Top NYC Players: 5-1

This is the final part of this week’s series about the Top 25 players in the New York metro area. Check out 21-25, 16-20, 11-15, 6-10.

5. Mike Moore, Hofstra — The Pride might have struggled in Year 1 A.C.J. (after Charles Jenkins), but Moore did everything he could to try and keep the team afloat. He increased his usage by almost 5% (a large leap) and still maintained strong efficiency while handling the basketball. That led to 19.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and a nod to the All-CAA Second Team. Moore scored 30 points three times this season, against Binghamton, Siena and UNC-Wilmington — all Hofstra wins. He also scored 24 points in Hofstra’s upset of Iona. Considering how much the Pride’s offense struggled overall, with three regular contributors with an offensive rating under 90, it was up to Moore and Nathaniel Lester to keep the offense afloat. They did the best possible job they could in a difficult situation. I’m sure Moore knows exactly how being the lead guy feels now.

4. Mike Glover, Iona — It took Glover a little while to get to Iona, but once in New Rochelle he made the most of his time there. The senior from the Bronx scored 18.3 points and grabbed 9 rebounds per game on the way to MAAC First Team honors. While he does owe some of the credit to the man that is at No. 1 on this list, Glover also took some of the pressure off the Iona guards as well. The only consistent interior presence for Iona this season, it was Glover’s job to do as much as possible to keep opponents off the boards and occupied defensively, which opened up looks for the Gaels’ talented shooters. Just watch tape of the second half of the BYU game and you’ll see how Glover really helped make Iona’s offense go. Overall though that final NCAA game is one Glover would probably rather forget. He had some of spectacular games, including 31 points and against Marist and 34 against Saint Joseph’s. He also played well against the MAAC’s best, with double-doubles in both games against Loyola (MD). Glover will play professional basketball somewhere next season, but he’ll remember his time at Iona.

3. Julian Boyd, LIU Brooklyn — The unanimous NEC Player of the Year Boyd was the big presence in the middle for the best team in the conference in 2011-12. He’s the reason that Blackbirds swept Wagner, including 19 points and 15 boards the second time they met. That was one of 14 double-doubles on the season for Body. The most impressive one was a 21-point, 20-board performance against Fairleigh Dickinson. Boyd though also scored 29 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against St. Peter’s and put up 18 points and 12 boards in a key victory at Vermont early in the season. Boyd’s averages of 17.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game are incredible and deceptive, because he averaged just 27.1 minutes per game thanks to the Blackbirds’ front court depth. Boyd shot 56% from the floor, including 42% from three, and 74% from the line. He was a terror to deal with and no NEC player wanted to be matched up against him on the low block. The craziest thing is that he’s just a redshirt junior and will be back to make some more noise and try to get LIU an NCAA win in 2012-13.

2. Jordan Theodore, Seton Hall — There’s no way to measure heart through statistics, but Theodore certainly had a ton of it. The Pirates’ 6’0″ point guard averaged 16 points and 6.7 assists per game as he tried to will SHU into the postseason. It was an impressive tour de force that ended with him being named to the All-Big East Second Team at the conclusion of the season. Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn’t quite figure out a way to win enough games to pull out an NCAA bid and, even though Theodore scored 17 points on just 11 shots against Louisville, the dreams of making the tournament died at Madison Square Garden. Theodore had seven double-doubles this season, including 26 points and 11 assists in a 21-point win over DePaul in January. In the end he wasn’t able to save his team from losing to Rutgers and the Blue Demons during the final weeks of the season, which probably sealed their NCAA Tournament fate.

