After taking a week off to cover the Hoophall Classic, I’m back this week with another edition of the Northeast Mid-Major Roundup. Even though professional football might be stealing the headlines currently in this neck of the woods, there’s still a lot to talk about regarding college hoops. Let’s dive right in: 

Team of The Week: Cornell Big Red

For the second issue in a row, we’re returning to the Ivy League for our team of the week.

Since taking over for Brian Earl (William & Mary) just under two years ago, Jon Jaques has done an admirable job keeping up the positive momentum behind the Cornell men’s basketball program. In 2024-25 – his first season as head coach – the Big Red finished just 26 spots below where they were in Earl’s final campaign, ranking 129th in KenPom and losing by 6 to Yale in the Ivy League championship. 

This season, the ride’s still been a good one for Jaques, albeit a little bumpier. His offense is still clicking at an extremely impressive clip, but a defense that’s always been a weak point has turned downright dreadful, keeping Cornell out of games even when it scores upwards of 90 points. The Big Red entered last Monday ranked No. 211 on KenPom. They had only boasted one top-300 win, and that was a miracle double-overtime victory over Colgate back in November. 

Well, a week later, that top-300 number has tripled. The Big Red won two games last week by a combined 29 points, getting themselves off the mat in the Ivy. 

Their first win came over Brown last Monday, a bottom-dweller that they needed to beat if their expectations are to at least make the conference tournament. Jaques’ squad got the job done with ease, jumping out to a 17-point lead by halftime and winning by 22 in Providence. The senior duo of Jake Fiegen and Cooper Noard combined for 51 points, anchoring Cornell’s offense. On defense, the entire roster was locked in, holding their opponent to under 70 points for just the second time this season. 

The competition ramped up slightly on Saturday, as the Big Red remained on the road to face Harvard in Cambridge. Entering 3-1 in conference play, the Crimson were slight favorites, with it being presumed that their steady, balanced offense would outshine Cornell’s few high-powered scorers. 

That was not the case. Fiegen and Noard were joined this time by Adam Hinton’s 27 points, forming a trio that Harvard just couldn’t stop. The Crimson battled, and even took the lead with 1:07 to play, but they ultimately fell 86-79.

As a disciple of Earl’s coaching tree, Jaques has formed his teams to play nearly identical to his mentor’s gameplan. The Big Red get things done off an extremely fast-paced offense, littered with ball movement and tons of threes. In both its wins, Cornell attempted 53 threes to 56 twos and assisted 38 of 58 made shots. Hinton, Noard and Fiegen are all versatile scorers minus any mid-range presence: those looks don’t jive with the analytics-driven Big Red way. 

An impressive offense in Ithaca.

Now in the thick of the conference picture, Cornell has two more crucial Ivy tilts this week. Both are at home, with 3-2 Princeton coming in on Friday and Fran McCaffrey’s Penn arriving on Saturday. We’ll see if Jaques can keep the train rolling. 

Player of The Week: Erik Pratt, Stony Brook

Moving downstate, the Stony Brook Seawolves have a player who you need to keep an eye on. 

Erik Pratt arrived in Long Island last spring as somewhat of a college journeyman. The 6-foot-5 guard was a top JUCO recruit in 2022, but played very sparingly in his first Division I season for Buzz Williams’ Texas A&M squad. He transferred down to Milwaukee for two seasons and started 27 games, helping out the Panthers’ offense. Reduced into more of a reserve role last season, Pratt entered the portal again and committed to Stony Brook. 

Now with the Seawolves, he couldn’t be in a bigger role if he tried. The senior is everything for Geno Ford’s team, leading the way with 20.2 points a night and 3.7 assists while ranking third on the roster with 4.2 rebounds. Whether facilitating or shooting, most of Stony Brook’s offense is run with Pratt in mind. 

Opponents have keyed in on the Florida native, but he’s only been putting up better and more efficient numbers since CAA play began. His scoring is impressive, but his vision might be his top trait. 

