,” said Dickenman, adding, “we need him.”

Central has also improved thanks to the play of a freshman point guard, which doesn’t happen often.  Devan Bailey had five assists and no turnovers against Bryant, giving him 24 assists with just four turnovers in the last five games.  In Northeast Conference games, his assist/turnover ratio is 2.5.  That’s in addition to his defense, an area where he’s long been able to hang his hat.

The Blue Devils’ improved offense has also coincided with Markeys Deans hitting his stride.  The junior college transfer averaged just 3.8 points per game in the first 12 games and never scored in double figures in that stretch.  Thursday night’s 12-point, seven-rebound effort marked the eighth time in ten games he has done that, giving them one more reliable scoring option.

Dickenman added that a more consistent starting lineup has helped in the last few games.  Throughout the season, he has had to mix and match, using 14 different starting lineups.  No starting lineup has lasted more than four games thus far.  But the current one is 3-0 and might last a little longer.

Central Connecticut has come along offensively to the point where they can win some games when their defense is good but not great.  That’s a marked change not only from earlier in the season, but earlier in the month.

It seems coach Quentin Hillman, in his fourth year at the Big East school, was observing men’s practice his first year at Syracuse. “I looked up saw that (national championship) banner and thought about (Boeheim’s) years of winning and felt this was the way to go,” Hillman said. “I decided the 2-3 would be our main defense.” Hillman found early on that he has a friend and confidant in Boeheim. “Coach Boeheim has been great helping me with it. He has watched our practices, made suggestions and we both discuss it regularly.”

The women employ the zone in the same manner as then men. The guards and wings contest three-pointers and other perimeter shots. Seton Hall’s fine junior guard Ebonie Williams struggled through a two-point night on one for eight shooting. Williams was frustrated trying to get a decent look anywhere on the perimeter. Inside players like 6-2 Nicole Micheal and 6-4 Kayla Alexander clog the lane and use their length to break up passes in the paint.

The victory at the Hall left Syracuse at 13-1, the lone loss an OT setback at the hands of Georgetown. Life in the Big East conference for the women, as the men, is a succession of challenges and tough teams. Syracuse, with that patented 2-3, is certainly one of them.

Other Notes

• A little confidence goes a long way. Last week Fairleigh Dickinson rallied from 22 down with 12 minutes to play to earn an 88-85 victory over Sacred Heart. A few nights later Bryant got out to a 10-1 lead over the Knights. FDU interim coach Greg Vetrone called time out and saw a team unsure of what lie ahead. The Knights regrouped en route to a 66-50 victory over the Bulldogs.
  Three nights later FDU defeated Central Connecticut State 83-74 , behind Sean Baptiste’s 26 points, to run their conference record to 3-1. FDU ended 2009 with a 1-12 record. The Knights took advantage of a three-game conference swing at home and are very much in the thick of the NEC race.

  “We have a new coach, a new system and new point guard,” Vetrone said. “Some of the teams we played early we were not ready to face. I said it would take time but (the momentum) is definitely coming.”

  Mike Scott scored 16 against Bryant. The junior point guard has been on fire for FDU. In the Sacred Heart and Bryant games, Scott had a combined 18 assists and zero (no misprint) turnovers in 70 minutes.

• Bryant, in their second year of Division I, is in the Northeast Conference but not eligible for post season play. Tim O’Shea’s group has had a murderous schedule. Included were Boston College, Providence, St.John’s, Indiana and an improved Army club. There were two Ivies as well which happened to be Harvard and Cornell. Following the FDU game Bryant was 0-15. To make matters worse, leading scorer (14.5 PPG) Cecil Gresham, a senior swingman, was lost for the year with an injury in late December.
• There is an interesting doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Cincinnati visits St. John’s and Fordham meets Dayton at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”  Cincinnati faces another team in dire need of a conference win. The Bearcats faced Seton Hall at the Prudential Center and the Pirates took an 83-76 decision. Seton Hall earned their first win after losses in conference to West Virginia (overtime), Syracuse and at UConn.

  St. John’s is also 0-3 and in a must-win situation after having lost a tough one at Georgetown, a home collapse down the stretch to Providence and another road game to Louisville. Highly-touted freshman Lance Stephenson will make his MSG debut in a Bearcat uniform.

  Dayton survived a tough OT victory over Duquesne on Saturday and faces Fordham under interim coach Jared Grasso. The Flyers are the Atlantic 10 Conference favorites in the view of many experts. A pair of forwards, junior Chris Wright and senior Marcus Johnson, have been key players for Brian Gregory’s club.

• Seton Hall sharpshooter Jeremy Hazell had 33 points against Cincinnati, his fifth 30-point scoring game this season.
• The difference, from a tempo-free approach for St. John’s thus far:

              W-L	   OFF EFF	DEF EFF
  Overall	   10-5	     100	  93
  Big East    0-3	      90	  106

  The efficiency is the points per possession multiplied by 100. Offensively, the Red Storm overall average 1.00 points per possession on offense. The defense, at .93 is sound. In the Big East those numbers are reversed. The Storm is struggling overall on offense and a bit generous on defense.

  A reason for the defensive slip, beside better talent in the Big east, is the turnover rate. Overall the Storm are forcing opponents into a 20 percent TO rate – that is, one-fifth of the opposition possessions are turnovers. In the Big East that rate on the defensive end is 16 percent. In conference, St. John’s has found it more difficult to force opponents to turn the ball over.

Unity 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 school after the sudden, tragic death of his girlfriend.

The 6-10 Enright averaged 12 points to go with 10 rebounds as a presence in the paint, but missed the final five games of the season as he returned home to Omaha, Neb.

A functional surrogate family situated in the Boondocks of Pennsylvania (the town of Loretto has a population of under 2,000 and is roughly 1.02 square miles), the Red Flash showed endless support for their teammate in the wake of tragedy and grief. The Red Flash managed just five NEC victories throughout the brutal 2006-2007 campaign, but grew closer as a team and hasn’t kept Enright far from their thoughts.

“They’ve continued to stay together through adverse times,” explained coach Bobby Jones, who’s now in his ninth season with the Red Flash. “I was a little bit surprised, particularly in the way we finished last season. Obviously going through that adversity with J.R. and his girlfriend (was a tough experience). But the team certainly rallied around, certainly pulled together.”

Jones admits he’d like to wash last season away from his memory bank. St. Francis slipped into a program-record 15-game free-fall and never smelled the NEC Tournament. Youth and lack of communication were two problems that surfaced during the drought.

Those problems have faded away quickly this season, as a young team with a well-balanced offense and the bit-by-bit burgeoning inside-outside tandem in Cale Nelson and Bass Dieng looks to re-write the script this season.

Despite falling into an early 0-6 hole, sporting a scanty 5-16 record (3-7 in conference play), St. Francis has their eyes pasted on a playoff spot. The new-look Red Flash is beginning to gel and have left a statement with recent victories over St. Francis (N.Y.) and Central Connecticut State.

“The chemistry has been real well,” said super sophomore Devin Sweetney.

Sweetney, a 6-6 wing and the cousin of Chicago Bull Michael Sweetney, is second on the team in scoring (12 ppg) and is averaging 5.1 boards per game. “These guys have been together. This is our second year together, we’ll be together next year as well. Every day that goes by, we’re just getting closer and we’re bonding together as a team. We know each other better than we did last year.”

Fitting, because Jones knows Sweetney better than he did last year.

“Devin is a tremendous athlete, he has great size, great anticipation skills,” Jones explained. “I think he’s at his best when he’s running the floor hard, when he’s defending hard, able to get a few deflections, and really rebound the basketball.”

Jones said that games in which Sweetney asserts himself are paramount to success this season. He was quick to add, however, that the Washington, D.C.-bred Sweetney too often gets complacent and settles for jump shots.

In the victories over the St. Francis (NY) and Central Connecticut State, Sweetney poured in 21 and 18 points, respectively. He shot a blistering 16-for-26 in those two games and grabbed a season-high five offensive boards against the Terriers, who the Red Flash took into three overtimes in a wild 92-84 triumph that made headlines.

“The last couple ball games, he’s really starting to play like Devin we all now that he’s capable of,” added Jones.

Jones pegged Sweetney and Nelson – a junior who’s averaging 12 points and a team-high 4.2 assists per game – as this year’s captains. It symbolizes a team that’s using youth as a charm this season.

“(Coach) tells us to go out there, lead by example,” said Sweetney. “Regardless of what happens on the court, we try to play through your mistakes, and keep the team together, you know?”

Junior off-guard Marquis Ford, the NEC Rookie of the Year in 2006, has come alive lately after playing a diminished role at the start of the season. Ford led the conference in three-point shooting last year, hitting a knot over 50 percent from beyond the arc. Ford has switched from the point to the two-guard to fully utilize his ability to score off the ball and come off screens and curls looking to shoot. Ford adds depth to a backcourt that also features Grant Suprenant (10 ppg).

Dieng, who hails from Dakar, Senegal, has discovered his niche in the paint this year, after looking raw and undeveloped for much of last season. Dieng is averaging 10 points and seven boards in an enhanced role this season. The 6-9 center has copped a pair of double-doubles this season and recently scored 18 points in a loss at Quinnipiac.

Down the road, however, Jones sees Nelson and Sweetney dictating destiny in a conference that features a surplus of guards.

“If you look around the league, guard play is so critical at every level – whether you talk high school, college – particularly Division I and certainly in the NBA. If you look at the teams that win consistently, I can show you good guard play.”

They’ve had a lot to overcome. The Red Flash is still St. Patrick’s day-green. The nation’s hotbeds have been scoured for talent, and the seeds have been certainly been planted for the future. A playoff appearance, however, would be testament to the harmonious hard work and perseverance.

