Category: St. Francis Brooklyn

Ranking the 2012-13 NEC recruiting classes

We released our Top 10 NEC Recruits for the 2012-13 season on Tuesday.  It was a challenging list to say the least, and rating how each NEC team stacked up against each other proved to be equally as difficult.  We wanted to summarize our extensive recruiting research, and link all of the previous posts in case you missed them along the way (just click on the team for their detailed recruiting profile).

So without further ado, here’s our rankings of the incoming Northeast Conference recruiting classes for 2012-13!

Continue reading “Ranking the 2012-13 NEC recruiting classes” →

St. Francis (NY) release schedule

St. Francis (NY) released its schedule today, becoming the first of the Northeast Conference’s three New York City schools to do so. The biggest, and nicest, surprise was a game against local rival Stony Brook at the Pope Physical Education Center on December 11. Continue reading “St. Francis (NY) release schedule” →

NEC Discussion: Who are the Top 10 players?

I was asked recently to write a post for another site about the Top 10 players in the NEC.  That got me to thinking, “Who will be the Top 10 players next season?”  A lot of talent returns in the conference, so it’s pretty easy to just use the top players from last season, but are there others people should be looking out for? Continue reading “NEC Discussion: Who are the Top 10 players?” →

St. Francis (NY) keeps building backcourt

St. Francis (NY) Terriers: 15-15 (12-6 NEC), Lost 1st round in NEC Tournament to Quinnipiac, 80-72

Players Lost:
G/F Stefan Perunicic – 11.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.2 APG, 42.4% 3PT%
G Justin Newton – 1.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 3.4 APG

Incoming Players:
Anthony White (SG, 6’2″, Mastic Beach, NY)
Aleksandar Isailovic (SG, 6’4″, Plano, TX — JC)
Sheldon Hagigal (PG, 6’1″, Long Island, NY)

St. Francis was the biggest surprise in the NEC last season and even managed to earn a home game for the first round against Quinnipiac. The team grew up, even while dealing with a season-ending injury to starting point guard Dre Calloway, and merging a bunch of new pieces into the lineup. Perunicic and Newton were two players that provided the glue for a young team.

Perunicic finished the season as St. Francis’ second leading scorer, just two tenths of a point behind Ben Mockford. It was Perunicic’s three-point shooting that helped to break open defenses that could sag into the middle if he and Travis Nichols weren’t hitting shots. It seems like Aleksandar Isailovic, who comes from Serbia by way of Collin County Community College, can be expected to take over some of the long-distance shooting role. Last season in junior college Isailovic attempted 185 total field goal attempts – 164 of those were threes. That’s an insane 88.6% 3PA/FGA rate.

Isailovic only shot 33% from three (61/185) last season, but then again, everyone knew exactly what he was going to do. He’ll probably need to diversify his game a little bit, but much like the player he’s going to replace, his size should help him to contribute immediately to the Terriers’ rotation. It’s worth noting that Isailovic also had a positive assist to turnover ratio and grabbed 1.8 rebounds per game last season. He’s also an excellent (80%+) free throw shooter.

The other two guards are younger, local and probably going to need some time to develop. After Calloway red shirted last season due to his injury, the Terriers are loaded in the backcourt. Brent Jones learned on the job last season and the redshirt sophomore is going to be a key piece in St. Francis’ attack again. Both Calloway and Jones were once in White and Hagigal’s place and the two freshman should learn a lot from the veterans. One thing thing working in either White or Hagigal’s favor in terms of playing time is that Newtown was St. Francis’ defensive stopper last season. Both players are praised for their college ready physique in the backcourt and they’ll get the chance to prove it on the defensive end this season.

White is a 6’3″ combo guard from Long Island. He had a strong senior season at William Floyd High School. He scored a career-high 34 points to take the Colonials to the top of Suffolk League I. It was the first time in five years that Williams Floyd had won the league title. White’s inside-outside combination will make him a threat from around the court. He’ll need to develop his point guard skills at the next level.

Hagigal is more of a wild card. Originally also from Long Island he went to West Oaks Academy in Florida in 2011-12 and played a big role for a team that boasted a lot of talent. He had a few Division I offers but decided to come back to New York. Hagigal isn’t currently on St. Francis’ roster for the 2012-13 season. My guess is that’s just because he either hasn’t enrolled in school or the NCAA clearing house hasn’t finished looking through his transcripts. Once he’s eligible he should be able to help out the Terriers’ deep guard rotation next season in some way.

