MBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

ECSU....congrats to your Warriors on getting the top seed in the LEC.   Been keeping an video eye on your Warriors....especially in their comeback win over Keene.  Expect your team to hold serve in the Tourny ahead.
Have noted the recent comments wrt to the video cast recently....notice the recent change in the video.  Did want to point out that I went to the RIC a hive video of the game with Amherst...to check out the play again....did state that I would on the CAC board.  Wanted to state that in the Keene game there were several shots of the injured star guard on the bench..FYI.
Amherst has one more game on Sunday and if they win it, they should be the second seed.  Amherst seems to be playing well recently.
Let us hope our teams will meet somewhere deep in the post season.

amh63,  Thank you Sir,
Hoping for a sweet 16, but will need to have all cylinders firing, including Preston and Leumene, and a little luck.  If everybody comes back healthy next year, I expect bigger/better things from this team.
As I stated previously, I think the Jeffs will take the CAC tourney a for pool A qualification.  Good Luck to them going forward!!

[7express]

Tuesday's schedule:

Eastern @ Western.  Eastern hasn't lost to Western since 2012 (??).  Warriors have already clinched the 1st seed and even with a loss still look good for a pool C bid, but better for them to win this AND the LEC tournament.
Keene @ Plymouth.  Keene wins sets the top 4.
Dartmouth @ RIC.  Dartmouth wins gives them the 2 seed
Boston @ USM.  USM won in Boston earlier in the year, but still tied for last with Plymouth.

I'd say Keene/Plymouth is the most important.

[7express]

Time for tournament scenario's and where teams can end up.  Outside of 7 & 8, and 3 & 4, the other spots are pretty much all but locked up.

Where teams can end up:
#1: Eastern Connecticut has this on ice and can't do worse
#2: RIC or Dartmouth
#3: RIC, Dartmouth, Keene
#4: Keene, Western, Dartmouth
#5: Western, Boston
#6: USM, Boston
#7 USM, Boston, Plymouth
#8: Plymouth, USM

Plymouth will win any tiebreaker over USM if both finish 1-1 or 0-2, so unless USM loses AND Plymouth wins tonight, that's the only spot that's likely to come down to the final day of the season.
Dartmouth clinches the 2 seed with a win.  In this scenario RIC would clinch the 3 seed if Keene loses to Plymouth.  If Keene wins @ Plymouth OR Western loses at home to Eastern, Keene clinches the 4 seed.  Western clinches the 5 seed with a loss AND Boston loss @ USM.  Plymouth clinches the 7th seed and USM clinches the 8th seed with a Plymouth win AND USM loss.  Boston clinches the 6th seed with a win.  So, if Dartmouth, Plymouth, Boston and Western win, the only spot going into Saturday to be decided will be Keene/Western for 4th, the other 6 spots will be locked up.  If RIC, Plymouth, USM & Western win NONE of the remaining 6 spots will be locked up and all will be decided on Saturday.

As to how each team can end up:
Eastern Connecticut has already clinched the outright title; they cannot be caught
Dartmouth finishes 2nd with 1 win OR 1 RIC loss; RIC finishes 2nd with 2 wins AND 2 Dartmouth losses
Dartmouth finishes 3rd with 2 losses AND 2 RIC wins; Keene finishes 3rd with 2 wins AND 2 RIC losses OR 2 Dartmouth losses AND 2 Keene wins; RIC finishes 3rd with 1 Dartmouth win AND 1 Keene loss.
Keene finishes 4th with 1 win + 1 Dartmouth win OR 1 loss + 1 Western loss.  Only way Dartmouth ends up 4th is if they lose twice and Keene wins twice.  Western finishes 4th with 2 wins AND 2 Keene losses.
Western finishes 5th with 1 loss OR 1 Keene win; Boston ends up 5th with 2 wins AND 2 Western wins AND either Keene/Dartmouth finishing ahead of RIC.
Boston finishes 6th with 1 win AND 1 Western win.  USM finishes 6th with 2 wins AND 2 Plymouth wins AND 2 Boston losses.  The Huskies would win a 3 way tiebreaker due to their 3-1 overall record vs. the Panthers & Beacons.
USM finishes 7th with 2 wins AND a Boston victory vs. Western AND 2 Plymouth losses.  Plymouth finishes 7th with 1 win OR 1 USM loss.  Boston will finish 7th with 2 losses AND USM and Plymouth BOTH finishing 2-0
USM finishes 8th with 1 loss OR 1 Plymouth win.  Plymouth finishes 8th with: 1 loss AND 2 USM wins OR 2 losses and 1 USM win

[7express]

