America East Notebook
All Set At Last
The suspense lasted up until the end, as it wasn’t until the last day that most of the seeds were known for the America East Tournament. The smoke has cleared, and here’s how it ended up.
Boston University finished the season with three straight wins and grabs the No. 3 seed, as they swept Hartford and get the tie-breaker for that seed (both teams finished 9-7). The Hawks have the No. 4 seed, while New Hampshire is No. 5 and Vermont is No. 6 after losing both games this past week. Maine won its final two games to grab the No. 7 seed, with UMBC and Stony Brook competing in the play-in game on Friday night.
Here is a look at the early games this weekend.
Friday, March 3 – First Round
No. 8 UMBC vs. No. 9 Stony Brook
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
No. 1 Albany vs. UMBC/Stony Brook
No. 4 Hartford vs. No. 5 New Hampshire
No. 2 Binghamton vs. No. 7 Maine
No. 3 Boston University vs. No. 6 Vermont
Plenty of Excitement Ahead
The conference tournament promises not to be an easy one to pick a winner in. Although Albany won the conference outright in the regular season, the Great Danes are hardly prohibitive favorites. Adding to it is that they could meet New Hampshire in the semifinals, a team that swept them during the regular season.
Binghamton has a clearer path to the title game, as they swept all three teams that stand in their way during the regular season. Should they get to the championship game, and it’s against Albany, the odds won’t be with them as the Great Danes won both meetings during the regular season.
Boston University is inexperienced, but the younger Terriers have a full regular season under their belt now. They won their final three regular season games, and they swept quarterfinal opponent Vermont in the regular season. Vermont also enters having lost four straight, so the Terriers seem like a good bet to at least reach the semifinals.
Hartford and New Hampshire are the X-factors, as both are capable of getting hot. The Hawks had won four straight and six of seven prior to the season-ending loss to Boston University on Sunday. The Wildcats, meanwhile, had a four-game winning streak last month that started with a 77-69 win over the Hawks. The teams split the season series, with the home team winning each game.
There are bound to be surprises somewhere along the way, given the relative even-ness between many of the teams.
“Why can’t we go to Binghamton and win this? There’s no reason we can’t,” New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion said. “But on the other hand, if we go up there and we’re not ready to play, it’s one-and-done and you go home.”
Award Time
Here are Hoopville’s picks for the postseason awards.
Player of the Year: Jamar Wilson, Albany
This one could have gone a couple of ways among our first-team members. While Kenny Adeleke was a double-double machine for Hartford, Wilson was second in the conference in scoring and was fourth in assists for the team that won the regular season crown. He was even second on his team in rebounding, and did it all playing a lot of minutes at a position he’s arguably not best suited to (point guard).
Rookie of the Year: Mike Trimboli, Vermont
This one was easy. Trimboli won most of the conference rookie of the week honors, and for good reason. He made the Catamounts’ offense go, leading the team in scoring and the conference in assists. More than that, when he went to the bench, the offense looked entirely different.
Coach of the Year: Bill Herrion, New Hampshire
We could easily have picked Al Walker (Binghamton) or Dennis Wolff (Boston University), but Herrion inherited a team whose personnel was not that of a contender at all and finished fifth in the conference at 8-8. He simply got the most out of his team, and has also helped energize the fan base for the future.
First Team All-America East
Kenny Adeleke, Sr. F, Hartford
Kevin Gardner, Sr. F, Boston University
Andre Heard, Sr. G, Binghamton
Blagoj Janev, Jr. F, New Hampshire
Jamar Wilson, Jr. G, Albany
Second Team All-America East
Aaron Cook, Sr. G, Hartford
Sebastian Hermenier, Sr. F, Binghamton
Martin Klimes, Jr. F, Vermont
Ernest Turner, Sr. G, Maine
John Zito, Sr. F, UMBC
Third Team All-America East
Jermaine Anderson, Jr. G, New Hampshire
Mike Gordon, So. G, Binghamton
Corey Hassan, Fr. G, Boston University
Mike Trimboli, Fr. G, Vermont
Shaun Wynn, Sr. G, Boston University
All-Rookie Team
Philip Tchekane Bofia, Maine
Paris Carter, Hartford
Jay Greene, UMBC
Corey Hassan, Boston University
Mike Trimboli, Vermont
Pre-Tournament Team Capsules
Albany
The Great Danes won their first outright regular season title by a game over fellow upstate New Yorker Binghamton. This was supposed to be their year, and despite some non-conference hiccups, they got it going in January and held on at the end. Jamar Wilson leads the way, and after him there is a lot of balance, from perimeter mates Brian Lillis, Lucious Jordan and Jason Siggers to Brent Wilson and Kirsten Zoellner inside.
There’s experience with seniors Jordan, Zoellner and Levi Levine, as well as their juniors, so the Great Danes are the favorites. But there could be a stumbling block: on Thursday, New Hampshire knocked them off in overtime to sweep them in the regular season. They could face the Wildcats in the semifinals.
