Final from Hartford CT-- 3rd place game of Trinity (CT) Holiday Tournament--

WPI 79, Geneseo 48

Fantastic game with Babson winning in 2OT.

In their last 5 wins Babson has beaten

Brandeis (A) 5-0 at the time
WPI (H) 8-0
Case Western (N)
Wooster (A) 11-0
Trinity (H) 11-0

So proud of the squad.

Now on to the NEWMAC.

Case was 4-5 going into their game vs Babson. They are now 4-7.

Babo - impressive - the NEWMAC will be fun - I hope we can return to a multibid conference.

Quote from: WPI89 on January 07, 2025, 08:46:02 AMBabo - impressive - the NEWMAC will be fun - I hope we can return to a multibid conference.

It's going to be tough.  Adding the 9th team to the NEWMAC (which I was against) and then having the introduction of the NPI (which I like somewhat) reinforces the need for all teams to recruit better, schedule tougher, and win meaningful games.
Right now Babson and WPI rank 12 and 15 out of 21 potential Pool C bids.  I can't see either team feeling comfortable losing 3 more in the regular season and feeling good about their chances.  Even losing 2 more might depend on who you lose to.  Clark needs the AQ (really got hurt by Taylor being out).

Quote from: BaboNation on January 07, 2025, 12:01:48 PM

Quote from: WPI89 on January 07, 2025, 08:46:02 AMBabo - impressive - the NEWMAC will be fun - I hope we can return to a multibid conference.

It's going to be tough.  Adding the 9th team to the NEWMAC (which I was against) and then having the introduction of the NPI (which I like somewhat) reinforces the need for all teams to recruit better, schedule tougher, and win meaningful games.
Right now Babson and WPI rank 12 and 15 out of 21 potential Pool C bids.  I can't see either team feeling comfortable losing 3 more in the regular season and feeling good about their chances.  Even losing 2 more might depend on who you lose to.  Clark needs the AQ (really got hurt by Taylor being out).

Based on D3Datacast's mock run of last season's NPI numbers, both Babson and WPI would need to increase their NPI rating a few more points during conference play to either 62 or 63 to have a good chance at securing an at-large bid.  Unofficially, last year's cut line for at-large bid 21 would have been 61.18 accoring to D3Datacast. 

Quote from: deiscanton on January 07, 2025, 01:11:49 PM

Quote from: BaboNation on January 07, 2025, 12:01:48 PM

Quote from: WPI89 on January 07, 2025, 08:46:02 AMBabo - impressive - the NEWMAC will be fun - I hope we can return to a multibid conference.

It's going to be tough.  Adding the 9th team to the NEWMAC (which I was against) and then having the introduction of the NPI (which I like somewhat) reinforces the need for all teams to recruit better, schedule tougher, and win meaningful games.
Right now Babson and WPI rank 12 and 15 out of 21 potential Pool C bids.  I can't see either team feeling comfortable losing 3 more in the regular season and feeling good about their chances.  Even losing 2 more might depend on who you lose to.  Clark needs the AQ (really got hurt by Taylor being out).

Based on D3Datacast's mock run of last season's NPI numbers, both Babson and WPI would need to increase their NPI rating a few more points during conference play to either 62 or 63 to have a good chance at securing an at-large bid.  Unofficially, last year's cut line for at-large bid 21 would have been 61.18 accoring to D3Datacast. 

Some of that will take care of itself with an improvement in the winning percentage.  Looking at Babson, I could see them finishing anywhere from 18-7 to 20-5.  Their current 7-4 record, while average, comes with a Massey #6 SOS (not the official SOS).  18-7 probably means Babson needs to win the AQ. 19-6 might need a NEWMAC semi win.  20-5 should just be a matter of tournament seeding.
But Babson has a better road right now than WPI, and Clark or anyone else is going to need the AQ.

Still have my Flo subscripton from tuning into SLU play in Clark's holiday tournament before the new year so tuned into Clark-Babson.  Pretty high level of play. Babson has some athletes.  Looks like Clark's point guard isn't bothered by his wrist anymore.  Didn't think Babson's shot selection was the best but Clark matched and exceeded Babson's length at most positions.  Thought Babson would run away with it after a hot start to the 2nd half but Clark made some critical shots to keep them up more than a possession for the last 10 minutes or so.   Definitely a pretty tough league this year.

Quote from: stlawus on January 08, 2025, 08:02:56 PMStill have my Flo subscripton from tuning into SLU play in Clark's holiday tournament before the new year so tuned into Clark-Babson.  Pretty high level of play. Babson has some athletes.  Looks like Clark's point guard isn't bothered by his wrist anymore.  Didn't think Babson's shot selection was the best but Clark matched and exceeded Babson's length at most positions.  Thought Babson would run away with it after a hot start to the 2nd half but Clark made some critical shots to keep them up more than a possession for the last 10 minutes or so.   Definitely a pretty tough league this year.

