Controversy swirled around the Binghamton University men’s basketball team this summer, and not only because of former center Miladin Kovacevic.

Head coach Kevin Broadus’s second recruiting class has people talking — and not just people around the America East Conference. ESPN.com writer Andy Katz wrote about Binghamton’s recruits in a July article in which rival AE coaches said they would not take chances on recruits like Broadus has. In a later ESPN article, writer Andy Glockner questioned Binghamton’s “open-door policy” in a section entitled, “What is Binghamton doing?”

For Broadus, however, there is merely excitement at having his talented recruits at Binghamton to begin preseason workouts. There’s Tiki Mayben, a prodigious passer who once committed to play for Syracuse University, and played at UMass and Hudson Valley Community College before BU. Point guard Malik Alvin was a standout freshman at the University of Texas at El Paso before spending a year at junior college. Athletic forward Theo Davis committed to play at Texas and Iowa State Universities and played as a freshman at Gonzaga University. Guard D.J. Rivera was St. Joseph’s best defender before leaving for Binghamton. These players, along with Shawn Hilliard, Sean Watson, Mahamoud Jabbi and Kyrie Sutton, comprise Broadus’ talented recruiting class — and a near complete overhaul of last season’s roster.

So what is the media fuss all about? Well, years ago Mayben was kicked off his high school team and didn’t qualify academically for Syracuse. Davis was arrested for marijuana possession at GU. Rivera was briefly suspended for academics at St. Joe’s.

But Broadus, who is known for his loyalty to his players, pointed out that most of his recruits do not deserve their reputation.

“What has Malik done other than be a good basketball player?” Broadus asked. “What has Shawn done other than be a good basketball player? Everybody talks about Tiki Mayben. Tiki has never done anything another student athlete hasn’t done. Theo Davis has one hiccup in his life and that will bother him for the rest of his life. College students do these things. I’m not saying that that’s right, but they do, and you just have to learn from your mistakes.”

Broadus thinks that his players will be good citizens and good students at BU this year.

“If they want to be at Binghamton, as long as I’m coach, they will be,” Broadus said.

Another concern is his team’s chemistry. Despite the talented newcomers, there are only so many minutes to go around. Broadus will also face the unenviable task of working Davis into the lineup in December (Davis must sit out until the end of the first semester in order to comply with NCAA transfer rules). How will he preempt the chemistry issues? By “putting my foot down from day one,” he said.

“I don’t have time to baby them. These are grown men. I know everyone has egos but in our locker room it says, ‘Check your ego at the door.’”

As for his returning players, Broadus is looking to his trio of seniors — Jaan Montgomery, Dwayne Jackson and Reggie Fuller — for leadership.

The America East has seen teams who gave players second chances fail (Hartford under former coach Larry Harrison) and succeed (UMBC in the 2007-08 season). The Bearcats, who will play a Big East team (Rutgers) and a Conference USA team (Tulane) this season, will find out quickly that once the ball is tipped off in November, reputations — good or bad — do not matter when it comes to winning games.