MBB: Conference of New England

[broke_ya_ankles]

UNE  74
Endicott 62

[backboard]

Some real interesting stuff going on tonight in the CCC

[j.CCC]

im down right now off the loss, but i sincerely think that gordon just sucks.  they might have the most individual talent in the league maybe, but until they put it together, they are garbage.  my pick for the league now has to be from rwu, une, and curry...and we could just open that up to any team in the ccc not named gordon.

[broke_ya_ankles]

gordon certainly does have some of the top individual talent in the CCC although they arent real aggressive players.  Marstaller, Trigg, and Kaufman are 3 of the best basketball players in the conference, some might disagree but i know many will agree.   the thing is look around at the other top players in the CCC, Jones from curry- aggressive player, talented scorer really asserts himself and makes his presence known night in and night out, same thing with Prezzi-Blue from WIT, same thing from Jefferson and Simpson at UNE.  While the trio at Gordon is very talented, none of them really have a killer instinct.  Kaufman is a quintessential pass first point guard who is more than capable of scoring but he picks and chooses his spots to score TOO much, Trigg is only a soph and its tough to ask for him to be your teams "killer" when theres the senior class there that gordon has.  and marstaller, this kid should be dominating opponents, going around bigger guys and posting up the smaller ones.  he just lacks that killer instinct to do so.  none of them come down the court in the final 5 minutes of a close game and say "give me the damn ball" and perhaps thats how the coach asks them to play, but every championship team has a player or two that have that killer instinct that make sure games dont slip away in the final 5 minutes.   anyone of those 3 can go for 30 during any game they are that talented, but they are basically unselfish to a fault
just did some quick number crunching too...
Kuafman averages about 8 shots/gm
Marstaller averages about 10 shots/gm
Trigg averages about 11 shots/gm

now other teams, teams with similarly talented players on teams that are winning close contests...
Jefferson of UNE averages 15 shots a game
Prezzie-Blue of WIT averages 14 shots a game
Bowers of Curry averages 15 shots a game
Jones of Curry averages 15 shots a game

I know their is more talent top to bottom @ gordon than most of those teams but if they are going to equally distribute shots it needs to be something like Marstaller and Trigg taking 13+ apiece and Kaufman taking 11.  all 3 of those guys really need to get after it and take it on as a personal responsibility to want the ball and make things happen down the stretch

as for the rest of the CCC with the post season fast approaching- while RWU is leading the pack my personal pick to win the conference is Curry, I think Jones and Bowers are just too tough of a tandem complimenting each other inside and out, and Bowers can match up to Barangers height and really I think have an advantage in the head 2 head department.  RWU is winning but  it seems like almost every win they have is by 4 or 5 points with the exception of a couple (anna maria, new england college)  the feb 20 matchup with curry should give us a better idea of where the two teams stand/how they match up for a potential conference final

[scout]

broke_ya, i certainly agree that those players on gordon aren't as aggressive as many of the 'top' players in TCCC... however, i certainly think that they do what they do better than 90% of the conference... this gordon team was good enough to beat a nationally ranked plattsburgh state team in new york this january... and they did it the same way they are playing now... motion offense, man defense, and good bball IQ...

their inconsistency is quite astounding, however... and we'll have to see what the matchups will look like come tourney-time to see who is favored, etc...

speaking of tourney... here are the current standings through last night...

1. Roger Williams 9-1 13-9
2. Western New England 8-2 14-8
Curry 8-2 12-10
4. Gordon 7-3 15-7
Colby-Sawyer 7-3 12-8
University of New England 7-3 13-9
7. Wentworth 6-4 12-8
8. Endicott 5-5 9-13
9. Salve Regina 4-6 6-16

The top three are locks, and I would venture to say that RWU has all but solidified its top seed.

RWU has three games on the road to finish its season. The only challenge will be at Curry, where I think they could lose by 7 or 8. This would have them at 11-2 at the finish.

WNEC hosts Gordon then travels to CSC and Anna Maria. The Gordon and CSC games will be interesting. I find it hard to believe that Gordon will drop two straight, I think WNEC can secure a win against CSC and they should handle Anna Maria. This would place them at 10-3 to finish the season.

Curry has the most to gain, as well as the most to lose of those teams at the top. They travel to WIT, then host RWU and Endicott. I think they can certainly win all three, especially against an inconsistent WIT. So, I think they'll finish 11-2, but a loss to RWU wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Gordon travels to WNEC and UNE before hosting Salve to end the season. I think Gordon will bounce back to beat WNEC, and will lock up at win against Salve. The UNE game is a trap game for them. I wouldn't be surprised with a loss there, putting them at 9-4 to end the season. (Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they took all three games either)

CSC has played well at home all year. Unfortunately, they only have one home game left, and its against a good WNEC team. I think they take a road game against UNE, and finish with two straight losses to WIT and WNEC. This would put them at 8-5 to finish the season.

UNE is another team with a lot to gain as the season closes. I could see them taking two close games at home against CSC and Gordon, and go to Nichols with too much momentum to lose. This would leave them at 10-3, a surprise for a lot of us. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they lost all three. They're just that kind of team.

WIT has a non-conference tuneup at Newbury before hosting their final three games. Curry could come in and beat them in the first game, but then I think WIT comes back with two wins to finish 8-5.

