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LOCATION: Boston, MA
CONFERENCE: America East
LAST SEASON: 10-18 (.357)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 6-12 (7th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Huskies
COLORS: Red & Black
HOMECOURT: Cabot Gymnasium (2,000)
COACH: Rudy Keeling (Quincy '70)
record at school 31-52 (3 years)
career record 137-174 (11 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Pat Skerry (Tufts '92)
Jay Young (Marist '86)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 18-4-7-14-10
RPI (last 5 years) 104-288-257-186-228
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference quarterfinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Last year was supposed to be the season when Northeastern took the next step. But no one told the Huskies that the step would be backward. Despite having three starters and an entire backcourt back in the fold, Northeastern dropped from 14 victories to 10. The Huskies have a similar scenario in 1999-2000, with three starters back. Once again, their three best players are guards. What they don't want is another trip in the wrong direction. "We just couldn't find the guy who could step up and take the brunt of the shots or make the tough one, and that hurt us," fourth-year coach Rudy Keeling said, referring to the loss of Ty Mack and Joe Hicks. two stalwarts from the previous season. With a combined average of just 13.1 points from his veteran frontcourt players, Keeling will have to rely on three talented guards to find improvement. Once a walk-on, 6-2 junior Marcus Blossom is now one of the best players in America East. Blossom was a third-team all-conference choice last season after averaging 16.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.1 steals. That well-rounded production put Blossom in some select company. He joined the late Reggie Lewis and Mark Halsel as the only Huskies to have 400 points, 100 rebounds, 50 assists and 50 steals in a season. Blossom was also a solid 32-of-88 (.364) from three-point range. "I didn't know who Marcus Blossom was," Keeling said. "Anything he did was going to be more than I expected. He is a bona fide player in our league. He can score, he can defend, he plays hard and he's turning into a team leader. And he is going to be an academic All-American. You don't get guys like that all the time, especially walk-ons."
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C+ BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT F INTANGIBLES C
Northeastern has plenty of parts, but how well they will work and whether they can work together are the questions. If the kind of stuff coach Rudy Keeling dreams about at night were to happen and every Husky fulfilled his blueprint for them, then Northeastern would be deep. Reality says Keeling might be better off having visions of sugar plums in his head so as not to be disappointed this winter. Marcus Blossom has made himself into one of the league's 10 best players and Jean Bain should continue to grow into a good America East player. After that, dramatic changes in individual performances would have to occur for the Huskies to even contend for middle-of-the-pack status. The players Keeling brought in last year fell way short of those expectations. If the five new bodies entering the Boston campus this season repeat that scenario, then 10 victories could look good. In a league with talented big men like Delaware's Mike Pegues, Maine's Nate Fox, and Drexel's Joe Linderman, Northeastern just has no answers. Changa Adams, Marquis Wright and Cortez Bond don't do enough to assist a solid guard rotation. The Huskies were fourth in America East in points per game and third in field-goal percentage not bad for a team with just two double-figure scorers, but they were also last in rebounding and last in assists. That means Northeastern has to work too hard on each possession and rarely gets a second chance. Easy baskets were as common as victories. If Keeling's hopes for his young players manifest into production, at least in part, then Northeastern can improve over last year's disappointment. But a trip to the upper division truly is dreaming. |
What Blossom doesn't do is take over games; not that the Huskies could ask much more of him. He is as versatile and consistent a player as there is in America East, but Blossom is not the dominating type. He doesn't necessarily command attention, which means the Huskies need more contributors. They didn't have enough a year ago. Blossom's backcourt partners, Jean Bain (9.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.1 apg), Terry Kringe (8.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.3 spg) and the now-departed Harold Miller (13.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg), were Northeastern's only other sources of offense. The 6-0 sophomore Bain earned America East Rookie-of-the-Year honors despite making just three starts. Like Blossom, he is a good all-around player and his numbers should go up as he improves upon last year's 22.8 minutes per game. "Jean was a little bit more of a scorer than I thought he would be," Keeling said. "I thought he'd be a little bit more of a set-up guy. But we needed him to score, and he did that for us. As the year went on, he got better and better." Although the role is not strictly defined, the point-guard job has been Kringe's and will be again if he is healthy. Northeastern limped to a 3-6 finish a year ago when Kringe, a 6-3 senior, went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. A three-year starter, Kringe is the Huskies' leader. It showed in his absence. Although Blossom can be a capable lead guard, Northeastern is much stronger when he's on the court with Kringe. However, there are still questions of Kringe's health. During the summer, he was in a car accident and injured his left leg. He will probably be less than 100 percent entering the season or, at least, be behind in his conditioning. Keeling has used 6-3 junior Kareen Harris (3.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg) to fill in at both guard slots. He is a penetrator and a slasher but not much of a shooter (5-of-21 on three-point shots). He played in 27 games a year ago, but averaged just 8.4 minutes a night. The best case scenario is that Harris improves enough to be that instant offense-type player off the bench. Otherwise, Harris will again be a spot player because even with Miller gone, 5-9 freshman John Alexander provides more competition for minutes. Alexander was voted second-team all-state in Virginia after his senior season at Fairfax High School. He is a true point guard and is the heir apparent to Kringe. Keeling needs to find someone in the frontcourt to score. The Huskies' top returning scorer along the baseline is 6-9 senior Changa Adams (5.3 ppg. 4.0 rpg). Adams became a full-time starter for the first time last season and his career has generally been a disappointment. At 205 pounds, Adams remains too thin. Blossom had more rebounds than Adams, who started 26 games at center. He was able to block 43 shots but needs to do much more as a senior. "If he's ever going to play, it's got to be now. He's athletic enough to be effective if he can withstand the banging," Keeling said. Marquis Wright had modest production (2.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 10.7 mpg) as a freshman, but Keeling expects he will have the most sizable improvement on the team. Small forward is the more natural position for the active, 6-7 sophomore, but he could find himself as Northeastern's starting power forward. That will depend on the status of two new Huskies. Six-foot-six junior Tyrone Hammick came to Northeastern last year from Western Nebraska Community College, but a knee injury forced him to redshirt. Keeling is hoping 6-7 junior Terrence Shannon will be ready after his transfer from Elgin Community College in Illinois, but his academics are in question. Shannon was a junior college All-American last season and would be the Huskies' most talented frontcourt player. Keeling may often go with a three-guard set, but if senior Cortez Bond begins this year the same way he finished last, or if newcomers Dwayne Barnes or Toby Brittian emerge, there may be more versatility at the small forward. More was expected of the 6-5 Bond (3.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg), but he did come on late in the season, playing his best after Kringe was injured. Barnes was all-conference at Sage Junior College in New York, where he averaged 23.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, shot .550 from the field and made 46-of-113 three-point shots. The 6-4 junior swingman is a versatile scorer but was forced to play a power position most of the season at Sage. He still has to develop better ball-handling skills. Keeling expects Barnes to be key member of the rotation off the bench. The 6-4 Brittian is a slasher and leaper from Tabor Academy in Providence, but his shortcomings as a shooter could limit his opportunity as a freshman. Six-foot-10 center Gokboru Aygar, the final member of Keeling's five-man recruiting class, is a native of Istanbul, Turkey, who settled at Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts. At this stage, Aygar's contributions should be in the shot-blocking area and little else. Six-foot-six, 220-pound sophomore forward Tim West is the wide body Keeling could use, but he was a disappointment a year ago. West played in 20 games, averaging 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds. Six-foot-one sophomore Geoff Gross (0.1 ppg, 0.5 rpg, eight games) will again mop up.
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