Shamelessly cribbing from last spring’s very clever NBA catch phrase, we here at RTC will present to you the Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball as we gear up toward the start of the season a little over a month from now. We’ll be bringing you players to watch for this season and moments to remember from last season, courtesy of the series of dump trucks, wires and effluvia known as YouTube.
#22 – Where The Curious Burden of Expectations Happens
Corey Johns is the RTC correspondent for the America East conference.
Predicted Order of Finish:
Boston U (13-3)
Vermont (12-4)
UMBC (12-4)
Hartford (9-7)
Binghamton (8-8)
Albany (8-8)
New Hampshire (5-11)
Maine (2-14)
Stony Brook (2-14)
What You Need to Know (WYN2K). Last year nobody could predict what happened in this conference. One of the pre-season favorites, Vermont, had a new star in Marquis Blakely but still couldn’t crack the top two in the league, while the other preseason favorite, Boston U., didn’t even finish in the top half of the league. UMBC and Hartford shocked everybody by being the two top teams. Both built their team in different ways: UMBC through transfers, Hartford through the tremendous improvement of returning players (along with a freshman and one transfer). But this year don’t expect Vermont and Boston U. to disappoint – they should be ready to regain their spots on top of the conference.
Predicted Champion. Boston U. (NCAA #15 Seed) This is truly a toss up between Boston U. and Vermont. Both teams are similar – Vermont has one of the top forward/guard tandems in the conference in Marquis Blakely and Mike Trimboli, and BU has John Holland and Corey Lowe. Last year BU’s Holland won the freshman of the year award and was a major reason for their turnaround at the end. After a horrid 5-14 start to the season, the Terriers put it together and finished 9-3 to advance to the semifinals of the conference tournament. BU returns every significant player from last year’s team, including second team all conference point guard Corey Lowe (Am East #2 scorer – 18.8 ppg). But what truly sets Boston U. above Vermont is that head coach Dennis Wolff runs a very good defense on his team. They gave up the least amount of points per game in the conference last year (64.8 ppg) and if the offense picks up they should win the title.
Others Considered.Vermont has a lot of talent on their team and can certainly put together a run for another conference championship (three titles from 2003-05). Marquis Blakely and Mike Trimboli are a great one-two punch but the Catamounts added another factor with Maurice Joseph, a transfer from Michigan State who averaged 6.2 ppg there as a freshman. The only thing that might hurt them is they lose two starters including Kyle Cieplicki, the lone member on the team last year who was on the 2005 team that upset #4 seed Syracuse in the NCAA tournament.
The Rest of the Conference. UMBC took major losses by graduating three all-conference players from last season, but they return and add plenty to remain competitive. Jay Greene and Darryl Proctor were both first team all-conference players last year and possibly the best at their positions. Greene was second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and was fourth in the nation with 7.2 assist per game. One thing about Greene is he can be one of the best scorers in the conference if he chooses to shot the ball. He only averaged 8.8 ppg but when he needed to score had games of 26, 21, and 17. Hartford is another team that still has enough to make an impact with four starters back, led by Joe Zeglinski and Jaret Von Rosenberg. The big issue that could keep the Hawks out of the conference championship game is their lack of rebounding. Last season they were last in the conference in that category and lost their best rebounder and major inside presence. If they can develop another big body to take control of the paint then they may still have hope. Binghamton and Albany will be relying on the development of transfers, combining for eight between the two teams. Transfers did wonders for UMBC last season but it is always a gamble in terms of team chemistry. Both teams lost three of their top players but if the transfers can have an impact right away then both teams can be dangerous. New Hampshire has been one of the bottom dwellers for a while but can move up if Dane DiLiegro steps up at center and inproves the team’s rebounding. With a lack of quality big men they might end up starting four guards including Tyrece Gibbs, who is one of the premier scorers in the conference, and Alvin Abreu, who was the top freshman guard a year ago. As for Maine and Stony Brook they will likely finish in the bottom two spots again.
Games to Watch. As a one-bid league, only one game will matter to most people.
America East Championship Game (03.14.09) ESPN2.
