Sunday, November 28, 2010

Jenkins, Nelson Return, Both Play Well

Two key conference players made their respective returns to action in recent days, and their teams are sure to be the better for it.

Wesley Jenkins, a 6-foot-2 senior guard at Saint Peter's, had missed his team's first four games due to a knee injury. Jenkins, though, began practicing again recently and got back into the lineup for Saturday's game against Long Island University, a little earlier than anticipated.

Jenkins had been the Peacocks' top scorer in each of the past two seasons, so it was hardly a surprise that his first game back on the court resulted in his team's highest point output to date.

Jenkins contributed 13 points in 29 minutes of playing time, while adding two blocks, two assists and two steals.

Saint Peter's earned a 65-62 victory over LIU. In its previous four games the Peacocks scored 50, 56, 52 and 30 points. Saint Peter's 6-6 senior forward Jeron Belin, perhaps finding openings due to Jenkins' presence, had a career-high 23 points against LIU.

Out west, Niagara got bolstered this weekend by the return of its lone senior, 6-2 point guard Anthony Nelson, who missed his team's first three games with a nose injury.

In Nelson's first game, a 65-61 victory over Bowling Green in the Legends Classic Tournament, he converted a layup with a second left on the shot clock and under a minute remaining in the contest that extended a two-point Purple Eagles' lead to four.

"Having Anthony made a huge difference. He was really rusty, he hadn’t practiced for two weeks, and it was the first time he’d gone live with the face mask on,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. “But he’s the glue guy. We needed him to make a play, and he did. And we were able to do so many more things because of him.”

Niagara (now 2-3) dropped its second game of the tournament, 75-65, against the University of Albany. Nelson, though, contributed 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Purple Eagles, though, have played their last two games without 6-3 freshman swingman Antoine Mason (sore foot), who had averaged 16.7 points through the season's first three contests.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Siena Dominates Rider (Again) in Opener

Rider had opened the season with a 4-1 record, while three-time defending MAAC champion Siena was 1-3 before the teams met Friday night at the Broncs' Alumni Gymnasium in what was the first meeting of conference opponents of any league nationally.

But, sometimes the more things seemed to have changed the more they remain the same.

The Saints opened defense of their league title and their attempt to become the only men's team in MAAC history with four consecutive regular-season championships by doing what they seem to have made a habit of in meetings with the Broncs by dominating a significant portion of Friday's contest.

Siena earned a 73-60 victory over Rider, turning around a 41-35 deficit with a 29-7 run over a 10-minute second-half stretch to take full control.

Rider has had no success against the Saints of late, losing both regular-season meetings last season (by a combined 48 points) and a MAAC tournament semifinal-round contest by 10 points.

Rider had been trying to go to 5-1, which would have been its fastest start to a season since 1997-98, but fell to 4-2 overall instead.

Siena, now 2-3 overall, captured its conference opener for the sixth straight season.

The Saints' 6-foot-9 senior center Ryan Rossiter continued to live up to his preseason Player of the Year recognition with an 18-point, 17-rebound performance, his fourth double-double effort in five contests thus far.

For his career Rossiter has 36 double-doubles, matching the all-time record for that by Siena players, also held by early 1990's standout center Lee Matthews.

Rider had come in averaging 75 points per game, second best among MAAC teams, but was held to 15 below that average. The Broncs particularly struggled in the second half, scoring just 24 points in the final 20 minutes and just 12 for the first 13 minutes of the second half.

Rossiter entered the game as the fifth-leading rebounder nationally (12.3 per game). After his 17 boards against Rider he now averages 13.4 per contest.

Rossiter's board work Friday night also moved him into fourth all-time on Siena's all-time list with 809, trailing only Matthews (1,037), Steve McCoy (969) and Alex Franklin (923).

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Siena at Rider Friday Opens MAAC Season

The first foray into league competition among MAAC teams takes place Friday night, and it's a good one: Siena at Rider, 7 p.m., at the Broncs' Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

It's a matchup of last year's regular-season and post-season tournament champion Siena against the team its own coach, Tommy Dempsey, voted in the coaches' preseason poll to win the league crown.

Instead, the Broncs underachieved finishing with a 9-9 MAAC record and a 17-16 overall mark.

Siena is still expected to contend for conference honors this year ... and Dempsey gave them one of three first-place votes from coaches in this year's preseason poll.

Rider? The expectations weren't so high this year for the Broncs. At least not until the early returns started coming in.

