America East

NCAA Basketball Conference Ranking: 2008-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:31:09 -0500

CHN's 31 conference ranking, including 10 year historical averages based on average RPI finish. For more information on historical RPI averages, check out the Conference Data Page. Links lead to league preview pages.

Big East

10 Year Average: 3

10 Year Average: 1

10 Year Average: 2

10 Year Average: 5

10 Year Average: 6

10 Year Average: 4

10 Year Average: 10

10 Year Average: 7

10 Year Average: 9

WCC

10 Year Average: 12

11 Conference USA

10 Year Average: 8

12 Colonial

10 Year Average: 14

13 MAC

10 Year Average: 13

14 WAC

10 Year Average: 11

15 MAAC

10 Year Average: 17

16 Horizon

10 Year Average: 15

17 Southern

10 Year Average: 19

18 Sun Belt

10 Year Average: 16

19 Big West

10 Year Average: 18

20 Patriot

10 Year Average: 23

21 Southland

10 Year Average: 27

22 Ivy

10 Year Average: 24

23 Big Sky

10 Year Average: 20

24 America East

10 Year Average: 21

25 Summit

10 Year Average: 26

26 OVC

10 Year Average: 22

27 NEC

10 Year Average: 28

28 Atlantic Sun

10 Year Average: 25

29 Big South

10 Year Average: 29

30 MEAC

10 Year Average: 30

-Independents

31 SWAC

10 Year Average: 31

America East Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:04:35 -0500

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Conference Rank: 24th

Conference Page

All-America East Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Joe Zeglinski	Hartford	Jr
G	Mike Trimboli	Vermont	Sr
G	Corey Lowe	Boston U.	Jr
F	Darryl Proctor	UMBC	Sr
F	Marqus Blakely	Vermont	Jr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Marqus Blakely Mike Trimboli		Points: Marqus Blakely 19.0 Rebounds: Marqus Blakely 11.0 Assists: Jay Greene 7.2

America East Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

114	Hartford	Am East	1	NCAA
155	Vermont	Am East	2
180	Boston U	Am East	3
192	Albany	Am East	4
208	UMBC	Am East	5
226	Binghamton	Am East	6
258	New Hamp	Am East	7
323	Maine	Am East	8
332	Stony Brook	Am East	9

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the America East?

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Rise & Fall: America East

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the America East?

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:55:35 -0400

Rise & Fall: Low-Major Conference Review

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:52:45 -0400

In recent weeks, the Rise & Fall series has chronicled the progress (or regress) of college basketball's major conference teams. But if I equated each team to a civilization, I was mistaken. It is really the NCAA conference that equates to a burgeoning civilization or nation, each with its sometimes stable and sometimes rotating member states. Like civilizations, the prestige and power of conferences wax and wane..

Today, I'll start with the status of the low-major conferences before moving up to the big boys.

LOW-MAJORS

AMERICA EAST - DECLINING (SLOWLY )

For whatever reason, the AE's RPI rating swings wildly compared to most leagues.. anywhere between 16th and 29th in the last seven years. When teams like Delaware, Drexel, and Hofstra bolted for the CAA after 2001, it seemed like an iminent disaster (and was for a moment in 2002 with that 29th RPI). But Tom Brennan's great Vermont teams really saved the league's prestige. However, now that Vermont is still trying to regain form under Mike Lonegran and Albany's Jamar Wilson era is over, the league is retreating back into the mid-twenties RPI range where I expect them to finish in 2009.

ATLANTIC SUN - DECLINING

While Belmont was solid last year, it was an abysmal year for the ASun. The league's decline has mainly been do the negative effects of a changing league membership. Central Florida, FAU, and Georgia State have all left in recent seasons for "bigger" leagues, replaced by D1 newcomers like Kennessaw State and North Florida. Last year, 6 teams in the league finished with an RPI below 290th. This led to an overall RPI of 29th, one of the worst seasons in the league's history, and a stark change from the usual range of 20th to 23rd that the ASun enjoyed just a handful of seasons ago.