Endicott needs to win their final three games. I don't think they will. They should take Salve and NEC at home, but I think Curry will handle them in the last game. This would put them at 7-6 to finish.

Salve is on the very bubble, but I think it's asking too much for them to make it in. I think they'll win their home game against ENC, but their two road games against Endicott and Gordon will be too much. This will place them at 5-8 to finish.

With these projections, you have the following as the final standings:

1. Curry 11-2
2. Roger Williams 11-2
3. Western New England 10-3
4. University of New England 10-3
5. Gordon 9-4
6. Colby-Sawyer 8-5
7. Wentworth 8-5
8. Endicott 7-6
9. Salve Regina 5-8

Now, please don't go too crazy with all of this. As we ALL know, I will be wrong in many of these instances, because that's just how these things go...

But these are my first projections... I'll probably do one or two more based on how things go...

The shop is open for dialogue... Let's have at it...

[bballfan55]

Big win for Curry at home against Salve! They were down 33 to 11 early in the first half and benched Jones for playing absolutely no defense.  Jones showing what a class act he is, sat at the end of the bench and did not participate in any team huddle. He did not play the rest of the game and totaled only 7 minutes.  What an effort from Curry's bench to come back from a huge deficit and steal a victory without the help of Jones.  He is a tremendous offensive player but his attitude and laziness is evident in almost every game he plays.  Thier team defense was tremendous the minute he was taken out of the game.

[witfan]

Key win for WIT last night.  Too bad weather prevented much fan travel, love those live stats!  PB remains my POY vote (if I had a vote).  Some good team D down the stretch clinched to the W.  If this team plays 40 minutes of focused D like that...repeat.

From my chair it appears that the top 7 places are virtually sealed, pairings TBD.

And the question of #8 will likely be settled later this week when Endicott plays Salve Regina.  I think that after that game E & SR split their respective last 2, 1W & 1L each, with E losing to Curry away, and SR losing to Gordon.

In that scenario SR is in a must-win when they match up with Endicott.  An SR win makes a tie for the 8th spot possible (probable).  Note: Endicott has lost 3 straight to TCCC contenders.

How does TCCC manage an 8th spot tie?

[broke_ya_ankles]

99% of the time it comes down to head to head regular season results making the EC/Salve game that much more important

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Having a true round robin this year makes the tie-breakers infinitely easier than they have been during the dreaded "division period."

Head to heads will determine unless there is a three way tie in which every team is 1-1 against the others.  Then we'll have to check the books.

I'll wait until next week or perhaps in the event it happens to go digging.

[jamiejohn]

The EC vs Salve game will be huge this weekend, if salve gets this one it will but them on the right track for that eight spot

[Put_It_On_My_Tab]

With his leading performance on Saturday vs. Endicott (23 points, 4 rebs, 8 assists)...Jaykyri Simpson of UNE has booked himself as a sure bet for 1st Team All-Conference and has to be considered as POY and Defensive Player of the Year as well.  He is a lock down defender who changes the pace of the game just by being energetic and aggressive.

I prefer tabradors over bulldogs.

[scout]

how about we all just agree that every team in the top eight has at least one player that could be POTY....

no one has stepped up and had such an amazing season that a majority of fans of TCCC can agree on any one candidate...

[Put_It_On_My_Tab]

What fun is that? 

Nobody from Endicott could be considered. Sorry.

Prezzie-Blue, Barranger, Bowers, Jones(questionable), Szeliga, Simpson...that's where it stops.

Michigan's Tab Five

[broke_ya_ankles]

Id say theres at least a 99% chance the POY comes from one of these 4:
Prezzie-Blue  (Wentworth)
19.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.1 apg

Jones (Curry)
21.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.05 apg

Bowers (Curry)
17.6 pgg, 9.6 rpg, 1.90 apg

Simpson (UNE)
16.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 5.05 apg

-I honestly think Prezzie-Blue is out of the race at this point, his only hope of staying in is to go off in the final few games of the season, if he wasnt the reigning POY I'm not sure he's at all in the running right now

-If UNE can win 2 of their final 3 and finish the season 9-4 in conference play Simpsons got a real good shot (assuming he at LEAST continues the production hes had to this point in the season)  What he has done to turn UNE around with the individual production he gives it would be hard to count him out

-If Curry wins out I think its a lock that the POY is from Curry, whether it be Jones or Bowers is up in the air really.  Jones is certainly the more widely known household name as he's been a consistent name amongst the CCC greats for a couple years now.  Bowers though has really been a beast and with Jones having his self implode moments recently its opened the door for Bowers to come in and grab the honor

I'd break it down like this:
Bowers-35% chance
Jones-30% chance
Simpson 30% chance
Prezzie-Blue 5% chance

[backboard]

That's a pretty good breakdown, but I feel that POY won't come from Curry simply because they have two candidates that will take away votes from each other.  Doesn't mean either guy won't win it.  Simpson has been a nice addition to the league this year and has certainly lead his team to where they are now.  Then there's Prezzie-Blue; no player does more to his team than this guy.  Without him they would struggle to get through the conference.  All that being said, no clear choice for POY yet.  We'll obviously know more by next Saturday.