MBB: Little East

[AllStar]

I checked in at halftime as I was working on a project and saw it was 59-17 Plattsburgh.  I was actually quite shocked when I realized Keene actually made it to 70 points.

I follow them quite regularly and that was the worst game I have ever seen (figuratively...I was not there) them play by far.  Really really bad.  I'm not sure them winning the second half is any positive honestly.  I mean...down by 42 at halftime is pretty darn embarrassing.

[7express]

I follow them quite regularly and that was the worst game I have ever seen (figuratively...I was not there) them play by far.  Really really bad

Hopefully for them this season doesn't turn into the Western season I endured last year.

[AllStar]

I follow them quite regularly and that was the worst game I have ever seen (figuratively...I was not there) them play by far.  Really really bad

Hopefully for them this season doesn't turn into the Western season I endured last year.

Hopefully not but it doesn't look good right now that's for sure.  They were competing earlier in the year but even that has seemingly disappeared over the last two games.  Good to see Western has already equaled their win total from last year...I imagine it was tough to watch last year.

[magicman]

I follow them quite regularly and that was the worst game I have ever seen (figuratively...I was not there) them play by far.  Really really bad

Hopefully for them this season doesn't turn into the Western season I endured last year.

Hopefully not but it doesn't look good right now that's for sure.  They were competing earlier in the year but even that has seemingly disappeared over the last two games.  Good to see Western has already equaled their win total from last year...I imagine it was tough to watch last year.

I had a problem with my computer last night and didn't get my summary done until later on. I made some comments concerning the 2nd half. Basically we increased the halftime lead from 42 points to 52 points after the 1st 7 minutes of the 2nd period. For the 2nd time in the game (also did this in the closing minutes of the 1st half) the Plattsburgh coach emptied his bench with about 8 minutes left in the game. We had our third string playing and Keene State kept their regulars in and continued to run their full court press. They outscored our third string 30-15 to narrow the deficit from the 52 point lead Plattsburgh enjoyed. I was rather surprised that the Keene State coach continued to press. It didn't work very well against our starters as evidenced by the disparity in the score early on. Then when the Plattsburgh coach twice exhibits his class by pulling his 1st and 2nd stringers, the Owls continue to press his end of the bench players. He's lucky the Plattsburgh coach didn't throw his starters back in the game.  

In fairness to the Keene State players they ran into a very good Plattsburgh State team last night that was firing on all cylinders. The SUNYAC coaches don't have a preseason poll to determine a pecking order but if they did I'm fairly certain that Plattsburgh would be at the top of the list. They were 2nd in the conference last year and have just about everyone back including all 5 starters. They played Amherst about as well as anyone did in the NCAA's last year and did so without their best player (John Perez) who missed the entire tournament. He's back this year and has 4 straight double doubles to open the season.

I would have liked a matchup this year between Eastern Connecticut and Plattsburgh State. I think that would have been a good game. We may stiill get a chance to meet if we both get a ticket to the dance. 3 years go RIC met Oswego State in the 2nd round and 2 years ago Eastern and Oswego met in that 2nd round double overtime thriller that the Warriors won 70-69 on Salzillo's 3 pointer with 8 seconds left. I'm still looking for some revenge because of that outcome.    

[amh63]

Magicman.......based on your last post, you may have some interest in the Amherst vs. ECSU game in LeFrak  in early January.  Expect there will be a webcast of the game.....do not expect the quality of the webcast to be as fine as the one out of your school.

[7express]

Thursday predictions:

Elms 65 @ RIC 79.
About time for RIC to step up their game and this looks like a good opponent to do it.  Elms is 1-5 with the only win by 3 points against Keene, and have also lost to Dartmouth by 12 giving up 100 points in the process.  The Blazers are pretty bad on the defensive end, giving up an average of 86.3 ppg and have given up 75 points or more in 5 of their 6 games so far.
Worcester 74 @ Western 87.
The Lancers are 0-5, and have lost 4 of 5 by double digits include two 11 point losses to LEC teams Eastern & Dartmouth.  Western won @ Worcester 74-71 last year for their first win of the 2012/13 season, can the roles be reversed for Worcester??
Colby-Sawyer 63 @ Keene 68.
Colby-Sawyer is 1-2, but are outscoring their opposition by 4.3 points so far in the early going.  They lost to state & conference rival Plymouth 59-55 last time out, and also face Boston in January.  They last played November 15 2011 with Keene pulling out a neutral site victory at NH Tech 87-73.
Bridgewater 67 @ Dartmouth 74.
Bridgewater is 1-3, but their only win is against MIT on the road by double digits.  Their 3 losses are, coincidently, all by 8 points, and have been off since losing to RIC by 8 last Tuesday.  Bridgewater won by 12 at home last year.

