MBB: Little East

[WCSUFan14]

Hoops Fan - It was a very dumb foul. Choice was taking an uneven off balanced shot with his non shooting and there still dumb enough to commit the foul. It was an absolute chock scene for westconn they should really be ashamed they had that game.

[warrior]

Holy cow!  No comments yet on the ECSU/KSU game? I'm still in shock!  I thought it was over when we were down by 7 with 2(?) minutes left!  Then Chris hits the buzzerbeater (his first make of the day!) and we have another life!  Then the 2 overtimes ....  I'm exhausted and I didn't even play! What about Mariano (49 minutes), Nedwick (46), Kohn and Hunter (45)?  Jamie (23 pts, 11 rebs, 8 off rebs!) and Nick (27 pts, 4 assts) were unbelievable!  They both came up with HUGE plays down the stretch, but so did Chris, Chay and Brian!  Just a GREAT team win and a GREAT game!  Congrats also to ALL the players who competed today.  They showed everyone what LEC Bball is all about.  Tomorrow should be another great one, then ..... NCAAs, here we come! 

[warrior]

*Please ignore those first two    faces. (I always forget not to type multiple question marks or exclamation points!)

As for the Western/RIC game - another classic!  Daquan had a great game but his 4 turnovers down the stretch vs. the press were costly.  Needless to say - all four teams played their hearts out and deserve our complete respect and admiration.

On that note - I thought the 4 teams showed great sportsmanship - helping each other up - consoling weary opponents, giving each other pats on the back.  Made me proud to be an LEC fan! 

[7express]

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE RIC

Actually, just the guys.  Girls I'm actually rooting for, but I had to get that off my chest.  If I feel up to it I'll do a recap tonight, otherwise it may be a couple day.  From watching the West Conn women shoot 1-19 in the first half and trail 37-3 at halftime to the guys blowing a 9 point lad with 1:29 to play, it's not a very good night for me.

[7express]

semifinal predictions:

Eastern in double OT over Keene 81-76.  Was in Providence, so didn't see this.  Saw Keene was up by 2 or 3 with like a minute left, and then Eastern was up by 2 with 48 seconds left in the OT.  Tough loss by Keene, who probably finds themselves on the wrong side of the bubble....not a good place to be this time of year.  Ryan Martin played 49 of the 50 total minutes and registered 6, he's on my short list for player of the year next season since DaQuan Brooks isn't in the league anymore after next month.  Nick Nedwick and Jamie Kohn combined for 50 of the 81 points.

Western loses a heartbreaker to RIC 75-74.
Up 11 with 3:17 to go and up 9 with 1:29 to go we somehow lost the game.  Unreal.  Is this the last time we'll see DaQuan Brooks in a Colonials uniform??  (I'll have more on Western's chances on Sunday).  if it is, it wasn't due fault of him we lost the game; went for a game high 41 though he did miss 2 hero three's at the end.  This is the 6th straight year RIC has made it to the conference championship game...before 2006 (when the streak started), they had never made it to the LEC championship game.  Goes to show what a great job Bob Walsh has done at the school, completely and utterly amazed he's not coaching at a D-1 school.

Championship game prediction (Saturday at 5:00 PM)
#3 RIC 71 @ Eastern 68.
Rematch from 2011, different venue, but same result.  This Anchormen team has a different level above everyone else when it comes to the LEC tournament.  The home court, and hopefully big crowd advantage for the Warriors helps Eastern for a good part of the game, but this is a veteran group of guys, who frankly do not lose when it comes to the LEC tourney.  I think Akrinrola, Choice, Tahrike Carter and Ethan Gaye make enough plays down the end to give them the win like they did tonight.

[warrior]

7express - I usually like your predictions, but on this one, we'll have to agree to disagree!   Eastern is a team of destiny this year - 1st ever league title, 1st time playing in the finals on their home turf and ......   first ever tourney finals victory over RIC??   As Mets fans said in 1969, "You gotta believe!"  and I do! 

