MBB: Little East

[broke_ya_ankles]

Umass Dartmouth remains undefeated tonite in a clash with fellow LEC power Rhode Island College final score being 77-70.  Yet another impressive win for Umass, I know people are waiting for that game where they finally lose but it looks as though they should be able to comfortably cost to 19-0 before 3 very difficult games in a row againt Tufts, Keene, and a rematch with RIC. 

in other LEC action Southern Maine continued to claw their way back to .500 with a 72-62 win over Umass-Boston.  Caterina and Coppenrath appear to have once again complimented each other nicely, Coppenrath finishing with a game high 25 points to go with 6 rebounds while Caterina added a double double of 14 points 10 rebounds.  USM is 4-1 since the new year with their only loss coming to the hands of Rhode Island College.  Im not saying this team is a legit contender to win the conference but they certainly seem as though they will give a game to anyone night in and night out, not the cupcake it was in recent years...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Sorry, I'm lazy, but was that game in Rhode Island or Dartmouth?

[KSCfan]

Clearly UMD and RIC are the cream of the LEC this year.  Can any of the other teams claw out an upset in the LEC Tourny.  Keene seems to be gathering some steam with three wins in a row look for them to add to that with Mitchell College who might as well be sister marys school of the blind and a tough game with Eastern on next Sat keene seems to maybe recovering from thier early struggles but are they legit enough to knock off one of the big two?

[MeOak21]

KSCfan- you already know the answer to that question. Keene lost in OT to both of those teams. I think it is safe to say that they are "legit enough" to beat either UMD, RIC or both.
The real question about Keene State at this point is this:
Will they be able to consistently bring their "A" game throughout the rest of the season or not? If they can establish some consistency of playing at the level they are capable of, they will be just as much a contender as anyone to win the LEC tourney. They just can't wait around for it to happen on its own...

[KSCfan]

True meoak great point about the OT losses to both.  And you are quite accurate on wiether they bring thier A game.  One big thin that has helped the owls is the mid season readdition of anderson.  Not only is he a good big man but he is freeing up Kathan more for him to play like he is capable of.  Before Anderson came back teams where doubling Kathan down low and really making keene shoot over the top of them which they dont really have a true three point threat like last year with sontag.  Hickey is more of a point guard than a shooting guard and rider and lecitra are more slah guards.  With Andreson back it makes team play Keene down more honest which has allowed for kathan to come around as well as keene to work a more in and out game for the guards  to get better jumper looks.  keene could make a little bit of a run and get some momentum going into the LEC's

[MeOak21]

You are pretty much right on with all of your comments except 1 or 2 things. Ritter is a slashing guard who can hit the outside shot whereas Licitra is a spot up jumpshooter who can slash. You know what I mean?
Sontag is missed for a myriad of reasons. He is not a player that you can replace by simply giving someone the minutes that he used to have on the floor. In this case with the current roster, you would need to really mix and match the available personnel to get the kind of production you would expect to get from Sontag's individual effort. That being said, there are a lot of talented players with different skill sets that can be utilized on this team. That can make it hard for coaches to get the most out of each player on any given night.

Hoops fan- I'm sure you already know this by now but I didn't want to leave your previous question unanswered. The UMDartmouth vs. RIC game was held at RIC.

[KSCfan]

Just as keene starts to get some momentum they get derailed with a 77-74 loss to Southern Maine who seems to gaining some momentum themselves with 4 wins in a row.  Tough game for Keene and a game that they really needed to win.  Ol Coach Colbert cant seem to get the owls rolling this year

[GoCorsairs]

Zcat68 you are a fool. Dan Holbrook gets lucky? His job is to rebound missed threes and put them back which he does well. He keeps the D honest by making turn and face moves, which make the D help and result in open threes. There's a reason they are undefeated and their names are Dan Holbrook, Reece Freeman and Brian Baptiste

[broke_ya_ankles]

Keenes roller coaster season really has me puzzled so I decided to look deeper into trends that occur in their wins, and trends that occur in their losses.  Figured I'd share what I found with everyone else...

The keys for Keene to win come down to 2 things. 1) passing with a purpose  and 2) controlling the boards.

