Ten months. That’s how long it’s been since we had any Division II college basketball in this region and how much of a 2020-‘21 season, in whatever safe form it can be held, materializes remains to be seen. So much has changed and there is no doubt the COVID-19 pandemic has altered (and will continue to alter) our little slice of the globe.
This isn’t a political forum, so we’ll stay away from any of that here (goodness knows we all could do with a break in the rhetoric). The last memories of the 2019-’20 season (apologies to Roberts Wesleyan, since they played the last actual game involving a regional team, when they lost in the NCCAA regionals. Ironically, RWC opens the regional slate tonight against Bryant & Stratton) were the three conference title games on March 8, when Daemen, Jefferson and Stonehill earned their respective championships and got ready for the NCAA tournament. As that week progressed, the eight teams preparing for the NCAA’s planned to travel to Garden City, New York, where Adelphi was to host the regional. Slowly the pandemic’s reach grew and the event went from normal/open, to a restricted number of spectators, to no spectators and, of course, to nothing at all.
My heart went out then and still goes out to the student-athletes that had earned a chance to compete in the March spotlight, especially the seniors. Life can be cruel at the best of times and these were assuredly not the best of times. Far be it from me to encapsulate the players’ (or anyone’s) feelings. What I do know is that all players, coaches and team personnel can be proud of their accomplishments, even if there will always be a ‘what-if?’ attached to the season.
Adaptability and flexibility will be the key attributes for all involved this time around, as things get ready to start. With any luck, the teams that plan to play can find a way to make it work and return to some shred of normalcy. From our perspective at D2 East Hoops, talking hoops in whatever form we can is a step that we are happy to take. Perceptive readers will see some changes on our website. Indeed, we have made our own moves to shake things up a bit and spruce up what had become, in some ways, a stale format.
Fear not, the scores, standings, schedule and stats pages have not changed. The nuts and bolts of the website have proven to be a useful resource and we see no need to do anything different there. Thus, while we are changing a few things, the core of our goal is the same – give readers a full, varied and thoughtful look at the region. We hope that you will like it; feel free to reach out to us with feedback, ideas and thoughts. After all, we are just like you, fans first, and enjoy taking about the fun stuff we see on the court all winter.
One thing we have done away with is the daily game recaps. Chris and I have done this for years, both here or, prior to this website, via email. While there was/is great value in that, we had been discussing shifting our focus for a few years and decided this season, given its’ odd and truncated nature, was a good time to jump into the pond. We hope to provide coverage of the season in a more column-based manner, with one or two columns by each of us every week along with the already wildly popular McCaffrey’s Musings. I can’t guarantee that Chris (men’s side) and I (women’s side) will take the same route in how we construct our columns but I do know this will allow us to delve into the action in a different manner than before.
One thing we are all excited about is our plan to examine the corners of our minds and extract some regional history. Each week, starting next week, Chris and I will devote a column to the best/our favorite players in the region over the years. There are some parameters we are working with, which we will detail at that point. But for those who like a bit of history, here you go – we will call it The Super 75 and we hope you will enjoy it.
Ok, so the season is soon underway. While the game on the court looks mostly the same, there are some major changes around the region to detail. Odds are there will be more changes as things develop (such as games being postponed, cancelled and/or moved and players opting out) but there is no way to predict anything like that. We will report as it goes along.
The NCAA made a few alterations to their norms for the campaign, including requiring a minimum of 11 games played by teams to be eligible to participate in the NCAA tournament. Speaking of that, given the number of teams not playing around the nation, the NCAA sliced the number of teams in the Division II tournament to 48, which equates to six per region. How the bids are allocated and/or whether tournament play will take place at all is still to be decided.
Another key snippet of news is that the NCAA will grant all Division II winter student-athletes an extra season of eligibility due to the fragmented nature of this one. There will surely be some individual opt-outs within the region but this ensures that players can get their four seasons on the floor one way or another, if they so desire. What it does to programs in terms of scholarships and roster composition remains to be seen, as there will be an accordion effect at each end of the spectrum.
Enough of the stage setting - let’s take this one conference at a time…
In the Central Atlantic Athletic Conference, there are no new coaches or teams to add to the picture but there will be seven teams sitting this season out. Chestnut Hill, Goldey-Beacom, Holy Family, Jefferson, Post, Sciences and Wilmington have all announced that they will cancel their winter athletic seasons, meaning the CACC is at seven teams this winter and they are not using a North/South Division set-up but rather will operate as one entity. Each team is scheduled to play ten games, starting on January 28, and a conference tournament is on tap for March 1-7.
The major news in the East Coast Conference centers on their continued membership changes. Sadly, the pandemic claimed the athletic department at New York Tech, and the Bears will not be active for at least two seasons (NYIT may revisit returning at that point but that’s a long way off). The league does welcome the College of Staten Island and D’Youville College (Buffalo) into the mix.
In terms of the basketball itself, six ECC teams plan to partake in the season, with Bridgeport, District of Columbia, Queens and Staten Island not playing. The league schedule (starting in mid-to-late January) will consist of up to ten games each, with Daemen, D’Youville, Mercy Molloy, Roberts Wesleyan and St. Thomas Aquinas able to schedule non-conference games as they see fit. Five of the six teams will compete in the ECC tournament (D’Youville is ineligible) in early March.
In the Northeast 10 Conference, teams will have the option of playing an independent schedule but the league cancelled all conference games and the league tournament. Thus, that leaves each team to decide on their own whether to play at all, and how to craft an actual schedule. Some are considering it but the details here are still evolving. As it stands now, the teams that are most heavily exploring playing some sort of schedule are AIC, Franklin Pierce and the College of Saint Rose but there is still much to be determined.
Elsewhere in the NE10, the loop had the regions’ only coaching changes. Barbara Stevens (Bentley) and Karen Haag (Saint Rose) stepped down after long and successful careers this off-season and both will be missed. Stevens, elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last April, retired after 1,058 victories in forty-four seasons on the bench (34 at Bentley). Former Falcon and longtime assistant coach C White will succeed Stevens, so the program is in good hands going forward.
Haag, who will transition to another position at the College of Saint Rose, enjoyed 19 years as the Golden Knights head coach (31 in all, after plying her trade at Wilkes and SUNY-Delhi for a dozen seasons). Haag’s successor is Whitney Edwards, an assistant coach at a variety of NCAA levels for the past fourteen years. Edwards, who played at the University of New Hampshire, has coached in the NE10 before (as an assistant at Stonehill), so she is familiar with the league. Edwards becomes the first Black coach in the loop since LaToya Watson (2015-’18) and Ty Grace (2013-’15), both at New Haven.
It promises to be a wild and ever-changing ride, so strap in.
Questions, comments, ideas, rants? Glad to hear them. Email me at Anfield13@aol.com.