The BU Zoo Blog

The Bearcats finished up the season yesterday with a 79-68 loss to Vermont.  Binghamton is still locked into the 5th seed which means that we will play Boston (4 seed) for the right to play the Stony Brook v. Play-in-game winner.  I would have selfishly loved Stony Brook on the other side of the bracket for a Binghamton-Stony Brook final  (that I could attend at Stony Brook!)

• 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.’”

Every victory has shown something special about our Bearcats.  The victory last night against Albany was no different.  The man of the night was Mahamoud Jabbi.  The walk-on from NYC and SUNY Oswego had his third double-double in four games.  His jump shot may look ugly but he has been making it the second half of the season.  Macon during the postgame interview admitted that stop trying to change his technique.  As long as it goes in that all that matters.  Without Jabbi’s performance in the first half with Greer Wright in foul trouble (again), Bearcats probably lose this game.

Also felt really good to sweep Albany this year  (even in a down year).  Bearcats are down just one game out of first place in the loss column and are heading on a monster 4 game road trip to Maine,UNH, BU and Stony Brook.  I will be heading out to Stony Brook for the game.

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “BU assured itself the win when Talley converted a free throw, Albany missed a 3-point try and subsequent follow-up attempt, and Wright extended the lead to 78-71 on a fast-break dunk with 15 seconds remaining.  ‘They got to most of the loose balls, the 50-50 balls; that was the difference in the game,’ Brown said. ‘… We didn’t get stops when we needed them most, and they got to the 50-50 balls.’  Talley finished with 17 points, Jabbi 12 to go with a game-high 10 rebounds, and Umur Peten nine points for BU.  Binghamton finished  with 16 assists and five turnovers — a ratio Macon will gleefully accept any night against any opponent.  ‘I saw that and I almost passed out, but I had enough water in my system not to,” he said. “It’s because they played zone. It slowed the game down and we got a chance to see things. When the game is played slow, you have less mistakes.’”
• Albany Times-Union: “‘Somehow, we always a find a way to give up a segment in the game where we get down nine, 10 (points), and that kills us,’ said UAlbany freshman guard Logan Aronhalt (16 points).  The Bearcats began that run when freshman guard Dylan Talley sank a 24-foot 3-pointer from the top of the circle at the halftime buzzer to give Binghamton a 34-31 lead and rouse the crowd of 3,991 at the Events Center.  Binghamton (11-13, 6-3) then scored the first two baskets of the second half on Moussa Camara’s layup and 3-pointer to build a 39-31 lead that UAlbany could never completely overcome.  ‘First three or four minutes of the second half, there it was right there,’ coach Wil Brown said.’That’s where I thought we lost the game, or allowed them to get the momentum and get the crowd back in the game.’”
• WICZ (Video):”‘It was a tremendous game played by two up-and-coming teams,” interim head coach Mark Macon said. ‘It was a game of runs and we had the last one. I’m very proud of our guys. They stayed together and are growing up.’  The Bearcats had to manage with their top player, Wright, saddled with foul trouble throughout the game. Wright, who leads the conference in scoring (20.0 ppg. in AE play), was whistled for three fouls in the first half and played just 24 minutes in the game. He still managed to score a game-high 19 points.  ‘We have a bunch of stars on our team and they all can shine,’ Macon said of his team’s perseverance without Wright in the game. ‘One star got taken away and the other guys stepped up and made plays.’”\
• AP:“Greer Wright scored 19 points and Dylan Talley added 17, including three free throws in the final 49 seconds, to lead Binghamton in a 78-73 win over Albany (N.Y.) on Wednesday night.  Leading just 64-60 with 3:29 left, Talley finished a three-point play that sparked Binghamton’s 9-2 run. He then hit a pair of foul shots to put the Bearcats up 75-65 and, after Albany cut the lead with a pair of 3s, Talley knocked down a free throw with 27 seconds left to push the Binghamton lead to five.”

4000 people showed up on Sunday to see the Bearcats take on rival Vermont in Marques Blakely final college game at the Event Center.  Everyone knows how good Marques Blakely is.  The Bearcats showed this with double and triple-teams.  However, it was the emergence of another star that have the Bearcats entrenched in the America East title race.  His name is Greer Wright and he torn the Catamounts up for 30 points and led Binghamton to a 73-67 victory.

