Category: NEC

NEC Roundup, January 9 – The Opening Night

It’s that time of the year, when every team gets a clean slate. No matter how bad your favorite team was during the non-conference season, they were 0-0 in the NEC standings before 7 pm. The real season for a one-bid conference like the NEC starts now! Onto the action… Continue reading “NEC Roundup, January 9 – The Opening Night” →

Google Hangout with NEC’s Ron Ratner

If you haven’t gotten enough NEC content over the past four days, here’s one final nugget – a sit-down conversion between myself and NEC Senior Associate Commissioner Ron Ratner. We cover a bevy of topics over 31 minutes including:

  • The Big Apple Buckets’ midseason all-conference first, second, and rookie team
  • The most underrated players of the NEC
  • The best individual performances of the young season
  • A NEC team that has exceeded expectations (hint: their mascot is a dog)
  • The NEC contenders
  • The possible sleepers

And more!! You get the picture. Go here for the complete discussion.

NEC Power Rankings – Conference Preview

For the final part of our midseason NEC preview (here’s the email discussion and midseason awards post), it’s about time we broke out our NEC Power Rankings for the second time this season. Since our first installment, a little shuffling has occurred. Continue reading “NEC Power Rankings – Conference Preview” →

Midseason Awards – NEC

For the second part of our extensive NEC midseason preview (here’s part 1 in case you missed it), John and I present our midseason awards. There were surprises on each team, and as a result, plenty of notable players who didn’t make the cut. While past performance in previous seasons plays a small role in our determination, we aren’t in the business of issuing “lifetime achievement” awards like some voters (ahem, Velton Jones for the first team last year, ahem) do. Therefore, you won’t find guys like Kyle Vinales, Latif Rivers, and E.J. Reed on these teams – these players simply haven’t been consistent enough through the first 13-15 games of the season to warrant a selection.

Midseason All-Conference First Team
PG: Jason Brickman, LIU Brooklyn (12.2 ppg, 9.8 apg, 83.9% FT%, 3.0 A/TO)
PG: Julian Norfleet, Mount St. Mary’s (19.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.6 apg, 1.9 A/TO)
G: Karvel Anderson, Robert Morris (17.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 45.4% 3PT%)
PF: Alex Francis, Bryant (17.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 55.7% FG%)
PF: Jalen Cannon, St. Francis NY (14.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg)

Allow us to expound on Jason Brickman’s mastery later on. Heading south, another fantastic point guard has been Julian Norfleet, who has the second best efficiency rating in the conference behind Brickman. It’s with good reason, Norfleet is setting career highs in most statistical categories and without him, the Mount would have trouble qualifying for the NEC playoffs. The wrist is fully healthy for Karvel Anderson, I mean, how else would you explain his wonderful shooting percentages? He’s been a big time scorer and leader for Andy Toole. Trying to decide between the best NEC power forward would be virtually impossible, given the remarkable play of both Alex Francis and Jalen Cannon. Both present matchup nightmares for any opponent.

Midseason All-Conference Second Team
PG: Sidney Sanders, Jr., Fairleigh Dickinson (19.6 ppg, 4.9 apg, 1.6 spg, 2.0 A/TO)
PG: Kenneth Ortiz, Wagner (13.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.4 spg)
G: Dyami Starks, Bryant (21.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 88.3% FT%)
F: Lucky Jones, Robert Morris (14.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 40.5% 3PT%)
PF: Earl Brown, St. Francis (PA) (14.2 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 54.2% FG%)

Sidney Sanders, Jr. has been a godsend for Greg Herenda. He’s quadrupled his scoring from a season ago, yet he’s also posting the best A/TO ratio of his career. In 11 of 13 games, Kenneth Ortiz has posted an efficiency rating of 9 or better, making him the stable force on an otherwise inconsistent Wagner team. Dyami Starks leads the conference in scoring and has made a bigger contribution on the defensive end (improved steal rate from 0.9% to 1.8%). While Lucky Jones’ stats are virtually identical from a season ago, they’re still all-conference second team worthy. He is, after all, nationally ranked in several KenPom categories. Finally, Earl Brown could be wasting away in Loretto, but rather he’s expanded his offensive repertoire while taking on more possessions. It’s not easy to post a 104.6 ORtg on a team that ranks 339th nationally in offense efficiency, yet Brown is somehow pulling it off. Plus, he’s an absolute beast on the glass.

