Around the League: 1.13.09

Tuesday's game:

Stony Brook 60, Dartmouth 52
The Seawolves took a slight hiatus from league play to visit 2-12 Dartmouth. The game was competitive for most of the way until Stony Brook (9-7) was able to pull away at the end. Muhammad El-Amin was 8-of-18 from the field for a game-high 20 points while Tommy Brenton had a game-high 10 rebounds. Alex Barnett led the Big Green in both rebounds (8) and points (11), but it wasn't enough to avoid their seventh-straight loss.

Wednesday's games:
Maine vs. Hartford, 7:00 p.m.
Maryland-Baltimore County vs. New Hampshire, 7:00 p.m.
Binghamton vs. Albany, 7:00 p.m.

State of America East

Vermont at the bottom of the America East standings? Who would have guessed? After two months to get an idea of each teams' strength, the beginning of conference play bumps up against preconceived notions of who should win each game. Unexpected results are a given. Is it time to rethink conclusions from November and December? Let's take a look:

America East Power Rankings (records versus D-I opponents only):

1. Binghamton Bearcats
9-5 (3-0 AE), RPI 108, SOS 221
Last week: W 67-60 vs. Maine, W 91-83 (OT) vs. Vermont, L 80-70 at Utah Valley
This week: 1/14 at Albany, 1/17 vs. Boston University

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to welcome D.J. Rivera, America East Player of the Year candidate. With the reigning POY on the court, Rivera outshone Marqus Blakely and gave Binghamton a huge January win on its home court. His 29 points, 12 boards, and six steals were all game-highs. With Rivera, Malik Alvin, Tiki Mayben and Dwayne Jackson, the Bearcats are in possession of the conference's best backcourt. With Albany and BU on the horizon, the Bearcats have a chance to provide some real separation in the America East standings. Regular season crowns aren't won in January, but a 5-0 start would be difficult for the rest of America East to overcome.

2. Vermont Catamounts
9-6 (0-2 AE), RPI 155, SOS 227
Last week: L 91-83 at Binghamton, L 82-77 vs. Albany
This week: 1/14 at Boston University, 1/17 at Stony Brook

Vermont's early January schedule is a gauntlet, but that doesn't excuse being outplayed by two consecutive opponents. The next two games aren't a whole lot easier either. As good as the Catamounts are, repeating the Albany performance will very likely leave them in a massive 0-4 hole. Vermont did better in non-conference play than the rest of America East and can be expected to revert to form sooner or later. Catamount fans are hoping it's sooner.

3. Albany Great Danes
10-6 (2-1 AE), RPI 105, SOS 254
Last week: W 61-60 vs. Boston University, W 82-77 at Vermont
This week: 1/14 vs. Binghamton, 1/17 at Maine

The margin of victory wasn't great in either win, but be impressed by Albany's performance in the last two games. The Terriers showed up at SEFCU Arena and gave the Great Danes. Albany took it on the chin but stood up and made big plays down the stretch. Understanding the value of a road win against Vermont should require no explanation. Albany's season-opening loss to Hartford, however, makes Wednesday's clash with the rival Bearcats all the more important for the Great Danes' regular season title chances. A loss would put the Great Danes two games out of first. Cutting down on turnovers would help -- Albany coughed up the ball 21 times against Vermont.

4. Boston University Terriers
6-8 (1-1 AE), RPI 239, SOS 261
Last week: L 61-60 at Albany, W 68-37 vs. New Hampshire
This week: 1/14 vs. Vermont, 1/17 at Binghamton

Disaster may have struck the Terriers' roster, but BU has turned in two consecutive impressive performances after appearing to be on the ropes heading into Albany. While Dennis Wolff would obviously prefer to be 2-0 in conference play, the necessary decision to try and get more offense out of the post is already paying dividends. BU still has enough healthy, talented players to stay in contention. This week will decide a lot for the Terriers. Agganis has not resembled much of a home court for BU and Vermont will arrive in desperate need of a win after dropping its first two games. Winning at Binghamton may be asking too much, but BU has to find a way to avoid squandering momentum and falling to 1-3 in the conference.

