MBB: Little East

[LECFAN32]

shocked at the timing of mikes return, i knew he was getting the itch however just didnt expect him to come back once the second semester started, i think if he played the whole season he would have shown himself as an elite scorer at this level, an EFFICIENT one at that. last year, he wasnt used correctly and was decimated by injuries and still was the second leading scorer while getting nowhere near the attempts he should have.

would have been interesting if this group were together the whole year

express, where was groski, and why did payton only play 3 minutes ( if it wasnt an injury I have a feeling)

[7express]

Tuesday schedule:
Plymouth 78-66.
We officially have a worse record then Plymouth right now.  Congrats guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Alex Burt with 34 to lead the Panthers.  Whe he shows up on the all conference team at the end of the season don't be surprised, and don't say I didn;t warn you.
Keene gets crushed 81-53.
Keene had 1 player in double figures Anthony Mariano with 10, and allowed Middlebury to shoot almost 60% from the field.  That's a recipe for a lopsided L.
Amherst 74-65.
RIC is 16-0 when the opponent gets held to 66 points or less and 0-3 when the opponent scores 67 or more.
Tufts 64-51.
At least Dartmouth played well.
USM 70-50.
Over the last 2 games, USM is winning the turnover battle by +20.  Got a big matchup vs. Keene on Saturday, and if they win that I beleive their guaranteed a first round home game.  I DO NOT want to be that team that has to play that game up in Maine on a Tuesday night.
Conn College over Western 91-79.
Jesus, this is bad.  Let's start with the good.  Not much.  Jensen had 26 on 10-17 (6-9) off the bench in 26 minutes.  That's with no game action since last March and 1 practice.  According to Sciarra brandt, we get Joe Groski back for Saturday.  Saw McLaughlin got 2 minutes in the boxscore thought he was out for the season??
The bad??  Where the hell do we start??  This looks like the Mitchell game all over again (a Tuesday night in the same city earily similar).  Since I wasn't there and didn;t watch on video (I was at the women's game at the same time), so hopefully someone saw it (LECFan??) and can give a better recap then me, but looking at the boxscore, woof!  Conn College with two!! 20 point scorers.  Shot a ridiculous 60% from 3, got outshot like usual from the free throw line by a pretty hefty margin.  We shot 11 free throws, the Camels made 27 on 32 attempts.  Why does Russ Payton only play 3 minutes??  Injury??  Doghouse??  He did have 2 turnovers in those 3 minutes so thinking its the doghouse, but we need all the help we can get, leave him out there!!  I'd rather have Jensen obviously, but at least Payton shows flashes of brillance in between dumb choices and as I said we need all the help we can get anyways.  I did a count as we need to win all 5 of our remaining LEC games and have Keene lose 4 of their remaining 5 (1 must be USM Saturday) just to secure the 4 spot (already eliminated from 1 & 2 and pretty sure 3rd as well) and final home quarterfinal game.  We need all the shooters out there to help this team.  Much like Payton & Starks didn't get it done by themselves were gonna need more then Jensen & Groski to put together this winning streak needed to end the season.
The ugly??  Having Jensen back is nice, but really, it's pretty pointless now.  We needed him 2 weeks ago before the Boston game.  If we get him back for that we defintely win that game, the RIC game AND the USM game (should've won all 3 as it was anyways, but having that veteran leadership and clutch shooter would've guaranteed it), so instead of sitting 2-7 and pretty much eliminated from anything valuable, they'd be sitting at 5-4 and right in the think of the race for not only a home game but the regular season title as well.  As of now our ceiling goes from a 7th place finish to a 5th place finish big friggen deal.
Mitchell, Conn College, WNEU, Harrisburg, TCNY, USM & Boston a combined 0-9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! record against those 7 teams this year.  Know who was able to defeat Mitchell this season??  Regis, who was winless on the season going into their first matchup actually swept Mitchell this year.  They also lost to Norwich (5-14) who got pasted by Sage.  And we lose by 16?!?!?!?  Hunter, an average CUNY team was able to defeat Conn College this year.  Some school named Drew (named after Drew Carey??) was somehow able to defeat the powerhouse known as TCNJ, and FDU-Florham was somehow able to defeat that powerhouse by 20.  WNEU lost to Roger Williams (6-13) and lost by almost 30 to Eastern.  Harrisburg lost to some school named Millersville by 21, is 0-2 against non D-3 opponents (including that Millersville) and in the ultimate insult to how are season's going Harrisburg lost to SUNY-Cobleskill of all teams.  SUNY-COBLESKILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The 2 year program has a better record against those opponents then we do.  Know who else would have a better record against those 7 opponents??  Bard, Vassar, Caltech, Franciscan a team that has lost about 48 straight games, and D'Youville a team that has 3 wins on the season, but 2 are against Franciscan.  Some more number crunching.  In order to send Bob Campbell out with a .500 record the team not only has to win out the regular season and win the LEC tournament, but once they get to the NCAA's they have to make the 3rd round and we'd send him out 16-16.  Westfield state is the remainign non LEC opponent, and the LEC sucks this season, so I guess its possible, but 3rd round in the NCAAs??  If we can't make it past round 2 with DaQuan Brooks, Gary Robinson, Rob Bentil, David Addy, Mark Redding, etc I don't see how this team could make the 3rd round.  Sorry for the long rant, but I'm getting tired.  I don't know how you can beat Clark yet you go 0-9 against Boston, USM, WNEU, TCNY, Harrisburg, Mitchell and Conn College, someone please explain that to me, I'm lost.  I'm sorry but getting swept by USM & Boston in the same year losing to Conn College & Mitchell is ******* awful

