It looks like Jason Brickman is picking up right where he left off last season. The LIU Blackbirds’ senior point guard has been almost unstoppable with the ball in his hands. According to the ESPN box scores he has 24 assists thus far this season and he almost led LIU past Indiana. What makes the start even more remarkable is that Brickman is doing it with an almost entirely new cast of characters. Continue reading “Jason Brickman’s Passing Trends”
Half of the NEC was in action on Wednesday night, so let’s recap each contest. In all, it was a mostly disappointing evening for the league with four teams failing to come out victorious.
Bryant 87, Dartmouth 77
Let’s begin with the good news. Bryant recovered nicely from their drubbing out west to Gonzaga by handling the Green Wave on the road. Dartmouth, behind the efforts of all-league talent Gabas Maldunas (14 points, 11 rebounds), managed to keep the game close before succumbing late. Dyami Starks scored 35 points once again, this time on a very efficient 18 shots. In fact, all of the Bulldogs were tremendously efficient in this one, posting a splendid scoring line of 59% FG%/43% 3PT%/82% FT%. Bryant’s superb shooting allowed them to overcome 15 turnovers. The big four of Starks, Alex Francis, Joe O’Shea, and Corey Maynard combined to impressively score 79 of their 89 points.
Holy Cross 122, Sacred Heart 118
After a wild, back-and-forth affair in Worcester, Holy Cross held on after ten minutes of free basketball to earn their first win of the season over Anthony Latina’s Pioneers. This will be a cruel bus ride back for Sacred Heart – they had a seemingly commanding five point lead late before a three-point play by Dave Dudzinski evened the score with just three seconds left in regulation. In the end, Cullen Hamilton’s 35 points on 21 shots and Dudzinski’s interior presence (26 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks) was enough to outlast the feisty Pioneers. Sacred Heart imposed their will for much of the game – attacking the rim, pushing the pace (there were 192 total possessions in the game), and forcing careless errors out of the Crusaders. In spite of this, Holy Cross found a way to win their third straight against their New England rivals. Evan Kelley was excellent in the loss, scoring a career high 32 points. His final efficiency rating of 33 was the best individual performance for an NEC player this young season. Steve Glowiak was also terrific, scoring 28 points by sinking seven out of nine three-pointers.
Villanova 90, Mount St. Mary’s 59
It may be against two teams from the power conferences, yet Jamion Christian can’t be pleased with his team’s effort early in the season, especially defensively. Tonight, the Mount gave up 1.22 points per possession (ppp) after allowing West Virginia to score 1.27 ppp on opening night. Really, it was an ugly effort in Philadephia any way you slice it – Villanova shot 63% from the floor, won the rebounding margin by 15, had 11 more assists, and outscored the Mount 60-16 in the paint. Ouch. Julian Norfleet has been the only glimmer of hope thus far, as he led the team tonight with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Rashad Whack and Sam Prescott have been ice-cold early on; both guards have combined to miss 30 of 41 shots in two games.
Purdue 103, Central Connecticut 73
If you were expecting an encore to LIU Brooklyn’s terrific effort last night in Indiana, then you came away disappointed. After jumping out to an early 17-14 lead thanks to Faronte Drakeford’s eight points, CCSU was shutdown for the next 5:17. The prolonged slump allowed Purdue to extend their lead to double digits and they never looked back. The Boilermakers scored 1.36 ppp, which was buoyed by 22 assists versus a mere nine turnovers. For the second straight game, Kyle Vinales led the Blue Devils in scoring with 22 points, but it was acquired by jacking up 21 attempts. This time, however, Vinales was afforded more rest; in fact, nine Blue Devils logged 14+ minutes in the game. Of the bench guys, freshman Matt Mobley was quite active with 10 points and four rebounds in limited time.
Dayton 70, St. Francis (PA) 57
It’s been a tough stretch for Rob Krimmel’s Red Flash. Tonight was their third game in six days, although St. Francis didn’t appear tired throughout much of the contest. Dayton was only up three at the under four minute timeout for the second half, but a 13-2 run sealed the deal for the Flyers. Four Red Flash players – Earl Brown, Ronnie Drinnon, Ollie Jackson, and Malik Harmon – finished in double figures for the night. 17 turnovers inevitably did St. Francis in, with three of those coming in the final three minutes. Dayton sank almost as many free throws (21) as they did field goals (23) in the victory.