RPI Boosters. The America East in one of the conferences where if you don’t win it, you don’t get in the NCAA Tournament. Two years ago Vermont went 15-1 in conference play but lost in the conference finals and took a nice consolation trip to the NIT. With the win-or-go-home aspect of the conference the teams also know they have to do everything they can in OOC games to get higher than a #15 or #16 seed, which is tough to do. UMBC won 24 games last year, beating American and almost beating Ohio State but still ended up with a 15th seed. This year four of the top Am East schools all scheduled games against big-time opponents where an upset wouldn’t be out of the question and they all could have a major bearing on where the winner of the conference is seeded.
Albany @ DePaul (11.17.08)
Hartford @ Penn State (11.20.08)
Vermont @ Maryland (11.21.08)
Boston U. @ Notre Dame (12.13.08)
UMBC @ Nebraska (12.13.08)
Hartford @ Baylor (12.22.08)
Boston U. @ Cornell (12.29.08)
Impact Transfers. The America East might soon get the nickname “The Conference of Transfers.” Between the nine teams in the conference there are 17 eligible transfers either cleared from sitting their transfer year or coming from junior college. Last year transfers did wonders for UMBC and other teams hope for the same this year. This year the transfer list is headlined by Vermont’s Maurice Joseph, a transfer from Michigan State who averaged 5.9 ppg in 16.8 minutes per game as a sophomore (get a look at Joseph in HS below). Other key guys include Binghamton’s quartet of transfers, Tiki Mayben, Malik Alvin, Sean Watson, and Theo Davis (eligible in the second semester), Albany’s Louis Barraza (20.1ppg at the JuCo level), and UMBC’s 6’7” Ricky Flemming, a transfer from Fairfield.
Neat-o-Stat. Since 1980 when the conference started, the champion has repeated 44% of the time while the regular season champion has won the conference championship 75% of the time. The lowest seed to ever win the conference tournament was a #3 seed which happened once in 1993 when Delaware beat the #1 seed Drexel (67-64).
65-Team Era. The America East is 3-23 (.115) since the field moved up to 65, with three first-round victories from 1989 (#14 Siena over #3 Stanford), 1996 (#12 Drexel over #5 Memphis), and 2005 (#13 Vermont over #4 Syracuse). But the America East is surprisingly the only mid-major conference in the northeast that has never been apart of the play-in game.
Final Thought. Usually two or three teams have a chokehold on the top of the conference, but this year the conference remains top heavy but it is still anybody’s league. Vermont and Boston U. are projected to be the top teams this year but Hartford, UMBC, Albany, and Binghamton all can make some noise and should make the year very interesting.
Ok, this is going to be all over the place soon enough, if it isn’t already, but you know us – we eat this up. It’s not college hoops related, but it is effin’ hilarious. If we were Devin Harris and it was us who just got completely embarrassed by a kid in a v-neck and jeans, we might want to reconsider, like, coming back home. Ever. Again.
Update (10/15): DH says that he was told that the kid was a Special Olympian of some kind, but he was still surprised by what he termed “all these dribbling moves.” At least DH knows there’s not much he can do at this point other than to deflect and have fun with it – some other guys (ahem, Kobe) wouldn’t have been so modest.
Shamelessly cribbing from last spring’s very clever NBA catch phrase, we here at RTC will present to you the Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball as we gear up toward the start of the season a little over a month from now. We’ll be bringing you players to watch for this season and moments to remember from last season, courtesy of the series of dump trucks, wires and effluvia known as YouTube.
Ron Harris is the RTC correspondent for the Ohio Valley Conference.
Predicted Order of Finish:
Murray State (16-2)
Austin Peay (13-5)
Tennessee-Martin (12-6)
Morehead State (11-5)
Tennessee Tech (8-8)
Tennessee State (6-10)
Eastern Kentucky (6-10)
Eastern Illinois (5-11)
Southeast Missouri State (3-13)
Jacksonville State (1-15)
What You Need to Know (WYN2K): Murray State and Austin Peay are the traditional powers in the OVC, winning six of the last nine championships. In the 90s MSU won the title nine times. This year the league’s marquee player will be Tennessee-Martin’s Lester Hudson, who dropped 35/10 on national runner-up Memphis last year and became the first D1 player ever to record a quadruple-double (25/12/10 assts/10 stls). Hudson initially declared himself eligible for the draft but pulled his name from consideration when it became obvious he would not be selected in the first round (see video below).
