One-Bid Wonders

(Philadelphia, PA) – At 2:28 pm Eastern Time, the clock hit 0:00 at the Wells Fargo Center and struck midnight on the Albany Great Danes’ Cinderella season.

Albany, a 15th seed in the NCAA Tournament and perhaps the biggest underdog to ever come out of the America East as the fourth seed in their own conference tournament, fell to second-seed Duke 73-61.

The Great Danes came up short in their upset bid, but walked off the hardwood and out of the bright lights of the game’s biggest stage with their heads held high: For 40 minutes, the bigger, stronger, faster Blue Devils hit Albany with everything it they had – usually in the form of a back-board shaking sledgehammer slam from Mason Plumlee, or a Seth Curry swish – and every time the Great Danes hit Duke right back.

Albany lost the game, but the Great Danes were magnificent in defeat, proving they belonged on the same court as one of the best teams in the country and arguably the most storied program in college basketball history.

“We challenged them. We made Duke work. We made Duke beat us,” said Albany head coach Will Brown.

From the opening tip until the final horn, the Great Danes played the Blue Devils as equals. And this wasn’t a Duke team looking past the Great Danes while playing at walk-through speed: this was a Duke squad still trying to swallow the bitter taste of last season’s upset by 15-seed Lehigh, squarely focused on Albany for revenge.

After spending a year stewing on the Lehigh debacle, Duke came out playing for blood. Albany played even harder.

“We didn’t quit, but we never did all season,” said redshirt freshman guard Peter Hooley. “We were right there with them. I think we are proud of ourselves. We never gave up.”

“We went down fighting against one of the best teams in the country,” said Albany senior shooting guard Jabob Iati.

Iati led the way for the Great Danes, scoring a team-high 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting including 3-of-4 from behind the arc. The smallest player on the floor, Iati was fearless driving the lane and drilling deep three’s with several long arms in his face. Iati, who would be generously listed at 5’9”, added six rebounds and six assists, leaving every last drop he had on the floor in the final game of his career. (more…)

Tommy Brenton’s no-look pass to Jameel Warney was the number two play on Sports Center’s Top 10.

(Amherst, MA) – It will be a long time before the pain of falling short of the NCAA Tournament fully goes away for Stony Brook (if ever). But Wednesday night went a long way towards softening the sting of heartbreak and restoring the shine to a historic season for the Seawolves.

Playing on the road against second-seed UMass in the opening round of the NIT Tournament, the Seawolves thoroughly out-hustled and out-played the Minutement to pull off a resounding 71-58 win.

“It was a great win for us,” Stony Brook coach Steve Pikeill said. “I’m real proud. This is a good basketball team.”

“We got beat by a team that was better than us this evening,” said UMass head coach Derek Kellogg.

Stony Brook guards Anthony Jackson and Dave Coley scored 20 points a piece to pace the Seawolves and lead all scorers, shooting a combined 16-of-25 from the floor. Sensational freshman center Jameel Warney added 16 points on 8-of-15 shooting – among them several rim-rattling dunks – and two blocks.

Playing in what could have been the final game of his career, senior point-forward Tommy Brenton added seven assists, six rebounds, six points and four steals, but his impact was far larger than his raw production. The player responsible for changing the trajectory of Stony Brook basketball did what he has always done in his career: Brenton threw jaw-dropping passes and elbows, took charges, mixed-it-up in the scrum, aggravated and instigated against the bigger Minutement and was the engine that powered the Seawolves to the win.

“I like hitting people and I like being hit. Physicality is part of my game,” said Brenton in perhaps the understatement of the century.

Stony Brook got back to their program staples: Dominating the low-blocks and defending every inch of the hardwood. The Seawolves shot 51.8 percent from the floor (29-of-56) and 41.7 percent from behind the arc while suffocating the Minutement into just 36.7 (22-of-60) and 23.1 percent (6-of-26), respectively.

Stony Brook forced 19 UMass turnovers, turning them into 23 points (compared to UMass’ 10 points off turnovers). The Seawolves also dictated the pace of the game, while flat-out playing harder than the Minutemen.