[magicman]

Magicman.......based on your last post, you may have some interest in the Amherst vs. ECSU game in LeFrak  in early January.  Expect there will be a webcast of the game.....do not expect the quality of the webcast to be as fine as the one out of your school.

Thanks amh63,

I noticed that game earlier when I was looking at the schedule for Amherst. I will be watching that one on the webcast. In fact I'm watching Amherst against Anna Maria as I type this. Currrently a time out with the Lord Jeffs up 78-52. Connor Greene with a big night for Amherst. Got my first look at David George as well. Looks like another good one for Amherst. Only a freshman and Hixon has him starting already. 

I will also be able to get some comparative results when Eastern Connecticut plays North Central and Carthage on Dec 20th and 21st down in Florida. Buffalo State, from my conference the SUNYAC, is the 4th team at the same tournament and will play those same two schools. Unfortunately there probably won't be a webcast of those games.

[7express]

Just finished watching my first live Western game of this year a 75-57 win.  Very impressed, but have 2 very big concerns which ill voice later when I do the recap later tonight.

[7express]

Thursday results:
RIC over Elms 78-65.  Isaiah Odunlami had a game high 27 for Elms.  Eric Alleyne lead one of 3 double figure scorers for RIC with 15.  Chris Burton had a game high 15 rebounds and also chipped in 14 points for RIC.  After trailing atr halftime 39-36, RIC outscored the Blazers 42-26 the second half.
Keene gets in the win column, 79-73 vs. Colby-Sawyer.  Matt Dias tied a game high with 21 points, and was 1 of 4 Chargers in double figures.  Peter Donato added a double double with 12 rebounds and 10 points for the Chargers.  Nate Howard lead Keene's offensive charge with 20 points of his own to tie Dias for the game high, and added 23 rebounds, including 9 of Keene's 16 offensive rebounds.  Jaquel Edwards also added 12 points and 8 rebounds for the Owls.
Dartmouth over Bridgewater 76-73.  Barrett Murphy lead Bridgewater with 18 points off the bench.  5 of the 8 Dartmouth players that logged game action scored in double figures lead by Abi Akanni's 15.  Wale Abreham had 13 points and 12 rebounds as well for the Corsairs. 
Western over Worcester 75-57.  Dane Jobst had 13 points for Worcester while Paul Brooks had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers.  Joe Groski had 19, and Ronnie Underwood had 12 off the bench for the Colonials.  There were a combined 50 turnovers, the teams shot 4-31 (12.9%) from 3, and 22-40 (55%) from the free throw line.  Pretty awful numbers.  Now with that out of the way, let's say what I like, dislike and what are my concerns.  What I like about this team: Have a lot of depth.  Of the 15 players on the team (Mark LaPorte left evidentally, the first casualty of 2013) 12 average 9.8 minutes per game or more.  That's a huge advantage to have when you get into the dog days of the season, as most teams usually only go 5 or 6 deep, this team can run out 13, 14, even 15 players, and have all 15 play for 3, 4, even 5 minutes.  That's mainly due to the style which I'll get to now.  Also, like the fast-paced tempo we play.  Since we don't have a lot of size (more on that in a bit) and a bunch of fast and quick guard and wing players, why not speed up the game??  When you have the athletes to play that fast paced style, play it.  Also, the freshmen look really good.  Bobby Bynum has only played 8 games and he & Arsenault for Plymouth look to be the leading candidates for ROY.  Jerry Washington is a stud athlete, he'll also be in the running for ROY.  Assuming all these guys stay around, this team will be a legitimate LEC title contender by 2015.
What I don't like: The fast paced offense.  The only thing I don't like about it is that if you take a bad shot, it's an automatic run out and 2 points for the opposition on the long rebound.  The 2 best teams in this conference (RIC & Eastern) are defensive teams.  For as well as they're playing (6-2 already matching last seasons win total), this is against a total crap schedule and the 1 only good team they played (Bowdoin, coincidently also a defensive team), we got crushed.  Defense still isn't very good (mainly due to the long breakouts via the up-tempo offense), and still a pretty young team who have a lot of room for growth.  Any team that slows the game down (like RIC & eastern will) will be a problem.
My 2 big concerns: 1) As usual, we have absolutely no height whatsoever.  May only be a couple of games, but sooner or later, that no height thing is going to come back and bite them in a close game when they can't get a defensive rebound, because the offensive team has 3 guys over 6"7 while our tallest is only 6"6.
2) RIC and Eastern are not a good matchup in this current system.  Currently, we average 81.1 ppg, and give up an average of 75.5 ppg.  I figure, our goal this year should be 72 points.  I figure if we hit 72 or above, we'll win most of the time, and so far we are 0-2 when scoring less than 72 and 6-0 when scoring 72 or more, so far, that 72 number doesn't lie. Even though RIC's offense sucks, we ain't scoring 81 points on them, and probably not even 72 because they are a great defensive team, and slow the game down to a snails pace.  Eastern's defense is good, but not as good as RIC's, but there offense is much better.  Even in a shootout, they probably have more weapons then we have.  Luckily, we don't play each of them until late January, so there's still a long time to tweak some things for those 2 opponents, but right now with the system I saw today, doesn't look too good for when we play the top 2 in the conference.  USM on Saturday will be a nice test for how high this team's ceiling can be.  Not great on the defensive end, so we should score some points, however they have a decent offensive attack and will be only the second best team we would have played all season.

