Ivy

Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy League

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:10:19 -0400

College Basketball: Preseason Conference Ranking

CHN — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:43:04 -0400

After finishing 1st in the RPI the last two years, the ACC should fall back slightly thanks to the big-name departures at UNC & Wake Forest. This should allow one of the Big 12, Big Ten, or even SEC a shot at being #1. The Pac-10 is weak enough that a high-major like the A-10, MVC, or MWC could surpass it.

Chime in with your thoughts below if you agree or disagree with CHN's preseason conference ranking.

2009-10 Conference Ranking

*08-09 is last year's conference RPI. Commentary by Shawn Siegel, ranking by CHN.

	Conference	08-09*
1	Big Ten 9 of 11 teams go into season with ncaa hopes, and as many as 7 may reach that goal	2
2	Big 12 ku is the clear title contender. the bottom few teams are weak though and the middle-tier is hit or miss	3
3	ACC no dominant team like last year, but solid as always.	1
4	SEC rise of uk brings league back to prominence after down year..	6
5	Big East lose tons of big name players, and still held down by likes of depual, rutgers, etc	4
6	Pac-10 conceivable the pac-10 only receives 3 tourney bids.	5
7	Atlantic 10 should get at least 2 invites to the ncaa tournament	8
8	MVC with improvement expected from usual leaders creighton & siu, mvc should be solid all-around	9
9	MWC just about every top team loses a top player, but mwc should be one of the more entertaining leagues	7
10	Conference USA though memphis takes step back, rest of league is better than usual.	10
11	WAC after some down years, wac will once again be compeititve league	11
12	Horizon butler has top 10 hopes, but squads like csu and green bay lose key seniors.	12
13	Colonial while still 1 bid league, likes of odu, n'eastern, gmu, and vcu are all quality	14
14	Sun Belt more then just wku, the entire east division is solid	17
15	MAAC siena, niagara, and rider all have postseason hopes	13
16	WCC gonzaga and smc both worse then season ago	15
17	MAC #'s should be better than last year, but west division still a struggle	21
18	Big West led by up-and-coming long beach state. always finish around this #.	18
19	Summit darling ndsu loses a lot, so usual contenders like oru and oakland should be at forefront again	26
20	Big Sky with exception of sacramento st, this is a solid league top to bottom.	24
21	Southland underrated league always good for some non-conference upsets	19
22	Ivy cornell will be the best the ivy has offered in quite some years	29
23	Southern steph curry's departure opens up door for charleston	20
24	America East decimation of binghamton will hurt league #'s	16
25	Atlantic Sun the league's upper half is as solid as it's been for a few years	27
26	Patriot could use a rebound from former top gun bucknell.	22
27	OVC morehead st continues its improbable rise..	23
28	Big South outside of radford, not much to get excited about here..	25
29	NEC nec hasn't had much going for it in recent years	28
30	MEAC as usual, will battle swac for title of country's worst	30
31	SWAC solid jackson st gives swac hope of surpassing meac	31

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

Ivy League: Coach Ranking

Jon Teitel — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:16:20 -0500

Ranking the 8 Ivy League coaches is no easy task: One of them has never been a head coach before, two others coached their 1^st Ivy games last year, and none have served a full decade as an Ivy head coach. As we get ready for another college basketball season, here is a look at who is doing the best job of keeping up with the Joneses...literally.

1. Glen Miller - Penn

(223-184 record in 17 years as head coach at Connecticut College/Brown/Penn)

Career highlights: Went 13-1 in conference play during his 1^st year at Penn en route to winning the school's 3^rd straight Ivy title. As coach at Brown for 9 years, had most consecutive wins in school history since the 1930s, in addition to 1 NIT bid. As coach at Connecticut College for 6 years, he went 24-0 in regular season in 1998-1999. As assistant at Connecticut for 7 years, worked for team that won 1988 NIT title.

Prediction for 2008-09: Having lost only 1 starter from last year, he will have a decent chance to unseat Cornell from the top of the standings.