Northeast 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 your team confidence. Even freefalling into an 0-5 non-conference hole and suffering a brutal, 37-point whopping to the cross-town rival won’t derail post-season aspirations. The morale of the program is fully counting on you during these evenly-matched, unpredictable battles.

Teams that live in the NEC know that there is no established food chain here. There is no top-flight team in the up-for-grabs, free-for-all conference. Last year, Central Connecticut ripped through the conference as the clear-cut favorite, their season culminating with a loss to Ohio State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Not this year.

Robert Morris did what few teams at this tier of basketball can do back on Jan. 7, stamping a 57-51 victory over Boston College in a game that surely dropped jaws of hoop junkies throughout the nation. But just when the Colonials thought they had put themselves on the map, they were shellacked, 82-69, by Sacred Heart.

On top of the world one moment, funneled down to fifth place the next. That’s life when you’re battling for mid-season supremacy in a wide-open conference that will instantly vault one team to titanic exposure and NCAA college basketball lure when all is said and done.

“Right now, I think it’s really too early to determine which teams are going to come out on top,” said Mount St. Mary’s coach Milan Brown last week.

As of right now, Wagner (12-5, 5-1 NEC) and eccentric head coach Mike Deane appear to be the team to beat. They are currently tied for first place with Quinnipiac (9-8, 5-1), who have ripped off four wins in their last five games. Sudden success is something you’d expect from a team whose head coach is earning a king’s ransom to revitalize the program and establish a basketball culture.

As for Deane, who can be seen sporting sunglasses on the sideline, a new aspect of his quirky coaching tools has emerged: A seatbelt.

The Seahawk coach with a penchant for jumping out on the court and becoming easily animated has implemented a seatbelt that straps him to his chair throughout the game. Hopefully Wagner’s group of assistants won’t have to tighten the screws too often.

Deane has subscribed to this new method of restraining himself after the officials have made it clear they will be less tolerant this season.

“After a turnover, I’d expect him to be up yelling at me,” says Wagner guard Joey Mundweiler, who must have felt like a punch-drunk fighter when he first saw that his coach was seated.

But Deane doesn’t have much to yell about at Mundweiler these days. The off guard is averaging 11.1 points and shooting 52 percent from the floor. Mundweiler is just a key cog in the Seahawks’ well-balanced offense that has allowed them to surface as the top team.

No player averages more than 14 points a game, with Mark Porter leading the way with 14.4. The 6-2 point guard has also orchestrated this well-oiled machine effectively, handing out a team-high 5.6 assists.

Notes

• Showing Some Heart: After a dreadful 0-6 start, the skeptics began to surface, as Sacred Heart – who the coaches pegged as the conference favorite – appeared to be suffering from identity theft. The team that advanced all the way to the conference finals last season has re-emerged, behind the play of Brice Brooks, Chauncey Hardy, and Drew Shubik.

• DA’s World: After scoring 16 points the first few games of the season, DeMario Anderson has been on a tear for the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The 6-foot-4 swingman is one of nation’s elite scorers, averaging 20.8 per game. This past week, Anderson was named Choice Hotels NEC player of the week after averaging 23 points, eight boards, and three steals while shooting an efficient 53 percent from the floor. The Bobcat boat will only go as far as Anderson, who played for Central Connecticut his first two seasons, steers them.
• Dolla, Dolla U-Billa: With graduation claiming top scorers Andre Harris (18.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG) and Michael Peeples (11.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG), FDU knew that they would need someone to jump in and fill the void.
  Enter Manny Ubilla. Ubilla is averaging 21.4 points and 6.3 assists in what is easily his best season as a collegian. The senior, who hung 39 on nationally-ranked Rhode Island in a 94-63 loss, has upped his scoring average by nearly 10 points from last season. He has emerged into one of the conference’s premier point guards and is playing like a sure-fire first team all-conference selection.

Power Rankings

• 1. Wagner: Free throw shooting has hurt them, but if the ‘Hawks balanced offense continues to work the way they have, Deane will need to buckle up his seatbelt because it’s going to be a ride.

• 2. Quinnipiac: Bobcats are sizzling as of late, will need to continue to shoot the ball and not rely too heavily on Anderson should the NCAA tournament come calling.
• 3. Robert Morris: The trio of A.J. Jackson, Tony Lee, and Jeremy Chappell could drive this team deep into the post-season for first-year head coach Mike Rice.

Moore 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 off-the-court freshman mistakes that would prolong practice and culminate the three-hour workout with “suicide” sprints. He was angry at the fact that his team had no choice but to practice in the bandbox Burt Kahn basketball court, because of floor problems at the TD Banknorth Sports Complex.

In the midst of a yelling session, the Burt Kahn door busted open, as a fiery Moore apparently had an uninvited guest.

Poor timing.

“Get out!” Moore barked at a reporter who had no business being in the gym during practice time. The reporter’s saunter abruptly changed into a hurried walk out the door, and Moore cleared his throat before dismissing his team.

In just his first week as the Quinnipiac coach who has enhanced the program’s profile, the Jim Calhoun inside Moore leaped out and made its presence felt.

After serving under the no-nonsense Calhoun for 13 years at the University of Connecticut, the last two as UConn’s associate head coach, Moore will be reunited with his mentor and former team on Sunday afternoon.

At the Hartford Civic Center, Moore’s old stomping grounds, the state’s longest existing blood-feud will be renewed.

The annual meeting between hasn’t played out like a rivalry the past eight years. UConn has pummeled the Bobcats in every meeting except last year’s, when a freshman-laden Huskies team gutted out an ugly 53-46 win. It was the first game of a frustrating 2006-2007 campaign for UConn.

“This is certainly unique,” said Moore during a recent teleconference, where he was peppered with questions.

“I have very strong feelings for the University of Connecticut and for Coach Calhoun in particular, and just what he did for my career and the opportunity he afforded me throughout my time there. I’m also trying to balance what are the best interests with my number one priority right now, which is our program here at Quinnipiac.”

Moore paid homage. He said Calhoun essentially molded his coaching career by blessing him with the opportunity to coach such a top-tier program, front-loaded with top-flight talents. UConn, which won the NCAA championship in 1999 and 2004, has established itself as the NBA factory these past few years (no college team currently has more alumni in the NBA).

Despite the emotional sub-plot, however, Moore insists he will not prepare for UConn’s run-and-gun, go-go brand of basketball much differently. Moore did reveal, however, that he will employ a different defensive style and sit in a zone.

“We’ll try to prepare the same way we did in terms of pre-game stuff,” said Moore. “And when we go out to do our stretching and net routine and all that stuff, we’ll keep it as much like that.”

In order to pull off a titanic, historic upset, however, the 4-4 Bobcats will have to jack up their energy level. To the nay-sayers, just playing neck-and-neck with the up-tempo Huskies-whose superior athleticism few teams can simulate-seems like a daunting task.

Moore explained that he’ll eschew the linkage of emotional ties and Xs and Os to game play. But he admits that the Big East opponent Quinnipiac will meet about 35 minutes from I-95 Sunday is going to be colossally different than anyone they’ve seen in eight games this season.

“The size and the athleticism will be on another total scale from what we’ve faced,” said Moore. “So we’re going to try to do a couple things differently, and I’ll be so wrapped up into survival mode during the game, where we’ll constantly be thinking about how do we handle a dunk in traffic by them, how do we handle a reach blocked shot?”

The season couldn’t have started more differently for the two teams and their coaches. UConn brought back nearly its entire roster while adding freshman guard Donnell Beverly from California. Quinnipiac, whom Moore left the Huskies bloodline for following the firing of Joe DeSantis in March, had its roster thoroughly cleansed from last season and was beset by injuries.

Moore, like Calhoun, appears to have a short chain this season, yanking players for a single gaffe. Like Calhoun, Moore is a household name. And also like his predecessor, Moore has scorched the recruiting trail, bringing in arguably the best recruiting class in Quinnipiac’s history this season.

Though he appears to be coaching at a lower stratum this year, and in an entirely different situation, there’s still a bit of Calhoun visible in Tom Moore.

Headlines

You can already picture them in Monday’s sports pages. “Super DeMario,” or, “The Price Is Right.” Both leaders for their respective teams, UConn’s A.J. Price and Quinnipiac’s DeMario Anderson have been told by their coaches that the team will only go as far as they can take them.

After a sophomore campaign where he failed to stamp his imprint, Price has lived up to the name he etched for himself at Amityville High in Long Island. The 6-foot-2 point guard has spearheaded the Huskies’ high-horsepower offense to the tune of 12.9 points and 5.6 assists per game. On his way to UConn, the praise lavished on Price was unmatched. But Price was sidelined his first few seasons due to health and legal issues. This year, he has emerged into the leader of a young torrent of talent. Price has been particularly strong in marquee games this season, averaging 22.5 points and 3.5 assists in the losses to Gonzaga and Memphis.

Anderson, he of mid-range jumpers and hang-time, has been the leader of a Bobcat team that starts two freshmen and a sophomore. Anderson, who played under another former Calhoun assistant in Howie Dickenman at Central Connecticut, is an explosive scorer averaging just a thread under 20 points per game. The University is hoping for Moore to take the Bobcats on a rapid ascension through the Northeast Conference, behind senior stalwart Anderson.

Anderson knows plenty about rapid ascensions. The 6-foot-4 wing didn’t play organized basketball until his junior year at Oxon Hill High School (Chicago Bull Mike Sweetney’s alma mater) in Oxon Hill, Md., and was elevated from obscurity his senior year. After two seasons at Central and a year at Global Institute, Anderson transferred to Quinnipiac and skyrocketed to small-school stardom last season.

