MBB: Little East

[amh63]

7express....responded to your question on the Nescac board.

[magicman]

Here you go 7express,
Just as I gave them to you last night. In the exact order that I put up on the Pool C board.

Regional Rankings just released by the NCAA. They will probably be up on the D3 website shortly

[7express]

RIC 5th Eastern 11th.  Assuming RIC doesn't lose to Western their prolly in tournament.  Eastern and the other 6 teams have to win LEC's to get into NCAA's.

[LECFAN32]

Seems like we were working much harder then eastern to get good shots, and we were because eastern calmy ran sets while the colonials forced isolations even when there were some favorable post match ups. That's nothing new, and Starks is a talented scorer going forward clearly, but at this point in the season, a freshman should understand that moving the ball from side to side puts pressure on the defense a bit more then over dribbling. It wasn't only him, but these habits should be addressed so they can improve going forward and next year, and although driving the ball hard to the paint is a good development, many of which were to finished and dump offs were available and were the easy play. He's been a positive overall though, especially with all of the injuries and revolving door.

Eastern had 1 true big out there while western had two most of the time yet the ball wasn't stopped going there in the second half, besides Groski who had a little something going but that ended midway through the half as well. Barnes has improved greatly with his touch, and Mayers is hit or miss as a result of that knee injury but he can make a difference with touches, this is a guy that had 25 pts in the lec finals in 2010. Britter is a very talented player, but I like the guy who has collected a few double doubles, compared to the guy who is shooting midrange jumpers off of a left dribble or facing up. He's got to learn to consistently get dirty to maximize his potential. This won't change for this year clearly, but seems to me getting the ball inside should be a priority for this team.

Still like eastern as a team, if they had a it more size underneath and they hadn't lost Ives they'd be very dangerous regionally.

Express, I know the guy your talking about on the other board who is going to Amherst, played with a bunch of ridgefield guys in the war memorial summer league, he's a nice player with good size for his position. Will need to wait is turn at Amherst clearly.

[7express]

I think Ives tore his ACL the other day so he's out for the year.   Without him I don't think they can beat RIC, but it should be a close game for 30 minutes or so.

Anyone know the deadline to declare for the ECAC's is??  I know Eastern would much rather be in the NCAAs, especially after last years run, but they'd be my early favorite for ECAC champion if they miss getting into the NCAAs.

[7express]

Western Keene schedule for Saturday has been postponed to Sunday.  Same times women @ 1, men follow at 3.  As of 1:45 PM, the other 3 contests (RIC vs. USM Plymouth @ Boston, Eastern @ Dartmouth) are still on as scheduled, but have a hjard time seeing any of those being played Saturday.
http://wcsuathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2012-13/releases/20130207jkvxf3
Plymouth Boston also pushed back to Sunday: http://www.beaconsathletics.com/sports/2012-13_releases/02082013blizzard
Same with Dartmouth Eastern: http://www.corsairathletics.com/sports/w-baskbl/2012-13/releases/20130207nwj0g1
RIC/USM still on as of 12:05 AM.

[7express]

Southern Maine/RIC pushed back to tomorrow.  So instead of having predictions today I'll be posting them tomorrow in between trying to get my car out of the driveway.

[7express]

Here's 7express annual Little east predictions a tad late, and as usual projected conference record is in parenthesis ().  As I said last year feel free to save this and laugh at me in February when these turn out horribly.  Unlike last year when it was pretty easy (Western, eastern, RIC & Keene in the top half, Dartmouth square in the middle, Boston, Plymouth & USM bringing up the rear) and just filling in the pieces, this year is a tad bit more difficult with no true great teams like their were last year (Eastern/Western & RIC), but there is one that stands out over the other 7 and thats...


