Boston University: Solid win against a young, but well coached Northeastern. This team is not as deep as previous years, but they’ve got a heck of a duo between fifth-year seniors Walter Whyte (27 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks) and Jonas Harper (15 points, 4 assists, 2 steals).
Bryant: Disappointed they didn’t win by 100.
Buffalo: Impressive win against Colgate. Super small lineup with 6’9 200 Jo Smith and 6’8 205 LaQuill Hardnett playing most of the game at the 5 and 6’6 210 Isaiah Adams playing the 4. Buffalo teams play fast, but will they play even faster this year? With so much turnover, Yazid Powell shined in his debut (24 points, 5 assists, 3 steals, 7-12 from the line).
Colgate: Freshman guard Braeden Smith looked great in his debut (20 points, 7 boards, 3 assists) while Tucker Richardson showed why he’s the best player in the Patriot (23 points, 8 assists, 2 steals). While never sharing the floor last year, curious that Langel started two true bigs in Jeff Woodard and Keegan Records.
Columbia: Rough loss on Monday against Rutgers, but Jim Engles is smartly playing his talented youth in hope for a better tomorrow. Two freshmen starters, one sophomore starter, two freshmen and three sophomore rotation pieces.
Fairfield: Bold move starting the game with two bigs, but 6’9 240 sophomore Makai Willis earned the start after a solid performance against Rutgers. I love the versatility of this team: high-major size, versatile wings, just missing a true alpha guard, something most elite MAAC teams have.
Fairleigh Dickinson: Impressive debut for Tobin Anderson after taking Loyola-Chicago to OT. To no one’s surprise, his former St. Thomas Aquinas starters Grant Singleton (9 points, three steals), Sean Moore (7 points, 9 boards, 3 assists) and Demetre Roberts (22 points, 4 assists) started and played 38 minutes apiece while Longwood transfer Heru Bilgen was the Knights’ most impressive player (21 points, 11 boards, 4 steals, 7-9 from the line). With 6’6 220 Ansley Almonor being the biggest player on the floor, the Knights will live and die with their guards. A top-five finish in the NEC is certainly within reach.
Fordham: Congrats to Keith Urgo for earning his first career win last night with the Rams beating Dartmouth 88-74. Georgia Tech transfer Khalid Moore fits like a glove (18 points, 7 boards) alongside returning vets Darius Quisenberry (20 points) and Antrell Charton (16 points). This is the deepest Fordham roster in years and there’s a promising freshman foundation to help sustain some success if the Rams keep winning this year.
Harvard: Beat Morehouse by only 5 and Morehouse shot only 30.3% from the field.
Hofstra: Aaron Estrada was expectedly the stud (27 points, 5 assists) while Darlinstone Dubar continued his strong play from last year (11 points, 12 boards), but the big surprise of the game was redshirt freshman Amar’e Marshall scoring 15 off the bench.
Iona: Wow. A 28 point victory over an Ivy favorite. With Daniss Jenkins showing up (19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals), I love their starting lineup maybe even more than last year’s.
La Salle: Good to see Dunphy coaching again! I like the versatility of their top-nine and the Drame twins will be a pain in the butt to play against in the A-10. Scrappy.
Manhattan: Even though the Jaspers played well in the second, it’s going to be a long season for Manhattan. Good to see freshman Raziel Hayun get the start.
Merrimack: NEC POY candidate Jordan Minor impressed against Joel Soriano, et al: 19 points, 7 boards, 7-11 from the field. With Mykel Derring out, four new Merrimack guards played 20+ minutes, led by freshman Jordan Derkack (15 points, 8 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals) and JMU sophomore transfer Devon Savage (8 points, 6 boards, 4 steals, 1 block).
Northeastern: Their lauded freshman class will play a ton this season, but it wasn’t their high-profile recruits (Chase Cormier and Jared Turner) who played the most: Harold Woods got the start, Masai Troutman played 25 minutes (13 points) and Rashad King played 14 minutes.