[7express]

I really could care less who wins, I just want to see a good game.  I'll be rooting for Eastern though, would be nice for that group of seniors what they did to get to the tournament and not worry about Monday, but RIC is a different animal in the tournament.

[ECSUalum]

7express,

Tough day for Colonial sports yesterday, with 2 BB losses and the Colonials dropping thier first basball game.  7, you can now understand my frustration with the ECSU loss at O'Neill Center a couple of weeks ago. However, Brooks is a true phenom.  He amazes me with his passing, ball handling, FT and FG shooting, a complete player. Man, if he was 6-2 or 6-3  NBA, here I come!!!!!    I wonder where he will be playing next year? in Europe??

It was an incredible 2OT victory by the Warriors.  All I can say, IMHO, Kohn was the player of the game lastnight for ECSU, making clutch FGs, playing lock down D and out rebounding men much bigger than he. Robitaille and Chae Phillips were clutch as well and Nick hit this phenominal three to keep Eastern within 1 with second to go in 1st OT. 

I feel bad for Keene and Ryan Martin as, in some respects, they out played us!!  I agree with 7 in that with all starters but Hunter returning for Keene, they will have a monster team next year, and Martin will certainly be POY, just an outstanding performance by that young man last night, what intensity!!!
One aspect of the game I noticed last night was the amount of depth, (high number of substitutions) Keene St has, and I really thought that Eastern was gassed by the start of the 2nd OT, with Nick developing what looked to be muscle cramps. I hope he is OK for tonight!

Geissler was packed, it was loud, and it was HOT last night.  The players must have been really feeling it.  We definitely need better ventilation in that facility. 

I have to believe Eastern earned a place in the NCAA tournament after the win last night.  However, it will sure be nice to get that auto qualifier tonight

[WCSUFan14]

Still in disbelief with western last night. How do you blow an 11 point lead with only 3 minutes left in the entire game??? In my opinion western just totally chocked, there's no other way of explaining it. From Daquan making a pass in a crowd of traffic when all he needed to do was make a lay-up and the game was over to Michael Jenson traveling when he got inbound the ball. It was a very ugly game to watch for a colonial fan. To me it seemed like the TEAM didn't want to be there the first 35 minutes of the game, you could just tell by there body motion, they where playing with no heart last night expect for who else but DaQuan Brooks. Only thing left to hope for westconn  is to host a NCAA tourny game in Danbury. Very frustrating night for a colonial fan.

[7express]

Still in disbelief with western last night. How do you blow an 11 point lead with only 3 minutes left in the entire game??? In my opinion western just totally chocked, there's no other way of explaining it. From Daquan making a pass in a crowd of traffic when all he needed to do was make a lay-up and the game was over to Michael Jenson traveling when he got inbound the ball. It was a very ugly game to watch for a colonial fan. To me it seemed like the TEAM didn't want to be there the first 35 minutes of the game, you could just tell by there body motion, they where playing with no heart last night expect for who else but DaQuan Brooks. Only thing left to hope for westconn  is to host a NCAA tourny game in Danbury. Very frustrating night for a colonial fan.

I doubt we host an NCAA pod now, we should be thankful if we even get in the NCAA's. 
Unlike last year where we just played bad in February, we didn't have any bad losses (Keene state, Eastern, RIC, Manhattanville were all winning teams, and unlike this year we actually swept Plymouth state & USM).  I know the 2 wins over Keene state is good, as are the wins over Medgar Evers & WPI, but those 2 losses to USM & Plymouth look really bad.

