Five semi-useful things to know: Manhattan

1.) Manhattan is 0-2, with losses to a pair of pretty good teams in Louisville and Harvard. The Jaspers, who return all five starters from last year’s team that went 21-13 under then-rookie head coach Steve Masiello, were picked to finish second in the MAAC in the preseason coaches’ poll. Manhattan should get a big boost tonight with the return of reigning MAAC scoring champion George Beamon, who missed the first two games of the season with an ankle injury.

2.) Manhattan is Hofstra’s most frequent non-conference foe, by far. This is the 61st all-time meeting between the teams dating all the way back to the second game of Hofstra’s second season in 1937-38, the third-most games Hofstra has played against any opponent behind just Delaware and Drexel. Manhattan leads the series 38-22 and beat the Dutchmen 68-59 at Hofstra last year. This is the seventh straight year the two teams have met, which makes it Hofstra’s longest active non-conference series.

3.) Manhattan is the only MAAC school Hofstra is scheduled to face this year, the first time since 2005-06 the Dutchmen have faced only one MAAC foe. That year, the Dutchmen actually weren’t scheduled to face anyone from the MAAC but drew Siena in the Bracketbuster. Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about THAT anymore!

4.) This is a dangerous game for the Dutchmen, who are justifiably feeling pretty good about themselves after stunningly winning three games in as many days at home last weekend. Manhattan is in the spot the Dutchmen were in just five days ago—0-2 and mad—and Mo Cassara recognized on Sunday the task ahead of the Dutchmen tonight.

“They’re 0-2 sitting on us, just like we were 0-2 sitting on South Dakota State,” Cassara said. “So they’re going to be hungry.”

5.) The Dutchmen unveiled a pretty sturdy eight-man rotation against Marshall on Sunday, when Jimmy Hall, David Imes. Moussa Kone, Stevie Mejia, Shaq Stokes and reserves Taran Buie and Stephen Nwaukoni combined to play 186 of 200 minutes in regulation before Kentrell Washington provided some much-needed depth (and free throws) in the second overtime. Washington looks to have settled into a reliable role as a backup guard-of-all-trades, so it’ll be interesting to see if Jordan Allen, who played just nine minutes on Sunday, gets more time and if Dallas Anglin, who recorded the first DNP-CD of his career, gets another shot to find his, uhh, shot.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.