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Good morning everyone! Our media days keep rolling. Let’s get right to the news!

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1. Notables from America East media day

We covered our second media day of the preseason with the America East conference on Monday.

The league has all nine coaches back — a rarity — so there’s continuity in that aspect. However, there’s still a lot of new faces in the conference with just three players returning from last year’s all-conference teams.

Enjoy the full livestream above if you haven’t seen it, but below we’ll have some quotes and notables from the five-hour media day show.

Be sure to also read Andrew Schaeffer’s preview of the conference, which includes projected lineups, team strengths/weaknesses, roster turnover, and the league standings and all-conference team from the America East.

• Vermont head coach John Becker on returner/first-teamer Gus Yalden: “He learned a lot last year. He understands to be able to play as hard defensively as we’re gonna demand here, and the role he has in our offense, he needed to be in better shape. He’s done a good job of that. We’re pushing for consistency day-to-day, and he continues to have some ups and downs, but we’re continuing to get him to be consistent.”

• UMBC HC Jim Ferry on Rider transfer Flash Burton: “A lot of my friends in the Metro believe he’s a perfect fit. The way my guards play, the system we run, the player development, the fluidity, we’re more of a conceptual offense and that’s gonna help Flash get better and get to the next step. When I’ve had guards like this, we’ve been pretty good.”

• Binghamton HC Levell Sanders on returners Jeremiah Quigley and Demetrius Lilley: “It feels good to have two guys of their caliber coming back. It’s interesting because Demetrius didn’t get the chance to play in the league last year and Jeremiah did really well. They have an opportunity to be very good in this conference.”

• NJIT HC Grant Billmeier on returner and first-teamer David Bolden: “We believe he can make a major jump from Year 1 to Year 2, similar to the way Tariq Francis did for us. Dave knows the ball’s going to be in his hands. This is a really hard school to get upperclass transfers in. I told him he’s the guy and he can’t afford to have a bad practice this year.”  

• Bryant HC Jamion Christian on differences in building rosters in today’s climate: “The money changes things in terms of how people are responding to money. College basketball is better because of the money. The top teams are more established and more experienced and the players are better now because the money is a main stay to keep them.”

• Albany HC Dwayne Killings on transfer guard Ollie Englen: “Ollie’s such a competitive kid. We needed a kid that has experience, hungry to win, and has been well coached. He’s a talented point guard. Queens won a lot of games. He’s a three level scorer, leader, super driven, and one of the hardest working players in our program.”

• UMass Lowell Pat Duquette on Austin Green’s eligibility: “I had no idea that he had any chance to be eligible, and we didn’t plan that way. We gave it a minimal chance at best. He was part of one of the court cases, and he’s currently eligible. There’s still two to three steps that need to happen between now and the start of the season. There’s still a big level of uncertainty.”

2. Four-star guard Jason Gardner Jr. chooses Auburn

Auburn and Steven Pearl are on the board in the 2027 class, adding four-star point guard Jason Gardner Jr. on Monday.

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