MBB: Little East

7express · February 09, 2015, 10:35:39 PM

Tuesday schedule:

RIC @ Western
Keene @ Eastern
Dartmouth @ Boston
Plymouth @ USM. I'll give best billing to Keene/Eastern. Predictions later tonight or tomorrow.

7express · February 10, 2015, 04:07:24 PM

Keene/Eastern, Dartmouth/Boston pushed back to tomorrow. RIC/Western, USM/Plymouth still on for tonight.

7express · February 10, 2015, 07:09:20 PM

Plymouth @ USM.
Both teams are having trouble this year both winning and scoring the ball. Plymouth won at home earlier this year and the Panthers have won 7 of the last 8 in Maine between the 2, there's the difference. Plymouth is a 3 point favorite, and I'll take the points; Plymouth 66-60

RIC @ Western.
I said to someone the other day that the way this Western team is constructed they are incapable of beating RIC. You take a look at the 1 team in the conference that has had success against the Anchormen, as Eastern has won 5 of the last 7 matchups, and they do 3 things well that none of the other 6 are able to do it to beat this program. 1) They have a pure scorer with Trachone Preston and what looks like tarchee Brown 2) they play defense 3) they don't shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers or bad shots which is the big key. As for Western, they have a pure shooter in Kendall Marquez, but their defense is abysmal, and since they play fast they consistently shoot themselves with turnovers and bad shots (mostly bad 3 point shots which lead out to long rebounds and fast breaks for the opposistion). That doesn't mean RIC can't be beat as Dartmouth has done it a couple times in the last few years, but in order to get this win, they have to be patient, and take what the defense gives them, which I don't think they are capable of. Plus I really can't ignore the 3-21 record in the last 24 meetings, that stands out like a sore thumb. RIC is a 4.5 point favorite, and I'd have to agree with the oddsmaker; RIC 78-71

7express · February 10, 2015, 10:07:32 PM

Southern Maine beats Plymouth 60-58.
The Panthers missed 2 three-pointers and a layup in the last 7 seconds, any one of which would've forced at worst overtime.

Western beats RIC 84-76.
An Eastern win over Keene tomorrow would officially eliminate the Anchormen from winning the conference. Also, on the tournament front for tomorrow's game, a Corsairs win over the Beacons would guarantee BOTH the Owls AND the Colonials no worse than a 5th place finish and would place Plymouth, Boston & USM 6-7-8 in some order.

AllStar · February 10, 2015, 11:39:14 PM

I can't be surprised Western won...

In fact, I knew it! LOL. The only problem was, of course, that I didn't pick them. Directly from the Pick 'Em board the other night: "(...very tempted to pick Western though. I may have to change it.)"

Next time if I say that I might as well just go with it.

7express · February 11, 2015, 02:36:09 PM

Eastern 4th, RIC 6th in the regional rankings which are hot off the presses! RIC's loss last night wasn't a factor in their placement, however they will get docked for it next year. I think Eastern is in pretty good shape, RIC will be squarely on the bubble.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · February 11, 2015, 02:40:48 PM

Quote from: 7express on February 11, 2015, 02:36:09 PM
Eastern 4th, RIC 6th in the regional rankings which are hot off the presses! RIC's loss last night wasn't a factor in their placement, however they will get docked for it next year. I think Eastern is in pretty good shape, RIC will be squarely on the bubble.

If the teams below them all win this week, we could see them drop out entirely. They'll be, at best, below Bowdoin.

7express · February 11, 2015, 02:49:27 PM

Keene @ Eastern.
An Eastern win would eliminate the Anchormen from hosting the tournament and would leave just the Corsairs & Warriors fighting for the #1 seed in the LEC tourney. Also, 2 wins by the Warriors this week would give them at worse a share of the regular season title and #1 seed in the LEC tournament. Aside from beating the Warriors in Willimantic the 2012 season in the middle of Keene winning 9 straight games, and the 2013 semifinals in Providence, I can't recall the last time the Owls won a game in this series, but it's been a while I think at least 5+ years. Warriors are a big 13.5 point favorite. I'll take Keene with the points, but the Warriors to win; 85-76

