America East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 21: The Vermont Catamounts bench cheer on their teammates as they play against the Florida State Seminoles during the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 21, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

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COLUMBUS, OH – MARCH 20: Ray Sanders #1 of the Albany Great Danes controls the ball against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on March 20, 2015 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /

#4 – Albany Great Danes

The Great Danes enter the season 4th in the preseason power rankings. Albany finished the season with a record of 12-20. The enter 4th because they return 3 of their top scorers in Cameron Healy, Ahmad Clark, and Antonio Rizzuto. Healy averaged 16 ppg, Clark 15.7 ppg, and Rizzuto 9.2 ppg. Each of them was above 35% from the field and above 31% from 3. One sign of improvement is Ahmad Clark turning the ball over 114 times last year, so he will need to work on his ball-handling skills in order to maintain the ball.

The non-conference schedule for the Great Danes has two big games I see for them. They play @ Boston College (Atlantic Coast) and @ St. John’s (Big East). It seems like lots of the opponents in the America East play St. John’s so that’ll be good for the conference to gain some exposure against some big-time opponents. St. John’s comes in with new coach Mike Anderson, so maybe some of these opponents can get a good glimpse at what he likes to run.

#3 – UMass-Lowell Riverhawks

The Riverhawks enter 3rd in the power rankings. Radford transfer Christian Lutete led the team in scoring with 18.7 ppg last year. He also led the team in total rebounds per game, FG%, and shot 39.5% from 3 last year. The Great Danes also return Obadiah Noel and Josh Gantz. Noel averaged 14.6 ppg and Gantz averaged 10.6 ppg. Each of them shot above 71% from the free-throw line and above 32% from 3.

UMass-Lowell plays @ Ohio State (Big Ten) and @ Michigan (Big Ten) in their non-conference schedule. Ohio State is constantly getting better and Michigan just got Juwan Howard so it’ll be interesting to see how UMass-Lowell does against these two rising programs. Some more interesting stat to know about the Riverhawks is they shot 72% from the free-throw line as a team. Free throws can win you big games down the line, so that is huge for the Riverhawks if they can keep that up this year.

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