MBB: Little East

[warrior]

Thanks 7express and ECSUAlum - With the season upon us, I can hardly wait for some action, so I've been waiting anxiously for a reply in our blog all week.  Extra thanks to 7express for the great entry! (I wish I was elibible to give you a 'thumbs-up' or whatever they call those things!)  Anyway, I WAS at the URI game.  RIC looked very impressive in the first half, clearly frustrating their bigger and stronger opponents.  (I was sitting right behind the URI bench and you could hear players cursing and muttering under their breadths about not boxing out and not playing D.)  King hit a bunch of 3s in the first half , but missed a bunch in the second.  Mason had a rough night - 4 fouls and a bunch of his shots were sent into the cheap seats, but he had a bunch of really nice drive and dishes.  Clearly, they will be tough to beat as always.  We have our last scrimmage on Tuesday at Coast Guard.  The team is playing well despite a bunch of major (broken hand) and minor (charlie horses, ankles ...) injuries.  Hopefully all will be healthy by November 18th for the tip-off vs. Worcester State!

[mass_d3fan]

I understand WPI and Keene St scrimmaged yesterday.  Anyone out here go to it or hear anything about it?  I know someone from the area up there who was going to go to it, but i haven't heard from him.

warrior

Who has the broken hand at RIC?

[7express]

Anyone know when the conference predictions come out on the LEC website??  I think most of the conferences come up with their predictions today or tomorrow if they haven't already.

[warrior]

Conference predictions usually come out one week before season begin, so they should be posted the end of this week or early next week.  I'm like you - can't wait to see something in print to get me pumped! MassD3fan - the hand injury was an Eastern player - a forward - but the cast is off and he will be good to go by game one.  I'm off to the Coast Guard scrimmage.  I'll post the results later!  Wish us luck!

[wcsu91]

Any word on when West Conn's 2011-2012 roster will be put online? Hopefully they recruited some big new players.

[warrior]

The Coast Guard scrimmage went well.  Eastern jumped out to an early lead and dominated the first half with its starters (54-26). The other two halves were more even with everyone getting in some good playing time. Friday's opener vs. Worcester State should be a good one.  Wish us luck!

[7express]

It's amazing, the season is about 76 hours away, the LEC still has not posted predictions, and Western still has not posted an updated roster (i only know 1 incoming player on the Western women's team, Amber Litwinko).  My first look at the West Conn women's roster is when I pick up the game program @ Oneonta state on Tuesday night.

For Warrior or ECSUalum, has Eastern updated their roster yet??  I know So Maine and RIC have, but those are the only 2 team's in thje conference I've checked.

[warrior]

No, ours isn't up yet either.  I think the problem is, all the Sports Information Directors are still busy with the fall sports: soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, .....  I believe Eastern soccer just qualified for both NCAA soccer tournaments, so I don't expect anything to happen on our basketball webpage for at least a week or two! (They did take photos yesterday, but our SID still has to write bios and interview the coach for his comments - both of which take a while.)  Regarding the LEC preseason poll, I would think that should happen this coming week, but then again, the deadline wouldn't be until the first league game. Our's isn't until Dec. 3!  Does anyone have an earlier one?   

[ECSUalum]

Eastern women's roster is up, so why cant the men's roster get posted??  It is not rocket science to post the men's roster, is it?? 
BYW, Looks like Coach Bierly recruited some good frosh for 2011/12, for example 5-10 Shannon McCourt from New Fairfield, who I believe was highly recruited.  She should play a lot of minutes this year.  Other is Taylor McBride 5-2 guard from Windham HS.  "very very quick and one of best athletes on the team" per Coach Bierly.

Anyway....... The boys look to kick some butt this year if everyone stays healthy   Best of Luck to the Warriors this year!!

[LECFAN32]

got a look at western yesterday (friday) at the oneil center vs a young but fairly talented and discipline springfield squad.. rolled out a starting lineup with a big frontline of soph. jr barnes (6'8 230+) and gary robinson (6'7) with brooks and redding along with ryan pelletier who is most likely starting while mike jensen is out with an injury off the bench is another 6'5 wnec transfer mike kennedy who is definitely good enough to contribute if he stays out of the campbell dog house. also 2 6'4- 6'5 athletic freshman coming off the bench who look ready to contribute with one (from stamford hs cant remember his name) most likely catching some starts throughout the season, backup pg will be an issue and for now is handled by sean mobilio a junior until or if rob bentil doesnt get cleared to play, if he does I would expect a smaller backcourt on certain nights..gates may return in december from what I hear while payton is a wildcard... clearly was some nerves shown from some of the younger players while the vets played fairly under control.. won the first 20 min by 12 -14 while not playing very sharp, and springfield playing fairly well and efficiently.. team has pretty nice potential

roster may not be up until a day or two before the first game as is usual practice, however the womens is usually up by nowso that is a little odd.

[wcsu91]

West Conn's Men's 2011-2012 Roster is finally online. Looks like they added some size/height which will definitely help them when they face some of the bigger teams out there. Dont know how Kean Owls got picked ahead of them in the pre-season LEC Poll.

[7express]

Little East poll is out.  Don't agree with Western 3rd & Eastern tied for 4th (4th!!! with Dartmouth).  I don't mean to insult KSC fan, but Keene state 2nd up there is ripe for an overrated season.  I know they have the whole team back, but what exactly did they accomplish to get picked second in preseason, lose in double OT to RIC??  Western actually beat them last year and were picked 3rd.  Here's the whole poll:

http://littleeast.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20111114-mbkb-preseason

[ECSUalum]

WOW, WCSU So Center James Barnes, 6-8, 275!!!  If he is any kind of athlete, he will be hard to defend!!
Not sure if I like the pre season poll either, however, many times these polls do not match the final outcome any way. Just prove your ranking by winning basketball games and the pollsters will take notice both regionally and nationally!!!

d3hoops preseason poll has RIC with 35 votes and WCSU with 19 votes.

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

Looks like WCSU and RIC reloaded well and should be looking to win the whole shooting match, (excuse the pun).
REALLY GOING TO BE AN EXCITING SEASON!!!!!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL

[warrior]

I'm definitely disappointed in our tie for fourth place spot in the preseason poll, but fortunately, the NCAA doesn't give any weight to preseason polls, so I guess I won't worry too much about the poll either.   It looks like the other coaches feel that, with the loss of Roveto and Sawyer, we won't be able to repeat our 4-0 record vs. Keene and Dartmouth.  I can't deny the logic behind that, but having seen this year's team play, I can't help but think the boys will wind up proving the coaches wrong.  Only time will tell!

[7express]

Good luck to all 5 team's that start tomorrow.  I will have my predictions for tomorrow's game later on tonight.