Category: MAAC

Chris Casey on Niagara’s Additions, Workouts

Head coach Chris Casey had his first chance to work with his team in summer workouts, after revamping a roster that once had as many as eight spots open during the early part of his tenure.

“I think you’re always recruiting,” Casey said. “I don’t think it’s ever done. I’m anxious to get on the floor with the guys we have and see what we got. I think they’re a good group and you want to get them on the floor and coach them and see exactly what you have and that’s the point we’re at now.”

The head coach and his staff have been busy since taking over in April and added four players to the roster as late as August when the Purple Eagles officially added transfers Cameron Fowler and Marcus Ware as well as freshmen Wesley Myers and Ramone Snowden to the roster.

Casey and Fowler received good news in August when Fowler’s hardship waiver was accepted by the NCAA. For the redshirt freshman Fowler, a transfer who sat out last season at Iowa State, it will mean four immediate years of eligibility.

“He can get us up and down the floor play both guard spots,” Casey said of Fowler. “His shooting is improving daily. We’re hopeful that he can step right in and give us some minutes right away.”

Meanwhile the Purple Eagles closed in on Ware, who has battled injuries in his four year career at Monmouth, and Casey said that Ware is healthy and ready to go for his fifth-year graduate transfer season.

The Purple Eagles added freshmen Myers and Snowden late, and despite missing summer workouts, both should have an opportunity to contribute for Casey’s team.

“He can score the ball,” Casey said of Myers. “Guys that can score always make you look smart, so we’re looking forward to getting him on the floor and getting him out in transition. I think he scores the ball well especially in transition.”

Also in the late period they added Snowden who racked up 22 double-doubles in his senior season and was named the 18th best prospect in the state of Virginia.

“He’s very versatile in the forward spot for us and can guard different positions,” Casey said. “He’ll be able to play the front court for us, score the ball, guard different positions and do a good job rebounding for us so we’re looking forward to getting him on the floor too.”

For the group he did have on campus for eight weeks of summer workouts, Casey was happy with the work he was able to get out of them.

“I think the basis of anything you do is how hard you work and what your attitude is,” Casey said. “I thought that was terrific with all of them. If your attitude is good and you work hard, you’re going to continue to get better and that certainly was the case with everybody.”

 

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.

Jimmy Patsos on Siena’s Trip to Canada

Throughout the last four months at Siena with new head coach Jimmy Patsos have been an adventure, but Patsos and his staff have been up to the task of rebuilding a roster which went 8-24 last season.

Despite losing a commitment and a few upperclassmen, the new Siena staff has built a roster filled with young players ready to play Patsos’ up tempo style. Patsos changed Siena’s scheduled foreign trip, originally scheduled for Italy, to a trip to Montreal so he can feel out his new team.

“We’re happy, the trip to Canada was excellent,” Patsos said. “Thank God John D’Argenio our athletic director let us go on this foreign trip because we learned a lot.”

Freshman Marquis Wright, Patsos’ first commit as Saints head coach, led the way in most statistical categories and will be the starting point guard Patsos said. In their first two games, Siena played with a 24 second shot clock which put the ball in Wright’s hands with a winding clock. Patsos also said he was pleased with the play of junior Rob Poole and sophomores Ryan Oliver and Rich Audu playing in their fast, pressing style. The Saints lost Evan Hymes in their second of five games with a broken hand, Hymes is expected to be ready by the start of practice.

Patsos said that winning was not the most important part of the trip and that the experience in evaluating his group in game situations was invaluable.

“You’re just trying to play. We do a lot of different stuff, we press, we run, we run different sets,” Patsos said. “The trip was invaluable for us. It probably turned us from a rebuilding program, believe me our schedule is going to be really tough early, but I thought that the trip showed us that we’re not rebuilding that we can contend in the MAAC. Look I know Iona, Manhattan, Canisius and all that, but I think after the trip we can contend this year in the MAAC and that’s important for confidence.”

The Saints schedule, after opening up with the Albany Cup rivalry game against America East tournament champion Albany, is a gauntlet of tough games that include visits to Purdue and LaSalle as well as an opening game of the Old Spice Classic against Memphis.

The new coach at Siena is in familiar ground in the MAAC and his style of using an eight to nine man rotation will stay the same. Patsos has been looking for his group in Siena colors this year and believes the Canada trip helped shape the type of depth his team will have this season. Lavon Long will play “a ton” at the small forward and power forward spots while he is happy with the inside depth of Brett Bisping, Imoh Silas and freshman Javion Ogunyemi. Despite the injury, Patsos’ expectations for Hymes remain the same to be a fast player in his quick offense.

“I want to see when Evan comes back from his broken hand,” Patsos said. “I think he can do a lot of different things, play the one and two for us.”

“We got eight or nine guys they’re really a good group. I’ve always felt successful teams got along off the court, because they’re not afraid to talk and talk on D, have each others back, but the first month of the schedule is going to be brutal so we’re going to have to survive that and from there we’ll move on, but it’s all about the MAAC. I’m excited about the MAAC.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.

 

Wright Shows Superstar Potential For Siena In Canada

Jimmy Patsos might be a wizard. How else to explain the fact that Siena went to Montreal this summer and the offense improved dramatically. You might say competition, but Sacred Heart played a similar schedule and struggled to score. While Siena lost a game, the Saints were also much more efficient offensively. Continue reading “Wright Shows Superstar Potential For Siena In Canada” →

Iona Is On the Road Again in 2013-14

Iona should sign up Willie Nelson to sing its 2013-14 theme song because the Gaels are On the Road Again during non-conference play. Tim Cluess has his team playing seven games away from New Rochelle during the first two months of the season. It’s an extremely challenging schedule that includes multiple postseason teams – two that went to the Sweet 16. Continue reading “Iona Is On the Road Again in 2013-14” →

Attendance Figures for NEC, Other Mid-Major Conferences Less Than Stellar

While most of you were on Twitter yesterday afternoon waxing poetic about some guy named Jozy (I reckon this gentleman plays soccer?), I was perusing the recently released NCAA attendance report. The report outlines the attendance figures of all 347 college basketball teams for the 2012-13 season. Continue reading “Attendance Figures for NEC, Other Mid-Major Conferences Less Than Stellar” →

MAAC Inundated by All Sorts of Transfers

More than 400 players in each of the last two seasons have decided to transfer, which accounts for slightly less than 10% of all the scholarship spots in Division I basketball. Despite those rates being similar with student transfer rates, nowhere has this transfer culture become more prevalent than the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Continue reading “MAAC Inundated by All Sorts of Transfers” →