MBB: Little East

[littleeastguy]

That surely is true as far as admissions standards in the LEC. Except in DIII I think the advantages of being public are less than D1. In DIII kids still are true student athletes and have the goal of a quality education as a higher goal. Because of this private schools, even with higher standards, seem to out perform public schools. 4 of the last 5 men's national champs were from private schools, take out the Wisconsin state schools and the last other public to win the title was Potsdam in 1986. The last 9 women's champs were from privates.
So this could be an angle a conference like the LEC could use to attract these schools.  But it also might be a reason why the LEC hasn't attempted to do so. Competing against top level privates may be a fight LEC schools do not want to start.
But there are conferences that have both public and private.

But since realignment is all the rage this year what about a truly wild idea. The LEC and the MASCAC combine to make a 15 team league.  There are some conferences this relative size in D3.

Split into two divisions North and South.

North: Keene, USM, Plymouth, Boston, Fitchburg, MCLA, Salem State and Worcester State
South: Wconn, Econn, RIC, UMD, Bridgewater, Framingham, Westfield

This is all just crazy talk, but looks good none the less.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

You also have to factor in other sports and what percentage of the overall budget you want to dedicate to athletics.

Lots of private schools are looking to create prestige with the athletic program, whereas many public institutions are more functional in nature.  Mission and vision of the institution and of the athletic departments have to be factored in.  Also, these conferences, in some cases, cooperate on an academic level as well.

I don't know much about the skyline (or the LEC for that matter), but all of those things have to be taken into account.

[littleeastguy]

I would to get everyone posting picks on days with alot of games, so here is mine:
Econn over Trinity
Brandeis over UMD
Wconn over Alburtus
Keene Over MCLA
Fitchburg over UMB
Plymouth over Castleton
RIC over Bridgewater
USM over Bates

So LEC goes 6-2, Ill be at Keene MCLA where is everyone else going?

[pjunito]

Albertus wins by 19; They were bigger, faster, and deeper than West Conn. The game was played in New Haven, but there were a lot of West Conn support. Albertus had 15 players score, it was an eye opening experience. Good win for Albertus. Still early, lots of season and work left.

[7express]

I was at Western @ Albertus.  What a horrible game that was as AMC outplayed us in every aspect of the game; offense, defense, rebounding, transition defense.  You name it, they were better.  The closet the game was at 0-0 on the opening tip-off; AMC scored on their first possession, scored 18 of the games first 20 points, and never led by fewer than 11 the rest of the game.  Luckily this only counts as 1 loss and not 3, but 2 plays really turned the game around:
1) Leading by 14 with about 5 seconds to play in the first half, AMC scored to make it a 16 point game, and on the insuing inbound, Mark Redding stepped over the line, so they gave the ball back to AMC with 1.1 left; they got a dunk as the half ended, so instead of going down 16 (and possibly even 14 if AMC misses that shot with 5 seconds to play), the halftime lead for AMC was 18 and the game, for all intents and purposes was over right there.
2) After being down 20, we had just got a basket to make it a 14 point game and were on a pit of a run to at least make it a competitive game.  We were running around on the defensive end, AMC made an extra pass to a guard out on the permeter who had no West Conn defender within 5 feet of him; he makes that 3, lead goes back to 17 and that was all she wrote.

Have to put this behind us, and get ready for the home opener against Stockton on Friday.

[7express]

LEC goes 5-3; wins by Eastern (over Trinity), Dartmouth (over Brandeis), Keene (over MCLA), So Maine (over Bates), and RIC over Bridgewater.  Great wins by Dartmouth over a very good Brandeis team and I'm not sure how good Bridgewater is, but they were an NCAA team last season.  Losses were by Boston vs. Fitchburg, Plymouth vs. Castleton, and Western over AMC.

[littleeastguy]

UMD pulled out a nice win tonight. 15 Offensive Rebounds for the Corsairs.
West Conn defense just wasn't there at all tonight, cannot give up 107.....