Predicted Champion. Murray State (#15 NCAA) returns four starters from last year’s team and adds combo guard Isacc Miles to the mix. Miles played as a freshman at Creighton two years ago and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman team. The Racers also added the Florida 4A-5A-6A Player of the Year in 6’7 Ivan Aska. While MSU might not be as strong as they were in the late 90s, head coach Billy Kennedy is starting to get the kind of players that made the Racers the class of the league back then.
Others Considered. You can never overlook Austin Peay. Head coach Dave Loos always has them ready to play and they have a former OVC Player of the Year in Drake Reed. On the other hand they lost three starters in Todd Babbington, Fernandez Lockett and Derek Wright. Tennessee-Martin has the league’s best player in Hudson but last year was their first winning season (17-16) in what seems like a century. Marquis Weddle knocks down 3s when opponents double-team Hudson and the Skyhawks have a couple of big bruisers inside who sat out last season. But even head coach Brett Campbell says they lack offensive skills. MoreheadState is solid inside with Leon Buchanan and Kenneth Faried. But they lose point guard Nikoila Stojakovic who finished fifth in the nation in assists last year. Head coach Donnie Tyndal says they will replace him with a point guard by committee scheme. But the lead candidate for the job seems to be JUCO transfer Robert Murry who is a shoot-first lead guard. The bottom line is: Murray State has the fewest question marks.
Important Games / Key Games / RPI-Booster Games. The OVC has not had many marquee wins against non-conference opponents in recent years although Tennessee St. did win at Illinois last season. The best chance for a marquee win this year comes on December 13 when Murray State visits Missouri. The first league games are on December 4 and 6 when Murray State plays at Eastern Kentucky and Morehead. If they can sweep those two games it will validate their status as the favorite.
Neat-O Stat. Did you know that former Murray State alum Joe Fulks was named the best player of the first 50 years of the 20th century and was called The Babe Ruth of Basketball? Fulks is credited by some with inventing the jump shot.
65 Team Era. The era hasn’t been good to the OVC, as it currently stands at 19 first-round losses in a row. But the league isn’t stuck in #16-seed land (only twice in the last 24 years) so the opportunities have been there. The most recent upset attempts were in 2006 (#14 Murray St. pushed #3 UNC to the wire, losing 69-65) and 2005 (#15 Eastern Kentucky took in-state rival #2 Kentucky deep before succumbing 72-64).
Final Thoughts. If Murray State stumbles you have to like Austin Peay’s chances to win the championship. They have one of the league’s best coaches in Loos and they have tradition on their side. The Racers are the last current OVC team to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, having beaten North Carolina State in the first round in 1988. Look to their game against Missouri and their games in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico against South Florida, Oral Roberts and Wright State as barometers of their ability to repeat that feat this year.
If Rick Barnes and his one career F4 appearance merits a Legends in Coaching award, we’re wondering just how legendary this award must be. Well, Gene Keady and his zero F4s won the award in 2007, so whatever. Katz, for one, believes that Barnes deserves this award.
SEMO fired its AD and put their head coach Scott Edgar on administrative leave this week immediately following the NCAA imposing probation on the men’s and women’s basketball programs. Good to see the NCAA’s investigative arm is going after the big boys here. In the last seven years, the SEMO Bears have won 12, 11, 7, 15, 11, 11, and 6 games, respectively. Awesome.
Here’s a quick-and-dirty recap of the ten Cinderellas to keep an eye on this season.
This is a good idea – if you’re interested in knowing what recruits are going to which Midnight Madness – Making the Dance has the list.
Looks like former Hawg Patrick Beverley will not be returning to Fayetteville next season.
Monty seems to be settling into his new digs across the Bay.
USC’s Daniel Hackett: UCLA does “anything to win” and OJ Mayo breaking his jaw last year was a “bad episode.”
