It was March. The month the word “upset” was invented. The only month when a Cinderella story involves Air Jordans instead of glass slippers. It was March 6, 2004; the day the Northeastern men’s basketball team was upset by the University of Hartford Hawks, 79-74, in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament. The Huskies had handled the Hawks in both regular season meetings in 2003-04, winning the games by a combined 29 points.
That loss will have a lasting effect on the men’s basketball program. It changed the Huskies forever. Gone are Sylbryn Robinson and Cornelius Wright, the two veteran forwards who manned the glass for NU. Gone is Javorie Wilson, the swingman whose awkward looking shot always found a way to tickle the twine. Now head coach Ron Everhart will have to play to his team’s strengths and switch to a three-guard set, but that’s not the only thing that has changed for the Huskies.
The players themselves have changed.
Bennett Davis went straight to the weight room. The sophomore forward flashed signs of greatness as a freshman, but will be heavily relied on to patrol the paint and own the boards this year.
Jose Juan Barea did what he always does during the off-season: He got better. The junior point guard was the hottest player in the world this summer as he led his native Puerto Rican junior squad through numerous international tournaments. The 6-foot guard is rapidly climbing toward Reggie Lewis status on Huntington Avenue.
Last year they were supposed to be good and were picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll. This year less is expected from them as they are picked to finish fourth in the America East behind the University of Vermont, Boston University and the University of Maine.
Here’s how the News thinks they stack up against the rest of the conference.
Backcourt:
The point guard’s name should sound familiar to everyone on campus and by the time this season is over, it will be a household name in New England. Not since Reggie Lewis has a player with the star power of junior Jose Juan Barea dawned the red and black.
As a sophomore in 2003-04 Barea led the team in scoring with 20.7 ppg, good for second in the conference, and has been named to the All-America East preseason team. In just two seasons at NU Barea has scored 1,015 points, and if he stays on Huntington for two more seasons (he has contemplated entering the NBA draft after this season), he’ll find himself the number two scorer in school history behind only Lewis, whose 2,709 career points are the most in conference history (16th on the all-time Division I list).
In a conference that named three point guards to the preseason All-AE team, Barea is the cream of the crop. Vermont’s T.J. Sorrentine and BU’s Chaz Carr are the other standout point men, but JJB has better numbers and a better game. The only edge they have over him is the mental edge. Barea has never won against either of those guards, a tribute to the talent they have around them.
This will be the year of Barea. As his national prominence grows, so will his numbers. Andy Katz wrote about him in ESPN The Magazine, saying that he was one of a group of players who drastically increased their stock this summer. More importantly, Barea says he’s matured and is more focused than ever, and after the summer he put together, he just may be telling the truth.
Not only will Barea dethrone Vermont’s NBA-bound forward Taylor Coppenrath as AE Player of the Year, he will lead the league in scoring and be among the top five scorers in the nation. Like many Puerto Rican players, Barea’s greatest attribute is his pride, and after the way last season ended, combined with his hopes of one day turning pro, he will carry this team.
Teaming up with Barea for the second year is 6-foot-2-inch shooting guard Marcus Barnes. The University of Miami (Fla.) transfer has been on Huntington for three years now (he sat out the 2002-03 season due to NCAA transfer regulation) and is to Barea what Delonte West was to Jameer Nelson last year at St. Joes; a sharp shooting two guard who can hit the long trey or drive to the hoop. Barnes was second on the team and third in the conference with 17 ppg. The combo of Barea and Barnes was one of the best in New England last year and with an added year of playing together, they should only get better. Often referred to as a Big East backcourt, the Huskies will once again live and die by the three-pointer this year. Barnes’ 241 three-point field goal attempts last season rank third in the America East single season record book.
The team’s third scoring option rests on the surgically repaired shoulder of Aaron Davis. The junior sat out last year after going under the knife and is in the best shape of his career. Two years ago Davis was third on the team in scoring despite not being able to practice at all.
Davis brings another outside scoring threat to the Huskies’ three-guard set and is an agile defender.