Northeast 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 outside world as the laughingstock of low-stratum Division I basketball, is beginning to register its presence outside of the northeast landscape. Though usually playing second, third, and fourth fiddle to other conferences along the eastern seaboard, the NEC is looking to make some noise and garner some recognition, an aspect it has lacked so sorely these past few years, this season.

Mount St. Mary’s elevated to credibility after defeating Loyola (MD) and Navy, and coach Milan Brown doesn’t want to see the win streak halt at four games. The Mount jumped out to a 2-0 start in conference play, thumping Long Island by a 73-55 margin before edging out defending champion Central Connecticut 60-59 on December 8.

While they have improved by leaps and bounds even after an uplifting 2006-07 campaign, there’s been a particular recipe for success this year: the play of half-pint sophomore guard Jeremy Goode. Goode, all of 5-foot-9, shot 6-of-10 from the floor and finished with 19 points against Central Connecticut en route to being named Choice Hotels Player of the Week. Goode averaged 15.3 points, 4.7 boards, 3.7 dimes, and 3.0 steals during the week of Dec. 10.

After averaging 10.1 points in 31 games last year, Goode has enhanced his role with the Mount, improving in nearly every major statistical category. He’s played an all-around, fundamentally sound brand of basketball. In the Army win, Goode collected 14 points and four steals, hit 9-of-10 from the line and connected on the game-clincher with 17 ticks remaining. Against Long Island, Goode had 13 points, five assists, three steals, and never balked in the land of giants, snaring six rebounds while running the show. The Charlotte, N.C. native is among the conference leaders in dimes, handing out 5.7 helpers per game. The Mount heads back to the out-of-conference slate with litmus test games against Maine and Winthrop lying ahead.

Over in Fairfield, Conn., the no-nonsense Dave Bike must have done something that lit a fire under his revived Sacred Heart Pioneers. After a listless 0-6 start, the Pioneers have ripped off three straight wins. They battered Monmouth by a cushy 27-point margin before shocking Central with a 68-52 shellacking. After a slow start, Drew Shubik has discovered his niche as a key cog in the Pioneers’ offense. The senior is averaging 11.1 points and 3.8 assists. In the two NEC victories, Shubik recorded a combined 33 points and 13 rebounds.

Wagner, after a frustrating 2006-07 season, has rapidly made its presence felt with a 6-3 start that included a win over Patriot League stalwart Bucknell. Mark Porter and Durrel Vinson have emerged as dual threats – Porter being a presence in the passing lanes with Vinson manning the boards (10.9 rpg). Three-point marksman Joey Mundweiler (11.4 PPG, 22 3FG) has also done his job efficiently.

Geffen Leads Well-Balanced Bobcats

Entering their first Northeast Conference game of the season, the Quinnipiac men’s basketball team knew that a well-oiled offensive machine would be an aspect paramount to success. After dropping an ugly loss to Brown on Monday, the Bobcats found themselves in a must-win situation Dec. 6 at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.

So, how would the Bobcats react?

They decided to pull some of the immense weight off senior swingman DeMario Anderson’s shoulders.

Quinnipiac played a cohesive and mindful brand of basketball, en route to recording a 90-79 victory over St. Francis N.Y. before a virtually non-existent crowd in the glitzy 3,500-seat arena. The win gives the Bobcats a 1-0 start on the conference slate, lifting them to 3-4 on the season. The Terriers, who are yet to register a road win, drop to 3-5.

Anderson scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bobcats, but it was the play of combo guard Bryan Geffen (16 points), an instant sparkplug off the bench and a presence in the perimeter game, that provided most of the firepower. The Queens product shot 6-for-8 from the floor, going 3-for-4 from three-point territory.

“Of our three wins, Bryan Geffen has had two very big games for us,” said Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore, referring to the Bobcats’ 85-79 double-overtime win over Hartford, when Geffen went off for 19 points and handed out six assists.

“He is capable of that every night. I know that there’s more to him – that’s why I push him the way I do – to try and get it out of him. He proved what he’s capable of and it’s exciting to see what he can do.”

Power forward Louis Brookins, a transfer by way of Maryland-Eastern Shore, was also exceptional. Brookins scored 17 points and connected on all six of his field goal attempts, floating freely around the cup and finishing, as the Bobcats didn’t hesitate to make the extra pass down low.

The game came with a bit of a billing, as anticipation for an intriguing matchup between DeMario Anderson and Robert Hines loomed. Anderson and Hines, both prolific scorers with a penchant for scoring in traffic and clusters, are surefire first team All-NEC selections. But Hines (18.4 ppg) came out colder than Colorado, misfiring on his first seven attempts. Anderson started off just 2-for-10 before unleashing a pair of acrobatic layups that pumped life into the Bobcats as the first half came winding down.

The Bobcats came out of the gates looking like a new team. They jumped out to an 8-0 lead that caused an irate Brian Nash to signal a timeout.

The Bobcats’ bulge ballooned to 21-11, but St. Francis responded, reeling off an absurd 18-0 run that left the few fans in attendance shaking their heads. This would put the Terriers ahead, 29-21, with just a thread under five minutes remaining in the first half.

In the second half, the Terriers surged ahead, 49-46, before the Bobcats ripped off a 7-0 run. This gave them a 53-49 cushion that they wouldn’t relinquish. Geffen keyed the run with a trey, before pick-pocketing Bass Yessoufou and converting a layup. The lead would swell to as many as 10 after a long-range three by point guard Casey Cosgrove.

Cosgrove drew Moore’s ire early with a pair of back-to-back turnovers, then was relegated to the bench and replaced with seldom-used sophomore Steve Robinson. Cosgrove would return in the second half, nailing a pair of titanic three-pointers.

Jamaal Womack, a quick-strike shooter who was planted behind the arc throughout the night, led St. Francis with 18 points. Hines chipped in with 14 in an irregular performance from the forward.

Anderson copped his second double-double of the season and the Bobcats shot a blistering 55 percent from the field.

Moore will likely get to sleep much easier tonight, as the Bobcats bounced back from a 20-turnover disaster against Brown.

For Geffen, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, such a significant role was inconceivable prior to the season. With the return of an established point guard in Cosgrove, and the arrival of a highly-touted junior college transfer in Jeremy Baker coming in, Geffen was unsure of where he would fall into the picture. He figured he’d have to mudwrestle for some tick this season.

But Baker will sit out this season, as the NCAA has not cleared him to play. Geffen, a transfer via Boston University who sat out last year due to transfer rules, is making some waves in his first season with the Bobcats.

And they just might ripple throughout the Northeast Conference.

Quinnipiac 58, Army 54: Geffen was once again the difference-maker in this one, popping off the bench to score a team-high 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting beyond the arc. Geffen’s three-point fireballs infused stimulation with Army trying to neutralize DeMario Anderson. Anderson scored 12 points and handed out four assists in 28 minutes. Karl Anderson, a 6-foot-9 behemoth beset by injuries the past two seasons, scored eight points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds off the pine. Standout guard Jarell Brown gave the Bobcats all they could handle with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting to lead Army. The Bobcats improve to 4-4 with the victory.

Northeast 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 Heart, the pre-season favorite, fell to 0-6 after suffering losses to Yale, Fairfield, Army, Hartford, Albany, and St. John’s, the latter three being blowouts. The Pioneers suffered a strong off-season blow when they lost veteran forward Joey Henley, who averaged 17 points and seven boards in the post-season last year, to a season-ending injury. But their shooters have been below freezing, hitting just eight of their first 43 three-point attempts, and they are averaging 10 assists to 19 turnovers. The Heart is shooting a meager 36 percent from the floor, 66 percent from the line and has failed to find a leader or go-to-guy.

After getting blitzed 82-50 by the Big East’s Notre Dame, Long Island (3-1) finds itself riding a three-game winning streak with victories over Army, Columbia, and Canisius. A year after failing to qualify for the post-season and losing their franchise player in James Williams (a three-time All-NEC selection who averaged 16.2 points last season and the school’s fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,710 points), the Blackbirds have turned heads early. Freshman guard Kyle Johnson and senior forward Kellen Allen have formed a sublime inside-outside tandem, averaging 14 points apiece. Eugene Kotorobai, an experienced senior, also deserves some of the credit. Kotorobai is averaging 12 points and six boards while playing around 31 minutes per game.

Robert Morris (3-2) has also come out of the gates strong, registering non-conference wins over Iona, Navy, and Howard, and nearly upsetting the Big East’s Seton Hall in an overtime thriller. Wagner is also 3-2 and has defeated Patriot League teams.

Porter Named Player of the Week: Wagner guard Mark Porter registered his second career Player of the Week award on Nov. 26, as was announced by the league office. The senior earned the accolades after scoring 22 points and kicking in 10 assists for his third career double-double as Wagner scored a 88-81 victory over William & Mary last week. In two home wins last week, Wagner averaged 17 points, nine dimes, 4.5 boards, and 2.5 steals while shooting 50 percent from the floor.

Cats Struggle Early, Fall to UNH

Despite a pair of dragon-slayer, 25-point performances from DeMario Anderson and freshman Evann Baker – the latter of who hit on all nine of his field goal attempts – the Quinnipiac Bobcats couldn’t muster a victory, as New Hampshire edged out the Bobcats for a 78-70 home victory on Sunday.

With the much-anticipated and well-hyped arrival of Tom Moore, Quinnipiac has jumped out of the gates of the 2007-2008 campaign in typical fashion.

They more accurately resemble the Quinnipiac team of last year, which slipped into an 0-9 free-fall while then-coach Joe DeSantis was constantly the target of boos in their home arena. That Bobcat team would resuscitate itself after following this ultra-weak start, tearing through the meat of the Northeast Conference schedule before garnering a berth in the NEC semifinals.

