Resurgent Seawolves poised to be factor in America East once more

Head coach Geno Ford (seated) discusses strategy with his Stony Brook team against Manhattan. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Between Albany’s dominance in the early part of the 2010s, UMBC’s historic toppling of Virginia in 2018, and Vermont’s sustained run among its elite, the America East Conference has seen more than its share of success stories over the course of this decade.

One more chapter may be written in the league’s annals before the nets are cut in Atlanta this coming April and Luther Vandross’ dulcet tones in One Shining Moment echo throughout Mercedes-Benz Stadium, that of Stony Brook, the 2016 America East champion gearing up for perhaps another run to the NCAA Tournament less than four years after the program seemed as though it was at a crossroads.

After Steve Pikiell left Long Island for the challenge of constructing a winning culture at Rutgers, coupled with the graduations of generational America East talent Jameel Warney and rock-steady point guard Carson (Tre) Puriefoy, few, if any, suspected that the Seawolves would be able to secure their standing among the conference’s upper echelon. Enter Jeff Boals, the former Thad Matta assistant tasked with the responsibility of not only replacing Pikiell – who built the Stony Brook program from the ground up – but also of taking the program to the next level. With two winning seasons and subsequent postseason appearances in three years, Boals was partially successful in that endeavor before earning a well-deserved promotion to coach his alma mater, Ohio University, leaving top assistant Geno Ford in position to move one chair over on the bench and continue the road back to the top. And with a record of 6-3 this season behind a roster of talented upperclassmen and a mountain of a man protecting the paint in 6-foot-11 Jeff Otchere, the reigning America East Defensive Player of the Year, the climb is not as arduous as it may appear at first blush.

“I really like our group,” Ford, a former head coach at Kent State and Bradley before making the journey from the Midwest to Long Island, said following Stony Brook’s 65-47 victory over Manhattan – one in which the Seawolves held a physical Jasper team under 30 percent shooting and led by as many as 30 points – this past Monday. “We’re not necessarily clicking at all times offensively, sometimes it feels a little choppy and we have a little tendency to force the issue at times when there aren’t really driving lanes and we need to just move the ball and move the defense. That being said, I really like the potential of our team.”

Stony Brook possesses all the components of a successful mid-major, much like its aforementioned 2015-16 iteration led by Warney, the program’s all-time leading scorer. The three-guard backcourt, a stable of juniors Elijah Olaniyi and Makale Foreman – the former the team’s top scorer, the latter a transfer from Chattanooga that serves as the Seawolves’ combo point guard – and sophomore sharpshooter Miles Latimer, is a solid anchor for the likes of junior wing Andrew Garcia, last season’s America East Sixth Man of the Year who has since blossomed into a double-double threat on any given night. Then there is Otchere, a Bronx native who, if he wanted to, would be able to hold his own at a higher level with his combination of size, agility, and shot-blocking prowess.

“I love our chemistry,” Ford gushed. “The guys like each other, and that is enormous. We’re just so much closer to getting where we want to get. Initially, we had an all-conference player with Lucas (Woodhouse) and guys that were good role players who really worked hard and were good kids. This team, we just have more guys that are capable of carrying the load in stretches.”

“Offensively, Drew, Elijah, Makale, Miles, and even Mo (Gueye) has had some double-figure games already. We have five guys that are a little explosive offensively, and Jeff’s gotten himself going, he basically had two straight double-doubles. And Jeff triggers everything for us.”

With great power, though, comes great responsibility, and Ford admits his Stony Brook outfit is far from a finished product. However, he remains encouraged and enthused by what he has seen to date, with a clear and present potential for what it can become heading into America East play and a league where only Vermont and UMBC were picked atop the Seawolves in the league’s preseason poll.

“We’ve got to get better, because clearly, we have some areas that need improvement,” Ford admitted. “To be fair, it’s a maturity thing, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. You have to get maturity through experience of playing. We played a game in Texas in that tournament and had four turnovers in an entire game. (Monday) We had three turnovers at halftime, then after that, we had twelve. For us to be elite and win a championship, we have to be able to have three turnovers in the first half and three turnovers in the second half. And while we’re not quite there, nobody else is either. It’s December.”

“I like where we’re headed. We’ve just got to stick with it and stick together, and as long as we do that, we’re going to have a chance. If we can continue to have the chemistry we’ve had and not get consumed with touches, shots, minutes, any of that stuff, this team can be really, really good.”