MBB: Little East

[LECFAN32]

RIC has really been overhwleming teams since the eastern game..im sure coach walsh saw to it that practice was anything but pleasant during exams because although plymouth boston etc arent great teams.. you wont see a little east team get held to 40 ish points on a regular basis, during my time (05-08) I dreaded playing ric because they really made it hard on the offense and in particular the forwards, very rarely was open lanes or 1 on 1 post up oppurtunities as they took scorers away from their comfort zones, I felt that they got away from that for a year or two while still winning off of talent but it appears they have dedicated themselves to locking up.

looking passed plymouth would be a bad idea as they are a scrappy team that has some scorers. But in terms of next tuesday that will be the next "biggest game so far" for the colonials as the warriors have that huge win over ric to hang their hats on, which will surely come in handy as far as tie breakers for seeding goes, not to mention at this point this team is definitely a better TEAM then keene state. I am curious to see whether wcsu will try and dictate the tempo as they did vs wpi, or try and go punch for punch with eastern in the half court, I doubt the latter because eastern has some definite mismatches and advantages at the forwards where robitalle and levy are dangerous weapons, not to mention the wcsu post defense is less then stunning. anticipating it to be a very entertaining game to watch given the two contrasting styles

thoughts on the ric vs wcsu upcoming matchup:

- you better believe that when it comes to the time to prepare for wcsu, the anchormen will spend multiple days game planning on how to slow down daquan and the rest of the colonials from getting out in transition..and closing lanes on penetration to negate kickouts for jensen, robinson, pelletier, gates and brooks ( now that I think of it wcsu really shoots the ball well from 3)..it will be interesting to see how wcsu responds to their pressure.

[7express]

Even though on the surface it looks good I really don't like Plymouth or Boston's placement in the schedule.  The Plymouth game on Saturday is that dreaded "sandwich" game I always hate having to play.  In case anyone is unfamiliar with the "sandwich" game, it's the game against a bad to crappy team (Plymouth would qualify) sandwiched between two games against two good to very good teams (both Keene and Eastern who qualify are the bread of the sandwich, Plymouth is the meat).  The sandwich game is even worse when it's taking place on the road.  From my 15+ years of watching college basketball, I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen a team in first/second/3rd lose to a team in last or 2nd to last just because of that sandwich game factor.

Boston is another sandwich game (sandwiched between Eastern & RIC), but it's not as bad as Plymouth because it's at home.

[nescac1]

What's up with Keene?  Unusual to say the least for a senior who is the team's leading scorer to suddenly leave the team.  Throw in whatever is happening with Hunter, and a few other players who no longer seem to be with the team, and something must be amiss in N.H. ...

[7express]

Eastern leads 34-25 at halftime.
Eastern closed the half on an 8-0 run.  Chris Robaitaille leads all scorers with 14.  Aaron Hutchins leads Presque Isle with 12 off the bench.
Bridgewater leads 30-21 at halftime.
Bridgewater is shooting 100% from the outside so far and 44% overall compared to 33% for the Beacons.  No one on the Beacons has more than 4 points while Corey Ryser leads Bridgewater with 14.

Eastern wins 83-51, live stats froze out on me, so not sure about any final statistics
Bridgewater finished off a 71-53 victory.  Isaac Jenkins and Carl Joseph had 14 and 12 points respectively for the Beacons; Corey Ryser finished with 18 for Bridgewater.   Bridgewater finhished shooting 55% from the floor.

Saturday schedule (will post predictions tomorrow):
Western @ Plymouth
RIC @ Keene
Boston @ Eastern
Dartmouth @ USM

[ECSUalum]

Eastern leads 34-25 at halftime.
Eastern closed the half on an 8-0 run.  Chris Robaitaille leads all scorers with 14.  Aaron Hutchins leads Presque Isle with 12 off the bench.
Bridgewater leads 30-21 at halftime.
Bridgewater is shooting 100% from the outside so far and 44% overall compared to 33% for the Beacons.  No one on the Beacons has more than 4 points while Corey Ryser leads Bridgewater with 14.

Eastern wins 83-51, live stats froze out on me, so not sure about any final statistics
Bridgewater finished off a 71-53 victory.  Isaac Jenkins and Carl Joseph had 14 and 12 points respectively for the Beacons; Corey Ryser finished with 18 for Bridgewater.   Bridgewater finhished shooting 55% from the floor.

Saturday schedule (will post predictions tomorrow):
Western @ Plymouth
RIC @ Keene
Boston @ Eastern
Dartmouth @ USM

Robitaille  21pts, Nedwick 18pts.  Eastern bench played most of 2nd half.  Eastern got to experience UMPI freshman 7'6'' center Robert Wegner tonight!!

[warrior]

It was nice to have an easy one for a change, or should I say an easy half! (We were only up by 9 at the half!) Robataile and Nedwick combined for 39 points while Levy and Kohn combined for 22 rebs. Kohn was a surprise starter, having spent Tuesday evening in the ER. I was glad he could make it, seeing that both he and Nedwick have played in every Eastern game since their arrival four years ago! It would have been a shame to break the streak for those two. If Eastern and Western can pick up Ws on Saturday - Tuesday will be HUGE! May the best team win! 

[7express]

Saturday predictions:

Western 73 @ Plymouth 66.
The dreaded sandwich game, could be a lot closer then the score should be.  Western is a better team and should pull away in the latter stages of the game, but I look for Plymouth to give us a game for 25 or 30 mins.
RIC 84 @ Keene 62.
This would've been a better contest had Keene been at full strength, however their not and RIC is playing great basketball on the defensive end.
Boston 56 @ Eastern 78.
Yet another team playing great basketball at both the offensive and defensive ends
Dartmouth 78 @ USM 64.
USM has opened the season against the big 5 (Eastern, Western, Keene, RIC & Dartmouth).

