I thought today would be the end. I had planned on doing a roundup of all the games the NYC Buckets coverage had played in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament and beyond and that would be it. Continue reading “A Stunning Win (And Other Thoughts)”
Perhaps the most amazing thing about a streak like Vermont’s is taking perspective when it finally ends. The Catamounts had the longest current win streak in the nation (15), hadn’t lost a regular season conference game in more than two years (33 games), and had the country’s second-longest home win streak nationally (22, and would have been tops if Vermont had won, as Cincinnati lost later in the day to Wichita State).
But it was a poised, veteran, well-coached Hartford squad that came to Patrick Gym and finally wiped all those streaks off the board with a 69-68 upset in front of a sellout crowd of 3,168. While the Hawks hope the ultimate culmination will come in the America East finals in three weeks, this win will show the national crowd just how far Hartford has come since posting a 19-46 record the last two seasons (and just 8-24 in America East).
Continue reading “Hartford Ends All Vermont’s Streaks, Will It Matter In March?”
Welcome to the first America East weekly recap. The title may be a slight misnomer, but I hope to provide routine coverage of the league (mostly from my online viewing) on a weekly basis. Continue reading “America East Weekly Recap: Into December”
These are the worst six conferences according to average KenPom rating based on my new realignment of college basketball. Continue reading “Realignment Conferences 32 Through 27”
After a home loss to NJIT (currently 9-18) on Dec. 28, Stony Brook stood 4-8 and apparently needing at least a season of transition after last year’s run to the America East title, graduating a strong senior class including all-time great Jameel Warney, and seeing the coach the built them basically from scratch (Steve Pikiell) leave to go to Rutgers with his top assistants.
On top of everything else, two of its top returning players – Ahmad Walker and Deshaun Thrower – were arrested in separate incidents and no longer on the team by the time the season started.
But the dreaded “rebuilding” didn’t take as long as most thought. While Stony Brook was surely not as loaded as the last couple of years, it still had plenty of good America East talent, and the result has been winning 12 of 14 since that NJIT defeat, and being 11-2 in conference play with three games remaining (and clinching at least a No. 2 seed) after finally putting away a stubborn Hartford team 66-54 at Chase Family Arena Wednesday night.
Continue reading “Stony Brook 66, Hartford 54: Woodhouse, Seawolves With Amazing Turnaround”
Had they been wearing different uniforms, New Hampshire might have been taken a little more seriously this season. The America East coaches knew better, of course, picking the Wildcats second behind Vermont, with three of the eight who were not Bill Herrion putting New Hampshire first.
That, of course, is a long, long way from most of the history of the program, which can’t really be called checkered because there aren’t enough successful data points to offset the 19 (?!?) straight losing seasons from 1995-2014. The Wildcats only had one winning campaign in the previous decade to that as well, so it probably goes without saying they’ve never been to the NCAA Tournament (becoming Division I in 1977).
Continue reading “New Hampshire 81, Hartford 56: Wildcats Built From The Bottom”
Maine and Hartford have been in Division I basketball for a combined six decades (Maine joined in 1977, Hartford in 1984), and have a grand total of zero NCAA Tournament appearances between them, so while many coaches and programs talk about “upholding the tradition”, what do you do when there’s not much to work with?
Maine has had just one winning record in its last 12 seasons (2009-10), but there’s a little to talk about there, as Dr. John Giannini – who went to the Sweet 16 with La Salle in 2013 – went 24-7 in 1999-2000 before they lost at Mike Brey and Delaware in the America East semifinals. Giannini had one more 20-win season in Orono, losing at Vermont in the conference final in 2003-04, before heading to Philadelphia.
Continue reading “Hartford 54, Maine 44: Two Programs Trying To Build Something”
The MAAC let three winnable games slip through its fingers and Sacred Heart surprised Hofstra in a busy night of college basketball. Continue reading “About Last Night: Nov. 15, 2016”
Going to be reviving this semi-regular feature to recap what happened around college basketball on big nights of the week. Considering there were 163 games on opening night, it seems like a great time to recap all the action. Continue reading “About Last Night: Nov. 11, 2016”
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Hartford played loose, as promised, but when they exited the floor after the game’s first 20 minutes it felt like a lost opportunity. Continue reading “Hartford’s Upset Run Falls, But Hawks Will Be Back”
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