1. Scott Machado, Iona — After spending an offseason really dedicating himself to preparing to run the Iona offense during his senior season Machado had a year to remember in New Rochelle. He was the best player on the court almost every night out and often flirted with a triple double. He averaged 13.6 point, 9.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game this season. He shot 50% from the field, including 40% from three, and 81% from the free throw line. All of those marks are career highs. As a senior Machado also lowered his turnovers to 3.3 per game. Now the 6’1″ point guard from Queens is looking at the possibility of being picked in the NBA Draft in June. Machado had a triple-double against Marist on February 12 with 10 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds in an 83-74 home win. He had 11 other double-doubles throughout the year, including a rare 10-rebound, 10-assist performance against William & Mary. Machado also proved he could score, dropping 33 points in a double-overtime win over Saint Joseph’s and 25 points in Iona’s MAAC tournament game against Fairfield. When the Gaels were selected as an at-large for the NCAA tournament Machado performed there as well, scoring 15 points and handing 10 assists as the Gaels fell 78-72. There doesn’t seem to be much more that he could’ve accomplished this season. As the driving force of Tim Cluess’ offense and Iona’s return to the postseason, Machado is my pick for the top player in New York City this season.

NYC Players Looking to Transfer

Jeff Goodman’s transfer list is out at CBSSports.com. I’m sure he’ll continue updating as more players say they’re leaving (as if the list isn’t long enough) or we find out where players are heading. In case you want the NYC cliff notes version here it is in alphabetical order by school.

Fordham:

  • Lamont Samuell (So., G)

Hofstra:

  • Bryant Crowder (Jr., F) – Headed to Jackson State

LIU:

  • Pete Aguilar (Fr., G)
  • Robinson Odoch Opong (So., G)

The hiring of Bashir Mason probably means that no Wagner players are going to end up on Goodman’s list, but if it is updated I’ll be sure to note it moving forward.

New York Mid-Major 2011-12 Teams

What a year it was for college hoops in New York City. Both Iona and LIU Brooklyn qualified for the NCAA tournament and Stony Brook also won the regular season title. A number of players were named to their All-Conference teams and garnered postseason awards. In fact, those awards are still coming in. Here I’d like to name my New York Mid-Major teams for the 2011-12 season.

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Using Roland Ratings to Determine Team MVPs

I don’t believe in +/- too much at the collegiate level, but sometimes derivative statistics can provide some interesting jumping off points. One of those is +/- for lineups. Another is Roland Rating. Basically, Roland Rating is the difference between a team’s +/- when a player is on the court and off of it. It’s a way of judging how valuable player is if you’ve got a large enough sample size. Let’s see what it says about each of the NYC teams and who the most valuable players are.

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Season At A Glance — Hofstra

This is the second of what will eventually be capsules for each of the NYC teams when I’m sure their season has concluded.

Team: Hofstra

Record: 10-22 (3-15 in the CAA); season ended by 85-50 loss to Georgia State in CAA First Round

Season High: There were actually two. A 63-53 win over Cleveland State in November and an 83-75 home win over Iona on Dec. 29.

Season Low: The final game, the worst loss in CAA Tournament history.

Really Good At: Offensive Rebounding — Hofstra was the third best offensive rebounding team in the CAA during conference play. Nathaniel Lester, Stephen Nwaukoni and Moussa Kone all showed an ability to get to glass.

Struggled With: Shooting — The Pride finished 11th in the CAA in effective field goal percentage. They shot poorly from three (29.8%) and two (42.3%). That led to an offense that finished 11th in the CAA in efficiency.

Key Losses:

  • Mike Moore, Sr., G (20.0 PPG, 4.6 RPG, Second Team All-CAA)
  • Nathaniel Lester, Sr., F (14.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG, athletic big man)
  • Dwan McMillan, Sr., G (team-leading 4.9 APG)

Key Returnees:

  • David Imes, Jr., F — Athletic rebounder that can help replace Lester
  • Stephen Nwaukoni, So., F — Most efficient scorer on Hofstra this season
  • Stevie Mejia, Jr., G — A full season of health will help the Pride