2. Steve Donahue - Cornell

(96-123 record in 8 years as head coach)

Career highlights: Went 14-0 in conference play last year en route to winning the school's 2^nd Ivy title ever and being named NABC district Coach of the Year. As assistant at Penn for 10 years, he helped recruit 5 of the top 20 scorers in school history for teams that won 6 conference titles in 8 years.

Prediction for 2008-09: With most of last year's NCAA Tournament team back, a repeat of last year's success will put him further down the long path towards Dunphy/Carril territory.

3. James Jones - Yale

(117-134 record in 9 years as head coach)

Career highlights: During his 9 years at Yale, he has become the longest-tenured coach in the league and given the school its only postseason tournament win in over a century of basketball. During his 9 years as an assistant at Albany, Yale, and Ohio, he worked for teams that made the postseason twice.

Prediction for 2008-09: He has a great track record, but not sure if he will ever get over the hump to get a career winning record.

4. Joe Jones - Columbia

(63-75 record in 5 years as head coach)

Career highlights: As assistant at Villanova for 6 years, he worked for teams that went to the postseason 5 times. During his 5 years at Columbia, he has won more games than any Columbia coach in almost 3 decades.

Prediction for 2008-09: His young team will have to grow up fast to avoid its 5^th losing season in 6 years.

5. Tommy Amaker - Harvard

(184-57 record in 11 years as head coach at Seton Hall/Michigan/Harvard)

Career highlights: As head coach at Seton Hall/Michigan, for 10 years, he only had a losing record twice, and won 2004 NIT title. He was also an assistant for 9 years at Duke, getting to the Final Four 5 times in 6 years, including back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991 and 1992. During his 1^st year at Harvard, his team went 8-22.

Prediction for 2008-09: After an investigation cleared him of any improper recruiting violations earlier this year, his 4 returning double-digit scorers will try to put the media's focus back on wins and losses.

6. Terry Dunn - Dartmouth

(34-71 record in 4 years as head coach)

Career highlights: As assistant at several schools for 15 years, he worked for teams that went to the postseason 6 times. During his 4 years at Dartmouth, his team has not won more than 10 games in any season.

Prediction for 2008-09: If he cannot turn the program around soon, he will probably not be around for long.

7. Sydney Johnson - Princeton

(6-23 record in 1 year as head coach)

Career highlights: As assistant at Georgetown for 3 years, he worked for team that reached the Final Four in 2007. During his 1^st year at Princeton, his team had 1 of the worst seasons in the school's storied history.

Prediction for 2008-09: As the only 3-time captain in school history from his playing days in the 90s, the administration will probably cut him some slack as he tries to return to the glory days, but it will take awhile to do so.

8. Jesse Agel - Brown

(1^st year as head coach)

Career highlights: As assistant at Vermont for 17 years, he helped recruit Taylor Coppenrath and won several conference titles. During his 2 years as an assistant at Brown, his team set a school record for most wins in a season.

Prediction for 2008-09: A rebuilding year, but if he can recruit anyone half as good as Coppenrath, he might get the Bears their 1^st 20-win season ever at some point in the near future.

NCAA Basketball Conference Ranking: 2008-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:30:46 -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

Ivy Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:20:49 -0500

Conference Rank: 22nd

10 year average: 24th

Conference Page

All-IVY Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Louis Dale	Cornell	Jr
G	Jeremy Lin	Harvard	Jr
G/F	Tyler Bernardini	Penn	So
F	Ryan Wittman	Cornell	Jr
F	Alex Barnett	Dartmouth	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Louis Dale Ryan Wittman		Points: Alex Barnett 15.6 Rebounds: Alex Barnett 7.3 Assists: Chris Skelja (Brown) 4.4

IVY LEAGUE Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

87	Cornell* **	Ivy	1	NCAA
153	Penn	Ivy	2
171	Brown	Ivy	3
195	Harvard	Ivy	4
233	Princeton	Ivy	5
263	Yale	Ivy	6
290	Dartmouth	Ivy	7
329	Columbia	Ivy	8

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Ivy League?

Other Ivy League Content

Conference Media Poll

Other

Rise & Fall: Ivy

State of 08: New York

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy League?

