Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference First Round Preview
by Matthew Moll
The Week
One team sits for two, three teams sit for one, and the rest cannot rest if intentions are for tomorrow. Four days from now, the 10-team tournament will tally one touting a MAAC trophy; a testament of the time-honored trial of elimination and success. All others will lament yesterday or enter the optimism of wait ’til. It is time to print that MAAC Tourney bracket and pencil in the victors.
Before the first round is broken down, here’s a look at the more general.
Since the MAAC Championship’s new format was created in 2003 only number-one and number-two teams have advanced to the finals with the number-one seed entering the NCAA tourney field each time.
No team has run the seven-eight gauntlet past the second round since the installment of the new format.
The Unlikelies
Siena and St. Peter’s are on the No. 1 Manhattan side of the bracket. Siena is this season’s pleasant surprise, entering the November with limited expectations thanks to the loss of some once-considered significant parts. Instead, the Saints earned a bye glaring back at critics with a forgot-about-us-did-ya wink. St. Peter’s is missing only one other option before the number one option splashes in the tourney and Mr. Boards So-well has applied for the part. But the giant who lurks is a light sleeper and it will not take long for the mighty Jasper to shake the effects of hibernation and be ready for a battle.
Marist’s high octane offense is run by Mr. Nation’s Assist Leader and a team which game No. 2 Iona a headache once and a loss the second time. Marist can beat any team in this conference given on any given evening.
These unlikely single-bid representatives are a combined 4-8 against the higher seeded foes and will be forced to debunk the trend of the new tourney alignment to go from doubtful to dancing.
The More Than Likelies
Just as postulated in the preseason, the MAAC regular season pitted to two single-bid powers to push until the final day of the regular season. But the drama has yet another chapter to be composed before it is deemed finished.
Less than a week ago, the all important double bye was decided in the Bronx, setting the stage for one final run for a pair of backcourts. A regular season finale featured more than just emotion – it was complete with an early technical, a ruckus visiting contingent, a star on fire, a star being born, a star exiting three possessions too early, and a genuinely euphoric student body flooding an event that was televised only locally.
Enter Phase III: The Albany Event:
It should be Manhattan and it should be Iona.
Neither Iona nor Manhattan will be have the 2-0 curse in mind (defeating a rival thrice in one season is a chore) at tip off, but it may be mentioned at the hand shake.
It will feature Steve Burtt, Jr. who looks up only at his father in Iona scoring history. Burtt, Jr. can add to his Gael and Burtt legacy at this point, and taking his father’s alma mater as his guest to the dance would be quite the swan song. It will feature the dime-dropping, sweet-slashing, Rickey Soliver and his hair. It will feature coach Jeff Ruland guiding his team as a coach where he took them as a player. It will feature the Baby Jaspers whose senior statesman is the Gate to Win. It will feature Bobby Gonzalez who already shed the “but not without insert former star.”
Perhaps something unforeseen happens and it is not Iona and Manhattan.
But perish the thought. These two teams were atop all season, it is they who deserve, but it is also their moment to lose.
Either way, the most recent installment of the All Hallows (and a gentlemen from Rice) versus Rice contingent will be history; so, too will the great battles between true competitors.
Iona’s stars will need to convince the rest to adopt a different sort of killer instinct or this last shot will be just short. But what it comes down to is that Manhattan is the team to beat. This team has been loose and composed at the same time while they seemed to have adopted the nothing to lose attitude as they march to building a three year mini-dynasty.
The Gaels need Burtt to stick around for the end and Arturo Dubois to wait until next season to dominate the tournament if they plan to rescind the recent tourney trend, but it will be the Jaspers who will be the ones making it.
One of 65: Manhattan Jaspers.
First Round
No. 10 Rider Broncos (8-19 overall, 4-14 MAAC) vs. No. 5 Saint Peter’s Peacocks (14-14, 9-9)
If you are a Rider or St. Peter’s fan that happened to be comatose this past week, an evil party may beguiled into believing no time has passed. Last week this same match-up ended in a 77-64 win for the Peacocks en route to a season sweep over the faltering Broncos.
The first meeting of the season was an overtime cardiac fest that needed a Keydren Clark triple-double (first in school history) including 39 points and an 11-3 run to at the end of the extra session to pull out a 104-100 win for St. Peter’s. The most recent, less stimulating tilt was without Rider’s Jason Thompson, who scored a concussion-less 28 points in January.
Although the Peacocks managed a season sweep, one would err in believing it will be a walk for the Peacocks, who hope to advance to the semifinals for the first time in two seasons.
