America East Daily Word - December 2

Boston U.’s Joe Jones, Stony Brook’s Steve Pikiell and Vermont’s John Becker know a thing or two about recruiting.

Their magic touch on the recruiting trail caught the attention of ESPN’s Adam Finkelstein, who is in the process of breaking down some of the best recruiting classes in the Division I conferences. For the America East, he dissects next year’s class for the Terriers, Seawolves and Catamounts.

Let’s start first on Long Island and see what Finkelstein has to say about the Seawolves. Jameel Warney, a 6-foot-9 big man out of New Jersey, “can change the game with his defense, rebounding and has an offensive game that projects best for the structure that the college game provides.” This is a prime time get for Stony Brook, and add point guard Caron Puriefoy with athletic swingman Ryan Burnett, the Seawolves will be in good hands, according to the recruiting guru.

Joe Jones wasted no time when he got to Boston U. to bring in a solid recruiting class highlighted by a guard tandem Maurice Watson and John Papale. The duo apparently turned down over 20 other scholarship offers to plays for Jones on Comm. Ave. Finkelstein believe these two complement each other perfectly. Finally, Nathan Dieudonne, an athletic big, could see time at both forward spots.

Let’s head up to Burlington now, where John Becker continues the tradition of bringing quality talent to UVM. Ethan O’Day, a “crafty, bouncy, and extremely efficient” post player, will bring some size to the Catamounts while swingman Brendan Kilpatrick will fit into the Vermont system quite nicely.

We still have almost a full season of basketball ahead of us and yet, next year is already a hot topic for discussion.

The White Plains Patch featured a trio of America East ballers in an article today. Vermont guards Brian Voelkel and Sandro Carrisimo and New Hampshire guard Jordon Bronner – all teammates at Iona Prep – are making noise on the NCAA scene. Zach Smart takes a look at their storied high school, and now blossoming college careers.

Those two Vermont standouts had a tough go of it last night at home against Harvard, though. In fact, America East basketball as a whole had a tough day.

Taking on Harvard, a team just outside the top-25 in the nation, the Vermont men were going to need to pull out all the stops. Unfortunately, a stifling defensive performance by the Crimson left the Cats humbled at home in front of almost 3,000 fans, 55-48. In the only other men’s game on the night, UMBC could not get past American and the Retrievers are still looking for that elusive first win.

On the women’s side, the two hottest teams to start the season went a little cold yesterday. Vermont fell on the road at Northeastern, 78-62, while Hartford and Marist tangled in Poughkeepsie with the Red Foxes downing the Hawks, 57-51.

And let’s not forget about volleyball because Albany plays its first round match of the NCAA Tournament today in Tallahassee, Fla. against the Seminoles of Florida State. FSU defeated Albany 3-0 earlier this year.

For the complete weekend schedule head to AmericaEast.com…

Pipe Dream: Women's basketball uses run to get past Cornell
Bangor Daily News: Women's basketball preview
Stony Brook Statesman: O'Boyle gets first win at the helm

Harvard’s defense schools UVM: Men’s basketball falls to undefeated Crimson

Harvard’s pre-season Ivy League player of the year, Keith Wright, scored 13 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, as Harvard was able to hold off the UVM men’s basketball team 55-48 on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Harvard’s defense — which ranks ninth in all of division 1 —was stifling, holding the Catamounts’ shooting to just 35% from the field.

Wright, who has earned numerous accolades including being named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List, combined with fellow frontcourt starter Kyle Casey for 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Offensively, the starting line-up for the Catamounts failed to get anything going early, and head coach John Becker was forced to go to his bench. First-year Four McGlynn and sophomore Luke Apfeld sparked the Catamounts and kept them in the game.

At the half the Catamounts were down 36-26 and had little production from first-team All America East selection Brian Voelkel.

The sophomore forward — who was averaging double-digit rebounds and led the team in assists entering the game — failed to record a rebound or a point in the first half.

The second half got off too much of the same start as did thefirst half. UVM was only able to convert a single free throw in the first four minutes and Becker was forced to go to his bench once again.

Down by 12, McGlynn entered the game and provided instant offense. In consecutive possessions McGlynn sunk a three, converted a tough lay-up in traffic, and netted another three. Junior center Ben Crenca tipped in the following McGlynn miss to cap a 10-0 run, which put the Catamounts within two points of Harvard, 41-39.

In a game where the Catamounts looked tentative to take shots, coach Becker was pleased with McGlynn’s aggressiveness. “He was great tonight and wasn’t afraid to take shots. He kept us in that game.”

Unfortunately for the Catamounts, Harvard was able to take control of the game after the 10-0 run and extended their lead back to 10 with six minutes left in the second. The Catamounts were able to cut the lead to four with 21 seconds left but Harvard converted free throws and sealed their seventh victory of the season.