• Press & Sun Bulletin: “With Greer Wright scoring 30 points — including a 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining that gave BU the lead for good — the Bearcats held off the University of Vermont, 73-69, in an America East Conference men’s basketball game in front of 3,928 spectators at the Events Center.  Mahomoud Jabbi and Moussa Camara added 14 points each for BU (8-13, 3-3 America East), which would have fallen into a sixth-place tie in the conference and three games out of first place with a loss but now remains firmly entrenched in a wide-open America East title chase.  Unlike Thursday’s 64-63 loss at Hartford, in which BU squandered a 10-point lead in the last five minutes, the Bearcats finished strong Sunday.  It started with Wright, who was magnificent on a day in which he also tallied 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.”
• Burlington Free Press: “The University of Vermont men’s basketball team relinquished first place with its second consecutive loss.  Greer Wright racked up 30 points to guide Binghamton to a 73-67 victory over UVM Sunday afternoon at the Events Center, which yanked the Catamounts into fourth place in the America East Conference….Three days after missing a dozen free throws in a 65-60 loss to Stony Brook, Vermont went 20-for-31 from the foul line against Binghamton.  ‘I don’t think we came out ready to play and turned it over a lot early and they jumped out to a good lead,’ Lonergan said. ‘Turnovers and missed free throws I felt cost us the game….’  ‘They took advantage of being at home and out-played us,’ Lonergan said about Binghamton. ‘I give them credit. They play hard, crashed the boards and are very talented offensively.’
• Pipe Dream: “With the Catamounts holding a 62-60 lead with just 2:01 left, Wright hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead. He followed with two free throws to give BU a three-point lead with 1:33 to go. Jabbi hit a pair from the line with 1:07 left and Wright grabbed a defensive rebound and hit two more free throws to put BU up 69-62 with 57 seconds left to seal it.  ‘Today we closed our game out,’ Binghamton head coach Marc Macon said. ‘The guys wanted to perform for the students.’  Coming into the game, the Bearcats were the worst free-throw shooting team in the America East, but tonight they made 10 of 12 down the stretch to close the game.  Wright opened the game with stellar shooting; he hit 10-15 from the field and 5-6 from 3-point range. He had BU’s first eight points and propelled his team to a 28-20 lead at the break. The Catamounts were plagued early by sloppy play, including two turnovers to start the game that led to early BU fast-break points.”

Really interesting couple of national articles on the Bearcats from ESPN and USA Today on how the Bearcats are overcoming the adversities of this season.  Dana O’Neil of ESPN also suggests that Kevin Broadus might be back as head coach if Judith Kaye’s audit clears him of wrong doing.  Here is a little excerpt from one of her chats:

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.’”

Right now I’m doing my first year in the America East forum’s fantasy basketball league.  I was able to go from the bottom of the pack to third place last week thanks to my insertion of Moussa Camara for the injured Hartford Hawk Andres Torres.  Torres injury hurts me in the categories that I need the most: assists and steals.  Hopefully, Moussa remains hot.  I might have to risk looking like a real homer by putting in Jabbi to go along with Camara and Lukusa as the other Bearcats that start because Brett Gifford of Albany is doing a whole lot of nothing.

• 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.”

Thanks to a very caring Christmas present from my girlfriend, today is the first time that I have actually been able to drink coffee while I put up a post.  She got me one of those fancy coffee makers that has the auto-timer, so now I just have to wake up and my coffee is ready with me.

This was a great little weekend for sports.  My other green-and-white team, the Jets, thumped the Bengals again.  Chargers-Jets is going to be a very interesting match-up since the Chargers don’t really stop the run too well and the Jets have some option on where to put Darrelle Revis.   Do you match him up against Vincent Jackson?  Do you match him up against Malcolm Floyd?  Do you match him up against Antonio Gates?

In their second AE game, the Bearcats lost at home in overtime to Maine 66-61.  This was a pretty awful game to watch.  Both teams, except Moussa Camara, shot a horrific percentage from the three-point line.  Maine shot 9% and Binghamton shot 13%.  Maine won this game by getting to the foul line 20 more times than Binghamton including some crucial free throws in overtime.

This was a bad loss, but I think it also shows that Binghamton is going to be able to compete this year.  Maine has been the surprise of the AE OOC, and taking them to overtime with only 6 scholarship players and without your starting point guard shows you the type of team Binghamton has become.