Spelling Davis at the three will be sophomore Bobby Kelly, the team’s two-time slam-dunk champion. Coming off the bench to average 13.8 minutes per game last year, Kelly averaged 2.6 points while adding much needed energy and athleticism on the defensive end. Kelly will be counted on for more than 13 minutes a game this year and his perimeter defense will be huge against deep squads like Vermont and BU.
Sophomore Adrian Martinez is another player coming off injury. He missed all of last year with an ankle injury, but is back to 100 percent. Another lights out shooter from downtown Martinez might be the best pure shooter on the team. In the past he has seemed timid while on the floor and passed up open looks. If the desire is there, he could be a huge surprise off the bench.
6-foot-4-inch freshman Jamal Dart will likely see most of his playing time at guard but can add quality minutes at forward as well. Dart shared a backcourt with current Portland Trailblazer Sebastian Telfair who was taken in the first round of last year’s NBA draft.
Grade: The backcourt is by far the Huskies’ strongest area and, as they did last year, Northeastern will boast the best backcourt in the America East. A+
Inside the Arc:
During the last nine games of the season, then freshman Bennet Davis averaged 10.6 points per game and was named to the America East all-rookie team after finishing seventh in the conference with 1.09 blocks per game. After being a better than average freshman and earning his way into the starting rotation halfway through the season, B.J. is going to have to be an excellent sophomore if the Huskies are going to have any hope of contending with the top three teams in the conference.
Davis spent all summer at home working out and has returned from the sunny beaches of the Bahamas chiseled and determined. The 6-foot-9-inch forward has set some lofty goals for himself, saying he wants to average a double-double. He will have to back up his talk.
Sean James is an intriguing freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y. The lanky 6-foot-9-inch forward is expected to be this years Bennet Davis. Everhart says he’s the best shot blocker he has ever coached and he’ll need to step in right away.
Vermont’s Coppenrath and Maine’s Nick Billings are the best in the conference and will be very tough to defend and score against when they play NU. With a young group of forwards this will be where the Huskies struggle this season. If Davis can fill the void left by Robinson and James can be this year’s Davis, the Huskies will get by. They have depth at forward with a few newcomers ready to log some minutes. Freshmen Mark Washington is 6-foot-8-inch, 225 pound and was a McDonald’s All-American nominee as a senior. Junior La Salle transfer Jeff Farmer will be available when the second semester begins (he transferred halfway through last season) and will be counted on to grab rebounds and provide some inside scoring.
Grade: With the lack of experience inside, this team will need the players they have to overachieve. The America East has some good big men and if the Huskies can’t hold their own, this could be a long season. C+
Coaching:
After turning down an offer to be an assistant at the University of Cincinnati this summer, Everhart just might have something up his sleeve. Instead of taking what looked to be a step in the right direction by moving to a major conference school, Everhart decided his commitment to his players and the program was too great to ignore. Although he may just be delaying the inevitable by sticking around, you can expect this season to be a big one for the Northeastern men’s basketball program. With the move to the Colonial Athletic Association looming this could be NU’s last best chance to make it to the Big Dance (the NCAA Tournament) in the near future.
Despite last year’s upset in the quarterfinals against Hartford, the Huskies have gotten better each year coach Ron Everhart has been at the helm. With this year’s squad, Everhart has a perfect chance to show off his coaching skills and turn these underdogs into contenders.
Grade: The Huskies haven’t been able to beat UVM or BU in the last two years, but that isn’t because they are being outcoached. The NU players are being outplayed in the big games, but with the added experience and bitter taste from last year’s season ending defeat still fresh, look for a new mentality this year. A
The Huskies’ biggest problem last year was their defense and free-throw shooting. Despite boasting the best offense in the America East, the Huskies were dead last in points allowed and third to last in free throw percentage.
With the switch to the three-guard set the Huskies will have stellar perimeter defense but will need to hit the defensive glass hard so they can run on slower teams. Speed will be their greatest ally this season and if they can get solid performances from the two young bigs inside they’ll be just as explosive on offense as last year, if not more so.
