Looking back, looking ahead, news and notes on the America East
by Sam Perkins
Well, another College Basketball season has come and gone, and while the America East’s RPI and rankings as a conference were down this year, it was anything but a dull season. Unfortunately almost the entire league was in a rebuilding phase, resulting in a poor non-conference performance by a league collectively getting acquainted with the college game.
One team, however, that was not rebuilding was the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, whom led the conference from start to finish, compiled an impressive non-conference record, and dominated the conference slate on their way to the best season in school history and their first trip to the big dance.
The Retrievers fielded a team of “grown men” with three high-impact transfers (Cavell Johnson, Darryl Proctor, Ray Barbosa) blending seamlessly in with returning four-year players. The Retrievers were head and shoulders above the rest of the conference as they could score from behind the arc, inside the paint, play defense, and were led by the best point guard in the conference in Jay Greene.
While UMBC will certainly be taking a step down next year with the loss of Johnson, Barbosa, and Hodges, the league as a whole should be drastically improved, with Vermont, Hartford, and New Hampshire all essentially guaranteed to be much improved. Both Boston University (provided certain players don’t transfer), and Binghamton (depending on how their high-impact transfers assimilate) have the potential to also be greatly improved. Maine should also improve with the loss of only one senior (and possibly a few non-impact departures via transfer), while Stony Brook has only one direction to go in (hint: it’s not down). Only UMBC and Albany stand to drop significantly, and the Danes have a solid freshman class coming in, with UMBC still returning several good to great players.
So here are a few odds and ends that I never got to during the season, as well as some thoughts on the future, in no particular order:
- Will Hartford please extend Coach Dan Leibovitz, who in two years at the institute has established himself as the best coach in school history? Hartford will never get a better coach, or even as good a coach, as Leibovitz as long as they are in the America East conference, so why not lock him up now while they have the chance?
- UMBC should take a step down next season, however it can not be understated how much this season could help recruiting, the one area where Coach Randy Monroe and his staff have struggled. This season, Monroe proved that he could win with talent, and he is actually quite the X’s and O’s guy, but the Retrievers have struggled to bring in consistent talent. Although they have hit it big with graduating senior Brian Hodges, junior Jay Greene, and sophomores Justin Fry and Matt Spadafora, they have missed far too often. Monroe has also gotten bashed for building a winning season on transfers instead of four-year players, however, fans need look no further than within the conference to Albany to see how much winning, even built on transfers, can help a program. People forget that it was not until Albany brought in transfers Kristen Zoellner, Lucious Jordan, and Jason Siggers that the Danes went dancing, and look how much the talent of their recruits has risen every year since.
- I want to go on record as saying I am going to miss Albany’s Jon Iati, mightily. Iati was, as head coach Will Brown described best, the ultimate example for all kids playing the game that just because people say you are two small, too slow, etc., that does not define who you are, or what you can become. Iati ate, drank, and breathed basketball for his five years as a member of the Great Danes, and he was a joy to watch on the court, as there has never been a more fearless or bigger shooter than Albany’s smallest player. In the world of basketball there are “chuckers” and there are “gunners”, and there is a big difference between the two. Iati was most certainly a gunner, and the league lost a true class act in his graduation.
- Lazar Trifinovic, a talented forward for Binghamton has transferred out of the program. This does not come as much of a surprise, as he and Kevin Broadus never seemed to be on the same page. Trifunovic was brought in as part of former Coach Al Walker’s final recruiting class, and was certainly an offensive talent. However, his questionable work effort and dire lack of effort of any kind on the defensive end did not sit well with his new coaching staff. By the end of the year Trifunovic seemed more interested in talking trash and instigating verbal sparring matches on the court than in actually fitting in to the team concept.
