MBB: Little East

[7express]

RIC is going to have a tough matchup with Ramapo in round 2 if that's indeed the matchup.  That's a team that is very athletic and can put up a lot of points.  Offense wins games, but defense wins championship.  What should be good for RIC is that it'll probably be at home since Ramapo can't have any NCAA games on their home court, so I like the Anchormen better at home or even a neutral site at Nyack College instead of them playing a true road game.

[ECSUalum]

 ECAC New England Division III Tournament -- first round  Johnson and Wales (15-12) at Eastern Conn. St. 7:30 PM  @ Geissler Gym

[7express]

Southern Maine plays @ Anna Maria in another ECAC quarterfinal
Emerson @ Westfield is another ECAC quarterfinal. 
Wentworth @ Castleton is the final pairing.

ECAC pairings:
#8 Emerson @ #1 Westfield
#7 USM @ #2 Anna Maria
#6 Johnson & Wales @ #3 Eastern Connecticut
#5 Wentworth @ #4 Castleton
Anna Maria did not put in to host the finals, so if Westfield loses and Eastern wins, Eastern is hosting the semi's and the finals March 2-3.  Quarterfinal games Wednesday, February 27 at 7.

[7express]

New Poll out.  RIC moves from 16 to 13, Hobart RIC's first opponent would be #36, and Ramapo, a potential second round opponent is #15.  This is the final poll of the regular season, next one comes out at conclusion of the tournament.

D3hoops.com men's Top 25, Week 13



Through end of regular season:



#

School (1st votes)

Rec

Pts

Prev.



1

St. Thomas (23)

26-1

623

1



2

Amherst (2)

25-2

601

2



3

North Central (Ill.)

24-3

565

5



4

WPI

25-2

515

6



5

UW-Whitewater

23-4

486

9



6

Whitworth

24-3

466

8



7

Middlebury

22-3

449

4



8

Williams

23-4

434

7



9

Catholic

24-3

433

11



10

Illinois Wesleyan

21-5

405

3



11

St. Mary's (Md.)

24-3

365

14



12

Calvin

24-3

339

15



13

Rhode Island College

25-3

310

16



14

UW-Stevens Point

21-5

296

10



15

Ramapo

23-4

270

18



16

Hampden-Sydney

23-4

247

12



17

Washington U.

20-5

214

22



18

Rochester

21-4

178

13



19

Rose-Hulman

24-3

162

23



20

Wooster

23-5

158

17



21

Ohio Wesleyan

22-5

144

24



22

Wheaton (Ill.)

20-6

92

20



23

Cortland State

23-4

88

25



24

MIT

20-5

75

19



25

Virginia Wesleyan

21-7

63

21


Dropped out: None.

Others receiving votes: Alvernia 34; Christopher Newport 21; Emory 12; St. Norbert 11; Cabrini 10; Baldwin Wallace 6; Albertus Magnus 4; Springfield 4; UW-Platteville 3; UW-Stout 3; Hobart 3; Staten Island 2; Transylvania 2; Stevens 1.

[7express]

So awards go out at 10 AM apparantly.  My picks:

POY: this is a very tough one because it usually goes to player on first place finisher but I'm going out of the box with Conor Sullivan of USM
ROY: Trachone Preston Eastern
COY: Charlie Titus Boston

Thought??  Agree/disagree with selections??

[CCC Talk]

Coach of the year needs to be Walsh, they had 1 preseason 1st place vote- and rolled through the league.

[7express]

Coach of the year needs to be Walsh, they had 1 preseason 1st place vote- and rolled through the league.

The league sucked.  Boston was picked to finish last and won like 6 conferences games last 4 years combined.

[pjunito]

Southern Maine plays @ Anna Maria in another ECAC quarterfinal
Emerson @ Westfield is another ECAC quarterfinal. 
Wentworth @ Castleton is the final pairing.

