Bryant’s players-only meeting sparked 4-0 start to America East play

After landing from Phoenix following a 112-66 loss to Grand Canyon in the final game of non-conference play, the Bryant Bulldogs called a players-only meeting.

Star guard Earl Timberlake started his career at Miami, then played at Memphis, and is now in his third year at Bryant, so it wasn’t his first time in one of those meetings, but this one was different.

“There was no pointing fingers,” Timberlake told Mid-Major Madness. “Everybody took everything on the chin. Nobody beat around the bush. We talked like men and just laid it on the line.”

“I would say that’s probably the best (players-only meeting I’d been in),” starting forward Connor Withers told Mid-Major Madness. “Nobody took anything personally. We all respect each other.”

For a variety of reasons, including not being fully healthy throughout December, Bryant had lost four in a row to close out the calendar year, including close losses to Towson and Fordham. Since then, the Bulldogs have ripped off four wins in a row by double digits to start America East play. Head coach Phil Martelli Jr. has Bryant in first place in America East, having defeated the three other teams projected to finish in the top four, including eight-time reigning champion Vermont.

But Martelli isn’t quite impressed yet.

“We’ve done what good teams are supposed to do,” Martelli told Mid-Major Madness. “We’ve won on our home court. The last time I checked, they don’t give out trophies on Jan. 18. We don’t cut down the nets on Jan. 18.”

So what has been the catalyst for Bryant’s dynamic start to conference play? One that has it sitting atop the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency a quarter of the way through the slate? One that has vaulted them from outside the top 200 in KenPom to just outside the top 150 in just two weeks?

The Bulldogs are a uniquely built team at the mid-major level, starting five players at 6-foot-5 or taller — led by Timberlake, who functions as the team’s point guard.

He’s averaging 16.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, something only matched in Division I by Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Cooper Flagg (Duke) and Brooks Barnhizer (Northwestern).

“Everybody (at our level) has the 6-foot-1 two-guard and the 6-foot-4 four-man,” Martelli said. “If we can go and get somebody from the levels we’ve gotten them from, you’re looking at a 6-foot-5 wing, or a 6-foot-7 four-man. That gives us an advantage at our level, because our guy…