Northeastern Begins its New Journey
BOSTON – Northeastern fans can be forgiven if they are a little concerned after the team’s two exhibition games.
The Huskies lost to Division III Bentley in their first exhibition and had a non-descript showing in an 80-44 blowout of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the second one. Exhibition games always have to be taken for what they’re worth, since teams will often not play the same rotation as in a regular season game, but they aren’t worthless in what they show of a team’s intangibles. They can show how well a team respects its opponent – and the general feeling among the Husky coaches is that they players did not do that with Bentley – and the way a team wins or loses is more important than the box score.
The Huskies won their second exhibition game without star guard Jose Juan Barea, but the effort wasn’t awe-inspiring. It was a classic case of a team winning simply because they were more talented. Head coach Ron Everhart expressed his concern, saying they “have a long way to go”, and while that’s true of most teams, the Huskies certainly fit the part well.
In the loss to Bentley, the twin killers were the same as last season: defense and rebounding. Commit turnovers against this team, and you’ll get murdered: the Huskies know how to score and can run with anyone. But get them into the halfcourt, and they can struggle defensively and will allow offensive rebounds, which they did in key situations against Bentley. Not helping matters was another problem the Huskies had last year, that of shot selection on offense. The Huskies get into trouble when they fire up shots early in the possession, and they did that too often on Tuesday night. Sure enough, most of the better shots they got came when they moved the ball around, even if they didn’t use up too much time on the shot clock.
On the bright side, the staff said the team came out a day after the loss with the eyes of the tiger. They knew what happened the night before, and the signs are that they reacted well.
Barea, one of the nation’s top guards, leads the cast that returns most of the key players from last season’s 21-10 team. Athletic junior Bobby Kelly likely starts alongside him in the backcourt, with senior shooter and hustler Aaron Davis as the probable third perimeter player. Junior shooter Adrian Martinez could be the first guard off the bench. Sophomore Shawn James, who is already close to the school record for career blocked shots, anchors the low post and figures to be one of the conference’s better players as well. Junior Bennet Davis has plenty of talent and could be poised for a breakout year, while senior Janon Cole looked good in the exhibition games and figures to be a key player off the bench.
The Husky freshmen will have to contribute something this season since there isn’t much depth. Those who seem most likely to play important minutes are guards Chris Cyprian and Chris Brickley, along with 6’10” big man Benson Egemonye. If they can contribute in the minutes they play, it will greatly help the Huskies’ cause.
There are some challenges on the Huskies’ schedule before conference play, including two in-season tournaments. They open up at the Mohegan Sun Classic at Central Connecticut State, then go out west one week later for the Golden Bear Classic. After final exams, they take the bus to Providence to play the Friars and also take on Holy Cross. In February, they will host a game in the Bracket Buster. They start the new year with four of five games at home, a stretch they’ll need to take advantage of. Conference home games will be played at Matthews Arena, marking a return to the arena that was the team’s home from 1981-97.
The Huskies appear to have the personnel to succeed in the Colonial Athletic Association, though they were picked sixth by the league’s coaches and the competition will be formidable. The big question is if they’ll play like they did in America East last season, when they went 15-3 in the nation’s 15th-best conference in RPI, or if they’ll play like they did in the exhibition games. The pessimist will look at the preseason games and think that the coaches were right, while the optimist will note that last season the Huskies had their share of struggles in non-conference play and didn’t look like a team that would go on to win 21 games.
