Seawolves Fans

BINGHAMTON (0-3)
Last Game: Youngstown State 79, Binghamton 65 on 12/13/20
Last Game with SBU: Stony Brook 75, Binghamton 70 on 2/12/20; Garcia 24 and 10
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -4.5
NET Ranking: TBD
KenPom Rating: Stony Brook 270, Binghamton 342
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 70, Binghamton 66
Watch: G1 – https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=f1071ab0-0329-4af5-bdad-e85746727bf0
G2 – https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=92abbb7f-a771-4ca4-b366-5ecc5645a0b5
Notables:
6-3/185 so G Brenton Mills 18.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.0 spg, .500 FG%, .471 3-pt FG%
6-9/220 rsr F Thomas Bruce 9.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.3 bpg
6-6/200 so F George Tinsley 8.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.0 apg
6-3/175 so G Hakon Hjalmarsson 7.7 ppg, 3.0 apg, .600 FG%, .556 3-pt FG%

Stony Brook's been good enough of late, and Binghamton bad enough, that we really wanted to count this as an automatic win when the schedule came out. It was justifiable for a while. We at one point won 14 straight games in this series, some in really dominant fashion, like the time we beat them four consecutive times by 20-plus points.

But just like we did at the beginning of the 2010s, we may be seeing the tide turn here in the 2020s. And sooner even. In the last six, we're only 3-3, including the absolute faceplant we did in the 2019 AE quarterfinals at our place. We absolutely survived last year in Vestal in the first game after the Olaniyi injury – I remember the excitement in the locker room afterward and thinking "uh, we just beat Binghamton."

The Bearcats are a live dog this weekend. I think they have a really nice group of sophomores between Mills, Tinsley, Hjalmarsson and now Bertram, a Charlotte transfer. Plus a bunch of others – Petcash, Beamer, Akuwovo, etc. AND they got a bump this week with two transfers becoming immediately eligible – Christian Hinckson, a starter at Manhattan a year ago, and the coach's kid, Tommy Dempsey, who came over from Providence. I don't know much about the latter, but Hinckson should see major time if he's ready to go here.

Quick shoutout to a rare Knox School alum, Ador Athuai, on the Binghamton team. Real close to here. I didn't even know that Knox had hoops.

It's really interesting to see this team without Sessoms, who will debut this weekend for Penn State assuming everything is kosher. Mills, who I viewed as mainly a shooter last year, hasn't abandoned that but has been more aggressive as their top scoring option. Sessoms was such a ball-dominant guard that I think there was a lot of standing around and waiting for him to do something. I love that Bruce is back – big strong big man who's had his share of injuries. Same high school as a LOT of good basketball players as well as a lot of Checkmate family members (not as good at basketball). I really like the Icelander too – just a steady hand at the point, can shoot it a bit, he's solid. The rest of the aforementioned sophomores will get some good run.

I would be stunned if we swept this series. Really stunned – maybe more stunned than if we got swept. We haven't shown a lot of continuity offensively, and I just know they're going to hit us with a 2-3 zone and we're going to have to both move the ball as well as hit shots. We especially have not done the latter, shooting exactly 30% from deep if you take out the Point Park game. I really think we have to lean more on crisp passing,  moving defenders, finding room behind the zone and beating them on the glass. A big JFR game, Gueye slashing, getting second chances, and hopefully, yes, knocking down some threes. I wonder if we try to speed these guys up too. There isn't a Sessoms out there who can run circles around us.

I'm interested in seeing if our rotation changes at all with conference play arriving. Don't we need the kind of shooting that TSM can provide? I don't know; I won't get my hopes up that his usage will increase. Just baffled by the whole thing. Will Gueye come off the bench like he did against Point Park? Is Diallo a 25-minute guy like against St. Peter's, a 15-minute guy like in the middle of OOC play, or filler like we saw the last two games?

These ones count, fellas. We've played almost as much basketball as any program in the league. This weekend is a gift not only because we're playing but we aren't walking into Patrick or the Events Center down at UMBC. These are winnable games. Let's show some strides and win 'em both.

ill be curious to see if they full court press, as most teams we've played have done this (im doubtful).  film is easy to come by these days...

It's worth noting that the MAAC played four back to backs last weekend, and three of them split.

In the NEC, they've had five back to backs, with four ending in splits.

We'll have to play very well to take two. Don't see it.

More than 2 minutes into the game and there's no score showing or the time. Nothing. This is terrible.

Holy cow. These two teams are hard to watch. Geno Ford is an amazing coach!!!

JRod off to horrible start and Geno sitting him. I agree.

Bruce with ankle injury. If we can’t beat this Bong team, we won’t win a game this year. Mo has to stop with the stupid fouls. JRod just didn’t come to play today. Policelli moving better and shooting well.

Bingo so soft inside without Bruce. That last drive by JFR was so easy, we met them at halfcourt, Diallo picked off a lazy pass and laid it in on the other end.

Nice flurry to finish the half out.


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