MBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

Took a quick glance at NCAA.com's national (team) stats today.  While Amherst, Middlebury, and Williams are well represented in numerous categories, ECSU, RIC, and WCSU are also represented, for example:

ECSU
#5 in Scoring Defense (around 55 points/game),
#18 in F/G % Defense
#19 in Assists/TO ratio (around 1.45)
WCSU
#4 in Scoring Offense
#23 in FT % ( around .750)
RIC
#7  in Scoring D (also around 55 pts/g)

There may be others, but this is what I saw at a glance

Nice job to the 3 teams/coaches for these excellent stats!!!!

PS I wish we had WestConns FT% stat

[wcsu91]

Another Big W on the road for Western @ Keane. 13-1 4-0 in the LEC.

[ECSUalum]

ECSU 83 UMD 70  Balanced scoring attack by Warriors. Lance Green kept in check.  Jamie Kohn hot with 12 points at end of first half until mugged by Green.  Did not return!!  No foul!!  Refs were ridiculous in the game. Even Coach Geitner was called with a T!!!! Eastern with a 22 point lead at one point with bench players. Hope Jaime is OK as he was incredible offensively and on the boards first half

RIC 73 USM 40!!!! Wow, What happened to Southern Maine? looks like they did not show up to play tonight in Providence RI.

Daquan Brooks with 46 pts vs Keene St tonight 15-30, 5-13, 11-11,  FG/3PT/FT resp.  Holy Cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LECFAN32]

yes the way that the away games work make very little sense, campbell once mentioned that when it was established who the overnights were plymouth state and umass dartmouth were at the top of the league so that sounds like the late 90's to early 2000's...

enormous win for western tonight, brooks played a great game and played at a much better pace.. even without mike jensen this team came out with a swagger that they have yet to show all season and hit keene in the mouth from the start, pelletier stepped up big time with 14 pts in a starting role, even when keene was able to get a good possession in the first half western would negate it almost immediately with pushing the ball down their throat and attacking the basket.

shame with dartmouths recruiting class not panning out, next time bragging during the summer months should be kept to a minimum as these things happen all the time at this level.. still a very talented team with 2 beasts in greene and clayton..

as far as rob bentil goes at one point I was told that he had gotten a grade replaced and would be eligible along with gates, however farrington (a.d.) occasionally calls b.s. on these things..tough loss but this team is playing great ball at any rate..alot of options at all times, size off the bench that knows their role (kennedy).. and 2 and 3 options like jensen and robinson who are potentially all conference level players.

[7express]

Anyone who publically admits they wouldn't want Brooks on their team is a complete fool.  Sure, he may take over a close game late, not get the other 4 involved and that may hurt is, he may turn it over with his behind-the-back passes, but he makes us so much better when he is out there on the court, because he can pull up from anywhere (he hit one from about 35 feet tonight, all night), or he can drive which collapses the defense around the basket and kick it out for an open look.  Plus, he is always someone that shows up in a big game.  In our 4 "big" games this year (Medgar Evers, Albertus, WPI & Keene), he's scored: 27, 26, 40 & 46, plus if you want to throw in the 34 he had againt Clark where he rallied us from down 15 at halftime, he's averaging an astonishing 34.6 ppg in a game that mean's something.  With all do respect to the rest of the conference down 1 with 5 seconds left in the championship game, I don't want anyone else in the entire conference taking the last shot. 

I'll be back with the recap in a bit.

[warrior]

ECSUAlum - To be fair to Lance - I think he was just going for the ball when he caught Jamie in the face by accident. After getting stitched up in the ER, Jamie is fine and will be back Thursday or Saturday. It was too bad, because he was heading towards a career night. With Nedwick and Levy out with 2 fouls each and us down by a couple, Jamie made 6 shots in a row, Salzillo hit a few threes and, all of a sudden, we were up by 16!   It was just one of those games where everyone seemed to step up when needed.  Hopefully we can get a few more wins Thursday and Saturday before taking on a red hot Western team! 

[7express]

Plymouth loses to Boston 57-52.
Plymouth state finished the game with 17 more field goal attemps then the Beacons did (60 to 43).

Western over Keene 94-87
DaQuan Brooks lead the Colonials with 46 points; Ryan Martin lead the Owls with 24.  I think today proved the top 3 are for real (Eastern, RIC and Western), and there's a gap between them and Keene/Dartmouth.  Western punched them in the mouth to start (started the game up 15-4), and even though the Owls got it to 1 at halftime, and took as big a lead as 7 in the second half, we were able to stop Martin who killed us on his pull up jumpers from the foul line the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half; the Owls all game had no answer for Brooks, and that was the difference in the game.  For anyone that cares, Ollie Hunter is still on the roster, but had a DNP for the 3rd straight game, and Derek D'Amours wasn't listed on the Keene roster anymore when I got the program, looks like something happened up there as well.

Eastern 83-70 over Dartmouth.
you think Dartmouth is happy to be seeing USM come to town Saturday??  The Warriors had 4 in double figures lead by Brian Salzillio's 19 off the bench, Lance Greene lead the Corsairs with 19.

