MBB: Little East

ECSUalum · January 19, 2011, 09:53:03 PM

ECSU with a hard fought win over Keene State, 82-77, in OT. Another great defensive game by the Warriors holding Keene to 25 points in the first half and +/-10 points below thier season average for the game. Keene really has some great outside shooters,( ie Boyatsis, Martin, and Mariano, which we were lucky to limit tonight, and their big guy Rashad Wright is going to be a force over the next 2 years. Tough loss for Coach Colbert. . Hamilton Levy had a couple of HUGE 3 pointers tonight to keep Eastern close after tremendous pressure from KSC outside shooting display!!!

After listening to Gino Valente and his color guy tonight, can't decide who is more exciting to listen to Gino or the Western announcer. Also thought Gino may be given a tecnical tonight as he ripped the ref, (standing right in front of him) a new you know what based on a couple of bad calls against Keene.

Overall, Great job by the Keene announcers tonight!!!!!! Keene will be dangerous to ANY team in the LEC going forward, just ask WCSU!!! Probably the best LEC basketball team for team in a long time.!!!! Anyone can be upset at any time in the LEC this year. Keene could have just as well won tonight except for a couple of tough breaks and some questionable referee calls (actually on both sides).

warrior · January 19, 2011, 10:27:04 PM

ECSUAlum - I definitely agree - the game was incredible! So many clutch plays on both sides, I can't even count them! As for the announcer, you have to love his enthusiasm, but he has to watch the volume! (He was screaming so loudly, I had to hit the mute button to save my ears!)

Well, it's gut-check time now! Western and RIC back to back at home! If we can take one or both - we'll be in good shape at the halfway mark!

Hey, I heard that Cortez Isaac is out! - Academically ineligible??? He wasn't in the box tonight, so it could be true. Did anyone hear the same?

LECFAN32 · January 20, 2011, 12:15:36 AM

was a more active poster last year.. with the new site I didnt take the time to find the forums but all of the same I have kept up with the lec all year as a former wcsu player..first and formost I am most impressed with the aggressiveness and efficiency wcsu shows on a regular basis on the offensive end, on the defensive end their man pressure is great when their at their best. I knew that last weeks keene game would present difficult matchups for the colonials across the board.. the owl's are VERY talented and deep for this level and it seemed like wcsu panicked when keene went on a run.

ric seems to be up and down but very good at their best and at home.. huge road win for wcsu .. havent won their in FOREVER.

ecsu appears to be a strong team as well even after losing simmons and ortiz in the backcourt

dartmouth doesnt seem to have enough talent to compete for a league title this year

all and all the second half of the conference season appears like it will be nunpredictable.

warrior · January 20, 2011, 06:32:18 AM

Hey, I forgot to ask - does anyone know why Keene's D'amours hasn't been getting any minutes lately?

KSCfan · January 20, 2011, 07:15:17 AM

Keene vs Eastern game was really good. Some of those calls were really bad, and you eastern people are right, they were bad both ways. Gino does not hide how he feels about the games, and he is def a keene fan to say the least. He always does a good job with the call and last night was no exception.

Keene has some talent but they are young. This is part of the growing process, and i have felt all along that this team is a year or two away from being something special. The LEC is truly a dogfight this year, and it seems that I never know who is going to win each night. The LEC tournament is going to be really really good. My pick for the tournament might be whomever the hot team is that week. I know that is a cop out but so many close games, and so many upsets who knows.

ECSUalum · January 20, 2011, 08:44:15 AM

KSCFan,

Gino IS an avid KSC fan, but not the annoying kind of fan/announcer that blames every team misfortune on the refs or other crazy reasons. He is also extremely knowledgable about the the game he annouces, (basketball, baseball etc), but also about the LEC teams Keene faces. He had some nice things to say about Jamie Kohn, Nick Nedwick, and Brod Sawyer, last night which is great to hear from an opposing annoucer from a team where there has been a tremendous LEC rivalry over the last 5 years!! Gino reminds me a littleof the old great Celtics announcer Johnny Most, from the 70-80's? who, as everyone knows was exciting to listen to, particularly after "Pistol" Pete Maravich, (my favorite college and NBA player) came to Boston!!

An yes, I predict Keene will break into D3.com/NABC National Rankings over next 2 years

Warrior,

Another fantastic game from Jamie and Nick. Again, if Jamie and Nick maintain this intensity for the rest of the season and the team continues to play this "Princeton style D", they are going to be giving everyone fits!!

Oh, and by the way, ECSU need to thump RIC/WCSU this upcoming week at home to show the LEC and the rest of New England basketball that they are for real!!!!!

