Bulldogs, Colonials rematch Thursday night on ESPNU

ERIES
This is the ninth all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Colonials, with Robert Morris holding a commanding 7-1 edge in the series. Earlier this month, the Colonials came into Smithfield and escaped with a four-point victory despite 29 points and eight rebounds from senior forward Alex Francis. Bryant's lone victory over Robert Morris came last season in both team's NEC opener. Paced by Dyami Starks's 29 points on a 7-of-12 clip from deep, the Bulldogs picked up a huge 84-77 victory at the Charles L. Seawall Center last January.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Robert Morris enters Thursday's action with an 11-10 overall mark and a perfect 6-0 against Northeast Conference opponents. Currently riding a six-game win streak that dates back to Jan. 9 (and includes a win at Bryant on Jan. 11), the Colonials most recently picked up 74-70 win vs. NEC preseason favorite Wagner on Saturday.

Sharpshooting senior guard Karvel Anderson leads Robert Morris with 19 points per game (23 ppg in NEC play) and a 48 percent shooting clip from deep. Junior swingman Lucky Jones ranks second on the team in scoring with 14 ppg and first in rebounding with 6.3 boards per contest, while senior point guard Anthony Myers-Pate paces the squad with more than four assists per game. Thursday marks the third game in a four-contest homestand for Robert Morris.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 5-1 against the Northeast Conference in 2013-14 with a 26-50 record (.342) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 40-67 (.373), having most frequently faced off against regional rival Sacred Heart (11-16). Bryant went 12-6 against league opponents last season, finishing tied for second in the regular-season standings to earn a No. 4 seed in the 2013 NEC Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT: BULLDOG WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT
One game after scoring his 1,000th-career point, junior Dyami Starks eclipsed the 30-point mark for the fifth time this season, leading the Bryant University men's basketball team to an 83-79 win over St. Francis Brooklyn at the Chace Athletic Center Saturday afternoon.

Starks finished the day with a game-high 31 points and went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc to pace the Bulldogs to their fourth-straight victory. Senior Alex Francis would see his streak of six-straight 20-point outings come to an end when the forward fouled out for the first time this season with 4:05 left in the game, but he would leave his mark on the contest anyway, exiting with his second-straight double-double (fifth of the season, 31st of his career) on the back of 19 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Senior Corey Maynard also finished in double figures with 13 points, adding seven rebounds and going a perfect 9-for-9 from the line.

Brent Jones paced St. Francis with 20 points while Ben Mockford chipped in 17 and Anthony White added 13 more. Four Terriers would foul out of Saturday's contest, including leading scorer and preseason all-conference pick Jalen Cannon, who was limited to just nine points (9 rebounds).

St. Francis Brooklyn led throughout the opening 20 minutes but never took more than a seven-point edge. An evenly matched final 10 minutes saw the Terriers' advantage wane  to two, 22-20, with 6:08 to play, and that margin was cut to one, 25-24, by a Joe O'Shea baseline lay-in as the clock ticked under four to play.

Starks knotted the game with his second trey of the frame at the 2:16 mark, elevating over White to tie the score at 27-27. Mockford answered with a trey of his own, and the teams would trade three-point plays for a 33-30 St. Francis advantage with a minute left in the half. Starks would stay perfect from long range and drain his third trifecta of the session, tying the game for the fourth time, 33-33, with 35 seconds remaining, but Jones got a jumper from the paint off with two ticks to go, sending the Terriers into halftime with a 35-33 edge.

The Bulldogs started out the second on a 10-3 run, taking their first lead of the contest off two Francis free throws 90 seconds in. The run would give Bryant a 43-38 advantage four minutes into the stanza, and the hosts would build a 50-43 lead after the opening nine minutes.

St. Francis pulled the Bulldogs back within a score quickly, 50-47, and a three from White tied up the game at the 8:12 mark, 56-56. The Bulldogs would use another run – this one 7-1 – to build back up their lead, 63-57, with 6:27 left to play.

