MBB: Little East

[7express]

Wed results:

Nichols defeats Plymouth 82-65.  Alex Burt lead the Panthers with 22 points off the bench while Petey Skevas finished with 4 points on 1-12 shooting in his final collegiate game.  Irving Eggleston lead the Bison with 19 off the bench, who will now host the semifinals and final this coming Saturday & Sunday.  Ryan Sheehan only played 6 minutes before leaving to what looks like an injury.

46-41 LEC; 106-40 me

Thursday schedule:
York (NY) @ Rhode Island College.

York (NY) @ RIC.
The Cardinals come in as the surprise winner out of the CUYNAC conference, knocking off top 25 team Staten Island in the conference finals to get in this position, and leaving the Dolphins in the ECACs.  Michael Woods leads the Cardinals in scoring as he has accounted for about 35% of York's scoring output this season, averaging a whopping 28.7 ppg this year.  Omar St. John is next on the team with 18.3.  The Cardinals production completely dips after that however: Jaron Williams averages 11.2, Donald Rodriguez is at 8.6, and no one else is above 5.  Woods averaged 25.3 per game in the CUNY tournament, while St. John averaged 23.3 through the CUNY tournament.  York is 0-5 all time in the NCAA tournament.  I trust Bob Walsh will come up with a game plan that neutralizes the 2 big guns for York.  IF York wins, they'll a third scorer, and don't think they have that.  Being in the LEC since 2004 or whatever it was, coach Walsh has seen some talented kids come into the Murray Center: Brandon Stephens from Dartmouth, DaQuan Brooks from Western, Derek D'Amours from Keene, Nick Nedwick from Eastern and has a had a game plan for them all, so I think RIC will be fine.  The Anchormen are favored by 2.5 and I'll take them with the points.  RIC wins 73-68

[amh63]

7....think you are ok on your analyses.   In any case, Amherst awaits the winner in LeFrak...on Sat.  Will you be visiting Amherst again?  Missed you on Sunday.

[7express]

7....think you are ok on your analyses.   In any case, Amherst awaits the winner in LeFrak...on Sat.  Will you be visiting Amherst again?  Missed you on Sunday.

I'll have to see what's going on.  If I go up there this year it'll probably be next weekend (if Amherst wins Sat and they host the next weekend).

And sorry I couldn't make it up there Sunday.  I had practice and my family was having a birthday dinner at night.  The practice I could skip since it was just added and an "optional" practice, the family dinner I couldn't, lol.

[7express]

RIC getting completely getting blown out at halftime losing 39-18 to York.  Omar St. John has almost single-handily outscored RIC by himself as he has 16 and RIC as a team has 18.  Michael Woods only has 9.  Doesn't look good for RIC.  York has the better shooters and is quicker, not a good sign.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

RIC getting completely getting blown out at halftime losing 39-18 to York.  Omar St. John has almost single-handily outscored RIC by himself as he has 16 and RIC as a team has 18.  Michael Woods only has 9.  Doesn't look good for RIC.  York has the better shooters and is quicker, not a good sign.

York's been a sleeper for me all season (along with Johns Hopkins, by the way).  If they didn't draw Amherst, I'd've had them in the Sweet Sixteen.

[ECSUalum]

WOW York defeats RIC by 25 points!!!  Did not expect that score

BTW gotta give 7 a Karma to get him 100    Thanks guys for me getting to 100!!!

[AllStar]

I thought RIC would win a close game over York.  Nope...they were just totally dominated.  Not a good showing at all.

[7express]

York clobbers RIC 79-54.  I knew this team wasn't very good this year, but man, that was embarrassing.  York lead by as much as 24 in the first half, lead by 21 at halftime, and never lead by fewer than 15 in the second half, but York at it around 20 for most of the second half.   Victor Smith had 11 points & 11 rebounds while Chris Burton had 14 points to lead RIC and grabbed 9 rebounds.  Omar St. John had a career high 31 for York, while leading scorer Michael Woods added 20.  RIC won the rebounding battle 51-37 and 21-8 on the offensive glass, but lost the turnover battle 22-6, and York had 18 points off those 22 turnovers.

