Tag: Jason Brickman

Mount St. Mary’s Continues Dominance at Home, Defeats LIU Brooklyn

To the casual fan observing from afar, nothing probably seemed amiss with LIU Brooklyn’s effort after nearly 28 minutes of play in Emmitsburg, MD. Despite getting limited contributions from Jamal Olasewere and Jason Brickman, the first place Blackbirds were leading the Mount, 53-50. E.J. Reed scored 20 first half points and had the team playing with a little cockiness and swagger you’d expect from the back-to-back defending champs.

The only problem was head coach Jack Perri wasn’t buying it one bit. To him, the three-point lead was a farce, a mere aberration based on what he had seen out of his team earlier in the week.

“For the first week in a while, our guys didn’t prepare the same way, they didn’t care the same way,” said a disappointed Perri after the game. “We did a good job of [preparing] since the Wagner game and we struggled with that this week. For whatever the reason, we were out of it. I tried to warn them. I tried to get them ready…I could see this coming.”

So when LIU lost their second half lead in the blink of an eye, it came as no surprise to the first year head coach. Three consecutive three-pointers by Kelvin Parker and Rashad Whack sparked a 9-0 run and gave the Mount a six point advantage midway through the second half. It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish to the delight of the feverish crowd on hand.

One person’s delight though is another person’s dismay, and Perri was clearly disgusted at his team’s execution in two facets: The 20 turnovers Mount St. Mary’s forced throughout the game and their porous perimeter defense that allowed the Mount to sink 11 of 25 three-pointers, including six rainmakers from junior Rashad Whack.

Whack led the Mountaineers with 26 points – 16 of them in the pivotal second half – to go along with three assists and three steals. It was the eleventh time this season Whack led the Mount in scoring for the game, and the fourth time the junior had broken the 20 point barrier.

In all, five Mount players logged an efficiency rating north of ten for the game, but it was Jamion Christian mainly praising the inside presence of 6’8″ center Raven Barber as a key catalyst for the team’s second half run.

“Raven Barber was an unbelievable force,” said Christian. “We challenged him [to produce] in the under eight timeout to just do more. Fly around, play with some freedom and he did that. I definitely thought he was the difference in the game.”

After playing ten uneventful minutes in the first half, Barber stepped in and sparked the Mount with eight points and six rebounds in the second stanza. His toughness, along with freshman Shivaughn Wiggins, helped keep the Blackbirds at bay on offense, holding them to a respectable 0.95 points per possession. It was LIU’s second worst offensive output for the conference season.

LIU Brooklyn’s offensive struggles can certainly be pinned on the poor play of Jamal Olasewere and Jason Brickman. Olasewere played a NEC low 20 minutes, as he found himself in constant foul trouble throughout the second half. In fact, when the senior picked up his fourth personal foul (third offensive), the Mount then embarked on a 13-4 run to take a commanding nine-point lead deep into the second half. For Perri, Olasewere was the main culprit for LIU’s lackidasical attitude leading up to the game.

“I’m telling you, this one started well before the game even started,” reiterated Perri. “[Jamal] was one of the big reasons why, I don’t know what it was, but I could sense that he was out of it. I don’t know if he was trying to do too much, he was just out of it. I didn’t see the same Jamal as I know.”

Jason Brickman struggled as well, giving the ball up six times while only scoring 11 points on as many shots. Mount St. Mary’s freshman Shivaughn Wiggins was given the assignment of guarding the best point guard of the NEC, and his coach was incredibly proud of the freshman’s effort.

“I’ve said it time and time again, I don’t think there’s a better on-ball defender in the league,” gushed Christian. “[Shivaughn] did an unbelievable job on [Brickman] tonight. [Shivaughn’s] ability to guard the basketball has really changed the dynamic of our team.”

“Shivaughn just gives you some toughness. He’s not afraid to mix it up and go in there and get some of those crazy rebounds or take a charge. And for 35, 36 minutes, he’s going to guard the other team’s point guard and never need a break. He’s just given our team a different dynamic with the way he can score the ball in the lane.”

Christian gladly continued when asked if Wiggins deserves the NEC Rookie of the Year award at season’s end. “I think there’s no better player in the league as a rookie, because of what he’s done for our team defensively.”

