Legacy of Coach Street

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Our nonconference schedule is road heavy. We only have 3 home games, compared to 6 road games. However, our schedule does not pit us against the toughest competition out there, so I feel we can win a fair amount of games before conference play starts... Our season kicked off at home against East Tennessee St. This was a very hard fought game. Both teams played well and the action was back and forth. There were 9 lead changes and 7 ties during the game. Neither team could gain the upper hand on the other. The game came down to the final possession. We were all tied up at 65 and we had the ball with 7 seconds remaining. I wanted the ball in senior small forward Shon Neely's capable hands. Neely was well defended and he ended up kicking it out to a wide open Gavin Wilson on the wing. Wilson let the three go with 1.3 seconds remaining. Noting but net. 68-65 final. Wilson was the hot man on the night, finishing with a game high 18pts. What a way to start the season... We would start the season strong, beginning 3-0, with wins against Prairie View and Georgia St. Junior shooting guard led our team in scoring each of the first 3 games... Our 1st loss of the season came on the road across country against a very stingy defense in Santa Clara... We rebounded from that loss with a win at home against Texas St 57-51. We dominated the paint in this one, scoring 22 points inside. 4-1 to start the year, we were really playing well to begin the season... Unfortunately, things came crumbling down fast. 4 straight road games, 4 straight losses. We lost to San Diego St, Central Florida, Montana, and Florida Gulf Coast. We were not in any of the games, except the game against FGCU... Shon Neely was really coming up small for us to begin the season. He wasn't being very assertive offensively. He only scored in double digits once all season to this point, and that was opening night when he dropped 14. His shooting percentages from field and from the arc were very good (57 and 45%) he just wasn't shooting enough...This was not the way to enter conference play, losing 4 in a row. We were sitting at 4-5 heading into conference play... On a recruiting note, we received 2 verbal commitments. Center Russell McDonald and pg Cory Jones both verbally committed to play at Rider next year. McDonald was a player we were high on since the summer. He was having a well rounded senior season, averaging 13ppg, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 assists, and 4 rebounds a game. I like his ability to pass the basketball. I am not happy with his efforts getting after the boards thus far this season... Jones is a big pg, standing 6'5". He was playing good basketball to start the season for Ramapo High School, in Franklin Lakes, NJ... Assuming both players sign letters of intent, we will still have 2 scholarships remaining. A player that flew up our board is juco sf Charles Hoskins. He is a very good rebounder and defender. I would be surprised if we ended up landing him, but we are in the picture as of now. He is ranked as the 730 best prospect in the nation at this point of the year... We also have our eyes on another long shot. Power forward Bootsy Tyler out of Virginia was a player we offered, but it doesn't seem like he has much interest. Tyler seems to have his heart playing big time college ball, but he hasn't closed the door on us completely... If we can land the 4 players I've mentioned, it would be our most successful recruiting season to date...

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We entered conference play licking our wounds, following a 4 game losing streak to close out the nonconference portion of our schedule. We needed to turn things around in order to make some noise in the MAAC. Heading into the season we were predicted to finish 3rd in our conference, but preseason prognostications mean nothing once the whistle blows... We open up with a tough road game against Quinnipiac. Our offense was no where to be found in this one. We would only shoot 30% behind the arc, while turning the ball over 25 times, en route to a 56-48 loss. On the positive side of things, our defense was outstanding in this one... That first conference game was an indicator of how good our defense would be. The next 3 conference games we held our opponents to 51,48, and 53 points respectively. We would win all 3 of those games, bringing our conference record to 3-1. One of those wins were against conference power Iona.

My biggest concern was the play of senior wing, Shon Neely. For the last 2 seasons Neely has been our leading scorer and our best player. This season, he has been much more reserved offensively. He was not looking for his shot enough. Thus far, Neely is averaging just 8ppg, down from 11ppg the previous 2 seasons. His percentages from the field and the 3pt line were the highest of his career, he just wasn't shooting as much...