Outlook: Cloudy. Hofstra loses its two best players and one of two key playmakers from an offense that just wasn’t very good. If you took Moore out of the equation, the Pride’s offense this season could’ve been classified as miserable. Yes, Hofstra certainly got unlucky during a number of losses in conference play, but they went 4-15 in 2012. All of that leaves Mo Cassara with a lot of work to do in order to field a competitive team again in 2012-13. He continues to bring in big men with high upside. Moussa Kone should improve next season and will be joined in the front court by 6’7″ recruit Jimmy Hall. Still, without a returning player who averaged more than 7.0 points per game it’s tough to predict an improvement next season. There is one potential silver bullet though for Cassara. He’s got two key transfers who will be eligible next season – Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Taran Buie. Both started their careers at BCS schools (Connecticut and Penn State respectively) and should immediately impact the offense. Coombs-McDaniel in particular was an efficient scorer off the bench on UConn’s National Championship team. He’ll add another key wing. At 6’2″ Buie wasn’t really a pure point guard at Penn State. He didn’t play much for the Nittany Lions in 2010-11, but he did shoot a ton when he was on the court. It should give Cassara another confident backcourt player to add the rotation alongside Mejia.

CAA Tournament Predictions

The CAA tourney is a showcase for the league. Fans from throughout the eastern seaboard are going to be heading to Richmond, VA with the hopes that their team can make a run through the tourney, which starts with a first round on Friday and claim the league’s automatic berth. At least two teams, VCU and Drexel, are hoping that a run to even the finals of the tournament could mean an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament.

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Binghamton and Towson in NYC tonight

If you want to see teams that went winless for a while or are winless, well then Long Island is the place to be tonight. Binghamton comes to Stony Brook and Hofstra hosts Towson. Even though Towson beat UNC-Wilmington last Saturday, most of what I said here about the two teams still applies. A couple good Towson Twitter follows, in case you need them are: @TowsonTigerZone and @TowsonTV_Damon. If I were you, I’d also follow the Press & Sun-Bulletin’s Lynn Worth (@psblynn) for all your news about the winless Bearcats. Here’s his preview of the game. Also, Unranked AE wrote way more about the SBU-Binghamton game than I did, so check that out!

BracketBuster Pairings Being Announced

Iona is going to be hosting Nevada at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18 on ESPN or ESPN2. This is a tough game for the Gaels to stomach. It’s not a game that winning really helps. Nevada is currently 59th in RPI and 91st in KenPom rankings. While they’re cleaning up in the WAC right now it’s not particularly useful in terms of getting a bubble game. Wichita State was sitting there and Iona could’ve used it. Also, Iona has to return this game at some point. I’m sure Tim Cluess isn’t happy about this game.

Stony Brook will take on former America East conference member Northeastern at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18. That’s a nice game for both teams involved. There’s some history, there’s a chance for SBU to get a win over a CAA team that actually might help their conference rating and it means that the Seawolves get to go to Massachusetts again. I’m not sure if they really want to, but if it’s okay for a conference road trip I think it’s fine for a BracketBusters game.

Per a whole bunch of sources Manhattan will be hosting UNC-Wilmington on Feb. 18. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why this is a terrible matchup. Let’s start with the fact that Wilmington has lost six of its last seven games, including to Towson on Saturday. Bonus though: Brian Mull, who writes for the Star News in North Carolina and does great tempo-free work, will be coming to the game.

Hofstra will host Siena at 4 p.m. on February 18. Here’s a nice regional matchup between to teams at pretty similar levels. There’s some reasons to be excited for this game. Also, if both these teams move upwards as expected over the next few seasons the return game could be valuable to both side as well.

Saturday Round Up: Columbia and Hofstra get first conference wins

Columbia got its first Ivy League victory over the season over Cornell and Hofstra defeated James Madison on the road to score its first CAA victory as New York area teams had a solid day of games on a busy Saturday. Besides the two NEC games on the slate, five other teams were in action and four of them came away victorious.

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Saturday Round Up: LIU leading the NEC

Jim Ferry and the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds should send Dan Hurley and Wagner a thank you card. Thanks to the Seahawks’ win over Central Connecticut on Saturday night the Blackbirds are now sitting all be themselves in first place in the NEC. In fact, the three NYC schools in the NEC are all sitting up at the top of the standings. That’s not all that happened though. It was a busy day in college hoops.

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