Around the MAAC: Previewing Opening Weekend's Games

Vermont at Loyola (Md.), 7 PM Friday Anthony Winbush won't have it easy against Marqus Blakely, one of the best mid-major hoopers in the country. If unconfined, Blakely is capable of controlling a game from the post. The Catamounts lost two of their top three 2008-09 scorers to graduation, giving the offensive advantage to Jamal Barney and the Greyhounds, whose offensive attack will revolve around the perimeter, where Blakely cannot alter shots. Expect this to be a close game, but Loyola should emerge victorious.   St. Peter's at Seton Hall, 7 PM Friday The Peacocks are primed for a solid season, but Jeremy Hazell, Robert Mitchell, Eugene Harvey, and John Garcia will be too much for Ryan Bacon, Wesley Jenkins, and Nick Leon to handle. A Seton Hall blowout seems to be looming.   Central Connecticut State at Fairfield, 7:30 PM Friday Both of these programs have been bitten deeply by the injury bug. Voted the MAAC's fourth-best team by conference coaches, Fairfield will be ... (link)