A deep triple from Starks re-energized the crowd with 3:39 remaining in the contest and gave the home team the 67-60 lead, a margin that would grow to nine entering the final 90 seconds. Mockford hit a long three with 1:13 to go, but St. Francis would have to start fouling with 60 ticks to play.

The Bulldogs would hit their freebies, but the Terriers answered every time – twice with corner threes – to remain within four, 81-77, with 12.7 seconds on the clock. A foul on Starks on Bryant's own inbound allowed St. Francis to cut it to just two points, 81-79, with 10 seconds left, but Shane McLaughlin would drain a pair from the line with just 8.7 remaining to seal the victory.

On the game, Bryant shot 44 percent from the floor and just under 80 percent from the charity stripe while going 4-for-15 from beyond the arc. St. Francis Brooklyn converted at a 40.6 percent clip, but hit only 53 percent of their chances from the free throw line. The Bulldogs ended up with the edge on the glass, 41-40.

UP NEXT
Bryant travels to Fairfield, Conn., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. for a rematch against Sacred Heart. The Bulldogs won this season's series opener, 85-70, on Jan. 16.

STARKS ON FIRE
After both scoring his 1,000th career point and recording his fifth 30+ point performance of the season last week in victories over LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn, junior sharpshooter Dyami Starks earned his fourth Choice Hotels/NEC Player of the Week honor of the year Monday. Starks averaged 27.0 points per game to help lead Bryant to another 2-0 week, and his 20.5 scoring average on the year now ranks 21st in the country. This is the second-straight week a Bulldog has won the NEC Player of the Week honor (Corey Maynard, Jan. 20).

GET ME TO THE LINE
The Bulldogs set a pair of Division I program records in Saturday's win over St. Francis Brooklyn, breaking the marks in free throws made (35) and free throws attempted (44).

Bryant set a new program mark at any level Jan. 18 with its team shooting from long range, converting 11-of-17 from 3-point land for a 64.7 percent clip in a victory of Fairleigh Dickinson, breaking the previous school record of 63.2 percent (12-19) set against Quinnipiac in January 2013.

GOING STREAKING
Bryant enters the Sewall Center riding a four-game winning streak dating back to Jan. 16. The team's last loss came at the hands of the Colonials in Smithfield on Jan. 11, and the Bulldogs' current streak ties their season best when it comes to consecutive victories.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
With a layup just 49 seconds into the second half last Thursday (Jan. 23) against LIU Brooklyn, junior guard Dyami Starks became the 34th player in program history to reach the 1,000 point threshold. He also becomes the third player in the last two seasons to accomplish the feat. Current senior Alex Francis (1892 points) and Director of Operations Frankie Dobbs (1232 points) each joined the club in 2012-13. Senior point guard Corey Maynard is knocking on the door as well, needing just 107 more points for 1,000 in his career. Maynard, who is currently averaging 12.8 points per game, needs to average 10.7 points each time out to reach the goal by the conclusion of the 2013-14 regular season.

THE BEST OF THE BEST
Having joined the 1,000-point club last season, senior forward Alex Francis is just 108 points away from joining an even greater echelon of scorers. Francis — who averages 19.1 points per game so far this season — is on pace to score his 2,000th point Feb. 16 at Wagner. The senior would become just the third player to cross the threshold in the history of Bryant basketball, joining only Tom Smile (2,390 from 1963-67) and Ernie DeWitt (2,239 from 1977-81), and would be the first to do so at the Division I level. Currently, there are just two active DI players in the nation with 2,000 points — Creighton's Doug McDermott and Oakland's Travis Bader.

