MBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

Just some NCAA.com stats, (games through 1/22/2012)

ECSU's Chris Robitaille is #1 in country in FG% @ .704!! 
Ryan Martin is #4 in  FT% @ .925.
Daquan Brooks is #5 in the country @ 26.1 ppg. 
Lance Green #17 @ 10.6 rebounds/game

ECSU and RIC are #3 and #4 in Scoring Defense @ 55.3 ppg and 56.0 ppg resp. 
Eastern #28 in FG% @ .484, Middlebury and MIT are #4 and #5 @ .518 and .509 resp
Conn College and Williams College are #9 and 10 in FT% @ .763 and .760, MIT is # 40 @ .738, WCSU is #43 @ .736

[7express]

Friday predictions:

Dartmouth 67 @ Plymouth 72.
I really like whatt Plymouth has been doing lately....Dartmouth not so much.  I think Plymouth gets it done at home
Boston 54 @ Keene 83.
Keene is playing very well, Boston is not playing well.  Another one of my favorite "sandwich games" Keene had a big win at Eastern Tuesday night and gets the #1 team in the country at home Tuesday in Middlebury.  Even if they look passed them, Keene should probably still win.
Eastern 65 @ RIC 72.
Both teams coming off Tuesday losses.  An RIC loss at home would put them 3 back of the Warriors (4 if you include the tiebreaker since Eastern would win the season series) with only 5 conference games left.  RIC has started to dig the hole, an Eastern win for the most part would shove RIC into the hole they buried, and they can cover it up.  Keene had a chance to bury them last year at home (also would have put RIC 3 back with 5 or 6 games to go), couldn't do it, RIC never lost again the rest of that regular season, and snuck in the back door to win the championship, partly because Western imploded in February with iternal issues.  Let's see if Eastern can finish them off.
Western 77 @ USM 72.
Always seem to play at level of our opponents which is why I predict a closer than expected game even though we blew them out in Danbury.  We won road games @ Boston by 3, and lost @ Plymouth by 10.  Add in the fact coming off the big win against RIC Tuesday, and the long trip up to Maine, nothing confidence wise to make me pick 10+, yet alone 15+ which is really what it should be.

[amh63]

Saw about a quarter of the Tufts vs. Mass-Boston game last night...scouting a bit one may say.  Early part of the game, Mass.-B was not playing very well.  Returned to the game in the 2nd half and Tufts was leading by 30 points.  There was a little rally near the end of the game with Tufts...a young team..had its less experienced players in.  Not much interest to me with Tufts starters out.
ECSUAlum...if you missed the Amherst vs. Williams game on-line, there are short video highlights of both the WBB and MBB games on the Amherst website..gives you a bit of the atmosphere and a look at the Williams gym that had its 25th anniversary....can gyms have them?
I plan to be up for the rematch game on the 10th of Feb. at Amherst and the Midd. game on the 11th of Feb.  Amherst's gym will be opened up a bit for both games to accomodate the crowds.  These will be critical games for Amherst...hopefully to determine who will host the conf. tournament and seedings.  If you can join me for any of the games,,,WBB or MBB..let me know.  My treat on dinner or Lunch before.  Delayed my yearly trip to the Sunshine State for these games.

[7express]

I'm probably gonna go up there for the Williams games on the 10th.  I know the men's crowd draws well, but does the women's game bring in a good crowd as well??  Probably will influence what time I leave Connecticut that night.
I'd love to go to the Middlebury game as well, but unfortunately, Western Connecticut will be playing at home at pretty much the same time so I'm gonna stick with Williams instead more than likely.

[amh63]

7Express.....Didn't mean to leave you out.  The WBB game will draw a smaller crowd in that it is at 6PM.  The key here is that one may not get in when the MBB game starts at 8 PM...even with the extra seats..if last year's game is an example.  In any case, though the game is free, parking may be tough around the gym complex.
I'm going to be going to dinner in town around 5PM and there are parking spaces there.....one can then walk to the gym....about 3 "blocks" away so to speak.  If you can, join me for dinner at a good chinese place..Amherst Chinese....across from the Town Hall by the Town Common on Main St..  My treat.  Let me know before hand.  My flight into Hartford is around 2Pm on the 10th.  Will be up at Amherst to check into my room by 4PM if traffic allows up from Bradley.  May have a nice crowd of posters. Will enjoy your company.

[7express]

I know when I went up there for the tournament last March I parked on that side street across from the school (no idea of the name), so I'll probably park there again.  Not sure what time I'll be there though, but plan to arrive by 5:15 assuming traffic allows.