ECSUalum · January 20, 2011, 08:53:00 AM

Quote from: LECFAN32 on January 20, 2011, 12:15:36 AM
was a more active poster last year.. with the new site I didnt take the time to find the forums but all of the same I have kept up with the lec all year as a former wcsu player..first and formost I am most impressed with the aggressiveness and efficiency wcsu shows on a regular basis on the offensive end, on the defensive end their man pressure is great when their at their best. I knew that last weeks keene game would present difficult matchups for the colonials across the board.. the owl's are VERY talented and deep for this level and it seemed like wcsu panicked when keene went on a run.

ric seems to be up and down but very good at their best and at home.. huge road win for wcsu .. havent won their in FOREVER.

ecsu appears to be a strong team as well even after losing simmons and ortiz in the backcourt

dartmouth doesnt seem to have enough talent to compete for a league title this year

all and all the second half of the conference season appears like it will be nunpredictable.

LECFAN32,

Agree Simmons and Ortiz were excellent players, but the difference between them and 2010/11 Warrior guards Nedwick, Ives, and Kohn is the MUCH tougher defense they play.

LECFAN32 · January 20, 2011, 11:53:29 AM

yea i can see where your going with that, I have not seen eastern play yet this year but their backcourt seems to be scrappy and talented led by nedwick.. who seems like one of the conferences most complete players...has anybody else had a problem viewing little east tv recently?

ECSUalum · January 20, 2011, 12:01:02 PM

LECFAN 32,

Watched the whole Keene/ECSU game last night w/o any issues other than maybe a 1 second freeze once or twice. When I clicked on game too early I got a error message, but clicking later put me through no problem.

WcsuAlum · January 20, 2011, 03:10:30 PM

Eastern vs Western game should be a good one, I'm hoping the colonials can pull this one out to put them in first place. I think the guard play of Brooks, Addy, Bentil will prove to be too much for Easterns backcourt but I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. Should be a great game between crosstown rivals.

ECSUalum · January 20, 2011, 04:17:22 PM

WCSUAlum,

Outcome will be a result of how well WestConns aforementioned guards get open off of screens/picks and their, (Daquans in particular), FG/3PtFG shooting % that night. I think ECSU will control the boards as Keene did last week. Last night is was 39-39 on rebounds despite Keene having a 6-10 center and bigger forwards. We have a much better defensive team vs last year and Nedwick, Kohn, Levy and Sawyer have a better shooting % and the Team has a better overall FT % this year.

Your are correct, It WILL be a great game. I hope the home court advantage will be the difference. As Istated in a previous post, a win here and vs RIC will provide the respect/confidence we need going forward.

LECFAN32 · January 20, 2011, 05:07:33 PM

wcsualum i hope your right, the guards of ecsu seem to be a little bigger and stronger exception of addy who is a converted forward. Bentil is a great addition to the starting 5 and a real playmaker, through the first 10 gamesof the season he had close to a 3/1 assist/to. the wcsu guards are very quick and they go deep into their bench with promising freshman. Both teams appear to apply alot of pressure so it will be interesting to see which team will bother the others offensive strategy. I would not be surprised if ecsu wins the rebounding battle.. when phillips isn't in the game which is happening much more so this year western runs more of a 5 out offense looking to spread the floor..but I would still take the combination of jarret and robinson.. jarret is a very tough matchup for a big (matchup with Kohn should be a good one) and robinson has been spreading the floor with his outside shooting and spends alot of time outside the paint...

WcsuAlum · January 20, 2011, 07:32:56 PM

I think the big matchup will come down to jarrett vs kohn. That may be the X-factor. Also how Bentil and Addy defend Nedwick will be key. I don't know if it would be such a good idea to have Nedwick running around chasing Brooks. Does Eastern have anyone besides Nedwick that would be able to contain Brooks?

warrior · January 20, 2011, 08:39:15 PM

Clearly, like the action on the court, the 'action' on our blog is heating up as well. I love it!

I'd love to weigh in more on the Western game, but, I must admit, right now, all I'm thinking about is RIC.

They got us twice last year and beat us on that half-court buzzerbeater in the first game this year and it's time we put it all together and come out with a win! Last year we were blowing them away in our gym, until they exposed our weak press break. I believe we have turned the press break into one of our strengths, and am hoping that, like last year, we can win the half-court game. All I know is, both teams will be fired up and it should be an awesome game!!!

LECFAN32 · January 21, 2011, 12:11:59 PM

i suspect that dave addy will get the assignment of guarding nedwick, hes the only guard with quick enough feet for his size, however he has been moved out of the starting lineup so ill be interested to see whether nedwick gets off to a quick start as bentil does not have the size and strength to defend him for long spurts... its not really about chasing brooks around screens for curls fades etc, because he has the ball in his hands SO much hes just always in attack mode, slightly different.

I agree with the jarret/kohn matchup being the x factor, i suspect nedwick and brooks to more or less cancel eachother out statistically.. if wills being agressive hes very tough to stop.

ive watched a few ric games and they are definitely not a typical ric team despite being talented, seem to be looking for their identity, choice has been struggling. Seems like they miss Jake Grimes