5. Stony Brook Seawolves
7-7 (1-2 AE), RPI 209, SOS 274
Last week: L 67-60 at Binghamton, L 64-54 vs. Maine
This week: 1/13 at Dartmouth, 1/17 vs. Vermont

Stony Brook could easily be sixth in these rankings, but the road win against UMBC still holds plenty of weight. Losing at home to Maine is the Seawolves' first poor result in quite some time. Bryan Dougher had a miserable outing, quite unlike most of his play this season. With Dougher having an off night, the offense sputtered, missing fully two-thirds of its shots and committing seven more turnovers than the Black Bears. Stony Brook's roster isn't stocked with shooters, so there will be more nights where shots aren't falling, but the Seawolves are normally very good at taking care of the ball and forcing turnovers at the other end, suggesting the Maine performance is an anomaly.

6. Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers
6-7 (1-1 AE), RPI 190, SOS 174
Last week: W 61-59 vs. Maine
This week: 1/14 at New Hampshire, 1/17 vs. Hartford

Darryl Proctor is carrying the Retrievers right now. Even an average performance from Proctor on Saturday would have saddled UMBC with a second home loss against teams outside the upper tier of America East. Jay Greene has upped his scoring average from last year but isn't a consistent second option for the Retrievers, and despite only six players playing significant minutes (or any minutes at all, in many cases), there isn't a third player scoring in double figures. The Retrievers are in the precarious position of having neither depth nor balance on offense. Proctor is an excellent player, but he's not a one-man team. He may have to be, though.

7. Hartford Hawks
5-11 (1-1 AE), RPI 238, SOS 169
Last week: L 55-47 at New Hampshire, L 71-63 at Yale
This week: 1/14 vs. Maine, 1/17 at Maryland-Baltimore County

Road losses are expected from the bottom teams in the conference. Winning at home is what will help Hartford avoid the cellar, and despite losing both games this past week, the Hawks are 1-0 against conference opponents at Chase Arena. Hartford is 3-2 at home but just 1-8 in true road games, making opportunities to play on campus that much more important. The Hawks aren't catching Maine at the most opportune time, but even at 1-1 in conference play, Wednesday's game is one the Hawks need more than most.

8. Maine Black Bears
5-10 (1-2 AE), RPI 231, SOS 196
Last week: W 64-54 at Stony Brook, L 61-59 at Maryland-Baltimore County
This week: 1/14 at Hartford, 1/17 vs. Albany

The Black Bears are currently just one spot from bottom in the standings but have kept it close in both losses to conference foes and looked reasonably impressive against Stony Brook. Maine's home slate is tough in the early half ot the season, with New Hampshire being the only team in the bottom half of these power rankings to visit Alfond Arena in the first half of the conference schedule. That being said, if Maine can collect another win or two on the road, the Black Bears should be in decent shape come February. Despite Hartford's winning record at Chase Arena, Wednesday is one of Maine's better chances for a road win. The Black Bears displayed excellent discipline against Stony Brook -- just nine turnovers and nine fouls -- and should aim for a repeat performance in Connecticut.

9. New Hampshire Wildcats
4-8 (1-1 AE), RPI 278, SOS 281
Last week: W 55-47 vs. Hartford, L 68-37 at Boston University
This week: 1/14 vs. Maryland-Baltimore County, 1/17 at Dartmouth

The home win against Hartford was nice, but New Hampshire completely lost the plot, not to mention its shooting touch, in Sunday's game at The Roof. While Case has historically been a house of horrors for the Wildcats, losing by 31 points to an undermanned conference foe is inexcusable. Consider this: in each of the other nine games this past week involving at least one America East team, the final margin of victory never exceeded ten points. For that matter, no America East contest this year or last year was decided by more points (although two games equaled the 31-point spread). Worse yet, the 3-happy Wildcats missed all save two of their 33 attempts from deep. UNH has a lot in need of fixing and increasingly less time left to work with.

