As America East play gets set to resume after a snow storm rocked much of the Northeast, it appears that every game will be on. Hartford will make the trek down to Stony Brook this morning, while Albany decided to head up to Vermont early on Monday. Maine head coach Bob Walsh confirmed that New Hampshire made it up to Bangor to play on Wednesday night. Binghamton left Tuesday for UMBC, so it appears that all four games will be on time.
Stock Up: Albany – Considering they lost Peter Hooley for what could be an indefinite amount of time, the Great Danes could not have looked better over the last week. Their 7-0 start is Albany’s best ever start in America East play as it heads to play its final opponent in the round robin. Even if they fall in Burlington, where only Yale and Harvard have managed to beat the Catamounts this season, the great start for the Great Danes should put them in good position for the America East playoffs. Junior college transfers Evan Singletary and Ray Sanders have seamlessly fit into the starting lineup and Dallas Ennema, who replaced Hooley in the starting five, has averaged 10 ppg in three starts.
Politician’s Fallacy of the Week: Stony Brook – After falling to Albany on Monday, the Seawolves made a lineup change on Thursday at UMass Lowell. Those not familiar with the term, politician’s fallacy, it is the three step process of:
- We must do something.
- This is something.
- Therefore, we must do this.
This time it was adding redshirt sophomore Ryan Burnett, who played approximately 39 minutes prior to Thursday, to the starting lineup for two games and giving freshman Deshaun Thrower his first start Thursday. In those two games, Burnett has totaled 41 minutes, scored eight points and grabbed five offensive rebounds. But did the shake up really help anyone?
Quote of the Week: “It’s hard to describe how much it hurts, how bad it feels or what it looks like… It’s unacceptable.” – Maine head coach Bob Walsh, on allowing 76 points to UMBC. On Sunday, the Black Bears beat Hartford allowing 61 points, tying their best effort of the season.
Number to Know: 9 (of 32) – Those are the number of games, 28.1% of conference contests, that were decided by fewer than four points or went to overtime. That statistic ranks fifth of 31 conferences. Only the Big East, Patriot League, Atlantic Sun and SEC have had closer games. New Hampshire has been involved in five of those nine games, going 3-2, which is one reason why they currently sit within shouting distance of the coveted fourth seed.
75% – That is the current home winning percentage this season of the top four seeds for the America East playoffs. If the season ended today, the league top seeds would be Albany, Vermont, Stony Brook and Hartford.
Watch Out! GIF of the Week: Ronnel Jordan, New Hampshire – The junior throws down this dunk over Vermont in the second half, which helped the Wildcats notch a victory over the Catamounts.
Ryan Restivo wrote the America East conference preview for the 2014-15 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. He 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.
NYC Buckets Archive 