FANTASTIC FRANCIS
Despite seeing his six-game 20-point streak snapped last time out, Bulldog standout Alex Francis has been on fire as of late. The senior forward scored 20 or more points from Dec. 30 through Jan. 23, the longest such run of his career, and paced the Bulldogs to a 5-1 record while posting two double-doubles in that span. Francis picked up his third double-double in four games Saturday against the Terriers and now has five on the year and 31 in his career. In Northeast Conference play, the senior is averaging 24.0 points and 9.5 rebounds each time out.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA rankings, Bryant senior forward Alex Francis currently sits among the top active NCAA Division I players in numerous categories. As of January 26, the senior is ranked third in career field goals (currently 715), sixth in total rebounds (885), sixth in career double-doubles (31), seventh in total points (1,892), 13th in free throws made (449), 16th in career scoring average (16.9 ppg) and 26th in rebounding average (7.9). He is one of just seven active players to have 1,500 points and 750 rebounds to his name. Francis also ranks 20th in field goal percentage this season (.578) and 40th in points per game (19.1).

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NEC RANKINGS
Bryant senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another plateau on his march up the NEC career scoring chart, entering the all-time top 10 with 1,892 career points. The senior forward needs 11 more points to take over the No. 9 spot on the charts but will need to cross over the 2,000-point threshold to make it into the top 5.

Francis remains in 12th on the league's all-time rebounding list (885) and has a chance to become the first player in conference history to finish with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He needs 31 boards to break into the top 10.
More Francis/NEC Highlights...
» Francis has the chance to become the first player in conference annals to finish in the top-10 in both points and rebounds.

» Francis is one of just four players in NEC history to rank in the top 20 in both scoring and rebounding in his career, joining the likes of CCSU's Ken Horton, LIU's Jamal Olasewere and Marist's Rik Smits.

» Francis is one of just 13 players in NEC history to reach 1,500 points and 750 rebounds in his career, and one of just five players in the league annals to reach 1,700 points and 800 boards.

» He currently ranks in the NEC top-4 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage (first) and minutes played.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE BRYANT RANKINGS
With 10 regular-season games still to play, senior forward Alex Francis is already seated among the greatest scorers and rebounders the program has ever seen. His 24-point performance last Thursday against LIU Brooklyn vaulted him into third on the all-time scoring list, however Francis would need 347 more points, a near-impossible order with just 10 regular-season games left to play, to move up any farther in the rankings.

Francis enters Saturday's matchup ranked fourth on the rebounding charts with 885 in his career after passing Jason Noel with his 11 rebounds last Thursday night. He needs 102 more to reach third all time. He also ranks in the program's top-10 in scoring average, field goals, field goal percentage, free throws made and rebounding average.

Bryant's Top-5 Career Scorers
1.    2390    Tom Smile, 1963-67
2.    2239    Ernie DeWitt, 1977-81
3.    1892    Alex Francis, 2010-Present    4.    1854    Dave Sorafine, 1972-76
5.    1754    John Williams, 2002-06
Bryant's Top-5 Career Rebounders
1.    1036    Ernie DeWitt, 1977-81
2.    1004    Dave Sorafine, 1972-76
3.    987    Mike Williams, 2000-05    4.    885    Alex Francis, 2010-Present
5.    868    Jason Noel, 2000-04

MORE MILESTONES FOR FRANCIS
Senior forward and preseason all-conference pick Alex Francis recorded the 100th double-digit scoring outing of his career Saturday vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (19 points). Francis, who has appeared in 111-career games, is also three starts shy of 100 and has posted double-figure points in all but two contests so far this season.

FOR THE 100TH TIME...
Starting forward Alex Francis appeared in his 100th-career game Dec. 7 against North Dakota State, and Dec. 30 at home against Lehigh, classmate and frontcourt counterpart Claybrin McMath joined his exclusive club, reaching his own 100th appearance donning the Black and Gold. Starting point guard Corey Maynard is just one appearance away from the benchmark.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
Bryant trailed LIU Brooklyn, 42-32, after the first 20 minutes last Thursday night but would outscore the Blackbirds, 55-37, in the second half for the 87-79 victory, overcoming a double-digit halftime deficit for the first time since Jan. 29, 2011. In that game, the Bulldogs trailed Mount St. Mary's, 36-24, but came back for the 62-60 win.

MAKING MILESTONES
Head coach Tim O'Shea earned his 50th win at Bryant University with the team's Jan. 18 road victory over Fairleigh Dickinson, 95-68. He currently boasts 172 career victories as a head coach.

