MBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

Video of Coach Geitner on this years team:
http://gowarriorathletics.com/sports/mbkb/index

[ECSUalum]

Part 2: my conference predictions and other award winners:

1) Eastern (12-2).  I don't think they'll get through unbeaten again, as they lost Salzillo & Garrow but have good returning pieces like Trachone Preston (the lone senior on the team), Kevin Leumene, Hugh Lindo, who for most of the season was superb and Brandon Kuczenski & David Canny who played well in stretches.  RIC will probably be worse, I'd have Dartmouth & Western about where they were last year, Plymouth improved all of those games will be stuff, but the Warriors still look like the top dog to me
2) Western (10-4).  Last year looked like it was supposed to be another rebuilding year; get out of the 5 win doldrum they had in 2013 replacing Brooks but they played well.  They STILL haven't posted a roster yet so not sure who's coming back/who's incoming, so this is pretty much a "throw a dart blindfolded and hope it hits somewhere on the board instead of hitting someone in the eye."
3) Plymouth (9-5).  I stand by what I said last year: If they can win 6 of 7 at home they only need to finish 3-4 on the road to get to 9 wins which should be good enough to host a quarterfinal.  Last year they got almost nothing from Alex Burt because Logan Kesty & Curtis Arsenault blew onto the stage.  IF Kesty and Arsenault can continue the progress in year 2 and Burt can have a season like he had in 2013 when he came out of nowhere, I have no doubt the Panthers will finish in the top half of the league.  Those 3 will be the engine in the Panther machine this year.
3) RIC (9-5).  Looks like they didn't really lose that many players when Walsh left.  Austin Cilley isn't listed on the roster, but maybe he's just a second semester add in.  Chris Burton is still there (seems like he's been a RIC forever), Victor Smith had a great year, Terrance Tribble showed promise as a freshmen and will only get better.  However, that's a lot of talent lost....most of it via the head coaching position.  Still think RIC will be at or near the top because Walsh left it in good hands but have to replace Tom DeCiantis the outside shooter, Michael Palumbo & Jacob paige were good role players, Nyheem Sanders, even though he missed most of last year anyways is gone as well.  And let's face it, RIC didn't exactly set the world on fire offensively last year, and aside from Burton & Smith they don't return many points.
5) Dartmouth (7-7).  Tucker Bouchard (who won the rookie of the year) & Ryan Walsh combined to average 28.6 points, 5.8 assists per game and each was a sharpshooter from 3 both hitting on over 40% of the 3 pointers they took last season; both are gone from the team this year!  Jake Laga is back, Abi Akanni had 11.6 points a game and Wale Abraham was a defensive presence in the middle with 9.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.4 blocks a game.  John Genkos returns after missing all of 2013 and he averaged 11.4 points a game in '13.  That's a lot of production, but replacing 2 players that averaged nearly 30 points a game is tough.
6) Boston (5-9).  Maybe a bit high considering the same edition went 0-14 last year but....for starters, that '14 team lost like 7 of their top 8 scorers from the previous year.  Two, even though they were winless they played team down to the wire: they had Western down to a 1 possession game inside of 1 minute the final day of the season, they played Dartmouth down the wire along with Eastern both in the regular season and the conference tournament game.  Keene lost Tre Tipton and wasn't that good last year.  USM graduated 3 of their top 4 scorers and finished 7th.
7) Keene State (4-10).  Still have Tom Doyle at guard and the 7 footer Nate Howard in the middle.  I see them being like the Beacons last year; they'll be in most games, but won't be able to close them out.  Unlike the Beacons however, they'll nab a few conference victories.
8) USM (2-12).  Weren't very good last year and lost the 2 best players in Conor Sullivan and James Odneal.  Their always good for stealing a few victories at home, but it looks to be tough sledding for them this year.