The Bobcats, a team still searching for an identity, are 1-3 and in desperate need to sew some serious holes before they meet the UConn buzz-saw on Dec.16. Their first taste of conference play comes next week, as they’re slated for a date with St. Francis (N.Y.) on Dec. 6.

Nightmarish foul shooting and problems patrolling the paint have been significant factors in the Bobcats’ turtle-slow start. The Bobcats are a paltry 53-for-88 from the charity stripe this season. In their lone victory – a wild, 85-79 double overtime outlasting of Hartford – the ‘Cats went a God-awful 11-for-26, going 3-for-14 down the final stretch.

While the Hartford game on its own ravaged the Bobcats majorly in this category, freshman bigs Ed Zajac and Justin Rutty were a combined 1-for-8 in the loss at New Hampshire. Freshmen will be freshmen, but this shorthanded team – senior center Karl Anderson is still nursing an injury, James Feldeine has been nicked a bit lately, and JUCO transfer Jeremy Baker is still waiting for clearance from the NCAA – needs them to be more like juniors or seniors at this juncture.

Though Quinnipiac has out-rebounded opponents by a 109-99 margin in their three losses, Moore called his team’s toughness into question following a 64-59 loss to Maine at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn.

Behind Anderson, the Bobcats reeled off a 14-0 spurt towards the end of the second half. But it was too little, much too late. The Black Bears had disposed of the Bobcats throughout the second half, leading 55-36 after a 15-4 run with nine minutes remaining.

Moore’s frustration compounded as matador perimeter defense gave Maine lefty Mark Socoby a career-night. Socoby, a 6-foot-6 homegrown product who flew under the radar in high school, looked more like a blue-chip prospect against the Bobcats. He scored 29 points and nailed 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.

When the smoke clears, Moore will realize that conference action is essentially going to be the biggest determinant of post-season fate. The University bigwigs shelled out bloated numbers on both the arena and Moore, who they’re counting on to lead Quinnipiac on a rapid ascension to the NEC’s top stratum.

Anderson, despite being saddled with foul trouble during the club’s first two games, has been every ounce of the explosive scorer Quinnipiac will groom him as. Anderson is averaging 21.5 points to lead Quinnipiac, which will need to avoid putting too much weight on the swingman’s broad shoulders.

In order for them to make some waves this season, a more well-oiled offensive machine needs to surface.

Amidst the sloth start, however, some bright spots have been evident.

Blink-quick point guard Casey Cosgrove emerged as a dual-threat the first two games, handing out eight assists against Hartford and scoring a team-high 16 at Binghamton. The sophomore has been quiet on both fronts lately, however, and the Bobcats will need the manager of their running game to bounce back.

Louis Brookins, a junior transfer via Maryland-Eastern Shore, has provided the Bobcats with a scoring option down low. Brookins scored 14 and 15 against Binghamton and Maine, respectively, and has displayed a feathery mid-range game.

Evann Baker’s 25 points on Sunday are the most by a Quinnipiac freshman in recent memory. The off guard from Washington, D.C. bounced back in a major way with this scoring outburst, as Moore and company had issued a search warrant out for his game. Baker totaled seven points on 2-for-11 shooting in back-to-back losses to Binghamton and Maine.

Northeast 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 pegged as a Northeast Conference Player of the Year candidate, was mired in foul trouble. After establishing himself as the go-to-guy throughout the first half, the senior swingman fouled out with a little less than eight minutes remaining in regulation.

Starting four-man Louis Brookings and freshman center Justin Rutty were also swamped in foul trouble, before eventually fouling out.

But the Bobcats didn’t flinch. A pair of unlikely sources stepped up and filled Anderson’s Shaq-size sneakers.

Quinnipiac is front-loaded with outside shooters, an aspect so paramount to success in NEC basketball for a reason.

Three-point sniper Bryan Geffen and sophomore James Feldeine came off the bench to net 19 points apiece, connecting on several momentum-changing shots, and the Bobcats overcame dreadful free throw shooting to gut out a wild 85-79 double-overtime victory against the University of Hartford Sunday night.

Geffen, a 5-foot-10 combo guard, came out of the gates flat, misfiring on his first three shots from downtown. The junior would go lights out in the second half, playing with a savvy that helped catapult the Bobcats to their first victory of the Tom Moore era.

During one crucial juncture, Geffen pulled an ill-advised shot from behind the arc, as the Quinnipiac bench held its breath. But Geffen’s trey splashed through the bottom of the nylon, and the Boston University transfer pointed in the direction of his coach as a bi-partisan crowd of 2,218 at the TD Banknorth Sports Complex suddenly erupted.

Feldeine, an off guard who played sparingly last season, was equally impressive. The Bronx, N.Y. product garnered his first collegiate double-double, snaring 10 boards to go with his 19 points. With Quinnipiac trailing by three in the waning seconds of regulation, Feldeine nailed a huge trey from the right corner to lift the game into overtime.

Feldeine and Geffen were a combined 14-for-27 from the floor. Geffen connected on 5-of-10 from three-point territory.

The opportunities were there for the Hawks, who came out firing, but in the end Hartford couldn’t capitalize. They turned the ball over with four ticks remaining in regulation, and Warren McLendon’s 12-footer clanked off the rim to conclude the first overtime.

Sighs of relief from the Quinnipiac bench ricocheted throughout the arena. Despite several off-season boosts, few teams endured a tougher pre-season than the Bobcats. The ‘Cats played without their two senior captains, DeMario and Karl Anderson, both of whom were healing nagging injuries, and were forced to practice with a squad that didn’t bear any resemblance to what Moore expects to see on the floor this season.

Chemistry was also a concern. A callow crew took the court for the first time, with three freshmen logging significant minutes throughout.

Sporting new jerseys, the Bobcats already had a new look to the 2007-2008 campaign. That new look carried over to the hardwood, where they out-rebounded Hartford by an overwhelming 51-38 margin in two slopfest halves.

Former Bobcat coach Joe DeSantis’ penchant for undersized guards and problems with recruiting big men was a primary reason that rebounding and interior defense served as the Bobcats’ Achilles heel the past few seasons. (Although Victor Akinyanju, a generously-listed 6-foot-5 center, emerged as one of the conference’s premier rebounders last year.)

Enter Moore, who served under Jim Calhoun at UConn and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters (see Allen, Ray or Hamilton, Richard for more details). Moore swooped in and fished out freshman bigs Ed Zajac and Rutty. The pair combined for 24 rebounds in their debut.

Hartford countered this with junior strongman McLendendon, who bulldozed his way to a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds.

And so the Bobcats start the season off with a victory for the first time in recent memory, as a new journey kicks off. Last year, the Bobcats flirted with an upset over then-nationally ranked UConn, but Craig Austrie’s timely three pierced the upset-bid.

Not this time.

The Bobcats showed poise and kept their composure in the two grueling overtime sessions, although they struggled mightily from the line.

The Bobcats were an abysmal 11-for-26, going 3-for-14 over the final stretch. The Hawks weren’t much better in that angle, hitting a meager 18-for-34 and coughing up crucial ones.

Beyond Feldeine and Geffen, highly-touted freshman Evann Baker scored 16 points. DeMario Anderson chipped in with 16 on 7-of-14 shooting.

Joe Zeglinski paced Hartford with 20 points, and three-point marksman Rich Baker chipped in with 17.

Notes

Home Boys: Zajac, the only Bobcat to play on the Connecticut scholastic circuit (Cheshire Academy), scored six points and grabbed 12 boards while tusseling down low. The Hawks’ Brian Glowiak, a 6-foot-3 guard from New Britain, scored five points in 22 minutes but was wrapped up in foul trouble. Clint Kuban, the Hawks’ walk-on from Bethel, Conn., did not play.

Half-Baked: There were plenty of Bakers on Sunday, with Hartford’s Rich Baker along with Quinnipiac’s Baker brothers, Evann and Jeremy, the latter a JUCO transfer who is still waiting to be cleared by the NCAA. But the one that came with the most fanfare wasn’t on the floor. Former NBA All-Star Vin Baker, who had a storied stay at the University of Hartford, was spotted sitting behind the Hawks’ bench. At the end of the game, he retreated to the locker room with the defeated Hawks. Baker, one of the finest players to come out of Connecticut, is still a good friend of Scottie Burrell, the former UConn star and NBA player who’s now an assistant coach at Quinnipiac.

One Baker Named Choice Hotels/NEC Rookie of the Week: Quinnipiac freshman Evann Baker copped his first Rookie of the Week award for the week of Nov. 12. Baker, an instant lynchpin in the starting lineup, scored 16 points, hauled in five boards, and dished out four assists as Quinnipiac picked up the win against Hartford.

Army 64, Sacred Heart 49: At Fairfield, Army senior Jarell Brown scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Pioneers fell to 0-2 on the young season. Junior forward Kenny Brewer scored 13 off the bench to pace Army, whose lead ballooned to 25 at one point. Ryan Litke scored 10 points to lead the Pioneers.

Penn State 74, St. Francis (PA) 64: At Penn State, West Haven, Conn. product Geary Claxton led all scorers with 23 points for the Nittany Lions. St. Francis’ Grant Surprenant, a sophomore forward, came off the bench to score 20 points, going 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Guards Devin Sweetney and Cale Nelson chipped in with 12 apiece for St. Francis, which fell to 0-2 with the loss.

Notre Dame 82, Long Island 50: At Notre Dame, senior forward Rob Kurz had a double-double with 19 points and 10 caroms. Luke Harangody added 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Kellen Allen came off the bench to score 16 points in 24 minutes for the Blackbirds.

