MBB: Little East

[7express]

Dartmouth up 49-41 at the half.  Killer end of half for Western.  Corsairs had a breakaway after a Western miss and Jon Robinson (who's made a couple really dumb plays so far) traveled.  So Western gets the ball back with a second remaining...and they throw it out of bounds without anyone touching it.  So back to Dartmouth it goes underneath their basket and Jake Laga hits a 3 pointer at the buzzer.  Other scores:
Eastern trails 43-39, RIC leads 29-25, no score Keene/USM.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern loses to Plymouth State this afternoon in a really pathetic performance.  They were COMPLETELY outplayed by Plymouth both offensively and defensively!!  Eastern players looked like they were all sleeping today.    Top 25 teams just do not let games like this get away from them, I don't care if they have a 4 hr bus ride...its UNACCEPTABLE!  Geitner needs to get their attention in practice tomorrow.

Tarchee Brown came out of the game mid 1st half  with some sort of injury, and only returned briefly the rest of the game.

[7express]

Dartmouth finishes the season series sweep of Western with a resounding 101-85 win I believe the final score was.  Embarrassing 2nd half performance offensively for the Colonials who for the first 7 or 8 minutes couldn't hit the Pacific Ocean from a Hawaiin beach.  Aside from the opening minutes of the second I don't think Dartmouth ever lead by fewer than 11 points.
Eastern loses to Plymouth which from what Alum posted sounding like another embarrassing performance.  RIC and Keene are your other winners.  Looks like both Western teams will be opening on the road in the quarters.  Pretty much Western needs to beat Keene & Eastern and have the Owls lose to Eastern.

[7express]

Btw a really weird thing happened this game that definitely isn't showing up in the box score: halfway through the second half a Dartmouth assistant coach left the bench, took a call for a pizza delivery, and then paid for it....as the game was going on!  Needless to say that's the first time in all my years watching basketball I have ever seen a coach/assistant/manager, etc take a call during the game while they were on the bench during a game, much less paid for a food order.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Btw a really weird thing happened this game that definitely isn't showing up in the box score: halfway through the second half a Dartmouth assistant coach left the bench, took a call for a pizza delivery, and then paid for it....as the game was going on!  Needless to say that's the first time in all my years watching basketball I have ever seen a coach/assistant/manager, etc take a call during the game while they were on the bench during a game, much less paid for a food order.

Did they share slices with players and/or fans?

[7express]

Btw a really weird thing happened this game that definitely isn't showing up in the box score: halfway through the second half a Dartmouth assistant coach left the bench, took a call for a pizza delivery, and then paid for it....as the game was going on!  Needless to say that's the first time in all my years watching basketball I have ever seen a coach/assistant/manager, etc take a call during the game while they were on the bench during a game, much less paid for a food order.

Did they share slices with players and/or fans?

I wish!  I'm guessing it was for the 3 hour ride back to North Dartmouth, MA (and a happy one at that.  Women's team won @ Western for the first time in forever and the men's' team completed their first sweep of Western since I believe the 09 season).

[7express]

Sat  results in the book and each poster finishes 2-2 as Dartmouth scores a win @ Keene and Plymouth gets an upset win over Eastern.  RIC and Keene were the other 2 winners.  If only I got all the upsets right and picked the rest of the games right I'd have a chance

BTW, there are 5 more LEC games in the regular season (no conf games this Tuesday) so 100 points from conference games remain on the table.  I'm planning to do the LEC quarters and semi's (10 points each for 6 games) and possibly a championship game for 20 minutes, but it occurs the day after the semi's so not a lot of time in between.  Let me know what you think!

[7express]

Welp, that went to the wrong thread and since I'm on the phone phone I can't copy it to the right one

[7express]

Tufts/Dartmouth, Amherst/RIC and Keene/Middlebury are the 3 marquee games of the night in the LEC/NESCAC showdown.  Absolutely mandatory that the LEC get at least 2 of these games.