Player of the year:
Trachone Preston- Eastern Connecticut

First team:
Preston
Victor Smith-RIC
Wale Abraham-Dartmouth
Alex Burt-Plymouth (I know I gave him the kiss of death last year in this spot)
Carl Joseph-Boston
Kendall Marquez-Western Connecticut

LEC tournament:
Western over Eastern

NCAA teams:
1 if Eastern fails to play Purchase and loses to Amherst AND loses in the LEC tournament; 1 if Eastern plays Purchase and loses to both Purchase and Amherst AND loses in the LEC tournament; 1 if Eastern loses in the LEC tournament and records 5 or more losses against: Amherst, Nichols, Purchase (if they play), York-NY, Stevenson, Messiah, Marietta; 1 if Eastern wins the LEC tournament.
If Eastern can beat Amherst & Purchase than record 1 win against: Stevenson, Messiah, Marietta that will probably be enough to get them.  Going 14-0 in conference again probably gets them a dance ticket as well.
Only team this year I can see beating Eastern in the tournament is Western, so Eastern will decide how many teams go from the LEC.  And in case your wondering, what happens if Western beats Plattsburgh AND somehow beat Albertus and splits with Eastern during the season??  Likely not good enough because that schedule is horrendous and the conference looks bad for the 3rd year in a row.  They'll be this year's Staten Island in that case (inflated record due to playing crappy teams= no tournament)

7, just a correction.  Tre Preston is a junior, and Brandon Yarborough is the lone Senior on the team, otherwise another great preview!!
BTW... 3 Brandons and 1 Brenden on the team this year!!!!!!

[7express]

Saturday schedule:

Rhode island College (+6.5) vs. Brockport State (@ Marymount) 1:30
Johnson State (+12) @ Keene State 5:00
Newbury (+26) @ Eastern 5:00
Colby-Sawyer (+5.5) @ Plymouth State 6:00
Trinity (CT) (+1.5) @ Dartmouth 6:30
USM (pick 'em) vs. Anna Maria (@ Conn College) 8:00

[ECSUalum]

Little East Preseason M & W Basketball polls and write-ups:

http://www.littleeast.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/releases/1113-MBKB-PreseasonPoll
http://www.littleeast.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/releases/1113-WBKB-PreseasonPoll

[7express]

Little East Preseason M & W Basketball polls and write-ups:

http://www.littleeast.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/releases/1113-MBKB-PreseasonPoll
http://www.littleeast.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/releases/1113-WBKB-PreseasonPoll

IMO, Plymouth State is to low.  Maybe I overestimated them at 3rd , but I can't see how they can do worse than last year's 5th place finish.

[7express]

6 of the 8 teams kick off play Saturday; Boston & Western are the 2 teams with the day off.

Brockport vs. RIC (@ Marymount).
To steal the first line from Magicman, tough game to predict!  Brockport lost I think 4 starters including the dynamic backcourt duo of Brandon Carruthers & John Ivy who combined to average a little under 35 points a game.  They also graduated 2 players in the front court.  RIC lost 3 point specialist Michael Polumbo, bench players Jacob Paige & Nyheem Sanders as well as the coach Bob Walsh.  Brockport is a moderate favorite at 6.5.  Close game throughout.  Magicman picked against his conference and picked RIC to win, let me return the favor and pick against the LEC.  That way at least someone is happy.  Brockport 70-67.

Johnson State @ Keene State.
The other game in this tournament is Wheaton vs. WNEU.  None of the 4 teams in this tournament came close to finishing with a winning record last year as the Owls finished 8-16, the Badgers were 6-20, WNEU was 7-18 and Wheaton had the best mark of the 4 at 9-14, so this is anybody's tournament but likely Keene's to lose: they probably have the best collection of players AND are at home for 2 games.  The Badgers have only finished with double digit win totals once in the last 8 years.  The oddsmakers have listed Keene as a 12 point favorite and I think they cover easily; 84-68

Newbury @ Eastern.
Newbury was 3-22 last year.  Eastern loses Salzillo & Garrow, but they shouldn't have much trouble against this cupcake.  Eastern is a big 26 point favorite, but I say they get the cover 74-47.