Passing with a purpose- in their 11 wins they average 17.2 assists per game in their 7 losses only 13.6.  I know people wont look at 4 assists per game as a huge difference but it really is, higher assists totals usually indicate proper execution and passing with a purpose not just passing the ball for the sake of doing it.


controlling the boards-  This is the owls bread and butter when kathan is doing his thing and getting support from the likes of anderson and co. keene dominates the boards and become successful they have on average a +10 rebounding advantage in their 11 wins, in their 7 losses their opponents match them rebound for rebound (total they have actually been out rebounded by 1)  its not as important how many rebounds they get as different games will result in more shot attempts, more misses, more rebounds.  the important point of the numbers is the percentage of the rebounds that keene is able to come down with. 

those are just some observations Ive found, there are certainly exceptions, keene played almost perfect against umass dartmouth, they dominated the boards 54-35 but still lost in overtime.  I think that game was really the peak of what this team is capable of accomplishing I just think the inconsistency this team has shown factored into the LEC with dartmouth and rhode island being as good as they are a conference championship is just too far of a reach

[ILive4This]

If interested in participating in this week's NE poster's poll please email me, or PM me by 8 pm Monday.

[KSCfan]

Broke good stuff i espically agree with your rebounding analysis.  As someone who has watched keene a lot over the last four years they seem to thrive on a fast break up tempo game style.  A lot of success that the owls have seen has been with a much more up tempo game style, and in order to play that kind of game you pointed to the two keys.  First you need to rebound on the defensive end and push the ball up with some good purpose passes or passes that will get you assists.  I have watched almost all the home games this year for the owls i didnt make it to umass dartmouth so i missed that one, but every game that keene has won and or been close in they have been able to play uptempo with like you said good rebounding and assists.  Keene seems to struggle to find fluidness in the half court game.  They have the big guys down low but thier undersized guards seem to get a bit overwhelmed in the half court game.  i agree with the conferance championship not looking good.  They just cant seem to piece together a good couple of weeks as everytime they take a step forward they take a step back

[Pat Coleman]

New No. 1 team named.

[bosox781]

I can't help but to look past this weekend at Tuesday's UMD @ RIC matchup. Any thoughts on that anyone? I can see RIC ending the streak.  They'll match speed for speed at the guard spots and their big men really shouldn't struggle to keep Holbrook off the boards. It confounds me sometimes how he gets his double double... regardless, your thoughts anyone?
[/quote]

Damn dude.. you really blew that prediction.. holbrook was triple covered for a good amount of the game and got 20 points and 18 boards.. RIC had a rotation of centers coming in fresh off the bench and still couldnt stop him.. I also don't understand this concept of "lucky" double doubles..  He is shooting nearly 54% from the field (3rd in the league) and leads the league in defensive rebounds.. so these "unlucky" misses as you guys put it are not really counting towards that much. Furthermore, UMD is third in the conference in field goal percentage, so they are not missing a ton of shots. It also amazes me that you think that it is possible to draw valid statistical inference about a player by just 1 game.  So much for valid statistical reasoning...

[MeOak21]

Try staying up to date there chief...
It's pretty hard to fall an entire page behind the conversation on the LEC message board but since you are a new poster I'll humor you.

You are right that I failed to predict the outcome of the game. But you are completely wrong in stating that I even made a prediction. I simply stated that I could see RIC ending the streak. (i.e.- I would not be surprised to see RIC beat UMD). Which they almost did. Don't get your panties in a bunch.

Plus, you might want to try making a better distinction in your post as to who you are addressing. I did not claim that Holbrook was a lucky rebounder, I was just part of a conversation where another poster made that statement. In fact, it was a statement that I questioned.

Zcat- So Holbrook's rebounds are off his own missed shots? That would sure help explain the stat book. He just never struck me as that opposing of a force down low but manages to record some good numbers. I always figured he had some sort of connection w/ the stat crew. Either way, he is obviously doing something very well judging by the teams success.

Then, WOW, you can even notice again that I commented positively about Holbrook at the bottom of that post.

Your inflammatory response aimed partially at one of my 2 week old casual comments was a bit ridiculous and because it is clear that you are very sensitive about peoples' comments about UMD you might want to try and take it back a notch or two.

I know this message seems very confrontational so I'll make one concession to ease it out. I have only seen UMD play once this year and it was an internet broadcast of the RIC/UMD game. I'm sure you are more knowledgeable of the Corsairs than myself. Hats off to you.

[bosox781]

They'll match speed for speed at the guard spots and their big men really shouldn't struggle to keep Holbrook off the boards. It confounds me sometimes how he gets his double double... regardless, your thoughts anyone?


This is what i was talking about when i said you blew that one... the other comment was geared towards Zcat.. I thought i quoted that, but i guess i did something wrong.  Seemed like there was some hostility towards his numbers, and I think it was a little rough.. I think it's pretty rough that some would comment negatively after seeing just 1 game (like zcat did).