Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Conference Calling: America East

With conference play getting underway, it's a fine time to start looking at individual leagues and handicapping how the teams may stack up by the time their conference tournaments get started. Alphabetical order dictates that we start with the America East.

  • Last things first: Apologies to UMBC, Binghamton, and Hartford, but your teams appear likely to serve as speed bumps in what is not exactly a highway-speed league to begin with. A combined 1-31 record against schedules ranking around the 290's doesn't hold much promise. If credit must be given, it should go to the Hawks for keeping their last three losses inside single digits. Hartford also has five freshmen among its top seven scorers, accounting for two-thirds of the team's output. One of those, Nate Sikma, tried his best to singlehandedly beat Marist, going for 23-8-2-3-2 before fouling out in the dying minutes. So, Hartford, perhaps we'll see you next year?