37-43 OOC record.  With only 6 non conference games left the rest of the season (1 tomorrow, 4 Thursday and Western/Westfield game on February 6) the conference is at best only assured of a .500 record and looking at the schedule that Westfield/Western game could potentially decide whether the conference finishes at .500 or sub .500.  Bad night overall.  Besides Plymouth who had the best showing by far, just a bad night for the LEC.  We lost the 2 marquee games (RIC/Amherst and Mid/Keene) and blew a very winable game @ Conn College.

Wednesday schedule:
Wesleyan @ Eastern.
With Eastern's loss to RIC Saturday, the bad OOC numbers in the conference and the horrendus teams at the bottom of the conference its looking more and more like a 1 bid league (assuming RIC wins it).  This is a MUST win for Eastern if they want to stay in that mix.  They still have a tough home game against Keene, and will get a Western team who will definitely be a lot better (I hope) by the time next Tuesday comes around. I'll go on record and say if Eastern loses this, USM is probably the most likely team to get a pool C bid out of the conference if the selections were made on Thursday.  Wesleyan is right up there with Keene in the East and the nation for the "most dissapointing team of the year" award.  They had high hopes in Middletown this year winning home games last year against Eastern, Amherst & Williams with a 1 point setback to Middlebury, and a very talented roster that has completely imploded this year limping into Willimantic with a 10-10 record.  They have won 3 straight (though against Bates, Conn College & Merchant Marine so take that for what it's worth), and have won 3 straight in the series vs. Eastern.
Eastern 72-68.

[7express]

shocked at the timing of mikes return, i knew he was getting the itch however just didnt expect him to come back once the second semester started, i think if he played the whole season he would have shown himself as an elite scorer at this level, an EFFICIENT one at that. last year, he wasnt used correctly and was decimated by injuries and still was the second leading scorer while getting nowhere near the attempts he should have.

would have been interesting if this group were together the whole year

express, where was groski, and why did payton only play 3 minutes ( if it wasnt an injury I have a feeling)

I wasn't there and didn;t see the game because the women were playing at the same time.  Looking at the boxscore Payton had 2 turnovers in 3 minutes of action, so I have a feeling he got sent to the doghouse as I said in my previous post.
Also from my earlier post Groski will be back Saturday

[7express]

shocked at the timing of mikes return, i knew he was getting the itch however just didnt expect him to come back once the second semester started, i think if he played the whole season he would have shown himself as an elite scorer at this level, an EFFICIENT one at that. last year, he wasnt used correctly and was decimated by injuries and still was the second leading scorer while getting nowhere near the attempts he should have.