What else can you say about this title of an article dealing with a Minnesota assistant coach being voted most eligible bachelor in Minnesota? – dude doesn’t mince words, that’s for sure.
We’re really not sure what to make of this article about Cal St.-Northridge’s Matadome and other things, but we like it.
Ed. Note – fuel the outcry over these early Midnight Madness celebrations as a recruiting tool. Kentucky got a commitment from Top 25 player Daniel Orton after he attended the celebration on Friday night. Orton credited the fan support as a key reason for his decision. Would he have attended if UK’s Madness was on the same night as everyone else?
Some Kentucky and West Virginia coverage from their Madness celebrations tonight… Illinois and Marshall, you’re on the clock.
Apparently UK’s MM festivities involved disco lights…
Shamelessly cribbing from last spring’s very clever NBA catch phrase, we here at RTC will present to you the Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball as we gear up toward the start of the season a little over a month from now. We’ll be bringing you players to watch for this season and moments to remember from last season, courtesy of the series of dump trucks, wires and effluvia known as YouTube.
#24 – Where The Best Player You’ve Never Heard Of Happens
This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive listing of the preseason tournaments, rather just the best ones, but if you feel like we omitted something relevant, link to it in the comments. And against our better judgment, we’re putting those ridiculous CBE and Legends Classic “brackets” into the post as well. Losers.
The 2kSports Coaches v. Cancer tips off the season with games beginning on Nov. 10. Duke, S. Illinois, UCLA and Michigan are expected to make it to the semis at MSG, but don’t sleep on UMass or Northeastern as spoilers.
The Maui Invitational, on the Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week, as usual, shouldn’t disappoint. There are at least five NCAA teams here, and UNC-Notre Dame in the finals could be seen again in late March or early April.
Another Thanksgiving week classic, the Preseason NIT, with the semis on the Wednesday prior to the holiday and the finals on Friday night, is a little weaker than normal. But any chance to see Stephen Curry on the big stage at MSG is worth watching, so let’s all root for Davidson to pull off the second-round upset over Oklahoma. A number of teams could win this tourney, but we guess Purdue is most likely? Arizona? Cornell?
The Old Spice Classic is a newer tournament also airing during Thanksgiving weekend, but what a great lineup! There are literally no bad teams here – all eight could be playing in March Madness 2009, and it would be a huge disappointment if any fewer than six do. We like Siena to pull the upsets to play Gonzaga in the finals there, with mid-major glory all around.
The Anaheim Classic is another ESPN property airing during Thanksgiving weekend – the lineup is solid, although not as strong as the Old Spice. We like the young Deacs to play run-n-gun Baylor in the finals.
Sigh… here is the “Championship Round” bracket for the Legends Classic. Remember, each of these teams has already been slotted into these spots no matter what happens in the previous two rounds of this ‘tournament.’ So… disgustingly… weak. Pitt should roll here no matter what happens in the other game.
Along the same lines, the CBE Classic is so lame that they won’t even give us a bracket to put up for you. The matchups aren’t bad, but we’re still bitter (see Legends Classic). We like Florida and Kansas to play in the final, with UF taking the title.
—CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS—
Semifinal Doubleheader
(November 24 – 7:30 ET)
Syracuse vs. Florida- ESPN2
Kansas vs Washington- ESPN2
Yep, Midnight Madness is upon us. Well, at least at the few schools who have flouted conventional wisdom and are using their 2-hr window of practice time this week to get Midnight Madness out of the way earlier than everyone else. It’ll be interesting to monitor whether this recruiting “advantage,”according to the NABC, will actually translate into anything substantial. Here’s the weekend schedule.
We’re interested to see in particular how this Illinois practice in the end zone of their football stadium turns out.
In Champaign, Ill., the men’s and women’s basketball teams will head onto a court set up behind one of the end zones Saturday at Memorial Stadium after the conclusion of Illinois’ game with Minnesota. The basketball practice, to be held on a donated court, will be canceled if it rains. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players to be on this type of stage,” Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber said.
Nevertheless, we shouldn’t get used to this early start. Word is that the NCAA will enact emergency legislation later this month to put an end to the practice of early practice. We’ll try to get some photos up as these things happen over the weekend.