32-19 LEC; 39-12 me

Saturday schedule sees the opening of conference play for most teams.  Remember USM & Keene have already gotten a leg up on the competition, so they each will be playing their second game while everyone else plays conference game #1.  These games count!
Dartmouth @ Plymouth 3 PM
Western @ USM 3 PM
Keene @ Boston 3 PM
RIC @ Eastern 4 PM (why is this at 4 PM??  Is this a mistake or is the Geissler gymnasium hosting something Saturday morning??)
My superlatives: Best game: RIC @ Eastern
Worst game: By process of elimination, this goes to Keene @ Boston.  I would have picked Dartmouth @ Plymouth on November 14, except both teams are playing well
Most important game: RIC @ Eastern again.  Winner gets a huge leg up (especially if it's RIC) at hosting the semi's and finals.
Most interesting game: I'm going to say Western @ USM.  I'll make predictions Friday.  Agree/disagree with these superlatives??

[7express]

Sat predictions:

Dartmouth 65 @ Plymouth 69.
Both teams are playing well.  I'll take the Panthers at home, that's a very long trip for Dartmouth up there to NH.  Plymouth swept them last year winning by 2 at home and by 29 in North Dartmouth.
Keene 78 @ Boston 72.
Boston has lost 2 games in a row after rolling off 3 straight wins, while Keene picked up their first win last time out.  I say Keene gets win #2 and improves their conference record to .500.  Keene won both meetings last year; 80-76 in Keene and 91-82 in Boston, and haven't lost to them since December 5, 2009.
Western 67 @ USM 74.
Much like Dartmouth going up to Plymouth, this is a very long trip for the Colonials.  Western has been playing great, and like I said last night we can probably put up some points on the USM defense, however I think USM makes a couple more plays to pull out the win and go to 2-0.   USM won both meetings last year: 92-80 in Maine (a game that was a lot worse then the final score indicated) and in overtime in Danbury 90-77.
RIC 58 @ Eastern 67.
Both defenses are good, however Eastern is playing the best in the conference, they are at home, and they have the better offense, so I say they pull away late and get the win.  The teams split the season series last year with the road team winning each game: Eastern won the first matchup in Providence 76-68 and RIC took the rematch in Willimantic 60-50.

[7express]

Sat schedule:

Plymouth up 30-19 5:22 left
Plymouth by 10 32-22 4:31 left in first
Plymouth 42-32 at halftime.  Petey Skevas with 11, Tucker Bouchard with a game high 14 for Dartmouth.
Plymouth up 53-40 11:30 left.
Plymouth on the way to the win, up 71-57 with 38 seconds left.
Final: Plymouth wins 71-61
Western up 31-12 7:40, and they've already matched the total points the ladies scored earlier with 27:40 left to play.
Western shooting 70%, leads USM 48-29 2:38 left in first
Western 51-35 at halftime.  Have cooled off quite a bit the last 2:38 as they are only shooting 63%.  11 players on the scoring sheet for Western lead by Ronnie Underwood with 7, Cole Libby with 15 for the Huskies.
USM has outscored Western 16-3 so far in the second to get back within 3, 54-51 with 14:35 left.
Western hanging on, up 79-71 3:47 left.
Western 81-76 30 seconds left
Final: Western 86-76
Keene leads 15-10 14:05
Keene up 24-17 8:36
Keene 35-29 3:21 left
Keene at halftime 41-34.  Matt Sherlock leads Keene with 9 points, Jerald Mayers leads Boston with 12 and Carl Joseph has 9.
Keene has outscored Boston 12-3 to open the second, lead 53-37 17:28 left.
Keene 61-47 14:30
Keene up 18, 70-52 11:11 left
Final: Keene 93-76
Eastern/RIC women heading to overtime, so the men's game won't tip until around 4:15 or so.
RIC Eastern tied at 8.  I'll be going out to dinner around 5:30, so I don't think I'll be catching this full game, but I'll recap it later tonight.
Eastern/RIC women's game ended about 3:51, so the men's game should start right 4:15 or 4:20.
RIC on a 9-0 run to go up 19-13 12:30 left in first.
Eastern on a 10-4 run to tie RIC at 23 all 7:49 to play in the first.
Eastern & RIC tied at 39.  A lot more high scoring then I thought it would be.
Final: Eastern 77-74