would have been interesting if this group were together the whole year

express, where was groski, and why did payton only play 3 minutes ( if it wasnt an injury I have a feeling)

Or at least together for the second semester when the games count.  Hell, even if he comes back when school started (January 14) its better timing.  Missed a big game vs. Keene, but that team is clearly better when Colbert chooses to utiliize everyone correctly, and Eastern is probably better as well, but the 2 games would have been closer.  And you think with Jensen we still lose to Boston, RIC & USM (remember all 3 of those games were within 1 possession at the 5:00 mark)??  I say they win all 3. But I degress.  Having Jensen and Groski the whole year (and the couple games without Starks) and this train goes in a totally different direction.  Even Tre Perry was developing a nice offensive game when he got booted.

[ECSUalum]

Tuesday schedule:
Plymouth 78-66.
We officially have a worse record then Plymouth right now.  Congrats guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Alex Burt with 34 to lead the Panthers.  Whe he shows up on the all conference team at the end of the season don't be surprised, and don't say I didn;t warn you.
Keene gets crushed 81-53.
Keene had 1 player in double figures Anthony Mariano with 10, and allowed Middlebury to shoot almost 60% from the field.  That's a recipe for a lopsided L.
Amherst 74-65.
RIC is 16-0 when the opponent gets held to 66 points or less and 0-3 when the opponent scores 67 or more.
Tufts 64-51.
At least Dartmouth played well.
USM 70-50.
Over the last 2 games, USM is winning the turnover battle by +20.  Got a big matchup vs. Keene on Saturday, and if they win that I beleive their guaranteed a first round home game.  I DO NOT want to be that team that has to play that game up in Maine on a Tuesday night.
Conn College over Western 91-79.
Jesus, this is bad.  Let's start with the good.  Not much.  Jensen had 26 on 10-17 (6-9) off the bench in 26 minutes.  That's with no game action since last March and 1 practice.  According to Sciarra brandt, we get Joe Groski back for Saturday.  Saw McLaughlin got 2 minutes in the boxscore thought he was out for the season??
The bad??  Where the hell do we start??  This looks like the Mitchell game all over again (a Tuesday night in the same city earily similar).  Since I wasn't there and didn;t watch on video (I was at the women's game at the same time), so hopefully someone saw it (LECFan??) and can give a better recap then me, but looking at the boxscore, woof!  Conn College with two!! 20 point scorers.  Shot a ridiculous 60% from 3, got outshot like usual from the free throw line by a pretty hefty margin.  We shot 11 free throws, the Camels made 27 on 32 attempts.  Why does Russ Payton only play 3 minutes??  Injury??  Doghouse??  He did have 2 turnovers in those 3 minutes so thinking its the doghouse, but we need all the help we can get, leave him out there!!  I'd rather have Jensen obviously, but at least Payton shows flashes of brillance in between dumb choices and as I said we need all the help we can get anyways.  I did a count as we need to win all 5 of our remaining LEC games and have Keene lose 4 of their remaining 5 (1 must be USM Saturday) just to secure the 4 spot (already eliminated from 1 & 2 and pretty sure 3rd as well) and final home quarterfinal game.  We need all the shooters out there to help this team.  Much like Payton & Starks didn't get it done by themselves were gonna need more then Jensen & Groski to put together this winning streak needed to end the season.
The ugly??  Having Jensen back is nice, but really, it's pretty pointless now.  We needed him 2 weeks ago before the Boston game.  If we get him back for that we defintely win that game, the RIC game AND the USM game (should've won all 3 as it was anyways, but having that veteran leadership and clutch shooter would've guaranteed it), so instead of sitting 2-7 and pretty much eliminated from anything valuable, they'd be sitting at 5-4 and right in the think of the race for not only a home game but the regular season title as well.  As of now our ceiling goes from a 7th place finish to a 5th place finish big friggen deal.
Mitchell, Conn College, WNEU, Harrisburg, TCNY, USM & Boston a combined 0-9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! record against those 7 teams this year.  Know who was able to defeat Mitchell this season??  Regis, who was winless on the season going into their first matchup actually swept Mitchell this year.  They also lost to Norwich (5-14) who got pasted by Sage.  And we lose by 16?!?!?!?  Hunter, an average CUNY team was able to defeat Conn College this year.  Some school named Drew (named after Drew Carey??) was somehow able to defeat the powerhouse known as TCNJ, and FDU-Florham was somehow able to defeat that powerhouse by 20.  WNEU lost to Roger Williams (6-13) and lost by almost 30 to Eastern.  Harrisburg lost to some school named Millersville by 21, is 0-2 against non D-3 opponents (including that Millersville) and in the ultimate insult to how are season's going Harrisburg lost to SUNY-Cobleskill of all teams.  SUNY-COBLESKILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The 2 year program has a better record against those opponents then we do.  Know who else would have a better record against those 7 opponents??  Bard, Vassar, Caltech, Franciscan a team that has lost about 48 straight games, and D'Youville a team that has 3 wins on the season, but 2 are against Franciscan.  Some more number crunching.  In order to send Bob Campbell out with a .500 record the team not only has to win out the regular season and win the LEC tournament, but once they get to the NCAA's they have to make the 3rd round and we'd send him out 16-16.  Westfield state is the remainign non LEC opponent, and the LEC sucks this season, so I guess its possible, but 3rd round in the NCAAs??  If we can't make it past round 2 with DaQuan Brooks, Gary Robinson, Rob Bentil, David Addy, Mark Redding, etc I don't see how this team could make the 3rd round.  Sorry for the long rant, but I'm getting tired.  I don't know how you can beat Clark yet you go 0-9 against Boston, USM, WNEU, TCNY, Harrisburg, Mitchell and Conn College, someone please explain that to me, I'm lost.  I'm sorry but getting swept by USM & Boston in the same year losing to Conn College & Mitchell is ******* awful

