For quick access to all of our 2015-16 Season Previews, CLICK HERE.
AMERICA EAST
The 2015-16 previews begin in the America East. Over the next five weeks, you will see my Conference Previews released almost every day, beginning with the 23 small and mid-major conferences and then ending in early November with the top 9 conferences, all in alphabetical order.
The America East was dominated last season by the Albany Great Danes, a team that went 15-1 in conference regular season play then followed up with the conference tournament championship before falling by 9 points to Oklahoma in the Round of 64. Stony Brook, Vermont and New Hampshire all made postseason appearances as well. For Stony Brook and Vermont, it was the CBI where the Catamounts advanced to the semifinals. For New Hampshire, it was the CIT where they lost in the first round to NJIT. New Hampshire did make history though, as they hosted a conference tournament game for the first time ever, beating Hartford in overtime in the quarterfinals in front of a raucous crowd, and made their first ever postseason appearance in the CIT.
This season, the chances of one team dominating in conference play are much lower. This is because all four of last year’s postseason participants return deep veteran lineups. Although the conference will only put one team in the Big Dance, this league could give us some of the most exciting basketball as Albany, Stony Brook, Vermont and New Hampshire battle it out all season for the top spot in the conference and home court advantage in the conference tournament. Beyond the top four teams, Binghamton should be improved while UMBC and Maine should both be more competitive than last year — though that should not be hard for a pair of teams that combined for 7 total wins last season.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Stony Brook – The entire team pretty much returns this year including conference Player of the Year Jameel Warney and all-conference first teamer Carson Puriefoy. The Seawolves also add in Longwood transfer Lucas Woodhouse and welcome back Ahmad Walker who spent last season playing for a junior college after being a freshman standout for Stony Brook two years ago. It won’t be easy with the competition in this conference, but this could be the season that the Seawolves finally make their first dance.
2. Albany – Peter Hooley, Evan Singletary and Ray Sanders lead a deep team that has advanced to three straight NCAA tournaments. If Mike Rowley can step in to replace his brother Sam in the frontcourt, there is no reason why they won’t be right in the hunt for a fourth straight bid.
3. New Hampshire – Four starters and top reserve Daniel Dion return from last year’s 19 win team. Last season’s conference Rookie of the Year Tanner Leissner will try to help lead the Wildcats to the program’s first ever 20 win campaign, and maybe even their first ever NCAA tournament.
4. Vermont – Ethan O’Day leads four returning starters that are joined by Hofstra transfer Darren Payen. The pieces are in place in Burlington for this team to be right at the top.
5. Binghamton – The Bearcats should take a big step forward this season from last year’s 6 win effort as they return all five starters and welcome in a solid recruiting class. On top of that, none of the returning starters are seniors, so don’t be surprised if they are a contender for the league’s upper division by next season.
6. UMBC – The Retrievers should improve vastly off of last year’s 4 victories with the senior leadership of Cody Joyce and the return of 2013-14’s conference Rookie of the Year Rodney Elliott from an injury that cost him almost all of last season.
7. Maine – The Black Bears welcome back four starters plus key reserve Kevin Little. Head coach Bob Walsh has added a solid recruiting class, so things should be much better than last year (though at 3-27 last season, it would be tough to be worse).
8. Hartford – The Hawks only return one starter (Taylor Dyson) from a sub-.500 team. If they want to compete for the upper division this year, they will need their newcomers and former bench players to step up.
9. Massachusetts-Lowell – The good news in Lowell is that the team is young and has a star in sophomore Jahad Thomas. The bad news is that the team is young — too young to expect much this season.