BIG SOUTH - RISING (SLOWLY)

Basically, this is all about the emergence of Winthrop in recent years. In the last 90's and early 00's, the Big south was right there with the MEAC and SWAC as the last rung on college basketball's ladder. But Greg Marshall's amazing success at Winthrop has the been the main catalyst for the league's overall improvement. While its unclear whether Randy Peele can continue Marshall's success, and UNCA might slip after last year's solid run, those worries can't overturn the league's positive momentum.

BIG SKY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

This is one of the few low-major leagues to have finished above 15th in overall RPI (ie, the top half) in the last two decades. The league isn't quite as strong as it was just a few years back though, as the subtle switch of losing Northridge to the Big West, in place of horrid Northern Colorado has hurt. For the first half of the decade, it seemed like one Big Sky team always was a serious mid-major contender, highlighted by Montana's 2006 Tournament win (and Weber's big upset back in 99). But such an upset seems highly unlikely right now.

IVY - DECLINING

The Ivy has had better success over the last decade than any low-major league, and its arguable that they should really count in the "mid-major" category. Regardless, the glory days of Penn/Princeton dominance has come to an end, and now the conference isn't really any better than geographical rivals like the Patriot or America East. Cornell is the league's main hope in the present (perhaps to be joined by Amaker's Harvard?) as Penn and Princeton try to resurrect past glory. A repeat of the Ivy's 2002 RPI finish of 13th won't come around for awhile.

MEAC - RISING (SLOWLY)

It wasn't always a given that the SWAC and the MEAC would finish dead last in the RPI. While never good, they were just one of a handful of low-level leagues like the Big South and Southland conferences. But over the last handful of years, its become a certainty that either the MEAC and SWAC will be the bottom of the barrel. Despite being 30th out of 31 conferences last year, it was actually the MEAC's most successful season of the century. Todd Bozeman has turned a dismal Morgan State program (4-26 in 2006) into a winner (over 20 wins last year) while Hampton knocked off legit programs like Tulsa and VCU. Due to these wins, the league's non-conference RPI of 28 tied their high-water mark of the last decade.

NORTHEAST - STATUS QUO

The league is slightly better than it was a handful of years back, but a repeat of last year's success is unlikely. With an RPI of 20th, it was one of the NEC's better performances due to quality seasons from Robert Morris and Wagner. But the win totals put up by those schools and others was really more due to smoke and mirrors, as the NEC's non-conference SOS was one of the worst in the nation. A usual finish around 26th in the RPI should be expected this time around.

OHIO VALLEY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

Last year's RPI of 28th and .227 non-conference winning %, were some of the worst in league history. Though a small bounce back should be expected in 08-09, the OVC has been in a steady downwards trend. Not to long ago, it seemed like two teams in the league (usually Murray State or APSU) were legitimate Top 100-120 programs that could compete with the big boys. While APSU is still decent, Murray has lost the luster of a few seasons back due to coaching changes.

PATRIOT - RISING (SLOWLY)

The Patriot is coming off of two of their best seasons in recent history, with RPI finishes of 16th and 17th. The great non-conference winning % is a bit misleading though, because they played the worst schedule of anybody in the country (even the independents somehow managed to find better competition.) Thus while American's win over Maryland was cute, and Navy's continual improvement is nice to see, there's still serious room for (more legitimate) improvement.

SOUTHLAND - RISING

Last year was the SLC's best season in recent memory.. and two of its best RPI seasons in the last decade have come in the past three years. SFA knocked off Oklahoma and NCAA Tournament team San Diego. Sam Houston beat higher-level programs like Texas Tech, Saint Louis, and Fresno. And those teams didn't even win the conference, as Texas-Arlington took the honors. While an overall conference RPI of 19 might not seem amazing, it represents a major improvement for a league that has barely outperformed the independents in the past ten years.

SUMMIT - STATUS QUO

Despite the new name, the Summit is no better than it was as the Mid-Con. Never the worst conference out there, it also never seems to have a break out year and hasn't finished above 20th in the RPI in quite some time. Oral Roberts has obviously been the leader in recent years, while Oakland and IUPUI have shown some positive momentum. But there's too many duds in the league membership (Centenary, WIU, etc) to expect a serious break from form any time soon.

