UNLV is again a #6 seed, this time in the Midwest. Creighton is still going, an 8 seed in the East.
Although there were a fair number of first round upsets, Fairleigh-Dickinson wasn't one of them, losing 79-63 to Seton Hall.
Creighton made it to the Sweet 16, where they lost 99-94 to 5 seed Virginia Tech and
UNLV made it all the way to the NCAA championship, where they lost in a heartbreaking 92-89 fashion to 1 seed UAB.
Code:
2016 NORTHEAST AWARDS
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Player of the Year:
SR SG Arthur Stamps Sacred Heart 26.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.0 APG 1.3 SPG, 0.0 BPG
Freshman of the Year:
FR SF Mack Rasmussen Bryant University 9.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.3 APG 1.1 SPG, 0.3 BPG
Coach of the Year:
Bill Cutshall Fairleigh Dickinson 25 - 8 (14 - 4)
All-league 1st Team:
C SR David Powell Robert Morris 9.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG
PF JR Malcolm Brooks Sacred Heart 5.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.7 BPG
SF SR Daniel Lerch Fairleigh Dickinson 12.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG
SG SR Arthur Stamps Sacred Heart 26.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.0 BPG
PG JR Joseph Kelsey Robert Morris 13.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.2 BPG
All-league 2nd Team:
C SO Joaquin Bravo Bryant University 14.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG
PF SR Tommy Bennington Fairleigh Dickinson 7.1 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.7 BPG
SF SR Chris Llamas Robert Morris 16.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG JR Ali Almeida Fairleigh Dickinson 13.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG SO Loren Plumlee Long Island 11.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.0 BPG
All-freshman Team:
C FR Darell Mackey Long Island 4.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG
PF FR Eldridge McKean Wagner 6.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG
SF FR Mack Rasmussen Bryant University 9.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.3 BPG
SG FR Randy Tomblin Central Connecticut State 5.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG
PG FR Kenneth Stout Wagner 6.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.0 BPG
First ever Northeast Freshman of the Year and on top of it,
Joaquin Bravo makes the Northeast 2nd Team as a sophomore. Pretty cool.
None of the graduating seniors made a huge impact on the team over their four careers, although
Lester Henning is #4 in school history in career points and #6 in career rebounds. Not bad for a player ranked #1331 in his class and who never got more than a half-season of starts.
David Lilly started off as a starter, but saw his minutes decline each season until his suspension this year. Did graduate #5 in school career rebounds, though.
Cole Clifford,
Desmond Royster, and
Gerald Gonzales were as non-entity as their 1* rating and 1000+ ranking suggested they'd be. We did have one player, though, who achieved considerable success,
Hershel Gaughan:
Code:
PLAYER DETAILS
#1 PG Hershel Gaughan - Bryant University - Senior
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Height: 6-2
Weight: 180
High School: High Point High School
Hometown: Beltsville, MD
Attributes:
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Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
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Current: 25 58 66 26 54 63 27 31 33 33 27 31 96 40 47 97
2015: 23 54 65 25 51 59 25 29 32 31 25 30 95 39 47 90
2014: 22 51 64 24 48 55 24 28 31 29 23 29 95 38 46 83
2013: 21 48 63 23 45 51 23 27 30 27 21 28 94 37 46 76
2012: 19 44 59 21 43 47 21 25 30 25 19 28 92 35 45 62
Potential: D B B D C B D D C C D C
Health: Good
Scholarship: Yes
Status: Active Roster
Academics: 32
Stat Averages:
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Season G GS MIN PTS ORE REB AST TO A/T STL BLK PF
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2013 20 0 24.6 4.7 0.5 2.1 2.2 1.8 1.19 0.8 0.1 2.1
2014 20 18 24.2 4.4 0.8 2.2 2.6 2.2 1.21 0.4 0.3 2.6
2015 33 33 27.7 6.4 0.9 3.2 3.5 2.2 1.54 1.0 0.1 3.0
2016 30 30 28.1 7.5 1.2 3.7 3.8 1.9 2.04 0.7 0.1 2.5
Career 103 81 26.5 6.0 0.9 2.9 3.1 2.0 2.04 0.7 0.1 2.6
Shooting Averages:
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Season FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P% PPS +/-
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2013 1.3 4.3 .306 1.8 2.3 .778 0.3 2.0 .150 1.09 -2.90
2014 1.4 3.9 .351 1.4 1.8 .750 0.4 1.6 .226 1.14 -3.10
2015 2.1 5.8 .366 1.8 2.5 .690 0.4 2.0 .194 1.10 0.64
2016 2.4 6.2 .395 2.1 2.6 .805 0.6 2.3 .261 1.22 0.63
Career 1.9 5.2 .364 1.8 2.3 .752 0.4 2.0 .213 1.15 -0.78
Stat Totals:
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Season G GS MIN PTS OREB REB AST TO STL BLK PF
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2013 20 0 492 93 10 42 43 36 16 2 41
2014 20 18 483 88 15 44 52 43 7 5 52
2015 33 33 915 211 31 104 114 74 33 3 100
2016 30 30 844 226 37 110 114 56 20 3 76
Career 103 81 2734 618 93 300 323 209 76 13 269
Shooting Totals
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Season FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA +/-
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2013 26 85 35 45 6 40 -58
2014 27 77 27 36 7 31 -62
2015 70 191 58 84 13 67 21
2016 73 185 62 77 18 69 19
Career 196 538 182 242 44 207 -80
Career Highs:
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Type Pts OReb Reb Ast Stl Blk TO FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA
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Season 17 4 7 9 2 1 5 6 10 9 13 2 6
Career 17 4 11 9 4 1 6 6 11 9 13 2 6
Awards & Acheivements:
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Season Award
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All Player of the Game: 3
2012 High School: Rated ** and #584 overall by the FBCB scouting service.
Never a dynamite player, he nonetheless graduates as the school's career assist leader, largely due to the fact of holding down the starting PG gig for most of three seasons.