You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride
First year head coach Greg Herenda knew that Sunday’s game at Hofstra would be a tall task after watching the Pride lapse defensively against Monmouth. The Knights had trouble dealing with Hofstra’s athleticism and dug themselves into a 23-point hole after the first half on Sunday. Continue reading “First Loss a Learning Experience for Herenda, FDU”
It’s time to begin a non-conference tradition – our “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” post for the NEC! The first edition is a little late this week, so a few teams already have a couple of games under their belt. Let’s highlight the biggest positives and negatives from the first four days of the 2013-14 season.
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
Player of the Week: Jason Brickman for reasons stated above. With all due respect to Dyami Starks, I can’t get too excited about an individual performance when the team was routed by Gonzaga.
Rookie of the Week: Wayne Martin, of course. A well deserved honorable mention goes to St. Francis point guard Malik Harmon, who was sensational against Navy (20 points on 7 shots, 5 assists, 4 steals) on Monday. It isn’t premature to say that Rob Krimmel has his point guard of the future. This kid is legit.
Team of the Week: St. Francis Brooklyn. That was one heck of a Florida trip for Glenn Braica’s crew, knocking off both Miami and the Mike Jarvis coached (remember him?) Florida Atlantic within a three-day span on the road.
You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride
The Hofstra Pride, trailed only by margins of 2-0 and 9-8 in the games first few minutes, led throughout by controlling the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights by holding them to barely over 30-percent shooting from the field, earning head coach Joe Mihalich his first victory as head coach by a 80-58 final at the Mack Sports Complex.
The Pride held the Knights to 30.2-percent from the field for the game and allowed just four of 26 on three-point field goal attempts. After dropping Friday’s opener against Monmouth and staring a match up with defending national champion Lousiville Tuesday, Mihalich knew a win Sunday would go a long way in his rebuilding effort of a program that went 7-25 last season.
“Failure was not an option today, that’s for sure,” Mihalich said facing road visits to Louisville and Richmond next. “It’s a good thing we were able to take care of business here.”
Hofstra traded baskets with the Knights early until the Pride went on a 9-2 run capped by Moussa Kone’s post up and spinning floater off the window to give Hofstra a 19-11 lead. The junior finished with his second straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Darren Payen, who entered the game for a brief minute early, came back in with 10:37 left and made the most of his opportunity. His post up floater off the window gave the Pride a 31-18 lead and he got hot from there, nailing a 17 footer, grabbing an offensive board off a free throw as well as throwing down a dunk off a pick and roll from Jordan Allen to put Hofstra up 15. Payen scored a career-high 12 points in the first half, making all six field goals he took.
“I’m so proud of them for being ready and doing such a great job,” Mihalich said of Payen as well as Adam Savion who contributed 2 points and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes. Savion filled the point guard spot for Zeke Upshaw who committed two quick fouls early.
The Pride would lead by as many as 23 late in the first half after back to back dunks by Jamall Robinson and Payen to stretch into a 50-27 halftime lead.
“We talked about going back to the drawing board,” Robinson said after scoring 8 points in his debut Friday. The freshman Robinson led all scorers with 15 points, showcasing his driving skills as well as his shooting ability.
However the Knights stormed back in the second half to cut the deficit to 63-47 with an 11-3 run which included eight points from freshman Malachi Nix. However, Kone did not allow the run to last with a jumper at the free throw line extended to put Hofstra up 68-47.
“It’s great,” Kone said to get their first win of the season. “We understand on Friday that we didn’t do what we had to do to win the game as we were supposed to but today. Winning the game is going to build our confidence up.”
Graduate transfer Upshaw drove the lane, threw up an unusual shot off the window and made a traditional three point play with 4:31 left. However, Upshaw landed hard on the ground and after a little under a minute, got up and sank a free throw to give the Pride a 20-point lead.
The Pride made 52.7-percent of their field goals and outr ebounded the Knights 42-39 on the day.