Northeast 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 pro league, where he’s already etched a name for himself. Strongman Obie Nwadike, a generously listed 6-4 forward/center who owned the boards the past three years, also departed from last season’s team, which earned a berth in the NCAA tournament following a NEC title. The driver’s keys are funneled down to point guard Tristan Blackwood (17 PPG, 4 APG) a sure-shot All-Conference first team selection and Player of the Year candidate. Blackwood operated a high-octane offense and hit timely three-pointers to lead the Blue Devils last season. He will need help from his teammates, who lack experience after head coach Howie Dickenman (a former assistant under Jim Calhoun at UConn) went around six deep every game last season. Guard Joe Seymore (7.5 PPG) had his coming-out party during the Devils’ 78-57 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, burying four treys. The 6-foot-2 guard needs to step up and cushion the loss of Mojica as Central, which won 17 of its last 19 games of the 2006-2007 campaign, looks to defend its title.

Sacred Heart (18-14, 12-6 Northeast)
The toughest off-season blow for longtime head coach Dave Bike and the Pioneers was the loss of guard Jarrid Frye. Graduation claimed Frye, who averaged 13.3 points and five boards his senior season. Frye was a leader both off and on for the Pioneers last season, scoring in critical junctures while guiding the Pioneers to their first NEC title game appearance since being lifted to the Division I ranks in 1998. The Heart’s key returnee is football player Joey Henley, a forward who averaged 17 points and 7 boards in the post-season. The red-shirt senior brings a great deal of experience, as he led the Pioneers in scoring during the 2004-2005 season before suffering a leg injury that forced him to miss the entire 2005-2006 campaign. This year, all eyes will be on All-NEC rookie selection Chauncey Hardy (10.6 PPG, 2.8 APG). Hardy will orchestrate an offense that’s potent from beyond the arc. Sharpshooter Drew Shubik is a key returnee, and the Pioneers should get a boost there from Boston University transfer Corey Hassan. Expect top-profile recruit Jerrel Thompson, a point guard from Plainville, N.J., to make an immediate impact.

Quinnipiac (14-15, 11-7 Northeast)
After unveiling a dazzling, 3,500-seat arena that was a $52 million investment mid-way through last season, the Bobcats hired former UConn associate head coach Tom Moore while finding room on the coaching staff for Scott Burrell, the former UConn standout whose NBA career was underscored by a championship with the 1998 Chicago Bulls. This only leads to one thing: a revitalized recruiting class. Perhaps the biggest off-season move for the Bobcats was signing of the Baker boys, brothers and Washington, D.C. products Jeremy and Evann. Jeremy Baker, a 6-2 lock-down defender, was a JUCO All-American honorable mention at Garden City Community College (Kan.) last season. Freshman off-guard Evann Baker arrives after a post-graduate season at Maine Central Institute, where he averaged 22 points and six assists per game. The Bobcats will feature super-athletic wing DeMario Anderson – who averaged 22.3 points per game the final six games of the regular season. Anderson, the leading scorer for Central Connecticut three seasons ago, averaged 18 points in conference play. The Bobcats need more production out of 6-9 Center Karl Anderson, who had promising freshman and sophomore seasons before falling out of favor last year. Look for electric point guard Casey Cosgrove, who had the best assist-to-turnover ration in the conference last season, and sharpshooter James Feldeine to step into bigger roles.

Fairleigh Dickinson (14-16, 9-9 Northeast)
The youth movement begins for head coach Tom Green and the New Jersey-based FDU, which needs to recover from the losses of Andre Harris (18.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG) and Michael Peeples (11.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG). The Knights return a callow nucleus of seven, led by guard Cameron Tylor. Tylor (14.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG) ignited to the offense last season, handing out 153 assists (5.1 per game, third in the conference). The Knights will also be led by an essential returnee in Manny Ubilla (11.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG), who’s dangerous from the perimeter.
The Knights, who’ve had the upper hand on much of the NEC these past two seasons, suffered a first round flameout with a 78-77 loss to Quinnipiac in last year. “It was a hard-fought game,” said Knights coach Tom Green of the thriller. “It’s a shame that someone had to lose. I can’t ask the team to play any harder and I can’t ask any more of them. We knew it was going to be a dogfight and it really was.”
There will only be more dogfights to come this season, as the NEC is once again one of the most evenly-matched conferences in college hoops.

Robert Morris (17-11, 9-9 Northeast)
The Colonials lose a top-flight inside/outside tandem in Derek Coleman and A.J. Jackson, both of whom were claimed by 2007 graduation. A larger loss is that of coach Mark Schmidt, who left to take over at St. Bonaventure. Point guard Coleman, a three-point threat who conducted the offense with quickness and pinpoint passing, averaged 13 points while dishing out a team-high 152 assists. Jackson established himself as perhaps the conference’s most skilled big man in his two years as a Colonial. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Jackson, a transfer via East Tennessee State, led the team in points (16.9) and boards (7.8), during his two-year stint. With the return of combo guard Tony Lee and 6-7 wing Jeremy Chappelle, however, the Colonials could emerge into one of the more formidable teams in the conference. That will give new head coach Mike Rice, most recently an assistant at nearby Pittsburgh, something good to work with initially. The team will look to Lee (16 ppg, 4.4 APG), a recent addition to the Colonials 1,000-point club. The experienced guard must shoulder the burden of leader.

Mount St. Mary’s (11-20, 9-9 Northeast)
Strapped with a funky, sling-shot jumper, Chris Vann will be called upon to lead the Mount after averaging 14 points last season. Though streaky, Vann showed flashes of excellence, like hanging 28 against Quinnipiac and scoring 20+ points five times throughout the year, including 22 in the Mount’s season-ending loss to Central Connecticut in the playoffs. The sharpest off-season blow is the loss off Mychal Kearse, a hard-nosed defender who garnered co-NEC Defensive Player of the Year praise despite playing on a surgically repaired knee that gave him problems throughout the season. Kearse (11.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG) concludes his career with the Mount at 11th all-time at the school in steals (152), 16th in rebounds (725) and 33rd in scoring (1,060 points). The Mount will expect production from point guard Jeremy Goode (10.1 PPG, 5 APG), who was flushed into a starting job after Joey Butler was dismissed from the team following an arrest last season. He ran the show as a nerveless freshman last season, so one can expect much of the same.

Wagner (11-19, 8-10 Northeast)
Too many teams wrote off the Seahawks last season. Though their season concluded with a 100-68 pummeling that Sacred Heart delivered in the first round of the playoffs, the Seahawks’ well-balanced offense is capable of turning several heads this season. The top returnee is veteran Mark Porter (13.8 PPG), a fixture in the starting lineup the past few seasons. Porter brings experience and much-needed leadership to the Seahawks. He will have some help from Durrel Vinson, the former leading scorer who returns after a one-year hiatus. Vinson did not play last year due to off-court troubles and will have to fend off some rust if he’s to pick up where he left off. He certainly has more help in the front court this time around. Wagner is front-loaded with bigs this season, as Mike Deane inked a couple of behemoths this off-season including 6-11 Brian Szezepanski and the 6-7 Clayton Spiller. The Seahawks also return the top four scorers from last year’s team.

Monmouth (12-18, 7-11 Northeast)
It was a disappointing down year for the Hawks in 2006-2007, as they failed to live up to expectations following a NCAA tournament berth in 2006. The Hawks lose two of their top players in John Bunch – a 7-foot-3, 320-pound mammoth of a man who registered 95 blocks but was never able to make his presence felt as a scorer in the conference – and Dejan Delic, who led the Hawks with 14.6 points per game. Another colossal loss is that of Marques Alston (the only player in school history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals). This trio accounted for a combined 39.2 points and 12.6 rebounds a game. All eyes are on Jhamar Youngblood, the 2007 NEC rookie of the year, who is flushed into a significant role. The 6-1 guard from New Jersey perennial powerhouse St. Patrick’s mastered the transition to Division I basketball, averaging 12.3 points and dishing out 61 helpers. Another bright spot for the guard-heavy Hawks is the return of Mike Shipman, who averaged a team-high four dimes per game last season. Shipman will need to improve his 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

St. Francis (N.Y.) (9-22, 7-11 Northeast)
It seems like a school in the heart of Brooklyn wouldn’t ever encounter recruiting struggles. But with a sweat-box, rinky-dink gymnasium and little recruiting tools, this has been the case for St. Francis. With the emergence of second team All-NEC selection Robert Hines, however, second-year coach Brian Nash has high aspirations for the 2007-08 campaign. Hines, a 6-5 wing from New Jersey, averaged nearly 24 points during the seven-game tilt that concluded the regular season. The Terriers’ go-to-guy, Hines averaged 17 on the season, but was slowed down in a 79-61 loss to Central Connecticut in the NEC quarterfinals (12 points on 5-of-19 shooting). The Terriers return a solid core of youngsters who all saw time last season. The toughest off-season pill to swallow, however, is the loss of Allan Sheppard. Sheppard (10.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG), a creative scorer and fundamentally sound in all aspects of his game, will be missed. The show is Jamaal Womack’s (10.6 PPG, 44 STL) once again, and he’ll have some help from 6-9 forward/center Bassith Yessoufou.

