“I figured it was time to redirect my jebay and limitless abilities to one goal, basketball…swag,” the Basedgod said modestly. “Swag swag UMBC is fortunate to have me allowing them to pick me up nam’sayin.”

This is the biggest coup for the basketball team, still reeling from losing out on New Mexico point guard Kendall Williams, who could have taken out Vermont and Stony Brook on the basketball court after taking out Texas-Dallas on the chess table.

From all the Rally Monkeys and the readers of this site, best of luck, ladies.

UMBC ends the season just as crazy as they started it

Going into Thursday night’s America East Tournament play-in game against Binghamton, UMBC was a 2 point favorite.  Anyone who watched saw a Retriever team come out flat, and, with the exception of the last five minutes of regulation, get completely dominated by 1-win Binghamton.  While the ever-controversial Ben Dickenson, the freshman center for Binghamton, puts up a game high 21 points, the Retrievers shoot 34%, had leading scorer Brian Neller (18 points) hit as many airballs as three-pointers (4), including one each in the overtime period.  Yes, it was embarrassing to be the second team to lose to what is the worst Division 1 team in the nation, in what Randy Monroe felt was a performance of “playing not to lose“, but thankfully, the third sub-6 win seasons is over.  I hope that this is the last one; looking at what’s on the horizon, (Roseboro, Garner, Morgan), there is optimism.

What I want to really discuss is why I agree with Chase Plummer is on the All-America East Second Team, despite journalist Sam Perkins’s argument to put him on the first team.

Because this is an individual award, not a team award…when considering that he literally had to shoulder more of the load, face more defenses designed to stop him and him alone, and had less supporting cast than literally every other player on every other team in the league…

Yes, I agree, that is an excellent argument…for Chris De La Rosa, one year ago.  In fact, it’s the same argument I made one year ago after he was voted onto the second team.  The reason why I agree Plummer should be in the All-AE second team is because of his high turnover ratio.  The fact he had one of the highest turnover ratios in the nation, as a result of him trying to carry his team, in my eyes was enough to bring him down to the second team.  The difference between him and De La Rosa was that last season, De La Rosa did not commit nearly as many turnovers as Plummer did this year.

This is not an indictment of Chase Plummer on the court.  He still is young, and at his age, carrying a struggling Division 1 program on his shoulders like this will only give him more experience, and make him a better player next year; a next year that will include some better players around him.

For UMBC, like WNST’s Drew Forrester mentioned in an interview with Randy Monroe yesterday (listen below), the biggest thing could be defense.  While I was impressed by the Retrievers’ defense on Wednesday against Boston, normally the offense is better than the defense.  While I have no doubt that Chase Plummer will score in the double digits, facing a team that put up 90 points the last time out means that if the defense is picked apart like that, Plummer cannot be the only one to step up.  Brian Neller had a difficult Feburary, going two games in a row scoring less than 5 points; but in the last two games, against Canisius and Boston, he’s scored in the double digits, being one of two players scoring in the first half on Wednesday night.  Ryan Cook needs to find his scoring touch again.  In the last two conference games against the two BU’s, he’s scored 3 and 7 respectively.  The rest of the team is streaky and inconsistant.  Jake Wasco, Joey Getz, Chandler Thomas, Quintin Jones and Jarell Lane have had great games over the course of the season, they’ve also had terrible games.

Click for the audio from WNST of Randy Monroe’s interview, where he discusses how a team get get into a groove after being behind.  Speaking of media, good news…you can watch the video live, for free at this link since the game will be shown on local TV in Vermont.

 Average RPI
Vermont 155.4, UMBC 337.4

RealTime RPI Prediction
Vermont 81, UMBC 55

Team Rankings Prediction
Vermont 76, UMBC 59

I’ll be honest, I didn’t hate the defense in this game by UMBC.  As talented as that squad is with all the high profile transfers of Patrick Hazel, Chris Kurz, and Darryl Partin, the Terriers managed to commit a total of 16 turnovers, nearly twice as many as UMBC.  Most of these turnovers were forced because of good defensive sets; this of course after the Retrievers changed up their zone defense, which was being picked apart in BU’s initial 8-1 to open up the game’s first three minutes.

What really killed UMBC was the poor shooting.  The offensive sets were working; in most cases, the ball was moving smoothly on the offensive end of the court.  However, the shooting was so horrible during the first half and into about five minutes of the second half, that I honestly didn’t think UMBC was going to hit 50 points for the whole game.  It even got to a point where I think Boston was lulled into a stuptor in the last 10 minutes of the game, which kinda explains their 16 turnovers.

