Here's the 10th and final installment of the series taking an early look at conference teams. Up, now ...
MARIST (0-2, 0-6)
The Red Foxes are well on their way to fulfilling most predictions for a last-place finish. But, that doesn't mean optimism doesn't exist.
Marist looked terrible in losing by a 37-point margin to Hartford, a middle-of-the-pack America East team (at best), but the average of its other five losses is by 9.2 per contest. And, a four-point loss at Rider on Sunday when it was in the game right until the final seconds is a definite sign that things might be getting better.
And, after the first semester, Marist gets an infusion o fhelp with 6-10, 270-pound center Casiem Drummund, a transfer from Villanova; and sophomore point guard R.J. Hall, who is on academic suspension for the first semester.
Until then, the Red Foxes will struggle to score. Not a single player averages double figures. Freshman guard Candon Rusin leads the team, averaging 9.3 points per game, but has 13 turnovers against just four assists.
Insight: When Drummond and Hall begin playing, they'll join Boston College transfer Daye Kaba (9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds thus far), a physical 6-3 guard, to form a nice threesome. It should be enough to make Marist competitive, but it remains to be seen if it will be enough to be better than the predictions for a last-place finish.
3 comments:
Like the blog.
Can't believe Marist played with Rider. I was not too surprised when they kept it pretty tight with Fairfield as I'm not in love with that team. Rider certainly hasn't seemed right so far this year, but I figured they would get back on track in a big way hosting Marist. Perhaps the Foxes youngsters are getting used to the level of play, or maybe they just ran into a couple of off-nights from Fairfield and Rider? Will be interesting to see how they compete next out.
HEY PEOPLE DONT FORGET THAT THEY HAVE 7 FRESHMEN AND 2 TRANFERS ON THIS TEAM, WHICH OF WHOM NEVER PLAYED AT MARIST B4 THIS SEASON. THEIR YOUNG, BUT TALENTED AND NEED TIME. ALSO, THE BIGGEST IMPACT FRESHMEN OF THIS RECRUITING CLASS.. M. WATSON, 6'8,270, IS UNABLE TO PLAY THIS YR DUE TO A NCAA RULING. WHEN THEY HAVE ALL THEIR TOOLS/PLAYERS AND A LITTLE MORE EXPERIENCE .. THEY WILL BE A PROBLEM FOR TEAMS IN THE MAAC. MOST DEFINITELY. CALL ME CRAZY BUT MARIST PLAY IN THE MAAC FINAL NEXT YEAR.
Katrina,
Certainly Marist is a team that I hope improves. They play at home Saturday and Sunday and I'm tempted to go check them out. I think their most talented players are unfortunately those who are ineligible currently. They are beginning to make that Hartford game look like more of an outlier than the norm as they have played respectable ball against two of the teams expected to be solid in conference this year...as well as a close loss against Rutgers to open the season. They haven't had a chance to play at the McCann Center yet, which I think along with the Gallagher Center is the biggest home court advantage in the conference (of course you need a good enough team to give that little gym something to rock about).
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