WBB: GNAC Women's Hoops

deiscanton · January 17, 2007, 10:39:27 PM

PS--

And when I mean that Emmanuel played Bowdoin better on a comparative basis than Norwich did, I mean it.

I was very proud of Emmanuel's challenge against Bowdoin. The Saints came very close to tying the game with a minute left on January 6, but they were unable to do it, unfortunately. That is all that I am going to say right now.

Moving on to tonight's game...

Emmanuel beat Emerson at what Emerson calls "the Lions den". I would call it "The Den at Piano Row", but what do I know?

The Saints won tonight, 68-57. Emerson is a small, but scrappy team, and Emmanuel's #44, LaTeisha Johnson, did not play tonight for reasons not disclosed to me. Still, the outcome was never seriously in doubt-- Emerson couldn't handle the Saints when their pressure defense was applied at full strength-- Emerson was only able to score on counter-runs when Emmanuel let up on the defense momentarily. Emmanuel would then answer each relatively small Emerson run with a run of their own. The Saints were up by 20 in the middle of the second half.

Emerson's new gym is one to be proud of. It has about 250 seats, and is located 3 flights underground, like Suffolk's gym. It is different from NYU's place in that it is a basketball gym and not a full-fledged underground fieldhouse. Concepts from Emmanuel's facility were borrowed into the Emerson gym, such as the athletic offices located 1 level above the gym, and the scoreboard is just like Emmanuel's scoreboard. The building in which the gym is located is also the new Emerson student center (another concept borrowed from Emmanuel's facility).

Pat Coleman · January 17, 2007, 10:56:39 PM

250 seats? Yikes.

deiscanton · January 17, 2007, 11:12:21 PM

Pat--

For Emerson, they at least have a gym on campus now. It is great for the players, if not the spectators, but the small capacity is the only thing that I can complain about. It has more seats than Suffolk's gym, at least. The 250 seats in the bleachers was my guess upon counting-- they could only put about 3 rows of seats maximum on 3 sides of the gym.

It is very hard to build gyms in that section of Boston unless they build the gyms as underground facilities. The Boylston "T" stop is located a short walk down the street.

deiscanton · January 20, 2007, 07:24:31 PM

I saw Norwich play Emerson today. Norwich has a great starting five, but their bench did not produce many points today-- the Norwich bench scored only 4 points in the game, with the starters scoring the rest.

Emerson led by 1 at the half, and the game was not decided until the final 2 minutes.

Based on how both Emmanuel and Norwich played against Emerson, I would have to rank Emmanuel above Norwich right now. The Saints are playing better than they did last year, and I would favor Emmanuel taking the GNAC title back from Norwich this season.

This year's Emerson Lions team could be what WNEC was in previous years when Wendy Davis coached the Golden Bears-- I would not be surprised to see the Lions as a GNAC semifinalist. In previous years, I would have expected both Emmanuel and Norwich to blow out Emerson-- Emerson as a program is better this year than in the past.

Biggirlzdontcry · January 23, 2007, 07:49:37 AM

Before you crown Emerson as the next great team in th GNAC, I think it's important to remember that although they've improved there are still a few schools in the conference that could push them for the GNAC semifinalist spot, have you noticed that Suffolk is still undefeated in league play? JWU will be a tough out, as will WNEC as they play out there final season in the conference. The rest of the pack could be just as challenging on any given night St. Joes, Albertus, Simmons, etc.. It's seems a given that Emmanuel and Norwich are 1 & 2, but the remaining seeds will be interesting. One upset could change the balance of this league dramatically

simon · January 23, 2007, 09:55:51 PM

WOW whats up with Norwich only beating SVC by 20!!!! Did they play their bench or what? SVC is terrible....If Norwich is that good they should of won by more than 20 unless they played everyone!!!!!!1

Biggirlzdontcry · January 24, 2007, 10:08:33 AM

I wouldn't read to much into the Norwich score, I'm sure they were up big and emptied the bench and coasted, my guess is that it wouldn't be far off base to assume they are looking ahead a bit to the Big showdown with Emmanuel coming up, as they will motor through their next couple of opponents. It's also a great thing to empty your bench when your up big at this time of the season and give the starters some rest, so expect the scores to reflect that.

deiscanton · January 24, 2007, 11:18:00 AM

Quote from: Biggirlzdontcry on January 23, 2007, 07:49:37 AM

Before you crown Emerson as the next great team in th GNAC, I think it's important to remember that although they've improved there are still a few schools in the conference that could push them for the GNAC semifinalist spot, have you noticed that Suffolk is still undefeated in league play? JWU will be a tough out, as will WNEC as they play out there final season in the conference. The rest of the pack could be just as challenging on any given night St. Joes, Albertus, Simmons, etc.. It's seems a given that Emmanuel and Norwich are 1 & 2, but the remaining seeds will be interesting. One upset could change the balance of this league dramatically

You make a good point-- however, I don't see Suffolk not making the GNAC semifinals-- Suffolk looks to be the third best team in the GNAC to me. I was thinking that Emerson could win a GNAC tournament game this year for the first time and be the fourth team into the GNAC semifinals.

Of course, Suffolk is 5-0 in GNAC play, but they haven't played the stronger GNAC opponents yet. The first big test for the Rams comes on Monday when they have to go up against Emmanuel's press defense.