Conference performance
OOC record: 50-57 (Last 7 days: 0-2)
Conference RPI: 16 out of 31 (last week: 16)
Conference SOS: 24 out of 31 (last week: 23)

Not much to report here, as the conference's resumé remained relatively static last week and is likely to stay that way.

Tempo-free statistics


Other than Maine leapfrogging New Hampshire -- more a product of New Hampshire's disastrous trip to Boston than Maine's solid play -- the order of teams in this table remains unchanged from last week. Raw efficiency weights each possession the same, so Binghamton and Hartford rank lower here than their current form would suggest due to worse play early in the season. As more conference games are played, we will include a conference-only table to help isolate teams' performance from conference play.

The fact that New Hampshire's efficiency margin got worse despite winning a game this week reinforces how awful their play was on Sunday. Remember, for teams with very negative efficiency margins, even an average performance -- a close win or loss -- will produce a positive movement in the overall margin. New Hampshire won by a reasonable score against Hartford but played so poorly against BU that the efficiency margin's net movement for the week was nearly -2 despite starting the week below -9. Getting outscored by nearly a two-to-one ratio will do that.

The Day After: (BU 68, New Hampshire 37)

There's no way around it. The University of New Hampshire Wildcats simply can't play well in Boston. After another embarrassing loss at Case Gymnasium (68-37), in which UNH was outscored 40-17 in the first half, the Wildcats' winless streak in Beantown ran to 16-straight games and the last time UNH won at Case was 1994, before Dennis Wolff was the coach at BU. So while it wasn't convenient, it's hard to blame New Hampshire coach Bill Herrion for skipping out on the post-game press conference.

While the Terriers certainly did many positive things in such a blowout victory, the most important accomplishment of the afternoon was finally putting a stop to their five-game losing skid. Complementary to that were the facts that the Terriers played well for the second-consecutive conference game and did so without Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong (who are both out with season-ending injuries). While BU would certainly much rather have a fully healthy squad, proving that the team can play well (and have no other choice) without two of their top five scorers is extremely encouraging.

John Holland was masterful for the second-straight game, scoring 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He and Corey Lowe will need to carry the bulk of the scoring load in conference play for the Terriers to continue to be successful. If they have an off night, it's most likely the team will as well unless BU's post players really come prepared to play. Speaking of, it was interesting to see Scott Brittain start the game as opposed to Marques Johnson (giving the Terriers four forwards and one guard instead of three and two) who had a masterful game against Albany. Wolff said the decision was based on how Brittain had performed in practice and he would remain in the starting lineup until further notice.

Pros:
-- Ending the losing streak: By far, the most important aspect of this game as even though the team played well against Albany, things were turning sour.
-- Zone defense: For the second-consective game, the Terriers spent all 40 minutes in 3-2 and matchup zones. The zone was very effective as the Wildcats shot just 2-of-33 from beyond the arc and it helped prevent foul trouble/fatigue.

Cons:
-- Marques Johnson's playing time: Odd to see Johnson log only 13 minutes after playing 40 against Albany (albeit that was without Corey Lowe in the lineup), but his performance probably merited slightly more playing time.
-- Rebounding: The rebounding margin was even. It's picky, but the Terriers can always improve on rebounding, especially now that they've got to learn how to do it out of a zone defense.

Links:
MBball dominates UNH despite injuries

Stat of the Week

73 percent

Albany made 8-of-11 3-point attempts in its 82-77 victory at Patrick Gym yesterday. While 8-of-11 is impressive regardless of the team responsible, consider that Albany entered the game dead last in perimeter shooting among America East teams. Even after last night's game, the Great Danes are making less than 29 percent of their threes -- no other team in the conference is below 30 percent. Every player on the Albany roster misses at least 65 percent of his attempts.

