There’s a lot of great talent in the New York City area. As it’s defined the metro region encompasses 23 schools from Princeton to Army to Yale and everything in between. That means there are a lot of players here. In this countdown I’m going to be revealing five each morning as we go from 25 down to No. 1.
Category: Wagner
Getting to know Bashir Mason
Five years ago Bashir Mason was playing with Drexel in the NIT. Now the 28-year-old is going to become the youngest current head coach in Division I, as he’ll take over for Dan Hurley on Grymes Hill. The new Wagner head coach has spent time playing and coaching under players like Bruiser Flint and Hurley and was recommended by his former coach and boss to succeed him with the Seahawks.
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.
Dribble Handoffs – End of Season Edition
Just because the season is over doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of interesting links out there. One of the most interesting projects going on right now is the College Basketball Champions League. You might’ve seen the #CBBCL hashtag on twitter and wondered what it meant.
It’s official: Hurley to URI
There are now multiple sources reporting that Dan Hurley is headed to Rhode Island to replace Jim Barron. What Jeff Goodman’s story reveals though is that this might be an even more difficult situation for Wagner. The Seahawks could possibly lose both Dan Hurley and Bobby Hurley to URI. That would mean essentially starting from scratch and having to go find a new head coach.
Rumors abound about Hurley to URI
Current Wagner head coach Dan Hurley and officials from the University of Rhode Island reportedly met on Wednesday and the rumors are starting to circulate that Hurley’s move to URI is a given now. Moving from the Atlantic 10 to the NEC would certainly be a step up. Hurley would be heading from a perennial one-bid league to one that has firmly established itself as a multiple-bid league. It makes things a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about winning the conference tournament just to get a bid.
Providence Journal reports URI talking to Dan Hurley
This is the first of what I’m sure will be many rumors and events related to Dan Hurley this offseason. Wagner fans are just going to have to strap in for the ride and hope that:
- Hurley doesn’t find what he’s looking for.
- He decides he can do better after an even stronger 2012-13 season.
It’s not a false hope, but it’s certainly not 100% either. The Providence Journal has confirmation from a Wagner spokesperson that the school granted URI permission to speak with Hurley about the opening.
Season At A Glance — Wagner
This is the fifth of what will eventually be capsules for each of the NYC teams when I’m sure their season has concluded.
Team: Wagner
Record: 25-6 (15-3 in the NEC)
Season High: Winning at then #15 Pittsburgh
Season Low: Losing final regular season game to Central Connecticut
Really Good At: Defense — Wagner had the best defense by far in NEC play this season. The Seahawks led the conference in effective field goal percentage defense, three-point percentage defense and block percentage.
Struggled With: Fouling too much — The aggressive, pressing style that Wagner plays leads a lot to the interpretation of the officials. It might’ve been Wagner’s downfall in the conference semifinals against Robert Morris. The Seahawks finished 11th in the NEC in defensive free throw rate.
Key Losses:
- Tyler Murray (All-NEC Second Team guard, 12.0 PPG, efficient scorer)
- Chris Martin (spark off the bench, 7.1 PPG, 82.3% FT%)
Key Returnees:
- Latif Rivers, So., G (All-NEC Second Team, 14.6 PPG)
- Jonathon Williams, Jr., F (13.4 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 53.4% FG%)
- Kenneth Ortiz, So., G (NEC Defensive Player of the Year, 4.5 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.8 SPG)
- Naofall Folahan, So., F/C (1.7 BPG, strong offensive rebounder)
Outlook: Great. The season came to an abrupt end for the Seahawks, but that doesn’t mean the future isn’t bright. Dan Hurley is going to keep bringing talent to Grymes Hill and it’ll just supplement the young core that’s already here. The addition of transfer Ortiz gives Wagner an amazing sophomore class that should just continue to develop. Also, another year of development and a healthy off season could mean Mario Moody is the NEC’s most improved player next season. After finishing second in the NEC to LIU this season, Wagner still has unfinished business left. It has the talent coming back to unseat the Blackbirds if everything goes right and return to the postseason, maybe even in the NCAA tournament.
Wagner left out of NIT, finishes 25-6
The NIT bracket is out. Iona isn’t on it. Wagner isn’t either. The difference is the emotions those two teams are feeling right now.
For the Gaels’ it’s about relief and a second chance. Their selection as an at-large bid, just the second in MAAC history, is an opportunity to make good on all the promise the season has held for them. The First Four in Dayton on Tuesday night against BYU will be a showcase for the Gaels. But more on that later.
For the Seahawks’ there is probably disappointment on Staten Island tonight. Even with 25 wins, the most of any team not selected to play in either the NCAA tournament of the NIT, it’s a tough reality to grasp.
The NIT Selection Committee, much like their cousins in the NCAA selection room, are charged with picking the best teams they can for at-large bids. The unfortunate thing is that they don’t know how many they’ll get to pick until late in Championship Week. This season 11 teams earned automatic berths by winning their conference’s regular season title and failing to win their conference tournament.
Five of those teams ended up on the bottom two seed lines, meaning they wouldn’t have gotten in any other way. One wonders if Stony Brook had beaten Vermont on Long Island on Saturday morning if things would’ve been different for the Seahawks.
Charged with picking the “best” remaining 21 teams, the committee did about the best job it could. (I’ll talk about La Salle and Cleveland State in my next post.)
Part of Wagner’s problem was that their opponents during non-conference play couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. Princeton and Penn did compete for an Ivy League title, but Pittsburgh crashed, Santa Clara fell apart (not winning another game) and Air Force stumbled after the Seahawks beat them. It made the resume a little less impressive. Instead of a Top 50 victory Pittsburgh became barely a Top 100 win.
You do the best you can at the beginning of the season to make a schedule that: 1) Is achievable with the current team. 2) Is competitive. 3) Will put you in a place for a postseason bid. Wagner did almost everything they could’ve done, but for the Seahawks it just wasn’t quite enough.
It’s sad that not getting selected means the end of the road for teams like Wagner. Two other NEC teams, Robert Morris (CIT) and Quinnipiac (CBI), will be playing postseason basketball outside of the NCAA tournament. Wagner decided not to pursue postseason basketball after getting passed over by the NIT. It’s understandable, but it means a swift, unexpected end to a season that went so far and meant so much.
NIT Bracketology: March 10
When doing NIT Bracketology we’ve reached a point where there are too many good teams to squeeze into too few slots. Considering there are deserving mid-majors that want to play in the NIT (like Wagner, Princeton, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, etc.) and a number of major conference teams (like Mississippi State, Illinois, Pittsburgh) that really struggled down the stretch it’s tough to project exactly what will happen.
Continue reading “NIT Bracketology: March 10”
NYC Buckets Archive 