I forgot to mention Smith's exact ranking - It's #458.
Gerald Gonzales is unhappy about his lack of PT, but since the sophomore was one of our giant class of scrubby big men, I'm not too worried if he transfers.
Upset 88-79 home loss to 1 win Central Connecticut State. Very much not happy about that, especially when we follow it up with an 84-72 home loss to Quinnipiac, despite
Andrew Hinshaw's 18 points.
Another loss, 65-54 to Fairleigh-Dickinson, but at least it's on the road. 17 points
Andrew Hinshaw, 15 points
Blair Isley, but everybody else was terrible.
Finally a conference win, a too close 72-67 home victory against Long Island.
Andrew Hinshaw leads the way with 19 points, followed by
Blair Isley's 16 points.
Lester Henning came through with a big 10 bench rebounds.
That's followed by a 76-68 road loss to Mount St. Mary's. 19 points from
Blair Isley, 12 bench points from
Lester Henning. Bad news again.
Chris Curtiss gone a month and a half with a torn ligament. Injury problems have been ridiculous.
Lester Henning takes the starting C spot and I decide to move freshman
Lance Tully to the starting lineup.
David Lilly has been a big disappointment.
75-62 road loss to Quinnipiac. 12 points each from
Andrew Hinshaw and
Junior Dillard.
Happiness is
Lance Tully showing why he was Rhode Island's Mr. Basketball last year with 16 points and what I think is a school record 24 rebounds in a 57-55 win over Sacred Heart. Sadness is
Hershel Gaughan breaking his foot and out a month and a half. So here we go with
Junior Dillard again getting a starting spot, this time at the point.
Tough 73-69 loss to Wagner. 19 and 16 points from
Blair Isley and
Junior Dillard. The injuries pile on with
Andrew Hinshaw breaking his finger and questionable for a week. We need him to play, though.
Our most complete game of the year comes in a 102-89 win against Robert Morris.
Junior Dillard scores 18,
Lance Tully doubles for 16 points and 15 rebounds,
Blair Isley scores 15,
Lester Henning 14, and
David Lilly headlines the bench with 11 points.
Code:
2014 Northeast Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wagner 7 3 .700 10 10 .500 274 27
St. Francis-NY 7 3 .700 11 9 .550 160 17
Robert Morris 7 3 .700 10 11 .476 317 33
Quinnipiac 6 4 .600 8 11 .421 279 31
Long Island 5 5 .500 7 14 .333 275 13
St. Francis-PA 5 5 .500 7 14 .333 301 10
Central Connecticut State 5 5 .500 6 15 .286 289 23
Sacred Heart 4 6 .400 9 12 .429 253 22
Monmouth 4 6 .400 7 13 .350 272 22
Mount St. Mary's 4 6 .400 7 13 .350 326 24
Fairleigh Dickinson 3 7 .300 7 13 .350 299 20
Bryant University 3 7 .300 7 13 .350 294 5
Currently in last place, but there's definitely an opportunity to move up in the second half of the year.
Unfortunately a 79-76 loss to St. Francis (PA) isn't how it gets done. What a god damned waste of 21 points from
Blair Isley, 20 points from
Andrew Hinshaw and 18 points from
Junior Dillard.
And here's another loss, 79-60 to Long Island. Yay for
Junior Dillard's 17 points. Boo for everyone else.
Sacred Heart kicks our ass 84-65, with only
Andrew Hinshaw showing up with 19 points. Then we
lose by one fucking point, 81-80, to Fairleigh-Dickinson in a game we had to win.
Blair Isley bombs away for 31 points and everyone else just fucking bombs.
Another god damned motherfucking close loss, 72-68, to Mount St. Mary's. Screw it, no stats reporting until we win.
Monmouth - 74-66 L
Finally an 82-65 win over St. Francis (NY), but it's far too little, far too late. All five starters scored exactly 12 or 13 points in a strangely balanced game.
Last game in February, we beat Central Connecticut State 66-52,
[Andrew Hinshaw taking lead with 16 points. As you can imagine, that's not enough and we're locked in to last place.