SWAC - STATUS QUO

The SWAC's .085 winning percentage against non-conference teams is the worst of any team in the twelve seasons that I have stats for. In fact, previous marks of futility set by the SWAC are the only near competitors (.096 in 2000 for example.) But futility is nothing new for the SWAC, which has been the lowest ranked conference the last four years (by a large margin).. thus it deserves the Status Quo.

- Note that league power isn't quite as fluid as team power, so seemingly small baby steps end up counting more..

- Up Next: Mid-Majors

BCS

ACC

Big 12

Big East

Big Ten

Pac-10

SEC

High-Major

Atlantic 10

Conference USA

MVC

MWC

WAC

Mid-Major

Big West

Colonial

Horizon

MAC

MAAC

Southern

Sun Belt

WCC

America East Player of the Week

Press Release — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:49:59 -0500

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Vermont men's basketball junior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.) has been named the America East Men's Basketball Player of the Week. The conference made the announcement today.

Trimboli averaged 22.0 points and shot 67 percent from the field to lead the Catamounts to their first two victories of the season last week. Trimboli, a preseason America East All-Conference selection, scored a game-high 22 points, including the 1,000th of his career as UVM downed New Jersey Tech 91 -71 on Tuesday. He connected on 9-of-10 shots and also dished out six assists.

In a 59-57 win over Towson, Trimboli scored 22 points for the second straight outing and also grabbed five rebounds. He netted 14 of his 22 in the deciding second half to help the Cats win in their home opener.

With 22 points in the win over NJIT on November 20, Trimboli became the 27th Catamount in the history of the program to top the 1,000-point mark. Trimboli needed 16 going into the game and reached that in the first half by shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor. He becomes the first Catamount since T.J. Sorrentine '05 to accomplish the feat, as Sorrentine went over 1,000 with 16 points at Massachusetts on December 2, 2003 during his junior year as well.

Trimboli's 940 points through two seasons was the fourth-best pace in school history behind only Eddie Benton (1,307 points), Taylor Coppenrath (1,086) and Sorrentine (974). With 1,028 points for his career, Trimboli is tied with Dave Lapointe '69 for 25th all-time in school history

