It wasn’t a sign of the apocalypse, but for most fans it certainly felt that way.

After Binghamton’s loss to Division II St. Rose, the Zoo has a right to be discouraged about the season’s prospects. To put it in perspective, though, consider this: Iona College, a team that advanced to the NCAA tournament last year, lost to Division III Rhode Island College on Friday and is still expected to be a contender for the MAAC title this season. Last season, the storied Princeton Tigers lost to D-III Carnegie Mellon and still finished second in the Ivy. And of course, we can look at our own history: the Bearcats lost to St. Rose two years ago, and still managed to advance to the America East semifinal that year. Saturday was just a meaningless scrimmage, and I’ll keep telling myself that as many times as it takes to stay sane.

Don’t we have enough reasons to hate Albany? Of course not. Albany head coach Will Brown coached at St. Rose from 1995 to 1998.

Marvin Lee, at 6-foot-2, got the start over 6-foot-8 Lazar Trifunovic at the wing position. Lee played well on defense, grabbing four boards and two steals, but was a no-show on offense. In the second half, Walker went with an even smaller lineup, playing 6-foot Mike Gordon and Rich Forbes alongside 6-foot-1 Troy Hailey, and frankly, I don’t blame him. Gordon, Forbes and Hailey look like the best three players on the floor so far, but they still couldn’t get it done against St. Rose. It would be great to see Lazar get significant minutes this season — he may be able to contribute immediately against taller teams.

Rich Forbes was incredibly quick getting to the basket, but when too many defenders collapsed on him, he had trouble taking a good shot. One-on-one, Forbes is the guy you want driving, but against St. Rose’s zone early in the game he had some trouble — leading to three turnovers in the first half. Forbes’ fourth turnover — with the score tied and four seconds left — set up St. Rose to win the game.

And not that the Bearcats should only be taking shots from 28 feet away, but where’s the three-point shooting? In the two exhibition contests, Binghamton shot .171 from beyond the arc. That has to improve, especially with the Bearcats’ abundance of inexperienced players in the paint. A good zone will absolutely kill the Bearcats unless they can stretch the court with some outside shooting.

There’s no reason to ever shout an insult at a Binghamton player. They work for hours every day in preparation for the game. The Zoo is intended to throw opponents off their game, not Binghamton. It’s OK to think that a certain player (or entire team) isn’t pulling his weight, but show him more respect than a game-time taunting.

For that matter, there’s no reason to curse at the refs. Yeah, it’s a college basketball game, but there are still families in attendance. Newsflash: community members, not BU students, are the reason we fill up the Events Center and host conference tournaments. We’re the model for the conference to follow, and don’t kid yourself, that’s not because a few hundred students show up to the games — it’s because of the community support. Boo and insult the refs all you want, but when you curse, Binghamton suffers.

Disgusted with Saturday’s basketball game, I thought about giving the team the silent treatment in this column and instead focusing on the men’s soccer team’s America East title, but decided against it. That being said, the soccer team deserves major praise — for its attitude as much as for its accomplishments. When I asked how it felt to play in four straight AE championships, midfielder Bryan Arnault replied, “I would like to have won four. Two wins are great, especially as the first one and the last one of my career. The two in the middle were very disappointing.” This was right after winning a championship, and Arnault still wishes he had more rings. That attitude is why these guys win championships and will continue to do so.