America East Men's Basketball Power Rankings 11/15/09

by Seth Orensky

After the first week of America East play, the expected big three in the conference are 1-4, UMBC got great news before even playing a game and Morgan State’s Reggie Holmes wishes he could play America East teams every game. On tap this week for America East teams include a trip to Puerto Rico for BU, where they will begin the tournament with Kansas State and play two other games, Binghamton gets a real test when they go to Pittsburgh, and New Hampshire travels to College Park to take on the University of Maryland.


1. Boston University Terriers (0-1; L Iona 82-73): Despite falling to Iona on the road, the Terriers have a lot to feel good about coming out of Friday night’s game. Tyler Morris ('10) and Carlos Strong ('10), in their return from season-ending injuries, looked great for new head coach Patrick Chambers. Morris led all scorers with 21 points and Strong was the best player on the court for BU, ending the game with a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) including pulling down five of BU’s 13 offensive rebounds. The Terriers still need to work on finding an inside presence as Jake O’Brien ('12) was unable to get involved in the game but expect them to improve in the paint and overall as the team plays more game and senior forward Scott Brittain ('10) and freshmen guard B.J. Bailey ('13) return from injury.


2. Vermont Catamounts (1-1: L Loyola MD 79-66, W Buffalo 58-57): Vermont’s first two games showed how important Nick Vier will be to the Catamount’s success. Vier managed only 7 points in the team’s opener against Loyola but scored 12 in Sunday’s tilt against Buffalo. Marqus Blakely and Maurice Joseph have shown they are going to be the top two scoring options but Vier must step up behind the two players if Vermont is going to be able to compete in every contest. Blakely came up big in the contest against Buffalo finishing with a double-double, 17 points and 12 rebounds and hit a free throw with nine seconds left to put the Catamounts ahead 58-57. Vermont’s off till next Sunday when they take on Rutgers a Big East squad and a big chance for the Catamounts to prove they and America East can compete against the best conferences.

3. Stony Brook University (1-0: W MD Eastern Shore 75-57): Stony Brook, in its season opener, looked great on the road, dismantling the MD-Eastern Shore Hawks by 18. Muhammad El-Amin scored 25 points for the Seawolves to extend his streak of scoring in double-digits to 21, dating back to last season. He had plenty of help, as Bryan Dougher chipped in with 11 and Chris Martin and Preye Preboye both finished with 8 points. Stony Brook shot nearly 50 percent from the field and pulled away because they shot 30 percent better from the charity stripe then the Hawks (77.8%-47.1%).

4. Albany Great Danes (0-2: L Syracuse 75-43, L Morgan State 69-65): The big question coming into this season for head coach Will Brown was who would step up and help Tim Ambrose and Will Harris the team’s two star players. After two games, the team is no closer to finding an answer. Ambrose and Harris have scored just over 60% of the team’s points, with no other player on the team scoring more than 4.5 ppg. If Ambrose and Harris don’t get more help soon, this team is going to continue to struggle and an injury to one of the two could be catastrophic.

5. University of New Hampshire Wildcats (1-0: W Suffolk (DIII) 91-45): For the second year in a row, the Wildcats opened up their season and destroyed the Division III Suffolk Rams. UNH got a great balanced effort, as five players scored in double digits. Junior center Dane Dilegro led the way with 14 points and 15 rebounds in the Saturday night game. The Wildcats will be in for a real test this week, as they travel to Maryland to take on the Terrapins, who were ranked 26th in both preseason polls. If UNH is going to be competitive in that game, they have to improve from the free throw line where they hit only 65% of their shots against Suffolk.

6. University of Maine Black Bears (1-0: W Fordham 76-73): Maine escaped their first contest with a win at Rose Hill Gym in New York 76-73, with Fordham finishing the game on a 7-1 run. The Black Bears got 26 points and 8 rebounds from sophomore guard Gerald McLemore, who went 7-12 of from behind the three-point line. Terrance Mitchell, Junior Bernal and Sean McNally all finished in double digit scoring for a Maine team that started out 3-0 last year before finishing 9-21. Maine was able to pull away in the 2nd half because of superior rebounding (40-31) and the fact that they shot 10-20 on three point attempts. Maine will have a chance to rack up a few more wins this week as they play MEAC members Norfolk and Delaware State on the road.


7. Hartford Hawks (0-2: L Quinnipiac 85-74, L Baylor 71-69): Even though Hartford finds themselves off to an 0-2 start, the Hawks have been one of the most impressive teams in the conference. Hartford’s loss against Baylor this afternoon on the road was the first contest for an America East team against a team from one of the six biggest conferences (Big XII), and Hartford definitely held its own. If not for Ekpe Udoh’s dominance down the stretch, where he scored 9 of the last 11 points for Baylor including the game winning shot, Hartford easily could have stolen a victory in Waco. The Hawks have to be extremely happy in the early going with Joel Barkers, a transfer student from Kirkwood Community College in D.C., who is averaging over 18 points a game.


8. University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers (0-1: L Morgan State 72-57): The biggest news of the first week came out of Maryland on Friday when sophomore guard Chauncey Gilliam was reinstated after being ruled out for the entire first semester earlier this fall for academic issues. Gilliam gives the Retrievers a number one scoring option, and he and senior forward Matt Spadafora will help take some of the pressure off the many freshmen Coach Randy Monroe brought in. However, UMBC did fall on Sunday to Morgan State.  Reggie Holmes, a senior guard for the Bears, torched both UMBC and Albany earlier this week for 23 points in each game. The Retrievers biggest issue in the game: shooting just 14.3 percent from behind the three point line.

9. Binghamton Bearcats: (1-0: W Bloomsburg (DII) 54-49): It’s official: Coach Mark Macon has started a new era in Binghamton’s program history and he won’t have to worry about a winless season. Macon’s squad did fall behind 8-0 early to DII Bloomsburg, but managed to scrape their way back for a win. Moussa Camara, one of three players with any prior collegiate experience on the squad, led all scorers with 16 points while transfer forward Greer Wright played all 40 minutes, finishing with 15 points and 10 boards. The Bearcats play next at Pittsburgh Tuesday night, which struggled in its first game against Wofford.