DUNK COUNT
The dunk count is on once again in 2013-14. The reign of senior Alex Francis still holds strong, but rookie forward Dan Garvin has also gotten some hangtime this season, with the pair combining for 30 dunks. Reigning NEC Player of the Week Dyami Starks threw down his first dunk of his Bulldog career in Saturday's win over St. Fracnis Brooklyn to bring the total to 31 on the year.

A CONCENTRATED EFFORT
The Bulldogs have certainly added depth in 2013-14, but the Bryant bench has yet to prove it on the scoreboard. Against Division I opponents this season, just three Bulldog starters — junior Dyami Starks and seniors Alex Francis and Corey Maynard — are responsible for 70 percent of Bryant's total scoring (1059 of 1512 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 196 points so far this season (13.0 percent).

HISTORY IN THE MAKING?
In what has already been a season filled with milestones, senior forward Alex Francis has one more historic height to reach. With 1,892 points and 885 rebounds, Francis has the potential to become the first player in NEC history to score 2,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds in a career. An All-NEC First Teamer last season and unanimous Preseason All-NEC pick, he will need to average 10.8 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per outing to hit those marks before the conclusion of the regular season.

A former NEC Rookie of the Year and potential Player of the Year candidate this season, Francis has boasted back-to-back 500-point campaigns, but will need to post a career season on the glass (272) to be the first to hit historic mark. Currently, Francis is the NEC's active scoring leader and ranks second in career rebounds among all active players on the league circuit.

#6THFAN
Bryant has the best fans in the NCAA. Now, it's time to prove it. The NCAA's 6th Fan contest is a nationwide online competition that will determine which Division I school has the most pride and the most supportive fans. Fans can be a part of the action and help Bryant earn over $100,000 in general scholarship contributions by voting for the Bulldogs once a day every day at ncaa.com/6thFan now until Feb. 16. Fans can also vote on Twitter by tweeting or retweeting the hashtags #6thFan and #BRYANT (both hashtags must appear for vote to count). The contest also includes prizes for individual fans, including an iPad Air and an all-expense paid trip to the 2015 Men's Final Four in North Texas April 5-7.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, VICTORY
The Bulldogs are 4-0 this season in games broadcast by Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network.

BULLDOGS ANNOUNCE FIVE-GAME PARTNERSHIP WITH OSN
With six men's basketball games already scheduled for national TV, Bryant University Athletics announced this week that five more will be featured locally on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network in 2013-14. In partnering with Cox Communications, the Bulldogs bring their exciting brand of basketball into the homes of viewers throughout Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut, as well as across the country with CoxSportsOnline.com. Fans will have the opportunity to witness one of the strongest programs in the state playing in five home games, backed by the best home fans in the Northeast Conference.

All five games will be broadcast LIVE in High Definition on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network and streamed online at coxsportsonline.com and necfrontrow.com. Mike Mancuso will handle the play-by-play duties and Chris Disano will serve as the color analyst. The five-game package kicks osff on Saturday, Dec. 14 as the Black and Gold host Navy at 12:30 p.m.

Bryant Basketball on OSN
Dec. 14 vs. Navy (W, 90-80 OT)
Dec. 30 vs. Lehigh (W, 70-68)
Jan. 16 vs. Sacred Heart (W, 85-70)
Jan. 25 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (W, 87-79)
Feb. 22 vs. Central Connecticut (4:00 p.m.)

OPENING NIGHT
Bryant's 77-67 victory over the Red Flash marked the second-straight season the Bulldogs started off Northeast Conference play with a win.

WINNING WAYS
For the second-straight season, Bryant finished its non-conference schedule with a winning record in 2013-14, going 8-7 over the campaign's opening two months. The Bulldogs finished non-league play with winning records against three different conferences, going 3-1 against the Ivy League, 2-0 against the Patriot League and 2-1 against the America East.