ECAC pairings:
#8 Emerson @ #1 Westfield
#7 USM @ #2 Anna Maria
#6 Johnson & Wales @ #3 Eastern Connecticut
#5 Wentworth @ #4 Castleton
Anna Maria did not put in to host the finals, so if Westfield loses and Eastern wins, Eastern is hosting the semi's and the finals March 2-3.  Quarterfinal games Wednesday, February 27 at 7.

Hey 7, can I post this on the GNAC thread?

[7express]

Southern Maine plays @ Anna Maria in another ECAC quarterfinal
Emerson @ Westfield is another ECAC quarterfinal. 
Wentworth @ Castleton is the final pairing.

ECAC pairings:
#8 Emerson @ #1 Westfield
#7 USM @ #2 Anna Maria
#6 Johnson & Wales @ #3 Eastern Connecticut
#5 Wentworth @ #4 Castleton
Anna Maria did not put in to host the finals, so if Westfield loses and Eastern wins, Eastern is hosting the semi's and the finals March 2-3.  Quarterfinal games Wednesday, February 27 at 7.

Hey 7, can I post this on the GNAC thread?

Sure thing!  You didn't have ask me, post away!

[7express]

Conference awards handed out earlier today: http://littleeast.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/news/20130226-mbkb-all-conference

All in all, can't complain about the selections.  Takrike Carter was only second player in history to win POY and defensive POY in same season.  Coach of the year??  Ehhh...everyone knows Walsh can coach, there's no doubt about that, but this year RIC benefited from Keene choking, Eastern losing their starting PG (if they had Ives I think they beat RIC at home and win the conference) and Dartmouth & Western losing their entire team from last season, not much control Walsh had on his team, they were just fortunate everything fell into place this year.  My dog could've coached that team to a 4th place finish this year.

Granted, the conference sucking works the other way too because it allowed Boston & USM to have career years, but overall thought Karl Henrickson (USM) and Charlie Titus (Boston) were better overall.  USM was picked to finish 8th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and they finished 4th a net gain of +4 in the projected standings to final standings.  RIC was pegged second and finished first a net gain of 1.  Where I go to school 4 is better than 1.

[Argylebballer]

Is there really an argument for Coach of the Year? Every single school in the conference would trade their guy for Walsh in a second. Then this year he goes out and goes 24-3, gets his team to the dance for a 7th straight year, and two of their three loses came to teams in the dance themselves (Also those teams are currently #2 and #4 in the country)

[AllStar]

I would have picked Karl Henrikson for coach of the year.  They were projected to finish last and finished fourth.

[7express]

ECAC game:

#6 Johnson & Wales @ #3 Eastern Connecticut.
After winning the LEC regular season and tournament championship and making the sweet 16 last year, I'm sure Eastern didn't think they'd be playing in the ECAC tournament this February & March.  This region of the country is the only place in the country that has ECAC bids, so midwest/south/west teams that just missed the tournament like Buena Vista their season is over, so hopefully Eastern wants to play these couple extra games, and if things go right elsewhere can host the semifinals and finals this coming Saturday & Sunday.  J&W is being outscored by .05 points per game (average 70.3 give up an average of 70.8).  The Wildcats have 4 players in double figures lead by Quarry Greenway's 15.2.  The Wildcats are not a very good free throw shooting team, hitting on less than 70% of their free throws which is something to keep an eye on.  The Wildcats are 6-7 on the road this season, and 2-7 this year vs. non GNAC foes, so I say Eastern takes this.
Eastern 67-62

[7express]

Oops I forgot USM played tonight as well.

