MBB: Little East

[nescac1]

I actually may have missed the bigger story, which is Carlos Brown.  He led RIC in scoring yesterday in an exhibition win over Div I Holy Cross.   Another Div-II transfer (Merrimack).  Ramirez transferred from Dominican College.  In light of the transfers and the exhibition win over Holy Cross, looks like RIC is the team to beat in LEC once again and may do some serious damage in the region. 

http://www.ric.edu/athletics/Stats/stats0708/Winter/rimb1101.htm

Looks like three transfers and one frosh make up half the rotation. 

RIC plays at Keene and Trinity back-to-back in December so that should be interesting. 

[MeOak21]

And Bailey was held scoreless in over 20 minutes. Interesting.

I haven't seen many notable D2 transfers come into the LEC in recent history and now a few go to the same team...

Thanks for the info.

[MeOak21]

It appears that the LEC is going to field at least 4 legitimate regionally competitive teams this year following the results of the season opening tournaments and last nights games. Given that some teams faced better quality opponents than others, the quality of the squads can be seen in the point margins of their victories. I'm looking at RIC, Keene, WestConn, and UMDartmouth to start out with. Any thoughts on this? Anyone have much to say about LEC teams they've seen play so far?

[hoops]

Keene State has looked very good so far but Kathan has struggled alittle bit. I dont know if its because the team is very balanced or if he's in just a slump. I believe he averging only like 10ppg so far though he's still rebounding well.

[MeOak21]

You're right that Kathan seems to be in a bit of a shooting slump but he has done well to not force the issue too much. They do have a pretty well balanced attack at this point but they have had less than stellar competition with the exception of Lasell who appears to have a strong squad this year with the win over WPI last night. Keene knows they can count on him to produce and its early yet, I can't imagine that whatever trouble he appears to be having will last.

[MeOak21]

Any RIC fans that might happen to know what the deal is with Bobby Bailey? His name wasn't in the last few box scores against Fitchburg State and UMass Boston and his stats were pretty limited in his action up to that point.
With the way he was playing last year I figured he'd be improving upon that this year, which has not been the case.

[knowledge24]

Its nice to see RIC putting it on teams. How's the atmosphere up there? Are they bringing in the fans? They look like the favorite but Danbury might be delivering some heat. The coaching staff at Western brings a lot to the table. Campbell and company have all been at the top as players. Its all about the system, If they got the players look out for them to run the table especially down the stretch.

[MeOak21]

I'll agree that RIC has done pretty well so far, despite a loss to Fitchburg State (who appears to be a capable team), but with the personnel they have I'd say they're underperforming. They haven't won a game by more than 11 points and barring a undermanned Keene State team, they haven't met up with any of the high quality teams in NE.
Tonights game with Trinity will paint a better picture of what level this team is on right now.
By no means am I berating the ability of RIC. I am just wary of how they are currently performing.

[hoops]

http://www.keene.edu/athletics/news_article.cfm?news_id=3792



Huge christmas gift for the owls as Nate Anderson returns to the team. I guess he had some personal issues which forced him to sit out. I have posted the link above.

[atn alum]

Good to know. Thanks for the tip.

By the way: D3hoops will be at Keene's next 2 games...we'll be broadcasting from the Montclair Tournament. You can check the front page day-of-game for a link. Keene-Calvin on a neutral floor should be a good one.

[ILive4This]

This should be a good opportunity to show how strong the NE region really is. A number of people made some comments that it was weak after UMD beat Brandeis and then Brandeis beat Amherst. I hope Keene lays the smack down too boost the region come tournament time.

[atn alum]

We'll be broadcasting Keene State's games at the Montclair Tournament on both Friday and Saturday.

You should be able to access the link here. The link will be available on front page or at

http://www.d3hoops.com/audio

[broke_ya_ankles]

not that much chatter goes into this board (not sure if anyone even reads it) but for what its worth USM which has struggled this season much like in recent years has actually something to look forward to going into the second half of this season.  They just returned 3 "starters" for 2nd semester games in Jamal Caterina, Foster Oakley, and Nick Gooding.  Both Caterina and Gooding have D1 experience (Caterina at American and UNH, Gooding at Sacramento State).  Since the 3's return they have gone 0-2 and continued thier struggles although it appears the players are being eased into the rotation slowly and their past 2 games were against teams with a combined 12-2 record (one of those teams being the #21 ranked team in the country)

just some recent new to stir up some talk...

[MeOak21]

Interesting news. Hopefully it will make the trip to USM worth making for some fans of the other LEC teams. .

What year are those players in regards to NCAA eligibility?

[broke_ya_ankles]

thats a good question and i cant say with 100% certainty but I believe all 3 are in their final year of eligibility.  Im pretty sure about Caterina and Oakley being done after this season and Gooding was a soph at Sac State during the 03-04 season so I would have to assume he's on his final year as well