Thank goodness! AE fans have finally stopped dreaming. I almost thought I was going crazy. Hartford sitting at 4-2 and having a chance to fight for the conference? It had to be another dimension. Finally, I / we AE fans have snapped out of it...WITH A THUD! In two games, Hartford has shown us that it's three game winning streak and strong start was a fluke. I don't like bashing on teams. I was kind of hoping Hartford would prove myself and others wrong, but that clearly is not the case. The main reason? The continued use of a flawed offensive plan.

Any progress this team was making came to a streaking halt tonight down on Long Island. After going 4 for 21 from three-point range against Boston the game before, the game plan was exactly the same for the Hawks against Stony Brook. The exact same result happened. They shot 3 for 20 from three point range. Nearly 48% of the shots taken by Hartford tonight were behind the arc. This season, Hartford has taken 482 three point attempts. They are shooting only 30% from that range. While fans of the AE have stepped out of the crazy dimension that made us think Hartford could contend for something, the Hawks continue to sit in a dimension that allows them to think they can win by shooting as many three-pointers as possible.

Coming into tonight, Hartford had taken just over 20 more three point attempts than the team behind them, BU. UAlbany sat just shy of 30 attempts behind Hartford in 3rd. OK, no big deal. The problem is that UAlbany is third in the conference in three point percentage and BU is fifth. Hartford sits 8th, only in front of Binghamton, who coming into the night was the only team to not even reach 300 attempts. Which means, Hartford is dead last in the conference in three point percentage in teams that have shot over 300 attempts. CAN WE PAINT THE PICTURE ANY CLEARER?

Please Hartford, US AE FANS BEG YOU, come back to reality. Come up with a new system. We want to see you successful. You will not be if you continue with the same strategy night in and night out.

To quote one of my favorite movies of all-time, Major League 2: "We won a game yesterday. We win won today, that’s two in a row. We win won tomorrow it’s called a winning streak. IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE." Well, the Hartford Hawks are on a winning streak. YUP, I'M NOT SAYING THAT WRONG...THE HARTFORD HAWKS ARE ON A WINNING STREAK. Yes, two of the games have come against the bottom of the AE barrel (UMBC and winless Binghamton). However, after last night’s amazing defensive performance by the Hawks, one has to think that maybe the Scarlett and White Nation is starting to get things together. They have won 4 of 5 and sit at a respectable 4-2 in the conference. For a team that is 300+ nationally in scoring, the Hawks have shot over 45% in these past three games, including 51% from the field in the last two. All I can say is...

On this three game winning streak, Hartford has won because of defense. None of their opponents have scored over 60 points. It is a scary thought they were able to hold a nationally Top 100 scoring team (Maine) to only 49 points. Even more impressive is that it was done on the road. That is also vital for Hartford. Two of the three wins have come on the road.

Senior Genesis Maciel has been important for Hartford in these last three games. After missing five-games due to injury (including the first two conference games), Maciel has scored 26 points. He seems to be a solid addition to go with Mark Nwakamma in the paint. At the same time, Wes Cole continues to show he will be a scorer in this league. As a freshman, he has now scored double digit points in five out of six conference games.

The real test for Hartford comes in the next three games. No bottom teams in this stretch. They will take on Boston at home, travel down to Stony Brook and then take on UAlbany at home. Is this run a fluke? We will clearly know after these next three games. Can’t believe I am saying this…GET READY FOR SOME HARTFORD BASKETBALL!

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Welcome! It's breakout week at UnrankedAE, America's latest and greatest America East basketball fan blog. To kick things off, this week we're going roll out our top five "breakout candidates" for the upcoming year.

It's fitting (for promotional reasons, at least) that our first look is to a point guard from Puerto Rico. Why? Because as you may have inferred by the tagline to the right ("Jose Juan Barea was here"), this allows us to plug the league's most famous (and only) current NBA player: the lovable JJ Barea. While he didn't even complete his career in the America East (Northeastern switched to the CAA for his senior year) and he wasn't even the league's best player during that time (that'd be Monseigneur Taylor Coppenrath), but that's not going to stop us from pushing him as an ambassador for the small in stature, but lion-hearted league that we adore.

Back to the Puerto Rican this column is actually about: Andres Torres (but first another side note: 2010-11 AE POY John Holland played for Puerto Rico over the summer.. huh?). Torres missed the entirety of last season with a knee injury, but even while being kept off the court, he was reputed to be the vocal leader of the team. He's back at full strength for another shot at his senior year, and with super-super senior Joe Zeglinski finally departed (along four other key graduations), Torres will be relied on heavily in his senior year.

More on Torres after the jump

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