E.J. Reed registered a career high 25 points on 12 shots and corralled a team high nine rebounds in the defeat. The versatile and athletic Reed served as the lone bright spot for the now second place Blackbirds. They’ll travel to Wagner for an enormous Sunday night showdown that should help decide who gets a home playoff game in the first round of the NEC tournament. How will Perri get his team ready for the challenge?

“Hopefully it’s a wakeup call and we’ll see tomorrow and Saturday and get ready for Wagner.”

Mount St. Mary’s will host St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, in a pivotal battle that will surely shape the bottom half of the NEC tournament draw. It will be the last home game of the season for Christian’s group, who now holds an excellent 9-2 record at the Mount.

Assist Trends of NEC’s Top Point Guards

The trend towards more pace and more points in the NEC is being led by two of the top point guards in the nation. Jason Brickman and Phil Gaetano are two of the Top 5 players in assists per game this season and are driving LIU Brooklyn and Sacred Heart to near the top of the NEC. Continue reading “Assist Trends of NEC’s Top Point Guards” →

NEC Week 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Where has the time gone? We are already one third of the way through the conference season and tiers are slowly beginning to take shape in the NEC standings. However, there continues to be plenty of variance around the league, thus there’s plenty of time for team’s fortunes to change. For now, let’s recap all things positive and negative in the NEC. Continue reading “NEC Week 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” →

NEC Opening Week: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

With NEC conference play finally opening up this past week, we have plenty to discuss in this week’s version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Let’s jump right into it, beginning with perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the country.

The Good

  • Bulldog Bullying – Never in my wildest dreams did I believe Bryant would still be undefeated after I witnessed their tough loss on the road to Navy last month. But since then, Dobbs has run the offense masterfully (4.0 assists/game, 1.7 A/TO), Dyami Starks is stretching the defense with his outside shooting (17.9 points/game, 38% 3PT%), and Alex Francis is once again dominating in the low post (15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds per game). Through two conference games, Bryant has a sizzling 1.17 points per possession and an effective field goal percentage of 58%. What can stop these emerging Bulldogs now? Well, the lack of depth is certainly an issue moving forward and warrants monitoring. It’s a good problem to have if you’re Tim O’Shea, but he’ll need to be careful of not overusing his starting five, especially when February rolls around. One injury to the big three and this team easily drops a tier or two.
  • The Pioneers Are Back, Baby! – OK, maybe they aren’t really back, but protecting their home court for the first two conference games – after losing seven straight non-conference games – is a nice start. On Thursday night, Louis Montes enjoyed a career performance (35 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and two blocks) in leading SHU past an undermanned LIU Brooklyn club. On Saturday afternoon, it was Shane Gibson’s turn to shine, as the senior poured in 28 efficient points including the final four points to slide past the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. Justin Swidowski, in effect, saved the game for SHU by scoring 14 points in the second half to spark a run that put the Pioneers back in the game. Looking ahead, the Pioneers embark on a difficult four game road stand which includes CCSU, Quinnipiac, and a pissed off Robert Morris club. More on the Colonials later…
  • Say Goodbye to a Winless Season – A home blowout loss to Bryant aside, kudos goes to head coach Rob Krimmel for earning his first career victory, when his Red Flash surprisingly dispatched CCSU last Thursday, 79-70. In the win, sophomore Earl Brown went off, grabbing 25 rebounds to go along with 16 points. It was the most rebounds a Division I player had ever secured in a game since 2009. In fact, Brown was only eight rebounds shy of out-rebounding the entire Blue Devils team in the game! Overall, it was a nice start to the season for St. Francis, who will surely struggle at times with a young collection of talent. But at the same time, the Red Flash won’t be an easy victory more often than not when teams venture into the wilderness of middle Pennsylvania.
  • Dan Hurley Who? – One team that expectedly took care of business last week was Bashir Mason’s Wagner Seahawks, who held both NEC opponents to a combined 0.80 points per possession. Sophomore Mario Moody, in particular, helped push Wagner to victory as he’s now averaging 12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per contest. Moody and teammate Naofall Folahan’s presence in the interior has made life incredibly difficult for opposing offenses and has certainly made Mason’s job a lot easier in leading this roster since Dan Hurley left for the A10. The Seahawks are the best bet to earn a home playoff game in the NEC postseason, although these days, predicting future NEC results is nearly impossible. Which leads me to my final bullet point for The Good…
  • The Wide Open NEC – I need a show of hands, who had Bryant and Sacred Heart at 2-0 and Robert Morris winless after a week of conference basketball? Anyone? The overused sports cliché of “any team can win on any given night” holds true for this conference with six underdogs winning half of the 12 conference games this past week. For NEC fans, it will make any game a must watch, even if the number of gray hairs increases exponentially over the course of the season. Races will be wide open and that is an absolute win for the conference. That is unless you’re an elitist.