Right now, Rider's 4-1 non-league record is the best among conference teams. Included have been impressive victories at USC and against TCU and Loyola Marymount, the latter two coming in the Hall of Fame's Tip-Off Tournament in Springfield, Mass.

Right away, then, two of the conference's better teams face off to tip off MAAC play.

"It's a good test right away," said Dempsey. "But my view since the preseason vote hasn't changed. I didn't vote us first this year. Until proven otherwise no one else (other than Siena) has earned the right to be voted first. Until someone shows that they're better than Siena ... they've just been so dominant in our league. They've still got a lot of good players. I'm not ready to jump on any other bandwagon."

While Rider is 4-1, Siena is off to a 1-3 start with losses against solid Vermont and two top 25 teams, Minnesota and Butler. The Saints' one victory was at Northeastern.

"It's interesting to have a chance to go up against them so early," said Dempsey, whose team might get a good indication from the game of just how good it might be this year.

Last year's meetings, certainly, told a story about Rider that Dempsey didn't enjoy.

Siena won both easily by a combined margin of 48 points. The Saints also beat the Broncs in the semifinals of the MAAC tournament by 10 points.

"They were just clearly so much better than we were last year," admitted Dempsey.

First-year Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro knows, though, that his team is in for a tougher match Friday than in last year's meetings.

"That's a tough game," said Buonaguro. "We go right from playing Butler (Tuesday night) to having to go down there and play a good Rider team."

"We feel good about our start so far," added Dempsey. "But we know we'll ultimately be judged by how we do in league play."

And, that starts tonight. With a good one to tip off the 2010-11 MAAC season.

Butler Looks Impressive in Win over Siena

Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro might not have known how many times teams he has been involved with have been Butler prior to Tuesday night's meeting with the Bulldogs but that contest, at Albany's Times Union Center, certainly wasn't one of them.

It would have been hard to have brought in a more-attractive opponent than a team that played for last season's national championship and came within a last-second 3-point attempt of upsetting Duke in that contest.

Prior to the contest Buonaguro emphasized that he had played Butler plenty ... 14 times as an assistant coach at Cleveland State (both teams are in the Horizon League) and once last season as a Siena assistant ... and had never beaten it.

But, that wasn't quite true. Times Union beat writer Mark Singelais did a little research and discovered that Cleveland State beat Butler in three straight seasons, 1997-98 through 1999-00, while Buonaguro was on its staff.

"I’m losing my mind,” Buonaguro, 56, told Singelais. “See, I’m old … We beat them three times, so that’s better than I thought.”

Buonaguro certainly had other things on his mind besides his history with the Bulldogs leading up to the game ... like trying to figure a way to beat them.

His team did run out to a 13-5 advantage early in the contest, and was still within 44-41 early in the second half before Butler went on an 15-5 run to take a 59-46 lead. To that point, with less than 10 minutes remaining in the contest Butler had only committed six total turnovers.

When it was over Butler had a precision-like 70-57 victory and committed a grand total of 11 turnovers, exactly its season average through its 3-1 start.

Old friend Howard Herman, a sportswriter with the Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle newspaper who attended the game, made a telling observation.

"When I go back to the office, I'm going to tell the people I work with that I just saw the best team in the country," said Herman. "They're going to think I'm crazy for saying that."

Howard's point, though, was that Butler might not be the most-talented assemblage nationally and might not be as capable of making the NCAA tournament run it did a year ago, but it epitomizes the concept of real team play as well as any team you're likely to see anywhere this season.

Ball movement, unselfish passing, working the ball around deep into the shot clock to ensure a good shot, outstanding attention to team defense ... it was all on full display against Siena.

It was certainly a joy to watch.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Peacocks, Belin Get Big Victory over 'Bama

John Belin might not have had the impact that some expected when he came to Saint Peter's last season after a nice two-year career at Monroe Community College.

But, he had a big hand in the Peacocks' biggest victory of recent memory on Monday night, a 50-49 victory over Alabama in the Paradise Jam Classic played in St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In fact, Belin didn't have much of an impact on that game either until the final two minutes of play. And, then, the 6-foot-6 senior forward took control.

With Saint Peter's trailing 47-44 with two minutes remaining, Belin made a driving layup to cut the Crimson Tide's margin to one.

Alabama got its lead back to three with a pair of free throws before Belin collected an offensive rebound, got fouled and made one of two free throws.

Alabama then committed a turnover with 38 seconds left to play, Saint Peter's held the ball for 29 seconds and, then, Belin connected on a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to give the Peacocks a 50-49 lead which it held on to for the victory.