37-43 OOC record.  With only 6 non conference games left the rest of the season (1 tomorrow, 4 Thursday and Western/Westfield game on February 6) the conference is at best only assured of a .500 record and looking at the schedule that Westfield/Western game could potentially decide whether the conference finishes at .500 or sub .500.  Bad night overall.  Besides Plymouth who had the best showing by far, just a bad night for the LEC.  We lost the 2 marquee games (RIC/Amherst and Mid/Keene) and blew a very winable game @ Conn College.

Wednesday schedule:
Wesleyan @ Eastern.
With Eastern's loss to RIC Saturday, the bad OOC numbers in the conference and the horrendus teams at the bottom of the conference its looking more and more like a 1 bid league (assuming RIC wins it).  This is a MUST win for Eastern if they want to stay in that mix.  They still have a tough home game against Keene, and will get a Western team who will definitely be a lot better (I hope) by the time next Tuesday comes around. I'll go on record and say if Eastern loses this, USM is probably the most likely team to get a pool C bid out of the conference if the selections were made on Thursday.  Wesleyan is right up there with Keene in the East and the nation for the "most dissapointing team of the year" award.  They had high hopes in Middletown this year winning home games last year against Eastern, Amherst & Williams with a 1 point setback to Middlebury, and a very talented roster that has completely imploded this year limping into Willimantic with a 10-10 record.  They have won 3 straight (though against Bates, Conn College & Merchant Marine so take that for what it's worth), and have won 3 straight in the series vs. Eastern.
Eastern 72-68.

Eastern lost by 1 point to Wesleyan on 2 last sec Shasha Brown jumpers last year in Middletown and the year before in Willimantic, and lost in the 2009/10 season by 3 points @ Wesleyan, ..soo... they are due to win tonight!!!  BTW do not count the Warriors out winning the LEC regular/Tourney quite yet.  They have defeated the Anchormen the last two meeting IN THE MURRAY CENTER,( and it would have been 3 out of 4 if not for a mid court prayer 3 pointer buzzerbeater by Mason Choice in the first regular season game last year). I think ECSU success @ the Murray Center over the last 2 years embarrassed Coach Walsh... therefore the must win in Willi, which if he lost, would have made it 3 Warrior wins vs RIC in a row!!  Going forward, it will be Eastern turn to go "ballistic" on RIC the next time they meet and learn from the mistakes of last game.  If I was Walsh, ECSU will be the last freaking team he wants to see in the LEC Tournament HOME OR AWAY!!!!