Ryan Restivo covers Hofstra for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.
Amidst the swirling fury of a St. Peter’s comeback, LIU Brooklyn’s senior point guard Jason Brickman took the helm of the Blackbirds’ offense and steered them to an 87-80 victory at the Barclays Center on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading “LIU Brooklyn 87, St. Peter’s 80”
“I think even watching the tapes of practice we look much more athletic than we were last year. That’s undeniable I think. But we did lose some good offensive players, so we’re going to have to make up for that. I think the ceiling is higher on this team.” Continue reading “St. Francis Brooklyn 66, Miami (FL) 62 OT”
Ask any one of the 2,036 fans at Rose Hill Gym last night, and they would proclaim that Jon Severe was the star of the show. And they would be 100% correct.
In his first ever collegiate contest, the coveted recruit poured in 28 points on only 15 shots. The guard drained seven of ten from behind the arc, even though a hand was in his face on most of those attempts. The Rams faithful were loving every minute of it.
Severe and his Fordham teammates may have beaten St. Francis (PA) in a laugher, 87-67, yet Red Flash head coach Rob Krimmel was able to take away some positives from the disappointing Friday night. One of those highlights was the play of his freshman point guard and former Severe teammate at Christ the King, Malik Harmon.
The 5’11” freshman was solid in his debut, scoring five points to go along with three rebounds, four assists and only two turnovers. While it’s not an eye-popping box score, Harmon possessed a steady confidence running the point, and perhaps more importantly, displayed an ability to penetrate off the dribble and create for his teammates. He was a little tenative in the early going, which was certainly understandable given the circustances, yet his head coach was impressed nonetheless.
“With Malik being a freshman and playing his first game in his hometown, I thought he did a much better job in the second half,” said Krimmel. “In the first half, I think he was so amped up, he was so tense. He’ll learn. He’s a great player, great kid and he got this game out of his system.”
Before Harmon stepped foot on the Loretto campus, Umar Shannon served as the Red Flash’s best perimeter playmaker. The fifth year senior guard now plays for the blue and gold of Quinnipiac, though, so St. Francis desperately needed someone to generate offense without the benefit of ball screens. Harmon will be leaned upon to fill that role, as well as serve as a secondary scoring option behind Earl Brown.
“By committee, I think (Steph) Mosley, Ben (Millaud-Meunier), Malik, those three guys are three guys that can carry some of the offense load when Earl (Brown) is out of the game,” explained the second year head coach.
It just illustrates the trust and faith the St. Francis coaching staff has in Harmon, despite the other roster options available. Freshman point guard Georgios Angelou, although a year older then Harmon, didn’t play a single minute agsinst Fordham. The current backup point guard, Greg Brown, struggled with four turnovers in 17 minutes. In the long run, Brown’s overall skill-set is more suited to playing off-the-ball.
Therefore, Krimmel will likely ask Harmon to shoulder the ball-handling load. It’s a unique, yet challenging opportunity for the rookie, but it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In addition to Krimmel, the opposing coach also thinks highly of Severe’s former teammate.
“He’s a guy we looked at really hard and we were trying to decide if we needed a freshman point guard to be a part of this,” said Tom Pecora, who begins his fourth year as Fordham’s head coach. “I like Malik. He plays hard and I think he’s going to be a good player for them.”
It’s a long season, but St. Francis fans should be encouraged that Harmon stands to be their floor general of the future. There’s still a lot to learn on the job, but the season opener at Fordham was a step in the right direction for the Queens, NY native.