Midseason All-Conference Rookie Team
PG: Malik Harmon, St. Francis (PA) (8.8 ppg, 3.7 apg, 2.2 A/TO)
F: De’von Barnett, Sacred Heart (10.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 62.8% FG%)
F: Wayne Martin, St. Francis Brooklyn (8.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 50.0% FG%)
F: Jeremiah Worthem, Robert Morris (8.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
PF: Daniel Garvin, Bryant (6.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg)

This was the easiest team to select out of the bunch. Because he’s only played seven games thus far, I could have left De’von Barnett off the team in place of FDU’s Matt MacDonald, yet Barnett has been incredibly efficient scoring the basketball. As a collegiate novice, he already possesses a terrific mid-range game. Playing 30 minutes per night as a freshman point guard isn’t for the faint of heart, but Malik Harmon has handled the role incredibly well. His quickness allows him to create off the dribble, sometimes with ease. After an amazing start, Wayne Martin has cooled off recently. Nevertheless, the freshman bulldog has been fearless in the paint, while giving Glenn Braica another valuable piece in the Terrier’s rotation. Jeremiah Worthem, a preseason ROY pick of Big Apple Buckets, has been the solid inside/outside player we envisioned from the start. It wouldn’t shock us if Toole adds more to Worthem’s plate for the conference season. Even though Tim O’Shea has plenty of options off his bench, it speaks volumes that Daniel Garvin is now starting on most nights alongside Francis.

Midseason Player of the Year — Jason Brickman
This was a two man race for me, but Brickman barely earned the nod over Norfleet. Brickman has a chance to do a couple of remarkable things this season you may already be aware of: 1) become only the fourth player in NCAA history to post 1,000 career assists and 2) average at least 10.0 assists per game in a season for the first time this century. Did I also mention that Brickman is EASILY setting career highs in scoring, rebounding, and steals as well? He’s special, folks.

Midseason Rookie of the Year — Daniel Garvin
It’s difficult to make the case against Garvin, despite the fact that he barely played in Bryant’s first three games. Since his breakout performance versus Harvard, Garvin has been a revelation, and surprisingly so. The 6’6″ wing flashed his big time athleticism in high school, but O’Shea worried that the lower level of competition would force Garvin to play catchup as a rookie. That hasn’t been the case at all; in fact, he possesses the best efficiency rating of any freshman in the NEC.

Midseason Coach of the Year — Glenn Braica
Few expected Glenn Braica’s Terriers to be challenging for a NEC title in October. But two months in, the Terriers boast the best defense in the conference (0.94 points allowed per possession) and should be placed in the league’s top tier, no questions asked. Braica has a lot of athletic pieces to work with, and the veteran coach has used them masterfully in the early going.

Midseason Surprise of the Year — The Point Guard Production
With efficiency rating as the barometer, five point guards (Brickman, Norfleet, Sanders, Ortiz, Corey Maynard) comprise the top 11 individuals in the league, and I’m not even including Malcolm McMillan and Phil Gaetano, who’ve had productive seasons too. More often than not, quality point guard play is hard to come by, but most NEC teams are doing just fine.

NEC Conference Email Preview

NEC conference play is so close you can taste it. We here at Big Apple Buckets absolutely can’t wait for Thursday and so we’re rolling out our NEC preview content during the next few days. Then we’ll have full coverage of the games on Thursday. First it’s an email exchange between Ryan P. and John as we look forward to league play.

Continue reading “NEC Conference Email Preview” →

Three Thoughts on St. Francis Brooklyn’s Loss to Columbia

St. Francis Brooklyn had an opportunity to do something no NEC has ever done on Saturday against Columbia: Win 10 non-conference games. No matter how you look at it the Terriers have had a successful non-conference. They’ve gotten some excellent victories, including beating Miami (FL) and Stony Brook on the road, and showed that they can play with any team in the country. Continue reading “Three Thoughts on St. Francis Brooklyn’s Loss to Columbia” →

NEC Roundup – Dec. 30

On the final Monday of 2013, the NEC played six non-conference games with half of those teams were listed as favorites, according to KenPom. Could the conference come out ahead?

Wagner 59, Monmouth 52 — Remember when everyone thought Wagner was going to be good at defense? Well, this is approximately how it was going to happen. Naofall Folahan, and Mario Moody among others, was going to be guarding the rim and then the Seahawks would lock down on the perimeter and find enough offense to get by. That was exactly what happened against Monmouth. The Seahawks allowed 0.79 points per possession (PPP) in their best defensive effort of the season to date. Folahan put up a block rate of 26%, which is ridiculous. Even with Latif Rivers out, the Seahawks found a way to get enough offense, mostly thanks to 33 minutes of Kenneth Ortiz. The Wagner point guard scored 20 points on 7-14 shooting (though he also committed 6 of Wagner’s 17 turnovers). Mario Moody started the game and had 12 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. King Rice was apparently extremely frustrated after Monmouth’s first loss in three games, but perhaps the Hawks just ran into a more talented and athletic team trying to find its way with the New Year approaching.