- Speaking of Binghamton, Broadus has brought in quite the class for next year, with transfers Malik Alvin, Tiki Mayben, and Theo Davis. While Alvin has no off the court issues, both Mayben and Davis are still serious question marks (let’s just say that the Gonzaga coaching staff was more than happy to see Davis out the door, and Mayben was a seriously disruptive influence at Umass). Broadus did a great job of handling a situation with freshman Devon McBride and transfer Milos Klimovic, both of whom are no longer on the team. However, whether fans want to admit it or not, it is much more difficult to boot a star talent off of a depleted/rebuilding team than it is to boot role players off of a team that has someone like Mike Gordon on it to shoulder the load. If Binghamton’s transfers pan out, they could be a legitimate top-dog, as Broadus is a terrific coach, but if they don’t, 2008-09 could be a long year in Vestal.
- In other transfer news, as seems to have become par for the course, rumors have been flying all year that Corey Lowe, Boston University’s best player, and in my opinion the most talented guard in the conference, will be leaving after this year. Now rumors are just that, and anyone can start them anonymously. Unfortunately, the reality is when a program has as many players leave abruptly as the Terriers have in the past few years, these sorts of rumors are going to start flying. The scuttlebutt from behind closed doors of Lowe contacting current UMass players during the season did not help things. However, Lowe played like anything but a player on his way out all season long, and I have a hunch he will be back in the red and white next year. Lowe is a tremendous player, and with him coming back BU will be loaded in the back court with the most collective talent they have had since the 2003-2004 season.
- Hartford is going to be good next year; so is UNH, mark my words.
- Vermont can be scary good next year if Mike Trimboli can mature, and can improve his decision making in the clutch, but much more importantly if Trimboli can accept being the second, and sometimes third option on offense with Michigan State transfer Maurice Joseph and freshman Jordan Clarke. Trimboli had great difficulty at times this year accepting that he was no longer “the man” (to use a Nick Billings phrase), with Marqus Blakely supplanting him as the teams star.
- Hartford reserve forward David Bookman is easily the most entertaining player to watch in the entire conference when it comes to pre-game lay-up lines, as the Hawks sophomore is a blur of energy, flying through a dizzying assortment of spin moves. Bookman has been labeled one of the most important players to the Hawks by his coaching staff because of what he contributes off of the court. Bookman is the ultimate chemistry guy, a player who everyone loves, and who just raises the mood and attitude in the clubhouse tenfold. Bookman is the kind of player that every team needs, as despite being buried on the depth chart, he is the ultimate example of a kid who truly loves every second of his time on the team, and everyone in the conference should tip their caps to the kid.
- Boston University is a school with a strong fan tradition – that is a tradition of being completely devoid of fans. This year the Terriers built up a small, vocal, die-hard fan base of some colorful characters, which was nice to see. The leaders of this pack were known as “The Hot Dog and Jesus” and were two freshmen who, well, dressed up as a Hot Dog and as Jesus. Their enthusiasm was refreshing to see in the normally morgue-like Case Gymnasium, but their antics could be a bit overboard, and at times completely classless. Nowhere was this more evident than when the Terriers hosted Hartford and the duo showered freshman Andres Torres with a verbal barrage that was at best idiotic and at worst racist. I love the energy, and I’m going to chalk-it up to freshmen antics and excitement, but there’s being clever and there’s being classless when it comes to taunting an opponent, and this definitely fell into the category of the latter.
- When New Hampshire hosted Maine this season, UNH assistant SID Eric Coplin filled in as the in-game announcer, and did a fantastic job. Especially enjoyable was his “Alvin A-brewwwwww” calls following every bucket by Wildcats’ freshman Alvin Abreu (that’s pronounced “A-brew”).
- Speaking of Abreu, he is part of a trio of terrific freshmen for the conference along with Hartford’s Morgan Sabia, and Boston University’s John Holland. Holland deservedly won the conference’s Rookie of the Year award, as at 6’5″ with freakish athleticism he possesses the most impressive package of skills and raw athleticism out of the three, and is certainly the most talented wing to suit up for the Red and White since Billy Collins graduated. By the end of the season Holland was raining threes from all over the court, proving to be a disruptive influence at the top of the 1-3-1 zone, and of course throwing down an assortment of highlight-reel dunks.