You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride
Tonight because we could Ryan and I gathered 10 other NEC fans and decided to hold a fantasy basketball draft! We’re using Fantrax with six starters and eight players to a team. The response was overwhelming on Twitter, so we filled 12 teams. Do you know who the 96th best player in the NEC is? Continue reading “NEC Fantasy Basketball Results”
Head Coach: Bashir Mason, 2nd Season (19-12, 12-6 NEC)
Last Season: 19-12, 12-6 (NEC), Lost to LIU Brooklyn in NEC tournament semifinals, 94-82
RPI/KenPom: 135/180
NEC Preseason Poll: 1st out of 10 teams
State of Programs: NEC Favorite
Starters Returning: 3
Key Loss(es): Jonathon Williams (15.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg), Eric Fanning (16.7 mpg, 6.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg), Josh Thompson (23 starts, 3.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg)
Incoming Players: Nolan Long (F), Greg Senat (F)
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Kenneth Ortiz (11.8 ppg, 5.4 apg, 4.3 rpg, NEC Defensive POY)
G: Latif Rivers (13.0 ppg, 39.4% 3pt%)
G: Dwaun Anderson (4.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg)
F: Mario Moody (6.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.3 bpg)
C: Naofall Folahan (3.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg)
Key Reserves: Jay Harris (G), Orlando Parker (F), Marcus Burton (G)
Major Storylines:
The Skinny:
The Seahawks are the most talented team in the NEC. Whether they can put it all together is the question. Injuries didn’t help last season, but it appears that Latif Rivers is completely healthy. A healthy Rivers gives Wagner an outside shooting option that it definitely needed last season after they shot 35.3% in NEC play last season. Another player that could help the three-point shooting is Jay Harris. The Valparaiso transfer is going to give the Seahawks another dynamic scorer in the backcourt. Considering this team also has Marcus Burton and the reigning NEC Defensive Player of the Year Kenneth Ortiz that means there is going to be a lot of opportunities for Bashir Mason to pick and choose the hot hand.
There are also options on the wing. Dwaun Anderson is the type of player that could have a breakout season in his sophomore year. A former top recruit, Anderson basically spent last season getting reacclimated to competitive basketball and adjusting to the speed of Division I. Still, all of those ESPN Sportscenter Top 10 plays were representative of elite athleticism that isn’t often seen in the NEC.
Mason also has options in the front court. Orlando Parker, Mario Moody and Naofall Folahan form a nice trio of talented forwards. They also offer different abilities. Moody is an elite defender on the level of his teammate Ortiz. Given more minutes he could lead the team in blocks. It also appears that Moody is going to be given a bigger role offensively and he has the skill to be a double-double type player if he can stay on the court. Folahan adds a lot of veteran leadership that should just help anchor the Seahawks’ defense and help Mason keep everything together. It’ll also be interesting to see how the two freshmen, Nolan Long and Greg Senat, are integrated into the lineup.
Mason wants to use this deep lineup as much as possible. Whether or not he’ll really play 12 guys come March is a whole different question, but for now the Seahawks are the deepest and most talented team in the NEC.
Key Quotes:
“That guy can really shoot… And he’s buying into defense and the way we push the pace. He’s a good guy. Hopefully he’ll have a really big year for us.” – Kenneth Ortiz on Valparaiso transfer Jay Harris
“Right now in my mind I plan to play 12 guys.” – Bashir Mason on how deep his rotation will go
“Mario Moody with an extended role I think he’ll fill in nicely for Jon Williams. He brings a different dynamic. He’s a different type of player. More athletic and has natural play-making ability. He’ll be another shot-blocker on the court. I’m looking forward to him stepping into that role and playing well.” – Mason on how Moody’s development can offset the loss of Williams
Predictions:
Ryan – Injuries can always derail a season, but out of all the NEC teams, Wagner is prepared the best for such misfortune. With a bevy of athletic guards, polished shooters, and defensive minded big men down low, Bashir Mason has a lot of weight on his shoulders. He must juggle the rotation and determine his optimal lineup come January. There’s no way he’ll play 12 guys in the second half of the season, but you can bet he’ll have the best group of 9-10 guys playing 10+ minutes per game. (18 wins, 11-5 NEC)
John – I don’t know if Wagner is really going to play 12 players, but I know that the rotation will be deep and talented. The roster oozes potential. It’s up to Mason to put it all together. I think that in his second season that’s exactly what will happen and the Seahawks will be the team to beat in the NEC. (18 wins, 12-4 NEC)
Other NEC Team Primers:
#10 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights
#9 St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
#8 Sacred Heart Pioneers
#7 St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers
#6 LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds
#5 Bryant Bulldogs
#4 Central Connecticut Blue Devils
#3 Robert Morris
#2 Mount St. Mary’s
NYC Buckets Archive 