Northeastern Huskies
2019-2020 Overall Rank: #94
Conference Rank: #2 CAA
Northeastern has emerged as one of the top teams in the Colonial over the last few seasons. Last year they made the NCAA Tournament for the second time in five years. They were not able to do much of anything against Kansas in the First Round, but the Huskies have the talent to push for another shot at pulling off an upset in the NCAA Tournament.
2018-19 Record: 23-11, 14-4
2018-19 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Bill Coen
Coach Record: 224-197 at Northeastern, 224-197 overall
Key Departed Players:
Vasa Pusica, Guard, 17.4 ppg
Donnell Gresham, Guard, 9.7 ppg
Anthony Green, Center, 8.8 ppg
Shawn Occeus, Guard, 9.9 ppg
Jeremy Miller, Forward, 2.5 ppg
Key Returning Players:
Jordan Roland, Senior, Guard, 14.6 ppg
Bolden Brace, Senior, Guard, 9.9 ppg
Tomas Murphy, Junior, Forward, 8.1 ppg
Jason Strong, Sophomore, Forward, 3.3 ppg
Myles Franklin, Junior, Guard, 1.8 ppg
Shaquille Walters, Junior, Guard/Forward, 1.6 ppg
Maxime Boursiquot, Junior, Guard/Forward, DNP last season
Key New Players:
Connor Braun, Freshman, Forward
Vito Cubrilo, Freshman, Guard
Greg Eboigbodin, Sophomore, Forward, Transfer from Illinois
Quinn Emanga, Freshman, Guard
Guilien Smith, Senior, Guard, Grad Transfer from Dartmouth
Tyson Walker, Freshman, Guard
Projection:
Four key contributors are gone, but this team will revolve around senior guards Jordan Roland and Bolden Brace. Roland, a 6-1 Syracuse, New York native, averaged 14.6 points per game and made 40.2 percent of his amazing 246 three-point attempts. As long as he is knocking down shots like that, Northeastern will score plenty of points. Bolden Brace is a big 6-6 guard who has a very nice outside shot and can use his size to attack the basket. He can do it all and averaged 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists on top of his 9.9 points. Maxime Boursiquot is another big guard. He missed last season but was a starter in 2017-2018 when he averaged 6.3 points and 3.8 rebounds. The frontcourt hopes junior Tomas Murphy is ready to play more minutes. He averaged an impressive 8.1 points per game despite playing under 20 minutes. Sophomore Jason Strong showed some flashes as a freshman and should at least provide decent depth in the frontcourt. Four freshmen and two transfers will look to make an immediate impact. Greg Eboigbodin spent one season at Illinois where the 6-9 forward averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds. Guilien Smith brings much more experience to the team. He comes to Northeastern as a grad transfer from Dartmouth. He had his best season as a sophomore back in 2016-2017 when he averaged 12.0 points. However, much of Northeastern’s success could depend on freshman point guard Tyson Walker. With the graduation of Vasa Pusica and the transfer of Donnell Gresham, Northeastern will need a ballhandler who can create offense for his teammates. If Walker can develop into that player as a freshman, this will be a very good Northeastern team.
Projected Postseason Tournament: CBI/CIT
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 75.4 (99th in nation, 4th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 70.8 (158, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 47.6 (30, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 46.0 (298, 8)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 9.6 (26, 2)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 38.2 (21, 2)
Free-Throw Percentage: 75.1 (35, 4)
Rebound Margin: -0.4 (216, 8)
Assists Per Game: 14.1 (115, 5)
Turnovers Per Game: 11.2 (43, 3)