[ECSUalum]

Nice job with todays Eastern Athletics Weekly broadcast, ( http://www.littleeast.tv/play/index.cfm?fuseaction=embstay&id=3719345380 ) hosted by Nick Aconfora, and Nick Minutelli  on which they review last weeks mens and womens team outcomes and in particular with another interview with Eastern's new Athletics Director, Dr.Jeff Konin.  Dr Konin is an ECSU alum and was Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, FL. Dr Konin was also USF's Executive Director of the Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma (SMART) Institute and the Director of the Graduate Athletic Training Program.

Dr Konin provides a very interesting update on some of the strategies he is incorporating to improve ECSU's Athletics programs.

[ECSUalum]

Wesleyan over ECSU 42-30 at half on rediculous 3 pt shooting by Wesleyan and lackadaisical defense by Eastern.  Eastern needs to wake up and play some basketball, a little embarrassing to watch right now!!!

[ECSUalum]

74-63 Wesleyan!!!  Joe Ives with knee injury on a pathetic, forgettable game!!!

[7express]

74-63 Wesleyan!!!  Joe Ives with knee injury on a pathetic, forgettable game!!!

I had livestats for the first half killing my iPhone battery while I was in class.  Missed the second half as I was driving home, but the first half (really, how do you go up 20 less than 10 minutes into a game??) was reminiscant of watching Western games this year.

[7express]

Wednesday result:

Wesleyan 74-63.
Terrible loss.  If you had told someone in November that USM was going to get the conferences lone victory in the NESCAC vs. LEC slate in January people would have laughed at you (I certainly would have), but that's the state of the conference this year.  If there was an LEC vs. NECC slate, the LEC probably loses that 2 this year.  Some years its just not your year, and that's certainly the case for us.  Hopefully teams like Dartmouth & Western can get some players for next year and make it a competitive conference again next season because woof is all I can say this year.  Wesleyan never trailed, lead by as much as 20 in the first half, & 17 in the second in a game that pretty much was never in doubt.   Sorry ECSUalum, but I think this takes away Eastern's chances of making the tournament via pool C, pretty much gotta win the LEC tournament now to get in.  Even if they beat Keene and win the conference, I don't think its good enough.
37-44 OOC record.  Guarantees a losing OOC record this year

Thursday schedule:
RIC @ Clark.
Actually would be a good game to check out.  Clark is 1-1 against the LEC: winning @ Eastern and somehow losing at home to Western.  Clark is 10-8, but have played teams tough.  This season they have played: Eastern, Anna Maria, Becker, Brandeis, NYU and of course have 2 games each against MIT, Springfield and WPI.  Western is the only team they've lost to with a losing record, and they beat Anna Maria, lost by 2 at the buzzer @ NYU (when they were ranked), lost by 1 to Springfield the first meeting, lost by 5 to MIT the first meeting, lost by 9 to Brandeis, beat Babson by 8 who defeated Amherst.  I know it's a bad cliche, but this comes down to whether RIC can put points on the board; they put up 60 they win.
RIC 58-52
Plymouth @ Johnson state.
Johnson state has dropped 5 of their last 6 to fall to 7-11 on the season.  Plymouth is playing a lot better, but has already lost to Lyndon state this year which ranks up there with Western losing to Mitchell for bad losses. 
Plymouth 85-64
Salem state @ Dartmouth.
Salem has already defeated Plymouth & USM this year 2 teams that are a lot better then Dartmouth and have a close 4 point loss to WPI and a 5 point win over MIT.  of course all 4 of those games were at home, but they shouldn't have much trouble with them.
Salem 88-61
St. Joseph's (VT) @ Keene.
Seriously, why are they playing this one again??  It's late and I still have to do the women;s schedule and I don't feel like spending 30 minutes trying look up stats for St. Joes like I did last year.  All I know is that last year they avoided an utter embarrassment with a last second win.  Who the hell knows what kind of emotion they have after getting drubbed by Middlebury, and it's even worse for them because they have a big LEC game @ USM Saturday, so their focus won't at all be here.  Since Keene has been known to blow games like this under Colbert, would it be that much of an "upset" if St. Joes wins??  I mean Keene has already lost in Spaulding 5 times this year.
Keene 83-79.

