Throughout conference play, talking with players and coaches, I asked for some anonymous opinions on league play so far and received the following quotes. I have divided them up by topics that opposing coaches brought up the most.
OVERALL
“There’s no great team. Everyone’s good, there’s not one great team. This thing is wide open, anyone can beat anyone… It’s wide open, which it’s been since Siena’s team of Ronald Moore and those guys.”
“I think the league is wide open, I think there’s a lot of very good teams and on a given night anybody can beat another team.”
“I just think overall, there’s not a team in the league that you can consider or even think it’s going to be an easy game.”
QUINNIPIAC
“I love Quinnipiac as a team. I think they are very strong inside and then when their guards shoot the way they did against us, when they have that going, they’re a heck of a team.”
on Tom Moore… “You watch all these tapes on them and he gets his kids to do what he’s trying to get done as much as any coach in the country, I think. I really take my hat off to him because his team plays a great physical style and you can tell they’re very well coached.”
on Zaid Hearst… “You know what he does too on the defensive end against us and other teams, he really takes a lot of pride in that. He rebounds the ball great for a 6’2″ kid, it’s just about his motor being so good. He gets extra possessions for them and now you’re talking about a fourth player too, so when you’re talking about a team that has four players that are consistently putting numbers up, they’re very difficult to stop.”
CANISIUS
on Billy Baron… “I thought [Billy] Baron being the preseason player of the year, he’s doing exactly what I think he’s doing he’s going to be: tough to guard, night in and night out.”
“You know he wants to get it to his right hand. You know he can shoot from anywhere on the court and as long as you know and he still gets to because he’s that good of a player.”
“He’s a player that’s got really good size, a great head, outstanding brains, good decision making and is a great team guy. I think there’s a lot of NBA teams that could use those ingredients.”
“Billy Baron seems to will them to wins. He’s a tremendous talent.”
“You change your whole defense, you put things in to try to stop him and then his numbers are great. Then you try to guard him straight up because you say, ‘let’s just try this’ and then he scores eight in a row on you and then he gets other guys involved and he gets them the ball right where they can score from and it’s like, wow man, this kid. Whoa.”
on stopping Baron and Jordan Heath two-man game… “They play really well together, that two man game, and we remember from last year when we played them the first time here the both of them torched us… You can’t go under [ball screens], not on Baron because he does a really good job shooting and then if you want to hard hedge it you have to make sure that you get back to Heath… It’s one of those where you have to feast or famine, you have to figure out who you want to take out of the game.”
MARIST
“I like Khallid Hart… who’s a freshman is really playing well for those guys. The other guys are really good players, Jay Bowie and the rest of those guys, they’re good.”
“They got rid of somebody didn’t they? I don’t care what the deal is, he’s gone and they’re playing better. I’m not saying there’s a correlation to that or not… they got rid of a guy and they’re playing better: I think that’s called team chemistry.”
MANHATTAN
“I think Steve [Masiello] is an excellent coach, all I know is what Manhattan is doing on the road has to be impressive to any level, any league, anywhere. That’s super impressive what they’re doing.”
“I think Manhattan is as good as advertised. I think they have tremendous depth and I think with their full healthy roster, they present a lot of issues.”
NIAGARA
“They have the best scorer in the league… Mason’s probably the best scorer in the league, he’s probably one of the best scorers in the country.”
RIDER
“I got to know Kevin [Baggett] at Rider and I think he does an incredible job, as a guy that just stepped in for a long time head coach. The way he has that program going, what he did last year, I just think he’s doing a tremendous job.”
“I think [Anthony] Myles and [Daniel] Stewart are really the best one two punch in the league, on any team.”
SIENA
“The point guard from Siena Marquis Wright, I like him. I think he’s going to be very good for those guys.”
Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the America East conference and Hofstra for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
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