Anna Maria defeats USM 76-62.
Conor Sullivan the conferences second leading scorer was held to only 8 points on 4-11 shooting.  Cole Libby (who??) lead the Huskies with 15 points off the bench.  Mike Poulin had 11 in his final game, and Husky seniors Alex Kee and Sean Bergeron finished their USM career's with 6 & 5 points.  I'm sure USM would've liked to advance further in the tournament, but nothing they should be ashamed about.  After being picked to finish last in the preseason, they finish the LEC season 8-6, nag a top 4 spot and semifinal berth in the LEC tournament, an a final record of 15-13, only their second winning season in the last 6 years, nothing to hang their heads about, the Huskies had an EXCELLENT season this year.  3 of 4 AmCats scored in double figures lead by Brad Peterson's 22.  GNAC player of the year Anthony Click chipped in 16 on 6-12 shooting.
Eastern 85-64.
Saw this at halftime with J&W leading 40-35, but Eastern exploded in the 2nd half.  Chris Robitaille with a monster game in his final game in Geissler gymnasium (Westfield state defeated Emerson 71-52 so the semifinals will be there); 31 points 11 rebounds and 14-18 from the floor.  Brian Salzillo had 19 on 6-11 shooting; 5-10 from 3.  Eastern shot 62.1% from the floor for the game and I'd have to guess was about 65 to 70% in the second half.  Hopefully ECSUalum/Warrior/other Eastern fans were at the game and can give a better recap.

next games coming up on Sat:
#3 Eastern vs. #2 Anna Maria (@ Westfield state) 3:00 PM
Liberty league champion Hobart @ RIC 7:00 PM
Will make predictions Friday.

[7express]

Sat schedule:

#2 Anna Maria vs. #3 Eastern (@ Westfield state).
Anna Maria's first round opponent in the ECAC's was LEC foe USM who Anna Maria defeated 76-62 while Eastern's first round opponent was GNAC foe Johnson & Wales who Eastern defeated 84-65.  Anna Maria won the GNAC regular season title with a 16-2 conference mark, and beat Albertus Magnus during the regular season, however the AMCats lost to them when it mattered most; in the championship game of the GNAC tournament.  The AMCats are lead by GNAC player of the year Anthony Click who averages 19.3 ppg, 7.2 rebounds per game, 3.5 assists per game, 1.3 blocks per game, 2.4 steals per game and shoots 49% from the field on the year, so Eastern will have their hands full trying to contain Click.  Click has also scored in double figures 27 of 28 games this year and has a season high of 39 against Lasell.  Brad Peterson is the other go to scorer for the AMCats; 13.3 ppg, 8.1 rebounds per game.  Both are front court players for the AMCats as well.  As a team, Anna Maria is averaging 74.2 ppg, 13.0 assists per game, 36.6 rebounds per game, and shoots the ball at a 46.9% from the floor.  The 1 stat that stands out is 3 point shooting: AMCats shoot the 3 at only a 29.0 success rate, but the opponent shoots the 3 at a 33.5% success rate.  AMCats also give up a lot of points on the season (69.2), so hopefully Salzillo can get hot from 3.  However, on a neutral court in a 2 vs. 3 matchup, the matchup usually comes down to which team has the better player, and for this game Click will be the best player on the court.
Anna Maria 76-69

Hobart @ RIC.
Hobart, regular season & tourney winners of the Liberty League come in with an overall record of 21-6, and a conference record of 15-1 and a 13 game winning streak dating back to a 1 point loss @ Clarkson on January 19.  4 of Hobart's 6 losses are to teams that are in this years field: Dickinson, Ithaca, and Rochester (twice) and are 0-4 this season against tournament teams.  Hobart is only 8-4 in road games, and 1-3 in non LL road games.  The statesmen are lead by Richie Bonney who averages 19.4 ppg, and Stefan Thompson at 16.1 ppg.  Those 2 combine for almost half of Hobart's season average of 73.4 ppg.  They are a very disciplined team as they only average 11.2 turnovers per game, and average 14.9 assists per game.  The 2 things RIC doesn't do well (defend the 3 & free throw shooting) Hobart does well.  Hobart is at 72.8% from the line, and 35.3% from downtown.  However, you know Bob Walsh will have a defensive strategy in place to make sure someone other Bonney or Thompson beats them, and this is set up for RIC to make an elite 8 appearance.  The same thing was in place for the USM women, but they got blitzed by Smith, so hopefully RIC can take better advantage of the opportunity in front of them.
RIC 65-54