“We’re guaranteed an NIT bid, so obviously we would keep playing, but we don’t want to settle for that,” head coach Will Brown said. “We want to win this conference tournament championship, and we’re more than capable of doing it.”
Binghamton
The host for the first weekend of the tournament, the Bearcats had a breakthrough season in finishing second. There were plenty of struggles in non-conference play, but once Ian Milne and Steve Proctor came back from injuries, the Bearcats had their team together and started winning games. Included in the breakthrough season was getting their first win at Boston University, which was a point where they knew they could contend.
Senior guard Andre Heard leads the way, and has plenty of support. Milne causes matchup problems away from the basket, while Sebastian Hermenier combines with him in a good frontcourt and guard Troy Hailey can still put up good scoring numbers. Proctor gives them a solid defender and sophomore point guard Mike Gordon is one of the best players no one knows about in the conference.
The matchups look to be in Binghamton’s favor for a run to the title game at the very least. If some things work out, they could host that, too.
Boston University
It was quite an up-and-down season for Dennis Wolff’s team, which entered the season as one of the least experienced in the conference. They lost a number of games due to offensive struggles and growing pains. Wolff even remarked, after the first Binghamton loss, “Right now, what we’re doing on offense is like going to the dentist and pulling teeth. It’s painful to watch.”
But in the end, the Terriers came alive to finish third, winning their last three games. Seniors Kevin Gardner and Shaun Wynn have been the team leaders, while point guard Brian Macon has been the perfect fit for their ball-control offense. Corey Hassan has gone through many ups and downs as a shooter, and should just keep getting better.
The Terriers haven’t had the best of times in the conference tournament in recent years, when they were expected to go far. Quarterfinal losses to Stony Brook and Maine weren’t what fans were hoping for the last two seasons, although last year’s loss wasn’t a shocker since they were in a real slump at the end of the regular season. Perhaps this time, going in without such high expectations (along with the momentum they currently have) will be a blessing.
Hartford
The Hawks had the look of a contender for most of the season, improving greatly on offense from last year. Hofstra transfer Kenny Adeleke, a double-double machine, had a lot to do with that, as did freshman point guard Chris Cole, who settled that important position. Aaron Cook remains a dangerous shooter, and along with Adeleke gives them a solid inside-outside attack. Paris Carter came on late in the season as well, giving them another outside threat.
The Hawks have to get the ball into Adeleke if they are going to win. He may not score a ton of points as teams key on him, but he has to get touches to at least draw defenders and open it up for the outside shooters. That has been the case all season, but it’s so important that it bears repeating here.
Maine
It’s been a tough season for the Black Bears, who did manage a couple of good road wins along the way. That has to give Ted Woodward’s team some confidence if they are to pull off an upset this weekend. They have struggled without star guard Kevin Reed, who is redshirting with a foot injury, but they can’t be taken lightly.
The Black Bears have an inside-outside game of their own with guards Jon Sheets and Ernest Turner teaming with emerging center Olli Ahvenniemi, who led the conference in blocked shots. Freshman Philip Tchekane Bofia also showed plenty of promise. This wouldn’t be a bad time for Maine’s younger players to show what they can do in the future, while seniors like Turner try to exit on a good note.
New Hampshire
What a job Bill Herrion has done with this team. This is essentially the same team that struggled mightily last year, but Herrion got just about everything he could out them and squeezed out a fifth place finish.
The Wildcats don’t have a great inside attack, so they need to have a good night shooting the ball and getting plays on dribble penetration by the guards. Blagoj Janev became a consistent force this season, while Jermaine Anderson has steadily run the show and made his share of big plays. Mike Christensen has come alive in the last few weeks, and he has a lot of as yet untapped potential. While they’re a dark horse at best, the Wildcats are a team capable of getting through the first weekend and possibly to the title game, so they can’t be overlooked.
Stony Brook
It’s been a tough first season for new head coach Steve Pikiell, whose team fought all season long despite a monster non-conference schedule and a team with its share of personnel changes. This is a building year for the Seawolves, so a win or two in the conference tournament would just be the icing on the cake. It would also give the seniors a good way to close their careers.
UMBC
In December, things looked promising for the Retrievers. They had the look of a vastly improved team, with plenty of scoring balance and a good, unspectacular defense. Although not likely to be contenders, they at least looked like they could jump into the first division. But they slumped later in the season, and wind up in the play-in game against Stony Brook having lost their last four games and six of seven.
The Retrievers look like they might be a quick exit, unless they can suddenly adjust to playing away from home. There is some good young talent on this team, notably freshman point guard Jay Greene, who will be a fun player to watch for the next three years.
Vermont
Give first-year head coach Mike Lonergan credit for getting what he got out of the least experienced team in America. For much of the season, the Catamounts were in contention despite having to play a lot of freshmen, as well as veterans who had played sparingly prior to this season. Vermont struggled down the stretch, but put forth a better season than many could have expected.
The Catamounts may be one-and-done, as they draw Boston University in the quarterfinals and were swept by the Terriers this season. But this has been a good building year, and a win or two in the conference tournament would do wonders for the young Catamounts.
