Yale blew a 24-point second-half lead against Sacred Heart in Saturday’s season opener. As tough as the loss is, the challenge for the Bulldogs going forward from this is clear.
Your Phil of Hoops
Young Hartford tries to nagivate through growing pains
John Gallagher talked a lot on Saturday about building a program. There’s a good reason, since the third-year Hartford head coach is in the process of doing that with a young team and navigating through the inevitable growing pains they will have.
Confident Boston University tries to take tough opening loss in stride
Boston University dropped a tough one in their opener on Friday night. While the Terriers are young, they held their own for a good stretch of the game and are a confident group, and will use that to try to regroup.
Exhibition loss could be a blessing in disguise for Holy Cross
Sunday’s 71-63 loss to neighboring Assumption College was certainly not what Milan Brown wanted. But regardless of the result, the Holy Cross mentor, now in his third season at the school, was surely going to come away knowing his team had a good deal of work ahead.
Boston College is still young but should be significantly improved
A year after being about as young as a team can be, Boston College should be significantly improved. At the very least, a lot more is known about this team than a year ago at this time.
Harvard has a good thing going, and youth will not change that
Harvard lost four starters from last season’s team and will be much younger this season, but they have a good thing going and this season’s team won’t change that.
Northeastern hopes to ride senior backcourt and other key players into CAA contention
Northeastern returns four key players from last season’s team that will be the foundation of this season’s team. The last time the Huskies contended in the CAA, it was similar – four core guys and role players that surrounded them. Potentially, this team will have more depth than that team, and the four core players might collectively match the ones from that team.
Not a season to remember for Wake Forest
Although it wasn’t quite as bad as last season, this was hardly one for the books for Wake Forest. After an 82-60 blowout loss against Maryland on Thursday, the Demon Deacons finished 13-18 overall. That doesn’t seem so bad, and a few teams had worse records, but look deeper and you see a team that, quite simply, was not good.
Ron Hunter a wonderful addition to the CAA coaching ranks
Ron Hunter is a terrific addition to the Colonial Athletic Association coaching ranks. That could have been said before the season given his track record and the impression he made on Media Day in October, but after the CAA Tournament it bears repeating because it was so obvious.
Bruiser Flint won’t be stressing out the next few days
In theory, the next six days should be quite stressful for Drexel and head coach Bruiser Flint. As the regular season champions of the CAA, they are guaranteed a bid to the NIT, but naturally hope the NCAA Tournament comes calling. Flint doesn’t seem stressed at all about it, however, and his experience is a key factor in that.
