For the second-straight week, Vermont's Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) has been named America East Player of the Week, while freshman Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) of Vermont has been named America East Rookie of the Week for the first time this season. The awards were announced on Monday (February 19).
Trimboli helped Vermont pick up a pair of victories this past week, clinching the number one seed for the upcoming America East Championship at Boston University on March 2-4. The sophomore opened the week with 21 points and six rebounds in a 90-75 win at Maine. The 6-1 guard hit five three-pointers in the second half, including making four in a row at one point. On Sunday at home, Trimboli poured in a career-high 27 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists to lead UVM over Binghamton, 71-61. The 2006 America East Rookie of the Year was a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line in the contest. On the week he shot 51.7 percent from the floor and now boasts the league's best double-digit scoring streak with eight games. Trimboli has poured in 20 points or more in five of his last six outings, including three straight.
Blakely returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the previous seven to tally a career-high 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor in a win at Maine on Wednesday. The freshman’s career-high entering the game was nine points, but he passed that in the first 11:23 of the first half against the Black Bears as he also added seven boards, two assists, two steals and a block in the win. Blakely followed that up with six points and five rebounds in a home victory over Binghamton on Sunday that clinched the top seed in the upcoming America East Championship and at least a share of the America East Regular-Season Championship. For the week, he shot 69.2 percent from the floor.
AMERICA EAST NOTEBOOK
Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus
By virtue of its victory over Binghamton on Sunday afternoon at Patrick Gymnasium, the University of Vermont (21-6, 13-1 America East) clinched the top seed for the upcoming America East Men's Basketball Championship and at least a share of the regular-season title. The Catamounts boast a league-best 13-1 conference record, two games up on second-place Albany (18-9, 11-3), with just two games remaining for each squad. The Great Danes will be the two seed for the nine-team tournament with an outside shot of sharing the regular-season crown with UVM if Albany wins out AND Vermont loses out. Boston University (11-15, 8-6) currently sits in third, two games up on a three-way tie for fourth between Hartford (12-15, 6-8), Maine (11-16, 6-8) and UMBC (10-17, 6-8). The Terriers could wrap up the third spot with one more victory, but it won't come easy as their final two league games are versus Vermont (Feb. 22) and at Albany (Feb. 25). The log-jam in the middle of the standings will come into focus over the final week of the regular season. New Hampshire (9-18, 5-9) sits all alone in seventh place, while Binghamton (11-15, 4-10) and Stony Brook (9-17, 4-10) are deadlocked in eighth.
Tie-Breaking Procedures
With the current state of the league standings, it is apparent that several teams have the possibility of being deadlocked come season's end. Below is a breakdown of the championship seeding tie-breaking procedures that America East follows when such instances occur.
Teams tied for first place will be deemed “co-champions.” Ties for chamionship seeding will be broken in the following manner:
a. Ties shall be broken from the top of the standings down.
b. In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the tie shall be broken using the following criteria in order.
c. The record in regular-season Conference play of the tied teams shall be determined against the other team(s) with which it is tied. The team with the highest winning percentage based on the results of their in-season head-to-head competition shall gain the advantage.
d. Record versus other Conference opponents in descending rank order. In the event of arriving at another pair of tied teams when comparing records, each team’s record against the combined tied teams is used rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
e. Conference record in road games. In the event a game was played on a neutral floor, the home team shall be considered to be the team which was originally awarded the home game when the Conference schedule was issued.
f. RPI ranking as determined by the College RPI Report (www.rpiratings.com) through the end of the regular season. The team with the highest ranking shall gain the advantage.
g. If the tie is not resolved, then the tie shall be broken by a coin flip or draw conducted by the Commissioner or his designee.
h. In the event of a tie between more than two teams, once the tie is broken and a team is awarded the highest seed among the tied teams, return to (a.) above.
Championship Bracket Times Set
The official times for all pairings of the 2007 America East Men's Basketball Championship have been set. Below is a complete championship schedule, which can be downloaded in PDF format at www.AmericaEast.com.
2007 Championship Schedule
at Boston University's Agganis Arena
First Round: Friday, March 2
#8 vs. #9, 7 p.m.
Quarterfinals: Saturday, March 3
#8/9 vs. #1 Vermont, 12 noon
#5 vs. #4, 2:30 p.m.
#7 vs. #2 Albany, 6 p.m.
#6 vs. #3, 8:30 p.m.
Semifinals: Sunday, March 4
TBD, 12 noon
TBD, 2:30 p.m.