I owe Yale an apology

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:11:30 -0500

I begin this blog with a quote from my last post: "Although you normally want to wait until a team plays more than two games to state that they are the clear favorite to win their conference, can anybody truly challenge Penn at the top of the Ivy League? Preseason prognosticators tabbed Princeton to finish second, but they're sitting in last place right now. Maybe Cornell or Yale? Who knows, but I'll take the Quakers over the field." (January 29th) Whoops. After this weekend's games (a sweep of Princeton and Penn), James Jones' Yale Bulldogs are atop the Ivy League with a 5-1 conference record. Yale is led by the tandem of guard Eric Flato and guard/forward Casey Hughes. This is an experienced ballclub that should hang around for the duration of the season and challenge for the league's automatic bid. They've played two more games than Penn, which explains the two-game lead in the win column (they're tied in the loss category), and they've got the Columbia/Cornell road swing this coming weekend. If they can get through that with at least a split, if not a sweep, the Bulldogs have their next four games at home. The season ends with games at Penn and Princeton, and those games could indeed decide who represents the Ivy in the NCAA Tournament. In the MAAC, preseason favorite Marist has gotten themselves into quite a jam in the standings. They're only one game behind Loyola (MD) thanks to their win over the Greyhounds on Saturday, but they're 2-3 record in the last five games has put them into a tougher spot when it comes to seeding for the MAAC Tournament. 2 1/2 games separate second place from eighth in the standings, and seeds 7-10 get to play on the first day of the tournament. With the improvement of teams like Niagara and Fairfield since the beginning of the year, the last weeks of the regular season will be a sight to behold. The only given at this point is that St. Peter's and Iona will occupy the bottom two spots in the standings. Also, congrats to the Iona Gaels, who got their first win of the season on Saturday in a 79-67 win over Rider. Given the mentality of head coach Jeff Ruland, the celebration on the court was probably short-lived, and look out for this team in Bridgeport. One and done scenario, a team that many won't expect much from...a recipe of an upset or two. Or maybe even a run to the tournament crown. The Duquesne story just gets better by the week. Given the offseason turmoil experienced by the Dukes in the first year of the Ron Everhart era, another year of futility was expected. But after wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure, the Dukes are sitting in the middle of the Atlantic 10 standings at 5-4 in the league. Although they're only two games out of first place, a championship would be too much to ask. But as this program grows and they get players healthy, look out. Speaking of the A-10, Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron may be well on his way to claiming the league's Coach of the Year award. It's one thing to improve your conference win total from one year to the next. But to do it with a completely different style of play? URI under Baron had always preferred a half-court style of play, but this year they're getting it done with an up-tempo style. Jimmy Baron (yes, he's the coach's son), Will Daniels and Kaheim Seawright are the main offensive threats. But I have no way of explaining the 45-44 win at Fordham on Saturday. Let's just give them credit for finding a way to win in spite of shooting 28% from the field. Two games in the next week will go a long way in deciding the Patriot and America East: Holy Cross at Bucknell (2/9) and Vermont at Albany (2/11). In both matchups, so long as all teams involved take care of business, the first place team will visit the team right behind them in the standings. In the NEC, two games separate second place from eighth, but the actual story may be that eighth place (Wagner) has 2.5 games between themselves and ninth place. Keep in mind that only the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the conference tournament. In order for LIU to pass Wagner, they would need to finish a full game ahead of the Seahawks given Wagner's season sweep of the Blackbirds.

