MBB: Conference of New England

[24/7/365]

I'm not sure Wynn said anything to his guys at half b/c they still found themselves down by as many as 24 in the 2nd.  Rather I think their manly hood was being challenged, and a team, of CC's capability, can not allow themselves to be railroaded. 

Bartelle's three being the changing point in the game... puh-lease.  The run had already been initiated by both Prescod and Lamb.  Bartelle's three's were counter acted on the other side as Kaufman hit two right after Bartelle let his two fly.  After watching him play, it's fair to say that organized basketball is a struggle for him.  I can definitely see him thriving in a one on one style atmosphere, not a team oriented environment.  That's probley why he comes off the bench too.

[broke_ya_ankles]

a little side note for anyone who cares....

Andrew St. Clair is currently at 1,978 career points (if my calculations are correct) making him 22 points away from a milestone few reach in college basketball and thats 2,000 points.  If he can pretty much hold true to his average and play a big game @ SRU tuesday that could be the night....

[roy_williams]

yah, st.clair is a man child. the 207 represent. 2,000 is quite a feat. it means you were really good for a long time. very consistent--basically all you can ask for in a player--to be consistent. and when you get the rare breed who is consistently dominant, bravo. pat, this better warrant front page on the site. i know it's play-off time, but c'mon. also how many career boards does st.clair have and where does this put him among the CCC greats?

fyi, matty george was lights out yesterday and that makes two back two back solid games. my opinion, but the only chance EC has of winning is for Matt to step up and play like a CCC POY. don't know if the gulls fans put down their pap's long enough to read the sunday paper, but this is great news for them to see Matt stepping up leading into the tourney.

[24/7/365]

I want to give a little Nostradamos insight into Tuesdays games.  So if you will bare with me here as I try.

I think the team that can cause fits for their opposition, is a team that is rolling right now.  SRU is on a 9 game winning streak, second to only GC's 17.  In that time they have railroaded both CC and RWU.  Coute and Grendal are doing a great job with the inside/outside ball movement, and the roll players are showing up too.  Even though CSC seems to be hitting their stride at the right time, that drive to RI, to face a scorching hot SRU team, should not be over looked.  I smell a 1st round upset, even though SRU is #2.

RWU is at home against WIT.  I don't really care too much about stats or season schedule.  If RWU just plays their game, I believe their talent alone should allow them to coast to a 1st round W.  Even though WIT only lost by 5 at RWU a few weeks ago, RWU is getting great production from Barranger, while Cormier and the other Hawks are chipping in where they can as of late.  It might be a good game, but RWU will win no matter what the game flow is.

EC hosts CC.  This should be the main focus of the 1st round.  Just a few days ago CC went into the Post Center and stole a very valuable game from EC.  Roy is right in saying the EC will go as far as Matty George takes them, but it seems as though he shys away from the big games.  Or until EC finds themselves down by a considerable amount.  If George shows up, with Nemanja getting a double-double, Ellis stroken' the 3 and Corbett chipping in where he can, I think EC might be able to get a win on their own floor.  CC on the other hand, needs to play like a freakn' team.  I agree with many coaches in saying that CC has the best players in the league, they just suck as a team.  If these individuals can some how become one unit, they should blow through the playoffs and make noise in the tourney.  But if the CC team shows up that show'd up at GC Saturday... well, it'll be EC by 20+.  But if the good CC team comes through, we're lookn' at EC goin' 0-2 against CC on their home court this year.

Lastly GC welcomes NC to the Pit.  While many will shrug this game off as an automatic GC victory, let us remember that GC has never, ever, ever, ever, ever, won in the playoffs before.  I am with the masses in saying that they will win come Tuesday, but NC is more than capable of spoiling the celebration.  If the 3 amigos for NC (Lewis, Butler and Vallee) can play big, real big, on Tuesday, they can make that 3 point loss at their place look like anything but a fluke.  GC will have to counter with their phenomenal Soph. in Kaufman and Marstaller, with Logan and Vogelzang stepping up defensively.  But even if NC shows up, I still for see a GC walk away win.  And then I for see massive amounts of non-alcoholic champagne being popped.

Lastly the power ball numbers tonight are 7-10-46-55-83.

[GC Oldtimer]

Greetings all, I am new to the board so please go easy on me.  I had to chime in as I keep reading stuff I don't understand.  What is this about GC never ever ever ever ever winning a playoff game before?  I was the statistician and official scorer for GC between 1987 and 1993 (I believe, if memory serves me correctly, GC joined the CCC in 1990) and I remember GC winning plenty of CCC playoff games.  In fact, during the early '90s when Anna Maria was the team to beat, it was typically GC who they were beating in the finals.  I remember scoring several GC playoff wins, even some at HOME too (I can remember us beating Salve at home for instance and others as well.).  I think in our first year in the conference we were regular season champs.  Anyway, it was a while ago, perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me.

[broke_ya_ankles]

Roy-

as far as st clairs boards, he currently stands at 965 (again assuming my calculations arent off, and i triple checked myself)
that means hes only 35 boards away from 1,000 rebounds another very impressive feat....