The story of the game was Harvard’s defense shutting down the UVM starting five. The bench scored 30 of UVM’s 48 points and Brian Voelkel fell well short of his average numbers with a stat line of zero points, one rebound and two assists.

“Brian wasn’t ready to play tonight and never got into the game. He is a great player, he just had a bad game,” coach Becker said. “Our starters have to play better. Our starting guards were terrible and it didn’t get much better in the second half.”

McGlynn —who led all scorers with 15 points — was the lone spark that ignited the UVM offense and the Catamount crowd.

“One thing that I have been able to do my whole life is score the basketball,” McGlynn said. “That was the first time I’ve ever played in a gym that has been that electric. It was great.”

The Catamounts fall to 4-3 on the season with the loss as Harvard moves to 7-0 and is knocking on the door of the national rankings with quality wins over #20 Florida State, Central Florida and Utah.

America East Daily Word - December 1

Got a computer, smartphone, tablet or X-Box?

Perfect. You can watch America East basketball all winter long.

We announced a new broadcast agreement with ESPN and the CBS Sports Network this week that will showcase America East basketball to a national audience for a great collection of games this season and seasons to come. That includes the broadcast of our men’s championship on ESPN or ESPN2 and then 15 more basketball games and the men’s lacrosse championship game on ESPN3. CBS Sports will carry five regular season basketball games.

You have no excuse to miss any of the action once conference play heats up. In fact, hook the laptop up to the big screen TV so the whole family can watch!

Let’s take a closer look at some of the key matchups that ESPN3 will carry.

The slate kicks off on Jan. 14 with a highly anticipated men’s showdown between the team’s that topped the preseason poll – Boston U. and Stony Brook. Both teams got off to rocky starts but have shown signs of turning things around so come January, this should be a high quality basketball game. The Terriers will also battle Vermont in a game that pits the last two champions. Vermont is no stranger to the TV games so that contest at Agganis will be a good one.

On the women’s side, the first ever America East women’s broadcast on ESPN3 takes place when Boston U. travels to UMBC to take on the preseason favorite on Jan. 25. And then, on Feb. 25, it’s the rematch. Boston U. travels to Hartford for a tilt with the defending champion Hawks.

CBS Sports Network will carry the first-ever national televised conference women’s game so mark Feb. 19 on your calendars because UMBC takes on Hartford in a matchup of what many think could be a championship preview. A couple of highly anticipated men’s games are also on the CBS broadcast list, including an Albany-Boston U. showdown in January.

Those same Terriers are on a roll right now, winners of three straight after last night’s victory over Delaware at the Roof. John Connolly of the Boston Herald takes us through all the action from last night. And the Daily Free Press tells us a little bit about the surprise superstar of the evening, Travis Johnson.

NewHampshire held on to down Dartmouth, 53-50. WMUR brought its video camera so it could bring you the highlights, here.

Meanwhile, Maine nearly pulled out a solid road win at Eastern Illinois. The Black Bears were seemingly finished down ten with under a minute left but stormed back to force overtime but ultimately came up short. The Bangor Daily News has more, here.

In women’s action, Binghamton continues to play well streaking past Cornell, 61-48. New Hampshire also picked up a win last night at Dartmouth.

Both UVM squads hit the hardwood today for some big games. John Fantino of the Burlington Free Press looks at the women’s matchup with winless Northeastern and he also breaks down what will be a huge test for the men when they host Harvard.

Washington Post: UMBC president leads higher-education innovation
Albany Times Union: UAlbany women let lead slip away against Long Island
Press and Sun Bulletin: Binghamton women rally past Cornell
Daily Free Press: Women's basketball falters at Harvard

Sights and Sounds - Boston U. vs. Delaware

Travis Robinson entered Wednesday's contest against Delaware averaging just 3 points per game this season.

Something must of clicked for the sophomore last night, though, as he shot a perfect 5-5 from the field including 4-4 from downtown and 2-2 from the charity stripe en route to a career-high 16 points.

We brought our video camera to bring you sights and sounds from the Terriers' third win in a
row.

America East Daily Word - November 29

The team bonding, the coach bus shenanigans, the team meals. All perks of hitting the road with your team.

And then, you get to play basketball. Or if you’re on the Maine women’s basketball team, you get to meet a celebrity.

On Nov. 12, one day before the Black Bears’ game at Rhode Island, the team encountered a former NFL superstar. He caught 64 touchdown passes in his 10-year career and now serves as an NFL analyst for ESPN. Yes, the Black Bear women got to meet Keyshawn Johnson.

Keyshawn, donning a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, took some time to take a few pictures with the ladies from Maine. He must have brought them good fortune because the team downed URI for its first win of the season the next day.