First Weekend of Conference Play Full of Surprises

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:32:14 -0500

The first college basketball weekend of 2007 has delivered some interesting results. First off, how many people expected Hartford and Maryland-Baltimore County to be on top of America East after the first weekend of play? The Hawks, led by first-year head coach Dan Leibovitz, won a 62-60 thriller at Maine on opening night, then followed that win with an 80-75 double-OT home win over Boston University. The Hawks only have two seniors on the roster, so it would be understandable if people looked to their future instead of the present. Of course the two seniors, forwards Bo Taylor and Alex Zimnickas, are important contributors, but the Hawks also have some solid youngsters playing a part in their success. Freshman guard Joe Zeglinski is the team's second leading scorer, and sophomores Jaret Von Rosenberg, Michael Turner and Fabrice Tafo combined for 26 points off the bench in their win at Maine. A young team has its bumps in the road, but the future could be now for the Hawks. As for the Retrievers of UMBC, at first glance winning their first two league games on the road would be a surprise. But when you factor in that they have played 11 of their first 15 games on the road this year, it's not such a shock. In their 72-53 win at struggling Stony Brook, the Retrievers outscored SBU 47-24 in the second half. Five players average at least 8.5 points per game, led by junior guard Brian Hodges' 15.4 per game. Just like Hartford, who can really predict whether or not the 6-9 Retrievers can keep this momentum rolling remains to be seen, especially for a team that essentially goes six deep (Chris Seaborn and Uwem Eshietedoho play less than 14 minutes per game each). I wish I would have suggested Uwem's name for our all-name team. St. Joseph's and Rhode Island lead the A-10 right now, but how about some love for the Duquesne Dukes, 73-63 winners at St. Louis on Saturday. We all know the story of the campus party shooting this past offseason and the depleted roster as a result. But give first-year head coach Ron Everhart and his staff credit, and the players as well, for competing and not feeling sorry for themselves. Will they compete for a league title? Doubtful, but things are looking up for this program and they will show up every night to play. Raise your hand if you thought that before the season started West Virginia and Providence would be two of the Big East's four undefeated teams (in league play) after the first full weekend of conference play? If your hand is raised you're either a fan of either team, or you're lying. Frank Young has played lights out in the Mountaineers' three Big East wins, games against UConn, Villanova and St. John's that haven't been close at all. Joe Alexander and Da'Sean Butler make for an imposing head of John Beilein's 1-3-1 zone due to their size and length, and Darris Nichols has been solid at the point. Do not sleep on this team come March. As for Providence, they hit a bump in the road against Florida State in their first game without suspended guard Sharaud Curry (92-62 is a significant bump), but they have recovered to take care of both Marquette and Seton Hall at home. Geoff McDermott is one of the more underrated forwards in the nation, for he can do it all. And big man Herbert Hill has improved substantially, an essential development for a team without the services of its best post player from last season (Randall Hanke). Next up for the Friars is a trip to inconsistent Louisville, and Curry reportedly (according to the Providence Journal-Bulletin) will be back for that one. Providence has a chance in their next four games (at UL, at Seton Hall, Rutgers, Villanova) to play themselves into good position for an NCAA Tournament bid, so long as Tim Welsh and his staff find a way to combine Curry's return with the improved play of his replacement, freshman Dwain Williams. In the CAA, did anyone expect to see George Mason tied for last at 0-3? The Patriots lost a lot from last season's Final Four team, so the early results should underscore just how important seniors are for programs in non-BCS leagues (Not that seniors aren't improtant to BCS leagues, but the nouveau riche programs seem to have an easier time recruiting). Of the four teams at the top of the CAA, whose schedule would I not want this week? Hofstra. The Pride get Old Dominion at home Monday night, then visit Drexel on Thursday. We'll see if Tom Pecora's bunch can do enough on the glass in those two showdowns, a signifcant change from their first three conference games against schools (Georgia State, UNC Wilmington and Delaware) with a combined league record of 1-8 to this point. Sacred Heart and FDU lead the NEC, but with only one winless team in league play (St. Francis NY), this should be a wild winter in that league. The top eight qualify for the conference tournament, and seeding determines home court for each round, so every game will be of the utmost importance. An interesting note on the NEC is that only Robert Morris (10-3) and Fairleigh Dickinson (7-6) have overall records above .500. Sacred Heart is currently 7-7, so the league winner could find themselves in the opening round game in Dayton (Ken Pomeroy ranks the NEC 30th out of 32 leagues in his conference RPI). Siena leads the MAAC at 4-0 in conference play, but unfortunately for Iona the watch continues. The Gaels, the nation's lone winless team at 0-13, visit preseason favorite Marist Tuesday night. I don't see them winning that one, but a home game with rival Manhattan may be enough to get this team going on Friday night. Not to mention the inconsistent play of the Jaspers this season, you never know what could happen. Just keep playing hard guys. Also, how many other teams in the nation are as thankful for their four-year transfers as Loyola (MD)? Gerald Brown (Providence)and Omari Isreal (Notre Dame) have been key contributors for Jimmy Patsos this season, and the Greyhounds could make some noise come MAAC Tournament time. I almost forgot to mention the fact that Providence honored Dave Gavitt on Saturday night, naming the Dunkin Donuts Center court "Dave Gavitt Court". For a man that played such an instrumental role in the success of the Providence program, as well as the members of the Big East, it is an honor well deserved. Thank you for your contributions to the game Mr. Gavitt. Lastly, a note on a team outside of the northeast. I'm glad that I once again drank the Oregon "Kool-Aid". They've burned me in the past, but I think things will be different this year. It remains to be seen how the return of Malik Hairston affects this squad when that time comes. Good night.

America East Conference Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 12:15:12 -0500

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

America East Preview

Conference Rank: 22nd

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Jamar Wilson, Albany, G

Mitchell Beauford, Stony Brook, G

Mike Trimboli, Vermont, G

Blagoj Janev, New Hampshire, F

Martin Klimes, Vermont, C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
90	Albany	1	NCAA
149	Vermont	2
186	New Hampshire	3
225	Maine	4
231	Boston U	5
241	Binghamton	6
276	Stony Brook	7
306	UMBC	8
319	Hartford	9

Preseason Head Coach Interviews:

Randy Monroe - UMBC

Other AE Preview Articles:

NYC Metro Preview: Stony Brook