Tuesday schedule:

Eastern @ Western.
Warriors have won 7 straight over their in-state rivals.  Eastern has locked up the regular season crown, so the only goal for them the rest of the way is avoiding any bad losses which will hurt their pool C chances, and get everyone back healthy for the playoffs.  Trachone Preston was still out on Saturday, and if I were coach Geitner I'd leave him out for the next 3 games.  Luckily for Eastern, even if they lose this game it wouldn't be as bad of a loss as USM would be on Saturday and then either USM again or Plymouth next Tuesday would be.  Unlike last year Eastern doesn't have the undefeated conference mark to shoot for either.  Eastern is a large 9 point favorite, but I'll take the Colonials to win.....mainly because I'm going to stay home and watch!  They're 0-4 when I watch them in person; 14-5 when I'm not there.  Why buck the trends this week when the games matter??  The women are also 0-2 when I see them live, so better to stay away, lol.  Western 78-73

Keene @ Plymouth.
Keene clinches no worse then the 4 seed with a win.  Plymouth doesn't have much going for it, they'll be on the road for the quarterfinals as either the 7 or 8 seed playing @ RIC, @ Dartmouth or @ Eastern next week.  However, in rivalry games like this, you throw the records out the window, and aside from last season when the Owls got swept, the Owls have dominated most of the recent meetings.  Last year's win in Plymouth was the first time since 2009 the Panthers have beaten the Owls in Plymouth.  Owls are a big 8.5 point favorite, but once again not only will I take the points with the underdog, I'll pick the underdog to win straight up!  Plymouth 76-75

Dartmouth @ RIC.
Dartmouth is shooting for their first season series sweep of RIC since the 2002/03 season....when I was a sophomore in high school!  Not only that, but they haven't even won @ RIC since 2010.  Both will likely finish 2/3 in some order, so if they both win first round games, we'll be seeing this matchup again in 10 days at the LEC quarterfinals.  Dartmouth officially locks down the 2 seed with a loss; even with a loss RIC will lock down the 3 seed with a Keene loss.  RIC is a 6.5 point favorite, and I'll take the Anchormen at home 74-67

Boston @ USM.
USM only has 2 LEC wins, but the Beacons were one of those 2 wins back in Boston last month.  Both teams will be going on the road next week for the quarterfinals.  Beacons are a 7 point road favorite, but once again not only will I take the points with the underdog....I'll pick the upset!  USM 75-72

[7express]

Keene lead 28-25 at the half.  Video isn't working so live stats only
Eastern leads 31-30 at half.  I think Yarborough hit a 3 at the buzzer to give the Warriors the slight edge at halftime
RIC up 3 with 5:17 left
Boston/USM women's game ran late, so the men's game is only about 9 minutes in which sees the Beacons holding a 17-9 lead.
RIC leads 32-23 at halftime
USM was down 12 at one point in the first, but currently leads by 2 36-34 at the half.  This game is taking forever too!    Western/Eastern and Plymouth/Keene games were at about the 15 minute mark of the 2nd by the time this snail game got to halftime

[7express]

Eastern wins 70-60.  RIP to Western playing another game at the O'Neil Center this year  .  Women's team officially got eliminated from hosting a quarterfinal game with Boston's first ever victory against USM, and now the men are officially eliminated.
RIC up 71-55 with about 2 minutes to play.  Looks like RIC will clinch no worse than the 3 seed.
Keene wins 66-55.  Have officially clinched a home game.  Assuming RIC holds onto win vs. Dartmouth, Keene will finish 3rd with a win Sat vs. Dartmouth while they'll finish 4th with a loss.
Bostons up 70-61 with 4:10 to play.
RIC is up 10 with the shot clock off....lets put that in the books
Boston up 8 with about 60 seconds to play.
The RIC game goes final with the Anchormen winning 75-64

[7express]

Saturday's schedule in terms of importance.

Keene @ Dartmouth 3 PM
Assuming RIC beats Plymouth which should be a safe assumption since they haven't lost to the Panthers in 6 seasons, the winner gets the 3 seed and the loser falls to #4, ends up in Eastern's half of the draw, and will likely have a tough opening round game against the 5 seed Western.  IF Plymouth can get the win over RIC, a Dartmouth win would give them the 2 seed, RIC would go to 3 and Keene would end up 4th.