Other random musings from last night’s game…

• It looks like Joey Getz has a fanebase, based off of the “We love Joey” chants with about three minutes left in the game.  Those chants bring back memories of a past point guard who’s now an assistant coach on the team.
• It seems referee John Regan needs to learn what a charge is.  Stumbling back and tripping on your own two feet is not the definition of taking a charge.
• Randy Monroe was channeling his inner-Jim Phelan, the legendary Mt. St. Mary’s coach, with his bow tie, coaching what could be his final home game at UMBC.
• I’ve been watching the clip that’s been floating online of Binghamton fans storming the court after their win over Vermont from Tuesday night.  Is it me, or does Binghamton’s PA announcer sound like UMBC’s?

Finally, thank you very much Jake Wasco for the four years you’ve put in at UMBC.  You may not have been the best player that’s come through the RAC, and your first three years were not so great, but you wore those letters with pride.

The last time these two teams played, in Boston last month, was not one to remember for the Retrievers.  Losing 83-48, the Retrievers had only two players score in the double-digits, Chase Plummer (17) and the much maligned Jamar Wertz (12).  In fact, that game was so bad, Wertz had twice as many points as the third-leading scorer, Wasco, that night.  The Retrievers know that Boston’s biggest threat, Darryl Partin, is having shooting struggles similar to Brian Neller.  Despite scoring 17 points in the Bracketbuster win over Loyola this past weekend, Partin shot 6-16 and 3-8 from beyond the arc, slightly better than their previous game against New Hampshire, where he put up a goose egg from three-point land.

One of the biggest questions going into tonight’s game will be the lineup.  It’s no secret that lately, as he’s come under pressure, coach Randy Monroe has been tinkering with the lineup, the offensive strategies and the defensive strategies.  Will Plummer start, or won’t he?  How will Brian Neller get out of his shooting funk?  How many minutes will Wasco record if he has a bad game?  Will the Retrievers implore the zone defense, and what backup will they have if the Terriers penetrate it?  How will they contain Partin, as well as fellow threat DJ Irving?

Finally, will the AP refer both teams as the Terriers, as they’re apt to do in their national write-up on these two teams’ games?

Average RPI
Boston 188.6, UMBC 337.6

NCAA RPI (as of Monday)
Boston 188, UMBC 338

RealTime RPI Prediction
Boston 70, UMBC 58

Team Rankings Prediction
Boston 71, UMBC 64

Brian Neller, who had a horrendous first half with only 2 points, finished the game with 14, and Chase Plummer, a player Canisius coach Tom Parrota mentioned he wanted as a recruit, had 24 points.  Oddly, UMBC’s bench, while struggling, would have relieved key Retrievers as they struggled, saw little action.  Adrien Satchell and Quinten Jones didn’t see any action, and Will Wise, who played 14 minutes, had one assist, one rebound, three fouls and one turnover.  That’s it; zero shots.

While Randy Monroe keeps tinkering with the lineup and strategies looking for something that works, the losses since the Jay Greene-Darryl Proctor era keep adding up.  That’s all that needs to be said on that.

The Griffins have 3 players who average in the double-digits, guard Harold Washington (16.54), guard Alshwan Hymes (14.62) and guard Gaby Belardo (11.55).  The Retrievers also have only 3 players averaging in the double-digits, however the difference is the rest of the team, because Canisius’s supporting cast don’t put in as much on the scoreboard as UMBC.  This will make the difference, if Canisius is over-reliant on those three, especially Hymes’s three-point shot (31.2%, exactly Brian Neller’s percentage in that category).  In short, these two teams, on paper are nearly identical (I guess that’s why they were matched up), but a win would give UMBC, and the America East as well, a much-needed moral victory against the last place MAAC team, especially since the MAAC RPI is so much higher.

And wouldn’t you know it, you can bet on this game, if you lived in Las Vegas, like me! (sorry, had to do it)

Every time I see a possible victory after a win, I always want to watch this clip.

Average RPI
Canisius 326.2, UMBC 337.6

NCAA RPI (as of Monday)
Canisius 326, UMBC 338

RealTime RPI Prediction
Canisius 72, UMBC 65

Team Rankings Prediction
Canisius 74, UMBC 69

Las Vegas Sportsbooks Opening Line Prediction
UMBC +6, over/under 143