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:30:23 -0400

Rise & Fall: Low-Major Conference Review

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:52:22 -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

NYC Metro Ranking & Report: Jason Thompson Leads Rider

Raphielle Johnson — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:59:02 -0500

I’d be a fool not to mention the New York Giants’ 17-14 victory in Super Bowl XLII. Congratulations to the organization and all you Giants who helped this team achieve their 3-5 home record. Just kidding, enjoy the moment and the fact that just when everyone said this team couldn’t win, they went ahead and did it. Now, let’s move on to the week that was in the metropolitan area on the hardwood.

Team of the Week: Rider

Results: W 79-65 @ Marist, W 89-75 @ Siena

Back to back fourteen-point road wins last week put the Rider Broncs in the driver’s seat for the MAAC regular season title. And their current nine-game win streak makes them one of the nation’s hottest teams as well. In the Wednesday night showdown in Poughkeepsie, Rider won the battle on the boards 38-27 and shot fifty percent (8-16) from behind the arc in avenging their January 4^th home loss to the Red Foxes. Senior center Jason Thompson led four Broncs in double figures with twenty points, and also tallied nine boards, four blocks and four assists.

The win at Siena on Saturday featured one of the more impressive offensive displays put up in college basketball all season long, with Rider scoring fifty-nine points to take a twenty-five point lead into the locker room. While they didn’t perform as well in the second half, looking somewhat tentative on the offensive end of the floor, Rider had essentially put the game away in the first twenty minutes. Jason Thompson played all forty minutes and put up twenty-three points and twenty-one rebounds, and all five starters reached double figures. Be it Jason on the block, Ryan in between, or sharpshooter Harris Mansell from deep, Tommy Dempsey’s Broncs have a number of scoring options from which to choose.

No disrespect to the fans who decided to spark the “We Own Jersey” chant at the end of the Seton Hall/ Rutgers game Thursday night, but this may be the Garden State’s best team right now.

Honorable Mention: Iona (wins over Manhattan and St. Peter’s to move to 5-7 in the MAAC); Sacred Heart (wins at FDU and St. Francis-NY to move into first in the NEC)

Player of the Week: Jason Thompson (Rider)

Numbers for the Week: 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks @ Marist; 23 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists @ Siena

For those who saw the midseason 30 list for the Wooden Award and thought “Who is Jason Thompson?” last week, the senior big man gave quite the answer in his two appearances. For the season, Thompson now averages twenty points and more than eleven (11.5 to be exact) rebounds per contest. But this shouldn’t be a surprise, given the fact that of the three players in college basketball to average twenty and ten last season, he’s the only one who returned to school. So while the experts focus on the big men in conferences with a higher profile, Jason continues to do what he does best, helping lead the Broncs to wins along the way. If this keeps up, one of those higher profile teams will find out quite a bit about Thompson and his mates in March.

Honorable Mention: John Baumann (Columbia): 19 and 7 @ Yale, 23 and 13 vs. Cornell; Brian Laing (Seton Hall): 23 and 6 @ Rutgers, 24 and 6 @ Georgetown; Drew Shubik (Sacred Heart): 16, 14 and 9 assists @ FDU, 9, 6 and 6 assists @ St. Francis-NY.

Turnaround of the Week: Fairfield winning at Niagara, 76-72, two days after getting blown out 88-60 at Canisius.

Now, the Stags winning at Niagara isn’t an upset along the lines of the Super Bowl that we all just watched. But when you’re coming off of a twenty-eight point loss to a team with one conference win (and three wins total) going into said meeting, not too many people are expecting you to win the game. Fairfield, thanks in large part to the durable Jonathan Han at point, was able to get a split of the trip to Western New York.

Han, a junior from Brooklyn, hasn’t played fewer than thirty-five minutes in a game since logging thirty-two in a game against Holy Cross on November 13^th. The floor general has helped keep this team afloat in the MAAC when it looked as if they were earmarked for a finish at or near the bottom of the conference. Five Stags reached double figures, and they also limited the Purple Eagles to 4-22 from behind the arc to move to 6-6 in league play.

Other Observations of the last week

-- St. John’s recovered from an embarrassing effort on Wednesday in beating South Florida on Saturday.