Western @ Boston 3 PM
The final home game in Charlie Titus's 37 years on the Beacons bench.  Next year Boston will open the season with only their second head coach over as Charlie Titus has been at the helm for every Beacons basketball game played.  Both teams will open on the road, but still are alive for the 5 spot: Western wins the 5 seed with a win OR a RIC win over Plymouth to guarantee RIC finishes above Keene & Dartmouth.  Boston would end up with the 5th seed with a win AND a Plymouth win.  Since Western has nothing to gain anyway, it would be nice for coach Titus to go out a winner.  A Beacons win would also tie them for their most conference wins since the 2006 season when they finished with 10.

RIC @ Plymouth 3 PM.
Plymouth can't finish higher than 7th; they'll clinch 7th with a win OR a USM loss.  RIC likewise can't finish lower than 3rd and would clinch 2nd with a win OR Dartmouth loss, since the Anchormen hold the tiebreaker over Keene due to sweeping the season series 2-0.  This is very likely going to be the 2 vs. 7 quarterfinal game, so will either team go all out and try to win??

USM @ Eastern 3 PM.
Eastern is locked into #1 and can't move; USM will finish 8th unless they win AND Plymouth loses in which case they'll finish 7th.  Like RIC/Plymouth this is likely to be the 1 vs. 8 quarterfinal game.  Eastern has more to lose then RIC does since the Warriors are still in pool C discussion, but I doubt coach Geitner is going to risk injury just to win this game when Eastern's real season starts on Tuesday.

[7express]

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)

Western and Plymouth....woof!  Had I known that Rezendes kid from Dartmouth was gonna show up and be the only scorer in the conference averaging over 20 ppg I probably would've placed Dartmouth higher.  All first team selections (aside from Preston) turned out to be complete garbage.  Wale Abraham or Carl Joseph may make it, but I doubt both do, Preston probably gets on there, Marquez may make 2nd team; Victor Smith & Alex Burt won't even sniff a 3rd team selection.

[7express]

Keene @ Dartmouth.
In a day of pretty meaningless games, this game is probably the biggest.  Both teams will be playing a home quarterfinal game on Tuesday night as the lowest each can finish is 4th, but the loser will finish 3rd and likely play Boston and the winner will play 4th and likely play Western.  Keene's had Western's number the last 7+ years, plus Dartmouth has been bad so far in February (1-4 this month with the lone win vs. USM), so go Keene!  I forgot the Owls beat the Corsairs earlier in Keene, so RIC will win that tiebreaker with RIC should Dartmouth win, and RIC lose, so RIC has officially clinched the 2nd seed.  Keene won by 14 in Keene back in January, but this game is a virtual pick em with the Corsairs a 1 point favorite.  I'll take Keene 87-84

Western @ Boston.
A pretty meaningless game in regards to playoff positioning.  Both teams will be opening on the road and Western needs to lose AND have RIC lose to Plymouth; in that case Boston would finish 5th and Western would finish 6th.  However, this will be the final game on the sidelines for Boston coach Charlie Titus.  Since the Beacons won't have another home game the rest of the season, this is officially the last game in the Clark Athletic Center for the only head coach Boston has known in it's history.  Back in 2003 I was at the last road game Mount St. Mary's played that year under legendary coach Jim Phelan, one of the few coaches in the 800 win club.  Granted, it wasn't as exciting or as memorable as it being his final home game, or final game in general, but still history none-the-less I won't forget and I believe I still have the ticket stub from Sacred Heart somewhere in my room of that game.  IF the weather wasn't going to be so bad tomorrow night OR if either Western team had anything to play for (both the men and the women are guaranteed to open on the road) I would definitely be going up, as it stands I might still make the drive, but was a lot surer earlier in the week then I am now.  Western won by 12 in Danbury in January, and Boston is a slight 2.5 point favorite, and I think they get the win.  Since Western has nothing to gain anyways with a win, it would be nice if the Beacons got one for outgoing coach Titus; Beacons 79-74

RIC @ Plymouth.
Unless USM pulls off the upset of the year and knocks off the Warriors in Willimantic, this will be the 2/7 game next weekend.  RIC checked in at #9 in this week's regional rankings....too far back to make a dent in the pool C discussion (usually 6 to 7 is the cutoff line in the Northeast).  Plymouth meanwhile, with a loss would finish with under 3 conference wins for the first time........since 1990 when they finished 2-8 in a 10 team LEC!  In the 1989/90 season, Western Connecticut and Keene State weren't even in the league yet, and UMass-Dartmouth was still called Southeastern Mass College.  So in other words since the LEC added Keene State & Western Connecticut to the league to make it an 8 team league Plymouth state has NEVER had a season in which they finished 2-12 or worse.  They've had a couple seasons in which they went 4-10, 2 years ago in the worst LEC I've seen they went 3-11, but have always managed to win at least 3 games.  RIC won the first meeting in Providence by 15, and they are a big 11.5 point favorite and I think they cruise to put this Panthers team in the history books; RIC 78-58