All season long, Pratt has assisted on 26.9% of Stony Brook’s made field goals while he’s on the court. Sound impressive? Here’s a list of the five players in Division I basketball currently who a.) have played in at least 75% of their team’s minutes this season, b.) have an assist % over 25 and c.) have a turnover % below 13: 

Cameron Boozer, Duke

Terrence Brown, Utah

Barrington Hargress, Colorado

Melvin Council Jr., Kansas

Erik Pratt, Stony Brook

Impressive company. Pratt helped make this stat happen with his performance Thursday against Northeastern, a game in which the Seawolves won 95-80. In Boston, he put up a game-high 31 points on 8-of-15 shooting, converting at the rim and getting to the line with ease. If the path to a bucket got too foggy, he dished out to great success, finishing with 9 assists. All in all, the showing got him close to top billing on one of our posts this past Friday. 

Read that caption fully, and you’ll get an even better sense of why I chose to spotlight Pratt now. The guard’s performance against the Huskies was stellar, but it failed to meet the lofty heights of last Saturday’s showing against Charleston. At home, in a 2OT thriller, Pratt put up this statline:

50 minutes (never sat)

39 points

13-24 FG

7 rebounds

13 assists

2 turnovers

An upset win (112-106)

On a day with plenty of stellar showings across the nation, Pratt had the best one by far. He’s currently the only men’s player with a 35-point, 10-assist, <3 turnover game this season. The last two players to get to 39 points and 13 assists in one night, as our great social media person pointed out? Jalen Pickett and Trae Young. Everywhere you look, Pratt is in rarified air, and his play makes Stony Brook a CAA sleeper. 

Storyline of The Week: Is the Drought Over?

I’m going to move now from a CAA sleeper to a bonafide CAA contender. William and Mary has played basketball for 121 years, and it’s been a Division I school since Division I was a thing. The Tribe have never made an NCAA Tournament. They’ve gotten close, but that ticket to the Big Dance still eludes them.

This season seems like one of their best chances in a while. Tying in to both of my previous sections, Brian Earl has made major strides in the CAA since coming over from Cornell two years ago. In Williamsburg, the Tribe sit at 14-6 (5-3) currently, ranking in the KenPom top 130 for the first time in a few years. 

Earl is getting the job done with an offense mostly unchanged from his Ithaca days. Everything I mentioned about Jaques’ offense applies to William & Mary: ultra-fast play (No. 4 nationally in tempo), tons of ball movement (No. 5 in assist percentage), plenty of threes (No. 58 in 3PA/FGA). 

The difference this year that’s allowed Earl to translate his offense to better competition lies on the other end of the court. A defense currently ranked No. 111 on KenPom is the best Earl has had in his career, and that unit has allowed the Tribe to win games when shots aren’t falling as frequently. 

On Thursday against UNC Wilmington, such a scenario occurred. Just 9 of 32 attempted threes fell for William & Mary as the Seahawks’ athleticism limited good looks. Scoring 77 points – an off night for this offense – meant that the defense needed to clamp down, and it did. The Tribe did what they do better than anyone else in their conference: they forced turnovers, whether from steals or errant passes. UNC Wilmington wound up with 14 coughups at the game’s conclusion, limiting its possessions and leading to a seven-point William & Mary victory. 

Saturday’s home tilt against Hofstra tipped the scales back to the scoring side. The Tribe took 44 threes (!) and made 18 of them, drowning the Pride with points en route to a 89-82 win. Saint Louis transfer Kilian Brockhoff shone here, shaking off his 33% 3PT shooting to hit eight triples and score a career-high 28 points. 

Forecasting the rest of the season, there are two teams in the CAA currently ahead of William & Mary in KenPom: UNC Wilmington and Hofstra. Done and done. There are two teams ahead of the Tribe in the CAA standings: UNC Wilmington and Charleston. Earl’s squad showed they can compete with the Cougars earlier this month, losing by 9 on the road. 

William & Mary has one game remaining against those three teams, on the road in Wilmington next Thursday. It’s favored in every other regular season game. All other contenders in the CAA have not shown a cut-and-dry advantage over the Tribe. The ticket is there for the taking, and now’s as good a time as ever for William & Mary to snatch it.