As if last week’s loss to Pittsburgh was bad enough, the Red Storm found a way to fall further on Wednesday, suffering their worst defeat ever in Big East play against Georgetown. In a game where the largest deficit was thirty-nine, St. John’s didn’t score their first field goal of the game until about five minutes remaining in the first half. Fans were even more upset with the team and head coach Norm Roberts, and that game was the type of effort that can implode a season. But give these guys credit, they didn’t allow it to do so.

Yes, the end of their six-game losing streak came at South Florida, a team battling its own issues right now. But to make the big plays down the stretch without the services of one of your best players (Anthony Mason Jr. went down with a sprained ankle late in the first half) shows that this group does indeed have some mental toughness. Next up for the Red Storm is Rutgers at the RAC, another young team that has struggled at times this season and is coming off of a bad loss at Louisville.

-- Even though they’re only 3-4 in the Patriot League, Army owns road wins over both Holy Cross and Bucknell.

The above statement shows two things: just how wide open the Patriot League actually is this season, and the fact that the Black Knights do indeed have a chance to make some noise in the coming month. Army, thanks to Jarell Brown’s twenty-one point effort, left Sojka Pavillion on Sunday with an impressive 68-52 win. Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery missed the game today due to illness, but that should not take away from the fact that Jim Crews’ squad forced twenty-three Bison turnovers in this one.

The issue for Army is to consistently put up efforts like this, as the execution was lacking in their 83-58 loss at Lafayette Wednesday night. If they can, then there is a chance to make a move up the Patriot standings, as they still get Bucknell, Holy Cross and Lafayette at home.

-- In their last two games, Manhattan has forced a combined 43 turnovers. But they lost both games.

Usually, forcing a high number of turnovers will get your team into the win column. But this hasn’t been the case for the Jaspers of late, and the reason is quite simple: they’re not defending well enough when they don’t force a turnover. In the two-point loss to Iona Wednesday night, the Gaels shot 50% from the field despite twenty-one miscues. On Sunday, St. Peter’s wins by ten, shooting 52.1% from the field while committing twenty-two turnovers.

So even though they shoot a respectable 42% from the field themselves, they rank dead last in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense (46.7%). Four of the five best teams in the league in this category are also four of the top five teams in the standings, a good indicator of what the Jaspers need to improve upon if they want to end their current seven-game skid.

-- Thought to be a team that had a chance to compete in the Atlantic 10, Fordham is struggling to keep their head above water right now.

It’s been a good year for the Atlantic 10, but unfortunately for the Fordham Rams they haven’t been part of the renaissance. A team that brings back five senior starters going into the season now finds itself fighting to simply qualify for the conference tournament with a 2-5 league record. Similar to Manhattan, the Rams are last in their conference in field goal percentage defense, an issue all the more glaring when you take into consideration the fact that this is one of the A-10’s poorer offensive teams (11^th in field goal percentage) as well.

No one’s expecting the Rams to run up and down the floor, putting up a lot of points in the process. This isn’t that kind of team, but if they don’t get stingier on the other end of the floor they may not be headed to Atlantic City next month. And that would be a bitter pill to swallow for this senior class.

　

Games to keep an eye on

Marist @ Siena (Monday, 7 PM)

Two rivals get together in Albany in a game that will go a long way in deciding who ends up winning the MAAC regular season title. Part of a three-way tie for second, both are just a game back of Rider in the loss column, a team both have lost to in the past week.

Notre Dame @ Seton Hall (Wednesday, 7:30 PM)

This game should feature a lot of points, as well as a lot of three pointers. The question for Seton Hall will be how they go about slowing down Luke Harangody inside. All three Pirate big men fouled out of the overtime win against Rutgers, but they can’t get away with that in this one.

Wagner @ Mount St. Mary’s (Thursday, 7 PM)

In order for the Seahawks to keep within striking distance of Sacred Heart, they need to get a few road wins. Both of their conference losses came on the road, in blowout fashion at that. The Mountaineers, led by guards Chris Vann and Jeremy Goode, are more than capable of knocking Wagner off.

