A change in one letter will mean all the difference in the world for Hartford heading into 18-19.
Entering 2017-18 the Hawks had lost 15 of their final 19 games the previous season. By the first week in December they had lost 6 of 8 contests against division 1 opponents, including a 36 point blowout at Rider, leaving them with 21 losses in their last 27 contests.
The program that had won just eight conference games over the past two seasons seemed destined to once again find themselves towards the bottom of the America East standings.
Two home wins over fellow Connecticut schools in Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart didn't raise many eyebrows at the time. The wins would be followed by a road loss at Portland, leaving the Hawks at 5-7 on the young season and 4-7 when taking into account only division 1 opponents.
Then something seemed to turn.
Hartford would follow the loss at Portland with three road victories, entering each of these contests as double digit underdogs according to multiple analytics sites. Not only had the Hawks picked up their first road victory of the season, they managed to get three in a row, all in contests they were the heavy underdog.
The win at FIU was a start, out-rebounding high major Rutgers in a road victory was very impressive, but a road victory over Albany to open conference play put the rest of the league on notice.
A team that had just three road victories all of the previous season had just rattled off three straight in December.
After a win over UMass Lowell in their third conference game Hartford would remain over .500 both overall and in league play over their final 16 contests. To put that in perspective the Hawks had not entered a single contest the previous year with a record over .500 and had entered just two over .500 in 2015-16.
A road win at Vermont, the Catamounts only America East loss the past two regular season's, would further convince those still doubting the program that the Hawks were now major players in the AE.
Hartford would finish America East play 7-1 on the road, 11-5 overall and 19-14 on the season. Their third place finish would be their highest since 2013-14, while the 11 wins were their most ever in conference.
With the Hawks returning their top four scorers from conference play last season they'll enter the 2018-19 campaign as a top two preseason pick; their highest since the 2014-15 preseason coaches poll, a year in which they finished 7-9 in conference coming off of ten wins in 2013-14.
The program that had spent recent season's hunting for upsets, will spend this upcoming season looking to avoid them.
A road win at Vermont, the Catamounts only America East loss the past two regular season's, would further convince those still doubting the program that the Hawks were now major players in the AE.
Hartford would finish America East play 7-1 on the road, 11-5 overall and 19-14 on the season. Their third place finish would be their highest since 2013-14, while the 11 wins were their most ever in conference.
With the Hawks returning their top four scorers from conference play last season they'll enter the 2018-19 campaign as a top two preseason pick; their highest since the 2014-15 preseason coaches poll, a year in which they finished 7-9 in conference coming off of ten wins in 2013-14.
The program that had spent recent season's hunting for upsets, will spend this upcoming season looking to avoid them.
solid blog
ReplyDelete