Yeah, I thought Babson didn't match Clark's level of intensity for much of the game.  Two guys that you have to contain had big games (Saintilus-28 and McArdle-19).  Babson tried 3 different guys on McArdle with little result. Too many easy baskets. It's been an Achilles heel in 4 of the losses - unable to contain a big man (McArdle) in the low post or in pick and roll. 
Conference games are always tough and this one had risk going in.  The next 6 for Babson should be W's.  If not, they'll be in trouble.

Quote from: BaboNation on January 08, 2025, 09:07:55 PM

Quote from: stlawus on January 08, 2025, 08:02:56 PMStill have my Flo subscripton from tuning into SLU play in Clark's holiday tournament before the new year so tuned into Clark-Babson.  Pretty high level of play. Babson has some athletes.  Looks like Clark's point guard isn't bothered by his wrist anymore.  Didn't think Babson's shot selection was the best but Clark matched and exceeded Babson's length at most positions.  Thought Babson would run away with it after a hot start to the 2nd half but Clark made some critical shots to keep them up more than a possession for the last 10 minutes or so.  Definitely a pretty tough league this year.

Yeah, I thought Babson didn't match Clark's level of intensity for much of the game.  Two guys that you have to contain had big games (Saintilus-28 and McArdle-19).  Babson tried 3 different guys on McArdle with little result. Too many easy baskets. It's been an Achilles heel in 4 of the losses - unable to contain a big man (McArdle) in the low post or in pick and roll. 
Conference games are always tough and this one had risk going in.  The next 6 for Babson should be W's.  If not, they'll be in trouble.

Babson may be in trouble, if your last sentence is any indication, although the latest D3Datacast  NPI projected computer simulations show that Babson still has a significant safety net when it comes to at-large chances of making the D3 tournament-- out of 1,000 simulations in the latest run conducted before tonight's match at Wheaton (MA), Babson made the tournament in 929 of them, 582 of those simulations through the NEWMAC's AQ, and 347 of them through the at-large route.  The games are decided on the court, however.  In 830 of the 1,000 simulations in the latest run, Babson would get an at-large bid if the Beavers needed it.

For the second year in a row, Babson dropped one in Norton, MA tonight at Wheaton College by 2 points-- the Beavers lost to the Lyons at Emerson Gymnasium, 73-71.

WPI took care of business tonight on their home floor with a 58-49 win over Clark, so WPI now has a 1 1/2 game lead over Babson in the standings.  WPI next plays on Saturday in NEWMAC play, while Babson has a bye this weekend and won't be back in action until next Tuesday.

Felix Kloman, Babson's #2 scorer at 18.8 ppg coming into tonight, did not play tonight vs Wheaton.   If Kloman is out with a significant injury, the season fortunes of Babson have taken a dramatic turn.  The D3Datacast's current run of the NPI projected simulations assume that Babson would have at least 18 wins (real wins, not adjusted wins) on the season if they need an at-large bid.   Babson now has 10 games plus the NEWMAC tournament left to get the 9 remaining wins needed for a potential at-large bid.

Wheaton (MA) led throughout the game, with Babson only having a 1 point lead at 4-3 early.

Leading scorers for Babson tonight were Alex Stoddard with a game high 24 pts, 5 rbs.  Tim Mulvey scored 15 points.  Nate Amado fouled out tonight with 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Ryan Frauenheim scored 12 points.

For Wheaton, Tristan Henry scored a team high 17 points, Dimitri Iafrate scored 15 points, and Sean Perri scored 13 points.

For the second year in a row, Babson loses the road game at Emerson Gymnasium in Norton, MA.  The Beavers are back home next Tuesday vs Salve Regina, with a road game next Thursday at Coast Guard before the home rematch vs Emerson on January 25 to start the second half of NEWMAC play.

WPI finishes the first half of their conference slate by playing this Saturday at home vs Springfield, followed by road games next Tuesday and Thursday at MIT and Wheaton respectively, before starting the second half of NEWMAC play on January 25 at Salve Regina. 

Deiscanton. Loving the new voice on the board. Was worried about the game tonight from a WPI standpoint. Seems the d slopped it up and made it our kind of game.

Quote from: WPI89 on January 16, 2025, 10:04:24 PMDeiscanton. Loving the new voice on the board. Was worried about the game tonight from a WPI standpoint. Seems the d slopped it up and made it our kind of game.