ANOTHER ACCOLADE FOR O'SHEA, BULLDOGS
The efforts and success of both the Bryant men's basketball team and its head coach throughout the 2012-13 campaign were once again recognized this week. Words Unlimited, Rhode Island's statewide organization of sports writers, sportscasters and sports publicists, named Tim O'Shea the Men's Sports Coach of the Year and Bryant University men's basketball the Story of the Year in 2013.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
For the first time this season, two Bulldogs registered double-doubles in the same contest Dec. 28 at Binghamton. Despite the loss, starting forwards Alex Francis and Dan Garvin each pulled in 10 rebounds while scoring a team-leading 15 and 13 points, respectively. The last time two Bryant players recorded double-doubles in the same game was March 2, 2013, when Francis (19 points, 12 rebounds) and now-graduated Vlad Kondratyev (10p, 10r) did so against the Red Flash at home. Francis, a senior, now has 28 double-doubles on his career while Garvin, a rookie, has three.

TURN OF THE CENTURY
The Bulldogs set a Division I program record against Delaware at Madison Square Garden Dec. 21, scoring 107 points despite the overtime loss. The loss to the Blue Hens also marked the first time in the program's DI history that both teams scored 100 points in a game. Bryant hit the 100-point mark for the first time since Jan. 10, 2013, when it put up 103 against Quinnipiac.

IN THE HEN HOUSE
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs drained a season-high 37 field goals Dec. 21 against the Blue Hens, tying the program's Division I record. Bryant also put up a season-most 65 attempts in the contest and shot with incredible accuracy from long range. In fact, the team's 61.1 percent accuracy from 3-point land bested its mark from the free throw line, as the Bulldogs finished the game at just 59.5 percent from the charity stripe (22-37).

TROUBLE IN GOTHAM CITY
Despite three close contests, Bryant finished the 2013 BlackRock Gotham Classic without a win. The Bulldogs dropped a home game to North Dakota State, 66-62, on Dec. 7 before being edged out by Notre Dame, 70-59, on Dec. 9 and falling to No. 3 Ohio State, 86-48, on Dec. 11. The Black and Gold closed out the in-season tournament Dec. 21 with an overtime loss to the University of Delaware at Madison Square Garden, 108-107.

LOWBALL
Playing the third-ranked team in the nation doesn't come without its challenges, and the Bulldogs suffered some season firsts at the hands of the Buckeyes Dec. 11. Bryant was held to less than 50 points for the first time since Providence College did so in an 81-49 victory back on Nov. 12, 2012. Against the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs also shot a dismal 27.6 percent from the field, limited to less than 30 percent shooting for the first time in nearly two full years (22.7% at Robert Morris on Feb. 3, 2011).

LUCKY NO. 13
Just 11 days after picking up the 1500th point of his career, senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another milestone on Nov. 20, pulling in his 750th career rebound. In doing so, Francis became just the 13th player in Northeast Conference history to reach 1,500 points and 750 boards in his career. Francis, who has amassed 1,681 points and 803 rebounds so far in his three-plus years donning the Black and Gold, joins select company, including NEC Hall of Famers Rik Smits and Desi Wilson.

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?
Bryant's 60-55 win at America East rival New Hampshire on Nov. 24 did not come without its glitches. The game saw a 48-minute interruption with only 3:35 left to play in the contest when the entire UNH campus lost power. The Bulldogs, who were leading, 54-50, at the outage, held on for the five-point victory.

STARKS MAKES NORTHEAST CONFERENCE HISTORY
It was a historic start for Bryant junior guard Dyami Starks. The sharpshooting Preseason All-NEC pick scored 30 or more points in each of the team's first three outings to total 100 points over just a trio of games and make NEC history in the process. He is the first player in the NEC recordbooks to ever hit the 100-point mark in the season's first three outings and is off to the hottest start by an NEC player since LIU Brooklyn's Charles Jones erupted for 102 points in his first three appearances of the 1997-98 season. (Jones missed the season's first two games.)

