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America East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Salvador Lopez

CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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America East Basketball Tommy Dempsey (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

10. Binghamton Bearcats

Projected Starters

Guards – Brenton Mills (SO), Hakon Hjalmarsson (SO),
Forwards – George Tinsley (SO), Ogheneyole Akuwovo (SO)
Center – Thomas Bruce (SR)
Bench – Christian Hinckson (JR-Pending Transfer), Bryce Beamer (SO), Tyler Bertram (SO), Dan Petcash (SO), Yarden Willis (JR), Hunter Crist (GR), Leo Gallagher (JR), Alex Brodsky (JR), Ador Athuai (SO), Kellen Amos (FR), Tommy Dempsey (FR)

Last season’s young squad with seven freshmen and four sophomores struggled all season long, as the Bearcats failed to record their tenth consecutive season with a conference record of less than .500. Heading into this season, things aren’t looking so promising either.

Head coach Tommy Dempsey will be entering his ninth season at Binghamton. Dempsey has yet to coach the Bearcats to a winning record, and the most wins in a season that Binghamton has recorded under Dempsey is only 12 victories.

He has lost 19 or more games every season as head coach at Binghamton, and has an overall coaching record of just 67-180, for a low winning percentage of only 27.1%. During Dempsey’s seven seasons as the former head coach of the Rider Broncs from 2005-2012, Dempsey finished with an overall coaching record of 119-105.

In 2012, Dempsey took over the head coaching position at Binghamton. However, it’s been difficult for anything to translate over to a winning season under Dempsey for the Bearcats.

One thing that Binghamton did not struggle with last season was their scoring, as they ranked third in the conference averaging 69.4 points per game. The struggles during the 2019-20 season came from the defensive side of the ball, where they constantly struggled all season to stop opponents.

The Bearcats finished last in the America East in points allowed, giving up 76.6 points per game, along with allowing 82 and 86 points in their two games to the Maine Black Bears, which were a bottom-ranked offense in the America East during the 2019-20 season.

In the offseason, Binghamton’s offense suffered a major loss when the America East 2019-20 leading scorer, Sam Sessoms (19.4 ppg, 5 rpg, 4.8 apg), decided to transfer to Penn State. Sessoms played a massive role in the majority of Binghamton’s scoring production from this past season. He recorded four games in which he tallied 33 or more points.

During his time at Binghamton, Sessoms was a high-volume shooter who led the conference with 501 total shot attempts in 2019-20. The Bearcats will have a gigantic hole to fill this season trying to replace the elite-level scoring production of Sessoms. Along with Sessoms, two additional starters from last season graduated from the program, which includes 6-8 forward Pierre Sarr (9.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and guard Richard Caldwell (7.9 ppg).

As for this season’s roster, Binghamton will rely upon two second-year players on the roster. The two sophomores trying to take a leap in the right direction for the Bearcats include the 2020 America East Rookie of the Year, George Tinsley (11.6 ppg, 7.4 rpg) at forward, and guard Brenton Mills (9.7 ppg).

Tinsley and Mills were the number two and three scorers behind Sessoms last season and will be the main scoring focus for the Bearcats. Tinsley was tied this past season with Kyle Lofton of St. Bonaventure for the most minutes per game in college basketball, averaging 38.2 minutes per game.

Knowing that he will be on the court for basically the entire game, Tinsley will have to make the most of his opportunities this season. He struggled with consistency last season and missed shots, but one encouraging takeaway was that Tinsley started to become effective late in the season from the perimeter. During his last two games of the season, Tinsley shot 5-for-10 from the outside and will look to continue to step up his perimeter game again this season.

Mills also struggled with consistency last season, as he had multiple games with 10 or more points scored from November to January, but then simply disappeared offensively when he went on a cold streak during February. Mills went just 11-for-50 shooting from the floor during the last month of basketball for the Bearcats.

As for additional help inside, the Bearcats will bring in Howard transfer, 6-9 forward, Ogheneyole Akuwovo, who sat-out last season. I predict that Akuwovo will replace Pierre Sarr who graduated from the program. Akuwovo started 32 games for Howard in 2018-19, which he led the Bison in rebounds averaging 5.3 rebounds per game.

Also, Hakon Hjalmarsson (4.4 ppg) should receive an uptick in minutes at guard during his second season. He averaged 18.1 minutes per game last season. Hjalmarsson ended last season on a strong note going a perfect 6-for-6 in his final four games. He should be able to get more opportunities to create shots this season.

Another much-needed player for the Bearcats that Dempsey will bring back is 6-9 center, Thomas Bruce, who will return for his senior season. During his three seasons at Binghamton, Bruce started 70 games but had missed the last two seasons recovering from a concussion.

The concussion forced him to withdraw from the program to focus on his recovery. Getting Bruce back will be huge for the Bearcats. Defensively, Bruce will be able to give Binghamton a much-needed boost. He was the conference shot-blocking leader during the 2017-18 season (2.1 bpg), while being selected to the All-Defensive Team for the America East twice.

Bruce’s presence will also help the Bearcats with scoring in the post. During the 2017-18 season, Bruce averaged 11.1 points per game, while being second in the conference with 8.8 rebounds per game. Also, in 2017-18, Bruce connected on 60 percent of his two-point shots. Having a healthy Bruce back will go a long way towards getting back what the Bearcats lacked last season, which was a solid low-post scorer.

Another player that will impact the future of the Bearcats program is 6-7 guard Christian Hinckson. He transferred from Manhattan to Binghamton during the offseason but is currently a sit-out transfer. Hinckson started 25 games last season for the Jaspers, which he averaged 7.2 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, and shot 45.5 percent from behind the arc.

Overall, getting a healthy Bruce back is meaningful to the Bearcats, along with Tinsley and Mills expected to take a jump as sophomores this season. However, losing the top-scorer from the America East, Sam Sessoms, was a massive loss in the offseason.

I expect the Bearcats to have a down year offensively. However, I predict that they should be improved defensively with Bruce expected to be back. After posting 10 victories in 2019-20, I project the Bearcats to be back in the single-digit win column this season.

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