“They executed their game plan very well,” said Kellogg. “They seemed more energized and quicker to the ball. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have a little more scrap and toughness and fight.” (more…)

Stony Brook senior Tommy Brenton pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, but scored just six points on 2-of-6 shooting while dishing out only one assists, and the top-seeded Seawolves were upset 61-59 by Albany in the semifinals of the America East Tournament (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Albany, New York) – Tommy Brenton said it all – and likely far more than the Stony Brook’s senior forward and the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year meant to imply.

Two and a half hours earlier, the Seawolves had already all but been anointed America East Champions — Stony Brook was not simply the number one seed in the conference tournament, but The Number One Seed: the most dominant team to come through the league since the 2005 Cinderella Vermont Catamounts, the Seawolves’ semifinal matchup against the University Albany was a mere formality and an America East Championship and NCAA Tournament berth a foregone conclusion.

Now, Brenton was being asked – more precisely baited – by a Long Island reporter, if Albany’s hosting the tournament – and playing what was in essence a home game against the highest seed – put added pressure on the Seawolves and played a role in the Great Danes’ 61-59 last-second shocker.

“It’s no added pressure for us: we’ve won on the road all year long,” said Brenton, the Seawolves’ senior captain, heart, soul and emotional center, before adding “it was just another game.”

Without intending it, Brenton hit the cause of the Seawolves’ heartbreaking fall right on the head: While Albany amped-up its energy and ratcheted up its intensity to match the magnitude of the moment, Stony Brook played as if it was just another game.

When Stony Brook took the floor 30 minutes prior to tip-off, there wasn’t any of cocky swagger that has been a Stony Brook staple all season long, or the electric our season comes down to this game and we’ll be damned if we’re going home energy that has defined the post season runs of previous America East Tournament Champions (most notably 2005 Vermont, 2002 BU, 2006 Albany and 2008 UMBC).

From the opening tip until just under three minutes remained in the game, the top-seed Seawolves played like they had nothing to lose — in the worst possible way: without passion, purpose, or a sense of urgency. By the time the Seawolves returned to coherence, realizing their NCAA Tournament-or-bust season was on the brink, rattling off a 17-7 run, it was too late.

With 7.3 seconds remaining, Albany point guard Mike Black refused a ball screen at the top of the key, crossed over from his left to his right and beat Stony Brook freshman Carson Puriefoy off the dribble to the hoop, kissing his right hand floater off the glass and in with 2.3 seconds left, for the win. (more…)

Vermont forwards Clancy Rugg (31) and Ethan O’Day (32) impede New Hampshire forward Ferg Myrick’s path to the hoop in the Catamounts 61-42 win in the America East Tournament quarterfinals (Photo by Sam Perkins

(Albany, New York) – In basketball, as in life, at some point, everyone and every team gets knocked down – It’s what happens after the fall that counts.

The Vermont Catamounts have tripped, slipped and been flat-out floored several times this season.

Multiple times, the Catamounts have been knocked down for an eight count: There were the back-to-back December losses – on the road to a bad Rhode Island team and at home to Towson; a season-sweep on a pair of lackluster performances to arch-rival BU; a beat-down at the hands of first-place Stony Brook on the heels of their second loss to the Terriers; and an inexplicable no-show on their home court in their season finale against Hartford (a team with which they share no love-loss).

But every time Vermont has fallen, the Catamounts have picked themselves back up off the mat and come back fighting harder than before.

And that’s why, when the dust of the America East Tournament settled and top-seeded Stony Brook – the regular season runaway champion – and three-seed Hartford – the Tournament “dark horse” in the eyes of many – had been felled, the Catamounts were still standing. (more…)

Albany forward and OBW All-Conference Second Team selection Sam Rowley dominated the second half to carry Albany to the win (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Albany, New York) — After several minutes spent alternating between praise for his team’s fighting spirit and pointed critique of its performance, Albany head coach Will Brown stepped down from the podium, his postgame press conference completed. On Brown’s way out of the room, a reporter stopped him to note that Brown was his daughter’s favorite coach.

Cracking a half-smile, Brown joked, “I’m not even my wife’s favorite coach,” leaving before anyone else could respond.

