Staten Island, NY - The Wagner men's basketball recently wrapped up a highly successful first season under head coach Dan Hurley. After being selected to finish 11th in the preseason poll the Seahawks were league's biggest surprise, ascending to the sixth spot before losing to two-time defending NEC Champion Robert Morris by a scant four points in the NEC Quarterfinals. Here are some of the highlights from Hurley's first year on Grymes Hill.

NOTES
• Finished with a 13-17 record, including a 9-9 mark during league play after going just 5-26 and 3-15 in the NEC a year ago.

• Dan Hurley led the Seahawks to an eight-win improvement from a year ago, ranking first among 58 first-year coaches.

• In the National Rankings, Wagner improved by 100 spots in seven different categories (scoring offense, field-goal percentage, field-goal percentage defense, three-point field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists per game and turnover margin).

• The biggest jump however was in free-throw percentage where Wagner ranked seventh nationally with a NEC-best 77.2 percent conversion rate after ranking 321st a year ago at 62.0 percent.

• The Seahawks led the league in three-point field-goal percentage, ranking 55th nationally with a 37.1 percent conversion rate and were above 40.0 percent for two-thirds of the year.

• The Green & White also led the league in blocked shots per game, finishing up with 4.0 each time out while ranking 91st in the nation.

• Wagner had arguably the most difficult non-conference schedule of any NEC team, playing seven games on the road - including six-straight at one point.

• Also among the non-conference opposition were six teams that advanced to postseason play; Bucknell (NCAA), St. John's (NCAA), Saint Peter's (NCAA), Princeton (NCAA), Texas A&M (NCAA) and Hofstra (CBI). Wagner bested Bucknell while losing games to St. John's, Saint Peter's, Princeton and Hofstra by an average of just over six points per game. All six of those teams also won at least 20 games.

• Highlighted in the Seahawks' impressive non-conference season was wins over Stony Brook, and Bucknell while avenging a pair of 24-point losses to the teams from a year ago. Wagner also enacted revenge against a Lafayette team that advanced to the Patriot League finals and beat the Green & White by nine in the 2009-2010 season opener.

• The 77-73 victory over Bucknell was arguably the most impressive by a NEC team all season as the Bison would go on to win 23 of their next 25 games en route to the Patriot League Championship before losing to eventual National Champion UConn. The Seahawks were also the only team to defeat Bucknell at home during the 2010-2011 season as the Bison went 14-1 at Sojka Pavilion.

• Wagner swept the season series from defending NEC Regular Season Champion and preseason pick Quinnipiac. The Seahawks also bested two-time defending NEC Champion Robert Morris and narrowly lost to eventual NEC Champion Long Island in overtime.

• The Green & White, along with Mount St. Mary's, had arguably the toughest conference schedule, playing six of the other seven playoff teams twice - including four of the top-five teams.

• The Seahawks went 3-1 in overtimes games, all of which occurred during NEC-play.

• Freshman Latif Rivers began the season with the game-winning three pointer in Wagner's 63-58 win over Lafayette in the season opener. For his efforts, the smooth-shooting freshman earned Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week accolades. The award was the first of his school-record six first-year citations, breaking the previous school-record of four accomplished by Art Redmond (1981-1982), Terrance Bailey (1983-1984), Miladin Mutavdzic (1991-1992) and Ryan Reed (1995-1996).

• Rivers would go on to average 13.9 points per game (13th NEC) while shooting a NEC-best 89.1 percent from the free throw line. He also added 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game en route to NEC All-Rookie Team honors.

• Junior Tyler Murray finished third in the NEC in scoring (16.9 ppg) while recording 4.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists (13th NEC) and 1.3 steals per game (t-13th NEC) en route to First Team All-NEC honors. One the league's top threats from beyond the arc, he ranked third (41.5 percent) in the NEC while draining 2.0 triples per game (9th NEC). Murray also ranked sixth in free throw percentage (.828) and paced the squad in scoring a team-best 17 times. He also notched double-digits 29 times - including 20 points on nine occasions.

• Murray's scoring total jumped over eight points per game from a year ago and the Canadian native earned his first career Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week accolade after averaging 24.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 3.0 apg per game while shooting 56.8 percent from the floor, including 68.4 percent from beyond the arc and 82.6 percent from the line in helping the Seahawks start the year off 4-0 during conference play.

• Wagner began the year 4-0 in the NEC after going just 3-15 a year ago. The Seahawks were also 10-7 in games decided by five points or less, including 7-4 during NEC play.

• Junior Chris Martin ranked fourth in the league in three point percentage at 41.0 percent after shooting just 34.4 percent as a sophomore. He also handed out 3.7 assists per game (9th NEC) with a 1.3 assist-to-turnover rate, compared with 1.5 assists per game and a 0.6 assist-to-turnover rate in 2009-2010. He also averaged 9.8 points per game, ranking third on the team and 30th in the NEC.

• Freshman Orlando Parker finished second in the league in field goal percentage (.528) while also averaging 7.5 points and a team-leading 4.9 rebounds (20th NEC) per game. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor on two occasions (Saint Peter's, SFNY) and scored a career-high 16 polnts in the NEC Tournament at Robert Morris.

• Classmate Naofall Folahan was second in the league with 1.5 blocks per game while also averaging 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. The highlight of his season came when he scored a career-high 19 points, on 6-of-8 shooting, against eventual Ivy League champion Princeton. On the strength of that performance, Folahan claimed Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week honors.

• Each member of the freshmen trio of Rivers, Parker and Folahan started at least 27 games.

• Wagner returns all five starters (Murray, Martin, Rivers, Parker, Folahan) in 2011-2012 and nine letterwinners (Josh Thompson, Danny Mundweiler, Ryan Schrotenboer, Brett Stewart).

• Thompson was a highly effective sixth man, averaging 7.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, highlighted a career-best 24 points in Wagner's 15-point win over Albany.

• Wagner also welcomes Southern Mississippi transfer Kenny Ortiz as well as incoming freshmen Marcus Burton and Mario Moody to the fold.

• The Seahawks finished up with a RPI of 170 after posting a 333 RPI a year ago, jumping up 163 spots from a year ago.

• For video highlights of the returners click on each of their player bio pages.