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Before getting into the team and player of the week honors in the metropolitan area, it's time to acknowledge area players who picked up some praise in their respective leagues.

Atlantic 10: Fordham freshman guard Jio Fontan was named Rookie of the Week after two exemplary games for the Rams. Fontan averaged 17.5 points and 5.5 assists in the two games, which included a career-high twenty-two in a 69-66 loss to Fairfield.

This past week marked the beginning of conference play for metropolitan area schools in the Metro Atlantic and Northeast conferences. While Army, Fordham and St. John's were out picking up non-conference wins tonight, a Garden State rivalry took center stage in the NEC with FDU visiting Monmouth. The Hawks, thanks to an efficient half-court offense and confusing matchup zone, controlled the game for the first twenty-eight minutes or so with a lead as large as fifteen points.

We're just about finished with the first month of the season in the metropolitan area, and it's become quite obvious who the best team in the area is right now. Seton Hall has gotten off to a 6-1 start, which includes a pair of gutty comebacks in Puerto Rico to finish third in that in-season tournament. Jeremy Hazell has shown himself to be one of the most explosive scorers in the Big East; what has come in his sophomore campaign (23.3 ppg; tops in the Big East) is a level of consistency that wasn't always present last season.

 

2008-09 Monmouth Basketball Preview

Hawks look to regroup with four returning starters

 

Schedule (key games in bold)

 

November 14^th @ Florida Atlantic 

17^th @ FIU 

2008 Philly Hoop Group Classic 

20^th Rhode Island (Hawks get no favors in their home opener)

22^nd @ Penn 

25^th @ Villanova 

28^th vs. Niagara (Purple Eagles have many options in the backcourt...as usual)

29^th vs. Hartford/NJIT  

Raphielle Johnson's Metro preview & weekly Metro rankings & updates are a staple of fans in NYC's tri-state region. To get things going, here is Raphielle's 23 team NYC Metro preseason ranking and all-Metro teams. Individual team previews will up shortly!

 

Preseason Metro Ranking

 

With the off-season now upon us and the spring signing period well under way, this is a good opportunity to attempt to forecast some of the teams who could make the jump next season. Is there a team out there like this past season’s Drake Bulldogs, who went from ninth place to a dominating run through the Missouri Valley? Or how about Arizona State, a team that went from dead last in the Pac-10 to fifth place and could have the makings of a conference title run this season? With one pick for each conference, here are 31 teams you should keep an eye on next season.

Now we come to the bottom of the poll, where there wasn’t much in the way of positives to be found this season. NJIT (0-29) completed a historically bad season, the worst winless campaign in the history of Division I basketball. With head coach Jim Casciano stepping down at season’s end the Highlanders are also in need of a head coach. Whoever steps into that opening will have a lot of work to do in terms of talent along with the confidence level of the returning players.