MBB: Conference of New England

[dwebbs]

I don't know why anyway hasn't said it yet, so I'll just come out and let everybody know...

Gordon won the game, but lost it on a blunder by the ref. Gordon made two FT's to go up 3 with 6.2 left, Salem broke the press and got the ball into the corner to Finn. After a couple head fakes, he put up the shot. The ref closest to the ball initially signaled two, but once the shot went in, and Salem St. players rushed the floor, another ref signaled three, and the initial ref kind of shied away from his call of two. I was on the other side of the court, but everyone I talked to in the Pit said he foot wasn't on the line, it was over it.

That being said, Gordon still had overtime to win, but Salem clearly had all the momentum going in. They also got out rebounded down the stretch.

Go ahead and call me whatever you want, but if this happened to an EC or an RWU fan, they would be making the same grip.

Gordon basically got robbed of a win.

[gullfan]

Bottom line is, nobody likes to have refs be a deciding factor. No matter what call they make, they are always half wrong. Tough job - but calling the line on a three is job one!
And you're right we would be howling!!!!!!!!!

[CCC Talk]

Call it Karma for Vogalzang's mugging of Casey Butler last year in your "miracle tournament win" the refs giveth and the refs taketh away

[dwebbs]

If you want to talk about muggings, we could mention the inconsistent refing for the duration of the game. They were terrible, but that's my opinion – just as it's your opinion that Vogz mugged the Nichols player.

It's not anybody's opinion that the ref closest to the play signaled two when the shot was released, then later winked at the Pit. That really happened.

I understand the moral of your story, but they're two different things.

[dwebbs]

Also, I'd like to add that the absence of Coach Schauer didn't affect the outcome of this game. The players I've talked to said that it was different, obviously, but they didn't feel as though they were under coached.

[number1chargerfan]

Interesting that reffing is the topic at hand because that was the very problem in CSC's 82-78 loss to Bowdoin. I will paint the picture for those who were'nt there as I was. The Chargers were up and down for most of the game and to tell you the truth alot of fans started leaving late in the 2nd half. With 3:15 left Nate Truncelito stole the ball at the top of the key and streaked to the basket for a layup that cut Bowdoin's lead to one, capping a big comeback. Bowdoin's Jackson hit a mid range shot and a three point lead with 2 to go. The lead stayed the same as both teams traded baskets until Truncelito hit a big three with around 30 ticks on the clock, 78-76 Bowdoin. Here is where it gets hectic. CSC's press had been broken all night long and suddenly a glimmer of hope arose as they trapped Bowdoin in the right corner near the student section. As we chanted DE-FENSE, everyone hoped fora miracle, and we got one with a Tyler Fournier steal and pass to Truncelito. In traffic he went up for a bucket on the right side, no good slid off the glass to the left side of the basket where he grabbed it again, and his second chance was also no good, Bowdoin got the board and would hit both their free throws on the other end, with :03 on the clock all hope was lost. This final play seemed almost too perfect for the poorest ref corps I've seen as a basketball fan. Countless no calls and wrong calls, going both ways, including a ball off of a CSC player with no one else around that was called a CSC ball, and an Andrew Cousins three point attempt where he ended up on his back near half court, no call. Truncelito was clearly fouled on his second attempt, if not his first, and it was an easy opportunity for the refs to make up for a bad game and award the chance for a tie. As they left the arena fans let them have it, including myself who was almost thrown out by campus safety (a few choice words that shouldn't have been used) I am glad to see I'm not the only one noticing the poor reffing going on across the CCC and that it is not just at Colby-Sawyer. I think we should continue to discuss this, has anyone else noticed a change??

[backboard]

I think we can agree that the CCC refs are just awful.  Or at least a good majority of them.  How is the league supposed to gain any respect if they can't even bring in good refs?  Just one more thing the CCC needs to improve on.

[Hoopnews]

I'm not sure, but I think there are regional assignments for refs, not conference associations.  Like, a ref might do a game at Trinity on thursday and albertus magnus on saturday.

[Maq Diesel]

Yes the CCC belongs to the ECAC and they do the reffing assignments for almost all the games in New England.  I was having a conversation after the game and it came down to three man officiating crews are lazy and thus nit as good as old two man crews.  As for the Gordon Salem game I have a few comments.  One, Coach Martin did very well in place for Coach Schauer.   Two, the reffing was the worst I have ever seen and it went both ways.  Not as much in regards to fouls but just generally terrible calls and totally inconsistent, although Salem states guards would have been long gone by overtime if the reffs knew what a hand check was.  Three, Salem State is super athletic maybe the most in New England and they came to play, this is a good example of teams bringing their A+ game against Gordon.  Four, Downie is the real deal on offense, but he plays no defense until the last 5 minutes, I think so he doesn't foul out.  Five, I really believe Gordon is the better team and they will show it over the course of the year.

SIX, IT WAS A TWO.  I was five feet away, Finn was guarded by Trigg and he stepped inside the arc and tried to step back and shoot and his foot was on the line for a two.  And like Dwebbs said the reff three feet away called it a two, the reff on the far side of the court called it a two and the reff with the worst angle called it a three.  Salem celebrated and they flat out chickened out of making the call.  That being said, Salem had the momentum going in but Gordon still had a fair chance in overtime, even though its should have even got to that point. 