Title Game: Saturday, March 10
at higher remaining seed, 12 noon (ESPN2)
Home Cooking
Clinching the top seed for the America East Championship has been a critical marker for success in the league's tournament. The conference's top seed boasts a 56-7 (.888) record in tournament play, winning 17 of 24 crowns and making it to the title game 20 times. Furthermore, the title game has been played on the home court of one of the participating teams 22 times with the home squad winning 20 of those contests. The last team to go on the road and win the league title game was Vermont in 2003. The Catamounts' David Hehn netted a buzzer beater to give UVM a 56-55 win over Boston University at Case Gymnasium, starting a run to three-straight league titles for Vermont.
Boarding Holm
Vermont's Chris Holm (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley/Rhode Island) has been dominant on the glass all season long as the 6-11 forward ranks second in the nation in rebounding (12.1 rpg).
? Holm leads the conference in caroms by 5.5 rpg. In fact, Holm has more defensive rebounds (197) than America East's second-leading rebounder, Omari Peterkin (6.6 rpg) of Boston University has total rebounds (159)
? Holm has tallied double-digits in the rebounding column 21 times this season, including 11 straight.
? Through 14 league games played, Holm is averaging 12.4 rpg in conference play, compared to 11.8 rpg in non-league action
? Holm is on pace to become Vermont's single-season rebounding leader.
Championship Brunch at Fenway
The 2007 America East Men's Basketball Championship Brunch will be held at Fenway Park's State Street Pavilion on March 2 at 10 a.m. The league will hand out its annual awards just hours before the start of the conference's nine-team tournament. The brunch is open to the public with ticket prices set at $50. To purchase tickets, contact Assistant to the Commissioner Rachael Hilgar at hilgar@AmericaEast.com.
Close Competition
With one week remaining in the 2006-07 regular-season conference slate, the competition around America East has been very close. Sixty-three league games are in the books with 37 of those outings being decided by 10 points or less and 28 by five points or less. On the season, America East teams have combined to play a total of 240 games with 52.1 percent (125) decided by 10 points or less and 31.3 percent (75) decided by five points or less.
AE Drops to 21st In RPI Report
The Collegiate Basketball News RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) Report was released on Monday (Feb. 19) and America East dropped two spots to the 21st-ranked league in the nation. Vermont slipped five spots to 88, but still remains the league's top squad. Albany moved down six spots, outside of the top 100, and now sit at 104.
? As a conference, the league ranks 21st in the country, which is six spots higher than last season's final RPI of 27, and 11th among other mid-major leagues. Most notably, America East ranks ahead of the MAAC (25th overall/15th among mid-majors) and the Ohio Valley (27th/17th).
? Six of the nine America East members boast higher RPIs than they finished with a season ago. See the list below that compares last year's final RPI with this year's current RPI and the number of spots each school has moved up.
School 2005-06 2006-07 Increase
Vermont 212 88 +124
UMBC 297 217 +80
Stony Brook 310 265 +45
Maine 281 239 +42
Hartford 268 231 +37
Albany 116 104 +12
AE-TV Schedule Continues
America East Basketball Presented by Boston Herald continues this week as Boston University hosts Vermont on Thursday, February 22. Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Nate Ross (color analyst) will call the action live on NESN at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, Albany welcomes the Terriers to SEFCU Arena for another AETV contest, called by Frede and and Tom Herrion and featured on NESN and Time Warner Cable. Streaming video for both games will be available through America East Zone on the conference's website www.AmericaEast.com.
Conference Climb
With the non-conference regular-season complete, America East squads sailed past last year's non-conference win total. America East teams are 49-64 (.434) in 2006-07, compared to just 33-69 (.324) a season ago. Forty-nine wins is the most since the league recorded 52 in 1994-95 when there were also nine teams in America East.
Above .500
Three league teams are .500 or better in non-conference play on the 2006-07 season. Last season, only Albany (8-8) posted a non-conference mark of .500 or better.
Championship Tickets On Sale Now
Tickets for the 2007 America East Men's Basketball Championship on March 2-4 at Boston University's Agganis Arena are on sale now. To purchase tickets visit www.AmericaEast.com.
Non-Conference Slate Complete
All of the league's nine teams have completed the regular-season non-conference portion of their 2006-07 schedules. Vermont (8-5) boasts the best non-conference followed by Binghamton (7-5), Albany (7-6), Hartford (6-7), Stony Brook (5-7), Maine (5-8) UMBC (4-9), New Hampshire (4-9) and Boston University (3-9).