USM @ Eastern.
Eastern is still #5 in the Northeast and need to avoid the bad losses in this game and the quarterfinals, likely against the same opponent in these Huskies in the same place.  Warriors won by 28 in Maine and that's why they are a 29.5 point favorite I think.  It's tough to go against 29.5 points, especially since we don't know how far into the second half coach Geitner will push the starters and which if any he will "rest."  That's why I'll only go as high as 25, USM may get a couple garbage time buckets against the backups to the backups to get it under 25.  Eastern 77-52.  FYI Massey has Eastern with a 99% win probability, hence why I said biggest upset of the year.  I think Eastern was only about 90-95% win probability @ Plymouth when they lost and even I noted they were in for a tough test that game.

[7express]

Apparantly the Colonials bus broke down on the trip up to Boston this morning, so the games will now start @ 2 (women) and 4 for the men today.

[7express]

RIC leads 57-36 with under 6 minutes to play
Dartmouth is up 7 with under 5 minutes left.  With the above 2 results, looks like Western will be locked into #5 and playing at the Keene/Dartmouth loser Tuesday.
Eastern up 10 with under a minute left.
Boston leads 40-26 at halftime.  Could be worse for the Colonials, but Kendall Marquez hit an off-balance 3 from halfcourt at the first half buzzer, so they are only down by 14 instead of 17.  As I said yesterday, when RIC officially finishes the win over Plymouth, that will officially lock Boston @ #6 and Western @ #5, so really second half will be playing out the string.  Before the game, Beacons forward Steven McGuire proposed before the game....and she said YES!

[7express]

Eastern wins 67-53.  Fred Knight had game high's of 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Huskies, while Hugh Lindo lead the Warriors with 16 points and 12 rebounds.   What this means for both teams: USM officially locks down the 8 seed and "gives" Plymouth the 7th seed, Eastern was officially the 1 seed so USM will be right back here next Tuesday.
RIC wins 69-41.  Chris Burton lead RIC with a game high 17 points; Curtis Arsenault lead the Panthers with 10 points.  What this means for both teams: RIC was already locked in as the 2 seed, with USM's loss officially locked the Panthers in at #7.  This win by RIC also sets Western at #5 and Boston at #6.
Dartmouth wins 92-80.  No boxscore up.  What this means for both teams: Dartmouth clinches the 3 seed and will host #6 Boston, Keene falls to #4 and will host #5 Western on Tuesday
Boston up by 12 with 13 minutes left.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern over USM 63-57 in what was a lack luster game.  Hugh Lindo another double-double, (12 rb, 16 pts), Colin Jordan had 15points and hit a 3 pointer that pulled the Warriors away for good with 3 min left.   Tarchee Brown was off tonight going 4-14 and 11 points.  ECSU shot only 36% and 24% FG and 3pt FG resp. tonight.  USM had 18 T/Os, however, 6'7" 290lb center Fred Knight lead the Huskies with a double-double of his own hauling down 14 boards and scoring 19 points.

Nick Aconfora stated this afternoon that Tre Preston's ankle injury may sideline him for the rest of the season.  I noticed at the WestConn game he was wearing a large boot and walking with a slight limp.  Apparently he was on crutches prior to that.  W/O Preston, ECSU does not necessarily have a lock on the LEC tournament any more!!

Speaking of Nick Aconfora, I would like to give a final shout out to ECSU senior and ECTV Sports Director Nick Aconfora as he stated  this afternoon's play by play broadcast would be his final.  Nick, came in as a freshman and IMHO really turned the Eastern (Sports) TV program into a first class operation.  Nick, (and his crew), together with SID Bob Molta have done a wonderful job providing us with outstanding play by play, commentary, camera and graphics coverage for all ECSU men and womens athletics.  Not sure what Nick will be doing after graduation, but no doubt will be successful where ever he ends up in the sports communication/broadcast field!!!  BEST OF LUCK!!

[7express]

Jordan Rezendes of Dartmouth finished with a ridiculous 51 points against Keene.  I believe that is the highest from any LEC player since some guy named DaQuan Brooks (I heard he was pretty good??) dropped 52 on Christopher Newport in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament.  Outside of any Grinnell players I have to imagine a player scoring 50 is rarified air.  Outside of Grinnell, what's the average of someone scoring 50+??  Once or twice a season, if even that much??  Also, in that game Jake Laga of Dartmouth scored his 1,000th career point.

[AllStar]

To let one person score 51 of 92 points (55% of the team's points) is flat out awful.  I'm sorry.