(W-L vs D1)
Vermont (71) 9-5 (8-5), 33
Vermont challenged themselves with their out of conference schedule with mixed results. The Catamounts defeated some tough opponents on a neutral floor early in the season, but came away with only one solid road victory at Yale in OOC action. The loss of Anthony Lamb to a foot injury certainly hurts, but Vermont still has talented pieces and the ability to shoot the ball from deep to beat most teams on most nights in America East play.
Albany (113) 12-3 (11-3), 300
Albany's out of conference schedule looked better on paper before their opponents started playing their games. The Great Danes managed to win all of the games they were supposed to, while letting wins against historically superior opponents in Memphis and Louisville slip away. UA did a nice job protecting home court in OOC play, but they weren't able to pick up any road victories that stand out. How the Great Danes are able to handle the other top programs in the conference at their place will determine whether they are sitting at the top of the regular season standings come the end of February.
Stony Brook (193) 5-9 (4-9), 93
Stony Brook put together an OOC schedule loaded with Power 6 programs and the results were mixed. They played a few nationally known programs tough for at least 20 minutes, but only came away with one victory (at Rutgers) that became watered down after Hartford beat the Scarlet Knights in their following contest. Because of head scratching OOC losses against LIU Brooklyn and Norfolk State the Seawolves at this point come off as a talented team with question marks--- which could land them anywhere from fourth to sixth in the final America East standings.
UMBC (200) 9-6 (6-6)
UMBC departs out of conference play with more to like than not. Their best win happens to be the same as Vermont's (vs Northern Kentucky), while they don't sport any truly ugly losses (@ Colgate is debatable). The Retriever offense is a thing of beauty most nights, but their defense (although a bit improved) probably keeps them a step below Albany and Vermont this season.
Binghamton (222) 9-6 (7-6)
Binghamton has some questionable out of conference losses, but for the most part they held serve against teams you'd view as America East equals. The most head scratching of all, and this includes Stony Brook and Hartford as well, is the loss to LIU Brooklyn who sports only one D1 victory during out of conference play against a non America East team. The reason Binghamton gets a pass more than those other two is that Thomas Bruce missed the LIU BK game.
New Hampshire (254) 4-10 (2-10)
I honestly have no idea what to think about New Hampshire as of today. The Wildcats looked lost for most of out of conference play, but still have the talent to rebound nicely in conference. Will their interior be able to carry them offensively? Will they figure it out on the defensive end? I have no idea, but I'm betting they right the ship enough for a top four finish in the America East.
UMass Lowell (299) 6-7 (5-7)
UMass Lowell still can't play defense. Against a pretty weak out of conference schedule they allowed their opponents to shoot a pretty high percentage from both two point range and three point range. They gave up at least 76 points in losses to Sacred Heart, NJIT, Wagner, Brown and Central Connecticut State while all of those teams feature offenses ranked 234th or higher in the nation. I'd like to think the River Hawks have enough talent to finish higher than in the bottom third of the league, but if they can't figure out a way to get stops I just don't see it happening.
Hartford (305) 7-7 (6-7)
Hartford actually had a pretty solid out of conference showing based on what people expected of them heading into this season. They finished OOC play with back to back road victories over superior opponents and won four of their final five OOC games overall. I'm still not sure what the Hawks are good at, but they've won some games and that's all that matters in the end when expectations for your program are minimal.
Maine (333) 3-12 (1-12)
Maine should be receiving their gift basket from New Hampshire any day now because if it wasn't for them than the Wildcats out of conference performance would have been the worst in the league. The Black Bears only managed one D1 OOC victory, although the argument can definitely be made that they faced a tough OOC slate for a team with their preseason expectations. Their defense hasn't been terrible, but there is currently only four teams in the nation with a worse offense.
OOC Team Stat Leaders
PPG: UMBC 78.8
OPPG: New Hampshire 66.3
FG%: Binghamton 48.6%
DFG%: New Hampshire 41.9%
3FG%: Vermont 41%
FT%: New Hampshire 77.7%
RPG: New Hampshire 40.5
TO Margin: UMass Lowell +1.62
Assist/Turnover: Vermont +1.29
BPG: Binghamton 4.87
APG: UMBC 16.21
SPG: Stony Brook 7.79
OOC Individual Stat Leaders
PPG: Jairus Lyles 21.1
Min: Joe Cremo 530
FG: Travis Charles 89
3FG: Jason Dunne 43
FT: Tanner Leissner 83
RPG: Iba Camara 10.2
FG% (min 5 pg): Travis Charles 60.5%
3FG% (min 3 made pg): Joe Sherburne 44.4%
FT%: Aaron Calixte 92.5%
APG: KJ Maura 5.5
Ast/Tov: KJ Maura 2.8
BPG: Thomas Bruce 3.1
SPG: Jairus Lyles 2.4
MPG: JR Lynch 37.0
Projected Standings
1. Albany
2. Vermont
3. UMBC
4. New Hampshire
5. Binghamton
6. Stony Brook
7. UMass Lowell
8. Hartford
9. Maine
Projected AE 1st Team
Joe Cremo
David Nichols
Trae Bell Haynes
Jairus Lyles
Tanner Leissner
Projected AE 2nd Team
Travis Charles
Payton Henson
JC Show
Akwasi Yeboah
Jahad Thomas
Projected AE 3rd Team
Arkel Lamar
Thomas Bruce
Ernie Duncan
Iba Camara
John Carroll
Projected POY
David Nichols
Projected DPOY
Thomas Bruce
Projected ROY
Elijah Olaniyi
Projected COY
Will Brown
Where Did He Come From?
Jaron Cornish will be the player you may not know right now, but will know by the end of conference play.
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