Code:
2014 Northeast Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Morris 13 5 .722 16 13 .552 290 33
Wagner 12 6 .667 15 14 .517 254 27
St. Francis-NY 11 7 .611 16 13 .552 183 17
Quinnipiac 11 7 .611 14 14 .500 263 31
Mount St. Mary's 10 8 .556 14 15 .483 277 24
Sacred Heart 9 9 .500 14 15 .483 246 22
Central Connecticut State 8 10 .444 9 20 .310 320 23
Fairleigh Dickinson 8 10 .444 12 17 .414 261 20
Long Island 7 11 .389 9 20 .310 317 13
Monmouth 7 11 .389 10 19 .345 295 22
St. Francis-PA 7 11 .389 9 20 .310 321 10
Bryant University 5 13 .278 9 20 .310 309 5
At this point, I'm hoping I still have a job after the season. Schwarzy won't be too happy with this, as it's a major step back after last year's success. I don't think he'll listen to the injuries excuse.
Wagner owns everybody in the conference tournament, destroying 4 seed Quinnipiac in the final by 30 points, 101-71. So once again we're sending a new team to the Big Dance, although Wagner becomes the first school to have two bids since I've been here.
Their reward is a 16 seed against #1 North Carolina State in the South Region. Robert Morris is an 8 seed against #1 USC in the NIT, and
in a fitting irony, UNLV plays Arkansas in the NIT. I'm honestly not sure who to root for. I never did finish at UNLV and while I liked the school at Arkansas, I hated living in Fayetteville.
The Razorbacks ream the Rebels 81-61 and USC rips Robert Morris 83-53. Wagner gets overrun 83-47 by N.C. State.
I skip watching the tournament. It's been too depressing a year.
Highlights:
-Her Blondeness's undergrad school, Creighton, makes it to the Sweet 16 before losing to Kansas.
-Duke, Kansas, Illinois, West Virginia Final Four.
-Duke, the only 1 seed (all the rest were 2 seeds) wins the title, beating WVU 80-71.
-Arkansas makes it all the way to the NIT Final, where the Hogs are slaughtered 78-48 by USC.
Code:
2014 NORTHEAST AWARDS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player of the Year:
SR PF Jackie Jones Wagner 13.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.4 APG 0.2 SPG, 1.5 BPG
Freshman of the Year:
FR PG Joseph Routh Robert Morris 10.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.0 APG 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Coach of the Year:
Edgar Pecoraro St. Francis-NY 17 - 14 (11 - 7)
All-league 1st Team:
C SR Richard Cook Sacred Heart 11.8 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PF SR Jackie Jones Wagner 13.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.2 SPG, 1.5 BPG
SF SR Brian Hamlett St. Francis-NY 11.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG SO Arthur Stamps Sacred Heart 18.4 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.0 BPG
PG SR Mel Kennon Quinnipiac 13.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 3.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG
All-league 2nd Team:
C SR Tony Libby Mount St. Mary's 11.9 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.7 BPG
PF JR Duane Guyette Mount St. Mary's 9.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG
SF JR Blair Isley Bryant University 13.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG JR Coleman Davis St. Francis-NY 16.0 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SR Michael Montana Mount St. Mary's 16.3 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 3.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG
All-freshman Team:
C FR John Paine Central Connecticut State 5.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.4 BPG
PF FR Lance Tully Bryant University 5.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SF FR William Lindgren Mount St. Mary's 4.1 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SG FR Francis Dionne Mount St. Mary's 6.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Joseph Routh Robert Morris 10.0 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Blair Isley becomes the first player recruited by me to win All-Northeast recognition, which is a really nice feeling. I unfortunately forgot to save the team and league statistics, I was so bummed about the season.
We pull in the #228 recruiting class, the best of my tenure here.
Code:
2014 Recruiting Rankings
# Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
156. Quinnipiac Northeast PG John Daugherty *** 0 0 1 2 0
193. Mount St. Mary's Northeast SG Edison Connelly *** 0 0 1 0 1
201. Long Island Northeast PG Loren Plumlee *** 0 0 1 1 0
227. Bryant University Northeast C Joaquin Bravo *** 0 0 2 0 0
246. Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast SG James Livesay ** 0 0 0 1 3
252. Monmouth Northeast C Thomas McCulloch ** 0 0 0 1 3
265. Robert Morris Northeast PG John Johnson ** 0 0 0 2 1
274. St. Francis-PA Northeast PG Dino Newman ** 0 0 0 1 2
290. St. Francis-NY Northeast SF Andy Robertson ** 0 0 0 1 2
297. Central Connecticut State Northeast PG Kris Tomblin ** 0 0 0 1 2
299. Sacred Heart Northeast C Oscar Weir * 0 0 0 0 5
326. Wagner Northeast C Allen Gwinn ** 0 0 0 1 0
I still have a job. Schwarzy told me not to worry about last year; the board understood about the injury problems. I need to make sure not to repeat a last place finish, though.
Nobody transferred, despite making noises to.
And so we prepare to press on for another season.