However, while Holland had the best year of the three, neither Abreu nor Sabia should be shorted, as they are certainly on the same level. At 6’8″ Sabia proved to be the conference’s best three-point shooter, hitting right around 45 percent from downtown. Sabia is also no slouch when it comes to athleticism, and also has an array of low post moves, which once he puts some weight on his skinny frame should prove a dreadful match-up for the rest of the conference.
But the jewel of the freshman class in my eyes remains Abreu. While his numbers trailed off down the stretch, a few things need to be taken into account: teams began to focus their defensive strategies around stopping him first and foremost, something neither Sabia nor Holland faced. Secondly, unlike BU and Hartford, UNH began running exclusively man-to-man defenses, with Abreu being locked in on the other team’s best scorer. Thirdly, Abreu’s drop in offensive production coincided with his being asked to take over the team’s point guard duties.
Abreu has a skill set that will make him, in my opinion, the next of the league’s great guards, as he has all the tools to wind up on the same level as Jose Juan Barea, T.J. Sorrentine, and Jamar Wilson, and could certainly graduate as UNH’s all-time leading scorer. This may seem like quite the burden I am putting on Abreu, but he has the kind of mentality that I doubt he will pay it a second thought, which is exactly why he is, to me, the premier freshman in the conference: his mental makeup. Alvin Abreu is not only a terrific player, but a terrific human being, a kid who has been through more in his young life than most people could ever imagine. No player in the conference works harder than Abreu, and none plays with more drive or determination, as the Wildcats’ freshman has already established himself as a team leader, with a maturity level through the roof. And oh, by the way, the kid is a baller as well, with a hybridized game of Kevin Reed mixed with Chaz Carr. - Coaches and fans alike love to dismiss the non-conference season as simply preparation for “the real season,” or the conference slate, saying that is what counts, And they are certainly right in that only one team from the America East is going to make it to the NCAA’s, and they do that by winning in conference and the conference tournament. However, did anyone ever notice that it only seems to be the coaches whose teams play poorly during the non-conference schedule who make that analogy? And furthermore, the goal of any team should not be to simply make it to the NCAA tournament, but rather to compete and put up a good showing, more over to win a game. This is next to impossible if a team stinks it up during the non-conference schedule because they will get a very poor seeding in the tournament field.
- UMBC fell victim to circumstances far beyond their control this year, as the Retrievers were more than respectable during the non-conference slate, and with their talent and record, they should have been a 13-14 seed had anyone else in the conference carried even half of their weight during the non-conference season. Cornell was a 14 seed, and as someone who saw Cornell half a dozen times this year, they weren’t close to being on UMBC’s talent level. The Retrievers were pulled down by the rest of the conference resulting in a 15 seed.
- When Mark Socoby hit a 30-foot bank shot to force overtime in the America East tournament play-in game against Stony Brook, Socoby, Junior Bernal, and Kiamondre Owes were ecstatic, while the rest of the team had the look of “oh great, now we have to play five more minutes before our season is over.” With an entire team returning except for Brian Andre, you have to wonder just how head coach Ted Woodward goes about getting a team that seemed to bail on him this past season, to start listening to him again.
- Will Stony Brook ever put it together and play as a cohesive unit on the floor? Will they ever learn how to run an offense? You have to think that with his pedigree that Steve Pikiell will put it together, but it has been tough to stomach his first three years at the helm. However, one thing that is encouraging, despite losing, his players absolutely love playing for him.
- Desmond Adedeji, a transfer from Dayton who will be eligible for Stony Brook next season is large.
- There seem to be four possible schools to host next year’s conference tournament, as Albany, Hartford, Binghamton, and possibly Boston University will put in bids to hold the tournament. I for one feel that Hartford is the place to go, and there are some reasons:
- First off, the league wants the host school to be playing in the semi-finals, so that they attract the home fans to two days worth of basketball, and the Hawks look to be the most sure thing out of the group to finish at the top of the league standings.
