Monmouth clinched the MAAC regular season title and achieved its best start ever with a 93-75 victory over Niagara at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, NJ on Thursday night. Justin Robinson scored 27 points to lead the Hawks, while Je’lon Hornbeak added 16. The Hawks are now 23-5 (15-2 in MAAC). Here’s the video recap. Continue reading “Video Recap: Monmouth 93, Niagara 75”
College of Charleston 76, Hofstra 72: Pride Fall Short
Hofstra began its final home stand of the season in disappointing fashion, with a 76-72 loss to the College of Charleston Thursday night at the Mack Sports Complex. Continue reading “College of Charleston 76, Hofstra 72: Pride Fall Short”
The All-NEC One More Chance Team
As all of the NEC teams are entering the last few weeks of conference play and jockeying for position in the NEC Tournament, it got me thinking about all the players I’ve seen who never represented the conference in the ‘Big Dance.’ So, what if we were able to give all those players one last chance, on the same team! Continue reading “The All-NEC One More Chance Team”
The Most Impactful, Yet Underrated NEC Players
As I spent time watching NEC basketball over the past week, I wondered who the most invaluable players throughout the league were. Continue reading “The Most Impactful, Yet Underrated NEC Players”
Stony Brook 66, Hartford 54: Woodhouse, Seawolves With Amazing Turnaround
After a home loss to NJIT (currently 9-18) on Dec. 28, Stony Brook stood 4-8 and apparently needing at least a season of transition after last year’s run to the America East title, graduating a strong senior class including all-time great Jameel Warney, and seeing the coach the built them basically from scratch (Steve Pikiell) leave to go to Rutgers with his top assistants.
On top of everything else, two of its top returning players – Ahmad Walker and Deshaun Thrower – were arrested in separate incidents and no longer on the team by the time the season started.
But the dreaded “rebuilding” didn’t take as long as most thought. While Stony Brook was surely not as loaded as the last couple of years, it still had plenty of good America East talent, and the result has been winning 12 of 14 since that NJIT defeat, and being 11-2 in conference play with three games remaining (and clinching at least a No. 2 seed) after finally putting away a stubborn Hartford team 66-54 at Chase Family Arena Wednesday night.
Continue reading “Stony Brook 66, Hartford 54: Woodhouse, Seawolves With Amazing Turnaround”
An NIT Selection Trends FAQ
During the course of NIT Bracketology I’m often asked a number of questions about the process. Using data I pulled from on NIT participants for the past five seasons I took at some trends I think would be most useful for current observers. Continue reading “An NIT Selection Trends FAQ”
Fairfield 69, Rider 67: Amadou Sidibe Gets Just Rewards
Amidst the wins and losses, the stories of the individual players that inhabit mid-major basketball often get lost in the shuffle.
Amadou Sidibe was a good sophomore player on a bad Fairfield squad in 2014-15 (7-25). The next season was worse, believe it or not, because early in the season Sidibe developed knee problems that he was never really able to shake as the Stags limped to an almost identical 7-24 mark.
Sidibe underwent surgery after that campaign, and hoped to be ready to go by the start of his senior season in 2015-16, but he wasn’t quite 100 percent so the staff and doctors were cautious. Only a month later, it still wasn’t improving and eventually the decision was made to shut him down for the year, turning him into a well-dressed 6’9” cheerleader, a role he embraced as Fairfield went 19-14 (12-8 in the MAAC) and returned to the postseason (CIT).
Continue reading “Fairfield 69, Rider 67: Amadou Sidibe Gets Just Rewards”
Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Midseason Summary
Last Week in the Ivy League: Princeton survived a pair of scares to stay perfect. Harvard ended Yale’s two-year win streak in New Haven. After homages to The Palestra, the “ZombieQuakers” finally rose. And we reached the halfway point of Ivy play, which means it’s time for our annual per-possession rankings: Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Midseason Summary”
NIT Bracketology: Feb. 13, 2017
Now it’s getting real. There is just a month until Selection Sunday and the resumes are starting to solidify. Continue reading “NIT Bracketology: Feb. 13, 2017”
Harvard 75, Yale 67: Future Looks Bright For Ivy League
If you looked closely at Lee Amphitheater Saturday night, you could see into the future. And you didn’t even need a Delorean to do it.
Harvard ended Yale’s 22-game, two-year long home winning streak in impressive fashion, 75-67, before a sellout crowd that was into the game from the opening tip. The Crimson (14-7, 6-2, identical to Yale) were led by freshman Bryce Aiken with a career-high 27 points. Like most freshmen, Aiken has had some growing pains this season, but Saturday his full array of talent that ACC and Big East schools wanted was on display: shooting, getting to the rim, putting opponents on skates (as the kids say these days), even a four-point play from the corner that was huge in the Harvard victory.
Aiken, of course, is just one piece of a freshman class that includes Chris Lewis, Justin Bassey, and Seth Towns (who all started Saturday while Aiken did not). Sophomore Corey Johnson added 12 points for Harvard as well.
Continue reading “Harvard 75, Yale 67: Future Looks Bright For Ivy League”
NYC Buckets Archive 