• Press & Sun Bulletin: “Binghamton University’s men concluded their America East Conference basketball season with a 78-69 loss to Vermont on Sunday.  The Catamounts’ Marqus Blakely, two-time conference Player of the Year, contributed 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots on Senior Day in what may have been his final game in Patrick Gym.  Binghamton (13-18, 8-8 America East) was within four of Vermont with 3:24 remaining before committing three turnovers in a 36-second span, leading to seven consecutive Catamounts points and a 74-63 lead.  The Bearcats drew no closer than eight through the conclusion.  Fifth-seeded Binghamton will oppose fourth-seeded Boston University in an America East Conference Tournament quarterfinal, scheduled for a 2:45 p.m. tip-off Saturday in Hartford.  Freshman Dylan Talley had a game-high 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting and added a team-high four assists in 29 minutes. Junior forward Moussa Camara added 17 points, the 11th straight game he’s reached double figures. Sophomore center Kyrie Sutton chipped in 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting.”
• Burlington Free Press: “‘Greer Wright is one of the best offensive players in the league: He’s 6-7, he can shoot, and Garvey took him out of his game,’ UVM coach Mike Lonergan said. ‘That was a big key to the game.’  Binghamton erased a 10-point halftime deficit and took a 49-48 lead on Moussa Camara’s long 3-pointer with just less than 13 minutes remaining in regulation, Vermont rattled off the next seven points to regain control.  ‘They got a lot of offensive rebounds on us today; the last few days that hasn’t been happening,’ Binghamton coach Mark Macon said. ‘They have a lot of size in there; their big guys were getting the ball in there and laying it up.’”

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “BU (12-17, 7-7 America East) is currently in fifth place in the America East and can clinch the fifth seed in next week’s conference tournament with a victory over the Hawks.  With a loss, there is the possibility of BU falling all the way to the seventh seed. Conference seeding, however, matters little to  Macon right now.  ‘I just want us to get better each game,’ Macon said. ‘This has nothing to do with the conference tournament. We not going into the conference tournament until it starts. I don’t want to jump the gun.’  The positives that BU displayed in its decisive victory over UMBC — good ball movement, rebounding proficiency — were severely lacking during its four-game losing streak, which occurred exclusively on the road and included losses by 42 points at Boston University and by 20 points at Stony Brook.”
• WICZ (Video): “If Binghamton University’s Student Association has their way, Basketball Coach Kevin Broadus will no longer coach at BU.  The association’s president says after reading about Broadus’ coaching conduct in Judge Kaye’s report, students no longer want him working at the university.  Therefore, the S.A. is formally calling for his immediate resignation as head coach.”

All the metrics point towards a Binghamton victory.  UMBC is in the cellar- the place that everyone thought that we would be at this point in the season.  Just like how everyone looked passed us, we can’t look pass UMBC.  A win is a win no matter who you play.  Playing at home with the disrespect card, should make UMBC a dangerous opponent.   An opponent that has nothing to lose.

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “When the Bearcats meet University of Maryland-Baltimore County in an America East Conference contest at 7 Wednesday at RAC Arena, a key concern will be avoiding taking the Retrievers lightly.  BU (8-13, 3-3 America East) was picked to finish last in the conference’s preseason coaches poll, yet among its victories this season are home victories over Vermont and Stony Brook.  Meanwhile, UMBC is in the midst of a dreadful 1-19 season, which includes an 0-7 mark in conference play that has the Retrievers in last place in the America East.  ‘Of course we’ve talked about not overlooking UMBC; we’re not overlooking any team,’ BU interim coach Mark Macon said. ‘We’re just looking to play with a high level of intensity and just trying to come in not start off slow.  I think UMBC is a good team; I truly do as a coach. We can’t underestimate anybody in our conference.’”

For some reason, Pete was at the Boston game last night.  Terrific game btw. Of course he had to do what he could to sandbang Binghamton. He had the opportunity to say many great things about Binghamton last night night.  They competed and almost won against the AE preseason #1 with a replacement coach, 6 scholarship players and 3 walk-ons.