This information can indicate any of a number of things related to last night's game, not all of which can be true. If Albany has better shooters than its previous form indicates, then the Great Danes are even more dangerous than generally believed. Perhaps that isn't the right answer either. Maybe Vermont has poor perimeter defense, which is something Catamount head coach Mike Lonergan mentioned yesterday after the game, or perhaps this was an outlier performance and Albany merely got lucky. Not many teams can expect to turn the ball over 21 times and win a game.

In any case, the result adds importance to Wednesday's game between Binghamton and Albany, two teams that take a lot of two-point shots and allow opponents to get to the line. Don't expect to see eight made threes by either team. For that matter, it wouldn't be a surprise if neither team has double-digit attempts from beyond the arc. Fifty free throws, on the other hand, is a distinct possibility.

Around the League: 1.11.09

Sunday's games:

Albany 82, Vermont 77
The normally poor-shooting Great Danes found their stroke in Burlington this afternoon, tickling the twine on 48 percent of their attempts in a closely contested game at Patrick Gym. Despite success outside the conference, Vermont (9-6, 0-2 America East) suddenly finds itself at the bottom of the standings. In his postgame press conference, Mike Lonergan was unhappy with his team's performance on the defensive end, not a surprising reaction considering the Danes' season-high scoring total. Albany (10-6, 2-1 AE) held Marqus Blakely to just 11 points and five rebounds; the Catamount star played 31 minutes but was hampered by foul trouble. Colin McIntosh picked up the slack, accumulating 25 points and 4 blocks, but without the usual Blakely contribution Vermont appeared surprisingly feeble on the boards. Albany enjoyed a 13-rebound advantage, enough to win despite turning the ball over 21 times. The Catamounts led at halftime before Albany took control in the second half, building an 11-point gap with 3:10 to play and holding on until the final whistle. Vermont travels to Boston for a Wednesday night showdown at the Greek, while Albany returns to SEFCU Arena to host conference-leading Binghamton that same night.

Monday's games:
No games scheduled. Around the League will return on Tuesday.

Post-game Audio & Photos (BU 68, UNH 37)

Here's the audio from Dennis Wolff's post-game press conference following BU's 68-37 win over New Hampshire on Sunday.

BU coach Dennis Wolff's opening statement


Wolff talks about starting the offense in the post


Wolff discusses Holland's effort since the injuries


Wolff says why he's made the switch to a zone defense


Wolff says why he chose to start Scott Brittain over Marques Johnson


John Holland talks about adjusting after the injuries


UNH coach Bill Herrion did not attend the press conference.

Live Blog: University of New Hampshire vs. Boston University

This afternoon's game between the University of New Hampshire (5-7, 1-0) and Boston University (5-8, 0-1) is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.

Here are the starting lineups:

University of New Hampshire Wildcats
4 G Tyrece Gibbs
21 G Tyrone Conley
25 G Alvin Abreu
15 F Rony Tchatchoua
1 C Dane DiLiegro

Boston University Terriers
2 F Matt Wolff
13 G Corey Lowe
21 F Jake O'Brien
23 F John Holland
31 F Scott Brittain

Final score: Boston University Terriers 68, University of New Hampshire Wildcats 37

Leading scorers:
UNH -- Tyrone Conley, 9
BU -- John Holland, 25

Leading rebouders:
UNH -- Brian Benson, 8
BU -- John Holland, 8

Leading assists:
UNH --Brian Benson, 2
BU -- Matt Wolff, 6

GAMEDAY: University of New Hampshire vs. Boston University

Now we really get a chance to see what the Terriers will look like following the news of season-ending injuries to two of their top five scorers in Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong. In BU's previous game against the University at Albany (a 62-61 loss) leading scorer Corey Lowe (17.6 points per game) was benched by coach Dennis Wolff as a disciplinary measure for receiving two technical fouls against the College of the Holy Cross last Friday.

