The Sharks Grew New Teeth

Five months ago, LIU stood on its own floor and cut down the nets. The Sharks had won 15 league games, swept the NEC regular-season and tournament titles, and returned the program to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018. Then the roster that did it scattered. Malachi Davis, Greg Gordon and Jamal Fuller supplied roughly 60 percent of LIU’s scoring. All three are gone. So is the comfort of knowing who gets the ball when a tie game reaches its last four minutes. Rod Strickland still has championship habits to sell, but this group must build its own late-game script. Vasean Allette changes the scale of that job. In his last two full seasons, he averaged 17.4 points at Old Dominion and 11.4 at TCU, with enough passing and defensive activity to influence a game when his jumper is quiet. He can turn a routine ball screen into a paint touch and make the next pass after the help arrives. Daquan Davis gives LIU a second handler, while Matt Bewley and Tyrell Bowles bring screening, rim running and rebounding. The first month should reveal the closing five: which forward stretches the floor, which big can defend beyond the paint and who inherits Gordon’s hardest assignment. LIU has enough talent to remain our favorite. The easy chemistry belongs to last season’s highlight reel. CCSU’s case begins with Patrick Sellers. His Blue Devils have finished first, first and second over the last three NEC seasons, a track record that matters after losing Player of the Year Darin Smith Jr., Jay Rodgers’ 6.9 assists per game and Max Frazier’s rim protection. All-Rookie guards Roddy Jones and Ashton Reynolds now have to manage full possessions instead of promising stretches. Victor Payne’s shooting and Raphel Laurent’s scoring résumé can replace points, but the early test is simpler: can this backcourt get the offense into the paint without giving away the defense’s margin? Sellers has bought himself the benefit of the doubt. Mercyhurst owns the cleanest returning late-clock option. Jake Lemelman averaged 14 points, shot 40 percent from three and made 86.4 percent at the line. Tennessee Rainwater arrives after shooting 58 percent from the floor at Le Moyne, and his cutting and passing should punish teams that load two defenders toward Lemelman. The Lakers still have to replace Bernie Blunt’s 17.6 points and Qadir Martin’s 2.4 blocks. Gary Manchel’s shifting defense can protect a developing offense, provided Johnathon Pierce and Deraje Agbaosi keep the rim from becoming an open invitation. If they do, Mercyhurst can play through Lemelman late without asking him to win a shootout. New Haven spent its first Division I season learning the league from outside the tournament bracket. The Chargers went 9-9 in the NEC and can play for the conference title this March. Kheni Briggs, Teshaun Steele and Aidan Losiewicz give Ted Hotaling three useful holdovers: a sturdy guard, a 6-7 defender who rebounds and a proven shooter. They do not replace the departed creation of Jabri Fitzpatrick, Najimi George and Andre Pasha on their own. Transfers Faquir Mosley and Danny Young Jr. will decide whether New Haven can initiate offense against pressure rather than merely hang around with size and defense. The fourth-place projection reflects both promise and work left. The rest of the league has reasons to interrupt that order. FDU returns Rookie of the Year David Jevtic, a 6-8 perimeter mismatch, then surrounded him with ten newcomers led by veteran point guard JR Jacobs and shooter Vophcy Prophete. Stonehill can turn games into a three-point contest with Devon Arlington and Will Batchelder, who returns after being limited to three games last season. Le Moyne rebuilt around Damien King’s ball pressure after losing its five leading scorers. Wagner already proved how little seeding can mean here when it knocked second-seeded CCSU out of last year’s tournament. That much turnover changes the rhythm of the race. November may look unfinished. By March, one of these teams will have found a five-man group it trusts when the first action fails and the building gets loud. LIU gets the first line because Allette can take ownership of those possessions and Strickland has already built a champion in Brooklyn. CCSU has the program stability, Mercyhurst the proven shooter and New Haven its first invitation to the bracket. Every challenger sees the opening. The Sharks still have the best chance to close it.