Dartmouth @ Boston.
Pretty meaningless game for the Corsairs actually. Even if the Corsairs lose and the Warriors win they wouldn't be eliminated from the conference title, only way the Corsairs wouldn't get eliminated from title discussion with a loss Saturday was if the Corsairs win and the Warriors lose tonight, so the Corsairs bigger game is Saturday. Beacons have a couple good wins OOC, but have fallen flat in LEC play. As mention yesterday, a Beacons loss would guarantee Western & Keene no worse than a 5th place finish. Corsairs are a 1 point favorite, and they get the win 86-84.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 11, 2015, 02:52:23 PM

Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2015/02/11/first-regional-rankings-released-today/

AllStar · February 11, 2015, 06:46:39 PM

Quote from: 7express on February 11, 2015, 02:49:27 PM
Keene @ Eastern.
An Eastern win would eliminate the Anchormen from hosting the tournament and would leave just the Corsairs & Warriors fighting for the #1 seed in the LEC tourney. Also, 2 wins by the Warriors this week would give them at worse a share of the regular season title and #1 seed in the LEC tournament. Aside from beating the Warriors in Willimantic the 2012 season in the middle of Keene winning 9 straight games, and the 2013 semifinals in Providence, I can't recall the last time the Owls won a game in this series, but it's been a while I think at least 5+ years. Warriors are a big 13.5 point favorite. I'll take Keene with the points, but the Warriors to win; 85-76

Dartmouth @ Boston.
Pretty meaningless game for the Corsairs actually. Even if the Corsairs lose and the Warriors win they wouldn't be eliminated from the conference title, only way the Corsairs wouldn't get eliminated from title discussion with a loss Saturday was if the Corsairs win and the Warriors lose tonight, so the Corsairs bigger game is Saturday. Beacons have a couple good wins OOC, but have fallen flat in LEC play. As mention yesterday, a Beacons loss would guarantee Western & Keene no worse than a 5th place finish. Corsairs are a 1 point favorite, and they get the win 86-84.

Keene State has been flat out awful against Eastern Connecticut for a long time now. They used to beat them but now never can.

7express · February 11, 2015, 07:14:59 PM

Maybe today it changes. The women had lost 7 straight to Eastern, and Keene held them to 35 points.

7express · February 11, 2015, 07:20:04 PM

Hey Alum, any idea what happened to Preston?? He's not in the starting lineup tonight

7express · February 11, 2015, 08:16:57 PM

Keene leads 44-32 at half. Neither Colbert or Geitner will be sending these refs Christmas cards. Geitner already got T'd up, Colbert is about 20 seconds away from one. Questionable calls each side
Boston leads by 1 at half in the other game.

AllStar · February 11, 2015, 08:18:58 PM

Quote from: 7express on February 11, 2015, 08:16:57 PM
Keene leads 44-32 at half. Neither Colbert or Geitner will be sending these refs Christmas cards. Geitner already got T'd up, Colbert is about 20 seconds away from one. Questionable calls each side
Boston leads by 1 at half in the other game.

Well isn't that surprising!

7express · February 11, 2015, 09:43:13 PM

I'm probably gonna get fried over this but watching Keene completely gag away this game tonight and the subpar second half effort Saturday I need to say it:

If Keene is serious about their men's basketball program and actually wants to compete for NCAA bids and Little East titles they NEED to replace Colbert with someone even half decent. Right now the highest ceiling for Keene is 3rd place and the LEC semifinals with Colbert in charge they will not win the regular season OR conference title. Sorry AllStar for being so blunt but in my 5 years of watching this conference not 1 coach in this league has done less with more than Colbert has. He's been blessed with multiple division 1 transfers, multiple guys 6"10 or taller and what has it accomplished for them?? Absolutely Nothing!!!! I said this 4 years ago and it's still true now: if you replace Bob Walsh with Rob Colbert, RIC is about where USM & Boston are 2-14/3-11/2-10 finishes yearly with a 6-8/7-7 season once in a blue moon. Meanwhile for Keene if you replaced Colbert with Walsh hands down they would be the best team in the league most every year and the years when they weren't the best they'd still be in the upper half. I can't say for sure before then but since 2010 not once, at least in my opinion did RIC ever have a better team then Keen did, but RIC wins all the time. Why is that?? Because Walsh is a coach and gets the most out of his team every game while Colbert acts like the substitute teacher. There is NO WAY that Keene should've lost that game last night, and with any semi-competent coach they do, but alas they didn't. I'll have more when I get back, I had to get that off my chest before the 90+ minute ride back, lol.