The comment, while clearly meant in jest, is interesting in light of Albany’s performance over the previous two hours. The Danes are the tournament host, were the higher seed in their game today, and have a fairly successful track record of getting out of the first round, but from their play alone you could be excused for thinking Albany was the underdog today. Albany came out of the gate clearly pressing – not in the “full-court press” sense of the word, but in the “trying to make too much happen too fast” sense. Every Dane attempt to take the ball across halfcourt felt like an adventure. Brown drew a technical foul midway through the second half.

And for 37 minutes the No. 4 Albany Great Danes assumed the underdog role in the most important area: they were losing. Elimination was a very real danger. (more…)

(Albany, New York) — If one sequence encapsulates the experience of both teams in Saturday’s quarterfinal between No. 1 Stony Brook and No. 8 Binghamton, it would be from a play that occurred just after the under-12 minute media timeout in the first half. Stony Brook reset its offense after a Jameel Warney offensive rebound of a missed Tommy Brenton free throw. Brenton, upon receiving the ball in the high post, immediately throws a bounce pass to Warney, whose zone defender had stepped up toward Brenton.

At the last second, Binghamton freshman Jordan Reed begins to scramble across the lane toward Warney, but from the moment Warney begins to elevate off the ground it is clear that any attempt to contest the upcoming dunk will only serve to enhance a poster. With Reed far underneath him, Warney throws down a powerful slam with both hands, holding tight to the rim, his feet swinging out toward the far low block as momentum continues to carry his lower body across the lane. The score capped an early 9-0 run for the Seawolves, one of several runs that quickly rendered the 1 vs. 8 quarterfinal non-competitive.

The crowd’s focus immediately before and after the dunk was on Warney, a physical specimen blessed with size, athleticism, and the ability to make even the most difficult plays look simple and straightforward. But no analysis of this play, or of the game that lends it context, would be complete without an equal focus on Reed, exerting maximum effort on help defense to contest a play whose outcome was already written in stone before Reed took his first step. (more…)

UMBC head coach and the Retrievers bench exploded when senior guard Brian Neller drilled a dagger-three with 1:16 remaining to seal sixth-seeded UMBC’s upset win over three-seed Hartford (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Albany, New York) – With 1:13 remaining, UMBC head coach Aki Thomas knelt on the edge of the court, pumped both his fists and let out a mighty roar that rose above the din of the crowd and ricocheted off the far walls of SEFCU Arena.

For the better part of a decade, emotional outbursts – tantrums, tirades and all manner of explosions – emanating from the Retrievers head coach have been common place on the UMBC sidelines.

But nothing like this.

Two days earlier, Thomas had been signed to a one-year contract and named the Retriever’s head coach, after spending the previous season – his first at the helm in Catonsville – wearing the “interim” tag. Now, he watched from the sidelines as senior sniper Brian Neller’s sixth three pointer of the night, a back-breaker from the right corner, found nothing but the bottom of the net, sealing the sixth-seeded Retrievers 69-62 upset of third-seed Hartford in the America East Tournament Quarterfinals.

What followed was a moment of pure euphoria and unadulterated joy. The Retrievers bench – downtrodden and defeated for the previous three seasons – followed their coach’s lead, leaping in excitement, embracing one another and bellowing towards the rafters.

“It’s never really been too much about me, it’s always been about the players and I always knew I was going to be okay. It’s always been for them – they’re the one that have been doing three tough seasons,” said Thomas after the game.

UMBC senior guards Ryan Cook and Brian Neller flat-out refused to watch their careers end on Saturday afternoon, willing the Retrievers to their first America East Tournament victory in four years. Playing in what could have been the final game of their careers, the duo put their team on their backs and combined for 44 points on 15-of-26 shooting.

Cook, who began his college career as a Division II walk-on before walking-on to his home-town team as a junior, was everywhere, pouring in a game-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting while playing frenetic defense. The 6’2” senior scored from everywhere on the court – step back jumpers, dizzying drives to the bucket, post-up hoops in the paint, while making one hustle play after the next. Cook single-handedly rattled off a 12-0 second half run, turning an eight-point deficit into a four-point lead. (more…)

Nate Sikma watches, along with the capacity crowd at Patrick Gymnasium, as his three-pointer at the buzzer hangs in the air. Sikma’s shot found the bottom of the net, giving the Hawks a 61-58 win (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Burlington, VT) – The saying goes that numbers don’t lie, but on a cold Sunday in The Green Mountain State, they did just that.

