MBB: Conference of New England

[24/7/365]

Convincing is one way to describe CSC's win, Throttle-fest and Automic Bomb also come to mind.  EC has just fallen lately and no one seems to know why.  CSC is finally hitting stride at the perfect time.  This makes Saturday quite interesting for both these squads.  I LOVE CCC BASKETBALL!

[roy_williams]

the bubbly is pouring out the glasses down at 255 grapevine! just a remarkable, huge accomplishment for the Scots program. Coach Schauer, his staff, the players....its simply amazing. i don't know about Bruce Pearl but Coach Schauer has my vote for NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR. NAY, COACH OF THE MILLENIUM. HA! that being said, obviously nothing besides a regular season crown has been captured and the most important basketball is yet to come. much work left for the Scots, but exciting times, indeed!

also, i will wait until hoops crosses the t's and dots the i's, but according to some calculations the loss by CC to RWU will make the #3 seed in the North have to travel to Curry for a 1st round game? If so, that is tough. i mean you can never tell which Curry team will show up....but they have proven when they are right (big if) they are top of the CCC and can beat EC and they beat CSC last year so in New London in the second season. So, EC's last game is huge as they need a win to stave off a 1st round road game (3 seed)

i'll wait until more reports come in from New London...but all i can say is whaaaaaa happend? 

[dwebbs]

Actually, the Curry/GC game does have significance now, but for Curry.
If they lose to GC and Salve stays hot against NEC, then that puts both teams with 6 division losses. And since they split their head to head, the tie breaker comes down to CC is 0-2 against RWU and Salve is 1-1, so Curry could be going on the road the first round to either Endicott or Colby Sawyer.

[24/7/365]

When do awards begin being handed out? 

I believe that the EC team we have seen as of late, is the EC team we were all expecting to see at the beginning of the year.  This EC team is desperately trying to keep their heads above water, and are doing a miserable job at that.  It appeared as though EC was unbeatable at home, it was their sanctuary.  But now with CC having gone in there and stolen one, and having WIT keeping them honest Tuesday, it's clear that EC has become vulnerable on the home front.  While they were only down by 5 at half yesterday, to be out scored by 18 in the 2nd is just jaw-dropping.  Yes it is difficult to win at CSC, but difficult turned into Mission Impossible yesterday.  RWU comes to Beverly tomorrow fresh off a quasi-upset of the streaking Colonels from CC, and this game has all the makings for a good game.  Both teams have many things at stake, but EC is playing for more than their playoff seed, they are playing for pride.  Since their 7 game winning streak in early January, the Gulls have gone 4-4, with the possibility of being 2-6 during that stretch.  Things need to change for EC if they are going to try and get that elusive 3-peat.

As far as the South Division goes, RWU clinched 1st with their win last night.  Standing at 10-4 in the conference, whether the win or lose tomorrow, they still hold the tie breaker against CC, even if CC is to win tomorrow and RWU loses.  If CC loses at Wenham and SRU wins against NEC, as dwebbs said, SRU holds the tie breaker by being 1-1 against 1st place RWU.  That then throws CC from a home court spot, all the way to 3rd place and traveling to either New London, or Beverly.  No matter what happens NC is still locked in at the 4th position, and they will be making the trek to GC on Tuesday night.

In the North GC controlled their destiny and held off a good WIT team last night to remain the 1st place team in the North, giving them homecourt advantage through out the entire playoffs.  If EC is to lose against RWU tomorrow, and CSC wins against ENC (which they will), CSC gets the #2 seed.  If EC wins however, it doesn't matter what CSC does because EC has the better record against GC at 1-1, thus giving EC #2 and CSC must travel as the #3 to SRU or CC.  I'm not sure, but I think WIT, NEC and UNE all stand at (4-12) in the conference, I think they have all beaten each other, so this makes for some interesting ties break scenarios.  But this will probley be thinned out more come Saturday.