HOW HE DID IT
Starks opened the season looking quite at home in the Kennel, dropping a career-high 35 points on No. 15 Gonzaga on Nov. 9. He matched that effort on the road against Dartmouth in an 87-77 victory and then went on to score 30 in the Bulldogs' home-opening win over Vermont, netting his 100th point of the season with 2:16 left to play.

DID YOU KNOW?
Dyami Starks not only became the first NEC player to hit the century mark in his first three appearances since 1997 (see note above), he also became the first NEC player to record back-to-back 35+ point games since Robert Morris's Gene Nabors scored 38 and 35 in the NEC Tournament on March 3-4, 2000. He also became the first player in NEC history to post three-straight 30+ point games since Charles Jones did so during 1996-97 campaign. Starks's consecutive 35-, 35- and 30-point performances mark the first three 30-point games of his career.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
Another milestone, anyway, for senior forward Alex Francis, who scored his 1,500th-career point during a 13-point performance against 15th-ranked Gonzaga in the Nov. 9 opener.

THE CENTURY MARK
In its season opener against No. 15 Gonzaga on Nov. 9, Bryant allowed its opponent to hit triple digits for the first time since December 22, 2011, when the Bulldogs fell to the University of Arizona, 100-60, in Tuscon, Ariz.

HAPPY 50TH!
The Bryant men's basketball program celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2013-14. The program played its first varsity season in 1963-64, going 13-11.

COMING OUT SWINGING
Bryant continued its trend of scheduling not only challenging non-conference slates, but challenging non-conference starts in 2013-14. For the second-straight season, the Bulldogs opened the year against a nationally ranked opponent, this time in No. 15 Gonzaga. Bryant kicked off last year's campaign against preseason favorite Indiana on the road at Assembly Hall in a game that marked the program's first official contest as a full Division I member. The Bulldogs have now competed against five ranked opponents since the start of the 2011-12 season, adding San Diego State, Notre Dame and Arizona to the list.

OPENING NIGHT
Since the inception of the Bryant men's basketball program in 1963-64, Bulldog teams have done fairly well in season openers, going 27-24 (.529) all-time in the first game of the year. Bryant took the win in the program's first eight season tips, not suffering an opening-day loss until the 1971-72 season. But the Bulldogs haven't been as hot as of late and haven't taken a victory in the season's first contest since 2005-06, when they topped Adelphi, 70-62. The Bulldogs are still winless in Division I season openers dating back to the 2008-09 season, and Bryant is 6-9 in its last 15 after a 100-76 loss to No. 15 Gonzaga in the 2013-14 debut at The Kennel. The Black and Gold began the year on the road for the fifth-straight season in 2013-14 as well.

THE GRIND CONTINUES
Bryant's schedule doesn't get much easier after the Nov. 9 season opener against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs have opponents from nine different conferences (ACC, Big Ten, West Coast Conference, Ivy League, America East, Summit League, Patriot League, CAA and Northeast Conference) lined up in 2013-14. In total, the 31-game slate includes 11 games against opponents who made postseason appearances in 2012-13, including six coming from last year's NCAA tournament field. The schedule also features 14 home contests and participation in the 2013 Gotham Classic, where the Bulldogs will host North Dakota State, face Notre Dame and Ohio State on the road and take on the University of Delaware in a marquee matchup on one of basketball's biggest stages — Madison Square Garden.

FROM A LAND DOWN UNDER
Of the 16 players on Bryant's 2013-14 roster, 25 percent of them come to Smithfield from, quite literally, half a world away. Fifth-year senior Claybrin McMath, senior Corey Maynard, redshirt-freshman Declan Soukup and true freshman Bosko Kostur all call Australia home. McMath and Maynard come to Bryant via Adelaide, while the latter two hail from Melbourne.