[amh63]

7express......If you are talking about the street across from the Alumni Gym/athletic complex (the college), then the street is Hitchcock Rd.  It is the first open street on the right heading south on Rt. 116.  When you come up from Northhampton Rd. Rt.116, into Amherst at the traffic light..you will turn right at the light and down South Pleasant St (also Rt. 116 heading south to S. Hadley)...seeing the college on the left.  Particulars can be seen on the Campus map.  Go to Amherst main website. Hit the About Amherst button...then on the left....hit directions and then Campus map.
Last March in a tournament setting, there could have been more spaces than for this Williams game with all the Ephs down from the Northwest.
Anyway, hope you do not mind me given you some "parental" type advice.  My wife grew up in your neighborhood....in Easton Ct...Redding Ridge, etc. area. Your drive will be at least an hour to Hartford on Interstate 84.  On a Friday, the traffic from Hartford through Springfield during "rush hour" period can be stressful.  In any case, you will be arriving somewhat missing a meal.  As a father of three Amherst graduates, I am used to treating my kids and their room mates over almost a decade to meals when I happen to arrive in town.  I can always get Asian food on Sat.  My treats to all my guest can be elsewhere.  There is the Amherst dining hall...Valentine on the campus map.  They serve..on a Friday, pasta, fish, chicken, pork, and vegetarian choices.  It is a 5 minute walk from the Gym area to the dining hall....affectionally called "Val"  It will be an experience for all my "guests".  Suggest you leave a little earlier and avoid some of the traffic.
In any case, let's keep in touch on the matter.

[warrior]

Whoa!  amh63 - if you take out 7express, you have to take out ALL of us!  Just kidding!   
I love the fact that you guys have become more than just 'blog-friends' over the years.  I hope you guys have a great dinner! 

As for today's game at RIC, I'm sure ECSUAlum and I will be ready to spring for anything if we can come away with a win!  We got the 'monkey' off our backs when we beat them for the first time in 4 years at our place, but we still haven't beaten them in that timespan in their gym!  More importantly, a win today would go a long way towards assuring us an at-large NCAA bid, and possibly hosting the tournament.  That having been said, RIC needs this win even more than we do - as a loss will indeed force them to focus on winning the tournament in order to get to the 'dance', so .....  they WILL be ready!

My biggest concern is the fact that getting 3 charges on Mason again won't be easy!  It's also hard to imagine us playing as well as we did that first game. We really played a near perfect game. On the other hand, RICs "aura of invincibility" is clearly gone as  is the wave of luck they rode last year with crazy buzzer-beater wins vs. Keene and us. As they say in Boston, the leprechaun has left the building!  Should be a great game!

[ECSUalum]

Saw about a quarter of the Tufts vs. Mass-Boston game last night...scouting a bit one may say.  Early part of the game, Mass.-B was not playing very well.  Returned to the game in the 2nd half and Tufts was leading by 30 points.  There was a little rally near the end of the game with Tufts...a young team..had its less experienced players in.  Not much interest to me with Tufts starters out.
ECSUAlum...if you missed the Amherst vs. Williams game on-line, there are short video highlights of both the WBB and MBB games on the Amherst website..gives you a bit of the atmosphere and a look at the Williams gym that had its 25th anniversary....can gyms have them?
I plan to be up for the rematch game on the 10th of Feb. at Amherst and the Midd. game on the 11th of Feb.  Amherst's gym will be opened up a bit for both games to accomodate the crowds.  These will be critical games for Amherst...hopefully to determine who will host the conf. tournament and seedings.  If you can join me for any of the games,,,WBB or MBB..let me know.  My treat on dinner or Lunch before.  Delayed my yearly trip to the Sunshine State for these games.

amh63,

You are very kind with your offer, thank you!!  I will let you know if I make the trip up to beautiful Amherst College.  Best of Luck to the Lord Jeffs going forward, they are the class of the NESCAC!!!

[ECSUalum]

Whoa!  amh63 - if you take out 7express, you have to take out ALL of us!  Just kidding!   
I love the fact that you guys have become more than just 'blog-friends' over the years.  I hope you guys have a great dinner! 

As for today's game at RIC, I'm sure ECSUAlum and I will be ready to spring for anything if we can come away with a win!  We got the 'monkey' off our backs when we beat them for the first time in 4 years at our place, but we still haven't beaten them in that timespan in their gym!  More importantly, a win today would go a long way towards assuring us an at-large NCAA bid, and possibly hosting the tournament.  That having been said, RIC needs this win even more than we do - as a loss will indeed force them to focus on winning the tournament in order to get to the 'dance', so .....  they WILL be ready!

My biggest concern is the fact that getting 3 charges on Mason again won't be easy!  It's also hard to imagine us playing as well as we did that first game. We really played a near perfect game. On the other hand, RICs "aura of invincibility" is clearly gone as  is the wave of luck they rode last year with crazy buzzer-beater wins vs. Keene and us. As they say in Boston, the leprechaun has left the building!  Should be a great game!

Warrior,
As my Dad would say, (he was born in the magical Dingle Pensinsula in western ireland), Kerrymen all have a little Leprechaun in us.  I do think coach Walsh, which BTW is a name from the aformentioned area in Ireland, had one of his own with the team last year.  But we all know great teams make their own good luck.  However, just in case, I will send my person Leprechaun over to visit Jamie, Nick, Chae, Hamilton , Joe, Coach and the rest of the Warriors this afternoon just to watch over them and negate Coach Walsh's.  I have also spoken to Father Moriarty as well.
The boys will do just fine this afternoon.  Actually Mason Choice really did not play well last game vs WCSU, I think the Colonials did a good job defending against him last week.  We will need to do the same, and as well defend against AKIN..ROW...LAAA as the WestConn announcer likes to pronounce!!