Road Warriors
The biggest component to America East's non-conference success this season has been the ability of league teams to win on the road. Conference teams have combined to win 29 non-conference road games in 2006-07, compared to just nine a season ago. The most notable road victory to date was Vermont's victory at #14 Boston College, but the overall road successes of the league could loom large when the league's automatic qualifier is seeded for the NCAA Tournament and for other postseason candidates as well.
Championship Returns to Boston
The America East Men’s Basketball Championship returns to Boston in 2007 as Boston University hosts the nine-team tournament on March 2-4 at Agganis Arena. The first round game will take place on Friday, March 2, followed by the quarterfinals on Saturday, March 3 and the semifinals on Sunday, March 4.
Tournament ticket packages are $30 for youth/students and $60 for adults. To purchase tickets call 617-353-GoBU or online at www.AmericaEast.com. To request media credentials for the conference’s premier event, email K.J. Cardinal (cardinal@americaeast.com).
Lights, Camera, Action
America East announced its most comprehensive television schedule in history with more than 50 men’s and women’s basketball games slated for broadcast in 2006-07 (see following page for complete schedule). Included in the package is the America East Men’s Basketball Championship, which will air live on ESPN2 on March 10 at 12 noon. It marks the 19th-consecutive year that the championship game will appear on ESPN/ESPN2.
America East and ESPN Regional Television will team up to produce and distribute games throughout the America East geographic footprint, which includes several of the nation’s top 25 media markets including New York (No. 1), Boston (No. 5), Washington, D.C. (No. 8), Baltimore and Hartford. In addition, no fewer than 12 games will be included in the ESPN Full Court package, the subscription service provided by ESPN. The games will also be available on-line via video streaming at AmericaEast.com.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Albany Great Danes
Albany (18-9, 11-3 America East) was edged by Boise State, 83-82, in the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters on Feb. 16... The Great Danes played in a nationally-televised BracketBusters contest for the second year in a row... Anthony Thomas made a three-point field goal with 32 seconds remaining as the Broncos improved their home record to 12-1 this season... Jamar Wilson (Bronx, N.Y./Our Savior New American School) gave UAlbany an 82-80 advantage on a three-point play as he was fouled on a driving layup... The game featured 33 lead changes and six ties... Wilson moved into seventh place on the America East Conference’s all-time scoring list with 2,034 points... He climbed past four players, including Vermont’s T.J. Sorrentine, Hofstra’s Craig “Speedy” Claxton and Drexel’s Malik Rose, with his 22-point, five-assist effort at Boise State... Wilson recorded his 100th career game in double figures, and scored 20-plus for the 45th time... UAlbany’s travel to the BracketBusters game was documented on the ESPNU national broadcast... The Great Danes, due to an East Coast snowstorm, were forced to take a 390-mile bus ride to Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning and then take separate 2,500-mile flights from two D.C. airports (one through Denver and one via Minneapolis) to Boise, Idaho... The second group stayed the night in Minneapolis and barely made Friday’s 2:45 p.m. shootaround at Taco Bell Arena... The Broncos shot 56.9 percent from the field, the sixth opponent to reach the 50-percent mark this season... UAlbany is allowing 78.7 ppg in its nine losses as opposed to a 60.6 scoring average in its 18 victories... The Great Danes are 7-3 in games decided by five points or less this winter... Jason Siggers (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) has scored in twin figures in 13 of his last 15 contests... Brent Wilson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) had 16 points and seven rebounds at Boise State... Brian Lillis (Urbandale, Iowa/West Des Moines Dowling) scored 12 points, his third time in double digits this month... Lillis missed a driving bank shot with two seconds left against Boise State, one of three scoring opportunities his team had in the closing moments... Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J./Camden Catholic) is averaging 9.3 ppg and 4.7 rpg in his last three games off the bench.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (11-15, 4-10 America East) dropped its only game of the week - a 10-point affair at Vermont... The Bearcats have now dropped six of their last eight games and will likely need wins in their final two games to avoid the first-round tournament game... Freshman forward Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Secondary Railway) recorded his second-straight double-double with team-highs of 16 points and 14 rebounds at Vermont... Trifunovic grabbed a season-high six offensive boards... Junior point guard Mike Gordon (Plainfield, N.J./Plainfield) added 10 points in 40 minutes. He has played at least 39 minutes in each of his last six games.