St. Francis Brooklyn 60, Delaware St. 57 — DSU came into this game 2-9 overall (with both wins against non-Division I opponents), 0-2 in the MEAC and ranked 333rd nationally by Ken Pomeroy, so it was one the Terriers had to get. Still, playing on the road in college basketball, no matter where you go, isn’t easy. SFC got the victory, though, thanks to a double-double for Jalen Cannon (17 points, 12 rebounds) and 17 points off the bench from Ben Mockford. Mockford missed a few games with a bad back, but he seems to be hitting his stride again. Cannon once again didn’t shoot well from the field (just 4-12), but his free throw shooting was outstanding, as he drained all nine of his free throw attempts. Another player that seems to be more comfortable coming off the bench is Brent Jones. He had 7 assists and 3 turnovers in 27 minutes, and now has a career best assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.0. The Terriers’ calling card continues to be their defense. They held the Hornets to 0.86 PPP by keeping them off the three-point line (DSU was 1-7 from distance) and some help on missed free throws. The Terriers have a big game coming up on Saturday against Columbia in an intra-city battle.

Bryant 70, Lehigh 68 — In a game that featured nine ties and 15 lead changes, Bryant came out on top over Lehigh in the closing minutes. An Alex Francis put-back with two seconds remaining was the difference and gave the Bulldogs their second nail biting victory over Lehigh in as many seasons. 
The victory guaranteed the Bulldogs a positive non-conference record for the second consecutive season as they now await St. Francis (PA) on January 9th for their NEC opener. Francis Dyami Starks, and Corey Maynard combined to score 57 of Bryant’s 70 points. For Lehigh, freshman standout Tim Kempton continued his excellent play with 17 points and 13 rebounds, giving him his third double double in his last five games. Senior point guard Mackey McKnight had 14 points and five assists, but it wasn’t enough to extend the Mountain Hawks’ winning streak to six games. Lehigh is now 13-2 versus the NEC the past three seasons, with both losses coming to Tim O’Shea’s Bulldogs.

Oklahoma State 92, Robert Morris 66 — The Cowboys jumped out to a 9-0 and 20-6 lead, and frankly never looked back, soundly defeating Robert Morris in the “guarantee” game. The Colonials were able to cut the deficit to eight points twice in the first half, but got no closer. Oklahoma State used their superior athleticism to carve up the Colonials 2-3 zone, connecting on several alley-oops underneath the zone in addition to outrunning the Colonials in transition. Karvel Anderson led Robert Morris with 16 points, yet only hit 2 of 7 from behind the arc. As a team, they only shot 22.2% from three-point range and 36.1% from the floor overall. Oklahoma State came in as one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12, leading the conference in field goal percentage defense (38%) and turnovers forced (16.0 per game). Marcus Smart, an all-American candidate averaging 18.0 ppg prior to tonight’s game, scored a season low seven points, but it hardly mattered with six Cowboys registering nine points or more.

Texas Tech 100, Mount St. Mary’s 69 — The inconsistent non-conference season continued for Jamion Christian’s crew. In what was originally pegged as an upset opportunity for the NEC, turned flat out ugly down in Lubbock as Texas Tech raced out to a 45-20 halftime lead. The Mount’s big three struggled to produce, with the exception of Julian Norfleet, combining to shoot 8 of 28 for 27 points. In fact, for much of the game, Mount St. Mary’s had as many turnovers as field goals made. Things weren’t much better on the defensive end, with Tubby Smith’s Red Raiders scoring a season best 1.37 PPP. After going more than 11 years without giving up 100 points in a game, the Mount have allowed opponents to hit the century mark twice this season – tonight and versus BYU this past November. Now at 3-9, the Mount concludes their non-conference slate when they travel to Norfolk State for a Friday showdown.

LIU Brooklyn 73, Texas State 64 — Jason Brickman scored six points – four in the final minute – and dished out ten assists against one turnover to lead the Blackbirds to victory in their final non-conference game of the season. The Blackbirds trailed by one with less than three minutes remaining, but closed the game out on a 14-3 run by limiting Texas State to three points in their final seven possessions.  The bigger Bobcats outrebounded LIU Brooklyn by 11 caroms, but were out-produced at the charity stripe (20 to 12) and from behind the arc (7 to 4). Landon Atterbury had a career high 22 points and grabbed a team high six rebounds. It was the tenth time in 13 contests where Atterbury scored in double digits. Overall, eight Blackbirds scored in the much-needed victory.