Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and the NEC.
Reader’s Take
The Week That Was
The thinking coming into the MAAC season was that the conference title would be a race between Iona and Fairfield. Early returns, though, tell us not to discount Loyola (MD). Jim Patsos’ group owns a nice 8-1 record, including an upset win on the road over George Washington. Over in the Bronx, Steve Masiello is keeping his press conference promises. The Jaspers will be around for this race and have a serious impact.
On the negative side is Rider. The Broncs expected to be heard from and have been but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons, as they are struggling at 1-10 and looking for answers. Rider is ranked #97 in offensive efficiency and #116 defensively.
Player of the Week
Dylon Cormier, 6’2″ So., G Loyola – Averaged 20.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in two Greyhound victories. Highlighted was a 26-point effort in an upset of George Washington.
Newcomer of the Week
Emmy Andujar, 6’5″ Fr., F Manhattan – Averaged 12 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in two game for the Jaspers. Won the Doc Johnson award as game MVP in the win against Fordham. Andujar had a 14-point, 7-rebound, 7-assist effort in that “Battle of the Bronx.”
Jim Patsos Has His Loyola (MD) Team Playing At A High Level (BaltimoreSun)
Power Rankings
Fairfield(8-1, 2-0): Scored non-league victories over Old Dominion and New Hampshire. Derek Needham led the way with 19 points against ODU in the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase. Stags held ODU to an outstanding 80 efficiency on the defensive end in that victory.
Iona (8-2, 2-0): Gaels took to the road winning at Denver in overtime, losing to Marshall and defeating Richmond. Iona’s win at Richmond was sparked by Michael Glover’s 24 points. A fast paced team, the Gaels average 76 possessions per outing. Their offensive efficiency is outstanding at 115 with a 101 on the defensive end. Read the rest of this entry »
Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC.
Reader’s Take
On-Site: St. Peters vs. Siena
The conference’s two most recent champions, St. Peter’s and Siena, tipped off last Thursday night. Defending champion St. Peter’s hosted a Siena team trying to get through injuries and searching for their identity. Sophomore point guard Rakeem Brookins is out for the season. The Saints are still not getting the services of OwenWignot, a good inside player. Early on, the Peacocks built a 21-7 lead as yet another slow start by the Saints put them in an early hole. Down nine at the half, Siena stayed tough. Even faced with a 16-point deficit on the road with fourteen minutes and change to play, Mitch Buonoguro’s group stayed focused. The lead was built courtesy of a tough man-to-man defense by St. Peter’s. Siena ws able to slowly get back in as their 2-3 zone and a St. Peter’s dry spell open the door. The Saints drew even late, but never get the lead, which Buonoguro later pointed out as very significant. Down the stretch, St. Peter’s nursed a slight five-point lead and with less than three minutes to play. BrandonHall, who hadn’t hit a shot all night, buried a crucial three-pointer for the Peacocks. That made it a three-possession game and proved to be the dagger for Siena. “This was a tough game,” St. Peter’s coach John Dunne said afterward. “It’s the type of game you will see a lot of in this league.”
Accolades
Player of the Week: Scott Machado, Iona. The senior guard scored a career high 34 points in the Gaels’ 104-99 double overtime victory over St. Joseph’s. He is just the fifth MAAC player in history to record 1,200 and 600 assists.
Iona's Scott Machado Might Win Several of These
Rookie of the Week: Chavaugh Lewis, Marist. Lewis had a career high 23 points in Marist’s victory over Colgate. A freshman guard, Lewis averaged 15 points in a two-game stretch.
Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC conferences.
Nonconference play is the norm and story around the country, but especially in the MAAC. Iona’s near-takedown of Purdue raised eyes and caught attention. The Gaels rebounded to defeat Western Michigan in the consolation round in that tournament in Puerto Rico, though, so not all is lost. On Thanksgiving, naturally Macy’s Parade and turkey are the order of the day, but the Old Spice Classic tips off as well with MAAC representative Fairfield entering the eight-team field as a viable threat.
Iona Was Very Close But Hummel Saved Purdue
MAAC Honors
Player of the Week : Maurice Barrow, 6’5″ So. F, Fairfield. Barrow scored 19 points while grabbing six rebounds in the Stags’ win over Quinnipiac.
Newcomer of the Week – Donovan Kates, 6’6″ Fr. G, Manhattan. Kates scored ten points, including two late threes to help the Jaspers edge NJIT at Draddy Gymnasium.
A countersuit filed by former Kansas State 1-and-done phenom Michael Beasley against an NBA agent suggests recruiting violations by Kansas State, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. The Post‘s story centers more around the DC Assault AAU program, but the Kansas City Star does a better job explaining the KSU ties. Beasley’s civil suit alleges that an acquaintance of DC Assault president Curtis Malone provided funds to his mother, Fatima Smith, to pay for six months of rent in Manhattan, Kansas, as well as relocation costs. And this same man faces other allegations in the lawsuit– notably, that the agent, Joel Bell, told Beasley’s mother that her rent and car payments would be handled.