Amazingly, Belin's late-game offensive heroics ... six points in the final two minutes ... were the only six points he scored in the contest.

“Jeron (Belin) is a talented player and when he gets his feet set and gets a good look at the basket like that he can make those shots,” said Peacocks' coach John Dunne. “We are running more plays for him this year and he is going to be a big part of the offense for us.”

The victory was the program's first over a team from a BCS conference since it defeated Rutgers in 2007. Alabama plays in the Southeast Conference and it was picked to finish third in the conference's West Division. The Crimson Tide finished 17-15 last season and have eight players back from that team.

The Peacocks continue to play without standout guard Wesley Jenkins (knee injury), who is expected to return to action by early December. Without him, though, offense has been difficult to come by. Through four games Saint Peter's is only averaging 47 points per contest.

The win over Alabama was the Peacocks' first of the season after an 0-3 start.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Rider's Fast Start Raises Expectations

A year ago at this time things could hardly have looked much better for the Rider men's basketball team.

The team was good enough for its own coach, Tommy Dempsey, to pick it to win the MAAC's regular-season title in the preseason coaches' poll and there certainly was some justification for that confidence.

More came in the team's season opener when it traveled to Mississippi State and put an 88-74 thumping on a team rated 15th nationally at the time.

There was one more victory immediately after, a win over Lehigh. And, then, even Dempsey admits the rest of the season didn't go as expected.

After beating Lehigh, Rider went 15-16 in its final 31 games including a 9-9 record against MAAC opponents.

Win a league title? Not even close, especially when it lost its two regular-season games against Siena, the team that did win the MAAC championship, by a combined margin of 48 points.

What has the new year brought? Another early season demolition of a solid team from a power conference on the road, a 77-57 victory at USC on November. 17.

The difference, so far, is that the Broncs haven't immediately destructed. They followed that up with a pair of victories in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic in Springfield, Mass., topping TCU, 76-61, and Loyola-Marymount, 73-63.

Rider's is 4-1 thus far (its only loss was a 77-67 decision at UMass), the best record of any conference team as it approaches Friday's start of league play when it hosts Siena.

The Broncs are certainly poised to exceed expectations (ahem ... your blogger picked them to finish eighth), rather than failing to meet them like a year ago.

All that might happen even without graduated 6-foot-6 swingman Ryan Thompson, its singular star of a year ago. Otherwise, though, every player of significance returns. The Broncs are a veteran team in a league where having quality veterans traditionally means team success.

"It was a learning experience, what we went through last year," said Dempsey, in a recent phone interview. "Just because you win at Mississippi State doesn't entitle you to have a good season, but we went through that. When we won that game last year we starting thinking things would get easy ... that because we beat them we'd beat everyone else on the schedule. It was a poor approach.

"How we handle the success of winning (at USC) still has to play out, but we came back and beat a really good TCU team and, then, beat a talented Loyola-Marymount team. This year is a lot different. Last year we thought we were really good, but as soon as you start thinking you're really good you stop getting better. Beating USC was a nice win for our program and the league, but we know we'll be judged by how we do in league play."

If the first five games are any indication, then there's no reason to think Rider can't realize some of the hopes for league success left over from a year ago.

Senior guard Justin Robinson, primarily a second fiddle to Thompson's virtuoso act in recent years, has stepped up nicely thus far, averaging 17 points and 3.6 assists through five games. And, it would be hard to find a better performance than the one he turned in against USC: 28 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor, 5-of-5 from three-point territory and 5-of-5 from the foul line.

The Broncs' veteran forwards, junior Novar Gadson (13.6 points per game) and senior Mike Ringold (12.6 points, 6.0 rebounds) have been solid thus far, as has junior forward Brandon Penn (6.2 points). And, freshmen forward Danny Stewart (4.6 points, 5.4 rebounds) and guard Anthony Myles (6.0 points) have contributed as has the latest Thompson, Jonathon (no relation), a sophomore guard averaging 4.2 points.

Thus far the Broncs have depth (eight players average at least 16 minutes per game) and efficiency ... how about a .522 field goal percentage through five games?

Yet other than a year's maturity, a couple of contributing freshmen and the absence of Ryan Thompson, Rider isn't much different than 2009-10. So, what happened last season?

"There was a lot of pressure on Ryan, not only to lead the team but the pressures of playing in front of NBA scouts every night," said Dempsey. "Plus his brother (6-11 Jason Thompson of the Sacramento Kings) is having NBA success and Ryan wants to get there. It wasn't his fault, it was just there.