Do you guys hear that, yup, I think it is... it's the playoffs baby, and they're right around the corner!
   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

CSC 75 EC 52.  Well my prediction that Colby-Sawyer would get it together and run through the tournament and make the NCAAs is looking a lot stronger right now.  Not even I expected this kind of game though.  EC is just struggling.  I think a lot of it may be the new coach.  He got his team to play out of their minds in the middle of the season, but the whole system is just too knew for them to peak like the rest of the teams at this time of year.  They have the talent to still win, so we can't count them out yet.  St. Clair had 20 and Thorpe had 19.  I think its also taken a while for Thorpe to get back on form.  With two dominant big men again this year, CSC is looking very formidable.  I can't wait to see the rematch with Gordon.  Spanos had 12 off the bench for CSC as well.  George had 16 and Marinkovic had 12 fro EC.  24 turnovers killed Endicott; they have been coughing it up a lot lately.  They also didn't get to the line and couldn't hit their threes.  It seems like they were knocked off their game plan a little and never recovered.

GC 74 WIT 64.  Weonard Bynes got the start for WIT and went for 25 and 12.  I'm not sure where this freshman came from, but another good future start for WIT.  If they can keep these guys together, they've got a great core.  PB & J had 12 points.  GC was led by 22 from Kauffman and 21 from Herr; Vogelzang put in ten.  GC went 18-21 from the line and 8-16 from deep... ballgame.  GC got the ten point lead and just held it there the rest of the night.  Solid performance.  They are doing what they have to do to get to the NCAAs.  At this point, if they can beat Nichols in the first round of the conference tourney, I think they have their spot locked up.

RWU 76 CC 73.  I never would have expected this one.  Lamb went off for 35 and 7, absuing the young bigs for RWU, but he doesn't seem to have done much on defense as Baranger went for 24 and 12 of his own for RWU.  Bartelle and Prescod each had 12 for Curry.  Cormier had 15 (so he decided to show up for playoff time; that's nice of him) and Barrett had 13 for RWU.  Parrish ran the show with 9 points, 8 boards and 7 assists.  This team might actually be coming together and showing signs of who we thought they'd be early on.  They get the #1 seed and a much easier first round match-up.  RWU won the game on 9-19 shooting from deep.  Maybe we'll be lucky and Coach will come on to tell us his thoughts on why Curry let this one go.  Also, I'll be interested to know whether Tim Jones is taking a redshirt year or not.

UNE 73, NEC 66 (OT).  UNE taking delight in making it tough for NEC to clinch a playoff spot.  I'll run through the options in a moment.  Quinn had 20, Montrod 18, Jaziri 12 and Sylvia went for 10 and 11, but NEC is struggling hard without Onyechi and UNE ate up the boards.  Tom Button went for 18 and 18!! with Stickney adding 12 and 15!!  McManus got hot and put in 22, while Oliver got 10 points of hiw own.  If UNE had gotten this hot one game earlier, they would have had a shot at the playoffs.  REbounding made the difference, not much else to say there.

ENC 87 AMC 68.  No stats.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

They hand out awards at the conference tourney finals, but I think voting is done after the last regular season game on Saturday.  Schauer is going to win coach of the year hands down.  I'm pretty sure St. Clair will win POY.  ROY is a toss-up, but it will probably go to Doyle (although I think Largesse and Montrod deserve consideration).

Playoff Outlook:

North
1. Gordon
2. Endicott (with a win or a CSC loss)
3. Colby-Sawyer (unless they win and EC loses)
4. NEC with a win or WIT if NEC loses

South
1. Roger Williams
2. Curry (with a win or a SRU loss)
3. Salve (unless they win and CC loses)
4. Nichols

[roy_williams]

wow. can WIT have more diaper dandies please??

i would like to give some dap to the RWU team and their coaching staff. to clinch the #1 seed in the south is quite impressive. many of us had written them off after the Gumb injury. And, from all indications, losing Gumb would be like a GC losing a Mike Herr or Endicott losing a Matty George. He might not have been as talented as Mike or Matt, but he was just as much an intergal part of his team as Herr and George are to GC and EC, respectively. So i'm impressed. i'm not saying they didn't feast of some bottom feeders of the South, but they did what they needed to do (sweeping Curry) and while their 10-4 might be a bit soft, it is still 10-4. Congrats.

i think this could be the most wide open tourney in a few years. we have a few teams (EC and CC) who you never know which team will show up, but when they bring their best they are very tough to beat. A veteran CSC team who is somewhat peaking (although beat badly by GC twice this season) and GC who is by far the best team (and hottest) right now, but no one on the roster has ever won a play-off game. Even this year I think a Salve or RWU (i know #1 but still i think) are darkhorses this year and could really challenge at least to the championship game where in one game anything can happen. I think its more a case of the North being down than it is the South being more balanced, but for the 1st time i can see the top six 6 seeds each having a legitmate claim to think they can win the CCC.

should make for an exciting second season.