Quinnipiac: Impressive victory over URI! Especially with Notre Dame transfer Elijah Taylor out with an ACL injury, the frontcourt was the biggest mystery entering the season, but Dunleavy started the game with two bigs: Columbia grad transfer Ike Nweke (13 points, 11 boards) and JuCo transfer Paul Otieno (5 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocks). With this size, the Bobcats dominated the offensive glass, collecting 16 offensive rebounds and a stout 36% offensive rebounding rate.
Princeton: The excellent senior duo of Ivy POY candidate Tosan Evbuomwan and Ryan Langborg are expected to be stars for the Tigers, but the lineup outside of this duo, save for Matt Allocco, was a big mystery. What we learned in last night's free-flowing matchup against Hofstra? Mitch Henderson is going big: 6’4, 6’4, 6’6, 6’8, 6’9. The biggest surprise is senior big Keeshawn Kellman, who scored 21 points and allowed Evbuomwan to play the 4: will this bigger lineup help improve the Tigers perennially awful defense?
Rhode Island: This opening night loss against Quinnipiac not only hurts, but it puts a spotlight on the team’s lack of impact guards.
St. Bonaventure: Expected to lead the Bonnies after transferring from Holy Cross, sophomore guard Kyrell Luc impressed in his debut (23 points, 5 assists, 7-8 from the line) and PSA grad Barry Evans (12 points, 8 assists, 2 steals) looks like one of those players who will start for four years. True bigs Max Amadasun and Chad Venning played a combined 21 minutes, and this was without Moses Flowers in the lineup. Will this be the fastest Bonnies team since 2018?
St. John’s: So the Posh Alexander/Andre Curbelo experiment begins: it’s rare to see two non-shooters start on the same backcourt, but if David Jones (5-12 from three) and Montez Mathis (3-4 from three, also don’t forget Dylan Addae-Wusu was out today) can keep the offensives honest, it’ll be fun to see what Anderson’s offenses will look like when points aren’t available off turnovers.
Saint Peter’s: With all the turnover, someone had to step up for the Peacocks. Jaylen Murray looked good off the bench (14 points, 3 assists), but the big surprise was freshman starting forward Corey Washington (18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 8-10 from the line).
Siena: No Stormo meant a small ball starting lineup with senior Jordan Kellier as the small ball 5. Good to see Andrew Platek healthy (13 points, 3 assists) and overall a very impressive performance by the super sophomore backcourt of Javian McCollum (20 points, 5 assists) and Jared Billiups (6 points, 6 boards, good defender).
UConn: The team looked so different without RJ Cole: when Hawkins was healthy, I liked seeing three guards on the floor who can dribble and pass. Fans have got to be impressed with the debuts of freshmen Alex Karaban (13 points) and Donovan Clingan (9 points, 7 boards, 4 blocks). The team looked sloppy, but the energy was good: Hassan Diarra was the most impressive guard with 11 points, 7 assists and 3 steals.
UMass: No Matt Cross or TaQuan Woodley and the Minutemen still look deep. Impressive debut for freshmen RJ Luis (13 points, 4 assists, 3 steals) and Keon Thompson (10 points, 5 boards, 3 assists). Frank Martin is such a different coach than Matt McCall and the program is looking promising in the post-Tre Mitchell era.
Vermont: No Ryan Davis. No Ben Shungu…raise your hand if you Aaron Deloney would be the player who impressed the most in the season opener? 32 points, 5 assists and a level of assertiveness which I haven’t seen yet. Their starting lineup and Kam Gibson were the only known commodities entering the season, so it was nice to see freshmen TJ Hurley (11 points in 20 minutes) and Perry Smith Jr. (12 minutes backing up Fiorillo) be a part of the rotation.
Wagner: It’s probably an overreaction, but the top-five of the NEC should be a very competitive battle and Wagner’s start in the post-Bashir Mason era is a major reason why. An opening night win over Temple showcased the major step Zaire Williams has made entering his sophomore season as a bucket getting guard (16 points, 9 free throw attempts).
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