[LECFAN32]

rob bentil officially reinstated for the stretch. Only at western

[amh63]

All the Merrier for the Warrior guys from Williamatic.
Interesting comment about Mason Choice.  I caught a bit of the game when Mason was not playing very well.  He seemed to be unable to hold on to the ball, not finishing on his drives...being stripped of the ball going in...and seemed to have his mind elsewhere.  The family name is well known in the NESCAC as his older brother was an all-conference player for Colby.

[AllStar]

Saturday Results
Southern Maine shocks Western Connecticut, 85-84 on Chris Pagentine free throws with 2 seconds left.  Unfortunate blocking foul called near halfcourt led to the USM opportunity.

Keene State gets through "sandwich game" by beating UMass-Boston, 86-70.  Eric Fazio scored 20 points to lead KSC.

No. 24 Rhode Island College gets revenge vs. No. 18 Eastern Connecticut, 66-48.  Looking at the box, Nick Nedwick's name is not in it for ECSU.  Akinrola scored 24 for RIC.

UMass-Dartmouth suffocates Plymouth, 65-47.  Corsairs placed four players in double-figures and won despite shooting 37%.  The Panthers were 0-5 from deep and UMass-Dartmouth made just 4 of 17 threes.

Updated Standings
1.  KSC           8-1
2.  ECSU      7-2 (1 GB)
3.  WCSU      6-3 (2 GB)
     RIC     6-3 (2 GB)
5.  UMD        4-5 (4 GB)
6.  PSU       2-7 (6 GB)
     USM         2-7 (6 GB)
8.  UMB         1-8 (7 GB)

[7express]

Embarrassing loss by Western.  Gave up 46 in the first half alone (USM scored 59 all game against Plymouth Tuesday).  It's completely amazing how well they can play against RIC one game then the next game act like they don't even give 2 $#!ts that their there.  Someone should have told me Friday night that they didn't care about this game, it would've saved me the trip.  Add in this game with the women's game (USM outscored us 27-8 the final 11 minutes to turn a 6 point deficit into a 13 point win) and it wasn't a very good trip.  If the players don't care, why should I care??

[7express]

Dartmouth 65-47 over Plymouth.
Colin Burns didn't play after having probably his best game of the season Tuesday.

Keene 86-70 over Boston.
With Boston leading 21-11 at the 9:35 mark it looked like it might have been one of those dreaded sandwich games, but Keene turned it on from there.  Eric Fazio lead Keene with 20.

USM 85-84 over Western.
Just an awful loss for the Colonials   After trailing 41-30 late in the first, they finished the half on a 14-5 run to only go into half down 2, and had as large a lead as 11 in the 2nd.  However, 1st half was no defense, and second half when we went up 11, loafing and showboating came out.  You would think after struggling up to that point, actually being up by double figures would cause them to press on, right??  Nope!  Brooks tried a few behind the back passes (this isn't gymnastics, we don't get points for being "stylish"), bad shots and terrible turnovers gave USM the life they needed.  Btw, the foul on Brooks which gave USM the 2 free throws for the win was an absolute joke.  There was minimal contact, and would have been a questionable call if it was called in the first half, but to call it with 2.8 seconds 30 feet from the basket?  C'mon man!!  Even though it was a terrible call, had the guys actually decided to be there and play basketball, that foul call wouldn't have mattered, and now makes our win Tuesday against RIC pretty damn worthless.

RIC 66-48 over Eastern.
Lot's of "interesting" DNP's today to say the least.  Colin Burs had a DNP for Dartmouth, Nick Nedwick had a DNP for Eastern, on the women's side Courtney Cochran for USM not only had a DNP as well, she wasn't even with the team.  Since I was at Western/USM not sure if Burns & Nedwick were with the team and just didn't play due to a coaches decision/late injury but if neither of those 3 are in the boxscore for their next gaames (Eastern on Monday Tuesday for the other 2) than it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

No LEC games Tuesday, so we get OOC games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week with LEC actioin resuming Saturday.  Monday's lone game is Eastern @ York (NY).  Will have a prediction for that tomorrow at some point.

Since were approaching February, seems like a good time to do a conference run down, and how teams stack up for the LEC tournament.  Will do this after every conference game from here on out now:

1) Keene state 14-4 (8-1)
2) Eastern 15-3 (7-2)
3) RIC 15-3 (6-3)
3) Western 15-4 (6-3)
5) Dartmouth 10-9 (4-5)
6) So Maine 8-10 (2-7)
6) Plymouth 6-11 (2-7)
8) Boston 5-15 (1-8)

Western wins the tiebreaker over RIC (1-0 season series record) so Western get's 3 seed, RIC 4 seed.  Plymouth wins tiebreaker over USM (1-0 season series record), so Plymouth gets final spot, and USM is staying home.

Keene would get a bye to the semi's and host is, and Eastern would join them in the semi's on Friday.  Tournament would open with Plymouth @ Western and Dartmouth @ RIC on Tuesday night.  I don't think RIC is used to playing on the opening night in the LEC tournament, luckily for them there's 5 games left.