MBB: Conference of New England

[uconn05]

I think he was referring to high flying 21's post.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hope the offseason has treated everyone well! Most of the league now has their rosters up and I've been able to do some digging with my ccc sources. I think this may be the weakest the league has been in a decade.

Without further ado. My picks.

10. UNE they sold their soul a few years ago and won the league with a lot of guys who were not there very long. Still feeling the effects. Fenner should be able to score some points but the Easters will be hurting.

9. WNEU They are now a university. That might be the highlight of the year. They don't bring back much and don't bring in much.

8.Nichols Ryan Sheehan returns from a pretty awful team. If they can get some contributions from newcomers they could make some noise.

7. Eastern Naz Ezigbo is healthy and Barbosa and Johnson are now very experienced, however John Flakes is not listed on the roster. If this is an eligibility situation and he returns at the break look for enc to move up.

6. Gordon No team will benefit from the smaller league more. They lost a solid inside scorer in Walker but return one in Dempsey. They also brought in some well regarded freshman. However their guard play was very bad last year and looks to be the same cast of characters this year.

5. RWU They return their big front line and a few shooters. Always something of a middle of the pack team. If they can get some solid perimeter scoring they could be ok.

4.Salve Regina The champs return Birrell and a lot of guys who won it last year in supporting roles. The loss of Hinkson and to a lesser degree Royce will hurt them. Sean Foster always has his guys playing hard.

3. Wentworth they lost the big man which will hurt them. They return all of their perimeter scoring and add a well regarded freshman from ct. Should be tough.

2. Curry last years they were picked to win the league and were hurt by injuries and personality issues. They have a lot of talent and some solid newcomers look for them to bounce back big.

1. Endicott should take a big step forward this year. Green should be the best player in the league. They didn't lose anyone and they brought in 3 big time recruits. I got the gulls.

Not a great year for the kid, I had 1 of the 2 teams out of the playoffs that were out:

I overestimated: Endicott, Curry, RWU, Gordon, ENC

I underestimated: WIT, Salve, Nichols, WNEU,

Not bad.  I don't think anyone expected Nichols' freshmen to contribute so much - and I'm not sure anyone anticipated Ezeigbo being as hobbled as he was - I didn't even know the extent of the injury until this past October.  Other than that, it was a good list - EC has the most talent, they just refuse to play defense or take care of the ball.

[high flyer 21]

Actually if you read my post it said "Can't blame a loss on the refs" regardless that the call was bad.  Secondly, as much of a Gordon fan as I am, the Dempsey POY thing shouldn't have been posted all over the place UNTIL maybe next season.  tcccfan2010 / gogordonhoops123 said Dempsey would get it last year as a sophomore when he ended up third-team.  This year he was a first-team selection, well-deservedly, but definately wasn't the POY.  Next year, he has about a 25% chance in my opinion.  Sheehan is the most likely candidate, and Lance Greene or Sedale Jones have a chance to steal it away as well.  Gordon's record will play a huge part.  Winning 11 games or 9 games in a season will not do the trick.  Dempsey showed how great of a player he can be last night (his two career highs 32 and 33 have both been in the TCCC tournament), but Gordon really needs to be a winning team next year for him to be POY.

That being said, Gordon and Dempsey's season is over so let's keep the conversation on the remainder of this tournament.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Nichols scored 60! points in the second half to nearly pull the big upset, falling just short 80-81.  Salve hit the rebounds hard, but neither Birrell or Sheehan had a great game (good, not great).

Salve will host the championship game Saturday.  WIT and EC are in a tight one right now.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Therriault is really putting the team on his back and Lance Green is answering.  WIT by 5 with 5 to go.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

EC up 2 with 2 to play.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Endicott at Salve

Given the past two games, I have to think EC is he favorite in this one.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Anthony Click just hit a clutch shot to give AMC an upset win. Even former ccc teams are representing tonight.

[uconn05]

I'm not going to hazard a guess as to who will win this game (pun intended) but I will say that this is sure to be a very entertaining game. The final score could be in the 80's as long as neither team is to anxious/nervous to start the game.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm not going to hazard a guess as to who will win this game (pun intended) but I will say that this is sure to be a very entertaining game. The final score could be in the 80's as long as neither team is to anxious/nervous to start the game.

I think the winning score is going to have to be over 75 for EC to win, right?  They've yet to show they keep another team from scoring.  Unless Salve just has a terrible shooting night, Endicott is going to have to run and score to win.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

EC has the game in hand for the moment.  Henault is shooting out of his mind, but a number of EC players are doing well.  Birrell is really the only Salve player able to get his own offense going.  Endicott is really playing well.  Something has finally clicked with this group - they're even playing mediocre defense.  Up 14 with 8 minutes to go.  They'd be up 25 if they could play defense.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

This Salve team is the most technically proficient CCC team I've ever seen.  That just isn't going to overcome Endicott's superior talent tonight.


EC by 20 with 5 to go.

[CCC Talk]

Congrats to Endicott, a crazy year in the league.

Not to backhanded compliment them, but can anyone remember a weaker CCC top to bottom? I mean this EC team would get absolutely rocked by any of the recent champs

[Gordonhoops123]

Congrats EC on the win. Good luck in the NCAA Tourney.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

EC's got the bodies and the talent to win a tourney game - they just have to improve that defense.  We saw a glimpse of potential in the championship game, but their opponent is absolutely going to be better than Salve.

I think they're likely to represent well.