46-42 LEC; 106-41 me

Friday games:
Husson vs. Eastern (@ Plattsburgh) 5:30 PM

I know Magicman will be at this game, and I know he'll have a better game recap then I will, but hopefully we can get some pregame thoughts from him as well, if time allows either tonight or tomorrow.   The Eagles are a pretty high scoring club as they average 86.1 ppg as a team and they have very balanced scoring attack as 7 players average 8 or more ppg, but no real high scorer as the highest is only at 13.9 per game.  Have a good record, but play in a pretty awful conference.  But 26-2 is 26-2 no matter which way you slice it.  According to the Husson website, this is their 43rd consecutive winning season.  If that is indeed true, that is completely remarkable.  Point spread favors the Warriors by 5.  I was a lot more confident in RIC before looking at the stats for York.  I was a lot more confident in Eastern before looking at Husson's stats, and look what happened to RIC.  Hopefully Eastern doesn't have the same result.  Also, I need to stop looking at others schools stats  .  Eastern 79-75

[GnacBballFan]

Makes you wonder if the CUNYAC should have gotten two in, with Staten Island being the other after Yorks performance

[AllStar]

Makes you wonder if the CUNYAC should have gotten two in, with Staten Island being the other after Yorks performance

Probably so.  Although the only way RIC got in was by winning the LEC.  If they hadn't they wouldn't have been in.

[7express]

Makes you wonder if the CUNYAC should have gotten two in, with Staten Island being the other after Yorks performance

Can't have this game to compare too though since RIC won the conference tournament.  You gotta see how teams like Springfield (vs. Mary Washington), Ohio Wesleyan (vs. St. Norbert), Dickinson (vs. Geneseo), and Bowdoin (vs. Richard Stockton) do.  Those were some of the last teams with pool C selections.  If any one of those teams completely flops like RIC did tonight (and their all capable too) then you could easily make that case.

[GnacBballFan]

Good points all around

[7express]

Friday result:

Eastern survives Husson 81-76.  Win and advance, lose and go home.  The final result is the only thing that matters.  Brooks Spaulding and Aaron Willis each had 15 to lead the Eagles, while Trachone Preston (23) and Mike Garrow (20) lead the Warriors.  Hugh Lindo with a game-high (career high??) 23 rebounds and since my dog picked him up in the NCAA fantasy free agent pool, Lindo's 23 rebounds have given my dog a 1 point lead over myself after round 1 action (at least according to my unofficial stats)  .  Eastern is going to need Salzillo to get going tomorrow (3-14 shooting [1-8 from 3] 9 points) and probably some bench production if they want any chance to defeat Plattsburgh.  Magic will probably have a better recap since he was at the game.  Also, the oddsmakers correctly pegged the Eastern outcome Friday as the Warriors were predicted to win by 5 and won by 5.  I was also pretty close to the predicted final as I had Eastern winning 79-75 and the final was Eastern 81-76.

Saturday:

Eastern @ Plattsburgh.
You'd like to beat the best at their best, but unfortunately for the Cardinals they are a little short-handed heading into the NCAA tournament.  Luckily for them they got Shamoy McIntosh back tonight, but senior Shavar Fields is still out for the Cardinals.  The Cardinals are a very good team 21-5 on the year and finished second in the SUYNAC that produced 3 NCAA tournament teams this year and has stalwarts Oswego & Buffalo state in the conference as well who the Warriors are familiar.  The Cardinals also played tough road games @ Richard Stockton (lost by 4), @ Middlebury (won by 16) and beat Keene by 33 back in November.  The Cardinals are at home, a better team, and the SUNYAC was a better conference, and that's why they are favored by 8.5.  Seems a little bit too high to me, especially if Eastern and Salzillo in particular can hot from outside they may even win.  I'll take the points, but I'll pick the Cardinals 79-72. 

47-42 LEC; 107-41 me

[pjunito]

Great job Eastern.. Keep it up!

[ECSUalum]

Great job Eastern.. Keep it up!

Thanks pj , as 7 stated above, will need Salzillo, Preston, and Garrow's scoring in high double figures, Hugh snapping 15+ rb, additional scoring from Kevin Lumene and low TO to have a chance to defeat an excellent Plattsburgh St team!!!