Wednesday provided three illustrations of different ways to win and lose basketball games. Stony Brook delivered a crushing blow to UMBC, 89-49. Fordham was on the other side in an 80-62 loss to Saint Joseph’s and Hofstra lost a heartbreaker to Northeastern 64-62 to fall to 0-5 in CAA play.
Continue reading “Stony Brook an AE contender and random variance”
In order for a team to win a championship in America East there are a lot of qualities a team should possess. A team should be able to handle elite opponents, it should be have an top-notch front court player and a crunch time scorer. It should also have an efficient offense and a defense that can get big stops. There are five contenders for the AE title. Which one is best suited to make a title run?
Continue reading “Weeding out the contenders in America East”
There were seven games played by New York City area teams on Thursday night. St. Francis (NY) beat Quinnipiac 73-72 as Stefan Perunicic hit the game-tying layup, and game-winning free throw. Perunicic also scored his 1,000th point in the victory. Manhattan lost a real tough one to swallow as Dylon Cormier hit a three in the left corner on Loyola’s final possession in the Greyhounds’ 61-60 victory.
Conference play got kicked into high-gear on Monday with some big match ups. You can checkout my recap of Manhattan’s loss to Rider in the post below, but here are some things you should know about four other key games, including two non-conference wins for Columbia and NJIT.
The New Year holiday is over and it’s time for conference play. America East opens in earnest tonight and the biggest game on the schedule is Stony Brook hosting Vermont. Also, Manhattan starts MAAC play up again by hosting Rider and Hofstra hosts VCU. Here’s what to look for in all of the big games.
Continue reading “Conference battles highlight busy Monday night”
Nobody is in action today as we get ready for conference play, so it’s time to look back once more and name the All-New York Mid-Major Non-Conference teams. There are a lot of talented players to pick from in the New York City area. If I left your favorite player off one of the teams below let me know in the comments. I don’t like expanding beyond two teams, even though it’s possible, because at some point you just start including everyone and I wanted to avoid that situation.
The end of a year is often a time for reflection. Ironically, in college hoops it is actually just the middle. There’s still at least half the season left to play in 2012 and it’s setting up to be mighty exciting.
I had no idea what would happen when I started this site in April of 2011. I knew that I loved college basketball and the conferences back near my childhood home in New Jersey. I knew I was excited to come back and experience something new and different in New York City.
I didn’t know that it was going to be quite like this. After over 26,000 page views (most in the past two months as things really got going), mentions on sites like CBS’ Eye on College Basketball, SI’s Power Rankings, Beyond the Arc, Ballin’ Is A Habit, and ESPN’s College Basketball Nation, I’m happy to call this my home on the Internet. I’ve gotten the chance to try out some new things — like the Assist Tracker, conference sims and similarity scores — and there are more on the way.
I’m also continuing some old things. NIT Bracketology will continue to be a staple for the site moving forward. The New York Power Poll will post every other week – and thanks to all the voters! There will be recaps of games throughout the area. I got to 25 games during the first two months of the season and I plan on attending many more as it continues.
To all the fans in the MAAC, CAA, NEC, A-10, Ivy League and beyond that have embraced me, sent their message boards to the site and looked to Big Apple Buckets for analysis and game coverage – thank you.
Let me know what you want to see more of as the season progresses. As New York City basketball experiences a renewal that hopefully continues into 2012 with teams like Iona, Manhattan, Long Island, Wagner and Stony Brook all with legitimate chances to play in the postseason let’s make this journey a special one.
Here’s to a happy New Year and a great 2012.
It was a banner day for New York City’s mid-majors last night as they rung in the New Year with style. All five schools in action pulled out victories. It was an impressive display of how far some of these young teams have developed.
There were three games of interest to the blog on Wednesday night and since I wasn’t able to attend any I wanted to take a quick scan through the box scores and hit some of the highlights. NJIT got an important win in its quest for .500, Columbia lost at Marist following an 18-day layoff and Stony Brook beat Cornell in overtime.
There is no dominant team in America East this season. Instead there are now five teams that have shared the role of favorite at different parts of the year. Depending on the moment Vermont, Albany, Stony Brook, Maine or Boston University is considered to have the best shot at winning America East. After running 10,000 sims here’s what I know: They all have a shot.
Continue reading “America East Projection: Madness bubbling”
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