Glenn Braica is facing a tough challenge this season. He needs to convince his team now that they can’t sneak up anyone and continue the success the squad found during league play. These three new guards should keep practices competitive and give the Terriers some new weapons. Now it’s time to find some big men, as Travis Nichols and Akeem Johnson are both going into their senior seasons in Brooklyn Heights.

Introducing the “Bracket of Champions”

Since there are no real basketball games going on right now, let’s do something fun and talk about simulated basketball games. The Bracket of Champions brings together some of the best teams from the New York area during the Ken Pomeroy era (2003+) and puts them in a bracket against each other. Continue reading “Introducing the “Bracket of Champions”” →

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.

Continue reading “New York Mid-Major 2011-12 Teams” →

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.

Continue reading “Using Roland Ratings to Determine Team MVPs” →

Season At A Glance — St. Francis (NY)

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

Team: St. Francis (NY)

Record: 15-15 (12-6 in the NEC); season ended by 80-72 loss to Quinnipiac in NEC Quarterfinals

Season High: Winning at Robert Morris on Jan. 28, 81-68 to go to 8-2 in NEC play.

Season Low: Losing at Colgate 65-63 to drop to 2-6 overall.

Really Good At: Defense — The Terriers finished second in the NEC in per possession defensive efficiency. They were also an excellent defensive rebounding team on most nights.

Struggled With: Turnovers — SFC finished 10th in the NEC in turnover percentage – in a generally turnover prone league. Young players moving into new roles sometimes struggled with trying to do too much. It got better as the season progressed.

Key Losses:

  • Stefan Perunicic (11.6 PPG, 42.4% from three)
  • Justin Newton (defense, toughness and maturity at the point guard position)

Key Returnees:

  • Akeem Johnson, Jr., F
  • Jalen Cannon, Fr., F
  • Brent Jones, Fr., G
  • Dre Calloway, Sr., G (returns after missing most of 2011-12 to injury)

Key Quotes:

“I’m really happy that I had an opportunity to work with them. I wish them the best of luck and it was a really good season for me.” — Stefan Perunicic

“We put [the freshman] in the gym at the beginning of the year it was like mice running around. They had a lot of energy, but it was in a lot of different directions. It still is, but we’re getting better.” — Glenn Braica

“He was thrown to the fire. Some nights he played great. Some nights he struggled, but it’s all going to be better for him in the future. We’re going to get a lot of bang for our buck next year because of what he went through this year. He’s a very talented kid. He’s a hard worker. He’s got the right attitude. He’s a good kid and I just think he’s going to get better and better.” — Braica on Brent Jones

Outlook: Very positive. The Terriers surprised everyone this season by earning a home NEC tournament game after being picked to finish 11th in the conference before the season began. It earned head coach Glenn Braica the Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year award and there was a legitimate argument to be made that rebounding machine Jalen Cannon could’ve been the NEC’s Freshman of the Year as well. The majority of the core will return and it should give SFC the chance to compete for a home playoff game and more next season. Braica said that he expects to start at a higher level next season and that the team should progress quicker. Both suggest a tough team to contend with in Brooklyn Heights next season.

There’s Always Next Year

Game #8-663: Quinnipiac Bobcats at Saint Francis (NY) Terriers

March 1, 2012 7:00 pm
Physical Ed. Center
BBState Stats/Recap

“It doesn’t have to end tonight.” That’s what I kept thinking to myself as I walked into the Pope Center in Brooklyn Heights to see St. Francis (NY) host Quinnipiac in the NEC Quarterfinals.

Sure, the Terriers were banged up and struggling. They were the home team at 12-6 on the conference season, but after getting swept last week on the road by Monmouth and Fairleigh Dickinson, expectations had been lowered.

It had been a magical ride. Glenn Braica’s team was picked 11th in the NEC to start the season. They ended up finishing fourth through hard work, some lucky bounces and a winning combination of young talent and tough veterans.

When I first started Big Apple Buckets last April, I’d at least heard of Iona, Long Island and Wagner. I could tell you that Manhattan played in the Bronx, and where Columbia and Fordham were located. For some reason though, I couldn’t tell St. Francis (NY) from St. Francis (PA), let alone tell you that the former was in Brooklyn Heights.

