I heard that WPI had to return the DCU floor but that they have rented a much better court from a company based out of Ohio.  The court was supposeduly installed Monday so it will be good to go for this weekend and the NEWMAC tourney. 

WPI also seems to be hitting stride at the right time as they are playing extremely well on both ends of the floor.  MIT looked terrible last week and held Jimmy B in check for much of the game until WPI put their subs in.  I think that WPI is definitely the favorite in the NEWMAC tourney if they continue to play well but as we saw last year its all about who gets hot at the right time. Should be another awesome tourney this year.

Congratulations to Ryan Cain for winning the Josten's Trophy this year.  He has worked very hard on the court and off the court and I am very happy for him to be recognized for all his hard work.  WPI will truly miss him in many ways and it has been a pleasure watching him play. 

Just wanted to revisit my picks from Valentines Day.

POY - Cain -  WPI
FOY - Bracht - MIT
COY - Brennan - Babson

1ST Team
Cain-WPI
Bartlotta-MIT
Prebeck-Coast Guard
Etten-Babson
Coleman-WPI

2ND TEAM
Sowers - CGA
Zukowski - Wheaton
Pizzo - Springfield
Bracht - MIT
Bourque - WPI

__________________________________________


Overall I think I did pretty good for myself.  Cain did end up winning POY very deservingly (despite what Clarkie and hugenerd might think).  The coaches did a very good job of realizing who the best players were in the conference and I was impressed that there was a representative from every team. 



Here are the actual selections
POY - Cain -  WPI
FOY - Bracht - MIT
COY - Brennan - Babson

1ST Team
Cain-WPI
Bartlotta-MIT
Prebeck-Coast Guard
Etten-Babson
Coleman-WPI

2ND TEAM
Sowers - CGA
Zukowski - Wheaton
Gibbs - Springfield
Bracht - MIT
Alexander - Clark


I feel happy with my predictions by getting all three of the major awards, the whole first team, and 3 out of 5 on the second team correct.  Congratulations to all these players and there are only 2 seniors on this list so I look forward to watching all of these players battle for the next few years!!!

Ryan Cain will be a huge loss to the WPI program and I fully realize that.  However, they are still very good at every other position and I'm sure that Coach Bartley will have someone ready to step in.  They won't be able to replace all that Ryan Cain does on the court but I think that the guys at the other positions are very good and they will find other ways to hurt you.  I think that they will be much more of an inside team next year and not rely on as much outside shooting. 

I also agree that it would be good for the league to be overall much better.  This year no one really gives WPI credit because they "haven't played anyone".  Next year it will be good for the entire conference if they are all good and I think that you are right about MIT and Babson.  Next year seems wide open and it should make for some very entertaining basketball games.

with that said....Coast Guard will be very good again next year with all the players they have coming back especially if Craig Johnson comes back.  WPI is also only losing Ryan Cain as the lone senior so the battles between these two teams should be very interesting next year again. 

no he was guarding Grant Johnson most of the game.  He is a very smart defender and knows how to get around picks.  He plays good deny defense and even though he doesn't have a lot of defensive statistics but he is still one of the leagues better defenders.

Sowers played unbelievable today and Blum came off the bench and showed that he could score around the basket.  I didn't realize how many big bodies coast guard had (Blum, Burgess, Prebeck and one other kid saw a few mins) and that proved to be the difference.  WPI only has a 7 man rotation and they got hurt today when they got in foul trouble. 

It has baffled me how Coast Guard struggled so much in the conference play because I always thought they were the 2nd or 3rd best team is this conference.  Maybe they are just finally clicking at the right time.  Today was an exciting game to watch and shows exactly what is amazing about college basketball.  I'm bummed that my team wasn't able to win the game but it is impressive that the #7 seed in the tourney was able to battle through and win the tournament. 

On a positive note, this is the only way the NEWMAC was going to get 2 teams into the tournament.  I wish good luck both teams (unless CGA is playing WPI again) and I hope they represent hte NEWMAC well. 