[ECSUalum]

Sorry ECSUalum, but I think this takes away Eastern's chances of making the tournament via pool C, pretty much gotta win the LEC tournament now to get in.  Even if they beat Keene and win the conference, I don't think its good enough.
37-44 OOC record.  Guarantees a losing OOC record this year

7,
I agree totally with you, what a mediocre Conference this year.  Very disappointed in ECSU's last two losses!!  I am now doubting if they make it through the Tournament.  Last night they looked like they were sleep walking throughout the game. No one was playing defense...they just flat out did not show up.  If I were Geitner, I would be totally pissed!!
On top of that Ives looks to be out for the year with knee, Preston has slight calf strain, and Hundley was suspended for a game for who knows what   wtf!!! It is looking like RIC and Coach Walsh has prevailed again.

[7express]

The sad thing about RIC is that they have some good wins: Brandeis, MIT but I'm not even sure their a lock this year.  They get tripped up by either USM, or @ Western or @ Keene and whichever team wins the tournament might likely be the only team in the NCAA's.

[LECFAN32]

im guessing doghouse with payton, I would normally agree with you to keep him out there from an offensive standpoint, but he cant be at the 1 with jensen out there, as it really negates their best offensive weapon, with so many possessions dont even start until 23 left on the shot clock while he looks for his own driving lane, sometimes this work, even if it does, it doesnt look good.

i agree things could have been much different, the schedule was set up for a down year with exception with the f n m tournament, incompetence in the first semester, losing to some very poor teams, bad luck in the second. You have jensen on this team for an extended amount of time, and groski gets that grade exception right away and this team is playing well with confidence right now. team would have had a balanced attack with the floor being forced to space out with starks payton jensen etc, which would have given leroy (who i feel for because this guys been through hell and back to get back on the floor between grades and a horrific knee injury), and joe space to operate.

the way d3 ball works since jensen only played 1 semester this season, if he did not attend school in the fall, he would be eligible for the 2nd semester next season but thats just wishful thinking.

good news- they can play with anybody (due to the very poor year across the board)

bad news- cant close any games, and the 28 year streak of .500 or better season for coach campbell appears to be ending, hope the staff remains after this season, as this squad did improve dramatically. hopefully bring in some guys who can stay eligible.

[7express]

Thursday results:

RIC over Clark 74-63.
Nyheem Sanders had 16 and Chris Burton 20 for RIC.
Keene with a big 110-64 win
No comeback needed tonight, and this game was over pretty much from tipoff.  5 Owls scored in double figures.
Plymouth 65-50.
After finishing with 34 Tuesday, Alex Burt only had 7.  Petey Skevas lead the Panthers with 17.
Dartmouth 73-61.
So Dartmouth can beat a pretty good Salem state team, but Western can't beat 2 terribe teams in Mitchell & Conn College??
It's funny since their guaranteed a losing OOC record they start winning games now.  Where were these wins in November & December Plymouth & Dartmouth.  1 final OOC game next Thursday Western @ Westfield state.  OOC record improves to 41-44 with the 4-0 day.

Sat schedule:
RIC @ Boston.  Big game for Boston.  The 4th game of their 6 game LEC homestand where they're only a measly 1-2 through the first half of the homestand and could very easily be 0-3.
USM @ Keene.  Best game of the day
Eastern @ Plymouth.  Eastern's on my upset watch for the weekend.  Long trip up to New Hampshire, Plymouth is playing well, Eastern has not played very well.  Seems like they can't play with Ives out.
Dartmouth @ Western.  Now with Groski back (its official) and Jensen, hopefully they can salvage this lost season, but I have no idea.
All games tip at 3:00 PM or (or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the women;s game) and I'll make predictions sometime tomorrow.

[AllStar]

7express:  Regarding your question as to why Keene played St. Joseph's again, I imagine it was a 2-year home and home agreement.  I don't imagine they will play each other beyond this year.  As to why they played to begin with...I have no idea.