Over the past 12 months, though, that’s changed dramatically. It turns out that the Terriers are just eight minutes away from my apartment by train. All I had to do was dip my foot into Brooklyn, and Division I basketball awaits.

Of course I had to wait a while to learn that this season. The Terriers played their first nine games of the season on the road and didn’t play at home until December 19 against Albany. I didn’t get to see SFC in person until four days after Christmas, when the Terriers took on Brown. At 3-8 on the season at that point, St. Francis hadn’t given any indication of what was to come.

Still, the moment I did learn, I was hooked. There was this young point guard, Brent Jones, playing in his first year of college basketball. You could see the talent oozing out of him. He’s got a super-quick first step and an uncanny ability to get into the lane. Of course, that night against the Bears he went 1-for-6, committed four fouls and scored three points in 13 minutes. I was still convinced he was the answer.

Turns out it just took him a little while to get going, just like the rest of his team. Soon after that game against Brown, Jones’ minutes went up and he started scoring. He scored in double figures in three of St. Francis’ next four NEC games, all wins. Then on January 28th, he scored 19 points in the Terriers’ biggest win of the season at Robert Morris.

That’s when people starting believing that this team that was picked 11th could actually be something special.

And so it continued, but after losing four of their last six down the stretch, SFC looked to be in trouble coming into the quarterfinals. Quinnipiac has talent too. Senior James Johnson would become the leading scorer in Division I history during the game. The threes though were falling early for SFC, and there seemed to be a chance.

Quinnipiac survived the early barrage and stuck around until late in the first half, when they made their move. The Bobcats extended the lead to as many as 14 points, and led by 10 at the break.

In the second half, Jones tried to will his team back into the game. With many of SFC’s other scoring options either shut down or struggling, he relentlessly attacked the basket. Time after time, Jones either took a layup or got fouled. He ended up 5-for-15 from the field, but he also shot 14 free throws. His 21 points were a season high.

It wasn’t quite enough. While the Terriers closed the gap to a point in the second half, they couldn’t ever quite get over the hump. Quinnipiac kept attacking, especially on the offensive glass, and kept forcing St. Francis to take tough shots. There were moments in the second half where the crowd was waiting for the opportunity to explode. Waiting to believe that the charmed season would last even just one more (probably road) game.

As it inevitably does, the season ended in a loss. An 80-72 defeat to a Bobcats team that has found their way late in the season. They’ll go on to take on LIU Brooklyn on Sunday in the semifinals of the NEC.

There’s always next season. And St. Francis (NY), a small college with big dreams, will have Jones and many other players back to give it another shot. This time I’ll know where to find them.

QUINNIPIAC 80, at SAINT FRANCIS (NY) 72
03/01/2012

QUINNIPIAC 18-12 (10-8)– T. Greene 3-14 3-6 10; J. Johnson 4-14 12-17 22; I. Azotam 7-16 1-1 15; G. Young 4-9 1-1 9; Z. Hearst 5-11 1-4 14; J. Jackson 2-8 1-5 5; D. Johnson 3-5 1-3 8; O. Drame 1-2 0-0 2; E. Conti 2-2 0-0 5; A. Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 17-31 80.

SAINT FRANCIS (NY) 15-15 (12-6)– B. Mockford 5-14 2-5 17; S. Perunicic 3-10 2-2 11; B. Jones 5-15 10-14 21; J. Cannon 1-4 2-5 4; A. Johnson 1-3 1-2 3; T. Nichols 4-6 2-2 12; J. Newton 0-0 0-0 0; M. Milk 1-2 0-0 2; P. Santavenere 1-1 0-0 2; K. Douglas 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 19-30 72.

Three-point goals: QUIN 7-15 (D. Johnson 1-1; G. Young 0-2; J. Johnson 2-7; E. Conti 1-1; Z. Hearst 3-4), SFNY 11-28 (S. Perunicic 3-7; B. Mockford 5-12; T. Nichols 2-3; B. Jones 1-4; K. Douglas 0-2); Rebounds: QUIN 42 (I. Azotam 12), SFNY 29 (J. Cannon 11); Assists: QUIN 16 (J. Johnson 6), SFNY 11 (B. Jones 5); Total Fouls — QUIN 22, SFNY 26; Fouled Out: QUIN-I. Azotam; SFNY-S. Perunicic.