If Greer Wright didn’t foul out with 8 minutes left, Binghamton probably wins.  Wright fouled out after he and John Holland were given technical fouls after a 5-10 second pushing match for a loose ball.  Problem was that Wright wasn’t involve with the pushing match.  The foul was the turning point in the game.  An intense moment in really hard fought game.  Naturally Thamel, being a godless savage, only wrote on Twitter about the “near brawl”.

It wasn’t even close to a brawl.  The statement was very close to a downright lie.  An exaggeration to make Binghamton look bad.  I don’t know what Binghamton did you Pete,  but you are a horrible journalist and probably not a very good person as you are smearing Binghamton as an institution and the people that are associated with it.  Go fuck yourself and stop the yellow journalism.

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “With Boston nursing a 44-43 lead, Binghamton’s Chretien Lukusa and Boston’s John Holland crashed to the floor while battling for a loose ball.  Pushing and shoving ensued between Lukusa and Holland, with members of both teams getting involved in the brief scuffle.  After briefly conferring, the three officials assessed technical fouls to both Holland and Wright for their involvement in the scuffle. At the collegiate level, technical fouls are also personal fouls.  For Wright — who did not appear to be involved in the fracas — it was his fifth foul, resulting in his disqualification from the contest.  In his absence, Binghamton’s offense came unraveled. The Bearcats missed 15 of their final 19 shots.”
• Video – WICZ: “Raise your hand if you thought the BU men’s basketball team would have a winning record in conference play right now. Even the most die hard Bearcats fans have to be pleasantly surprised with the team’s recent resurgence.”
• Video: Roger Neel and Mark Macon Boston Postgame Interview

Lots of DeFluer coverage this morning:

• Inside Higher Ed: “Lois B. DeFleur will retire this summer as president of the State University of New York at Binghamton. During her 19 years leading the campus, its competitiveness in admissions has skyrocketed and its academic reputation has grown. DeFleur also encouraged the growth of international initiatives. But during the last year, Binghamton has been shaken by scandals in its men’s basketball program, whose push for national prominence DeFleur had championed.”
• Ithaca Journal: “Spanning two decades, DeFleur’s vision helped accelerate BU’s transition from the small liberal arts college that it was in a former life into a university center in the SUNY system, prized for its graduate studies, research programs and range of professional degrees offered by its six schools and colleges. It is a process that continues today as the university continues to expand its facilities.With an estimated 15,000 students and successful Division I athletics programs – despite last year’s men’s basketball scandal, BU has become a major influence on the Southern Tier as well as a major employer with DeFleur as the CEO. With that much responsibility right on campus, DeFleur could easily occupy herself with all things BU, to the exclusion of the wider community. But to the contrary, she has connected with leaders all over the area and throughout the education world, becoming a ubiquitous presence in the Southern Tier.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “‘BU would benefit from hiring a leader who has vision both for the university and for the community,’ said Libous, a Binghamton Republican who graduated from what is now the SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica. ‘She was able to accomplish pretty much everything she set out to accomplish.’  Asked what qualities she would like to see in her successor, DeFleur stressed growth, and said BU is well-positioned for that.  ‘My successor needs to continue the work … to be a tireless advocate to continue the growth and development at Binghamton,’ she said. The fact that the school is relatively young — it opened in 1946 as Triple Cities College and became part of SUNY in 1950 — will make it attractive for presidential applicants who see its potential for continued growth, she said.”

In other news:

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “Two local men are going to prison, while the alleged leader in a near-fatal beating remains free in Serbia.  Broome County Judge Martin E. Smith on Wednesday sentenced Sanel Softic and Edin Dzubar to two years in state prison for their role in the May 4, 2008, beating of Bryan Steinhauer.  Meanwhile, Miladin Kovacevic, 22, the primary culprit in the beating that nearly killed Steinhauer, jumped his $100,000 bail and fled to his native Serbia using an emergency passport authorities say was supplied by Serbian diplomats.”

Oh yeah we also are playing (overpriced) BU tonight for second place in the America East!