Last season’s number-two seed has the has the lowest seed, but need to beat only one of the top three seeds (number-one Manhattan, a team the Broncos have downed once) to advance to the finals. But before the Broncos consider advancing to the March 6 finale, Siena lurks in the second round. Siena has defeated Rider twice convincingly (21 points is the average losing margin). But first and foremost is the first round, where the Broncos are batting at most .000 against the colorful birds.
Rider can live with Clark’s points as long as turnovers accompany them, but the Broncos will need a healthy Thompson to make it matter and not give up the ball. Rider has the third-worst assist/turnover ratio in the MAAC (0.97) as well as the second-worst turnover margin (-2.19). Rider’s only chance is to shoot well and hope the other team misses more. Many teams can ascertain as much, considering that in the four MAAC wins Rider shot over 45 percent in each win, but was out rebounded in all four as well. Simply, the Broncos do not get second chances (last in the league in o-boards) and must make shots to win.
If St. Peter’s wants to move past the first round Todd Sowell must be a consistent inside presence to compliment the sure to be keyed on Keydren.
Advancing: St. Peter’s
No. 7 Niagara Purple Eagles (10-17, 7-11) vs. No. 8 Fairfield Stags (9-18, 7-11)
The closest seeds, a regular season split and mathematically the toughest row to hoe make for the most intriguing yet most morose engagements of the first round. Intriguing because of the evenly-paired teams down to the identical MAAC records, morose because of the less than surmountable terrain ahead in the to follow.
In theory and on paper, the teams are evenly matched. Paper shows both teams ended the season on losing streaks (Stags three games, Eagles four), both teams won at home against the other, both teams struggle on the road. The victor in the two wins snuck away by an average of 4.5 points while the teams are ranked seventh (Niagara) and eighth (Fairfield) in the conference in scoring.
Theory appears to be balanced as well. The depleted Purple Eagles are dubbed the “magnificent seven,” but may be more inclined to accept munificent basketball help. Absent is Charron Fisher, who has been MIA since a knee injury ended his campaign prematurely for the second time in as many seasons. Gone as well are his 18 points and 7.9 boards per game. Advantage appears then to belong to the Stags, except Fairfield has but one viable scoring option in Terrance Todd, and as mentioned earlier the points are practically a wash. Fairfield’s more balanced attack verses the Niagara top starter-heavy offense thus advantage: push.
Since teams cannot tie further we delve…
Experience seems to be able to trump talent this time of year in such circumstances, so when five seniors are logging at least 15 minutes a game while the other team (Niagara) only has one (total), the balance appears to shift.
This Niagara team, however, is playing in a place where last season (disregarding change in personnel and regular season) they cut down the nets and with a coach in Joe Mihalich who has coached two teams to the MAAC final.
But this game will be decided on the floor by the seniors, and coach Tim O’Toole is summoning his inner Dukie to try to lead the Stags to the final for the second time in four years. The team to start the longest road to 65 will be the Stags, but do not expect the road to continue past March 4.
Advancing: Fairfield
No 6 Loyola Greyhounds (15-12, 8-10) vs. No. 9 Canisius Golden Griffins (8-19, 6-12)
This first round match-up appears to be the most likely to get lopsided, pitting two teams heading in divergent directions.
Loyola finished the season with a three-game winning streak, earning the ‘Hounds the first 15-win season in 11 years. Jimmy Patsos’ second season turned this once laughable program into a high-risk, high-reward success story which will draw clamor from large school suitors come off season.
Canisius, which lost twice to the Greyhounds, ended the season 3-8, including a loss to the Greyhounds. Mike McDonald and company were seeded seventh last season and poised to improve; instead the Griffins ended with the second-worst record in the conference.
Andre Collins is tearing up the MAAC in his only season of eligibility, averaging 26.1 points, 4.7 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. The team is getting 13 minutes or more from nine players. For the Griffins, Corey Herring, Mr. 1500-400-400 Downey, and Darnell Wilson often are left to do it alone without enough as an end result.
Canisius has the MAAC’s second-worst point margin, allowing 76.7 points while scoring 72.4. Canisius scores the least and allows the most points per contest while Loyola scores the most out of any team in the MAAC. For the sake of restating the obvious: the team who gives up the most points also happens to score the least is playing the team that scores the most.
Loyola though has not won a MAAC tourney game since 2001. In that tournament, the Golden Griffins were four baskets away from the field of 65. The following season, the Griffs went the semifinals. But Canisius has not seen past the second round since, but have faired better than this Friday’s opponent.
Andre Collins’ ability to fill it up and Canisius’ tepid touch should further push the Greyhounds out of MAAC futility.
Advancing: Loyola