Long Island (10-19, 6-12 Northeast)
It’s a new era on the hardwood for well-respected coach Jim Ferry. Enter: The James Williams-less Long Island Blackbirds. Williams, a three-time all-NEC selection, has been a one-man-band these past two seasons. He averaged 16.2 points this season and moved up to fourth on the school’s all-time list with 1,710 points. Williams, who played much of the season hurt, finished as LIU’s all-time three-point leader with 277 career treys. He went off for 24 or more points six times last season, including a 33-point eruption during an 82-79 victory over St. Francis (N.Y.) Two incoming players, however, are expected to pad the loss of Williams. There is mounting anticipation for the arrival of Vernon Teel, a prolific scorer who was academically ineligible last season. There’s also hyperbolic lure surrounding David Hicks, a standout off-guard and prep school product who can score in clusters. Another key signing was Ron Manigault, who played under legendary coach Lou Panzanaro at Peekskill High in New York. A key returnee is Eugene Kotorobai, who led the Blackbirds in scoring with a meager 9.2 points last year. Jaytornah Wisseh (9.0 ppg) came on late last season and showed promise.

St. Francis (Pa.) (8-21, 5-13 Northeast)
Aside from a late-season victory at then-No. 2 Quinnipiac, along with a three-game winning streak to close out the season, the 2006-2007 campaign was one the Red Flash would like to bounce from their memory banks. Despite a front-loaded competitive out-of-conference schedule that featured Georgia Tech and Akron, the red flash quickly fell into the basement. A dreadful 0-15 free-fall was a tough ditch to crawl out of. This season, however, St. Francis could bounce back into respectability. Devin Sweetney (13 PPG, 7.7 RPG) returns to lead a well-balanced scoring attack. The sophomore swingman copped countless NEC rookie of the week awards last year and is ready to become the headship. Guard Cale Nelson, who came on late in the season (highlighted by a 19-point performance against LIU), returns to lead a robust backcourt. Marquis Ford (9.3 PPG, 4.1 APG), the 2006 NEC rookie of the year, has all the tools to emerge into one of the conference’s premier guards. Throw in Chris Berry, and St. Francis enters the 2007-08 campaign dripping with young talent.

Burrell 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 as an assistant to head coach Tom Moore. Burrell arrived on campus in a Lexus this week and got acclimated to a new situation. Players who are enrolled in Summer Session I are currently holding everyday conditioning workouts and scrimmages at the TD Banknorth Sports Center with Moore and the rest of the coaching staff.

“I’m really excited to have Scott join us as we start to build a program,” explained Moore, who was hired in April after serving 13 years under Jim Calhoun at UConn, the last two as the Huskies’ associate head coach.

“He has tremendous experience as both a college player at UConn and in the NBA, where he was a world champion with the Chicago Bulls. He also has a great reputation in Hamden as a high school star.”

The Hamden-bred Burrell spent eight seasons in the NBA. His career featured stints with the Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors, New Jersey Nets, and Chicago Bulls – where he won an NBA championship alongside Michael Jordan in 1998. Burrell enjoyed his best season during his second year with the Hornets in 1994-95, when he averaged 11.5 points as a fixture in the starting lineup. That season, Burrell emerged as a candidate for the NBA’s most improved player.

Burrell had a storied career at Hamden High, where he starred as a three-sport athlete in football, basketball, and baseball. Burrell was drafted by the Seattle Mariners during his senior year of high school, but opted to attend UConn to play basketball.

During his stay at Storrs, the 6-foot-7 Burrell emerged as the first NCAA player to score 1,500 points, register 750 rebounds, 300 steals and 275 assists. The Charlotte Hornets selected Burrell with the 20th pick of the 1993 NBA draft.

He’s the epitome of a hometown hero. After spending the last few years of his career overseas, the 36-year-old Burrell is home in Hamden, where much of his family still resides, and here to stay.

“I love teaching and I love teaching basketball,” said Burrell, who will likely spend much of his first year trying to sell top-flight recruits on Quinnipiac.

“I’m going to be able to help players both on and off the court. I can’t wait to get started.”

Burrell receives his first collegiate coaching gig after working as an assistant with the Colorado 14ers of NBA’s Developmental League last winter.

Northeast 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 playing lock-down defense on the other end of the floor. Mojica had a couple of games where he hung 30 or more, but it was his presence as a leader and his ability to hold top scorers in check that made him such a special player. His full-package game and aura propelled the Blue Devils into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in quite a while.

Coach of the Year: Dave Bike, Sacred Heart

Holding a resume longer than the O.J. trial, Bike has made basketball a 24-hour, 365-days a year commitment, while establishing a family-like atmosphere at the Heart. This season, Bike finished just one scoreboard reading short of his first-ever berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Connecticut-bred game general has, for nine summers now as a Division I member, sold some of Connecticut’s elite players on a small school with a burgeoning basketball culture.

Defensive Player of the Year: Mychal Kearse, Sr., Mount St. Mary’s

Kearse, an abnormal size guard in the northeast conference, sported the yellow hat, boots, and lunch pail every time he stepped on the floor this season. The workhorse, who’s covered in tattoos of Jesus and biblical quotes, has become the bulwark in the backcourt for the Mount these past two seasons, hounding down opponents and pestering offenses. The 6-4 physical specimen from Charlotte averaged 12 points and led the team in steals and rebounding.

Rookie of the Year: Jhamar Youngblood, Monmouth

The fresh-faced Youngblood, a speedy, Jersey-bred guard who gives everything he’s got in however many minutes, looks like the future for a program hoping to get back on its feet next season. Youngblood averaged 12.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting 52 percent from the floor this season.

All-NEC First Team

Tristan Blackwood, Central Connecticut, Jr.
Javier Mojica, Central Connecticut, Sr.
Jarrid Frye, Sacred Heart, Sr.
A.J. Jackson, Robert Morris, Sr.
Obie Nwadike, Central Connecticut, Sr.

Central Connecticut (22-12, 16-2)
It was a (Blue) Devil of a time for CCSU, which took the NEC world by storm this year. The Blue Devils, led by the three-headed monster of Javier Mojica, Tristan Blackwood and Obie Nwadike, ruled the conference with an iron fist. Led by Mojica’s 25 points and 10 rebounds, Central Connecticut captured the NEC championship, gutting out a 74-70 thriller over in-state foe Sacred Heart. This earned them a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they were bounced in the first round by Greg Oden (heard of him before?) and Ohio State.

An out-of-conference schedule featuring dates with some of college basketball’s top-tier teams – Michigan, UMass, and Davidson to list a few – paid dividends. Central ate up the conference schedule in shark-size bites, winning 16 of 18. Mojica and Blackwood emerged as one of the top backcourt tandems in the northeast region, while senior strongman Nwadike re-gained his title as rebounding leader. Nwadike, an undersized forward at 6-foot-4 (6-3 if you ask coach Howie Dickenman), was a beast down low to the tune of 14 points and 10 boards per game. Nwadike, who has led the conference in rebounding since his sophomore year, was a double-double waiting to happen. His toughness will be sorely missed by the program, which will undergo a rebuilding year next season.

Dickenman likes to go about seven-deep, but that will likely change for the 2007-2008 campaign. No player will be missed more than Mojica, who jumped from role player to superstar in one season. The 6-3 off-guard is currently playing professionally in Puerto Rico.

Dickenman will hand the keys to Blackwood next season. After orchestrating a potent offense to the tune of 17 points and four dimes per game, Blackwood appears ready to assume the leadership role. He showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season, dropping 40 in an 88-86 win over Robert Morris and earning player of the week accolades in late-January. For that week, he averaged 27.5 points, 4.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds while shooting 14-29 (.483) from three-point territory.

Sacred Heart (18-14, 12-6)
In his 28th season as head coach, Dave Bike has now made his presence felt around the world of Northeast Conference hoops. Bike, who won a national championship with the Pioneers on the Division-II level, guided the Pioneers to one of their finest seasons since being elevated to the Division-I ranks in 1998-1999. After shellacking Wagner and Quinnipiac in the NEC quarter and semi-finals, the Pioneers advanced to the title game for the first time in recent memory. Before the season, the Pioneers made it a goal to get to the conference’s biggest stage.

Jarrid Frye concluded a robust four-year stay at Sacred Heart, averaging 13.3 points and five boards per game his senior season. Frye shouldered the burden of leader for the Pioneers, as the 6-3, 190-pound guard came alive in several critical games down the stretch. The Heart received a big boost with the re-emergence of Joey Henley, who was sidelined for the entire 2005-2006 campaign after suffering an injury during football season. Henley averaged 17 points and 7.3 caroms during the post-season and played a physical, intimidating brand of basketball that Bike loves to implement. The Pioneers also have a pair of three-point assassins in Drew Shubik and Luke Granato. Sharpshooter Ryan Litke had a promising rookie season, highlighted by a 16-point performance against Quinnipiac in the semifinals. Litke, a Windsor product, is another weapon in the Pioneers’ perimeter arsenal.

The Pioneers return a rock-solid nucleus of players next season, as they lose just two players, just one of whom played a significant role.

Quinnipiac (14-15, 11-7)
Prior to the 2006-2007 campaign, Joe DeSantis knew he didn’t have a great job security plan. It was rumored that he’d be out the door following a paltry 2005-2006 season, but athletic director Jack McDonald agreed to give him one more year under one condition: That he deliver Quinnipiac, which now has lofty expectations for new head coach Tom Moore, its first-ever championship.

His players’ reaction? Though few of them saw eye-to-eye with DeSantis, the Bobcats decided to give Joe D. a memorable sendoff. The Bobcats, after moving into a sparkling new 3,500-seat arena in January, advanced all the way to the Northeast Conference semifinals, where they were KO’d by Sacred Heart, 83-69 at the Pitt Center.