KSU's Michael Beasley Makes Some Bold Allegations Against KSU in a Lawsuit
Former KSU assistant Dalonte Hill, known for his ties to the DC Assault team, told the Post he did not know of any payments received by Beasley’s mother. Current KSU coach Frank Martin told the Star he also knew nothing about the lawsuit or the Post‘s investigation. Keep in mind that Bob Huggins was the head coach at the time of Beasley’s recruitment, though Martin was still on staff as an assistant. This could mean trouble for Kansas State, but the NCAA must prove two things before it can slam the Wildcats with any penalties. First, did these alleged payments even occur? And second, did any member of the K-State program know anything about them?
Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC.
Reader’s Take I
Top Storylines
Conference Tournament Changes Venues: The MAAC championship will be staged at Springfield’s MassMutual Center. How the March 1- 5 event manages to be received and attended will be followed closely by many observers. The conference and MassMutual Center staff have been working feverishly to provide the best possible product for fans. With the nearest school, Siena, roughly 90 miles away, providing an attractive event to draw fans is paramount and, as noted, will be tracked. The MAAC will have the tournament in Springfield from 2012-14.
MAAC Participates In Non-Conference Events: The MAAC will be represented in the annual Sears BracketBuster event in February. The conference will also host the Old Spice Classic in Orlando during the Thanksgiving weekend (with representative Fairfield a legitimate threat). Prior to March, a few MAAC schools will test out the MassMutual Center in the expanded Hall of Fame Classic on December 9. UMass will face Siena and Fairfield opposes Old Dominion.
Glover Fits For Wooden List: Iona senior forward Michael Glover has been named to the Wooden Award preseason Top 50 list. Glover transferred from Seton Hall to Iona and instantly made an impression as one of the MAAC’s brightest stars last season.
Sydney Johnson Brings His Coaching Talent to the MAAC
New Coaches On Board:SydneyJohnson takes over at Fairfield and has a wealth of talent on hand. Johnson got his start in D-I basketball only seven years ago as an assistant for John Thompson, III, before spending four seasons as Princeton’s head coach. Steve Masiello is the new man at Manhattan. Masiello does not have the talent Johnson has, but is not short on enthusiasm and expectations. Masiello knows the MAAC well, having assisted Bobby Gonzalez for several years at Manhattan before heading to Louisville to work as a member of Rick Pitino’s staff.
With the completion of the NBA Draft and the annual coaching and transfer carousels nearing their ends, RTC is rolling out a new series, RTC Summer Updates, to give you a crash course on each Division I conference during the summer months. Our latest update comes courtesy of our MAAC correspondent, Ray Floriani.
Reader’s Take
Summer Storylines
The MAAC should provide another interesting race for the top. Two of last year’s best programs, Iona and Fairfield, will slug it out. The Gaels were tournament runners-up to St. Peter’s while Fairfield was the conference regular season champion. Off the floor, the wheels are already in motion as the conference plans the move to Springfield, Massachusetts, where the men’s and women’s championships will be contested at the MassMutual Center.
A Busy MAAC HQ: The headline for a good part of August concerns the conference postseason tournament. ‘The Road to MAAC-achusetts‘ began on August 3, with marketing representatives from each MAAC institution meeting at Siena College. Reps from the MassMutual Center, the host site, were also in attendance. Among the presentations and objectives were league-wide advertising of the championships on ad pages and in media guides, in game promotions allowing fans the chance to win tickets to the tournament and grassroots marketing efforts in the communities of each school. Ticketmaster also outlined social media opportunities which will allow fans to follow the MAAC schools and see who may be attending a particular session of the tournament. “There are great synergies developing between the championship marketing team and the MAAC,” said Marissa Skibbe, Global Spectrum’s Director of Marketing at the MassMutual Center. “Together, we have created an extensive and fun plan that is moving like a well-oiled machine. We can’t wait to see the creative elements come to fruition.” The tournament isn’t the only place where the conference’s administration is making waves, however. MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor was recently named to the WCBA board of directors. One of the most highly-respected administrators in college basketball, Ensor recently completed a five-year term on the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.
