Hartford

America East Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:04:35 -0500

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Conference Rank: 24th

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

State of '08: Connecticut

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:44:40 -0400

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

Up today: Connecticut. For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

CONNECTICUT

UCONN - Not much thought involved in making this pick. Outside of a dismal 2007 campaign, Jim Calhoun's Huskies have always hovered around the Top 25, and this year's crew has Elite Eight potential. UCONN blows away their in-state competition.

CENTRAL CONNECITCUT STATE - Despite coming off a down year (208 RPI), CCSU is consistently one of the best teams in the NEC. The other Blue Devils have made three NCAA Tournaments under Howie Dickenman, including 2000, 2002, and 2007.

FAIRFIELD - With the exception of a weak 2006 campaign, Fairfield is almost always competitive in the MAAC. In fact, except for '06, the Stags have won 10+ league games every season since 2003 and should once again reach that mark in 2009 (CHN projects they'll finish 4th in the league). But despite this consistency, the program hasn't made the big dance since 1997.

YALE - After taking over in 1999, James Jones has done a good job giving Yale basketball some needed respect. While the 2002 NIT trip (Yale won their only postseason game in 107 years that season) seems like a bit of an aberration, at least the Bulldogs are now consistently mediocre. Yale has gone .500 or better in the Ivy League in every season since 2001.

SACRED HEART - After joining D1 in 1999, Sacred Heart was one of the worst teams in the country (3 wins in 2000 with a 308 RPI for example), but long-time head coach Dave Bike has finally found some success at the top level. The Pioneers have won 18 games each of the last two years, and won 2 NEC Tournament games each season as well

6. HARTFORD - Since a horrible 2005 campaign (300 in the RPI), Hartford has improved each season. Now under the guise of Dan Leibovitz, the Hawks are coming off an 18-win season in which they finished 2nd in the America East (their best ever AE finish) and are our preseason pick to win the league in 08-09.

7. QUINNIPIAC - The Bulldogs are coming off of one of their bests seasons in years, winning 15 games and going 11-7 in the NEC. But that's not saying much considering from 2004 to 2006, they were one of the worst programs on the East Coast..

Last: Colorado - Next: Washington, D.C.

State of '08: The Introduction

2008-09 Hartford Basketball Preview: #114

Joel Welser — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:43:18 -0400

Hartford Hawks

Overall Rank: #114

Conference Rank: #1 America East

2007-08: 18-16, 10-6, 2^nd

2007-08 postseason: none

Hartford is not used to being the favorite. The Hawks, led by Coach Dan Leibovitz, ended up as the second seed in last year’s America East conference tournament and they were expected to win some games and at least get to the finals. And they reached those expectations before losing in the finals to UMBC. Once again, the Hawks will have to spend some time as the favorites and they will be expected to live up to the expectations yet again and possibly even make their first ever NCAA Tournament.

Who’s Out:

However, the expectations will take a little hit with the departure of Warren McLedon. During his senior campaign, McLedon had a great conference tournament and averaged 12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks on the season. Finding another shotblocker and rebounder will be very important, but his scoring will be missed as well. Brian Glowiak was a quality sharpshooter off the bench and fellow guard Rich Baker started his namesake dozen games. The depth on the perimeter will lack in experience compared to last season with those two departing. Fabrice Tafo only played in two games during the 2007-2008 campaign and will not be suiting up for the Hawks this season.

Who’s In:

The depth in the backcourt will be an important thing to keep an eye on and three freshmen will compete for some of that playing time off the bench. Charles White heads to Hartford from the storied Simon Gratz program in Philadelphia. The 6-1 point guard is a superb passer and defender, but he can put some points on the board as well. Clayton Brothers, another Philadelphia product, can score in bunches and the 6-5 Drake Uu is a solid slasher who will help out on the glass. A couple Los Angelinos head out east to help bolster the Hawks frontcourt. At 6-9 and 255 pounds, Malcolm Campbell, who has been enrolled at the school since January, is a big body under the basket. For now he should help replace some of the rebounding and shot blocking left behind by McLedon. Genesis Maciel is just as big as Campbell, but could emerge as a better scorer down the road.

Who to Watch:

The backcourt will mostly have to depend on freshmen to come off the bench, but the starting three on the perimeter have a ton of talent and experience. It all starts with Joe Zeglinski who averaged a team high 16.2 points per game. The 6-0 junior set records for his three-point shooting as a freshman, but he still only shot 29.1 percent from beyond the arc that season. Last year he boosted that number to 41.0 percent. Now that he is an upperclassman, Zeglinski’s confidence should be through the roof. Jaret Von Rosenberg can hit the outside shot as well, but his biggest asset to the team is taking care of the ball and finding his teammates. Michael Turner can find his teammates too, yet the 6-5 wing also led the team in rebounds and is a capable scorer from anywhere on the floor. Andres Torres, who averaged 10.7 minutes per game as a freshman, is the only other experienced option on the perimeter.

Final Projection:

The frontcourt will certainly miss McLendon, yet Morgan Sabia is a solid scorer both inside and out, Anthony Minor started 33 games last year and Kevin Estes is ready to play a bigger role after a relatively successful freshman campaign. It would be nice if Maciel and Campbell could add another effective big body to the roster and at least grab some rebounds, take some fouls and play some defense, but Hartford might not even need them to play much at all to win the conference.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Jaret von Rosenberg, Senior, Guard, 9.1 points per game

Joe Zeglinski, Junior, Guard, 16.2 points per game

Michael Turner, Senior, Guard, 8.9 points per game

Anthony Minor, Sophomore, Forward, 4.2 points per game

Morgan Sabia, Sophomore, Forward, 10.2 points per game

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