In nearly every statistical category, host Vermont pasted visiting Hartford: The Catamounts out-rebounded the Hawks by a staggering 20 boards, 34-14, while outscoring Hartford 28-10 in the paint and 27-18 off the bench. Vermont outshot Hartford from the floor (50 percent to 43.9 percent), outscored them in second-chance and fast-break points while taking seven more free throws than the Hawks, who were whistled for 10 more fouls.

But when sophomore forward Nate Sikma’s pick-and-pop three from the left corner found the bottom of the net as the final buzzer echoed off of the back wall of Patrick Gymnasium – a shot that survived the ensuing official review – it was Hartford who walked off the court the 61-58 winner.

Toughness, effort and energy – along with dead-eye sharpshooting from behind the arc – proved to be the great equalizer for the Hawks, who snapped a 15 game losing streak against the Catamounts with their first victory over Vermont since 2006.

“They flat out beat us tonight,” said Vermont forward Luke Apfeld, “They just came out and kind of took it to us on our home court.”

“If you have toughness and energy, if you have those two you can win a lot of games,” said third-year Hartford head coach John Gallagher, whose team improved to 17-10 on the season and 10-6 in conference play.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Hawks simply played harder for longer than the comatose Catamounts, out-hustling Vermont to loose-balls, getting under the Catamounts’ skin in scrums and flustering and frustrating Vermont’s offense with frenetic D: The Catamounts committed 20 turnovers to just seven assists.

“They were tougher than us across the board today and the turnovers were a clear indicator of that,” said Apfeld.

Playing the majority of the game without star forward and go-to scorer Mark Nwakamma, the Hawks buried 12 three’s while shooting a blistering 48 percent from behind the arc (12-of-25).

“We have toughness; we find ways to win,” said Gallagher. “We’re a program now – we’re much more than just one player.” (more…)

Stony Brook 71, Boston University 55
For more complete coverage of Stony Brook’s regular season title-clinching win, read Sam’s recap. The short version? It would be slight exaggeration to say that this game was over before halftime – BU made things interesting enough in the second half that our imaginations could at least entertain the idea of the Terriers finishing their comeback – but Stony Brook won this game by running out to a massive 33-5 lead in the first 15 minutes, letting BU gradually reel the game back in over the next 15 minutes, but never letting the Terriers get close enough to become a serious threat. The Seawolves’ brand of bully ball – and I mean ‘bully ball’ in the nicest possible way – yielded 70 percent shooting inside the arc and 14 extra free throw attempts. Jameel Warney was his usual absurdly efficient self (four turnovers easily overshadowed by a perfect 6-of-6 shooting and 3-of-3 at the line), but the sensational freshman was one-upped by Tommy Brenton, who appears to be taking our insinuation that he (Brenton) may not be the best player on his own team personally. Brenton’s line? 14 points on five shots (and nine free throw attempts), 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals, and his usual smothering defense. Our player of the year award is still up for debate, but if we gave out player of the month awards, Brenton has an incredibly strong case for the month of February. A quick KenPom update: Stony Brook is up to #53, which is easily the highest any team from the AE has ever reached. And yes, it’s because of the defense.

Albany 56, New Hampshire 49
This script is familiar: One New Hampshire player is on fire on offense, everyone around him has miserable games, and down the stretch nobody can get him the ball. The identity of the player changes from game to game. On Thursday, it was Patrick Konan – 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-6 from downtown – but after making his sixth 3 of the game to pull the Wildcats to within 4 with 4:50 left, Konan didn’t take another shot for the rest of the game. Meanwhile Chandler Rhoads and Ferg Myrick combined to shoot 6-of-27 from the field. We understand that the Wildcats are offensively challenged as a team, and so there will be games when the offense is putrid and not much can be done about it, but late in a game when one guy is obviously red hot and nobody else knows which basket to shoot at, give the ball to the hot hand! Meanwhile, Albany improves to 9-6 in conference play and will own the No. 3 seed barring a loss at Stony Brook (likely) and a Hartford upset of Vermont (possible, but less likely).

