UMass Lowell Basketball: In-depth look at junior Point Guard Ayinde Hakim

UMass Lowell Basketball s entering their 11th season of Division 1 basketball and they have never had a winning record and have never made the NCAA tournament. The River Hawks are knocking on the doorstep of the tournament though as they have had two competitive seasons in a row and have gotten closer to the .500 mark each season.

In the 2020-2021 season, the UMass Lowell basketball team finished one game away from the NCAA tournament and with the best player in the America East Conference it would have been good to see them in the NCAA tournament.

Everyone who follows basketball knows that the America East is dominated by Vermont and has been dominated by Vermont for quite some time. The conference structure is going to look much different this basketball season as the league is going to lose Stony Brook to the CAA and will add Bryant from the Northeast Conference. This move will provide more competition within the conference and hopefully, take the play up to the next level. Lowell is ready to take the next step and is going to have more opportunities to do so this year, especially within their own conference.

The River Hawks are no stranger to having a player carry them on the offensive end as first, it was Christian Lutete, and then it was Obadiah Noel and now the offense and the keys to the team are in the hands of another extremely talented player in Ayinde Hakim.

Everyone knows that transfers are going to be the theme of the offseason and Hakim is a transfer into the River Hawks program, but he was a mid-year transfer in 2020-2021 and was able to play a full season for Lowell a season ago. His second year for Pat Duquette is going to be a good one and is looking to take his game to the next level and be one of the premier players in the America East conference.