Week (and a few days) in review: Nov. 11-21
November 22nd, 2011 by Matt WhitrockIt’s a bit early for power rankings right now – on some nights it seems like the entire America East conference will need another couple of weeks to find its sea legs – but without trying to order teams’ performances one through nine, let’s just take a quick look back at what we’ve seen so far:
Albany Great Danes (2-2)
Lost at Pitt, 89-56; Won vs. Brown, 77-68 (neutral court); Lost at Syracuse, 98-74; Won vs. Monmouth, 85-49 (neutral court).
Next game: Tuesday at George Mason
Albany’s beatdown of a not-very-good Monmouth team on a neutral court is the most impressive win of any AE team this year. That’s not saying much, but consider this: the Danes’ 36-point margin of victory exceeds the combined margins of victory of every other Division-I win by an AE team – combined. Gerardo Suero is going to be a nightmare matchup in conference play, and Albany’s backcourt is absolutely stacked. Our second-place preseason prediction is looking awfully pessimistic right now.
Binghamton Bearcats (0-4)
Lost vs. Colgate, 78-74; Lost at Cornell, 76-61; Lost at Fordham, 64-49; Lost at St. Peter’s, 66-43
Next game: Sunday at Missouri
Not that anyone shouldn’t have been expecting Binghamton to lose these games, but the competitive result against Colgate may have inspired some unwarranted optimism among observers (Who, me? Jump to conclusions after one game? Never!). The Bearcat offense has slid backwards substantially since that first game, which isn’t really a surprise. Binghamton is playing a bunch of freshmen out of necessity. Sometimes they’ll shine – see: Ben Dickinson vs. Colgate. More often, though, the freshmen will mostly look like freshmen. The Bearcats do have guys who can catch fire, which will give them potential to surprise, but Mansell et al. are not noted for their efficiency, and inefficient offense is inefficient offense. Really going out on a limb there.
Boston University Terriers (0-3)
Lost vs. Northeastern, 82-74 (OT); Lost at Texas, 82-46; Lost at Cornell, 71-66
Next game: Friday vs. Cleveland State (neutral court)
This is the part where BU fans hope the early-season results reflect a team playing catch-up after an offseason coaching change that came relatively late in the process. The more likely explanation, though, is that the Terriers can’t push that big red “In Case Of Emergency Only” button and have John Holland go on a 10-0 run when you need it. There are plenty of players on the Terrier roster capable of making significant contributions, but the magnitude and frequency of those contributions need to increase. On a positive note… hey, Dom Morris? See how when you hang out around the hoop you end up grabbing 14 rebounds?
Hartford Hawks (0-4)
Lost vs. Sacred Heart, 70-50 (neutral court); Lost at Penn State, 70-55; Lost vs. Mount St. Mary’s, 63-50; Lost at Brown, 59-52
Next game: Wednesday at Holy Cross
If it’s not clear from the above, the worst of these losses was the Mount St. Mary’s game, which included a 22-point halftime deficit that stretched to 28 almost immediately after the second half started. There are a lot of things to like about Hartford’s freshmen… but they’re still freshmen, and right now it doesn’t look like the seniors aren’t capable of carrying Hartford anywhere.
Maine Black Bears (0-1)
Lost at UConn, 80-60
Next game: Sunday vs. Holy Cross
An undermanned Maine team hit the road and played the defending national champions tough for an entire half. That, by itself, ranks among the more impressive things we’ve seen from any AE team so far this season. The report card is clearly incomplete – we’ve only seen 40 minutes of meaningful basketball from the Black Bears – but there are certainly worse ways to start a season. Just look around at the rest of the conference if you need examples.
UMBC Retrievers (0-4)
Lost vs. Penn, 59-44; Lost at St. John’s, 82-59: Lost vs. Loyola-MD, 73-63; Lost at VMI, 84-79
Next game: Tuesday at CCSU
The Retrievers are 0-4, but there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic. For one thing, there’s evidence of actual defense being played – not great defense, and not likely to improve further without demonstrating an ability to force turnovers, but better than anything that’s come out of Catonsville in recent years. CDLR came back after missing three games and already looks like his old self. In a weak AE, with contributions from the freshmen, a dynamic point guard and actual defense, UMBC could go .500 in conference play. Emphasis on ‘could.’
New Hampshire Wildcats (0-2)
Lost at BC, 67-64; Lost at Loyola, 66-60
Next game: 11/30 vs. Dartmouth
The Wildcats will need Thanksgiving to get the bad taste out of their mouths after losing two winnable games against quality opponents (yes, BC is one of the worst teams in a BCS conference, but it’s still an ACC team). That’s the negative perspective. On the other hand, UNH is competitive, Chandler Rhoads looks like a D-I player – and a good one at that – and the particular problem area that plagued the Wildcats against Loyola (rebounding) is likely to become a New Hampshire strength by conference play.
Stony Brook Seawolves (0-2)
Lost at Indiana, 96-66; Lost at Sacred Heart, 74-63
Next game: Tuesday vs. Columbia
A team that’s supposed to be a contender can’t lose to Sacred Heart by double digits. That just cannot happen. This is not a team with a lot of new blood that should take time to get up to speed – 10 players played against Sacred Heart and nine of them were on last year’s roster. It’s still very early, but all of the other AE contenders have at least one dynamic backcourt player, and some of them have two (or, in Albany’s case, three). Right now it doesn’t look like Stony Brook has any. That’s not a good sign.
(Note that the seven AE teams listed between Albany and this point have combined for exactly zero wins over Division-I opponents.)
Vermont Catamounts (2-2)
Lost at USF, 61-59; Won at Dartmouth, 65-53; Won vs. Marist, 84-75 (neutral court); Lost vs. LIU, 80-75 (neutral court)
Next game: Wednesday at Old Dominion
Vermont is 2-2, and the losses are almost certainly more impressive than the wins. The USF ended with a controversial (to put it mildly), game-deciding call going against the Catamounts, and the LIU loss was closely contested against a team that should be very good once again. Four McGlynn looks like he could be an impact guard to pair with Brendan Bald. The frontcourt is a bit shakier, especially once fouls start to add up, but you can say that about pretty much any AE team. In short, reports of Vermont’s demise are greatly exaggerated.
Player of the “Week”: Gerardo Suero, G/F, Albany
Gerardo Suero is out there. He can’t be bargained with. He can’t be reasoned with. He doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until he scores. (And even then, he’ll probably just come back and score again the next possession, because he can.)
Rookie of the “Week”: Four McGlynn, G, Vermont
If this was for a single-game performance, it would go to Ben Dickinson’s game against Colgate, but McGlynn has been everything the Vermont backcourt needed and more.
Game of the “Week”: Albany 85, Monmouth 49
The Great Danes looked dominant in this one. In the absence of any other impressive AE win, Albany takes this one.