Final Chapter to a Sorry Saga for Binghamton Basketball

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

By in large, the basketball teams that comprise the America East Conference aren’t the ones typically associated with the pageantry and lore that come with major college basketball programs.

I wouldn’t go as far as former Vermont head coach and current ESPN analyst Tom Brennan did when he referred to the conference as a sort of “mom-and-pop shop” operation, but I think we can all agree on the fact that no team in the America East will vie for blue chip recruits or make a run to the Final Four here anytime soon.

With this in mind, America East teams have certain expectations that, if met, can be barometers of success for a given program. Traditionally, these are things like graduation rates, well-rounded student-athletes, and maybe a conference championship here or there.

Since only a small percentage of America East players go on to play professionally, the emphasis on academics and character is valued very highly in the conference’s member schools.

Sure, every America East team wants that coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament, but for the longest time, it was understood among the conference’s athletic departments that the values of scholarship and integrity could not be compromised in order to achieve that kind of success. You want to win? Then do it the right way.

However, in a matter of a couple of years, many of these core values were abandoned by a single America East program: the Binghamton Bearcats.

Having just made the jump to Division-I athletics a few years ago, Binghamton was looking to build a flourishing athletic program at a school widely considered to be the “crown jewel of the SUNY system,” and the way they saw fit to accomplish this goal was through their basketball program.

In came a sparkling new arena and a renewed sense of optimism with the arrival of a new coach, Kevin Broadus. This was where the rise to prominence began, but also where any sense of reason or proper judgment got derailed. 

Broadus began to stockpile problematic players with dubious backgrounds: transfers with serious academic issues, recruits with police records, and virtually anything in between. Rather predictably, the environment that Broadus fostered with his basketball program began to clash with the long-established culture at a school that prided itself on academics above all else.

Embarrassing scandals ranging from bar fights to condom theft and assault involving Bearcat basketball players began to make front-page news. Yet, despite all of this, the team was winning and the vision of Binghamton becoming an athletic force was fully realized with an America East basketball championship last season.

This past week, though, all of the shortcuts that Binghamton took to achieve this success came back to haunt them in the form of one of their star players, Tiki Mayben, who was arrested for distributing crack cocaine.

Mayben’s arrest has set off a media firestorm that compelled Broadus to release six players from the team for conduct detrimental to the school and the program. Among them are Mayben, D.J. Rivera (Binghamton’s star player), Malik Alvin (the condom thief), Corey Chandler, Paul Crosby and David Fine.

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