Bowdoin @ Plymouth.
Plymouth is coming off an upset win over nationally ranked Eastern, snapping the Warriors 27 game conference winning streak which dated back to January 26, 2013.  The Polar Bears are 4-3 in the NESCAC after getting swept through Trinity & Amherst over the weekend, and looking at the NESCAC board this is a team that has some injury issues and is not a very deep team at all.    In their overtime loss to Trinity, coach Gilbride only went with a rotation 8 deep, and 4 of 5 starters played 37 or more minutes.  The oddsmakers have the Polar Bears favored by 8.5.  Plymouth is tough to beat at home, have some momentum after getting the win over the Warriors, and Bowdoin is sliding, I think the Panthers get the win.  Plymouth 65-59

USM @ Colby.
I had high expectations for Colby this year, thought they would challenge for the NESCAC regular season title, but they have fallen flat on their face in conference play, coming into this matchup 3-4 in conference after getting swept through Amherst & Trinity like their state rivals Bowdoin did.  The Huskies have only 4 wins this year, but 3 of those 4 are against Maine schools (UNE, Farmington & St. Joseph's).  This is the start of a 4 game home stand to end the year for the White Mules, so they can still finish with a top 4 spot in the conference and get themselves a 5th straight game at home in the NESCAC quarterfinals.  Colby is favored by 10 and Colby gets the DD win; 78-60

Amherst @ RIC.
Today is exactly the 6 year anniversary of the last Anchormen win in this series which happened, also at the Murray Center, February 3 of 2009.  What were you doing on February 3, 2009??  This Amherst team isn't nearly as good as the Amherst teams of years past, but they seem to play a lot better on the road then they do at home.  The Jeffs have lost 4 games at home, the closest being a 16 point loss, and have only lost once on the road by a single point.  In coom results between these 2: RIC beat Brandeis at home by 6, Amherst lost to them at home by 20; RIC also beat Tufts on the road while Amherst lost to them at home by 17, but Amherst won @ Eastern, while RIC lost to the Warriors twice including getting blown out @ Eastern.  If the regular season ended tonight, both teams would be on thin ice if they didn't win their conference tournament, but the game gives the winner a great chance to get a quality win and after February 11 likely a WvRRO opponent since I see both teams being ranked in New England.  Oddsmakers have made the Anchormen a slight 1.5 point favorite, but I still don't trust the LEC to get a win like this.  if Eastern couldn't beat them, I don't think RIC is going to be able to beat them either.  Sorry Amh, but I really hope that predictions turns out to be false, Amherst 74-67.

Keene @ Middlebury.
2 teams that put up a lot of points, that's how the oddsmakers have set an over/under of 160 points for this contest.  The Panthers have cracked 70+ points 10 times in 18 games this year, while the Owls have cracked 70+ in 18 of 19 games they've played this year, the lone exception when they were held to 58 against the stout defense of Rhode Island College.  The Owls are averaging 88.5 ppg in their 15 wins, but only 73.8 ppg in their 4 losses, while the Panthers average 83.6 ppg in their 14 wins and only 60 points in their 4 losses.  Both teams have a questionable loss on their schedule: Mid lost at home to Maine-Fort Kent, while the Owls lost on the road to Boston.  No shame in their other 6 combined losses as even in a down year losses at Bates & @ Tufts aren't bad and @ Williams is a tough place to play while the other 3 Owls losses are to eastern & Plattsburgh (no shame there), as well as @ RIC (no shame there either).  Speaking of Plattsburgh: the Cardinals beat the Owls in Keene in Spaulding gymnasium and lost to the Panthers in Plattsburgh.  I have a feeling first to 75 wins, much like RIC/Amherst I don't trust an LEC team to win a game of this caliber, and IF this game comes down to needing a stop I am much more confident in the Panthers getting a defensive stop than the Owls who for the last 5 years have played virtually no defense whatsoever.  Oddsmakers have made the Owls a 1 point road favorite in this game.  Last time the Owls played @ Middlebury (2013) they lost by 28 points.  It's probably going to be much closer, but the Panthers still get the win 85-81.

Tufts @ Dartmouth.
Both teams started slow out of the gates before picking up steam once the calendar flipped to 2015.  The Corsairs started the season 5-6, but have won 6 of their last 8, all in 2015 to improve their record to 11-8.  The Jumbos meanwhile were 2-6 heading into their December 9 matchup @ Plymouth, won that game and have won 7 of 10 to improve to .500.  A potential big loss for the Jumbos is their big center Hunter Sabety who did not appear in either game for the Jumbos this weekend vs. Conn College & Wesleyan (a 1-1 split).  Wale Abraham from the Corsairs is a double-double machine this year, if Sabety is out do the Jumbos have any other bigs to match Abraham down low and make him a non factor??  Corsairs need Abraham to do work down low and get the outside game working with Jake Laga, & John Genkos firing from deep.  In the win over Western on Saturday, Abraham finished with 24 points & 19 rebounds and the Corsairs finished 8-14 from 3 (6-11 combined for Laga & Genkos).  Jumbos need to get Abraham out of the game and pressure the Corsairs.  When the Corsairs went up 20 on Western in the second half and Western started to press they didn't handle it very well, and it was one of the worst closeouts in a 20 point game I have ever seen.  Oddsmakers have made the Jumbos a 2 point road favorite, but after seeing Dartmouth in person Saturday I really like what they are doing, I think they pull out the win, 84-76

[7express]

A completely embarrassing effort from the conference this evening.  Even in a year where Trinity, Tufts & Bates are the top 3 NESCAC team (with Bowdoin tied for 4th), 3 of the top 4 in the LEC ALL go down this evening.

