This season may very well be a big one for the MAAC. Many of the league’s most talented players return, including the reigning Player of the Year, Monmouth’s Justin Robinson. Continue reading “MAAC 2016-17 Season Preview: Team Rankings”
ALBANY, N.Y. – Canisius probably was extremely fortunate in the end, playing sporadic defense and failing to put away an undermanned Niagara team on numerous occasions, but deserve’s got nothing to do with it in March, and it will be the No. 7 Griffins that advance to play second-seeded Iona Friday night, as they survived No. 10 Niagara 102-97 in triple overtime.
Phil Valenti scored 33 points and added nine rebounds, including going 14-18 at the line, but he missed two free throws that might have given the Griffins (14-18) the win in the second overtime.
Continue reading “Canisius 102, Niagara 97 (3OT): Griffins Survive In Thriller”
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – There’s no time for what could have beens for college basketball coaches and teams, but there has to be at least a moment or two where Chris Casey and Niagara fans wonder the last couple of seasons.
Part of that isn’t reasonable, but consider this partial list of players who started their careers at Niagara and are still eligible to be playing with them starting with Juan’ya Green and Ameen Tanksley, both at Hofstra, and both first-team preseason All-CAA picks for the Pride, who are also picked to win the conference. It wouldn’t be their first regular-season title, of course, Niagara won the MAAC regular season three years ago before Joe Mihalich left to go to Hofstra and took Green and Tanksley with him.
That team (which went 19-14, 13-5 in the MAAC) also included then-freshman T.J. Cline, who showed plenty of potential and has blossomed into a stud … at Richmond of the Atlantic-10, a big man who can hold his own inside and step out to hit shots as well. That doesn’t take into account, Tahjere McCall, who played decent minutes as a freshman and now starts at Tennessee State.
Niagara junior Emile Blackman keeps a list in his wallet of the All-MAAC teams revealed in March. The main reason he keeps the list is because his name is not among the MAAC’s best three teams. Continue reading “Emile Blackman Motivated To Prove He Belongs In MAAC Elite”
All summer long, Chris Casey has been campaigning for Emile Blackman, his redshirt junior, to get more recognition. Continue reading “Niagara Set To Build Around Emile Blackman”
Entering the MAAC tournament, the hottest team in the conference was not Iona, Manhattan or any of the top five seeds, it was the Niagara Purple Eagles. Continue reading “Niagara Building Around Young Duo Of Reid And Blackman”
The last time Niagara and Siena met, the Saints swept the season series from the Purple Eagles with a 74-70 road victory. Continue reading “Niagara, Siena Trending In Different Directions”
Entering his second season, Niagara head coach Chris Casey has quickly remade the roster. Continue reading “Niagara Even Younger In Year Two Of Chris Casey”
It was exactly one year ago today that Chris Casey was hired to be Niagara’s 21st head coach in school history. Continue reading “Chris Casey on First Year at Niagara”
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