Boston University Terriers
Boston University (11-15, 8-6 America East) split a pair of games last week, defeating Stony Brook 68-55 at home in Case Gym before falling short at UMBC, 67-63, in Baltimore, Md... Boston U. got a team effort in the win over the Seawolves on Feb. 15... Redshirt freshman Tyler Morris (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and freshman guard Carlos Strong (Portland, Maine/Deering) each scored double figures in points, and three other Terriers chipped in with nine points... The Terriers used a 15-6 opening run to move in front of SBU for good... Boston U. played excellent defense in the first half, swatting away five shots and limiting the Seawolves to 20 first frame points on just 28.0 percent shooting (7-for-25)... In the loss at UMBC, the Terriers saw an open three-pointer bounce off the rim in the final seconds of the game... Lowe scored 19 points and Strong added 15... Senior forward Omari Peterkin (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands/Notre Dame) tallied 13 points and freshman forward Scott Brittain (Oakville, Ont./Iroquois Ridge) posted 10 points... Boston U. opened the second half with a 10-4 run to take the Terriers’ largest lead of the game, 42-35, on a Strong lay up, but UMBC wouldn’t go away, regaining the lead, 61-59, and holding onto it for the win... The Terriers return to action on Thursday, Feb. 22, hosting Vermont at 7:30 p.m. televised locally on NESN... Prior to that game, seniors Peterkin and Brian Macon (Boynton Beach, Fla.) will be honored in a brief ceremony.
Hartford Hawks
Hartford (12-15, 6-8 America East) won its third-straight game with a 62-54 victory over UMBC last week... Seniors Alex Zimnickas (Toronto, Ontario/Bishop Allen) and Bo Taylor (Reston, Va./Paul VI Catholic/Bishop O'Connell/South Lakes), playing in the final home game of their careers, combined for 38 of the Hawks' 62 points... Zimnickas poured in a career-high 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting while Taylor added 18 points and eight rebounds... Freshman Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) played 33 minutes against the Retrievers last week and passed Ryan Stys in the Division I record books for most minutes played by a freshman... Zeglinski has logged 975 minutes this season and could become only the sixth player in school history to play over 1,000 minutes in a season... Ron Moye played the most minutes in school history with 1,059 during the 1987-88 season... Hartford has stepped up its defense over the last three games, yielding just 48.0 ppg... The wins over New Hampshire and Stony Brook marked only the second time in school history that the Hawks have held an opponent under 50 points in consecutive games... The Hawks finish the regular season with a pair of road games this week... Hartford will travel to Binghamton on Thursday, February 22 before visiting Vermont on Sunday, February 25.
Maine Black Bears
Maine (11-16, 6-8 America East) dropped a pair of games on the week... The Black Bears fell to Vermont and then lost their final non-conference game of the season at Northeastern on Saturday... Senior standout Kevin Reed (Yarmouth, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth/St. Thomas More) had a momentous week for the Black Bears... He moved into third place on Maine’s all-time scoring list on the week... He currently has 1,553 career points... He also moved into ninth place on Maine’s all-time rebounds list with 715... Reed hit his 300th career three-pointer on Wednesday against Vermont and currently has 303 in his career... Reed also grabbed a season-high five steals against Vermont... Reed, who has played in 116 career games, is one game shy of tying the school record for career games played... Reed is just six steals shy of second place on Maine’s all-time steals list... Maine tied its season-low with just seven turnovers against Vermont... Ironically, Maine’s other game this season with just seven turnovers was also against the Catamounts... Maine is 0-9 this season when opponents score 70 points or more... At one point against Vermont, Chris Bruff (Bloomfield, Conn./Northwest Catholic) scored 12-straight points for the Black Bears... Bruff was 11-of-14 from the free throw line against Vermont... Maine will host Stony Brook in its final game of the regular season on Sunday, February 25... Before the game, Maine will honor seniors Olli Ahvenniemi (Vaasa, Finland/Vaasan Lyseon Lukio), Jon Sheets (Grass Valley, Calif./Nevada Union/Yuba City CC), Bruff and Reed.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (10-17, 6-8 America East) junior guard Brian Hodges (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) became the 14th player in school history to hit the 1,000-point plateau with his eighth point (of 14) at Hartford on Thursday... He also became just the fourth player in UMBC’s 21-year Division I history to score 1,000 points by his junior season... On Sunday, Hodges scored all 19 of his points in the second half, leading UMBC to a rally past Boston University... Hodges hit seven of eight shots in the final 15 minutes, including back-to-back field goals to snap a 59-all tie and propel UMBC to the victory... The Retrievers snapped a four-game slide in the win over Boston University and achieved their sixth conference win, the most in UMBC’s four-year America East tenure... Seniors Mike Housman (Great Falls, Va./Langley) and Chris Pugh (Clinton, Md./Oxon Hill) were honored before the game versus the Terriers... Housman, who did not travel to Hartford due to illness, scored a season-high 20 points and added eight rebounds... Pugh blanketed Terrier standout Tyler Morris and held the conference’s leading three-point shooter scoreless... The Retrievers hit 50 percent from the floor (25-for-50) in the game, after making just 33.2 percent from the floor in the 0-4 slide... Sophomore guard Jay Greene (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) recorded eight assists versus the Terriers and his 136 assists this season is already the sixth-best single season mark in school history... UMBC concludes the regular season at home versus Maine on Thursday and at UNH on Sunday.
