America East Basketball: 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
15. Peter Hooley
An intriguing 6’4 combo guard, Hooley is from Adelaide, Australia, and actually missed part of his final collegiate season when he returned home to Australia. He arrived in Albany back in 2011, playing only three games as a freshman before redshirting. He was a focal piece for the Great Danes across the next four seasons. Even just looking beyond 2013, there’s plenty of reason for Hooley to be included in these rankings.
His redshirt sophomore season, the first in our inclusion, was a breakout for him, averaging 15.5 points a game while leading the conference in both points and free throw percentage. Most importantly, Hooley was named 2014 AEC Tournament MVP, with a 30-point effort against UMBC and a 26-point outing the following day against Vermont. He repeated as Tournament MVP the following season and would put up 15 points against Oklahoma in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. He’d average just under 14 points per game in his final three collegiate seasons.
First and foremost, Hooley was an important weapon during Albany’s most recent period of success, as the program has not returned to the Big Dance since 2015, nor have they really threatened for the conference crown. For himself, Hooley did pick up conference honors in each of those last three seasons, including two Second Team All-America East nominations. He was the leading scorer on an NCAA Tournament team as a sophomore and really developed into an important piece for the Great Danes during on-court success.