Niagara @ Rider (Friday, 7 PM)

No television for this one, but this game offers the opportunity to check out two of the MAAC’s best players, Charron Fisher (Niagara) and the aforementioned Jason Thompson. But to focus on just those two would be unfair to the likes of Tyrone Lewis and Ryan Thompson. There’s a lot of offensive talent that will be on display in this one, a game that could be a preview of things to come next month when the MAAC Tournament takes place in Albany.

Providence @ St. John’s (Saturday, Noon)

Two teams who will be in desperate need of a Big East win if they want to qualify for the Big East Tournament. While many expected growing pains for the Red Storm, not too many expected the Friars to scuffle the way that they have for stretches this season. Losing Sharaud Curry hurts, but there’s still some talent on this roster, enough to say that they shouldn’t be 12-9. The winner breathes a temporary sigh of relief while the loser falls deeper into the hole.

Rhode Island @ Fordham (Sunday, Noon)

The battle of the Rams takes place in the Bronx, and this is a game that Fordham must have at this point in the season. And given their defensive troubles of late, welcoming a team with two of the conference’s better scorers (Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron) isn’t the best way to get out of their funk. But no one said this would be easy for Fordham either.

Updated Rankings (last week’s in parentheses)

1. Rider (3)

2. Seton Hall (1)

3. Sacred Heart (5)

4. Marist (2)

5. Wagner (4)

6. Army (8)

7. Yale (6)

8. Iona (13)

9. Rutgers (7)

10. Fordham (9)

11. Columbia (12)

12. St. John’s (10)

13. Long Island (11)

14. Fairleigh Dickinson (14)

15. Fairfield (15)

16. Hofstra (16)

17. Monmouth (17)

18. Princeton (21)

19. St. Francis-NY (18)

20. St. Peter’s (22)

21. Manhattan (19)

22. Stony Brook (20)

23. NJIT (23)

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:01:46 -0400

MAAC title on the line this morning

Raphielle Johnson — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:15:50 -0500

In a game that can be seen on ESPN2 at 11 am EST, Siena will visit Marist in hopes of winning a share of the MAAC regular season title. A Siena win today would also give surprising Niagara a shot at the title, so long as the Purple Eagles, winners of their last seven, take care of Rider on Sunday. Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck and Marist's Jared Jordan make up one of the better guard matchups in a game this season, but whichever team can get something from their bench today will win this one. Of the two teams, Marist (12-0 when their bench outscores the opponent's reserves) gets a little more on the average from their reserves, such as Wilfred "Spongy" Benjamin and Shae McNamara. Foul trouble, especially to the big men on both teams, could force both coaches to go past their comfort levels when it comes to how to use their bench. Due to the home court advantage, I like the Red Foxes to claim their first outright MAAC title ever. And if you're a Red Fox fan going to the game, be sure to wear white. The Ivy League race, if games go as expected today, will come down to Yale at Penn next Friday night. I, like many, expected the Quakers to simply run away with the league's automatic bid without much of a challenge (especially with the way that Princeton has played at times this year). But this could be a sign that the Ivy won't be "Penn, Princeton and the other guys" from now on. Yale head coach James Jones has to be up for consideration when voting for league coach of the year, and the duo of Casey Hughes and Eric Flato has played good basketball all season. All that's needed now is a Senior Night win over Columbia to set the stage for next Friday. In the NEC, Sacred Heart got themselves a huge win at Monmouth last night, led by a 16-0 second half run sparked by guards Chauncey Hardy and Drew Shubik. The Pioneers will play Quinnipiac in a battle for the two seed in the NEC Tournament, important due to the fact that the two position guarantees two home games (so long as you win of course). Who can challenge Central Connecticut State for the league's automatic bid? I'd probably look at the three right below them in the standings (SHU, Quinnipiac and FDU). While a Mount St. Mary's or Robert Morris is capable of pulling an upset, and Monmouth is the defending tournament champ, I don't see those three providing much of a challenge to the Blue Devils. As a matter of fact, Monmouth needs either a win or an LIU loss to make sure that they qualify for the tournament. A loss combined with an LIU win puts the Blackbirds into the NEC Tournament, thanks to their 82-78 win over the Hawks back on February 20th.