- Secondly, Hartford is the most centrally located out of the schools, thus making them the easiest for collective travel by fans and alums of the rest of the league.
- While Binghamton did a great job of acting as the host school, and while attendance was great when the Bearcats played, the crowd was pretty sparse when the Bearcats weren’t playing. It was certainly not a good enough turn out to simply hand the tournament over to the Bearcats again without giving someone another chance.
- Boston University’s Agganis Arena is the premier facility in the conference, and the nicest college basketball arena in New England. However, BU has failed miserably at even making an attempt to market the tournament. Boston is the perfect city to hold it in, but until the BU shows that they actually care about filling the seats, the tournament should go elsewhere.
- Albany’s SEFCU Arena is just too drab a place to hold a tournament. While it is certainly nicer, it has the same feel as the Walter Brown arena at BU – ugh, way too much grey and poor lighting. Granted Albany would get a good student turnout, but the Danes are looking at a rebuilding year, and two years in a row of the host school getting bounced in the quarterfinals would be a disaster for the league.
- That brings us to Hartford, as Chase Family Pavilion would seem to be the best place to hold the tournament. Chase has terrific acoustics and architecture that is very conducive to crowd noise, and Arena itself is very visually appealing. Furthermore, it is rumored that Hartford is going to tear out all the bleachers facing both benches and replace them entirely with chair-backs, and that the Hawks are also going to add more seats around the court, connecting all seating with each other 360 degrees and giving the Hawks a true “Arena” feel.
- The one event that could throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing is the prospect of hosting the tournament at Mohegan Sun, something that has long been speculated on chat sites and blogs is now actually being discussed by the conference. It’s a long shot, but it would be the best possible venue to hold the tournament.
- UMBC faced more open opposition and doubt from within the conference, from fans, administration, prognosticators, and coaches, than any other conference champion in recent years. The doubt is best summed up in a post on a conference message board stating that if they made the NCAA tournament that they would be the worst conference representative in 20 years. It was a ludicrous statement, but it got me thinking: I would certainly put this year’s UMBC squad well above the T.J. Sorrentine-less Vermont team that represented the conference in 2003, as Vermont had a just blossoming, and still jump shot-oriented Taylor Coppenrath, still a maturing sophomore, carrying the team, followed by a roster of role players at best. This year’s Retrievers squad would eat those Catamounts alive.
I would also put UMBC right up there with last year’s top 2 teams, Albany (NCAA representative) and Vermont (NIT rep and regular season champ). Albany had Jamar Wilson, one of the best players to come through the AE in the past ten years, and Jason Siggers, a scorer and athletic defender. But Siggers was banged up, Brian Lillis was still a role player, and the Danes would get destroyed by UMBC’s forwards in such a match-up. The Retrievers’ four-some of big-time shooting guards, while not having a singular talent to match Wilson, could certainly go shot-for-shot with the Danes on the perimeter. Like Albany, last year’s Vermont squad simply could not match up in the low post with UMBC’s combination of athleticism and skill. Chris Holm was a gutsy player in 2007, but his numbers were a product of an absolute lack of any competition in the post. Martin Klimes was a tough-as-nails defender, and smart player, but he would be helpless against either Johnson or Proctor. Vermont fielded a backcourt that was identical to this year’s team, but a year younger and less experienced, and rough around the edges, and one needs only look at how UVM’s backcourt faired against the Retrievers this season to get an idea how last year’s squad would have done. Marqus Blakely played seven minutes a game, had to deal with mono, and was not the player he has morphed into this year, and Freshman stud Joe Trapani was, well, a freshman (no freshman in recently history, no matter how talented, has proven to be the difference-maker to an AE squad, and as good as Trapani was last year, his hype was even greater because of his potential down the road), he also dealt with injuries and by the second half was no longer an impact player.
The point I am making is simply this: UMBC was good, very good for the league, and they would have finished no lower than third in the conference in any of the previous six seasons.