Hartford 68, UMBC 56
We’ve had an awful lot of 68-56 games recently – UNH played two in a row! – but generally even the team scoring 56 points manages more than four assists. We know the point guard situation in Catonsville is less than ideal, but still. Four assists? That’s hard to do on purpose. Not to sound like a broken record, but this was another game where Ryan Cook and Chase Plummer put up numbers and nobody else did much productive, which should be slightly concerning for the Retrievers because next year there will be no Ryan Cook on the roster. For Hartford, despite the fairly weak opponent, there were a couple very positive signs that may play well going forward. For the second game in a row, the Hawks won without big scoring numbers from Mark Nwakamma, who contributed 11 points but was quieter than usual. Instead Hartford rolled to 68 points via a rare double-double from John Peterson and balanced scoring from the rest of the roster. That bodes well for the tournament, because if Hartford makes it to the semifinals and draws Stony Brook, Steve Pikiell & Co. have a fresh memory of Nwakamma scoring 23 points and are likely to build a gameplan centered around stopping him.

Vermont 78, Binghamton 61
Vermont clinched the No. 2 seed with this victory, although Binghamton kept things very interesting for most of the game – the game was tied early in the second half and was still a two-possession game until just before the 8-minute mark. The Catamounts’ frontcourt triumvirate of Brian Voelkel, Clancy Rugg and Luke Apfeld continues to hum along. Rugg led Vermont with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting, Apfeld chipped in 15 off the bench, and Voelkel had a vintage performance: 3 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. On the other side, Jordan Reed’s double-double streak was snapped at four games, but he did score in double figures for the 25th time in 26 games, and did so more efficiently than usual. With Rob Mansell hopefully back on the court next year to join Tommy Dempsey’s first full recruiting class, we’re excited to see what Reed can do in a more balanced offensive environment.

Boston University point guard Maurice Watson Jr. converts a tough lay-up in traffic in the Terriers 79-69 win. Watson posted his second career, and second straight, double-double with 11 points and 10 assists (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Boston, MA) – With 10:15 remaining in the second half Wednesday night, Boston University freshman point guard Maurice Watson Jr. stood with the ball, motionless, on the right wing. In the blink of an eye, Watson put the ball on the floor and, in one zero-to-sixty step, was at full speed, driving the lane and the Albany Great Danes were backpedaling on their heels.

Just as quickly, Watson stopped on a dime and fired the ball to freshman gunner John Papale on the right wing, sending Albany scrambling in an air raid drill. In one swift motion, Papale caught Watson’s dish and swung it – like a hot potato – to junior point guard D.J. Irving, the second half of the Terriers lightening-fast dynamic ball handling duo, in the right corner.

Albany forward Jayson Gurrier, in an all out dive, managed to take out Irving’s legs, sending him sprawling to the hardwood, just as the junior let fly. It was no use: with the referee’s whistle echoing off the rear-wall of Case Gymnasium, Irving’s three settled, soft as silk, through the bottom of the cylinder, pushing the Terriers lead to 53-49.

On the ensuing possession, the Great Danes worked the ball to their own star point guard, Mike Black, who sprung loose on the left wing. Black let fly, but his shot fell flat, clanging off the back iron and caroming over the top of the backboard and out of bounds.

It was the night in the nutshell, as Boston University continued its personal vendetta against the America East; punishing every conference foe that gets in their way on their way out the door. On Wednesday night, it was Albany’s turn, with BU stepping on the gas to dust the Great Danes, 79-69, in a run-and-gun romp.

“You’re either going to give up lay-ups off to those two guys,” said Brown off the Terriers dual-point guards, “or they’re going to find [Papale] and he’s going to hit jumper after jumper.”

In their best offensive outing of the season, the Terriers shot 51.9 percent from the floor (28-of-54), 40 percent from downtown (10-of-25) and moved the ball magnificently, dishing out 17 assists to just four turnovers. Four players broke double-figures for BU, which has now won a season-best five straight games and ten of their last twelve. (more…)