...1) Keene state (11-3).   I don't care what you say they choked last season.  Up 2 with 3 games to play not only did they somehow not win the regular season championship, they finished in a 3 waytie for 2nd and got the #4 seed in the conference tournament.  In my tenure at Western (since January of 2010) Keene has been a perennial underachiever and an all offense no defense team.  With DaQuan Brooks, Nick Nedwick, Mason Choice, Jamie Kohn & Mike Akinrola out of the league Keene has the best player in the conference (Ryan Martin) and the best homecourt advantage in the conference (not that it means much however).  Since its more then likely they'll be picked preseason #1 when the conference predictions come out, how will they handle the pressure of being #1 and can they play defense?  It remains to be seen, and will decide how their season plays out
2) RIC (10-4).  Next best.  Mike Akinrola and Mason Choice are big losses, but they still have a lot of playmakers back in Tahrike Carter and Tom DeCiantis.  Bob Walsh always gets the best out of his teams and he always has them ready to play every game, especially LEC games and LEC games after New Years.  My pick to win if Keene stumbles again this year
3) Western (9-5).  No DaQuan Brooks, no problem?  For starters we get Russ Payton back this year after missing all off last season, and still haven't seen the roster, but hopefully Jensen, Bentil & Gates will be on the team full year or at least join for the 2nd semester.  This years team will have more balanced scoring then we had in the last 3 years, but the downfall is we more then likely don't that go-to-scorer.  If we were down 2 with 4 seconds left you knew who was shooting, we don't have that yet.  I like this team this year I think they can go really well playing together, and no that is not a homer pick.
3) Eastern (9-5).  As I said back in March or April one of those months I would've liked eastern's chances a lot more this year if they had just ONE of Ham Levy, Jamie Kohn, or Nick Nedwick back.  Brian salzillo hit a couple huge shots in the tournament back in March, and both Mike Garrow and Tyler Hundley will at least fill part of the void left by Ham, Kohn & Nedwick.  Like their state rival to the West, I think this is another team that can do really well.
5) Southern Maine (7-7).  I know its probably a surprise to some people, but they played well last year conference isn't nearly as good.  Brandon Tomah and Alex Kee both averaged double digits in points last year.  USM should be favored in all but 1 or 2 of their home games this year: if they can go 5-2 in those 7 home conference games they have a chance to be a top 3 or 4 team; go 2-5 in those 7 games and will probably be another season checking out the tournament on their laptops from their dorms in Gorham.  I say they finish somewhere in the middle (4-3), finish 5th in the conference and then get blasted by Western in the 4/5 game.
5) Plymouth (7-7).  Another team that has to take advantage of a down year and go at least 5-2 in home contest.  I thought they would be awful last year, but managed to get to 4-10 in conference, and make the conference tournament.  Petey Skevas was their leading scorer last year at 12.6 PPG and he's only a junior this year.
7) Dartmouth (5-9).  They feasted on the bottom of the conference last year (6-0 against USM, Plymouth & Boston the 3 teams that finished below them with an average margin of victory of 17.8 points with all 6 games being won by at least 13 points) and got crushed against the top 4 in the conference (1-7 against the teams that finished above them with an average defeat of 10 points).  Take that with the fact they graduate their 3 best players off of last years dissapointing squad (Colin Burns, Lance Greene & Paul Rose) and this team screams "mediocore" at me.
8) Boston (4-10).  Isaac jenkins is gone, but they had a lot of freshmen that played last year...and a lot that played well.  Vinny DeLucia was their second leading scorer, Carl Joseph had a breakout second half and was named to the ALL LEC rookie team.  6 of their top 7 scorers last year were freshmen (Isaac being the lone exception).  The cupboard is not bare at all, and this is another of those teams that can place 4th or 5th or last depending on if those sophmores go through sophmore slumps next year.  I look for them to really break out next year however.

Player of the year:
Ryan Martin-Keene state

LEC first team:
Ryan Martin-Keene state
Brian Salzillo- Eastern
Petey Skevas- Plymouth
Carl Joseph- Boston
Alex Kee- USM
Tahrike Carter- RIC

Playoffs: RIC beats Keene in the LEC championship game final, those are the only 2 that make it to the NCAA tournament.

WOW, these were awful.   About the only one I'm going to get is Alex Kee on the first team.
Well at least I did do something right.  They'll finish 5-2 at home in home LEC contests (barring a loss to Dartmouth in the home finale which I don't see happening) and no worse than a top 4 finish.  Of course, I also had no idea they'd be 3-2 in road contests at this point.

[7express]

Sunday schedule:

USM @ RIC.
RIC won in Gorham in January for 1 of only 2 USM conference losses on the season.  In their other loss (Keene) they were able to rebound and defeat them in the road matchup.  Important game for both teams: A RIC win gives them a sweep of the season series, a USM win avoids the sweep and their win could go a long way to determine who finishes 3rd/4th, especially if Keene loses to RIC the final game of the season.
RIC 73-65
Western @ Keene.
They have talent, they just can't close out games.  Keene usually plays to their opponents level, so hopefully we can pull a rabbit out of a hat.
Keene 75-61
Eastern @ Dartmouth.
Dartmouth played RIC close the other night, but this one shouldn't be close.
Eastern 76-54
Plymouth @ Boston.
Neither team is finishing in the top 4, but this could be an interesting matchup to keep tabs on.  This is the final game of Boston'd 6 game home streak where they are 2-3 through the first 5 which took them out of the running for a top 4.
Boston 73-67

[AllStar]

Keene/Western Connecticut games now are going to be played on Monday night at 5:30 and 7:30 because Western could not get bus transportation on Sunday.

Keene/Eastern Connecticut will now be played on Wednesday.

[7express]

So I assume RIC/Western is going to be Wednesday now too??

[warriorcat]

I believe that Eastern Connecticut will play at UM Dartmouth on Monday and Keene at home on Wednesday.

[7express]

Boston/Plymouth also postponed to Monday.

Dartmouth/Eastern & USM/RIC still scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

[7express]

Looks like all games scheduled for Tuesday are going to be played Wednesday now however Western still has their game vs. RIC listed for the 12th.

This could all have been avoided by playing this weekend's games on Thursday when no one on the men's or women's side is playing OOC games.  In that scnenerio you only have to move the Saturday games back and not the Tuesday ones as well.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern's schedule:

MON.   11 at Massachusetts Dartmouth* No. Dartmouth, MA 7:30 p.m.
WED.   13     KEENE STATE COLLEGE* GEISSLER GYM 7:30 p.m. 
Sat.     16     MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON* GEISSLER GYM 3 p.m.