Niagara Preview

Next up for MBB is Niagara, the Purple Eagles. 

They have made 3 NCAA tournament appearances, the last one in 2007. They made the Sweet Sixteen in 1970 with a team coached by legend Frank Leyden and led by Hall-of-Famer Calvin Murphy.

In the 1950s, they were regulars in the NIT when it was an important tournament.  Their early teams featured Larry Costello, who went on to be an NBA Champion as a player and coach and 2nd-team All-NBA and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

This is our 11th meeting.  Niagara leads the series 6-4.  The series actually started in the early 1950s when Larry Costello, Ed Fleming and Al Bianchi played in the Men's Gym, if you like to think about that with 3 future NBA players.  We split a home-and-home back then.  The Purple Eagles have won 4 out of 5 (dating back to 1968).  BG won the last meeting in Simon's first year at the Stroh.

Niagara plays in the Metro conference, which is the renamed MAAC.   They are picked #11 in the Metro--which would be outside the tournament, like last year. They were 12th in the conference's poll.

Things are rough.  They are coached by Greg Paulus, an All-ACC guard at Duke.  This is his 8th year, and they are 86-122 over that time.  He's had one season over .500.  Their kenpom has been below 300 for three years.

Last year, they were 8-22.  Everyone left from that team, which might be a blessing in disguise. 

They are 0-2 this year. They lost @WVU, which is no surprise.  But the home loss to #341 Morgan State would not have been expected.

Eight of their 13 players are foreign-born.

Their seven top players so far:

Ruey Ruey: A G from Ontario who went to a military academy last year.  Averaging 10 PPG, tied for leading scorer.

Logan Woods:  A 6'5" G who played the last four years with Wright State.  Scoring 10 PPG.

Bastien Rieber: He's a French player who played one year at Fresno State. 

Tae Blackshear: Sr. transfer G from Youngstown State.

Fidel Rotta:  6'9" Argentinian

Cole Farrell:  Transfer from Long Beach State

Samuele Miccoli:  Is Italian combo G.  

None of these guys were studs at their previous school.   They are small..#319 in height and one of the five worst offensive rebounding teams.