Final Home Game Against Terriers

Posted by neilballofrubber at 22 February 2012

Category: UMBC Retrievers

Tags: , , , , , ,

I love this league sometimes.  Especially when you have a night like last night when the longest losing streak in college basketball ends to a team fighting for first place.  Which leads to tonight’s home finale for UMBC against Boston; BU cannot get first place, but if they win out and UMBC beats Vermont Saturday, they finish in second..  Winning out involves tonight’s game for them; for UMBC, tonight the Retrievers attempt two wins in a row over Boston at the RAC, as well as the final home game for the only senior on the team, Jake Wasco.

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

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Malik Garner Video

Posted by neilballofrubber at 21 February 2012

Category: Recruiting Trail

Tags:

Released this past weekend, a highlight reel of Malik Garner, one of two high school seniors who have already signed a letter of intent to play for UMBC next season.  The 6’6″ shooting guard/small forward, as indicated by the video, scored a total of 1,375 points in his high school career with Chestnut Hill Academy.  Enjoy.

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Rally Falls Short

Posted by neilballofrubber at 18 February 2012

Category: UMBC Retrievers

Tags: , , , , , , ,

On a senior day in Buffalo against Canisius, UMBC played the first half of their Bracketbuster game like they didn’t want to be there.  After going back and forth until the 11:37 mark in the first half, the Retrievers allowed the Golden Griffins to go on a 24-6 run in the next nine minutes.  The good news is that UMBC was able to cut the lead down during the second half, eventually being only 64-61 with 2:16 left.  The bad news, is that’s where the team fell apart, committing a turnover and hitting only one more basket and two free throws after that.

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.

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UMBC Faces Canisius in Bracketbuster

Posted by neilballofrubber at 18 February 2012

Category: UMBC Retrievers

Tags: , ,

At this point, pitting two teams with a total of 8 wins between them indicates that these teams need to face someone in ESPNU’s Bracketbuster thingy, and that these two teams will return to face each other again this fall at the RAC.  Canisius’s basketball program is struggling just as much as UMBC’s is, and their fans are just as unhappy about it as ours are.  However, just looking at their stats, it seems that they have very shallow roster, as opposed to UMBC, who has talented players who just play inconsistent.

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

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Feeley, Morgan Update

Posted by neilballofrubber at 17 February 2012

Category: Recruiting Trail, Retrievers in the Pros

Tags: ,

Eight games into the Venezuelan LPB season, Andy Feeley is making waves in a league he once starred in before.  Playing for the Guyana Giants, the 6’9″ center leads his team with 15.4 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, good for 5th in the league, and 1.1 blocks, good for 10th in the league.  Tuesday night, the 2005 UMBC graduate scored a game high 17 points in the Giants 63-56 win over the Margarita Warriors to send them to fourth place at 5-3.  The Giants’ next game is next Wednesday against the Caracas Crocodiles.

Aaron Morgan, the Council Rock North High School point guard coming to UMBC next season, got some local attention in the Philadelphia media earlier last week.  The Philadelphia Inquirer did an article Sunday about his buzzer-beating half-court shot with 2.3 seconds left, giving CRN a 47-44 win over Newtown.  Currently, CRN is 17-5, 11-3 in the Suburban One League National Division, and conclude their regular season tonight hosting Central Bucks South.

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No Notoriety Yet

Posted by neilballofrubber at 16 February 2012

Category: UMBC Retrievers

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Fresh on the heels of the news that today, ESPN’s Outside the Lines will be doing a story on the fall of Binghamton basketball’s program since their championship year of 2008-2009, UMBC went into last night’s game knowing that they were expected to be the team that ended the nation’s active longest losing streak in NCAA, which began last year with, coincidentally, UMBC.  And from the get go, it looked like it would have been, when the first minute and-a-half saw UMBC down by 5.  While UMBC did get the win, the stats were horrendous; any other game, UMBC would have lost by 20.

The good news saw players like Chase Plummer, Joey Getz and Jamar Wertz scoring in double-digits, Getz and fellow freshman Will Wise going 1.000 from the line, and the defense forcing 16 Bearcat turnovers.  But the Retrievers also saw shockers, such as key three-point shooter Brian Neller struggle, going 2 for 8 and Ryan Cook only going 1-11, a nearly 7 minute scoring drought in the first half, and allowing 11 points in the last minute and ten seconds of the game.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if UMBC can get a whole team to play flawless for one game, that game could be against league leaders Boston or Vermont, the Retrievers could sneak out a victory.  Sadly, we’re still waiting for the day when the entire team plays flawlessly.  I would hope that playing against a similar lowly MAAC team on Saturday in the Bracketbuster would give UMBC a good opportunity to prepare for the teams at the top of the AE, like Boston and Vermont.

Here are some video highlights from the local Binghamton news stations, including the combined ABC/NBC affiliate, as well as their CBS affiliate who confused Retriever freshman point guard Jarell Lane for some guy named Byron Brown.  Enjoy.

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  • 2011-2012 Schedule

    Date Opponent Time/Result
    Nov 4 TCNJ (exh.) 7:30 pm
    Nov 11 Penn L 59-45
    Nov 13 @ St. John's L 82-59
    Nov 17 Loyola L 73-63
    Nov 19 @ VMI L 84-79
    Nov 22 @ Central Connecticut St. L 77-69
    Nov 28 @ Rutgers L 94-56
    Dec 1 @ American L 69-58
    Dec 10 @ Towson W 62-58
    Dec 14 Morgan St. L 73-60
    Dec 17 Rider L 73-66 (OT)
    Dec 22 @ Indiana L 89-47
    Dec 28 @ Niagara L 92-75
    Jan 2 @ New Hampshire W 82-76
    Jan 5 Albany L 89-72
    Jan 7 @ Maine L 89-70
    Jan 11 Stony Brook L 89-49
    Jan 17 @ Hartford L 74-57
    Jan 19 @ Binghamton W 64-58
    Jan 22 Vermont L 90-62
    Jan 24 @ Boston L 83-48
    Feb 1 @ Albany L 87-76
    Feb 4 Maine L 77-76 (OT)
    Feb 7 Hartford L 76-70
    Feb 9 @ Stony Brook L 80-68
    Feb 12 New Hampshire L 66-60
    Feb 15 @ Binghamton W 70-56
    Feb 18 @ Canisius (ESPNU Bracket Buster) L 73-66
    Feb 22 Boston L 73-52
    Feb 25 @ Vermont L 80-49
    Mar 1 Binghamton (America East Tournament, Hartford, CT) L 73-67 (OT)