The Bad

  • An Early Hole – The shorthanded LIU Blackbirds performed admirably considering the conditions, but nonetheless dropped two straight road games in Connecticut versus Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac. Jason Brickman was spectacular in the losses and is quietly having the best season of his already excellent career, posting averages of 10.5 points and 8.3 assists per game with a phenomenal 2.6 A/TO. Despite the diminutive point guard’s contributions though, the Blackbirds must regroup with Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner in a hurry when the Seahawks make the trek across the Verrazano Bridge on Thursday evening. After Wagner, the schedule gets a little easier with games against Mount St. Mary’s, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Monmouth. The goal for Jack Perri should be to have his team at 3-3 after six conference games.

The Ugly

  • Panic in Moon Township? – Do yourself a favor and head to Pittsburg Post-Gazette writer Craig Meyer’s Twitter (@craig_a_meyer) timeline for some entertaining post game quotes from Andy Toole after their upset loss to CCSU on Saturday night. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t happy with the team’s effort, which saw the Colonials lose two NEC games in a row to start the season for the first time since … ever! Defense has been the major culprit for the sudden slide, but there’s plenty of time to alleviate these issues. A road trip to NJ to square off against the offensively challenged FDU Knights and Monmouth Hawks may just be what the doctor ordered. Toole’s upcoming practices (I bet he ran one early Sunday morning after the CCSU loss) may also influence his players to once again care on defense. Regardless, it’s weird to see Robert Morris possess the second worst NEC points allowed per possession number at 1.11.
  • Monmouth’s Lid on the Basket – The heart is there, the tenacious defense is there, and even the offense execution is there as well. THe problem is Monmouth is having great difficultly making open shots, as evident by their brutal 42.7% effective field goal percentage. After Saturday night’s loss, King Rice was still upbeat and confident his players would eventually hit those open looks, but the reality is this team will struggle more often than not without the presence of a true playmaking athlete. Without a bevy of turnovers and pristine execution on the offense end, the Hawks must scratch and crawl their way toward every win. So far when the offense isn’t there, Monmouth has fallen short twice. They should pick up their first NEC victory this Thursday over St. Francis (PA), but a tough three game stretch versus Robert Morris (home) and the Brooklyn schools (away) will tell us if this team is ready to get out of their funk. If not, King Rice and company could be staring at a 1-5 conference record in the blink of an eye.

Early Season KenPom Trends for NEC Teams

With the young season now a month old, I felt this was a good opportunity to analyze some early season trends. I combed through Ken Pomeroy’s advanced statistics to highlight some of the strengths and weaknesses of several NEC teams. Some trends will be of no surprise, but others I can bet were not expected. Continue reading “Early Season KenPom Trends for NEC Teams” →

Passing Tendencies of Top Points Guards

To be amongst the nationally leaders in assists requires a number of things. It takes a good system. It takes teammates. It takes talent. Put all of those together and you might get really lucky. Through the early part of the season there are 10 players averaging at least seven assists per game. What makes them tick? Here’s a breakdown of their tendencies. Continue reading “Passing Tendencies of Top Points Guards” →

The NEC Anonymous Coach’s Poll

Thanks to the NEC Media Day, John and I were fortunate to talk to all 12 coaches at some point or another. Besides grilling them on their respective teams and season expectations, we decided to have a little fun with an anonymous coach’s poll. We ended up polling ten NEC head coaches, asking each person four questions concerning the NEC.  In exchange for their valuable insight, we promised complete anonymity.

Continue reading “The NEC Anonymous Coach’s Poll” →