Recaps:

• AP: “Binghamton clung to a 57-55 lead halfway through OT, but after a defensive stop, Mitchell made a layup in traffic to tie the score. He gave Maine the lead moments later on a pair of free throws and then extended that lead to four with 50 seconds left.”
• Video from WBNG: “Visiting Maine (9-6, 1-1 AE) made just one field goal in overtime but converted 11-of-14 free throws to outlast cold-shooting Binghamton (6-11, 1-1 AE) 66-61 Sunday afternoon from the Events Center. It was the Black Bears’ first win in seven tries at the Events Center.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin: “With Maine employing a 2-3 zone for much of the game, BU (6-11, 1-1) hit just 20 of 61 shots from the field (33 percent), including an unsightly 6-for-35 (17 percent) from 3-point range.  ‘We settled for too many jump shots (Sunday) instead of attacking the basket,’ BU interim coach Mark Macon said. ‘We hit some shots in the first half, but (Maine) kept plugging away. We have to get the ball inside, then kick it out.  We shot 35 3-pointers. That’s ridiculous.’  BU was without two starters Sunday. Point guard Dylan Talley missed his third straight game with an upper thigh contusion and center Pina Guillaume sat with an ankle injury.”
• Video From WICZ: “Maine takes out BU 66-61 in OT, and shoots 20 more free throws during game, but Coach Macon says the refs are not to blame.  Macon: ‘The ref didn’t put the ball in the basket. The ref didn’t shoot the ball for the other team, and they didn’t shoot the ball for us. We missed shots. We were twenty for 61. That’s a lot of shot man.’”

It’s 2010, and I’m back blogging for the new year.  After a family vacation to Disney World, getting situated with school again, and some family medical problems, I am very happy to be back.

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.’”

Binghamton returns home this weekend playing our first game at the Event Center since the home opener.  This weekend is going to be full of Bearcats basketball.    Tonight our boys take on Bucknell and Sunday take on Marshall.  I hope that the Event Center is rocking since these will be the last home games before winter vacation for students.  I hope to be tweeting (Pete Thamel respond to my tweet!) and watching both games, but I have a feeling that I’m just going to pass out when I get home.

The Julius Allen story got picked up by the AP and a couple of other papers.  It has to make you wonder why they did it now.  They either made this move way too late or they found something type of smoking gun.  Most America East fans know Allen by reputation when he was an assistant at Northeastern.  Something tells me that this move wasn’t made to make the coaching staff more heart healthy.

• Congratulations to Dylan Talley (and sorry I missed this earlier this week) on his Rookie of the Week award: “Talley led all America East rookies by averaging 11.8 points in four games last week. The freshman guard averaged 14.3 points per contest at the CBE Classic West Carolina Sub-Regional, including a career-best 21-point effort in a win over Arkansas-Monticello Wednesday. Talley, who had 11 points in each of the tournament’s first two games against Duquesne and Western Carolina, also averaged 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and shot 49 percent from the field.”
• Pipe Dream has a preview of the games this weekend: “ Coming off a 58-50 loss in a close game to the talented Rider University Broncs, Binghamton University men’s basketball team (2-5) will look to redeem itself in its next two games. In a three-day span, the Bearcats will be hosting the Bucknell University Bison of the Patriot League and Marshall University Thundering Herd of Conference USA in front of an always-supportive Events Center crowd.”
• Press & Sun Bulletin has an article on the Bucknell game and on Macon’s lineup changes which include Kryie Sutton and Moussa Camara coming off the bench: “‘We’ve shaken up the lineup a little bit, and we’ve done well in that area in trying to get units in the game that play well together and bringing guys up off the bench to keep the ship moving.’ The shake-up Macon referred to was the insertion of center Umur Peten and forward Mahamoud Jabbi into the starting lineup prior the game against Arkansas-Monticello, with opening-night starters Moussa Camara and Kyrie Sutton now coming off the bench. Jabbi, a high-energy guy, has averaged six points and seven rebounds in his last two games. Peten, a 6-foot-9 junior transfer from Middle East Technical University in his native Turkey, is coming off a team-high 14-point effort in the loss to Rider.  ‘Umur brings understanding, he brings a fundamental set to the game,’ Macon said. ‘He’s a basic guy, he’s not the most athletic guy, he’s not the best shooter, but he gets the job done because he knows how to play.’”

Binghamton pulled out a 64-50 victory over DII Holy Family.  The internet stream was watchable.  I was looking forward to a day off.  It was a good time.

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 some other alternate reality, the Bearcats are gearing up today to defend their America East conference title.  Malik Alvin is teaching abstinence education and is an advocate for the elderly.  Dwayne Jackson, David Fine, and Tiki Mayben volunteer at Binghamton High School’s DARE program.  Player of the Year, 1st Team All-AE member, and honor roll student D.J. Rivera is back for his senior season ready to battle the more expensive BU, UA, and UVM for the title this year.  The Bearcats have one of the best backcourts in the country.  The Event Center is rocking.

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.