Colby-Sawyer @ Plymouth.
Last year the Panthers won by 4 on the road, however the Chargers finished with a better record (14-11 compared to Plymouth's 13-14.  The Chargers also advanced further in their conference tournament as they made it to the semi's while the Panthers got knocked off in round one).  Both teams return the majority of their players: Plymouth returns 4 of their 5 starters, while the Chargers return all 5 of their leading scorers.  The oddsmakers aren't impressed with the Chargers as they have them as 5.5 point underdog on the road.  I think Plymouth will win in the end, but doesn't win going away; 64-60.

Trinity (CT) @ Dartmouth.
The Bantams finished last season 15-11 with a semifinal loss to the Lord Jeffs in the NESCAC semifinals.  Now that James Cosgrove is in year 3, he should start to get the majority of players that fit his get-in-your-face defensive-first teams, they really leaped forward last year in year 2 and should only improve with more of his players.  Dartmouth also had a good season, finishing 16-11 after a disasterous 5-21 season in 2013 but went through a summer roster overall as their top 2 players are no longer playing.  The oddsmakers didn't take this into account when setting the odds as they have the Corsairs as a 1.5 point favorite.  I think this game should be more a pick em, but the Bantams win going away late in a game that if you just read the boxscore would make it seem worse than it was; 81-69

Anna Maria vs. USM (@ Conn College).
Framingham State vs. the host Camels is the other game in this tournament where like the tournament at Keene, none of the 4 teams came remotely close to posting winning records in 2014: Anna Maria was 9-17, USM was 7-19, Conn College was 9-14 and Framingham state was 8-18 so much like Keene all 4 teams have almost as good a chance to start 2-0 as they do 0-2.  This game is a pick 'em on the books, and I'll take the Huskies to start the season off 1-0; 78-68

[ECSUalum]

Nice High Def broadcasts by Keene State and UMass Dartmouth tonight.  ECSU has to step up now.
Eastern has no trouble with Newbury winning 76-50, with a lot of freshmen playing in second half.  The Warriors continue tradition with solid defense.  Lindo with 17 rebounds tonight picking up where he left off last year as a freshman.

http://gowarriorathletics.com/sports/mbkb/tournament/boxscores/20141115_kxwx.xml

[magicman]

Copy of a story I posted on the SUNYAC board.

The first result of the year is in and it's not good news for the YAC.

As I suspected the Rhode Island Anchormen proved to be a stiff test for Brockport as they defeated the Golden Eagles 72-62. I had projected a Rhode Island win by a 75-71 margin. I wanted to be wrong with my prediction, but I think it will take time for Coach Dunne to get all the new faces and new starters to put it together.

Never did get the live stats between Brockport and Rhode Island but got the results off the Brockport website.

Brockport had the early lead and went up 17-9 which was the Golden Eagles largest advantage but the Anchormen came back with a 13-0 run to go in front 22-17 with 6:32 left in the half. Rhode Island was never headed after that. They went into the break up 32-28 and a pair of free throws to open the 2nd period boosted the lead to 6 points. The Golden Eagles did tie the game up at 34 apiece but the Anchormen went on another 7-0 spurt and the closest that Brockport could get the rest of the way was 4 points. Rhode Island opened up a 57-44 lead, the largest of the game by either team with 6:40 left to play. Brockport came fighting back and got it to within 4 points once again after a pair of 3 pointers by Clifton Lyerly with 4:56 to go but the Anchormen hit 10 of 11 free throws down the stretch to thwart any hope of a Brockport comeback.

The Golden Eagles were led by Lyerly with 21 points. Danny Aiello with 10 points was the only other player in double figures for the Eagles. Port got killed off the boards losing that battle 43-26 and Rhode Island scored 30 points in the paint to 20 for Brockport. There's the 10 point difference in the score.

Rhode Island got a big game from 6'6" forward Chris Burton with 21 points and 13 rebounds. This guy was the reason I thought Rhode Island might win the game as he was their best returning player. Another returning 6'6" player that averaged double digits last year, Victor Smith, didn't play in this game. Senior Patrick Matthews who transferred into the program this year had an excellent first game for the Anchormen with 16 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Point guard Eric Alleyne had 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Brockport will face off against Roanoke College tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 PM. Roanoke lost to host Marymount today by an 86-57 final score.