Through 10 conference games, our record was 6-4, good enough for 4th place. Our defense was carrying our squad, ranking 1st in the conference in opponents points per game. If we could get some more consistency from our defense, I feel we could be a dangerous team down the stretch... We would close out conference play going 4-4, bringing our record in the MAAC to 10-8, good enough for sole possession of 3rd place. Overall, our record was 14-13... On the recruiting side of things, we had 2 players sign letters of intents with us. Both players who verbally committed to us early in the year, both officially signed LOI's. We landed center Ray McDonald, ranked the 320th best prep center and pg Cory Jones, the 307th rated pg prospect in the country... We still had 2 offers on the table. Junior college prospect Charles Hoskins and power forward Bootsy Tyler out of Rutsburg High, Rutsburg, Va, were both offered scholarships. I felt we had a great shot at landing Hosking, not so much with Tyler...

2 guard, junior Gavin Wilson led our team in scoring averaging 15.6ppg. Neely had a down season in terms of scoring. He averaged a career low 8.6ppg (second on team). Junior pg Kerwin Seegars showed some improvement over the course of the season. His shooting percentages weren't great and he averaged 3 turnovers a game, but he did show some leadership throughout the season. He isn't a particularly strong defender, which is something I demand out of my players, especially my pg. Redshirt sophomore center Marcus Shannon (who was thrown into the starting lineup due to another players ineligibility) was a beast on the glass for us. He averaged 6 boards per game. Our defense was once again our team's calling card. We finished 4th in the conference in opponents points per game at 58.7. We also finished the regular season as the second best rebounding team in the MAAC, at 25.9per game... Heading into the conference tournament, I am very optimistic that we can make a run and if everything falls into place we could be playing for the tournament championship and the all important automatic bid...

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The madness of March is upon us as we bring you coverage from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament. This is the first year in many that there seems to be a distinct talent difference between the field. Usually, there are 4 or 5 teams that are capable of capturing the crown. This season the MAAC crown looks to be a 2 horse race, with regular season champs Iona and the Saint Peters Peacocks establishing themselves as the cream of the crop. Both teams finished with 14-4 conference records. The rest of the field were separated by no more than 2 games, besides last place Manhattan (3-15) and the Fairfield Stags (7-11). Teams 3 through 9 in the standings were between 10-8 and 8-10, so there is parity, or mediocrity depending on your outlook, within the second tier teams of the MAAC. Iona is the favorite once again, having won the last 2 conference tournaments...

For the first time in Street's tenure with the Rider Broncs, his team will not be playing in the first day of action as a bottom 4 team. The 3rd seeded Rider Broncs will take on the 6 seeded, upstart, Marist Red Foxes. This is Marist's first tournament action since 2018, as they have finished in last place every season and were not eligible for the conference tournament... Rider won both regular season matchups against Marist, 73-67 and 65-58... Rider came out hot early in this one, hitting 6 of their first shots. Junior Gavin Wilson scored 13 first half points (22 for the game) as Rider entered halftime leading 33-21. Marist would fare no better in the second half of this one, as they could not overcome the large first half deficit. Rider wouldn't shoot as well in the second half, but still managed to escape with a 10 point victory 54-42... Rider will advance to the conference semis where they will take on the 7th seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Bobcats upset the 2nd seeded Saint Peters 63-55... Rider once again came out hot early. Jumping all over the Bobcats early 17-9. They continued to shoot well and entered halftime leading 36-23. Rider was 20 minutes away from advancing to the conference championship game. However, the Bobcats had other intentions as they would hold Rider to just 19 second half points. Riders offense went anemic, while their usually stalwart defense failed them as well. Quinnipiac went on to score 41 second half points en route to the 64-55 come from behind victory. Rider shot just 38% and 30% from 3pt range. Free throws were another issue for the Broncs, as the got to the line a staggering 35 times, but only hit on 23 of them (65%). Senior Shon Neely in what looks like his last game in a Rider uniform led the way, scoring 17 points... The season comes to a likely end for Rider, while Quinnipiac advances to the championship game where they will take on conference favorite Iona...