Busting Brackets
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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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9. Stony Brook Seawolves

Projected Starters

Guards – Tykei Greene (JR), Tyler Stephenson-Moore (SO), Tavin Pierre Philippe (SO)
Forwards – Mouhamadou Gueye (SR), Leighton Elliott-Sewell (JR)
Bench – Mohamed Diallo (JR), Frankie Policelli (SO), Juwan White (JR), Juan Felix Rodriguez (JR), Omar Habwe (SR), Jordan McKenzie (SR), Jayden Sayles (SR), Lenny Kadisha (SR), Alex Christie (JR)

Heading into the offseason, the Seawolves looked as though that they could contend with Vermont at the top of the America East this season. However, with what looked like a promising upcoming season for Stony Brook, the Seawolves, unfortunately, took a massive hit in the offseason when head coach Geno Ford lost six players due to transfer. Four of the six transfers were the top four scorers from last season.

Stony Brook’s top three scorers from 2019-20 decided to take their talents upward to the major conference level. Leaving the program in the offseason was leading scorer, Elijah Olaniyi (18 ppg, 6.5 rpg), who went to Miami; Makale Foreman (15.6 ppg), who transferred to Cal; and Andrew Garcia (13.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg) who went to Georgia. The Seawolves also lost Miles Latimer (7 ppg) to Bucknell, 6-11 big-man Jeff Otchere (2.8 ppg, 1.5 bpg) to Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and Anthony Ochefu to Delaware.

With six former Stony Brook players hitting the road to go elsewhere, the Seawolves will have a bunch of new faces on the court for this upcoming season. The first player to receive an uptick in minutes this season will be forward Mouhamadou Gueye (7 ppg, 6.4 rpg), who will be the Seawolves senior leader on the court. Gueye will look to help Stony Brook inside this season.

He can offer a lot defensively to help the Seawolves with his elite-shot blocking abilities. In his first season with Stony Brook, Gueye tallied 64 total blocks in 33 games. Offensively, he will have to make progress as Gueye shot 44.5 percent last season from the floor. He did show promise late last season as an improving scorer, so watch for Gueye to have breakout potential this season if he can get more touches and can convert frequently inside.

The second player that I predict will see a significant uptick in minutes will be sophomore guard, Tyler Stephenson-Moore (4.3 ppg). Stephenson-Moore started 11 games in 2019-20 as a freshman and received a meaningful chunk of minutes in the final month last season. Stony Brook’s future will be telling with the progression of Stephenson-Moore.

He struggled with consistency last season but did have some bright spots during his freshman year. The high point that Stephenson-Moore will have to build off is posting back-to-back 19 point games last February against New Hampshire and Binghamton.

Another player that I project to have a boost in playing time will be sophomore guard, Tavin Pierre Philippe (2.5 ppg). Pierre Philippe started two games last season. He will look to improve as a more efficient scorer, as he had a ton of shooting woes during his first season for the Seawolves. Pierre Philippe only connected on 26.2 percent of his shots, while making only 5 of his 31 three-point attempts last season.

To help provide some production to a depleted Stony Brook roster that lost multiple players to the transfer portal, the Seawolves were able to land junior guard, Tykei Greene (9.7, 4.6 rpg), from Manhattan, who was granted eligibility for this season. Greene will be able to give the Seawolves a boost offensively. He was able to put together an impressive career-high 25 points against CAA front-runner Hofstra last season, where he was a perfect 5-for-5 from the outside.

Greene averaged 28.3 minutes per game in 2019-20 for the Jaspers. Even though he is making the transition to another mid-major conference, Greene should have no problem producing right from the start for Stony Brook.

The last starting lineup spot I predict will come down to either Leighton Elliott-Sewell, Mohamed Diallo, or Frankie Policelli at the forward position. Elliott-Sewell (10.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg) averaged a double-double last season at Otero Junior College in Colorado. Diallo (13.5 ppg, 6 rpg), is another Junior College transfer on Stony Brook’s roster. He shot 56.1 percent from the floor last season at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. While Policelli, was a sit-out transfer last season. He appeared in 20 games his freshman season in 2018-19 for the Dayton Flyers.

As for the outlook for Stony Brook this season, I predict that it will be an extremely challenging task to replace the trio of last season’s top three scorers, Olaniyi, Foreman, and Garcia. Head coach Geno Ford will be coaching a group of new starters that have played minimal starting minutes.

Even though the acquisition of Tykei Greene helps, Stony Brook still looks like a longshot in my opinion to win the conference. I expect the Seawolves to be the biggest downward movers this season in the America East.

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