A weekly round-up of men’s basketball in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
2011-12 schedule announced
Edison, N.J. – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has announced the men’s basketball schedule for the 2011-12 season.
Some of the highlights of the 2011-12 schedule include:
- The schedule opens on Dec. 1 with Loyola University Maryland hosting Marist College at Reitz Arena, and defending champion Saint Peter’s College hosting Siena College at the Yanitelli Center.
- Marist unveils its newly renovated McCann Center to their fans with the Red Foxes’ league home opener on Dec. 4 against Rider University. Read more…
Click on links below to see individual school schedules.
St. Peter’s Peacocks
MAAC.TV launched as conference’s broadband network
Edison, NJ – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and leading technology service provider NeuLion, Inc. have announced today the launch of MAAC.TV, the league’s first broadband network.
Six of the conference’s 10 member institutions will be part of the network during the 2011-12 academic year – Canisius, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Rider, and Saint Peter’s. Marist will officially join MAAC.TV on Oct. 1 with the launch of its new website and video player. Content from the other five schools is available now at MAAC.TV and on their respective video portals.
The subscription-based streaming service will deliver over 400 live events during the 2011-12 season. MAAC.TV will also give fans access to highlights of select contests and an archive of classic MAAC games (over 150 and growing).
George Beamon named Manhattan co-captain
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan first year head men’s basketball coach Steve Masiello has named junior guard George Beamon the Jaspers’ co-captain for the 2011-2012 campaign. Beamon joins senior guard Kidani Brutus to serve as the Manhattan men’s basketball team’s designated leaders. Beamon becomes the 123rd team captain in the storied program’s 105-year history.
“George is a guy who brings it everyday from a work ethic standpoint. He is the ultimate teammate, he is unselfish and he makes people around him better. All of these qualities are what led us to name him a team captain,” explained Masiello.
Ciao! Fairfied’s tour of Italy
The Fairfield University men’s basketball team completed a four-game tour of Italy on August 29, during which the squad posted a 4-0 record against Italian teams. The team’s trip was captured on video and today, the third installment of the tour is now available. For complete coverage of the tour, please to the team’s tour page.
With the tour behind them, the Stags are gearing up for another exciting season of basketball. After posting back-to-back 20-win seasons, Fairfield is ready to make a run at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship in 2012. Head Coach Sydney Johnson begins his first season at the helm and brings a great deal of post-season experience with him, including an NCAA tournament berth a year ago.
Click here for game stories and photo galleries of the trip.
Iona and Siena to meet at Madison Square Garden
NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Iona College head coach Tim Cluess, Siena College head coach Mitch Buonaguro, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Madison Square Garden announced that the Gaels and Saints will play their MAAC contest at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” on Jan. 3 at 9:00 pm. The game will be a part of a doubleheader with the Big East’s St. John’s and Louisville.
“This game will serve as a great opportunity for our seniors to play at such a historic venue as Madison Square Garden in their last season of college play,” said Cluess. “We’re delighted that Siena and the MAAC have agreed to participate and we’re excited to get on the floor and play at the Garden to start the 2012 MAAC portion of our schedule.”
Marist to debut renovated McCann with a sneak peak
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – After six months of construction, the Marist Athletics Department will unveil the renovated McCann Arena with a fan Sneak Peek on Thursday, September 22. The event, which is free and open to the public, will allow fans to tour the updated facility, sample the new chairback seating and learn more about the extensive renovation project.
The event will start at 5:30 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. Members from both the men’s and women’s basketball programs will be on hand to interact with fans. Refreshments will be served.
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Ignore Rider at your own peril
No matter where you look for information on the 2011-12 season for the MAAC the theme remains the same: regular season champion Fairfield and MAAC Tournament finalist Iona will stage a two-team race for the title. But while the Stags and Gaels are most certainly contenders for the league’s automatic bid don’t forget about Tommy Dempsey’s Rider Broncs.
Rider finished second in the MAAC last year with a 13-5 conference record (Iona had the same) and posted the conference’s best road record in league games (8-1). So to ignore the Broncs, who return a number of key pieces and add some solid ones as well, would be a mistake that would also motivate this veteran group.
NCAA rules on Gomis, Silas
The NCAA legislative relief staff has reversed its decision to uphold the legislation which restricted the athletic eligibility of Siena freshman Lionel Gomis following the 2012-13 season, providing him with two additional years of eligibility. Gomis and classmate Imoh Silas would still serve an academic year in residence at Siena in 2011-12 as a result of the staff’s latest ruling, and then each student athlete would have three years of athletic eligibility remaining, pending a final appeal for reconsideration.
Siena’s Brookins ready for bigger role
After getting on-the-job training in his first season, Siena sophomore point guard Rakeem Brookins is looking to make strides in his second year as a starter.
“I’m way more comfortable this year,” Brookins said at the Siena “Sneak Preview” this week. “I was comfortable last year, second half of the season, so I’m just going to continue to get better. More assists, less turnovers, that type of thing.”
Losses mean Siena’s return to “small ball”
The 2011-12 Siena men’s basketball team might look a lot like the 2005-06 squad that was short on height, short on expectations and big on exceeding the gloom-and-doom predicti0ns of just about every prognostication.
The 2005-06 team was the first during Fran McCaffery’s five-year stretch as the program’s head coach, and most expected the Saints to be a near-the-bottom of the MAAC standings’ finisher, particularly since the previous year’s team finished 6-24 overall and the top returnee, post standout Michael Haddix, would miss the season.
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