YOU CAN CALL ME AL
The Bulldogs add a new piece to their coaching staff with the addition of former Boston College and University of Rhode Island head coach Al Skinner, who joins Bryant for his first season as associate head coach in 2013-14. Skinner brings more than 20 years of head coaching experience to the Bryant sideline and will fill the hole left by the departure of assistant Mike Kelly, who has spent the last five seasons with the Bulldogs. A current member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Ethics Coalition, Skinner spent 22 seasons as a head coach at the Division I level, building a 385-291 (.570) career record while guiding his teams to nine NCAA tournament appearances and four conference titles. Named the 2001 National Coach of the Year by Chevrolet/CBS, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the Sporting News and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), he has won conference coach of the year honors three times, including twice during Boston College's BIG EAST tenure. The winningest coach in BC history, Skinner spent 13 seasons at The Heights as the Eagles' bench boss, compiling a 247-165 (.560) record from 1997-2010. He took Boston College to six NCAA tournaments in a seven-year stretch, driving his 2005-06 team all the way to the Sweet Sixteen. Prior to his time at BC, Skinner spent nine seasons at the helm at nearby University of Rhode Island, leading the Rams to a 138-126 (.523) mark and a pair of NCAA tournament berths and two NIT appearances. He was named the Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 1991-92 and was inducted into the University of Rhode Island Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. O'Shea served on both staffs under Skinner, first as an assistant at URI from 1988-97 and again at Boston College from 1997-01 before making his own jump to the head coaching ranks.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
With the addition of Al Skinner to the Bryant bench, the Bulldogs are now one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the nation, boasting 43 years of Division I head coaching experience across three of its coaches. In addition to Skinner's 22 seasons leading Division I programs, head coach Tim O'Shea enters his 13th season in 2013-14, while fellow associate head coach Happy Dobbs has eight years of head coaching experience. More than half of those 43 combined years have been spent at DI programs within the Ocean State's borders, as well, as O'Shea enters his sixth at the helm in Smithfield, Dobbs spent all eight leading intrastate rival Brown from 1991-99, and Skinner spent nine seasons at URI.

FAMILY MATTERS
The 2013-14 Bulldog roster features family ties for a number of players, starting with the  nephew of head coach Tim O'Shea, junior starting guard Joe O'Shea. Redshirt-freshman Andrew Scocca is also not unfamiliar with Bryant or Bulldog Athletics, as older sister Maria graduated from the Smithfield, R.I., school in 2012 after spending four seasons as one of the top volleyball players in Bryant program history. Andrew hopes to rival his sister's success as a Bulldog, as Maria graduated with more than 1300 kills (sixth all-time) and left Bryant as the program's all-time leader in total blocks (546), block assists (465) and blocks per set (1.08).

FAMOUS FAMILY
Bryant sophomore Curtis Oakley has close family ties to the basketball world. Oakley is the nephew of NBA vet Charles Oakley, who played 19 seasons in the pros with five different teams, including 10-straight seasons with the New York Knicks from 1988-98. A 1994 NBA All-Star, Oakley played four years at Virginia Union University and retired from the NBA in 2004, posting career numbers of 9.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while shooting just under 50 percent.


LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Not only is last season's starting point guard and 2013 Bryant graduate Frankie Dobbs returning to the team in 2013-14, he is also joining the family business. Dobbs rejoins the Bulldogs, only this time on the other side of the ball, where he will serve as the team's Director of Basketball Operations. Dobbs, who enters his first season on the coaching staff, is the son of associate head coach Happy Dobbs.

WHERE IN THE WORLD?
The Bulldogs change up the diversity of their personnel once again this season, thanks to the graduation of five seniors and the addition of five new faces. For the first time since 2009-10, Bryant boasts a bit of homegrown talent, as Ocean State native Terrill Toe (Providence, R.I.) joins the squad. Four others — Joe O'Shea (Vermont), Dan Garvin (Connecticut), Tim McKinney (Massachusetts) and Andrew Scocca (Massachusetts) — on the 16-man roster call New England home, and all-in-all, the Bulldog lineup is spread across nine different states and two countries.