Plymouth blows a 15 point halftime lead losing by double digits to Bowdoin.  I know Plymouth isn't good, but getting outscored 47-19 in the second half....at home....when you are up 15 is embarrassing.  Sorry!

Just as I expected RIC lost to Amherst once again, 73-65 was the final from Providence.

Dartmouth loses by 2 to a Tufts team playing without Sabety.  That's not terrible.

Keene down 14 to Middlebury under 2 minutes to go.  I expected them to lose, but figured it would probably be closer.

USM loses to Colby 76-64.

[AllStar]

Flat out awful night for the conference!  No other way to slice it.  Plymouth led by 19 with a minute left in the first and lost by double-digits...that's hard to do.  Keene State shot a pathetic 33% in a loss at Middlebury.  UMass Dartmouth lost to a short handed Tufts team at home.  Southern Maine lost by 12 to a Colby team missing their best player.   RIC never led and lost 72-63 to Amherst.  All of it...terrible.

[7express]

Thursday predictions:

Western @ Westfield.
The last official non conference game in the regular season, after tonight all LEC games from this point forward.  Owls are 14-6 overall, and 7-1 in the MASCAC.  Owls are tied with the Bridgewater State Bears with a 7-1 conference record (teams split the season series 1-1) and both teams are 2.5 games up on the closest competition in the MASCAC race.  Owls won by 13 in 2013, while the Colonials returned the favor with a 3 point win in Danbury in 2014.  Westfield 79-67

[7express]

Westfield up 19 with 4 minutes left, so I'm officially calling the fight.

Saturday LEC games:
Boston @ Eastern
Western @ Plymouth
USM @ Dartmouth
RIC @ Keene.  Keene/RIC certainly looks like the best game on paper.  I'll be at either Eastern/Boston or RIC/Keene, haven't quite decided which on yet.

[7express]

Sat picks:

Boston @ Eastern.
Boston got a surprising road win earlier this season at nationally ranked MIT, but the engineers were missing a couple key contributers in that loss.  Eastern is no longer ranked after the Plymouth embarrassment from last weekend and should win by about 10-15 points as the oddsmakers agree with this statement as they have the Warriors as a 14.5 point favorite.  Beacons play close for 25 or 30 minutes, but Eastern runs away in the later stages of the game to win 78-64.

Western @ Plymouth.
The Panthers followed up the win over nationally ranked Eastern by playing an awful second half vs. the Bowdoin Polar Bears.  Western has lost 3 straight and 4 of 5 to all but eliminate themselves from hosting a tournament game.  This is a tough trip for the Colonials, if they don't play a full 40 minute game they are going to lose.  Western is a 4 point favorite, and I think they edge one out 79-77.

USM @ Dartmouth.
Hopefully the Corsairs win these next 2 (vs. USM @ Boston on Tuesday) so it makes the Eastern/Dartmouth game next weekend a defacto regular season championship game which I've already decided I'm going to.  Women's game likely decides the regular season champion, hopefully the men's game is the same.  Corsairs are a big 15 point favorite, I say they cover, 85-65.

RIC @ Keene.
I'm planning on going up to Keene, so if AllStar, any other Keene lurkers, or RIC lurkers also making the trip up, come say hello if you want!  The conferences best offense vs. one of the conferences best defense.  RIC has won 7 straight and 13 of 14 in the series, and haven't lost at Keene since January 20, 2007, winning 7 straight at Spaulding gymnasium.  The odds have the Anchormen as a 1.5 point road favorite, but I'll have to disagree with the oddsmakers here, the Owls end recent misery vs. the Anchormen in a game that comes down to the final couple minutes as the Owls are able to put up points.  If the Owls can manage to get to 80 points, I don't see how it's possible the Anchormen can match them in that department, likewise, if the Owls get held under 70, I don't see how it's possible the Owls can win. Keene 71-68.

[7express]

Dartmouth, Eastern, Western, and RIC are the halftime leaders.