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

by Seth Orensky

In this weekly segment, my fellow beat reporters and I will attempt to provide you with an accurate portrayal of where each team in the conference stands. These rankings will show how each team is currently faring and not necessarily how we think the standings will end up. And now for the fun stuff:


1.) Boston University Terriers - BU was selected 1st in the America East Coaches Poll for the third year in a row, but this is by far the Terriers best chance of winning the conference crown. The Terriers, under new head coach Patrick Chambers, return all but three role players. They bring back America East Rookie of the Year Jake O’Brien, who nearly transferred, and top recruit B.J. Bailey. BU easily has the most talent in the conference, as guard Corey Lowe and swingman John Holland both were America East First Team members last year. The rest of the squad is extremely deep as well. On the interior, BU brings back O’Brien and fellow sophomore Jeff Pelage, who has bulked up, along with senior forwards Scott Brittain and Valdas Sirutis. The team’s guard play should be even better as Holland and Lowe will team up with senior guards Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong, who both are returning from injuries, and star recruit freshmen Bailey. The only things standing between the Terriers and a huge season are possible growing pains because of Coach Chambers’ new system and the injuries that have plagued this team for the past two seasons. It will be interesting to see how the Terriers deal with the latter issue as Brittain and Bailey have already suffered preseason injuries and no timetable has been set for either player’s return.

2.) Vermont Catamounts - Vermont lost two of their three best be players in Mike Trimboli and Colin McIntosh to graduation but, still have high hopes because of Marquis Blakely. Blakely the two-time America East player of the year has been ranked nationally as one of the best rebounders and defenders in the country and even garnered an honorable mention status for the All-American award. The scary thing is Coach Mike Lonergan thinks Blakely can be even better this year improving upon his 16.1 points and 9 rebounds a game. If Blakely can provide even more, it will take off some of the pressure off of senior guards Nick Vier and Maurice Joseph, who will have to pick up some of the scoring load with Trimboli and McIntosh gone. The Catamounts will really suffer to be consistent without Trimboli, a four-time America East first team selection, but expect them to be just fine in the end with Blakely dominating games on both ends of the court.


3.) Albany Great Danes - One of the most inconsistent teams in the conference returns too much talent to begin the season any lower than third in this edition of the power rankings. Albany brings back senior guard Tim Ambrose, who is a preseason first team America East selection, and UVA transfer forward Will Harris, one of the best one-two tandems in the conference. With 14.3 points per game last year, Ambrose finished 9th in the conference in scoring even though he only played 25 minutes per game. Harris, in his first year at Albany was nearly as effective, finishing 10th in the conference in scoring and seventh in rebounding with 6.5 boards a game. The biggest problem will be providing scoring depth behind the two big playmakers. The Great Danes lost Anthony Raffa and Brian Connelly, their third and fourth best scorers, to graduation and need several players to fill the void. That didn’t happen in their first game, as the Great Danes were blown out by Syracuse 75-43, with Ambrose and Harris scoring more than 60% of the team’s points. As long as Albany can find a few secondary scoring options, the Great Danes will excel especially with their strong defense and amazing rebounding abilities.

4.) Stony Brook Seawolves - Stony Brook is coming off its best year in program history at the D1 level and will look to improve upon last year’s 8-8 mark in conference play. It all starts with Muhammad El-Amin for the Seawolves, as he was picked as a preseason first team America East selection after making the second team last season. El-Amin averaged nearly 16 points a game last season reaching double digits in every conference tilt last year. He will have plenty of help from the sophomore trio of Bryan Dougher, Dallis Joyner and Tommy Brenton. Dougher averaged double digits last year and set program records for a freshmen in points scored and three-pointers made while Brenton led the entire America East in rebounding during conference play. Coach Steve Pikiell has high hopes for the third member of the triumvirate Dallis Joyner, whose size at 6-7 250 can cause many conference foes immense problems in the paint. Expect this Seawolves team to improve upon their conference record from a year ago and compete for one of the top three seeds after losing only one of their top six scorers and bringing in a strong recruiting class.