Lowe will not be benched against the University of New Hampshire on Sunday and so the complete picture of the way the Terriers will shape up for the remainder of the season will be presented in both teams' second conference game.

The Wildcats won their conference opener against Hartford (which was without it's leading scorer and rebounder in Joe Zeglinski, who is also lost for the season) in convincing fashion. They'll once again run into a depleted team, but on the road this time, where they've only won one game in six chances this season. While UNH is on a two-game winning streak (after losing four in a row before that) their road woes have been severe in Boston. The Wildcats haven't beaten BU at Case Gymnasium in 13 seasons with their last win coming on February 10th, 1994 (64-56) in a season in which BU went 11-16 (4-10).

While the Terriers have lost five in a row, they'll be facing against a team that hasn't found a way to win outside of Durham, N.H. and relies heavily on its outside shooting. BU will matchup against a team that looked very similar to the Terriers prior to the injuries as Tyrece Gibbs, Tyrone Conley and Alvin Abreu can all shoot from the perimeter. UNH has lived and died with its shooting as their only real inside scoring threat is Dane DiLiegro, who recently recorded a career-high 17 rebound game, upping his rebounds per game number to 7.2. He hasn't been overly effective scoring (5.1 points per game) but is a post presence the Terriers will need to worry about nonetheless. Interestingly enough, BU will most likely be able to take advantage of many of their opponents on the interior given the loss of two of their top guards and resulting change in gameplan mentality. As discussed in The Day After post following the loss to Albany, the play of Marques Johnson as well as the additional scoring burden placed on Lowe and John Holland will be a continuing theme.

Defensive rebounding has been a pressing issue with BU this season, and once again, the numbers don't favor the home team as UNH's defensive rebounding percentage is an impressive 29.2. BU will need to keep the battle on the boards more respectable than they did against Albany if they hope for a victory.

Projected starting lineups:

Around the League: 1.10.09

Saturday's games:

Yale 71, Hartford 63
Hartford's backcourt continues to exceed expectations after the loss of Joe Zeglinski to injury, but the Bulldog frontcourt had its way with the Hawks in this one. Without Zeglinski, Jaret von Rosenberg and Andres Torres each played 40 minutes and combined for 38 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals, and eight assists against just two turnovers. Unfortunately for Hartford (5-11, 1-1 America East), there was no answer for Ross Morin and Travis Pinick. The pair had 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting with 19 rebounds, dwarfing the Hawks' forwards' output and rendering Hartford's matchup zone useless. Yale (5-9, 0-0 Ivy) outrebounded Hartford by 13 and shot well enough to overcome a turnover margin of minus-6. Despite Morin and Pinick dominating down low, Hartford led for most of the game before Yale pounced with a 19-7 run in the last 9:17. The Hawks host Maine this Wednesday.

Maryland-Baltimore County 61, Maine 59
Darryl Proctor's excellent play continued with an incredibly efficient 26-point performance at the RAC Arena in Baltimore. Proctor missed just two shots from the field, adding eight rebounds and two each of assists, blocks, and steals as UMBC (7-7, 1-1 AE) recovered from its home loss against Stony Brook. Maine (6-10, 1-2 AE), which was coming off a home win over the Seawolves, trailed by as many as 11 before mounting a comeback. Mark Socoby led the Black Bears with 20 points but couldn't make it 23 as his buzzer-beater attempt caught back iron and didn't fall. Both teams resume play this Wednesday, with Hartford hosting the Black Bears and the Retrievers traveling to Durham for a date with New Hampshire.