Biggirlzdontcry · January 24, 2007, 12:32:48 PM

Deis,

I can see your perspective, and I agree it looks as if Emerson has turned the corner with their program. The Rams will def have their hands full with Emmanuel, don't forget Jwu and WNEC lurking in the back ground. There may also be other teams who haven't made the playoffs in the past few years, join the party(Rivier). anyone have any predictions for the playoff seedings? What happened to St. Joes they were semifinalists last season, and are struggling early, same with Simmons, ALbertus etc?

deiscanton · January 24, 2007, 01:19:00 PM

Simmons is clearly in a rebuilding mode; this year's team is not as good as the team of 2 or 3 years ago-- although Sarah Clayton of Simmons just happens to be the most accurate 3 point shooter in DIII right now. Albertus Magnus has slipped since Natalia Perlaza graduated; St. Joe's (CT) looks to be down from last year as well.

Don't be fooled by Rivier's 11-5 record-- the Raiders have not beaten a team above .500 all season. 2 of Rivier's wins came against Wheelock, 2 of Rivier's wins came against Bay Path; the other wins came against Fisher, E. Nazarene, Regis (MA), Lesley, Daniel Webster, Newbury, and S. Vermont. Of these teams, only Daniel Webster is anywhere close to breaking .500.

Johnson & Wales and WNEC are clearly better teams than Rivier-- JWU already defeated Rivier by 12, and Suffolk just beat Rivier by 20 yesterday.

deiscanton · January 27, 2007, 07:25:18 PM

Well, from the look of things today, it doesn't look like Simmons is going to stay in that rebuilding mode for very long. Simmons may be back by next season or two years from now at the latest.

I watched the Norwich at Simmons game today, and Simmons clearly played their best game of the season to date. Simmons was in the game and actually had a 2 point lead on the Cadets with 3 minutes to go before the inexperience of the Sharks caught up to them. Norwich was able to win the game thanks to 2 crucial 3 pointers by the Cadets in the final 2 minutes of the game. (Norwich didn't really play a very poor game, either-- the defense of the Cadets was top notch today.) Given the way that Simmons was playing games earlier this season, for the Sharks to even play that well against Norwich this season is a terrific accomplishment. Coach Price should be proud of the way Simmons performed today.

As for Emmanuel, an easy win over St. Joseph, CT today. Emmanuel plays Suffolk on Monday, and goes to Providence, RI on Wednesday to play Johnson & Wales before the anticipated big matchup at Norwich next Saturday.

Biggirlzdontcry · January 27, 2007, 08:17:46 PM

Deiscanton,

I have to admit that I was surprised, if nto shocked to see that Simmons vs Norwich was so close, and judging by your posting it was a legit game, no injuries on Norwiches part. Norwich had better focus on the task at hand, and stop looking at the BIG matchup before they get in trouble. Maybe Simmons will make some noise in this conference? or at best play the spoiler role as they rebuild and look forward to their future. The Emmanuel / Suffolk game looms large on Monday.

deiscanton · January 29, 2007, 09:53:36 PM

Emmanuel pulled away in the second half to beat Suffolk by 22 today. Suffolk kept it close in the first half, but the Saints were able to pick it up in the second.

It doesn't look like I will be able to be in Vermont on Saturday to see Emmanuel at Norwich. Emmanuel is sending both the men's and women's basketball teams up on the same team bus on Saturday (the men are playing at Norwich in the second half of the doubleheader, with the women playing first at 1 PM), and there are no immediate plans for Emmanuel to send a fan bus to Norwich. I will check the computer on Saturday to find out what happens, and I do have the NESCAC's Williams at Tufts women's game as an alternate game for me to check out on Saturday-- in between the Brandeis home games vs. Chicago and Wash U this weekend.

deiscanton · February 03, 2007, 05:07:06 PM

Courtesy of http://www.norwich.edu/athletics

Emmanuel 61, Norwich 59

Assuming no disappointments the rest of the GNAC season, Emmanuel is on track to get the home court advantage for the GNAC tournament once again.

deiscanton · February 08, 2007, 09:26:33 AM

Regional rankings came out yesterday, and it looks like both Emmanuel and Norwich are strongly assured of bids to the NCAA tournament, barring any major disappointments by either club along the way.

The main story now is-- which one of the two gets in as GNAC champion, and which one of the two gets in as a Pool C bid?

The other main story right now is whether or not Emmanuel will be hosting a weekend first/second round site in the NCAA tournament if they win the GNAC's automatic bid. Currently, Fitchburg State is ranked #2 in the Northeast rankings, and both Fitchburg and Emmanuel are ranked ahead of Southern Maine in the regional rankings.

It looks to me right now that Bowdoin will get one of the 2 first weekend sites in the Northeast region if the Polar Bears win the NESCAC tourney, and that currently Fitchburg and Emmanuel are battling it out for the 2nd site.

Games remaining for Emmanuel before the GNAC tournament:

1.) Tonight (2/8)-- at Simmons (can the Sharks do as well against Emmanuel as the Sharks did against Norwich?) (GNAC game-- local across the street rivalry in the Fenway.)

2.) Saturday (2/10)-- at Daniel Webster (GNAC game)

3.) Monday (2/12)-- start of a 3 game home stand vs. Babson
4.) Tuesday (2/13)-- Make-up home game vs. S. Vermont
5.) Wednesday (2/14)-- Emmanuel hosts the Pine Manor Gators in GNAC play.
6.) Saturday (2/17)-- GNAC regular season finale at Rivier.