Inexperience Proves Valuable

The UMBC Retrievers have nine new faces this year, yet they find themselves atop the America East standings early in the season with a 7-2 mark. They are the most inexperienced team in the conference, but UMBC SID Jessica Bernheim was curious how the Retrievers stacked up in that category with other Division I teams. With a little research and a little help from other Division I SIDs, Jessica came up with the following lists:

Least years of experience (Seniors have three years, juniors have two years, sophomore have one):
1. Tennessee-Martin 5
T2. Idaho 6
T2. San Jose State 6
T4. Tennessee 7
T4. Illinois 7
6. UMBC 8
7. Elon 9
T8. Central Arkansas 11
T8. Arkansas 11
T8. UCF 11
T11. Georgetown 14
T11. Nicholls 14

Most underclassmen (sophomores and freshmen):
1. BYU 14
2. UMBC 13
T3. Elon 12
T3. Northeastern 12
T3. UCF 12
6. Tennessee 11
T7. Green Bay 10
T7. McNeese 10

Surprisingly, little more than half of these teams, including UMBC, have a record of .500 or above and combined these 16 teams have a winning percentage of .503.

The Retrievers put their five-game win streak on the line tonight at James Madison after a 10 day break for final exams. UMBC is the only team in action tonight.