Chris (Binghamton, NY): Dana, loved your piece on coach Mark Macon and my Bearcats. With the news of University president Lois DeFleur’s retirement, do you project Macon as the long-term solution for Binghamton? Have you heard any other coaches’ names surface?

Dana O’Neil (1:27 PM): Chris: I don’t think he’ll be the long-term solution. In fact, there’s a decent chance Kevin Broadus will be back. Unless the audit reveals a cause to fire him, they owe him an awful lot of $$$ to buy him out

A lot of what ifs in all of these scenarios.  Binghamton basketball fans just need the Kaye report to come out ASAP, so we can stop thinking about what ifs and start think about finally putting this mess behind us.

• ESPN: “Macon, Temple’s all-time leading scorer, could just be the best man for this crazily messy job. He is a disciple of John Chaney, a man who never saw a mountain he couldn’t scale or impossible odds he couldn’t beat. Chaney made a career out of fashioning his teams piecemeal out of players no one else thought much of.  Not long after he was given the interim job, Macon reached out to his mentor, not so much for basketball advice but just for life advice. The wise old Owl delivered.  ‘He said just keep it simple and be a voice,’ Macon said. ‘I’m not a screamer by nature, but he told me I had to have a voice.’  His voice appears to be resonating. A talented player who also played with the sort of work ethic Chaney demanded, Macon is rubbing off on his team.”
• USA Today: “Binghamton is last in the league in scoring (58.0 points), free throw shooting (63.2%), three-point shooting (27.6%) and turnover margin (-3.6). But Macon has molded these Bearcats in the defensive image of John Chaney, his coach at Temple. They’re second in the league in blocked shots, have held their own on the boards and are 4-3 at home.  The starters usually include Wright (a junior college transfer), Mahamoud Jabbi (a walk-on from Division III Oswego) and Chretien Lukusa and Moussa Camara, who had a total of 19 starts last season.  Freshmen Dylan Talley and Pina Guillaume have been thrown into the fire, as has Turkish transfer Umur Peten.  ‘Most everyone I talk with thinks Coach Macon is doing a great job,’ Cheriyan said. ‘ A lot of the players are walk-ons. Students don’t blame them for what’s happened.’  Students will be back on campus when Binghamton hosts league-leading Vermont on Sunday. Almost 600 students have confirmed via Facebook that they will attend, and a crowd of 4,000 is expected.  ‘Everyone knows we’re not where we were last year,” Cheriyan said. “But we still support these guys, and we still support the program.’”

• NPR: “The sorrow is that college sports have the capacity to soil almost anyone who is enticed by them. Lois DeFleur was the president of Binghamton University for 19 years. She did an amazing job for Binghamton, academic division. But when Binghamton tried to go big-time basketball, it ended up in a scandal, and President DeFleur was tarnished. The other day, she said she was stepping down for personal reasons. The ones who are hurt by sports and leave always say that, just like the coaches who jump and leave their old teams in the lurch always proclaim that it’s a new challenge.”

Stony Brook Recaps:

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “In that loss, BU had a chance to win late in regulation, only to have Mahamoud Jabbi rush an ill-advised 3-pointer with four seconds left that missed badly, giving the Black Bears the chance to pull out the victory in overtime.  On Tuesday, BU found itself in the same situation, in a tie game late after the Seawolves’ Bryan Dougher’s nailed a 3-pointer from about 24 feet to knot the score at 62 with eight seconds left.  After taking the inbounds pass, Lukusa dribbled quickly to midcourt before passing to Wright on the right wing. Wright dribbled a few times before lofting a shot — with a pair of Stony Brook defenders on him — that found nothing but net.  Dougher managed to get off a half-court heave that could have won the game, but his shot banked off the rim at the buzzer.”
• Video – WBNG: “Wright, who hit 11-of-19 from the floor, scored nine points in the final 4:11 and the game was in his hands as BU set up its final possession with the score tied 62-62. From the right side, he dribbled between a pair of Stony Brook defenders and swished a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left.  ‘Our go-to guy made plays tonight,’ Macon said of Wright. ‘He really wore his pants well.’”
• AP: “Greer Wright scored a career-high 27 points and hit a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left to lift Binghamton to a 64-62 win over Stony Brook on Tuesday night.  Wright split a double-team before making the shot for the Bearcats (7-11, 2-1 America East Conference), who have won three of their past four games and snapped the Seawolves’ four-game winning streak.”
• Video – WICZ: “BU coach Mark Macon, ‘I was going crazy inside. Crazy inside. That’s a great way to end a game for players, never a great way to end a game for a coach.’  Greer Wright wasn’t available for comment, but he was enormous for BU. His 27 points were a season high for the Bearcats. Next up for BU, a Thursday home game against Boston.”
• Video – Postgame Interview with Mark Macon

I was able to take in New Year’s with my family at Epcot.  The fireworks and presentation was amazing.  Disney is definitely Florida’s Time Square.  It was packed, crowded, and the beer prices were a bit expensive.  The only things that angered me (and usually I’m a lot more angry) was the quality of the food and that Yuengling, America’s oldest brewery, was served not in the American pavilion but at the Chinese one.

Returning to my classroom on Monday, I pleasantly found that my hardwood floors had been redone over break.  Now I just need a basketball hoop for the front of my room!

The Bearcats have also been ringing the New Year in style.  After losing two games on the left coast against St. Mary’s and Stephen F. Austin, Bearcats won at home against A10 member LaSalle 66-61 and opened up conference play with a victory at Albany last night 62-57.  Lukusa was a point away from a double-double and Camara exploded for 24 points, including 5 Threes.  Broadus has recruited some talent even at the bottom of his roster, and it looks like Macon is doing a good job in the interim.  It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in conference play and in the aftermath of the Kaye report this season.