[roy_williams]

wow. i am definately going to be rooting for the Saint to haul down 35 against Salve. 2,000-1,000 is Criag Smith esque. I think St Clair has been a bit snakebitten this season in the fact that it has been somewhat of a letdown year for CSC. they were expected to contend regionally (if not outside chance at somewhat nationally) but even with a CCC crown true fans would agree it has been a letdown year. Not the fault of St. Clair obviously as he has done what he does. i feel that his greatness, and more importantly his longevity, have been overshadowed a bit by the subpar season the team is having. he also isn't the most flamboyant player. basically my point is that while now he isn't recieving all the "pub" he deserves, 5-10 years down the road i think history will truly look back on him as one of the greatest to play in CCC, if not the new england region.

[dwebbs]

Nichols did play GC well at home, losing by only three (five if you wave off the lay-up GC allowed with time running out), but I think Tuesday night's game is going to be different.

Nichols did have good inside scoring, but Gordon had one of their worst game shooting. They were out shot 34% to 42%, and still managed to win.

On the year, GC is averaging 51 FG% and a win margin of 14 points at home. And yes, this is the playoffs, and it's different because of the pressure. But in the pressure games this year vs. SRU, CSC, RWU, EC, and CC, GC is averaging 51 FG% and a win margin of 10 points at the Bennet Center.

Not to say that Nichols won't show up, by GC's home court should give them a definite advantage Tuesday, as well as the rest of their run in the CCC playoffs.

And lastly, what do you guys think for All Conference team? Hoops said already he thinks NC's Lewis deserves a look. Any other  input?

[Pat Coleman]

yah, st.clair is a man child. the 207 represent. 2,000 is quite a feat. it means you were really good for a long time. very consistent--basically all you can ask for in a player--to be consistent. and when you get the rare breed who is consistently dominant, bravo. pat, this better warrant front page on the site. i know it's play-off time, but c'mon. also how many career boards does st.clair have and where does this put him among the CCC greats?

Every 2,000-point scorer makes the front page, assuming the school tells us about it and has a photo available.

[john]

st.clair stats are.........1978 points.799 goals,377 free throws,135 blocks,202 steals,965 rebounds

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Oldtimer, I think they were reffering to this current GC team; none of the players have ever won a playoff game.  I'm not even sure if that's true (I didn't check), but that was a reference.

St. Clair has had one heck of a career.  I've been keeping those pts and rebounds counts up to date and 1978 and 965 is where I have them too.  He's already the CSC career leader in blocks and steals (even beating out Bray for that last one).  I have to say he's the most talented player I've ever seen in the CCC.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Over the weekend:

CSC 85 ENC 70.  I was hoping St. Clair would go for like 25 boards, to get him back on pace for 1,000, but it was not to be.  He finished with 21 and 7, Thorpe continues to come on strong with a 26 and 9 performance, Butterworth had 17 and Bray had 11 on Senior Night.  For ENC, four players made double figures with Corey's 17 leading the way.  Jasmin had 13 and Seaberg and Jean-Noel each had 12.  ENC shot well, but CSC shot better, hit the boards and had 15 steals.  CSC got out to a comfortable lead and just held serve the rest of the way.  They are playing their best ball of the year right now.

EC 82 RWU 71.  Barrenger led the way for RWU with 16, showing that Marinkovic still has a ways to go in terms of defense against big post players.  Wooley had 14 and Cormier had 11.  EC was led by 29 from George, 13 from Corbett and 11 from Marinkovic.  EC rebounded like crazy and shot really well, but their defense was a bit off and they missed FTs.  Both teams had more than 20 turnovers.  Ouch.

GC 67 CC 60.  19 from Lamb, 13 from Mohrin, 12 from Prescod and Bartelle got shut down.  Herr had 17 for Gordon, 16 from Kauffman, and 12 from Marstaller.  Gordon had 18 assists as a team, which bodes well for their team play and ball movement.  I think Curry put on a fine show, once they found the rim and it was a good, solid game to close out GC's Senior Night.

SRU 68 NEC 55.  NEC needed this one, but they couldn't pull it off.  I could not find a box score anywhere, but I'll assume SRU dominated on the boards and put NEC away early.

UNE 80 NC 76 (2OT).  UNE finished the year strong, but they needed one more win to make the playoffs and they ran out of games.  Lewis was shut down pretty well, which is the obvious reason UNE was able to win.  NC got 26 from Vallee and 11 and 10 with 5 assists from Butler in his last game; another guy with a great career, but much less exposure and team success to show for it.  They also got 15 from Sturdhal.  Regis scored 24 for UNE, Stickney had 13 and 11, 10 and 10 from Button and 10 from Oliver.  Good performance from UNE, it's almost like they had something to play for.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Final Standings

North
1. Gordon 15-1
2. Endicott 13-3
3. Colby-Saywer 13-3
4. Wentworth 5-11
5. NEC 5-11
6. UNE 5-11

South
1. Roger Williams 11-5
2. Salve Regina 10-6
3. Curry 10-6
4. Nichols 6-10
5. ENC 3-13
6. AMC 0-16

It's been a while since a team went winless in the CCC.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

WIT @ RWU

vs

CC @ EC


and


NC @ GC

vs

CSC @ SRU

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It stinks that Gordon and Colby-Sawyer ended up on the same side of the bracket, because they really seem like the two best teams right now.  In my mind, Salve is probably #3 and they are there as well.  For CSC to make it out of the tournament they are going to have to beat, probably the three best teams (besides themselves) on the road.  A tough course.  Ironically, RWU has the easiest path, but they seem like the top seed most likely to lose early.  It should be a fun week.