It feels like big ten basketball out there. Besides UNE who can really put up points. Some of the games this year were in the 40s and 50s. I expected Cousy to come out and only dribble with his right hand, or Hickory to pass the ball four times before they shot the ball. Spread the floor, run the ball down the court, have some fun. If the tallest guy on your team runs the floor like Sabonis and dribbles like Wesley Snipes then get him off the court. Some of these teams have got to catch up with the rest of the country.

What a year! Farmingdale had a great game from their bigs, they could dribble and help out while getting pressed. Did not see that in the conference this year.

RIC is going to broadcast their game online, maybe they'll broadcast the UNE game since its in their house anyway.

Number1Chargerfan, for all of us watching the game online, do something of note so we can see you, no streaking!

On the UNE floor, home crowd feeding a fast pace that CSC will have to prevent if they want to win, CSC has already peaked on Thursday while UNE will be determined to play better, UNE 76 CSC 64.

Well played sir.

Live stream and a decent job by the "Voice of the Nor'easters" young man(can't remember the name).  Over/Under on the times he says "Splash!" is 5. I'll take the over. "Belmonte brings the ball up the court for the nor'easters, passes off to Jefferson in the corner, from downtown, SPLASH!" Love it.
The info on CSC is great by-the-way.  The two contrasting styles will be interesting to see. Who will be able to force the other team to play their style, I think UNE played a very tight game this season, low scoring, maybe against Roger Williams.  Has CSC played a fast break game this year, can they run with UNE if they have to?

Looking at the box score from the regular season match-up, its almost surprising that CSC lost the game on their floor. I guess it comes down to the CSC turnovers, UNE points off the turnovers, and UNE's second chance points.  UNE got outrebounded in that game as they did last night so I don't know, if they lose the rebound battle on Sat., if that will pay a part. I'm sure the coaching staff for UNE wants to keep the rebound stats closer than they were last night, but in the end it can come down to what your team does better than anyone else.  UNE seems to know their identity, they run the fast break better than anyone in the conference, I think that might even put up more points than anyone else in the conference but I'll have to check. Their press defense is better than anyone else in the conference. What does CSC do better than anyone else, what is their ultimate strength? CSC does not have to be the all around best team to win, if they do one or two things better than anyone else then they can win.  Press out on the outlets to stop the fast break, clog the middle in the half court set, make UNE settle for jumpers, out rebound UNE on both ends, etc. If CSC can do even a few of these things perfect for one game then they'll be conference champs.  But who knows for sure, these are young men who will have good days and bad days. Who knows how the refs will treat Simpson and how he responds?
  My choice: the fast break, more scoring opportunities, the press on the home floor, the home crowd, not having to traval, the deeper team with balanced scoring, knowing you do something better than anyone in your conference does anything else, the confidence that comes with already beating someone on their court, the stupid mascot, the igloo, harvard of maine, and everything else. UNE.
But who knows, I coud be wrong, worst things have happened.

Also: I was not at the regular season match-up, is there anything else about these two teams that we are missing?

What a game! It was fast paced, sometimes ugly, always entertaining. Good job by Salve tonight, the game could have gone the other way if not for some traveling calls that hurt their momentum. Belmonte did not have many points for UNE, but he hit some big shots at the end.

From my experience the problem with the refs in the UNE area is that they also work the high school games in the area. Now most are good refs and they don't have an easy job, but there are a chosen few who ruin it for everyone else.  They can't change the way they ref a high school game and the way they ref a college game, which creates a problem. In the end there are not many people who want to ref a game, not a lot of new blood, and so those of us in Maine will just have to deal with it. Our sincere apology to those of you from MA that come and play here.

Not a bad job by WNEC in the first half against UNE.  They played good defense, clogged the middle, and kept it close.  UNE played a little sloppy in the first half, shots were not falling, and Simpson got into some early foul trouble (hurt by some bad calls on some intense defense). Second half as usual UNE just kept running and WNEC could not keep pace.  Love the 10 seconds or less offense with the press defense.  Crowd gets into it and the points pile-up.  Great performances from Knoteck (I hope I got his name right) and others off the bench.  Hats off to the coaching staff of WNEC, their guys played hard throughout.   The Salve game should be pretty close Thursday, its gotta suck to travel up to UNE on a Thursday afternoon, student section will be crazy, hope the seagulls can respond.

Good for Simpson, I thought he should have been the defensive player of the year last year.

No question its Coach Mulligan from UNE. But I thought he might win it last year and I was wrong so who knows.  Politics and popularity tends to ruin any voting whether its the All-Stars or the Oscars.

I hope Gordon and UNE meet up again.  Just about any of the teams can beat anybody else in the conference, which makes for great drama. But it seems that Gordon and UNE have been playing some tight games with a little fire against one another as of late.  Its not a natural rivalry like Endicott and Gordon, I don't think its even a rivalry because of Gordon's continued success and UNE just recently stepping up their program. But when they met up last year, and this year with a good conference game, hopefully some playoff drama, this could be a lot of fun to watch.

Also, being close to Worcester, is NEVER a good thing. I guess Beverly is nice though. Just don't do meth! Bad reviews there.