Albany Recaps:

Albany Times Union:

• Albany Times-Union: “The Binghamton basketball team, plagued by turmoil in the off-season, wasn’t the group that left SEFCU Arena with serious questions about itself on Thursday night.  It was UAlbany doing the soul-searching with doubts about its own leadership and toughness after losing to the Bearcats 62-57 in the America East Conference opener for both teams before a crowd of 2,458.”
• AP: “Moussa Camara scored a career-high 24 points and Greer Wright had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Binghamton held off Albany (N.Y.) 62-57 in the America East Conference opener for both teams Thursday night.  Binghamton (6-10) took control with a 26-4 run in the first half, keyed by four 3-pointers by Camara, and led 36-25 at halftime.”
• Troy Record: “Despite losing six players and their head coach after an offseason of turmoil, the defending league champion Bearcats (1-0, 6-10) proved that they would not just roll over.  ‘We’re the champs,’ said Binghamton junior Moussa Camara. ‘That’s how we play and that’s the way we think.’  Despite being the defending champions, the Bearcats were picked to finish last in the nine-team conference.  ‘I haven’t talked to these guys, but I think that they take that to heart,’ said Binghamton interim coach Mark Macon said. ‘We have a great bunch of character guys. Nobody likes to be spat on or stepped on, that’s any creature.’”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “Camara was unstoppable early against Albany. He made his first five shots, four from 3-point range, scoring 14 points in a 26-4 first-half run that turned a 7-2 deficit into a 28-11 BU lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. His final 3-pointer came midway through the second half, capping an 11-3 run to put BU up, 51-36, after Albany had drawn within seven midway through the half.  ‘It was bad, my confidence was not there,’ Camara said of his recent shooting struggles. ‘But I told myself, this was a fresh start. It’s conference time, a new beginning.’”

In the second half, things turned around offensively mostly because of the play of sophomore big man Kyrie Sutton.  Sutton looked like the best offensive player on the floor, even though he was matched up with High School All-American Dante Taylor.  He showcased a nice jump hook (but he needs another move) and even had a dominating dunk that was called back on a travel.  Physically and skill-wise, Sutton looked like he belonged in the Big East.  If he can keep up it on offensive, the Bearcats will have more wins than originally people thought.

The Four Factors can tell us a couple things about Binghamton. First, we are having trouble on defense. Pittsburgh kept getting open looks, while the Bearcat D kept being caught out of position.

Second, we had too many turnovers again. In the first half, Pittsburgh kept trapping on the sidelines leading to many Bearcat turnovers and not too many total points. Big props for Jamie Dixon keeping it classy in the blowout and changing their defensive strategy in the second half.

Third, Bearcats got to the line because of Greer Wright. Besides Sutton, Wright looked like a bright spot with his ability to get to the line. He almost had more FT attempts than Pitt had total. The only problem with that is , besides Wright, Lukusa was the only other Bearcat to attempt a FT.

The Bearcat offense struggled at times, but we have hope and his name is Dylan Talley.  Talley was obvious the best player on the court for the Bearcats.  He showed off an all-around offense game.  He hit jumpers, he penetrated, he drived, and he even got called for a foul trying to post up a smaller guards.  It was just a DII opponent but there was star potential there.

Binghamton’s rotation is going to be tight but we are not going to be completely devoid of players.  I really liked the lineup of Lukusa, Talley, Camara, Wright, and Sutton.   Lukusa was gritty as usual and did a pretty good job running the point but had too many turnovers.  Camara and Wright looked great in transition and showed some range out to the three-point line.  Sutton did a good job playing defense and rebounding.

I would like to see more out of Taylor Johnston.  He was just  jacking up shots in the first half and got benched for a good portion of the second.  I didn’t like what I saw from Mahamoud Jabbi offensively, but he did grab 7 rebounds and had 2 steals.

I still think this season going be bad, but maybe not too bad.

In reality, the season starts today against Holy Family.  Bearcats have little to no chance of repeating. Our program will be in the year long process of being humiliated.  Our coach, AD, and maybe President gone.  One of the highlights will be tonight.  A winnable game against Holy Family at 7 pm.

• Pipe Dream has a couple of articles in their Tuesday edition.  One is one the new team and the other is on Mark Macon.  Not surprising that Lukusa and Camara will be the two main cogs this year and Macon is viewing success this season as “less about wins and more about changing the program in order to have productive student-athletes.”
• Baruch College’s The Ticker takes a shot at the Bearcats and DI athletics.  CUNY seems to enjoy DIII alot more than its DI SUNY cousins.
• Press & Sun Bulletin has a preview of the Holy Family game.  More Mark Macon quotables inside.

• SUNY Research Foundation is under federal investigation for fraud.  Ironically, the Research Foundation is bankrolling the Binghamton basketball investigation.
• Yahoo has posted its Binghamton season preview.  Yahoo has our lineup slated at PG Christian Lukusa (not my typo), SG Moussa Camara, SF Greer Wright, PF Pina Guillaume, C Kyrie Sutton.  I never seen these guys before but I think that Taylor Johnson or Dylan Talley gets the start over Guillaume.  Will be interesting to see who picks up the slack after Lukusa and Camara
• Missed this article over the weekend in the Daily News on how Binghamton disgraced itself for money.  I hate how people slander the Event Center in articles like this.  Binghamton was selling out the West Gym.  The only other venue in town is the decrepit Broome County Arena.  In hindsight, I wish the Event Center bigger with the opportunity to add on ice.   That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Binghamton led the America East in attendance again this season.