"Even some of the other guys, outside of Ryan, at times felt like they were playing for the scouts more than playing for Rider. We got in a bad way as a team. our on-court chemistry wasn't always great. Guys were not playing within roles. You start to do that and you lose games. It gets contagious and it snowballs on you.

"Now, we're more of a team. There aren't a lot of external distractions. We're more focused on winning games. That's something we had to go through ... a learning experience. That team did not expect to struggle like we did. Still we got to the MAAC semifinals and had a winning season (17-16 overall), but in a sense we underachieved. We spent all spring and summer addressing that the last thing we want to be known as is a program that underachieves.

"We don't have an NBA hopeful any more, so we're not as sexy within the league. But, at the same time, we're a very good team with three preseason all-league players (Robinson, Ringold and Gadson). We've got a good freshman class. We've got the makings of a good team that should be helped by going through what we've been through."

There haven't been many underachieving years for Rider, which has had just three losing records overall since joining the MAAC in 1997-98.

"One of the hardest things to do as a mid-major program is to have sustained success," added Dempsey. "I think that we've been one of the programs in our league that hasn't had a lot of ups and downs. We've been a solid program for many years. We don't get maybe credit because we haven't been able to get to the NCAA tournament. But, at the same time, we continue to put a good team on the court every year. We lost a lottery pick (Jason Thompson) and another all-time player (Ryan Thompson) and have not yet had that fall-off."

Dempsey knows doing more than avoiding a fall off this season will likely be determined by the play of Robinson and Ringold.

"Those two could wind up as Hall of Fame players here," said Dempsey. "And, if we win 18 games, they will have more wins than any two teammates who ever played here. They've been a big part of that, but they've been in the shadow of Jason and Ryan. They want to go out and leave their own legacy now."

After a 4-1 start, expectations might just be starting to rise again at Rider. And, maybe, the legacy Robinson and Ringold leave behind is more team success than that experienced by either of the Thompson

At least this year the rising expectations at Rider are rooted in more than potential and one early season victory like they were a year ago.

Butler Comes to Albany For Siena Game

How many times does a team that played for a national title the previous year come to the homecourt of a MAAC program the following season, slightly more than eight months removed from an NCAA tournament's championship contest?

Probably not often, if at all. But, it happens Tuesday night (Nov. 23) at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., when Butler returns last season's BracketBusters meeting with Siena on the Saints' home court.

Butler lost to Duke in last season's national championship contest, but not before Gordon Hayward's 3-pointer at the buzzer failed to fall, allowing the Blue Devils to escape with a 61-59 victory.

Butler's contest against Siena Tuesday comes three days after the Saints gave first-year coach Mitch Buonaguro his first victory as a head coach in 19 seasons, or since he last directed a program when he was at Fairfield in the 1990-91 season.

Buonaguro has been around college basketball continually since then, including seven seasons as an assistant at Cleveland State under that program's former head coach Rollie Massimino. While there, he worked the opposite sideline against Horizon League counterpart Butler twice annually.

So three days after getting his first victory as a head coach in 19 years, Buonaguro is looking for another first ... a victory against Butler.

"I know them well and respect them greatly," said Buonaguro. "They do things the right way there. We played them twice annually when I was at Cleveland State and we never beat them, so that will be on my mind a little when we play them (Tuesday)."

In seven years, Buonaguro had been 0-14 as an assistant coach when he was at Cleveland State in games with the Bulldogs, and 0-1 as a Siena assistant when the teams met this past February.

"They've been to the NCAA tournament 10 times since 1996," pointed out Buonaguro. "Butler and Gonzaga set the standard for mid-major programs. But, I don't consider them to be mid-majors. Those are two major college programs."

Butler's only real loss since last season was Hayward, who left school early to be an NBA first-round draft choice. Back, though, are the team's next two leading scorers, 6-3 junior guard Shelvin Mack, who averaged 14.1 points and 3.0 assists per game last season; and, 6-8 senior forward Matt Howard, who averaged 11.6 points and 5.2 rebounds last season.

"I did the scout on them for last year's game, and they're the type team that doesn't beat itself ... you have to beat them if you want to win," said Buonaguro. "They just have a classy program. People in Albany are really goinig to enjoy watching them play."

And, Buonaguro will enjoy the night just a little more if he can add another first to his budding Siena coaching resume ... his first victory over Butler.