[boston ball 56]

Hoops, We threw the ball away and when that did not work after being up 13 pts with 6 minutes to play we threw the ball away more. Try and try again and eventually you will succeed. Oh I forgot we were suppose to win the game. I must of gave them the wrong game plan. Well it's not my first mistake that I've made this year and the way things are going we want have many more games to play.(smile) Yes there is the good news of having Tim Jones for two more years. I would of rather had him this year with Raheim and Mike. Those two guys deserved better than what we were able to provide so far. I will never make predictions but if we are playing next week at this time that would not surprise me. All season long we have had the ability to do better however there remains two sides to the Curry coin if we are not playing next week at this time I would not be surprised by that either. Thanks for asking for my input after a game like last night this is therapy. I need it!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Thanks for giving us the update, coach.  Now you just have to figure out what to do on saturday.  Do you want to win and host CSC (probably) or lose and go to Endicott.  It's a tough one.  Although, RWU could beat EC and switch everything around.

[boston ball 56]

We want to win and host. Winning has always been the plan, we have the best chance on our home floor to extend the season. So it will be to our benifit to give GC a lost on thier home court. See how easy things are for us? What are our chances? Please don't answer that let a dying man have hope. I am going to pray and fast now up until game time. Have a good day. Coach

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think you gotta get those big boys to hit the boards.  I have been quite unimpressed with your teams rebounding this year.  It seems like you guys always let weaker post guys put up numbers, when Lamb is perfectly capable of shutting a lot of those guys down.  You have enough offensive options that Lamb might not need to score 35, especially if he's putting in extra effort on the other end of the court.  It just seems crazy that you rarely have anyone at more than 6 or 7 rebounds.  Just my take on things; take it for what you will.

[akirk]

Congrats to GC and RWU! 

I still don't think GC has put together a complete game (at least one that I have seen).  Hopefully they will be able to step it up a little more for the playoffs and the NCAA tournament.

[boston ball 56]

That has been a major problem for us all year. It's hard to answer the question of why we do not rebound better as a team or as individuals without it sounding like an excuse. I will start with Raheim you really have to come and see him play he NEVER takes any time off or gives less than a 100% effort. At times he makes things look easy but that is different then what people say. We are preceived to be very talented however talent and skill are two different things. Rebounding is a skill more so then a talent you have to be very fundamentaly sound and have the desire to go get the ball. we do more rebounding drills than most college or high school programs to no avail. Yes some players do have a nose for the ball so to speak they are the exceptions. Then you have a guy that is always triple team to do what he does is remarkable. The price we pay for that is if he misses chances are he will not get the rebound. He has not miss much as well. You would think that if three guys are on him we should be able to slip someone in for loose balls,rebounds etc. That has just not happen. Why? I think some players have gotten discouraged not getting the rebound and getting beat down the floor for an easy basket they start to play it safe and just hang back and watch. Some others get hit with ticky tac fouls and become shy. Whatever the reason you can believe those things will be addressed via the up comming recruitment class. Last night with the game on the line Marvin Lamarre goes up and blocks a shot 3 feet away from the basket great play. Two officials started running down the other way to get in position as we advanced the ball,whistle blows by Ken Marshall goal tending. Curry down two. Steve Prescod blows by his man lays ball in over rim Geoff B. slides over and under the hoop foul called by Ken Marshall. Offensive Curry down two. I wish not rebounding better was my only problem. We will get better there one way or the other Ken Marshall in big RWU games as a ref. Is something that I have to live with ............. priceless

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm sure there are a lot of things to improve on, the rebounding was one that suprised me, with all those athletic guys.  I guess you really can't teach guys to rebound during a season anyway, but it might be something to have them work on over the summer.

[dwebbs]

I know I posted saying the CC/GC game this Saturday was still important for Curry, but it is actually more than a formality for Gordon as well. With the NESCAC going to have two teams in the tournament hands down (the division winner and another team), Gordon, with a win against Curry and a win Tuesday vs. Nichols, will push their QOWI ahead of the second team making the tournament out of the NESCAC, and should assure their spot in the tourney, even if they don't win the CCC.

So for Gordon to overlook the last game of the season because they already got #1 throughout, would be to shot themselves in the foot for the tournament should they not win the CCC.