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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America East Basketball Sam Schwietz (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

3. UMBC Retrievers

Projected Starters

Guards – Darnell Rogers (SR), R.J. Eytle-Rock (JR), L.J. Owens (JR)
Forwards – Brandon Horvath (SR), Daniel Akin (SR)
Bench – Dimitri Spasojevic (SR), Keondre Kennedy (JR), Szymon Wojcik (JR), Rico Quinton (JR), Matteo Picarelli (FR), Brendan Davis (FR), Thomas Reid (FR), Nathan Johnson (SO), Sam Grace (SO)

Coming off last season where a few key players of the starting rotation missed games, the Retrievers were able to improve towards the end of the 2019-20 campaign. They will hope to bring that momentum into this season. UMBC started 0-4 in conference play but went 7-3 in the last 10 games to finish at .500 in the conference.

In the offseason, the Retrievers only lost one key player of significance. Leading scorer, K.J. Jackson (13.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.2 apg), graduated from the program. Other than losing Jackson, the majority of the 2019-20 roster will be returning this season.

Four of these players returning averaged at least 29 minutes per game last season, so UMBC will be experienced. I predict three seniors and two juniors will be in UMBC’s starting lineup. Let’s take a look at my predicted starters in more detail starting with UMBC’s guards.

At point guard, Darnell Rogers (14 ppg, 4.3 apg) will be back and healthy for his senior season at UMBC. At just 5-2 and the smallest player in Division I basketball, Rogers doesn’t let size get in his way. Rogers played seven games averaging 29.9 minutes per game last season before suffering a season-ending injury late-November.

The most impressive game of his UMBC career to date was when he scored a career-high 23 points and made seven three-point shots against the Nichols Colonels. It will be a feel-good story if Rogers can play a full season and get back to last season’s form to have a comeback type of season.

The second player that I predict that could have a breakout season for the Retrievers is junior guard R.J. Eytle-Rock (11.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.3 apg). Eytle-Rock was late to the rotation last season as he missed 13 games due to injury and started to work his way into the lineup around mid-December.

His progress throughout the season was capped by a spectacular career-high 31 points in the America East Conference Tournament Semifinal against Vermont. Eytle-Rock has a great opportunity to transfer his late-season momentum to provide an offensive spark this season.

The third guard returning back that received significant minutes last season is junior L.J. Owens (9.5 ppg). Owens was inconsistent at times, converting only 39.7 percent of his shots.

As for the two forwards returning to UMBC, the Retrievers will have their top two rebounders both coming back for their senior year. At forward, 6-10 Brandon Horvath (11 ppg, 6.7 rpg) will be back. Horvath had a monster game against Binghamton marking career highs with 23 points and 19 rebounds. He averaged just under 30 minutes per game last season.

Along with Horvath, 6-9 forward Daniel Akin (5.6 ppg, 5 rpg) will be back for UMBC as well. Both Horvath and Akin did not attempt a single three-point shot this season since they do all their scoring inside. Akin averaged 21 minutes per game while converting on over 55 percent of his shots.

One of UMBC’s weaknesses last season was blocking shots. I predict that Akin will make the jump to one of the conference’s top shot blockers this season. During the first 20 games last season, Akin recorded only three blocks. But, he was able to turn it around and improved late in the season recording at least one block in 9 of the last 12 games. Akin tallied a career-high four blocks against Albany last season.

Off the bench, UMBC has a solid bench player to watch out for that should be able to produce a spark this season. Senior Serbian forward, Dimitri Spasojevic (8.8 ppg), has sixth-man of the conference potential. He is another forward that did not attempt a single three-point shot last season.

Spasojevic is an efficient shooter that made the most of his opportunities, even though he didn’t get big-time starter minutes, averaging 19.3 minutes per game. Some examples of Spasojevic’s shooting efficiency can be seen in these three games:

15 points scored in 15 minutes, 7-for-9 shooting versus Drexel.
17 points scored in 22 minutes, 8-for-11 shooting versus Stony Brook.
16 points scored in 19 minutes 8-for-11 shooting versus Albany.

UMBC has great size with their forwards on their roster. One focus of improvement that the Retrievers struggled with last season was their free throw shooting, ranking last in the conference shooting 64.5 percent at the free throw line. The Retrievers will bring back an experienced roster that will be healthy once again. With seven players returning that averaged at least 17 minutes per game, I predict that UMBC will be a top-tier team in the conference this season.

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