RIC creams USM 73-40.
Anchorman held the Huskies to 14 field goals, while they themselves shot almost 50%.  Poor USM, their first 5 conference games were against: Eastern, Western, Keene, RIC and Dartmouth.

2 OOC games which I'll have predictions for tomorrow:
Maine-Presque Isle @ Eastern
Boston @ Bridgewater both games at 5:30

[ECSUalum]

ECSUAlum - To be fair to Lance - I think he was just going for the ball when he caught Jamie in the face by accident. After getting stitched up in the ER, Jamie is fine and will be back Thursday or Saturday. It was too bad, because he was heading towards a career night. With Nedwick and Levy out with 2 fouls each and us down by a couple, Jamie made 6 shots in a row, Salzillo hit a few threes and, all of a sudden, we were up by 16!   It was just one of those games where everyone seemed to step up when needed.  Hopefully we can get a few more wins Thursday and Saturday before taking on a red hot Western team! 

OK Warrior, I am glad that Jamie is OK, as he has become such an important part of this team over the last 4 years.  Just seemed that he was kicking butt on the  court, then Green wacks him in the face.  However the video can play tricks some times.  Speaking of the video over there at UMD....you would think for a student to work the camera, ( move it back and forth to follow the action), would be straight forward, but last night someone must have been proccupied with their Ipod or something as often the camera was pointed at the wrong end of the court or slow to follow the action!!!
COME ON give us all a break, it cannot be rocket science!!!!

Finally, It is really refreshing to see this Warrior team share the scoring duties among a host of players, both seniors and underclassman this year!!!  Everone seems to step up when needed
Joe Ives, Chae Phillips, and Brian Salzillo were excellent at point and shooting guard duties last night. It is especially nice to see Joe pop some threes as he is capable of doing and he is a WONDERFUL FREE THROW SHOOTER!!! .   Chris got called for some rediculous fouls last night aginst Green.  I usually don't whine about the refs, but from what I could see off the wonderful video feed last night, the referees were horrible last night in North Dartmouth Mass.

[ECSUalum]

Plymouth loses to Boston 57-52.
Plymouth state finished the game with 17 more field goal attemps then the Beacons did (60 to 43).

Western over Keene 94-87
DaQuan Brooks lead the Colonials with 46 points; Ryan Martin lead the Owls with 24.  I think today proved the top 3 are for real (Eastern, RIC and Western), and there's a gap between them and Keene/Dartmouth.  Western punched them in the mouth to start (started the game up 15-4), and even though the Owls got it to 1 at halftime, and took as big a lead as 7 in the second half, we were able to stop Martin who killed us on his pull up jumpers from the foul line the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half; the Owls all game had no answer for Brooks, and that was the difference in the game.  For anyone that cares, Ollie Hunter is still on the roster, but had a DNP for the 3rd straight game, and Derek D'Amours wasn't listed on the Keene roster anymore when I got the program, looks like something happened up there as well.

Eastern 83-70 over Dartmouth.
you think Dartmouth is happy to be seeing USM come to town Saturday??  The Warriors had 4 in double figures lead by Brian Salzillio's 19 off the bench, Lance Greene lead the Corsairs with 19.

RIC creams USM 73-40.
Anchorman held the Huskies to 14 field goals, while they themselves shot almost 50%.  Poor USM, their first 5 conference games were against: Eastern, Western, Keene, RIC and Dartmouth.

2 OOC games which I'll have predictions for tomorrow:
Maine-Presque Isle @ Eastern
Boston @ Bridgewater both games at 5:30

Congrats to Daquan on these clutch performances so far this year, just outstanding!!!  Hopefully he goes a bit cold when WCSU comes to Willi on the 17th..this game will be huge for Eastern, and with a win, show they really are for real, regionally and perhaps nationally.

[amh63]

ECSUAlum....I got the chance to watch some of the conference leaders on-line....thanks to your FREE Little East network.  I watched the RIC game for awhile since Amherst plays them at home later.  They were much quicker than Southern Maine and taller in several key positions.  Watched a bit of the ECSU game and the early part did not hold my attention...even with adequate camera work.  Was it the game that one of the broadcasters complained about the refs...not calling hand checks evenly?
I did settle on the WCSU game....due in part that 7express is a student there.  Mr Brooks is quick and quite a scorer for them.  Saw his ability to drive and score inside.  I see he is also a good outside shooter.  IMO, he does lack the desire to defend....to save his energy?
Went back to early games......Williams beat Keene St. by 29 when both teams had different squads on the floor, i.e. Keene's big men are tall but not too athletic.  WCSU beat Trinity in late Nov. by 7-8 points...while scoring 74 pts.  In that game D. Brooks scored 35 points.  Last night he scores around 45 points while his team scores 94 in a 9 point win.  I have two observations for ECSU.  It seems that WCSU doesn't play much defense and that Mr. Brooks tends to score about half of his team points.  If one can check his scoring level, then WCSU can be had.  For example, hold Mr. Brooks to around 20 plus and have ECSU score more than 50 points.
Somewhat simple minded, I know.
On an earlier chat on the NESCAC board.....Dick (Richard) was Pres. of Mass.-Boston before he went to Northeastern.  Now he is some big shot in charge(?) of overseeing all of the public Mass. colleges.   Oh yes, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting your college Pres. at a class gathering/dinner several years ago.  Too good for Dick, IMO.  Just kidding.  Before that meeting, in truth, I did not think he was married.  A somewhat private person.

