Time to Look Ahead to America East Basketball

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In two months, the college basketball season will begin. On November 4, the journey toward March will get started. For one-bid leagues like the America East Conference, that road toward the NCAA tournament is filled with plenty of twists and turns. It is what makes covering this league so much fun. You never know what you are in store for from night to night or week to week.

With this in mind, we begin to look at how these basketball teams have spent their summer trying to improve their rosters. To give themselves the best chance at becoming one of the 68 teams that will hear their name called on selection Sunday. So let’s get started with a look at the UMBC Retrievers.

Head coach Jim Ferry’s team went 11-21 a season ago. Seven players have been added to the roster. Three of them are recruits, while the other four are transfer students. One notable loss from last year’s team is guard Dion Brown. After the team’s loss to UMass Lowell in the postseason conference tournament, he decided to enter the portal and was picked up by Boston College. Brown had 30 double-figure scoring games and finished with a 19 points per game average, and 32 minutes a game. That production and time on the court will be missed by the team and hard to replace.

Of the seven players that are heading to UMBC, three of them are guards, two are recruits, and one is a transfer. The two freshmen coming in are Jake Stout, 6-5 200 lbs. who averaged 17 points and six rebounds a game for Boys Latin in Catonsville, MD. He was named to the MIAA All-Conference team as a senior. Torin Bosch is a 6-4, 185 lbs. guard out of Perkiomen School in PA. Bosch is from Chandler AZ. He averaged 14.8 points, 5.1 boards, 2.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game as a senior. A good shooter, Bosch shot 49.8 % from the field and 37.4 % from behind the arc. The third guard brought in is transfer student Chaydon Stone, a 6-3 180 lb basketball player from New Mexico Junior College. He averaged 12.5 points in 17.5 minutes a game. He also had 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per night. He shot 35.3% from 3-point land (54-of-153) and 79.1% from the free-throw line (72-of-91). He helped his team make it to the Region V Semi-Finals last season.

The other four newcomers are all forwards. After spending four years at Columbia University and making 56 starts for the Lions, Josh Odunowo a 6-6 215 lbs forward playing a grad year for the Retrievers. He led the Ivy League in field goal percentage at 61.1%. He led the team and was eighth in the conference in blocked shots with 19. Daylon Dickerson, at 6-6 200 lb, comes from McLennan Community College in Texas. He averaged 16.8 points, nine rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 30 games. He shot 55.6% from the floor. He was named to the North Texas All-Region and All-Conference teams.

Louie Jordan comes over from Weber State. At 6-9 and 215 lbs, he played two seasons and appeared in 40 games for Weber State. Jordan has some range in his game as the 17 career 3-pointers would suggest. Tim Eze is a 6-7 200 lbs. recruit from Bill Crothers Prep, in Kleinburg, Ontario. He averaged 21.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks per game. Shot 46.8% from the field and 76.9% from the free throw line. He was the leading scorer in his league. He helped his team to the quarterfinals of the OSBA Playoffs.

In the coming weeks, we will look at the rest of the conference in advance of the upcoming basketball season.