Thanks.  The Brandeis women had charter membership in the New England Women's 8 or NEW8 (originally NEW6 or New England Women's 6 in 1984) when I was a student from 1987 to 1991, and the Clark women took over Brandeis's spot in the league when the Judges decided to choose the UAA as their primary conference in the mid 1990s and leave the NEW8.  Before then, the Brandeis women played a full UAA and NEW8 schedule, since there were no AQs associated with either league. (As a Brandeis fan, I found the NEW8 title to be easier to accomplish than winning the UAA, as Brandeis won multiple NEW8 titles in basketball when I was a student, but has never won the UAA.)  In the late 1990s, the NEW8 on the women's side merged with the Constitution Athletic Conference on the men's side to become NEWMAC.  (Brandeis men were independent prior to the UAA). 

Just don't remind me of the Babson men's 20 point victory over Harvard in 1992......

BTW, it says a lot about the longevity of the tenure of the Babson head coaches when the only 2 head coaches that have coached Babson men's basketball since I first entered Brandeis in the fall of 1987 are Stephen Brennan and Serge DeBari.   I still cannot believe that Chris Bartley has only been the head coach at WPI for 24 years-- I thought he coached longer than that.  The Brandeis men's basketball team had more coaching changes. 

(12:56 AM ET update-- I looked up WPI's coaching history, and WPI has had only 2 head coaches since I first entered Brandeis in 1987-- Ken Kaufman coached WPI back in my Brandeis student days, and Coach Kaufman was the head coach at WPI until 2001, when Chris Bartley took over the program.) 

Bartley was also on the Babson staff with Brennan for a few years.  That's a lot of coaching brainpower.

The Babson loss at Wheaton was one they couldn't afford to lose.  Yeah, they were missing Kloman, and Amado had to play fewer minutes, and tentatively while saddled with foul trouble. They dug themselves a 17 point hole by being torched by 3-pt shooting.  Credit for the comeback.  I think they had it to a 1 possession game a half dozen times.  And FY Frauenheim's final shot from about 35 almost fell.  But no excuses.  Can't lose to this Wheaton team.
Some guys are banged up.  But they're getting almost nothing offensively from their forwards.  On a roster of 19, they played 2 FY guards for most of the night, and they played well.
There's a fall-off cliff coming next year unless they get forward production (via xfers, or organically with the FY class).  Nate Amado, graduating this year, and xfer guards have covered up front court deficiencies for 4 years.
All that said, Babson is one of only 5 teams nationwide to make the last 4 tournaments.  In some ways, knowing they have to get the AQ makes them more dangerous in the NEWMAC postseason.  The last 2 years they've had to win 4 road games to win the NEWMAC, against formidable teams.  It would be risky to bet against them.
But they need a guy who can occasionally post up on the block, back to the basket, and score in the restricted area.  They had that with Bradanese '22 and even more so with Oftring '20.  Those teams were the last to advance in the NCAA tournament.  Not a coincidence.

Same era deiscanton, I played for Coach Kaufman from 85-89!

Quote from: WPI89 on January 23, 2025, 10:37:24 AMSame era deiscanton, I played for Coach Kaufman from 85-89!

That means that you played against Stanley House, Mark Peabody, and Derek Oliver in non-conference play when they played for Brandeis.  I was just an ardent Brandeis student fan who watched Coach Kevin O'Brien lead the Judges to winning seasons back in the days of the old Shapiro Gym-- in my senior year,(1990-1991 academic year) the Red Auerbach Arena was under construction, so most of the Brandeis men's basketball home games were played at Babson-- with the exception of the home game against Suffolk at Waltham High School, and the home game against WPI, which was played at Bentley.  Regis (MA) was the home court for the Brandeis women's basketball games that season.   In your senior season, Steve Harrington transferred in from Fordham to join the Judges in mid-season while he was still a freshman. (Steve Harrington is the current Watertown (MA) HS boys basketball coach, and has been in that position for many years.)  In 1989, Stanley House led Brandeis to the ECAC New England tournament as the #8 seed-- the Judges lost to #1 seed Trinity (CT) in the ECAC quarterfinals, and the Trinity Bantams went on to win that tournament. I believe that all 4 of those aforementioned Brandeis players (or at least 3 of them) are now in the Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame. 

(January 24-- 12:24 AM ET-- I checked the Brandeis Hall of Fame list, and I was mistaken-- out of my previously mentioned players, only Stanley House and Steve Harrington are in the Brandeis Hall of Fame.   However, two other basketball members who started in 1988 as Brandeis freshmen are also in the Brandeis Hall of Fame, and those two members are what I call part of the then Brandeis's "Big Three" with Steve Harrington-- those two are David Brooks and Andre James.)