[7express]

Defense for the most part the last couple years has been bad to put it nicely, but yesterday they showed up when they had to.  Michael Jensen sat out yesterday with a high ankle sprain, but talking to him before the game it sounds like he'll back for Tuesday's game at Eastern if not Saturday vs. Plymouth.  He was playing with extreme confidence the last few games.  Still hoping Louis Briddter/James Barnes can have consistant games in the post...but Amh63 is right, if DaQuan gets locked up against an elite defender who hounds him the whole game, that's the game will be in trouble until we can get some more consistant scoring options on the offensive end.

[7express]

Presque Isle 54 @ Eastern 78
I hope for Eastern's sake this is a 1 time opportunity, since Presque Isle has trouble getting games, and the Warriors don't have to make the return trip next season all the way up there, holy smokes, what a long and grueling trip that is.  If they do, hopefully they plan it right, and have it right before/after they play @ USM.  Presque Isle is 2-8 and are winless since Nov 19, and have lost 5 straight to NAIA opponents.  Their last 2 games against D-3 opponents, Presque Isle have lost by an average of 29.5.  In their only game against an LEC team, Presque Isle lost by 29 to Southern Maine back in December.  Presque Isle has no home games against D-3 teams this year, all their home games come against NAIA opponents; Eastern should win without much effort.

Boston 63 @ Bridgewater 75.
Bridgewater is 5-6, but have won 3 of 4 after starting the season 2-5.  In 2 games against LEC teams this year Bridgewater is 0-2, losing by 12 at home to RIC, and by 7 at Dartmouth.  This is their last game against an LEC team this year.  Boston is 1-1 against the MASCAC, beating Framingham state by 4 at home and losing by 6 to Fitchburg state at home. 

For the Massey ratings (granted can't judge a game of this, but it's fun to look at which is why I'm gonna use it for the rest of the year):
Bridgewater 74-66 (80%)
Eastern 83-37 (100%)

[ECSUalum]

Amherst63

Yes it is smart for "Amherst spies" to scout out LEC teams in general and RIC in particular since the Lord Jeffs will see the Anchormen Jan 31 at the Murray Center, and you  never know who Amherst will meet in the NCAA NE Regionals.  You can bet there will be a boat load of D-III College BB fans hoping to catch the RIC/Amherst game on LECTV ( http://www.littleeast.tv/ ).  However, I did not see it in the listings    Note to Jonathan Harper LEC Commissioner Maybe someone can change that!!!!  Maybe D3hoops should initiate their own video and stream the "Game of the Week" off the D3hoops front page.  Amherst vs RIC would certaily qualify, ie #5 vs #20 ranked teams squaring off!

Yeah, the start of the Eastern UMD game was a little sloppy so I can see why you switched, I actually wished I could have had RIC/USM, WCSU/Keene and ECSU/UMD all streaming at once, but that is wishful thinking on LECTV, at least for now. 

Coach Geitner plays a very deliberate offense, running a lot of back door sets for Nedwick and Robitaille and double screens for Nedwick and Kohn. No run and gun, nothing fancy, just well executed.  On D everyone plays man to man with a hand in the face of the ball handler and last night, dropped back to double team Lance Green quite effectively.  One thing I see with Eastern this year for the first time in a while is an overall confidence on the court, no panic, just well focused!!!

Nedwick or Chae Phillips will most likely get the uneviable assignment to maintain Daquan, however, you just hope that he is off on any given night as he can burn you from the outside, or he will drive the baseline and burn you or you foul him, then he is deadly at the FT line (shooting 80% as of last night), or he'll dish to a big man.  But, your right amh63, a team strategy has to focus on containing Brooks

Yes, Richard and Elsa are a cute couple!!!

[amh63]

ECSUAlum...Your comments surprised me with regards to the RIC vs. Amherst game.  Had to double check on both schools websites.  The game is at Amherst....maybe it is the reason it is not listed on the LEC channel.  It is the only home game between a grueling schedule of away games...conference games.  Last year the scheduled game was canceled due to weather and never could be rescheduled.  In any case, I do believe it will be streamed and you will have to suffer through another night of the unfocused broadcasters.  Since Eric Bunker is writing a senior thesis.....there is a chance a coach may be broadcasting on a Tues. game.

[ECSUalum]

amh63

Sorry, your absolutley correct!! I had Amhersts mens BB schedule up on my screen and for some stupid reason thought I was looking at Rhode Island College's schedule.  You would think with the difference in school colors on the two sites, I would have noticed