Football season is finally over: let the sea of humanity spread to our glorious sport. With a five-week sprint between now and Selection Sunday, allow me to get you up to speed on what’s been going on in the Northeast corridor of college hoops. 

Team of The Week: Merrimack Warriors

We’ll start today’s issue just north of Boston, where a MAAC team has taken the reins in the parity-heavy conference. 

The Merrimack Warriors are your current leaders in the clubhouse. Head coach Joe Gallo’s squad sits at 16-9 with a 12-2 record in conference play. Over the Warriors’ past seven games, they’ve won six by an average margin of 15.5 points, and they lost the other off a buzzer-beating three on the road. 

The class of the MAAC flexed its muscles in two separate road contests last week. On Thursday, the team made the long trek down to Emmitsburg, MD to face the defending conference champion, Mount St. Mary’s. The Mountaineers lost a lot from 2024-25’s Round of 64 squad, but they were still a formidable opponent on their home court. 

Through 20 minutes, the result of the game was in question with both teams separated by just one point. Through 30 minutes, we were almost in garbage time already. Gallo’s squad went on an absurd 25-2 run to open the second frame, forcing Mount St. Mary’s into eight consecutive misses. The Warriors held their sizable lead and took the game 87-70. 

The Warriors conquer the mountain(eers).

From there, Merrimack was rolling downhill into a Saturday night game at Rider. The 3-20 Broncs almost pulled off an upset at Merrimack earlier in the season, but the Warriors have rounded into form over the past two months and it showed in a 73-47 win. Rider shot just over 30% from the floor.

Much of Merrimack’s success over the past few years can be credited to Gallo, an emerging #SearchSZN name who’s done nothing but win in North Andover. Gallo relies on a unique zone defense that forces turnovers and chases opponents off the line, and it’s been successful no matter if the Warriors are in Division II, the NEC or the MAAC. 

The BUR boss: official Joe Gallo supporter.

On offense, Merrimack is led by a pair of stars from the 215: guard Kevair Kennedy and wing Ernest Shelton. The true freshman Kennedy is the conductor of the Warriors offense, averaging 17.3 points with a 28.2 assist percentage (top-125 in the nation). Despite having just two Division I offers a year ago, he’s already blossomed into an elite mid-major point guard who can likely contribute at a higher level if he so chooses. 

Shelton is an efficient wing who Gallo plucked from Division II Gannon in the offseason. At 6-foot-5, he’s Merrimack’s best shooter, but he also brings sneaky versatility with his propensity to get to the free throw line. Both him and Kennedy will lead the Warriors into two tough MAAC games this week, as they’ll host Marist on Thursday before crossing state lines to take on Quinnipiac. 

Player of The Week: Tyler Cochran, Rhode Island

The nation’s smallest state is where you’ll find my Player of The Week this week, as Tyler Cochran had a stellar showing on Saturday for the Rhode Island Rams.

Head coach Archie Miller has had his fair share of ups and downs this season, but his team is currently in a warmer stretch having won four of its last five games. The most recent victory for the Rams came at home against Richmond: both teams sat in the middle of a packed Atlantic 10, and both needed the win for conference tournament seeding purposes. 

Running with a tight seven-man rotation due to injury, Cochran was the reason that Rhode Island edged past the Spiders 82-77. He scored 34 points in a variety of ways, including putting up 14 of the Rams’ final 19 points to close out the win. 

Take a look at some of the stats Cochran put up in Saturday’s box score. They don’t necessarily look like those of a 34-point scorer. He played just 28 minutes due to two early fouls. He shot 8-of-13 from the floor! 

The missing link that got Cochran to a career-high: free-throw shooting. The wing outshot the entire Richmond roster from the charity stripe, taking 17 free throws and making 15 of them. When all else failed for Miller’s offense, the strong veteran put his head down and drew contact. It worked more often than not. 

Drawing fouls is nothing new for the 222-pound Cochran, who has put up a 49.4 free throw rate this season. When he gets called upon on offense, he uses a multi-level scoring game anchored by that work down low. What’s stuck out even more in Kingston has been Cochran’s defense, with his +4.4 DBPM ranking in the top 50 nationally. His two-way abilities will be crucial for the Rams against a solid George Washington offense and a solid Fordham defense this week. 

Storyline of The Week: A Prideful Defense

The Hofstra Pride of Hempstead, NY have turned into a defensive juggernaut over the past week and a half. 

Over their past three games, the Pride haven’t exactly played a murderers’ row of CAA teams, but all of Monmouth, Northeastern and Towson have risen up to competition at certain points this season. They have the capabilities to knock off teams in that 100th-150th range nationally, but all three of them failed against Hofstra. The Pride’s three most recent opponents combined to produce 0.88 PPP and a -42 total rebounding margin.

Despite being the worst team on paper, Northeastern’s offense had the best chance to hang with Hofstra, but the Huskies were quickly stifled on Thursday. The away side couldn’t hit the 20-point mark until late in the first half, and their decent success inside the arc was nullified by a -17 rebounding margin. The Pride won by 17. 

The difference on the boards was most profound in New Jersey against Monmouth, with Hofstra snagging 40 rebounds to the Hawks’ 22. Couple that with 17% three-point shooting by the home team, and the Pride won by 16. Towson did a much better job hanging around on the glass, but they couldn’t do anything with their boards, ultimately losing by 22. 

As for what’s led to this defensive resurgence, Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton is relying on that rebounding advantage which stems from keeping opponents away from the rim. Using Ken Pomeroy’s handy new stat, we can see that the average two-pointer attempted by a Hofstra opponent this season comes from over seven feet out. That number ranks 11th in the nation.

Hofstra in some elite company.

Monmouth’s average two-point shot attempt against the Pride came from 8.5 feet away. Northeastern’s was from 8.4. Towson improved to 6.9, but still got out-rebounded by seven. Limit the other team’s layups, and winning becomes a whole lot easier.