Dunne rewarded at St. Peter’s – Fresh off the school’s first 20-win season in two decades and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995, St. Peter’s awarded coach John Dunne with a new contract extending through 2015-16. Dunne’s first two teams at St. Peter’s recorded just eleven wins total, but the win total over the past three seasons is 47, including 30 victories in MAAC play. The Peacocks finished this season 20-14 and captured the MAAC Tournament crown at Harbor Yards. They appeared in the NCAA Tournament, but were defeated by Purdue in the opening round. Dunne’s name was starting to surface as a few openings arose in the spring. The financial details of his new contract were not reported, but the extension marks a notable increase in pay over his former contract. “Throughout his [Dunne’s] tenure, he has guided our student-athletes to success both on the court and in the classroom, St. Peter’s AD Pat Elliott said. “We are excited about the future of St. Peter’s basketball with Coach Dunne leading the way.”
New Faces: Steve Masiello took over at Manhattan, replacing Barry Rohrssen. Masiello mostly recently was on Rick Pitino’s staff at Louisville. He knows the conference, however, having served as an assistant on Bobby Gonzalez’s Jaspers staff before heading south. After turning around the program at Fairfield, Ed Cooley was summoned to do the same at Providence in the Big East. Replacing Cooley is highly-regarded Sydney Johnson, formerly of Princeton. Last season, Johnson led Princeton to the Ivy title and NCAA Tournament, where they lost to eventual Final Four participant Kentucky by just two points. Johnson will inherit a strong group of returnees at defending regular season champion Fairfield. On the court, Lamont “Momo” Jones decided he was ready for a different role after playing a supporting part with Derrick Williams in the Arizona Wildcats’ head-turning NCAA Tournament run and transferred to Iona (more after the jump).
Momo Jones' Transfer To Iona Will Spell Trouble For Gaels Opponents. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions torushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.
General News
Was Anthony Hubbard forced out?: “So it appears we may have gotten some illumination on the Hubbard story: via Mike Hlas (who has a very good column on the subject), a report from a website called MetroSportsReport.com that Hubbard was kicked off the team for violation of a strict “zero tolerance policy”, and did not willingly transfer as suggested by the official Iowa press release. ” (Black Heart Gold Pants)
First Half Of Boost Mobile Elite Rosters Released: “I don’t know if releasing rosters is something that can create a significant amount of buzz, but the people at the Boost Mobile Elite 24 game are trying to do that today, releasing the roster in two pieces. The first half was just released and you might recognize a few important names, including Shabazz Muhammad and Anthony Bennett, who will square off in the dunk contest. The event will be held August 26-27 in Los Angeles and is where Kyle Wiltjer surprised us all with his commitment last year.” (Kentucky Sports Radio)
Wayne Blackshear should be in Louisville in two weeks: “A story in this morning’s Chicago Tribune confirms that Blackshear is in summer school in Chicago satisfying a core requirement in order to qualify academically. Fear not, however, as Blackshear’s high school coach Nick Irvin says the McDonald’s All-American will be on campus shortly.” (Card Chronicle)
Manhattan, Albany & Brown Join Syracuse In Carrier Dome For 2011 NIT Season Tip-Off: “So let me get this straight… Syracuse, which is located in New York, is playing Manhattan, which is located in New York City, in Syracuse, NY for the right to play in a tournament in New York City? And the Orange might also have to beat Albany, another school located in New York to get there?” (Troy Nunes is An Absolute Magician)
Hokies NIT Pod Set: “We’ve known for a while that Virginia Tech would be participating in the Preseason NIT (otherwise known now as the Preseason Virginia Tech Invitational). We’ve known George Mason would be in the pod (East Regional), led by their new coach and TechHoops.com favorite, Paul Hewitt. We’ve known it would be played at the Cassell. And now we know who the Hokies will play in the first round and who the other two teams are.” (Tech Hoops)
Louisville pulls out of 2012 Maui Invitational: “It appears Cardinal fans who had been planning on a November, 2012 getaway to the island of Maui are out of luck. Louisville has pulled out of the 2012 Maui Invitational Tournament and has already been replaced by Marquette. U of L was also scheduled to participate in the event in 2009, but instead worked out a deal to push their participation back three years.” (Card Chronicle)
Earlier today the match-ups for the 2011 NIT Season Tip-Off were announced. Unlike many preseason tournaments where the team that will advance is already pre-determined in this tournament you actually have to win to advance, which apparently is a novel concept for preseason tournaments. Like most preseason tournaments it features early-round games at a regional host site with a team from each region advancing to a different destination (in this case Madison Square Garden) for the semifinals and finals.
Scoop and the Orange hope to be back at Madison Square Garden
The host teams for the regional sites (November 14-16) will be Syracuse, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, and Stanford. Here are the match-ups for each site for the first round (full bracket here).
Syracuse versus Manhattan and Albany versus Brown
Virginia Tech versus Monmouth and George Mason versus Florida International
Oklahoma State versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Oral Roberts versus Texas-San Antonio
Stanford versus Fresno State and Colorado State versus Southern Methodist
The winners of the first round games in each region will play against each other with the team and the winner of that game will advance to play in Madison Square Garden for the semifinals and finals (and consolation game for the losers of the semifinals) on November 23 and 25. The losers of the first round games in each region will meet on campus sites on November 21 and 22.
