Breakout Week! Rob Mansell of the Binghamton Bearcats

In the third installment of our Breakout Week! feature I’ll be taking a look at Binghamton’s sophomore guard Robert Mansell.

    The younger brother of former Rider Broncs Harris and Patrick Mansell (Harris was quite the player, leading the nation in 3-point FG% in 2006-07) , the 6’4" guard out of Cheltenham High (PA) was the first recruit brought on board by coach Mark Macon after the tumultuous Kevin Broadus Era. However, Mansell was not only the first of Macon‘s recruits, he was also routinely the first man off Macon’s bench, and even earned starts late in the year. Among those starts were two America East Tournament games. The freshman responded by averaging 7.5 points on 50% shooting. Perhaps most important is the fact that he committed just one turnover in 54 minutes between those two games, which was in stark contrast to earlier in the year when he had 5 turnovers in just 8 minutes against LaSalle and 7 turnovers in 19 minutes versus UMBC. It’s that type of improvement and increased level of comfort with the ball in his hands that one likes (and needs) to see from a frosh as the year progresses.

More on Mansell after the jump

    Throughout the season, and despite four seniors (Greer Wright, Moussa Camara, Mahamoud Jabbi and Chretien Lukusa) averaging 25+ minutes per game, Mansell managed to make his presence known when he saw the court as he finished third amongst all Bearcats in %Poss at 20.8. While it‘s encouraging to see a freshman that involved, what he did with those possessions tended to be a mixed bag. At times he looked good; showing he was capable of hitting from beyond the arc or attacking the basket and getting to the line. Conversely, he was prone to freshman faults like silly travel calls and poor shot selection, resulting in a putrid ORtg of 78.8. For comparison‘s sake, let’s look at Vermont’s Brendan Bald and his freshmen KenPom stat-line next to Mansell’s:

    Very similar across the board. Will Mansell be able to step up his game the same way Bald did? The opportunity will certainly be there with nearly 70% of last year’s scoring gone and more newcomers (nine) than returnees, of which Mansell is just one of seven. There are few options for the Bearcats to rely upon as go-to scorers and I presume Mansell is the man to benefit greatest due to the loss of the aforementioned seniors and the overall inexperience of this year’s Bearcats…who are about as "green" as their road jerseys.