Code:
2016 Recruiting Rankings
# Team Conference Best Player Rtg 5* 4* 3* 2* 1*
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145. Bryant University Northeast PF Sofronio Rey *** 0 0 1 3 0
182. Quinnipiac Northeast PF Huey Clark *** 0 0 1 2 2
191. Mount St. Mary's Northeast SG Luis Lamothe *** 0 0 1 0 3
205. Sacred Heart Northeast SF Charles Loucks *** 0 0 1 0 3
234. St. Francis-NY Northeast PG Chris Govea ** 0 0 0 1 3
244. Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast C Jerry Akins ** 0 0 0 1 2
262. Central Connecticut State Northeast C Thomas Smith ** 0 0 0 2 2
295. Robert Morris Northeast SF Jeffrey Reed ** 0 0 0 1 2
306. Monmouth Northeast SF David Block * 0 0 0 0 3
311. Long Island Northeast SF Agustin Caylor ** 0 0 0 1 1
336. Wagner Northeast C James Krawczyk * 0 0 0 0 2
347. St. Francis-PA Northeast 0 0 0 0 0
Two open scholarships? No problem, as
we pull in the Northeast's top class and the first top 150 class of my tenure. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.
Our prestige holds at 11, but the board is telling me if I don't make .500 in Northeast play this season, I'm done.
Transfer Period
All the players showing initial interest in us are upperclassmen and point guards, and all but one of them were walk-ons.
Thomas Dash, a senior from Marist, and the lone one to get a scholarship initially, looks like the best of the bunch, so he gets an offer. I try and convince
SG Malik Collins from Arizona to come too.
Thomas Dash agrees right away;
Malik Collins goes to DePaul. Dash, by the way, was a Delaware All-State player in his year.
We get our second transfer in
C Gary Wilson, a sophomore rebounding specialist from Detroit who actually projects as a SF.
Recruiting
There's a player who definitely wants to suit up for a Northeast school,
SG Brian Torres, a Connecticut All-State player who has Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac in his Top 5. He also has high interest in us, so we immediately try to poach him.
C David McGinnis, a Virginia All-State player and massive at 7', is our other target after our initial siftings, as we're aiming high with the second scholarship.
McGinnis rejects us in the next month, as more prestigious Virginia schools step in. We then switch off to
C Thomas Steele, as I'm determined to get a legitimately talented 7 footer this recruiting season.
Brian Torres tells us the next month he's deciding between us and Sacred Heart, while
Thomas Steele is leaning towards Cleveland State, but has us as his #2.
Brian Torres does pick Sacred Heart, but we're not exactly broken up about it. We're gaining ground in the
Thomas Steele race, but it's still too close to call.
Mac Murray, Wisconsin All-State SG, is our next target.
We finally get a player willing to redshirt, and that's
C Mike Puentes. Mr. Basketball Rhode Island comes in with far better potential than I figured he would, but he's quite raw and could use the extra development time.
All-Time Recruitment By State
Indiana: 1
Massachusetts: 2
Maryland: 1
Michigan: 1
North Carolina: 3
New York: 2
Pennsylvania: 2 (+1)
Rhode Island: 3 (+1)
Canada: 2 (+1)
Spain: 2 (+1)
We're definitely developing our foreign connections, and could Pennsylvania be our new North Carolina?
[u]Bryant Bulldogs 2017-18 Starting Lineup/u]
PG Craig Smith (Jr)
He's been very slow to develop and is a major disappointment so far in his college career. But our PG depth is so weak, he's a starter by default.
SG Napoleon "Dynamite Flash" Gordon (Sr)*
We're expecting a ton out of him this final season. Did decently last year, but he's going to really have to step it up if I still want to be coaching next season.
SF Chris Templeton (Fr)
The true freshman managed to beat out last year's Northeast Freshman of the Year,
Mack Rasmussen, by showing off better shooting skills in training camp. It's a sign of just how much this position has been in flux since the days of
Blair Isley.
PF Lance Tully (Sr)*
Although never a huge point producer, Tully's rebounding prowess keeps in the starting lineup, even though he's just 6'7. We're also counting on him to break out in his last year.
C Joaquin Bravo (Jr)
Simply put, the star of the team, or at least in my opinion. He made tremendous progress from his freshman to his sophomore season, and if he can make the same sort of leap his junior year, he could even be in the running for the 1st team All-Conference.
Ugly 63-47 loss to Longwood at home to open the season.
Mack Rasmussen wins his job back with 10 bench points after
Chris Templeton goes 0 for 6.
Columbia whips us 93-69 in New York. I'm struck with depression again, We're an awful shooting team this year.
89-86 loss to Lafayette, one of the worst teams in the country. Kill me now.
Joaquin Bravo finally breaks out with 19 points and
Chris Templeton matches that off the bench, re-igniting the starting SF controversy.
Heartbreaking 83-80 defeat in Dartmouth. We're playing better, but still 0-4.
Lance Tully 11 points and
Craig Smith 15, but
Napoleon Gordon finally snapping the slump with 22 points is the most encouraging sign.
No decisions, but we've belatedly realized how bad
Thomas Steele is. Tough choice now. Then again, Cleveland State pulled their offer, so maybe we should too.