Seven, Butler held that ball out like a dirty diaper and Vogelzang tipped it out, he should have never let them see the ball, they should have had to wrap him up.  But the past is the past.  Gordon has one more game before the break this Thursday @ Husson.  Gordon is a much better team but Wenham to Bangor is a long bus ride, hopefully they take care of business and finish the first half 7-1.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The ECAC assigning refs is some of the problem.  Obviously d3 gets less quality and the CCC is pretty far down on the list.  The conference refs have gotten consistently worse since I began watching games back in '99.  The problem I've seen is not ability (we're going to get bad refs; there's nothing you can do about that) it's the inconsistency.  Players never know from one trip down the floor to the next what will be allowed and what will be called a  foul.  It's impossible to get in rhythm if you're always wondering what will be whistled.


As far as the poor refs at CSC go, none of you may have been around long enough to remember it, but this is karmic justice for all those years of hometown refs in New London.  There was a reason CSC has such a long home losing streak ending near the beginning of this decade; the refs there were always the same and unashamed about showing bias (there are some amazing stories from that time).  I assume it was because there weren't too many refs who lived nearby to get assigned there.  Now that the ECAC has fixed the problem, I'm not exacly full of sympathy for the Chargers.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

GC 70 Salem State 76.  We've heard about how Gordon actually won this game and I'm sure we'll debate the merits of entering the conference season with or without an undefeated record intact (I think having a loss will help the team focus better), but after seeing the stats it's amazing to me that GC was even alive at the end of regulation.  They were horribly outrebounded, their threes weren't falling and the took and made far fewer FTs than normal.  Basically, Salem State got them out of their game plan and GC still had enough to hang in there to the end.  That says volumes for this squad.  Marstaller had 13 and 12 with 5 blocks, Herr had 18, Logan had 13 with 6 assists and Kauffman had 10 with 6 assists.  They could have (and probably should have) come away with the win, but this was an overtime non-conference loss to a good opponent when the team wasn't playing all that well.  I think this well help the team considerably as they prepare to finish the season.

EC 64 Wheaton (MA) 67.  EC got a lot of good play from their bench, once again, but no one could (or wanted to) get to the free throw line and it absolutely killed them.  Wheaton shot 25-27 from the stripe and EC managed only 6-8.  They're still not rebounding well, but their three point shooting kept it close.  Corbett led with 13 and Marinkovic had 12.  Good minutes from Joey Burgos off the bench; he may be starting soon.

UNE 79 ME-Farmington 88.  This is a deceptive score.  UNE was down 18 at the half and scored most of their points against the Farmington bench.  Steve Belmonte continues his coming out party, leading UNE with 16 points and 8 assists.  Stickney went for 13 and 12, Selmer had 12 off the bench along with 5 assists and Floyd and Marriott had 11 a piece.  Nick Farynaz continues to struggle and underachieve.  He and RWU's Brandon Parrish are neck and neck for the "promising freshman who most tanked during his career" award.  UNE controlled the ball well, but they just couldn't shoot well enough to stay close.  Farmington is just a better team.

AMC 62 Bard 66.  Bard gets revenge for an earlier loss and claims their first win of the year.  Daigneault went for 12 and 13 for AMC.  Adam Garabedian had 13 and Quincy Nunnally had 12.  Porcaro played 30 minutes of this one, but managed only 5 points.  Dan Sadlowski had 7 assists.  They won the rebounding battle, but did commit 20 turnovers.  AMC was down nine at the half and improved their play, but not enough to pull it out.  Their matchups with ENC this season should be absolute barnburners!

WIT 57 RPI 78.  RPI pulled away with a big run in the second half and never looked back.  PB&J paced WIT with one of the greatest lines ever.  He scored 22 points without getting a single rebound, assist, block, steal or turnover.  Just amazing.  Todd Doyle left town again after that big game against Coast Guard, playing 30 meaningless minutes.  This was a futile effort.  Perhaps Coast Guard should feel bad about that loss the other day.  You never can tell what team will show up for Wentworth.

SRU 76 Connecticut College 70.  The CCC got a win over the NESCAC, so what if it's Conn College?  A win's a win.  These are the kinds of games Salve has dropped in the past, so it's a good way for them to go into the holiday break.  Woodworth paced the team with 17 points, Walsh had 12 and Goodridge, Desantis and Werth each had 10 points. Grendal had seven assists as he effectively passed out of double teams to shooters who were on fire, shooting 60% from the floor.  They allowed CC's best player, Stone to score at will and overcame his 37 with a team oriented attack.  Good show for SRU.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

UNE is at Southern Maine tomorrow, Castleton State travels to NEC on Wednesday and Gordon goes up to Husson on Thursday.  Then the CCC is off until January 2nd.

[Maq Diesel]

Gordon moves down but still gets 13 votes in this weeks top 25 voting.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Gordon survived the loss, still garnering 13 votes in the top 25 poll.

I was also made aware this weekend that Wentworth is currently homeless.  They are practicing at random gyms and playing only road games as their gym is being remodeled. Apparently they're playing scheduled home games at Suffolk for now.

[heythere]

Yea i noticed that wenworth has been playing all road games, i wonder what happen to the gym and when its going to be ready. that really stinks