[wcsu91]

Well I Guess we will have to wait until Monday to See if Western gets an at large bid. Personally I am very nervous about them getting in. I think we have a 50/50 shot. We had a couple of bad losses, however we did beat RIC, WPI, Eastern and Keene twice.  And I believe we beat the previously stated teams while they were ranked in the top 25. If they won last night we would have been a lock to get in the NCAA's regardless if they won or lost today. Will be on the edge until then. Still in shock how they lost that game last night. Take away one of those 3 turnovers in the last three minutes and we win. I hate to question Brooks but why go for a crazy three at the end when you are only down by 1 with 8 seconds on the clock? It is not on him though. Between Jensens travel and Robinson making a costly turnover with 3 or so minutes left and foul on Choice who made the  those final 2 FT's, it was a team choke. Too bad because they may have been able to go deep in the tourney if they could have made a couple of plays.  You also have to look back at that horrible loss they had at Southern Maine. Lost by one on Free thoughs at the end of that game also. If they win that game then they are hosting the LEC Tourney In Danbury where they are 10 and 0 at home this year and would have made it to the championship game. Really bummed about that loss last night and am going to miss watching Brooks BIG TIME. Hopefully he has not played his last game in a Western uniform yet.  We will be a .500 team without him next year.

[7express]

Well I Guess we will have to wait until Monday to See if Western gets an at large bid. Personally I am very nervous about them getting in. I think we have a 50/50 shot. We had a couple of bad losses, however we did beat RIC, WPI, Eastern and Keene twice.  And I believe we beat the previously stated teams while they were ranked in the top 25. If they won last night we would have been a lock to get in the NCAA's regardless if they won or lost today. Will be on the edge until then. Still in shock how they lost that game last night. Take away one of those 3 turnovers in the last three minutes and we win. I hate to question Brooks but why go for a crazy three at the end when you are only down by 1 with 8 seconds on the clock? It is not on him though. Between Jensens travel and Robinson making a costly turnover with 3 or so minutes left and foul on Choice who made the  those final 2 FT's, it was a team choke. Too bad because they may have been able to go deep in the tourney if they could have made a couple of plays.  You also have to look back at that horrible loss they had at Southern Maine. Lost by one on Free thoughs at the end of that game also. If they win that game then they are hosting the LEC Tourney In Danbury where they are 10 and 0 at home this year and would have made it to the championship game. Really bummed about that loss last night and am going to miss watching Brooks BIG TIME. Hopefully he has not played his last game in a Western uniform yet.  We will be a .500 team without him next year.

We never should have even lost that game in USM in the first play.  We did play awful, but the Maine refs called a hand check on Brooks 35 feet from the basket with 2.5 seconds left up 1.  If the stupid zebra keeps his whistle in his pocket (it would've been a questionable call in the first place, but to call it with 2.5 seconds left is downright awful) Western is hosting the tournament and doesn't have to worry since they would've won the LEC since were unbeaten at the O'Neill.

[wcsu91]

@ 7 Express:  I know what you are saying. I remember watching the Southern Maine game on LEC TV and that was a terrible call. The Souther Maine player basically ran into him. It would have bee nice for them to host and agree they would have won the LEC tourney in Danbury.  What do you think there chances are of getting an at large bid?

[7express]

@ 7 Express:  I know what you are saying. I remember watching the Southern Maine game on LEC TV and that was a terrible call. The Souther Maine player basically ran into him. It would have bee nice for them to host and agree they would have won the LEC tourney in Danbury.  What do you think there chances are of getting an at large bid?

I still think there pretty good.  I think we'd have to have most of the favorites lose i.e Bates & Wesleyan both winning tonight, Medgar Evers beating Staten Island tonight (Medgar Evers ain't getting in, CSI might), Richard Stockton beating William Paterson (Paterson is a lock to make the field), Hope winning the MIAA.  Too many to name but you get the idea.  After the games end tonight when most of the field is set I'll update a who's in (either won conference or a lock), who should be in, and who could be in.

[wcsu91]

@7 express:  Maybe the way we get in is the last regional poll that came out we were #5. RIC, MIT, Middlebury and Amherst were ahead of us. So maybe that is our saving grace??  Dont know.  IF only we didnt blow that freaking game last night. UGHHH.