The hardest thing about being a critic is admitting when you are wrong. Ladies and gentlemen, on Saturday I was humbled by the Binghamton University men’s basketball team’s victory over Rutgers. Even before the season began, I stated that Coach Kevin Broadus’ new recruits could either spell disaster or phenomenon for the Bearcats. Personally, as the kind of cynic that I am, I thought the outcome of this year would be bad, but you can’t complain about a 4-2 record.

Does anyone realize that D.J. Rivera accumulated 23 points in just 26 minutes against the Scarlet Knights? Then there is Malik Alvin, who after being the butt end of every condom and Wal-Mart joke in the book by sports fans and bloggers alike, put the drama aside and played as if nothing had ever happened. He gathered 14 points in his debut game against Utah Valley and amassed 17 in the game against Bucknell.

We’ve got some talent on this team that if put together in the right way can make the magic happen on the court. With Sean Watson and Chretien Lukusa hopefully coming back, we could be seeing better things happen. One thing I am happy to see improve from last year is the team’s performance in the second half. They are not having games where they take a decent lead in the first half and blow it away in the second.

The Bearcats added their second win of last season playing against George Washington. Many people say that the game against Rutgers was something like the GW game, but I say no to that. The game against the Scarlet Knights was definitely no fluke. For starters, we beat them in their own house, and we kept a steady pace ahead of them. This is something that I would expect to see more in the future. Ever since Alvin got back onto the team, we have won three straight games. Something tells me that game is just a preview of good things to come.

Now all they have to do is keep up the good work and not fall behind. Consistency is what we like to call it — something that the team did not have last season. It’s still very early to tell how this team will fare, I mean, they’ve only played six games. However this time last year the Bearcats were 1-7. I hope that when I come back from the winter break, the Bearcats will be able keep their record at least above .500.

To the team, I say keep up the great work, guys. You are definitely exceeding my expectations.