The Bobcats clawed back after an abysmal start that landed them in the NEC dungeon after a 0-9 free-fall. They were plunged back into the playoff scene, however, after they ripped off a six-game winning streak behind the play of high-octane guard Adam Gonzalez and super-athletic wing DeMario Anderson. Anderson, an all-Northeast conference second team selection, came into his element after a rugged start. A transfer via Central Connecticut (Quinnipiac’s blood-rivals), Anderson averaged 15.7 points, including 20.3 over the nine-game tilt that wrapped the season up. His emergence as the Bobcats’ go-to-guy was underscored by a 31-point explosion against Sacred Heart. Undersized Center Victor Akinyanju, who garnered a Player of the Week award, emerged into the Bobcats’ top big, despite suffering nagging injuries and playing sparingly during the first half of the season. Akinyanju joined the prestigious 20-and-20 club after a titanic 21-point, 21-board showing in a 70-62 triumph over Mount St. Mary’s.

DeSantis was ash-canned despite one of the best seasons of his miserable 108-145 career on the Division-I level. Since the arrival of Moore, who served under Jim Calhoun as the associate head coach at UConn, hype and hearsay has brewed around campus faster than a beer fest on spring weekend. Many adjustments will be made, and some players might be coerced into signing transfer waivers. Once again, there’s a buffet-line of guards. Though guard play is a crucial element of the NEC brand of basketball, Moore might have to insert splinters in the behinds of some of last year’s starters. Moore has already signed transfer Jeremy Baker, a 6-2, 205-pound point guard by way of Garden City Community College (Kan.), to a letter of intent. Among the questions: how will he use Casey Cosgrove and Job Casimir, the duo of speedy guards who operated the offense in the 2007 and 2006 seasons, respectively? Where will point guard Bryan Geffen, a transfer from Boston University, fall into the rotation?

Fairleigh Dickinson (14-16, 9-9)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. After ruling the NEC with an iron fist the past two regular seasons, the Knights had a down year, underscored by a first-round playoff exit. The Knights dropped a 78-77 heartbreaker to Quinnipiac on March 1, and the loss was certainly a tough pill to swallow. With 5.9 seconds remaining, the Knights watched a last-second shot, as well as their lofty expectations, fall short. The Knights never stopped battling, but they ran into a buzz-saw in Quinnipiac off guard Van Crafton. Crafton dropped a game-high 23 points, burying 4 of 7 from beyond the arc and thwarting any mounting momentum the Knights had.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said Knights coach Tom Green. “It’s a shame that someone had to lose. I can’t ask the team to play any harder and I can’t ask any more of them. We knew it was going to be a dogfight and it really was. There was too much Van Crafton for us.”

Next year there will be too much youth for them. The Knights return a callow nucleus of six, led by Manny Ubilla, a solid perimeter player who buried 63 treys this year. Graduation claimed three of the program’s top players in Michael Peeples, Cameron Tyler, and Andre Harris. This trio combined to average 45 points per game, producing 61 percent of the team’s 73 points per game. No player will be more sorely missed than Harris, who averaged 18.8 points in his senior season and captured multiple player of the week awards.

Robert Morris (17-11, 9-9)
The Colonials lose a top-flight inside/outside tandem in Derek Coleman and A.J. Jackson, both of whom were claimed by the recent graduation, but a larger loss is that of coach Mark Schmidt, who left to take over at St. Bonaventure. Point guard Coleman, a three-point threat who conducted the offense with quickness and pinpoint passing, averaged 13 points while dishing out a team-high 152 assists. Jackson established himself as perhaps the conference’s most skilled big man in his two years as a Colonial. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound Jackson, a transfer via East Tennessee State, led the team in points (16.9) and boards (7.8), during his two-year stint. With the return of combo guard Tony Lee and 6-7 wing Jeremy Chappelle, however, the Colonials should have one of the more formidable teams in the conference on paper. That will give new head coach Mike Rice, most recently an assistant at nearby Pittsburgh, something good to work with initially.

Mount St. Mary’s (11-20, 9-9)
With Maryland evolving into one of the nation’s premier basketball breeding grounds, coach Milan Brown should have no problem selling high-profile recruits on the burgeoning NEC program. And why wouldn’t he? The Mount earned a berth in the semi-finals, but the No. 5-seed’s upset bid of Central Connecticut was thwarted by a late spurt.

This season, the Mount got a taste of some of the nation’s stiffest competition with a non-conference schedule featuring games at North Carolina State, West Virginia, and Winthrop. With the recent signing of Marlin Cribbs, who starred for DeMatha Catholic, the Mount wraps up a solid class of 2011 recruiting class. The key returnee for the 2007-2008 campaign will be shooter Chris Vann, who averaged 14 points to lead the team this past season. Vann, who scored 28 against Quinnipiac and had five games of 20+ points, can be lethal when he catches fire. He’s also a bit trigger-happy at times, and the Mount will need to develop that complementary scorer to balance them and not force him to shoulder the scoring load. The Mount will miss the services of lockdown defender Mychal Kearse, the 2006-2007 co-defensive player of the year.

Wagner (11-19, 8-10)
The Seahawks recovered from a nightmarish 2005-2006 campaign that saw them jump out to their best start in 26 years before free-falling to the gutter, encountering a number of problems on the way. This season, the Seahawks used a well-balanced offense to emerge as one of the NEC’s sleeper teams. Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the road to the semi-finals was rutted, as they pitted No. 2-ranked Sacred Heart in the first round of the playoffs. The Seahawks were thoroughly mauled, 100-68, before a jam-packed crowd at the Pitt Center.

The key returnee for the 2007-2008 campaign is leading scorer Mark Porter, a 6-1 St. Augustine Prep product who’s made an instant splash since stepping foot on campus. With James Ulrich, Joey Mudweiler, and Jamal Smith also returning, the ‘Hawks have the potential to put together one of the finest seasons in recent memory.

Monmouth (12-18, 7-11)
The ecstasy part came at the conclusion of the 2006 season, when a last second, length-of-the-floor lay-in vaulted the Hawks to the NCAA tournament, where they eventually fell to Villanova. This was the agony part. The Hawks never resembled the team that took the NEC by storm last year, despite an early-season outlasting of Arkansas State. In the evenly-matched NEC, the Hawks had trouble closing out games.

The Hawks lose two of their top players in John Bunch – a 7-foot-3, 320-pound mammoth of a man who was never able to make his presence felt in the conference – and Dejan Delic, who led the Hawks with 14.6 points per game. Expect sophomore-to-be Jhamar Youngblood, the 2007 NEC rookie of the year, to take on a big role next season. The 6-1 guard from perennial New Jersey powerhouse St. Patrick’s mastered the transition to Division I basketball, averaging 12.3 points and dishing out 61 helpers. Another bright spot for the guard-heavy Hawks is the return of Mike Shipman, who averaged a team-high four dimes per game last season. Next season, Shipman needs to improve his 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

St. Francis N.Y. (9-22, 7-11)
The situation seems grim. A small school, with a rinky-dink, band-box gym (one that most high school students would laugh at), in the heart of the big city that can’t even get its highly-touted prospects to stay local. This year, however, a scrappy St. Francis N.Y. team showed that when at their best, they can play with anyone in the conference, registering victories over Robert Morris and FDU. Outside the NEC, St. Francis was boosted by victories over Manhattan and Columbia.

A deep bench and a balanced offense worked in the Terriers’ favor this season, but the team still lacks a legit big man. Undersized and vulnerable in the paint, the St. Francis was often out-boarded and exploited in mismatches down low. The Terriers bring back a go-to-guy in Robert Hines, a 6-5 wing who averaged 17 points and six boards in his first year of collegiate hoops. Fifth-year senior Allan Sheppard, the team’s second-leading scorer, will bring his experience and prolific scoring ability back to Brooklyn for another season.

Long Island (10-19, 6-12)
Inconsistency proved to be the Achilles heal for a Blackbird team that rode an emotional rollercoaster of a season. After suffering a 90-74 shellacking in the regular season finale, the Blackbirds failed to qualify for the post-season for the first time in recent memory. Next season, the Blackbirds officially begin the post-James Williams era. Williams, a three-time all-NEC selection, has been a one-man-band these past two seasons. He averaged 16.2 points this season and moved up to fourth on the school’s all-time list with 1,710 points. Williams, who played much of the season hurt, finished as LIU’s all-time three-point leader with 277 career treys. He went off for 24 or more points six times this season, including a 33-point eruption during an 82-79 victory over St. Francis N.Y.

Like the Blackbirds, however, Williams was too often spate by inconsistent play. When he drew double teams and defenses locked up on him, the Blackbirds often couldn’t get “Ws.” While the loss of Williams is colossal, Aubin Scott’s departure is also a tough setback. The 6-2 guard/wing averaged 10 points and seven boards this season, complementing Williams wherever coach Jim Ferry needed him. Scott was a versatile threat who could knock down a long-range jumper or knife through the teeth of the defense. Losing Scott the past five games with a shoulder injury certainly put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. Losing three of their last four didn’t help much either.

Eugene Kotorobai is flushed into a big role next year, as he will return after averaging 9.2 points and 6.4 boards as a role player last season. The biggest off-season boost the Blackbirds received was the signing of David Hicks (South Kent (Conn.) Prep/Mendota Heights, Minn.), a 6-1 guard who can shoot and get to the cup. Hicks is expected to help ease the loss of Williams next season.

St. Francis Pa. (8-21, 5-13)
Aside from a late-season victory at then-No. 2 Quinnipiac, along with a three-game winning streak to close out the season, it was a pretty measly 2006-2007 campaign for the Red Flash as they mustered just five conference victories. Despite a well-balanced scoring attack led by freshman Devin Sweeney’s 13 points per game, the Red Flash had no bench and could never recover from a dreadful 0-15 free-fall. The out-of-conference schedule pitted the basement-dwellers against teams like Akron, Liberty, and Georgia Tech, all of which defeated them handily.