Last Friday, Linda Gonzalez, the older sister of former Manhattan and Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez, posted a column (link to our post because she took her original post down) that drew a lot of attention across the Internet and within coaching and journalism circles. In that post, Gonzalez listed ten columnists (some local, but mostly national) whom she felt wrote with an agenda and often did not report the facts as they are, but instead tried to twist them to fit the story. After the post started a mini-firestorm online, we reached out to Linda Gonzalez to inquire about her thoughts and reasoning. What follows is a 25-minute interview with Gonzalez that touches on her reasons for writing the piece, thoughts on the media in general and specific individuals, and her impression of what led to her brother’s firing at Seton Hall. We have to admit that Linda Gonzalez turned out to be a lot more reasonable than we expected over the phone based on her initial post and some of the rumblings that we had heard from various media members before we spoke with her. She also makes some salient points about the media as a whole and about the perceived agenda that some media members have.
Gonzalez has been a controversial figure in the media for years
Rush the Court:By now, most of our audience is aware of your post listing the 10 writers you consider the most corrupt or biased in the country, but we don’t know much about you other than the fact that you are Bobby Gonzalez’s sister. Could you provide us with a little background information on who you are?
Linda Gonzalez: Before we start let me make something clear. There is a difference between a public and private person. I am not a public person. I used to be a public person because I was a columnist for a newspaper. That was a long time ago. Now writing is a hobby. I have a personal blog that I write. In fact, I have two. One I keep for notes and whatnot, but I have a personal blog that I write that people are welcome to read, but it is still a personal and private blog. I am a private person who lives in upstate New York. I am involved with my family. I live a quiet life.
I am a daughter, sister, aunt, substitute mom, nana, niece, and friend. I want for my family the same as you want for your own. I want my family to have love, success and to live a meaningful life with purpose. I do what I can, whenever I can to help them and myself to achieve that. I’m sure anyone would do the same.
I have a mother who is 84 and a brother who is a disabled Vietnam Vet. My sister died 20 years ago and she had four children. Now her children are starting to have children so I have got my hands full. Bobby is a part of the picture, a big part, because when one suffers, we all suffer.
The season is officially over so it’s time for players to start acting like knuckleheads again. This weekend’s edition comes to you from Gainesville, Florida, where two Florida players — sophomore forward Erik Murphy and freshman forward Cody Larson — were arrested after allegedly trying to break into a parked car in St. Augustine late Saturday night. Larson was already on a short leash with head coach Billy Donovan as a result of his involvement in a painkiller scheme during his senior year of high school, but Murphy, who averaged 4/2 last season, was expected to start for the Gators in 2011-12. The most disturbing part of this story? That the two players reportedly hovered near a bar’s cash drawer before bouncers ejected them, at which time they decided to break into the car — a frightening proposition in the “could have been worse” category.
The biggest coaching news over the weekend involved something that didn’t happen, specifically that former UCLA/Kansas/everybody in the NBA head coach Larry Brown was not selected as the next captain of the UNLV ship in Las Vegas. Despite his public overtures for the position, UNLV decided to go with BYU assistant coach Dave Rice, a former Rebel assistant who also played on the two best teams in program history — the 1989-90 national champions and the 1990-91 Final Four team. Rice was a somewhat controversial choice locally, as public support was largely behind Reggie Theus, one of the best players in program history and the former head man at New Mexico State; but he was largely responsible for BYU’s offensive attack that featured NPOY Jimmer Fredette the last several years, and he claims he wants to bring the “Runnin'” part back to the UNLV program (Lon Kruger’s teams were rather methodical).
In case you missed it, BYU’s Jimmer Fredettereceived the Wooden Award on Friday night in Los Angeles. With his receipt of the most prestigious men’s award now in tow, Fredette ended up winning all six of the major NPOY awards this season. This is the fourth time in the last five years that unanimity across all awards has occurred, with only Evan Turner and John Wall last season splitting awards as the sole exception.
Adam Zagoria reported on Sunday that Manhattan College had hired Louisville assistant Steve Masielloas its next head coach. The school had initially made an offer to LIU’s Jim Ferry, but they couldn’t figure out the financial terms, so the Jasper administration went with Masiello instead. He’ll have a five-year deal and a leg up on New York-area recruiting given his origins from the area (Westchester County) and the extensive amount of players that Louisville has pulled out of the region the last few years — most notably Earl Clark and Samardo Samuels. Speculation is that Pitino’s son, Richard Pitino, will return to Louisville from Florida to take Masiello’s place on the Cardinal staff.