I would like to add that I said UMB would struggle at least as much as USM.  Its really early but USM is 4-0 and UMB fell to 0-2 tonight.

Overall a good night again for the LEC at 5-3 but its not perfect by any stretch.

RIC was dominate down low tonight. Akinrola looks like a super dominate big guy. Bridgewater is a real good team so thats a good win to go with UMD's over Brandeis

[warrior]

Great win for Eastern vs. Trinity last night.  Our last four games vs. Trinity have been down to the wire, but this one was a blow-out, 74-50! Great defense was the key, plus Nick finally got uncorked offensively, Brian Salzillo stayed hot (5/6 3s!), Chris Robataille is back (5/7 from down low) and Jamie Kohn had a nice all-around game (7pts, 6 rebs, 5 asst).  Our only weakness was at the free throw line!  Tuesday we have one more tune-up vs. Conn College, then LEC schedule - here we come! As always, we better come to play every night because there will be no easy ones in the LEC! 

[ECSUalum]

FREE THROW PCT               G FTM  FTA  Pct
1. Western Connecticut       3  57     65 .877
2. Keene State College        4 79     116 .681
3. Plymouth State               3 30      45 .667
4. UMass Dartmouth            4 60      91 .659
5. Rhode Island College        4 43      69 .623
6. Southern Maine               4 56      95 .589
7. UMass Boston                 2 22      40 .550
8. Eastern Connecticut        3 28      55 .509 

[LECFAN32]

not too surprised but very disapointed in the west conn score.

i understand that albertus has done some job recruiting over the past few years but this is largely the same team wc beat last season, but this is the first time in 10 years or so that albertus has won this matchup. As I feared might happen this most likely turned into a 1 on 1 unorganized type of game in a very tough atmosphere (cant imagine what 900 people or so looks like in that gym), which doesnt mesh with the strengths of this wcsu team outside of the personal interests of brooks... albertus is a big talented team and man for man has more skill players than wc does this year, with watson, askew, jackson, and dugas the transfer from st. a's and has to be the favorite in the gnas, a very top heavy conference.

guys like robinson and redding have to involved in a team game to be productive, however no matter what the style of game was, need more out of a 4 year starter in robinson then no points and poor defense.hard to say whether you shake it off as a terrible game, or look to make some changes because I would say there are guys coming off the bench that give this team a better shot at winning vs big athletic teams like keene and ric, and umass d who despite there record looks very big and talented on tape with the return of greene and some newcomers..have to regroup quickly as stockton is perenially a very strong program, then focus on locking down a johnson n wales team that has very little interest in anything other then scoring points.

[7express]

No matter which LEC team you root for, hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiviving, and if you're traveling, travel safe!

[7express]

Hopefully someone's at the Western Richard Stockton game tonight.  Got forced to stay at home for this stupid party my parents are throwing and can't make it up there, so I'm following it on live stats upstairs in my room.  Hopefully someone can give a rundown though if anyone's there.

[LECFAN32]

good win, stockton is a bit down this year but a win wcsu needed none the less.

close throughout, announced attendance was 50, so it wa sprobably around 35

j n w is another game they should win with their depth and relative size, but who knows with this group, need a consistent second scorer to step up into that 15+ range

[littleeastguy]

So what does everyone have today? There is a cool new system for D3 this called the D3 Basketball Index, it places spreads on games.
For the LEC today we have:
WConn -14 vs. JWU
St. Joes -6 vs. Southern Maine
Brandies +9 vs. RIC

Ill take JWU with the points, and St. Joes and RIC both cover and win.

[littleeastguy]

Injuries could be mounting for the Anchormen. RIC has missed Junior Center Steve Roberts all season so far with a hand injury, still in a cast, another xray expected in 2 weeks.
Now there is a report from RIC that Akinrola is injured. Bruised ribs that were bad enough for him to be take to the hospital this week. Unknown if he will be ready today.