A strong off-season blow is the loss of J.R. Enright, who averaged 12 points and established himself as an inside presence these past two seasons. Enright, a 6-foot-10 behemoth who averaged 12 and 10 his junior season, sat out the last five games of the season after losing his girlfriend in a tragic car accident. One look at the roster, however, indicates that a bright future may be paved for the Red Flash, which has a solid nucleus of young talent returning with guards Chris Berry, Cale Nelson, and jet-quick Marquis Ford, the 2006 NEC rookie of the year, along with Sweetney.

Northeast 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. Francis (N.Y.), which sits just a few places out of the conference basement, was neck-and-neck with sizzling Central Connecticut State (16-2 in conference action) at halftime. Central eventually dumped Marcus Williams and the Terriers in the second half, as the lead swelled to 18 on a Javier Mojica jumper with 5:05 left to play. Mojica, who was selected as the conference player of the year yesterday, finished with just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, but he grabbed 12 boards and handed out a game-high six assists as Central prevailed. Senior strongman Obie Nwadike had 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Tristan Blackwood, who’s emerged as a major scoring threat his final season, scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Blue Devils.

The Devils got off to an irregular start, trailing by 10 after Allan Shepperd got free for a layup. They responded with a powerful 16-0 run to take a six-point cushion at the halfway mark. The two teams engaged in a game of momentum tennis which carried over to the second half. Beyond Williams for St. Francis, Jamaal Womack had 13, hitting big shots along the way. One of them tied the game at 36 and another allowed the Terriers to close within four later in the second.

No. 3 Quinnipiac 78, No. 6 FDU 77
The Bobcats avenged last year’s one-point quarterfinal loss to Farleigh Dickinson with a win at the newly-built TD Banknorth Sports Center. The Bobcats came roaring back from a 15-point deficit behind the sharp shooting of senior guard Van Crafton. The Indiana native scored a game-high 23 points, 4-for-7 from beyond the arc, and hit crucial threes in clusters.

Crafton was able to pad the loss of senior guard Adam Gonzalez, one of the Bobcats’ top players, who was hospitalized with an alleged infection. Quinnipiac overcame a sublime 17-3 surge by the Knights in the first half, along with 21 points from All-NEC forward Andre Harris.

The Bobcats were plagued by foul trouble throughout. Junior guard DeMario Anderson (17 points in 24 minutes) picked up three early fouls and three starters played with four fouls in the game’s final minutes.

Crafton hit two clutch free throws to give the Bobcats the lead with 5.9 ticks remaining.

“All that was going through my head (at the line) was ‘I’m a senior, I’m not going out like this,” Crafton explained.

Harris got the shot he was looking for in the lane before the buzzer sounded, but it hit the front end of the rim as the Bobcats advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Chris Wehye added 15 points for the Bobcats. Freshman guard Casey Cosgrove nailed a momentum-changing three with 58 seconds left to give the Bobcats a 76-73 advantage. Cosgrove finished with eight points and six assists.

“Obviously, Adam is one of the best players,” said Crafton. “But we weren’t going to let that affect us. I called him up before the game and told him we’d win tonight.”

The Bobcats move on to play Sacred Heart at a cut-throat atmosphere 15 minutes down the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield on Sunday.

No. 2 Sacred Heart 100, No. 7 Wagner 68
Wagner simply had no chance in this one. Before a raucous crowd of 1,301 at the Pitt Center, Sacred Heart thoroughly walloped a short-handed and dreadful shooting Seahawk team.

Joey Henley registered his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 boards in 22 minutes. Henley, who also plays wide receiver for the Pioneers’ football team, bounced back from a football injury that sidelined him last year and has added another weapon to a perilous lineup that features All-NEC first team selection Jarrid Frye, who had 16 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes. His most impressive statistic, however, was his game-high six steals. Frye shackled up opponents, helping force the Seahawks into a 22-for-69 (31.9 percent) shooting night.

Wagner, who concluded the year with an 11-19 record, went 8-11 in conference action. Though they were quickly bounced from the tournament, the Seahawks qualified for the post-season tournament after a one-year hiatus.

Sacred Heart led 44-25 at the half and never relinquished the intensity. A Henley dunk opened up the second half and kick-started a 14-5 run as the lead continued to balloon. The Pioneers (17-13) shot an eye-opening 58.8 percent from the floor and every player scored. Their defensive prowess, however, led to the most lopsided victory since being elevated to the Division I ranks.

“We came out and wanted to pick up our defense,” said veteran coach Dave Bike. “Our defense has to be important. We say defense wins championships and I thought we had a good first half defensively – we didn’t let up and rebounded pretty well.”

The Pioneers reached the 100-point milestone for the first time this season while ending the Seahawks’ season.

“We ran into a buzz saw that we couldn’t stop,” said Wagner coach Mike Dean. “We were outplayed, out-manned, and out-hustled. We got beat, got beat pretty soundly.”

No. 4 Mt. Saint Mary’s 78, No. 5 Robert Morris 61
Mychal Kearse is known throughout the conference for his defense. The 2006 Defensive Player of the Year shared the award with Central Connecticut guard Tristan Blackwood this year.

On this atypical night, however, it was Kearse’s offensive production which lifted the Mount to victory. Kearse scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed eight caroms as the Mount did the unexpected and defeated No. 4 Robert Morris, which was out of sync offensively. The Colonials shot 21-for-59 (35.6 percent) from the field en route to one of their most lopsided conference losses of the season.

Few expected the Colonials to have such a short playoff curfew, as they defeated the Mount handily, 71-58, prior to tonight’s flameout.

They were led by go-to-guy A.J. Jackson’s 20 points. Beyond Jackson, however, the Colonials struggled. Jeremy Chappell shot just 3-for-13 from the floor, 1-of-7 from three. Senior guards Tony Lee and Derek Coleman, a tandem that always leaves opposing coaches trepid, combined to score 21 points on 7-for-18 shooting. They were just 2-of-9 from downtown.

A 7-0 run brought the Colonials within nine with 5:57 remaining, but Kearse thwarted the spurt with a free throw. A bucket by Jeremy Goode jacked the lead up to 14 with 3:01 remaining. At that point, it was insurmountable.

Goode finished with 13 points and five dimes to help lift the Mount. Chris Vann and Gus Durr each chipped in with 12.

The Mount will count on a big performance from Kearse, the Jesus freak senior from Charlotte, in the semi-finals on Sunday. They’ll certainly need it.

Mount St. Mary’s squares up with top-ranked Central Connecticut in a game that will be televised on MSG network.

Northeast 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 it has dumped off by 30 or more points this year.

“In this conference we know anyone can beat anyone on any given night,” explained Quinnipiac senior guard Adam Gonzalez. Gonzalez and the Bobcats were twice trounced by Central in lopsided losses, all while they stood right behind them in second.

But make no mistake about it, this year’s Central team is something else. The proof is in the record. The Blue Devils (18-11, 15-2) have eaten up the conference schedule in shark-sized bites.

The trio of Javier Mojica, Tristan Blackwood, and Obie Nwadike is simply too much to counter for most teams. Mojica, originally a walk-on, has developed into one of the conference’s most prolific scorers, leading the Blue Devils with 17 points per game. He averages seven boards while shooting .426 from beyond the arc. Blackwood, who went off for 40 points (13-23 from the floor including 10-17 from behind the arc) against Robert Morris on Feb. 22 to avenge a loss, has come into his element. He’s flourished in a role that allows him to create offense, averaging a team-high four assists per game, highlighted by nine in a win against Mount St. Mary’s at the beginning of the month.

Nwadike is the senior strongman who has led the conference in rebounding since his sophomore year. The forward from Jersey City is a double-double waiting to happen with 14.3 points and 10.7 boards per game.

The team is only about seven deep. The finely-tuned starting five of Mojica, Blackwood, Nwadike, big man Jemino Sobers, and Joe Seymore, a freshman guard from Delaware, average 32.8 minutes per game. At week’s end, the Blue Devils have the upper hand on the entire conference.

At the beginning of the season, there questions surfaced about how well the Devils would recover from the loss of last year’s MVP, Justin Chiera. Chiera, the best three-point shooter in program history averaged 14 in 2005-2006 while facilitating the offensive attack.

No worries. Blackwood has certainly filled the leadership void left by Chiera, and Mojica has certainly carried the load on offense at times. He scored a career-high 32 against Quinnipiac, weeks after putting 31 on New Hampshire.

Blue Devils coach Howie Dickenman beefed up the Devils’ out-of-conference schedule with a season-opener at Michigan and meetings with Delaware, UMass, and Vermont. It’s seemed to rub off on the team.

Super DeMario

Quinnipiac’s dreadful losing streak, during which the Bobcats failed to mesh together, delayed it a bit, but forward DeMario Anderson (a transfer via Central Connecticut) held his coming-out-party against Vermont, going off for 20 points and scoring timely buckets in clusters. Since then, he’s emerged as one of the conference’s marquee players. Anderson poured in 31 in a win against in-state rival Sacred Heart on Feb. 8. It was one point off his collegiate career high. Surprisingly enough, Anderson’s career-high 32 points came against Quinnipiac during his final regular season game in a Blue Devil uniform in 2004-2005.

Quinnipiac, without standout big man Victor Akinyanju (favoring his right foot), suffered an embarrassing 73-72 loss to basement-dweller St. Francis (Pa.) on a night which featured all sorts of lineup changes. Guard Adam Gonzalez (14.7 points, 3.7 assists per game) sat in Joe DeSantis’ doghouse for much of the game, playing just eight minutes – all in the first half. The loss puts Quinnipiac in a log-jam with Sacred Heart for second place. A tough conference match with the Pioneers at the Pitt Center awaits them.