[7express]

Sat results:

Plymouth over Dartmouth 71-61.  Tucker Bouchard had 20 points to lead Dartmouth while Ryan Walsh and Wale Abraham also finished in double digits with 10 & 11 respectively.  Plymouth placed 4 in double figures lead by Uche Nwokeji with 20.  Where the hell did this guy come from?? Alex Burt & Curtis Arsenault each had 10 and Petey Skevas finished with 13.  Nice to see Dartmouth, Plymouth & Western pick up talented kids in the summer.  Last year if Burt only finished with 10 points, they would've lost by 30 because he was the only person that could score, but now with Arsenault, Nwokeji, Logan Kestey, Shomari Morgan, Skevas playing a full season, Burt doesn't have to be the only go to guy, he can become a 3rd or 4th option which will make them a very dangerous team.
Western over USM 86-76.  11 of the 12 players that played for Western got in the scoring column,  lead by Jerry Washington's 16 who finished 5-6 from the floor.  They finished 54% shooting for the game and a blistering 63% shooting in the first half.  Tyler Penney lead USM with 20 points, and Cole Libby had 15, though all 15 came in the first half when USM scored 35 points and was down by 16.  USM made a couple of runs, and even got it tied at 54 about 9 minutes into the second, but Western hit 10 3's while USM hit only 1, and that was what got Western the win.  A good road win, and a nice bus ride back to Danbury after the women lost 67-31.
Keene wins 93-76 over Boston.  Jeff Lunn was one of 5 Keene players in double figures with 19 points.  Carl Joseph had a game high 26 for the Beacons.  Keene lead by 7 at halftime, never lead by fewer than 10 after the first minute, and lead as much as 18 to win going away.
Eastern 77-74 over RIC.  Nyheem Sanders had a game high 26 to lead RIC; Eastern had 2 with 22+ points: Trachone Preston with 22, Brian Salzillo with 24 including 6 three pointers, and Hugh Lindo had 16 rebounds off the bench for the Warriors.  Eastern shot 10 more free throws then RIC did.  Eastern outscored RIC 36-23 the last 14:40 of the game after RIC got their largest lead of 10 at 51-41, right about when I went to dinner.

32-19 LEC; 42-13 me

Standings:
1) Eastern 7-1 (1-0)
1) Plymouth 6-1 (1-0)
1) Western 7-2 (1-0)
4) USM 4-4 (1-1)
4) Keene 2-5 (1-1)
6) Dartmouth 4-3 (0-1)
6) RIC 4-4 (0-1)
6) Boston 3-4 (0-1)

schedule:
Tuesday, December 10:
Plymouth @ Tufts 7 PM
USM @ Maine-Farmington 7 PM
Dartmouth @ Roger Williams 7 PM
Salve @ RIC 7:30

Upcoming conference schedule:
Saturday, December 14:
Boston @ RIC 3 PM
Saturday, January 4:
Eastern @ Plymouth 3 PM
Thursday, January 9:
Dartmouth @ Western 7:30 PM.  That'll take all teams to 2 games when LEC play resumes in full swing Saturday, January 11.

[ECSUalum]

Enfield CT High School teammates Fr, Huge Lindo and So Trachone Preston were outstanding tonight and IMHO carried the team to victory over RIC.  Lindo had 16 boards, 14 defensive and  Preston had 7 boards and 22 critical points that kept ECSU in the game and was outstanding with the ball under a tough RIC full court press most of the game.  Salzillo was brilliant as well making some unbelievable 3's with RIC guys all over him   Great win tonight in a hard fought game.

Only other item to note was the fact that Coach Walsh was not at the game tonight... must have either been ill or had some sort of family emergency, hope all is ok with him and/or his family!

BTW, nice win by WestConn over USM tonight after a loooog ride to Gorham ME today. Looks like Coach Campbell and the Colonials are back on track, a good thing to see

[AllStar]

ECSUalum:

I hope everything is OK with him!

[ECSUalum]

ECSUalum:

I hope everything is OK with him!

Yes Sir, was very surprised not to see Coach Walsh on the sidelines tonight
However, who ever took over the team tonight, ran it just like Coach Walsh would have, ...  a lot full court pressure, always trying for the trap and substituting, to take advantage of defensive vs offensive situations/matchups.

We will have to get Mike Garrow more involved when we play RIC in Providence, if we want another "W", as he had an off night this afternoon from both a rebounding and point scoring standpoint