Purchase College Athletics

The first Panther program to ever make the NCAA Tournament. During the campaign, the Blue and Orange finished with an overall record of 20-9 and a 14-6 mark in Skyline Conference games to secure the No.3 in the Skyline Playoffs.

From there, the Panthers topped No.6 Yeshiva University in the quarterfinals at home (72-57) for their first-ever Skyline playoff win.

Then it was off to the races, as the squad bested No.2 St. Joseph's University (College)-Long Island (66-59), before cruising past the No.1-seed, The College at Old Westbury, in the title game, 92-79.

The championship came just two years after the Blue and Orange went 3-22 overall and 2-16 in the conference.
 

Following the title, first-ballot Purchase College Hall of Famer, #5 Marvin Billups '11, was named the Skyline Conference Tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Additionally, he was named the Skyline's overall Player of the Year too, after averaging a conference-best 20.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game over 29 contests.

Other accolades for Billups on the year included: All-Metropolitan Basketball Writers Associtation (MBWA) First Team, D3Hoops All-Atlantic First Team and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Star First Team.

As for the rest of the Panthers, they collected recognition after recognition during the breakout season. These achievements included:

• Head Coach Jeff Charney being named D3Hoops All-Atlantic and All-Metropolitan Basketball Writers Associtation (MBWA) DIII Coach of the Year
• Corey Orgias '11 being named to the All-Skyline Second Team after averaging 13.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game
• Highest scoring team in the Skyline Conference per game (77.3)
• Four players averaged double figures (Billups - 20.3, Orgias - 13.1, Michael McNair '11 - 11.3 and Charles Thompson '11 - 11.3)
• Top Sixth Man in the conference (McNair)
• Conference leader in steals (Justin Walters '11 with 71)
• Countless weekly awards from the Skyline

The season is well remembered in Purchase and Skyline history, as the breakout campaign came seemingly out of nowhere.

The Panthers entered the 2009-10 season as the fourth favorite in the conference, and even after the regular season concluded, Charney's peers did not select his as the Skyline Coach of the Year despite the major turnaround.

Charney and the players got the last laugh though. In the end, the squad will always have the distinction of being the first Purchase program to participate in an NCAA Tournament.

Following the season, no one knew if the success was going to continue either, making it that much more fun to witness. Sure, the core squad was made up of juniors, but nothing is ever guaranteed in the world of athletics.

Luckily for the Panthers, the success did continue. In fact, it grew even larger the following season.