The football celebrity encounters seem to have a way of finding the Maine women’s program. Recall earlier in the fall when head coach Richard Barron tweeted about saying hello to Ron Jaworski at the airport in Philadelphia.

Two pretty cool meetings with some big names in about two months – who’s next? Chances are whoever it is, they will have played football, probably for the Eagles or Jets.

Maine hosts Maine-Maritime tonight in The Pit to close out a four-game homestand. The Bangor Daily News reports that the Black Bears need to reduce turnovers.

We had a very quiet night on the hardwood last evening, only one game on the slate. UMBC traveled north to New Jersey to take on Rutgers. The Retrievers hung tough early but hot shooting from the Scarlet Knights doomed UMBC in a 94-56 loss.

Vermont’s turnaround on the women’s side earned them another mention on a blog. Today’s love comes from the Women’s Hoops Guru Blog as Mel Greenberg breaks down the facets of UVM’s early season success.

 The Daily Free Press ran a great story on new men’s basketball coach Joe Jones today, as well. It takes you in depth into Jones’ background and into his coaching philosophies. Read that feature here.

And finally, there is only one other game on tap for tonight as the Hartford men play host to Yale. America East will be there so be sure to follow us on Twitter (@AmericaEast) for updates throughout the evening.

Albany Times Union: Long rest may not be best
Press and Sun Bulletin: New Binghamton President projects goals
Press and Sun Bulletin: Binghamton women pick up Florida guard
Bangor Daily News: UMaine men face busy stretch of non-league road games
Retriever Weekly: AOTW - Michelle Kurowski
Retriever Weekly: Chattin' With - Phill Stern

America East Daily Word - November 28

Welcome back from a nice Thanksgiving break. Hopefully you are all full of turkey and all the fixings.

One thing we got full on this weekend – hoops, and lots of them.

We had three women’s basketball teams playing in the finals of holiday tournaments and two of them came away with the tourney titles. Vermont and Hartford, two of the hottest teams in the conference right now, continued their winning ways with championships.

Vermont didn’t win six games all of last season. The Catamounts have obviously put their dreaded 5-25 campaign behind them as they are off to a 6-1 start. Lori Gear McBride and company took top honors at the Husky Classic in Houston, Texas. The Cats fast start caught the eye of Graham Hays who mentioned the “Green Mountain Turnaround” in his blog post last night on ESPN.com. It’s still early, Hays says, but 6-1 after 5-25 is certainly something that deserves mention.

Hartford, meanwhile, got some love from Hays as well. The Hawks, which beat TCU and Central Florida in UCF’s tournament, take on Marist this Thursday in what Hays calls a “test” for 5-1 Hartford. That lone loss came at the hands of then second-ranked Notre Dame in the preseason WNIT.

Maine came dangerously close to winning its own Dead River Company Classic but fell to Brown on Saturday in overtime, 61-59.

A couple of men’s hoop notes…

Stony Brook is again tabbed the “team to beat” in the America East by a college basketball writer. This time its Jon Rothstein making the call after the Seawolves nearly upended Northwestern on the road this weekend.

Albany is making a case to be the team to beat come conference play. After wins over Navy and Fairleigh Dickinson this weekend, wins which saw six different players score in double figures for the Danes, the Times Union is excited about Albany’s depth and the early season play from transfer Gerardo Suero who continues to score with incredible efficiency.

Boston University got its first two wins of the season over the weekend. Those also mark the first victories in the Boston U. career of Joe Jones. The Boston Herald featured Jones in a piece detailing his path to the helm of the Terriers and his “velvety” recruiting touch.

And despite Binghamton’s loss to No. 21 Missouri, Bearcat freshman Ben Dickinson left a lasting impression on Tiger senior guard Kim English. The following quotes are from English’s twitter account.

 

“Dreading watching myself on film w/ Coach Nestor tomorrow. Ben Dickinson gave me the blues in the first half. Like 8 straight in my grille…Ben Dickinson should def be the #AmericaEast Freshmen of the year! #Binghamton.”

Make sure you vote for your favorite play of the fall and check out AmericaEast.com for all the live coverage links for tonight’s lone contest, a men’s basketball bout between Rutgers and UMBC.

Albany Times Union: UAlbany women stifle St. Francis
Hartford Courant: Central Dominates Hartford
Portland Press Herald: Maine upends Holy Cross
Baltimore Sun: Towson takes down UMBC women
Portsmouth Press Herald: UNH women routed at CCSU

UVM beats Sienna on buzzer-beating tip-in

Vote for Your Favorite Play from the Fall Seasons!

With the fall seasons coming to a close, we take a look back at the top plays from the last few months. We've got soccer, field hockey, volleyball and even cross country and you can vote for your favorite.

First, check out the video and then head over to the America East Facebook page to cast your vote. The poll closes soon so make sure you hustle up and tell us your favorite play!

Click here to vote for your favorite play!