Rhode Island will meet Marymount at approximately 3:30 right after the consolation game.     

[AllStar]

RIC (72-62), Keene State (109-70), and Eastern Connecticut (78-50) won today.  RIC's win over Brockport was probably the best.  Keene and Eastern drilled cupcakes.  Southern Maine, UMass-Dartmouth, and Plymouth State lose.  3-3 overall.  Plymouth State getting whacked 81-54 by Colby-Sawyer at home is not a good look.  UMass-Dartmouth and Southern Maine each lost 86-83.

[7express]

Sat results:

RIC defeats Brockport 72-62.
No boxscore from the game, but Magic did a good job recapping it.  RIC will play the host Saints who drilled Roanoke 86-67 while Brockport will play Roanoke in the consolation game

Keene drills Johnson state 109-70.
Owls put 5 players in double figures lead by Jeff Lunn's 18 off the bench.  Rob Hazard finished with a game high 20 for the Badgers.  Keene will play Western new England who won by 1 over Wheaton while the Badgers face off against the Lyons in the consolation game.

Eastern over Newbury 78-50.
Warriors had a balanced scoring attack as 4 finished in double figures lead by Trachone Preston's 15.  Hugh Lindo only finished with 6 points but was an absolute monster on the boards with a game high 17.  Milciades Carrasco had a game high 21 for the Nightwawks.  Eastern will play Colby who was a surprising 73-70 winner over Purchase while the Nighthawks will get completely run over by the Panthers in the first game.

Colby-Sawyer destroys Plymouth 81-54.
Curtis Arsenault was the only Panther in double figures as he finished with 13.  Chargers put 4 in double figures, lead by Peter Donato who finished with 27 on 11-15 shooting.  Panthers took a quick 4-3 lead on 2 layups sandwiched around a Chargers 3 pointer and went downhill after that as it went downhill from there the final 39 minutes.  Both teams are off until Tuesday; Plymouth takes on in-state rival Rivier, Colby-Sawyer takes another shot against an LEC team as they play host to the Beacons in Boston's season opener.

Dartmouth loses a close one to Trinity 86-83.
Bantoms put 5 in double figures lead by Ed Ogundeko who lead the charge with 20 points.  Corsairs had 4 in double figures lead by Jordan Rezendes with a game high 30 & John Genkos put in 25 (21 via the 3) in his first game since February of 2013.  Reining defensive player of the year Wale Abraham was a complete non-factor against the much taller Bantoms: 0-2 shooting, 0 points, 2 rebounds and 5 relatively quick fouls as he only played 15 minutes.  Bantoms outrebounded the Corsairs 42-21.  Dartmouth hosts Staten Island on Saturday evening who was a 74-66 loser to Salem State, while the Bantoms and Vikings will play in the "championship" game.  Funny how these games with the matchups preset will have both the teams playing on Sunday winning Saturday.

Anna Maria edges USM 86-83.
Sean Caddigan and Zach Leal each had 22 points to lead the Huskies; Pat Bradansee lead the AMCats with a game high 24 points.  It was back and forth early with the teams trading baskets before the AMCats took the lead for good at 12:12 and never relinquished it racing out to a 44-27 lead at halftime, but the Huskies tried to make a valiant comeback outscoring the AMCats 56-42 in the second half, but it was too late.  Huskies will take on the host Camels who come off a disappointing 60-55 loss to Framingham State while the Rams & AMCats will duke it out for the championship in the second game.

3-3 for both the LEC & for my predictions as I lose the RIC, USM & Plymouth games.

Sunday schedule:

USM (+4.5) @ Connecticut College.
Tough game to peg.  Conn College lost the first game of their tournament and know they want to salvage at least a 1-1 split and don't want to get swept at their own tournament!  Meanwhile, the Huskies have the loooooong bus ride back up 95 to Maine at the conclusion and would feel better going back 1-1 instead of 0-2.  I'll take the Camels by 3 79-76.