How about recognizing the amazing season WPI has had this year.  No one really talks about them and they are ranked as the 13th best team in the country.

Also, instead of worrying about Ryan Cain for POY....how about talking about him as one of the best players in NEWMAC history.  He has had an amazing career for WPI and has completely turned around a WPI program that has struggled in the past.  Whenever his last game it will be a very sad day because he has truly been a great player and great person for the NEWMAC over the past 4 seasons.

WPI is a force in the NEWMAC for the past 4 years and is only losing Ryan Cain so they should be back next year and still be a very good team.

Also, I predicted that it would be WPI Vs. Coast Guard for the championship all year, but I didn't figure that Coast Guard would be the last place team that advanced to the finals.  Coast Guard is a very good team and I don't understand how they finished in last place because they have some very good players.  I think they underachieved all season but they are turning it on at the right time.  Al Sowers had a huge shot to put them ahead today in the last minute and they were able to hold off Wheaton.

The bottom line is that if you asked anyone that knows NEWMAC basketball who they would pick to be on their team out of Cain and Bartolotta then I'd bet the majority of responses would be to Ryan Cain.  Cain is the better basketball player

Cain also didn't need to step up when they were winning by 25 the entire game.  He played less minutes because they were winning by so much and he also got the W and thats all that matters.  Cain will step up when he needs to unlike Bartlotta who couldn't.  Cain wasn't needed to score a lot of points today and he will do whatever it takes to get the W.

Give Bartolotta the POY if thats what he wants because he sure doesn't care about winning.  Cain will take a NEWMAC regular season title all 4 years he's been here and going to the NCAA tournament over individual awards any day. 

It does impress me that the MIT players are really smart AND can play basketball.  However, your comment about doing academics as an internship doesn't apply to the NEWMAC I feel. 

First off, it is Division 3 basketball so they can't get money for playing.  That means that they are all playing for the love of the game.  Also, I know that WPI, MIT, and Clark are very good schools academically and fairly difficult to get into so the players on all these teams are good student athletes.  I'm sorry but I don't know as much about the other schools' academic programs so I can't speak for them.  I think it is more impressive that the players for Coast Guard are doing something like that for their country and are also good at basketball.  It impresses me that MIT and CGA had students that chose alternative plans this year instead of playing basketball because it shows that basketball isn't the most important things in their lives. 

Also, speaking of Ryan Cain he just got nominated for the Jostens Trophy which shows that he is a very good student athlete.  Lets just wait and see for POY and lets see how the coaches view these two players.  I just think it will be weird if Bartlotta wins POY and Cain gets some sort of All-American recognition which I think is still a strong possibilty.

clarkie you seem to forget that this is college basketball so stuff happens like this all the time and I don't think MIT beating WPI would be movie worthy.  You seem to forget George Mason last year.

With that said, I think MIT has no chance, they have 3 good players buts WPI throws 7 good players out there.

I also do agree Bartlotta has had a great year, but why are you out to get Ryan Cain so much??

Cain Vs. Barlotta round 3

I'm VERY surprised about all 3 road teams winning in the first round.  MIT doesn't match up well with WPI.  I can't see WPI losing at home in either of the next 2 games.

anything to screw Ryan Cain over?? whats that supposed to mean?? you obviously don't know what you are talking about if you think Ryan Cain isn't a nice kid......also "should could" doesn't make sense......Ryan Cain has won scholar athlete awards before also so you need to get your information correct

Megan Pajonas has to be player of the year for the NEWMAC.....especially with WPI in 1st place which nobody expected

it is very difficult for WPI to find harder teams to play against because they have been playing so well the past few years.  Most teams do not want to schedule them because of the extra potential loss.  I do find it kind of weird that WPI only has 23 games though.  I think they scrimmaged Assumption in the preseason but they are Division 2.  Is there any rule that makes that count as a game or is it only Division 1 games?