Besides neighboring Massachusetts, only New York (Zach Chionuma, Alex Francis) and Ohio (Ellis Williams, Curtis Oakley) contribute a duo of constituents, while the remaining U.S. natives hail from three different states, some farther — Texas (Justin Brickman) and Minnesota (Dyami Starks) — than others, New Jersey (Shane McLaughlin).
And while one quarter of Bryant's 2013-14 roster is made up of international players, all four come from the same country — Australia. Seniors Claybrin McMath and Corey Maynard come to Smithfield from Adelaide, Australia, while redshirt-frosh Declan Soukup made his way to the States from Melbourne at the beginning of last season. This year, Croatian-born Aussie rookie Bosko Kostur joins the mix, arriving in the Ocean State from Melbourne as well.

MEET HEAD COACH TIM O'SHEA
Now in his sixth season at the helm of the Bryant program and entering his 13th year as a head coach in 2013-14, Tim O'Shea (Boston College '84) has ushered in a new era for Bryant basketball, not only leading the Bulldogs through the arduous NCAA reclassification process, but then producing a one-year transformation that will go down in the history books. Following a 2-28 season in 2011-12, Bryant was picked 10th in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll last season, but O'Shea and his Bulldogs served notice to their conference foes with breakthrough non-league wins over Boston College and Lehigh on the road, a threat they would follow through on en route to a second-place league finish. Armed with two impact transfers and a number of talented veterans, O'Shea and his troops earned a national ranking in the Mid-Major Top 25 for seven weeks during the 2012-13 campaign and claimed the No. 4 seed in the NEC Tournament in the program's first year of postseason eligibility. O'Shea garnered much attention after the Bulldogs' historic season and earned three major coaching awards in 2012-13, including the Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year (as voted by league head coaches), College Insider NEC Coach of the Year and Rhode Island Coach of the Year. Before arriving in Smithfield, O'Shea was previously the head coach at Ohio University for seven seasons. He was also an assistant at the University of Rhode Island (1988-1997) and Boston College (1997-2001), his alma mater.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT?
The Bryant men's basketball team will be featured in live national and regional broadcasts 11 times throughout the 2013-14 season. The Bulldogs will see air time on ESPNU at Notre Dame on Dec. 9 and at Robert Morris Jan. 30 (also on ESPN3). The Big Ten Network will carry Bryant's Dec. 11 game at Ohio State, while NEC road matchups against LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 23 (MSG+, Fox College Sports and Cox) and Wagner Feb. 16 (CBS Sports Network) will also air nationally. Bryant's season opener against No. 15 Gonzaga was broacast live on KHQ/Root Sports. Bryant will air five additional home games on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network throughout Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut — Dec. 14 vs. Navy (12:30 p.m.), Dec. 30 vs. Lehigh (7 p.m.), Jan. 16 vs. Sacred Heart (7 p.m.), Jan. 25 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (1:00 p.m.) and Feb. 22 vs. Central Connecticut (4:00 p.m.).

TICKET TO RIDE
Single-game and season ticket packages are still available for the 2013-14 Bryant University men's and women's basketball seasons. Fans can purchase tickets online at bryantbulldogs.com/tickets or by calling the Bryant Athletics Ticket Office at 401-319-TIXX.

CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAME?
Bryant University Athletics and the Northeast Conference have partnered with Pack Network to create NEC Front Row, the home for all NEC men's and women's basketball broadcasts in 2013-14. NEC Front Row brings viewers an industry-leading video streaming solution for more than 100 Bryant University home contests during the 2013-14 athletic seasons, including live, free-of-charge broadcasts of all Bulldog home and in-conference road men's basketball games. Live event productions include multiple camera angles, an on-screen scoreboard and state-of-the-art graphics. Visit necfrontrow.com for more information and a schedule of events.

BRYANT HOOPS ON WOON RADIO
For the sixth-consecutive season, all Bryant University basketball home games and select road contests can be heard LIVE on WOON 1240 AM and online at bryantbulldogs.com. Veteran sportscaster Jon Wallach of 98.5 FM The Sports Hub Boston returns to call the action as the voice of the Bulldogs, alongside color analyst Tristan Hobbes.