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire (9-18, 5-9 America East) dropped its lone game of the week on the road at Stony Brook, 67-49... Senior co-captain Jermaine Anderson (Beverly, Mass./Phillips Exeter) and freshman forward Dan McGeary (Newton, Mass./Roxbury Latin) combined for 39 of the 49 points for the Wildcats... McGeary netted his first five three-point attempts en route to scoring a career-high 19 points in the loss... Anderson was named America East Player of the Game for his 20 point effort along with four rebounds and four assists... The Wildcats shot just 21.7 percent on 5-of-23 shooting from the floor in the second half... The Seawolves held a major advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Wildcats by a margin of 44-32... UNH plays host to the Binghamton Bearcats on Tuesday (Feb. 20) in Lundholm Gymnasium as the tip-off is set for 7 p.m... The Wildcats prevailed, 75-72, January 18... UNH posted four scorers in double digits, including an 18-point performance from senior Blagoj Janev (Sydney, Australia/Australia Institute of Sport)... UNH finishes the 2006-07 regular season at home against UMBC on Sunday (Feb. 25) for a 1 p.m. conference showdown.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (9-17, 4-10 America East) went 1-1 in its two games last week... In a 68-53 loss to Boston University on February 15, Stony Brook allowed Boston U. to open up an early lead to which it couldn't catch up to... Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va./George Washington) led the Seawolves in scoring with 17 points and was named America East Player of the Game... Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) added 12 points... Emanuel Neto (Luanda, Angola/Colegio Henriques/San Jacinto) had six points and eight rebounds... In the 67-49 victory over New Hampshire, the Seawolves played one of their best all around games of the season... As a team, the Seawolves held New Hampshire to just 28 percent shooting from the floor... Lucas led Stony Brook with 22 points and eight rebounds and Mike Popoko (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) had 16 points... Lucas was named America East Player of the Game... Stony Brook only committed nine turnovers and got 16 key bench points... The Seawolves face Albany on Thursday, February 22 in their annual senior night... Seniors playing their final home game are Mike Popoko (Baltimore, Md./The McDonogh School), Solomon Bamiro (Central Islip, N.Y./Central Islip), Andre Vanterpool (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset) and John Henkel (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side)... Stony Brook concludes the regular season at Maine on Sunday, February 25.
Vermont Catamounts
Vermont (21-6, 13-1 America East) won its two contests this past week at Maine and against Binghamton... With the win over the Bearcats, Vermont secured at least a share of the America East Regular-Season Championship and earns the top seed for the upcoming conference tournament... It marks the third regular-season crown for the Catamounts who also won it in 2001-02 and 2004-05... Vermont has now won nine straight and 16 of its last 17... UVM can win it outright with one victory in its last two games or an Albany loss... The victory also guarantees that the Catamounts will compete in postseason play in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT... The win gives Vermont 21 for the year, which ties the school record for most in the regular season all-time with the 2004-05 team... The Catamounts opened the week with a 90-75 win over the Black Bears behind a career-high 24 points from freshman Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen)... Vermont now has the most single-season road/neutral wins in school history with 13 as the win was also the Catamounts 10th straight on the road, which is a new school record... The Catamounts held a 55-25 edge on the boards in the contest... On Sunday sophomore Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) tallied a career-high 27 to lead UVM over Binghamton 71-61... Senior Chris Holm (Henderson, Nev.) passed Trevor Gaines ’02 for the third-most rebounds in a single season in Vermont history as he now has 327 on the year... Vermont received a vote in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll and slid into the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 at #24 last week... The Catamounts wrap up the regular season with a road game at Boston University on Thursday (7:30 p.m., NESN) and then at home on Senior Day on Sunday against Hartford (1 p.m.).