[LECFAN32]

plymouth notoriously keeps it close at home with other teams traveling in that day or the night before.. western should overwhelm them however if they are applying pressure and playing hard.

look for ksc to make it a close game with alot of the students back in town, not to mention ric is a game that they will be up for.. teams with that much talent will figure it out eventually.

excited for tuesdays eastern vs western game- both teams will be up for it..western for the rivalry and eastern wondering why western has the ranking they have when eastern has beaten some strong teams and probably deserves more credit then they have gotten. interesting to see if ives comes out and looks to shoot the 3 on a regular basis in the games to come.

also anybody know when garrow is expected back? i like his game..always attacking.

[warrior]

LECFan32 - I agree, there seems to be no real reason for Eastern not to be getting more votes other than people just waiting to see if we are for real before letting us into the 'club' of elite teams.  As for the Western game, I think the real motivation for both teams is simply first place.  Should be a great game!  As for Mike, he's doing well - pretty much recovered from mono, but still not in game shape.  The talk now is about red-shirting.  As for today - I never take any LEC team lightly.  Hopefully we can go into Western with our win streak alive! 

[AllStar]

Saturday action:

Western Connecticut loses at Plymouth, 82-72.

Keene State comes from being down 66-52 to beat Rhode Island College, 92-91.

Eastern Connecticut throttles UMass-Boston, 82-52.

UMass-Dartmouth downs offensively-challenged Southern Maine, 61-48.


Standings
1.  ECSU    5-0
2.  WCSU   4-1
     KSC     4-1
4.  RIC      3-2
5.  UMD     2-3
6.  UMB     1-4
--------------
     PSU   1-4
8.  USM   0-5

[warrior]

7express - I can't believe you called it! Your "sandwich game theory" actually worked!  Still, sandwich or no sandwich, I can't believe Plymouth beat them. It looks like Daquan had a horrible shooting night which explains the loss a little, but still - what an upset! As for our game, ... I just LOVE our bench!  For the third game in a row we pulled away with  three or four starters getting a rest or in foul trouble!  Today, Junior Tyler Hundley was the hero.  In the first half he broke the game open with 4 threes, a two and two free throws - all without a miss!  (His career points total before the game was 54!) Nick had a great offensive game with 21 points and seven assists, while Jamie had a great defensive game, holding Jenkins to 6 pts and picking up 3 steals. The win, combined with Western's loss puts us in sole possession of first place - a first for our four seniors.  Add to that the fact that Keene knocked off RIC in the last seconds, and I'd say this was a pretty big day for Eastern fans!  Of course, the good feelings will be short lived if we can't take care of business vs. Western on Tuesday and Keene the following Tuesday!  Those should be 2 great games!

[LECFAN32]

cant say im all that surprised with the western score once I looked at the boxscore, for whatever reason plymouth is a different team at home, plays everyone close, and shoots the ball with lots of confidence. as i have said, this team cannot be so reliant on one player even if he is a great scorer, they shouldnt have to be as they have other very capable players. simple reason being when he struggles, they fail to beat a team at the bottom of the conference. hopefully this serves as a wakeup call. cant imagine campbell taking this lightly..as far as rankings go, not that they matter too much a few other lower top 25 teams lost, ric, wpi, buff state, so the colonials might stay in the top 25..but i wouldnt count on it.

a win at eastern however, will in my opinion negate the plymouth loss and keep the colonials momentum going forward, but thats anything but a given, as eastern maybe playing the best and most consistently of anybody in the conference

ksc beating ric at home with the students back shouldnt come as a surprise, their home crowd can serve as a huge advantage and can wake up some of their underachieving players. freshman doyle looks to be a future star, bet campbell and geitner wouldve given an arm and a leg to keep him in state.

[AllStar]

LECFAN:

The KSC students have not come back yet.  They'll be back for Tuesday's game vs. Plymouth.  There still was a good turnout nonetheless.

[ECSUalum]

From what KSC announcer Geno Valanti said a couple games ago, Keene has quite a good non student following, so this is part of the turnout last night.
Western looked,..... lethargic,.... for a lack of a better description, last night. Different than they were vs Keene.  IMHO I think the WCSU tempo is a function of Brooks' game  If you look at Daquan's FG% and 3Pt % stats, they are in the low 4's and 3's respectively, so his point production is based on a LOT of shots, which means other players are not getting the ball.  If Brooks is hot, it works, if not its a problem for the squad.
Shut down Brooks...shut down the Colonials, until Coach Campbell, runs a more distributive offensive strategy. I am sure 7express will give us a more academic description.  He probably decided to go to sleep last night after a loooog drive back to Fairfield County CT, instead of posting, Prob. not in a good mood today!!!

[7express]

Actually ECSUalum, I stayed overnight in New Hampshire and decided to stop at the Emory Brandeis game on the way home today since I had to drive right past the school anyways.  I wanted to see the men play, and I know someone on the women's team, so thought that would be a good time.............................bad mistake.  Emory men lead 61-34 at halftime, held the lead to 25+ the entire 2nd half, lead by as many as 39 and cruised to a 37 point win I think it was.  Emory women won by 30;  only lead by 8 at halftime, but Brandeis could hit nothing the 2nd half (scored 15 second half points).  Resuls coming in next post.