Utah Valley 80, Binghamton 70
The Bearcats' six-game winning streak came to an end in Orem as the host Wolverines used a 13-6 run to pull away late in the second half. D.J. Rivera was effective for Binghamton (10-5, 3-0 AE) but was held below 20 points. Utah Valley's Ryan Toolson led all scorers with 21 points, but the difference-maker was Justin Baker, who scored 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting and added eight rebounds off the bench. Utah Valley (8-6) shot 21-of-25 from the free throw line, easily outdoing the Bearcats' 50 percent performance from the line. Free throws and a plus-13 edge in rebounding outweighed Binghamton's six fewer turnovers, producing a different winner than the teams' previous meeting this season. Binghamton returns to the Empire State for a mammoth matchup at Albany this Wednesday.

Sunday's games:
Albany (9-6, 1-1 AE) vs. Vermont (9-5, 0-1 AE)
The Great Danes weren't ready to play against Hartford and almost let Boston University escape with a road win before finding an escape route at the last moment. That caliber of performance won't work against a hungry Vermont team returning home after a road loss. Albany has plenty of fresh bodies to throw at Marqus Blakely, which may or may not be enough to hang with the reigning POY on the boards. Rebounding, of course, isn't enough: it's no good grabbing five consecutive offensive rebounds only to miss six shots in a single possession, as the Great Danes did on Thursday. If the Catamounts are firing on all cylinders Albany will need uncharacteristically strong shooting in order to keep up. Albany has won the last three meetings in the series, but these games are almost always close: those three wins came by a combined five points.

A Century of Tradition: Durham Edition

Considering the number of schools in Boston and Massachusetts as a whole, it comes as a surprise to some that the Terriers’ closest conference rival – geographically speaking – is an out-of-state opponent. After Northeastern packed its bags and left America East following the 2004-05 season, New Hampshire became the Terriers’ shortest in-conference trip. With the Wildcats making the trip down to Case for tomorrow’s game, it’s time to take a look at BU’s history with the Granite State.

Adam Sandler may hail from New Hampshire, but the Wildcats aren’t laughing about their all-time record versus the Terriers. BU is 87-36 all-time versus UNH, including a Boston sweep last year. To put the Terriers’ 51-win advantage in perspective, consider this: BU is 20 or more games above .500 against only one other school. That would be Colby, which no longer plays D-I basketball and hasn’t appeared on the Terriers’ schedule for 40 years.

The teams’ first meeting was the first game for BU’s first head coach, P.V. Stroud, and it didn’t end well. UNH won 75-12. Needless to say, Stroud’s tenure was short. New Hampshire proved to be a difficult opponent in the basketball program’s infancy, as the Terriers also lost the next ten meetings before securing a 31-20 win in 1930-31. Fittingly, the Terriers’ head coach was named Win Carlson, who left after the following season as the team’s winningest coach.

After some more difficulties against the Wildcats, BU won 14 straight against their opponent from the north and had a chance to even the series at 17 apiece in the last game of the 1953-54 season. UNH managed to halt the streak short of 15 with a three-point win in Durham, depriving the Terriers of both a .500 record in the head-to-head series and for the season. BU ended the season with nine wins and 11 losses. Five years later, the historic Elite Eight team of 1958-59 won 86-65 in Durham to draw level at 18-18 all-time.

After 50 years of even play between the two sides, BU has dominated UNH for the past-half-century. Notable performances can be found on both ends of the court. The Terrier record for points scored, 124, was set in a 48-point win against the Wildcats on February 17, 1979. Last time the two teams met, Corey Lowe attempted 16 3-pointers, tying a record he already held. On the defensive end, BU turned in a memorable performance by holding the Wildcats to 29 points on January 13, 2007.

While we’re on the subject of Durham, there’s another school hailing from a place called Durham. Said school happens to be pretty good at basketball. The Duke Blue Devils have opposed the Terriers on six occasions, winning all six. Some of the contests have been competitive – BU lost by just ten in a game on January 21, 1992 – but others were ugly, such as the 109-55 drubbing handed down by the eventual NCAA champions at Cameron Indoor Stadium. As difficult as some of the Terriers' losses have been to swallow this year, none of them approach a 54-point defeat.

A Century of Tradition will return to its normal Thursday time slot next week.