New for the 2011-2012 seasons, the America East Daily Word, a collaboration between AmericaEast.com and AExtra, will recap the previous day's games and on goings on our nine campuses and provide links to previews, recaps, features and exclusive coverage.

It couldn’t have missed by more than six inches.

Bryan Dougher’s last-second, half-court heave at the end of the America East men’s basketball title game last year was so close to sending Stony Brook to the Big Dance. Instead, the shot rang off the rim and the Seawolves just missed out on making their first-ever NCAA appearance.

The Seawolves use that game motivation to get over that final hurdle and put a basketball on a shelf in their head coach’s office. That, according to Kieran Darcy of ESPN New York, will pay dividends for an experienced and talented squad.

Featuring the Seawolves in an ESPN New York piece, the first thing Darcy notices about Pikiell’s office is the shelves with basketballs on them. Apparently, there is still one empty shelf.

"That last shelf has been empty," Pikiell said Thursday during his interview with Darcy. "We're trying to get that -- that's our first NCAA tournament ball."

Stony Brook was picked second in the conference’s preseason poll to Boston U. and will open the season this Friday on the road at Indiana in Assembly Hall. You can catch that game on the Big Ten Network.

You can see more of the Daily Word on the AExtra Blog.