Maine starts the season 2-0. Stony Brook is 1-0. Vermont, Albany, Boston University and Hartford are all 0-1. Simply put, all our preseason predictions are screwed.
Not really, but it certainly made for some surprises on opening weekend.
We will start off with Maine, who captured glory at the 100 Club Classic hosted by Keenesaw State. In the first game against Northern Illinois (a team that was 6-22 last season and only returns three upperclassmen who contributed very little), freshman Gerald McLemore led the way with 24 points to a 77-64 win. The team also got contributions from their rock, Mark Socoby (16pts) and Junior Bernal (12pts, 7rebs, 5ast). Another freshman and half-MAINE KID! (via prep school) Svetoslav Chetnov make a nice impact in his debut with 9pts and 7rebs.
In game number two, against host Keenesaw State, a team that was 10-21 last season, Socoby notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Fellow MAINE KID! Troy Barnies added 16 points in the 60-47 win.
As Carlos said, the tournament field, which also included Western Illinois (12-18 last season) might have been the worst tournament field ever, but Maine made the most out of it and got wins against conferences America East schools need to beat. It is far better that Maine go on the road and get victories against Division I opponents rather than staying home and hosting Maine-Farmington. The Black Bears certainly have a tough road ahead for the rest of the schedule, but this week they deserve a nice pat on the back for not messing everything up by losing to terrible basketball teams. And, I don't have to do a Replacing Ted until potentially Thursday. Kudos Maine!
Stony Brook beat Maryland-Eastern Shore 60-44. Some guy named Tommy Brenton grabbed 16 rebounds. He probably only plays two minutes in their next game. The Wanker from Windsor, aka Brit Danny Carter scored 11 points to lead the Seawolves to victory. Again, good job to Stony Brook for not messing it up and losing to another God-awful Division I team. It is all about victories against teams the conference should be beating up on. So way to go Seawolves!
Speaking of conferences that America East teams should beat, the AE went 0-1 against the NEC. Hartford dropped a 63-62 game to Quinnipiac. That is concerning for a team everyone expects to be in the top three in the league. Rebounding killed the Hawks, getting outrebounded 45-26. That is going to have to change if they want to take that next step and be the legit title contender people think they are going to be. Too bad they face UConn next. I don't think they will be outrebounding them.
BU lost to George Washington in overtime. Corey Lowe was awful, John Holland was good, and Tyler Morris only had two points and one assist. The team was missing Scott Brittian, and freshman Jake O'Brien filled in by shooting horribly (3-of-11) to finish with 8 points and 6 rebounds. Carlos Strong picked up the slack and contributed 14 points, but if Lowe and Morris suck that hard every game, BU is going to find themselves in the same place they were last season very quickly.
Albany got handled by #25 Villanova 78-60. Will Harris and Anthony Raffa had nice debuts, each having 13 points apiece. Raffa only had one assist and five turnovers, which should be concerning since he is a point guard. Harris actually led the way in assists with five. Brett Gifford had 7 rebounds, does this mean he finally dominates the league? My sources tell me no. Should be interesting to see how they perform against DePaul.
The "best" game, even if they lost might belong to Vermont and George Mason. The Patriots won 80-79 in overtime due to the Catamounts total incompetence to complete a final play in a close game. I wonder if the players actually think they are supposed to do that now it happens so often? Anyways, Marqus Blakely had 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocks. I don't think he is hurt as some people said he was. It is unfortunate that Vermont lost, but to hang tough with a team that is almost always good, and to even play competitively down the stretch without Blakely (he fouled out) and Mike Trimboli scoring, that is good news. And to be getting nice contributions around the board. I wouldn't be too concerned if I'm Vermont. Just beat Yale and get everything back on track.
And finally, UMBC's entire starting five reached double digits as they beat up on some crappy DIII team. Their first real test comes against Morgan State this week.
Not really, but it certainly made for some surprises on opening weekend.
We will start off with Maine, who captured glory at the 100 Club Classic hosted by Keenesaw State. In the first game against Northern Illinois (a team that was 6-22 last season and only returns three upperclassmen who contributed very little), freshman Gerald McLemore led the way with 24 points to a 77-64 win. The team also got contributions from their rock, Mark Socoby (16pts) and Junior Bernal (12pts, 7rebs, 5ast). Another freshman and half-MAINE KID! (via prep school) Svetoslav Chetnov make a nice impact in his debut with 9pts and 7rebs.
In game number two, against host Keenesaw State, a team that was 10-21 last season, Socoby notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Fellow MAINE KID! Troy Barnies added 16 points in the 60-47 win.
As Carlos said, the tournament field, which also included Western Illinois (12-18 last season) might have been the worst tournament field ever, but Maine made the most out of it and got wins against conferences America East schools need to beat. It is far better that Maine go on the road and get victories against Division I opponents rather than staying home and hosting Maine-Farmington. The Black Bears certainly have a tough road ahead for the rest of the schedule, but this week they deserve a nice pat on the back for not messing everything up by losing to terrible basketball teams. And, I don't have to do a Replacing Ted until potentially Thursday. Kudos Maine!
Stony Brook beat Maryland-Eastern Shore 60-44. Some guy named Tommy Brenton grabbed 16 rebounds. He probably only plays two minutes in their next game. The Wanker from Windsor, aka Brit Danny Carter scored 11 points to lead the Seawolves to victory. Again, good job to Stony Brook for not messing it up and losing to another God-awful Division I team. It is all about victories against teams the conference should be beating up on. So way to go Seawolves!
Speaking of conferences that America East teams should beat, the AE went 0-1 against the NEC. Hartford dropped a 63-62 game to Quinnipiac. That is concerning for a team everyone expects to be in the top three in the league. Rebounding killed the Hawks, getting outrebounded 45-26. That is going to have to change if they want to take that next step and be the legit title contender people think they are going to be. Too bad they face UConn next. I don't think they will be outrebounding them.
BU lost to George Washington in overtime. Corey Lowe was awful, John Holland was good, and Tyler Morris only had two points and one assist. The team was missing Scott Brittian, and freshman Jake O'Brien filled in by shooting horribly (3-of-11) to finish with 8 points and 6 rebounds. Carlos Strong picked up the slack and contributed 14 points, but if Lowe and Morris suck that hard every game, BU is going to find themselves in the same place they were last season very quickly.
Albany got handled by #25 Villanova 78-60. Will Harris and Anthony Raffa had nice debuts, each having 13 points apiece. Raffa only had one assist and five turnovers, which should be concerning since he is a point guard. Harris actually led the way in assists with five. Brett Gifford had 7 rebounds, does this mean he finally dominates the league? My sources tell me no. Should be interesting to see how they perform against DePaul.
The "best" game, even if they lost might belong to Vermont and George Mason. The Patriots won 80-79 in overtime due to the Catamounts total incompetence to complete a final play in a close game. I wonder if the players actually think they are supposed to do that now it happens so often? Anyways, Marqus Blakely had 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocks. I don't think he is hurt as some people said he was. It is unfortunate that Vermont lost, but to hang tough with a team that is almost always good, and to even play competitively down the stretch without Blakely (he fouled out) and Mike Trimboli scoring, that is good news. And to be getting nice contributions around the board. I wouldn't be too concerned if I'm Vermont. Just beat Yale and get everything back on track.
And finally, UMBC's entire starting five reached double digits as they beat up on some crappy DIII team. Their first real test comes against Morgan State this week.
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