Western New England (+3) @ Keene.
WNEU hasn't finished with more than 10 wins since the 2009/10 season when they finished 12-14.  In 2011 the Golden bears only managed a 4-21 overall record but one of those 4 wins came in Spaulding Gymnasium against an Owls team that had Ollie Hunter, Derek D'Amours, Rashard Wright, Anthony Mariano, Eric Fazio, Cody Snow and Ryan Martin.  Keene 93-77

RIC (+3) @ Marymount.
Very tough game to peg as we don't see much of the Marymount Saints: a team located outside of D.C in the Capital Athletic Conference.  The Saints managed a 16-12 overall record and 7-9 CAC record despite the fact Wesley & Mary Washington both finished in the top 20 of the polls, Christopher Newport & St. Mary's (MD) hovered inside & out of the top 25 the majority of the poll, and Salisbury was a sneaky-good 14-12 teams.  I picked against RIC Saturday and since it worked so well, let me do it again!  Marymount 69-65

Staten Island (pick em) @ Dartmouth.
Like the Camels, Dartmouth already lost the few games and don't want to fall to 0-2 at their own tournament.  Staten Island finished last year 28-3 but failed to make the NCAA's as they fell to York (NY) in the CUNY championship game because they didn't have many quality wins.  Their not going to pick up a "quality win" here but the loss to Salem State already hurt them this year after 1 game and will fall even further onto thin ice with another loss.  Staten Island 86-80

Colby (+1.5) @ Eastern.
Colby improved their win total by 7 wins last year going from 7 in '13 to 14 in '14, included in one of those 14 was a home win against eventual national champion Amherst, and a 10 point loss @ Amherst in the quarterfinals.  They also played a close game @ Williams (7 point loss) last year so they won't be intimidated by Giesler Gymnasium.  The Mules finishes 2-1 against the LEC last year playing all 3 games on the road: they lost to Dartmouth and beat Plymouth & USM.  Eastern looks to win their tournament after falling in the championship game to Purchase last season.  I think Eastern will end up winning, but this will be close.  Don't sleep on Colby this year.  They have to play @ Amherst but they get Middlebury & Williams at home in the NESCAC game along with the NESCAC game against Bowdoin.  They could end up finishing top 5.  Eastern 75-73

[7express]

Keene wins, but RIC loses to Marymount & USM loses by double digits to Conn College  in the early part of the day.

In late action: Dartmouth down by 2 midway through second, no score from Eastern/Colby

[AllStar]

Keene wins, but RIC loses to Marymount & USM loses by double digits to Conn College  in the early part of the day.

In late action: Dartmouth down by 2 midway through second, no score from Eastern/Colby

Yikes.  The conference is suffering some bad losses here in the first few days.  Plymouth losing 81-54 to Colby-Sawyer and USM losing 75-60 to Conn. College isn't good. 

[7express]

Sunday results:

Marymount over RIC 67-59.
D'Ondre Stockman lead one of 3 Saints players with 17 points off the bench and Eric Alleyne had a game high 18 to lead the way to RIC.  Do to getting outrebounded 12 to 8 on the offensive glass and losing the turnover battle 20-14, the Anchormen attempted 15 more shots from the floor then the Saints did; however RIC only hit on 22 of their 57 shot attempts while the Saints finished shooting 5.0% hitting 21 of their 42 shot attempts.  RIC returns home to next play Lasell on Thursday night; Marymount is off until Saturday when they take on Southern Vermont, who has a lot of kids from the DC area which is why they are going down there.

Conn College by double digits over USM 75-60.
Less Messier lead all scorers with 20 off the bench for the Camels who also got 12 points and a game high 15 rebounds from Zuri Pavlin.  Zach Leal had 19 points for the Huskies; 41 through the first 2 games and Fred Knight chipped in 11.  The Huskis bench got outscored by the Camels bench 35-14, lead mostly by Messier's 20.  Conn College is next in action Thursday evening when they play @ Yeshiva; the Huskies return to action Wednesday evening against UNE who doesn't appear to be the punching bag they usually are; they are 1-1 so far this year only losing to Middlebury by 2 Sunday afternoon.