5.) New Hampshire Wildcats - UNH was one of the most wildly inconsistent teams last year in conference, but they were able to consistently beat the lower tier teams in the conference. The Wildcats went 0-7 against BU, Binghamton and Vermont, but went 9-2 against the rest of the conference, including three key wins against Stony Brook, the team closest to them in the standings. Coach Herrion’s squad lost its leading scorer Tyrece Gibbs to graduation, but return the other four starters and four talented freshmen. Junior guard Alvin Abreu will have to improve upon his scoring average of nearly 13 points per game from a year ago to prove that he is a true number one scoring option for the Wildcats. Behind him are classmates Tyrone Conley and Colbey Santos, who make up a very experienced and talented backcourt. The front court should be pretty talented too as junior forward Dane Dilegro (5.7 points, 6.9 rebounds per game) and senior forward Radar Onguetou (5.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg) will provide a huge presence inside. UNH is a team that easily could be ranked higher by the end of the season but has to prove they can beat the top tier teams before they can earn that kind of respect.

6.) Maine Black Bears - The Black Bears return four starters from last year’s squad that struggled but have high hopes for this season. Despite having leading scorer Mark Socoby decide not to return, Maine returns all but two of its top scorers and a lot of talent. Sophomore guard Gerald McLemore provided a huge offensive boost last year scoring just over 12 points a game, if he can improve his shooting percentage he could be huge threat to the rest of the league. Down low, the Black Bears need to see improvement from junior forwards Sean McNally and Troy Barnies, who both averaged over 7 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. Add Junior Bernal the steady senior point guard to the mix and swingman Malachi Peay or Terrance Mitchell, a junior transfer, and this Maine team has the veteran leadership and talent to compete in the nonconference schedule. Maine has one of the most experienced and deepest teams in the conference and although their players aren’t quite as talented as the top tier teams, expect them to play a lot of close games against superior teams.


7.)  Hartford Hawks - After 2007-2008’s season ended in an America East championship game loss to the University of Maryland Baltimore County, last year saw the Hawks take a big step backwards. Coach Dan Leibovitz’s squad finished just 7-26 and managed only 2 wins during conference play. 2009 could bring better fortunes for the Hawks though as Joe Zeglinski a preseason all-America East first team selection returns from injury. Zeglinski who has averaged over 15 points per game the past two years, will have to make up for the loss of seniors and leading scorers Jaret Van Rosenberg and Micheal Turner, who attempted to fill the void Zeglinski left when he went down with an ankle injury. Hartford, with Zeglinski back, will be a much better team but the issue is the role players and depth. Outside of Morgan Sabia, an America East Rookie Team member two years ago who really struggled last year, the team has no proven scoring options. Players such as Milton Burton, a junior transfer from Panola College, and junior guard Andres Torres need to step up if this team is going to have a chance to compete for an America East Championship. Hartford will prove competitive but expect them to struggle to score points in bunches and suffer on the boards because of a general lack of height.

8.) UMBC Retrievers - After losing America East First Team members Darryl Proctor and Jay Greene, Coach Monroe’s squad came into the summer with a ton of questions. The preseason finished with the squad facing even more issues as sophomore guard Chauncey Gilliam was ruled academically ineligible for first semester and senior forward Justin Fry was ruled out until 2nd semester because of knee surgery complications. The Retrievers are left with senior captain Matt Spadafora as their lone returning starter to begin the season and a slew of freshmen with plenty to prove. Spadafora is the only player returning of last year’s top six scorers and will have to improve upon his scoring average of 8 points a game. UMBC’s fate will fall upon the shoulders of Spadafora and their freshmen class of five players to begin the season. The Retrievers will struggle first semester because of inexperience and the absence of Gilliam and Fry but expect them to finish towards the middle of the pack once the America East season comes around.

9.) Binghamton Bearcats - Where to start with these beleaguered Bearcats? After losing six of its top players, its athletic director and Coach Kevin Broadus (who is on indefinite leave) this team has more questions than any defending conference champion in the history of sports. New head coach Mark Macon, a former collegiate star at Temple, inherits a team with only three players that have any collegiate experience. Macon’s squad returns just 13% of its scoring and no seniors leaving Macon with a monumental task in bringing this team together. Forced to replace six players including stars Tiki Mayben and Dj Rivera, Binghamton added six walk-ons last month who will attempt to provide depth on a team that has none. In the long run Binghamton can’t be expected to compete in the conference this season after the events of the past few months but their non-conference schedule will show how bad they will really be. The other BU has November tilts against DII Arkansas Monticello and Bloomsburg and if they can’t it least compete in those games Macon should just throw in the towel now.