Keene over Western New England 80-69.
Mike Gelineau scored a team high 29 points for WNEU while Musa Elsir had 12 points and tied for a team high 18 points.  Nate Howard lead the Owls with both game high's in points (31) & rebounds (17), and had 5 blocked shots for good measure.  I know it's 2 wins and they only had 8 all of last year but giving up 69.5 points over 2 games to subpar teams isn't good but I'm sure AllStar will take the 2 wins.  Keene returns to the court Tuesday evening @ Elms, WNEU returns to the court as well on Tuesday when they take on city rival Springfield in the annual "battle of Springfield game."

Staten Island edges Dartmouth 71-65.
Jordan Rezendes had a team high 15 points for Dartmouth and the Corsairs got 14 apiece from Wale Abraham and Jake Laga.  After getting shut out on Saturday Abraham finished with those 14 points & 10 rebounds.  John Genkos was held to 3 points after exploding for 25 on Saturday.  Dolphins were lead by Frank Schettino who had a game high 20 points and 15 rebounds and Will Fonseca also recorded a double double with 18 points & 13 rebounds.  Both teams return to action Wednesday: Staten Island @ Ramapo, Dartmouth @ Brandeis in what will be the Judges season opener.

Eastern over Colby 74-53.
Chris Hudnut was the only Mule in double figures as he finished with 16 points; 4 of 5 Eastern starters in double figures with Tarchee Brown & Trachone Preston each tying for top honers with 21.  Hugh Lindo was another monster on the boards as he finished with a game high 17 rebounds for the Warriors.  Didn't matter this game but have to improve on the 52.4% free throw percentage.  I've said this time and time again there is no reason at all why you should finish less than 70% from the foul line, especially at your own gym.  Inexcusable!  Eastern returns to action Wednesday night against Nichols College while the Mules are off until Friday when they host their own tournament involving Daniel Webster, Endicott & Plymouth State.

5-6 LEC; I improve to 8-3 as I sweep the Sunday slate.

Next games Tuesday evening as the conference is off Monday night:

Boston (+3) @ Colby-Sawyer 7:00
Keene (+2.5) @ Elms 7:00
Plymouth State (-1) vs. Rivier (@ NH Tech) 8:00

[AllStar]

Yes, 7, I will take the 2 wins at this point.  They didn't play great in either game really...and certainly will need to play better moving forward.  Always better to learn while winning, I guess.  One positive out of the game today was the 23-of-26 shooting from the foul line.

[7express]

Tuesday predictions:

Boston @ Colby-Sawyer.
This is the Beacons season opener, while this is the Chargers second straight game against an LEC opponent; they opened their season with a blowout 81-54 win at Plymouth.  The 2 teams played last year with Boston winning 79-68 at the Clark Athletic Center.  Feel the number is too low for the Chargers I will gladly take them -3; Colby-Sawyer 82-74.

Keene @ Elms.
The Owls are coming off a sweep of their season opening tournament but they will definitely step up in competition here against the Blazers.   Elms is coming off a 1-1 opening 2 games at the Westfield State tournament; lost by 20 to Bowdoin but rebounded to beat Manhattanville by 10 in the consolation game.  Keene is a 2.5 point underdog, but I believe in the Owls!  Keene 78-75

Rivier vs. Plymouth (@ NH tech).
Both teams are coming off losses.  Plymouth as mentioned got killed at home, Rivier is coming off a loss to Nashua rival Daniel Webster in the annual 12:01 AM game on November 15 to kick off the start of the D-3 season, however they weren't alone in that regard as Oglehthorpe and Spalding also tipped off against each other at 12:01 AM this year.  Rivier hasn't finished with a winning record since the 08/09 season and have lost 2 of 3 in this neutral site series.  Panthers are favored by 1 and I agree they bounce back with a 68-59 win.