MBB: Conference of New England

[Maq Diesel]

I somewhat agree on Nichols I think they are going to be better than fourth in the South that being said.  They have two good players Justin Lewis and Chris Valee both 6'3"-6'4" and no point guard.  So while they looked good last year there are some question marks surrounding that team.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

As far as Nichols goes, Baskerville is still on the roster and although he's listed as a G/F, he is a very capable ball-handler and one of their leading assist men.  Ron Powers is a good post player as well.  If he continues to develop they will be competitive.  However, they will have to improve to finish higher than 4th because the three teams above them all got better.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The Spaulding trio at CSC comes highly touted.  There were several newspaper stories about them when they made their committments to CSC.  I'm not sure exactly how much they will figure into the line-up this year, but they should all see at least good bench minutes and will be ready to take over a lot of leadership next season.

[gullfan]

Hey hoops Fan,
  You seem to be the most informed out there. How about a scouting report on my Gulls. Everybody knows about Marinkovic. He's been there and is well documented.
What can we expect from the rest?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I've done some random reviews and such as schedules and rosters have been made available, so there might be more detail if you want to scroll back through the pages.


However, as far as EC goes, it seems like a crap shoot this year.  I would have had a ton more confidence in them if Evans hadn't gotten hurt.  They are going into this year with essentially one go-to player (Marinkovic) who has excelled in every game, with the exception of those against Gordon.

They've got an absolutely killer schedule in the non-conference, opening with RIC and then (if they even get by RIC, which will be an upset) Tufts.  They also have Keene, MIT, Bates, WPI, Wheaton (MA) and Bridgewater before Christmas.

That would have been a gauntlet last year and this team is certainly down from last year.  Corbett and Burton provide some experience on the floor, but honestly we don't yet know how they will respond when they are relied upon to carry the team.  Mike Sullivan is a big dude, but he's never shown me much.

The upside is Millette's recruiting.  He's going to bring guys in who can play, but I'm afraid this may be the down year in between systems and styles of play.  I think Brandon Diaz has a lot of potential at the point, which could go far in solidifying the team, but there are way, way more questions than answers.

Bottom line:  they are (or should be) plenty good enough to make the playoffs without much trouble, probably third place in my estimation.  They don't have any sort of realistic shot to challenge for a title unless Millette becomes a miracle worker (or these freshman are much better than advertised).

[Maq Diesel]

NEC has their roster up.  I really don't know enough about that team to comment but what we all expected has been confirmed.  Also Gordon has a preseason preview up on their web site and the just launched a new itunes site, www.itunes.gordon.edu  On the site under Gordon Athletics you will find a coaches show and a hilight film from last year.  Look for more updates throughout the season but should be a nice little addition.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

My source was right, no Montrod, no Onyechi.  We'll see if they show up anywhere after the holidays.  Sylvia, Quinn and Jaziri are all solid players, but not enough to win.  Unless their freshmen class is stacked, they will be fighting for the 5th spot up North with UNE.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Alright, games begin tonight.  Here's this weekend's line-up:

Friday
AMC vs Bard at Rivier
CSC vs Springfield at Brandeis
CC vs Baldwin-Wallace at Alvernia
ENC at Keene State
EC vs Rhode Island College at Tufts
GC hosts Mt Ida
NEC hosts Maine-Presque Isle
NC vs Worcester State at Becker
RWU hosts Maine-Fort Kent
SRU vs Maine-Machais at Bridgewater State
UNE vs Norwich at Hamilton
WIT vs William Patterson at Drew

Saturday
AMC vs Rivier or Johnson State at Rivier
CSC vs Brandeis or Newbury at Brandeis
CC vs Alvernia or Rutgers-Camden at Alvernia
ENC vs Marymount or Lesley at Keene State
EC vs Tufts or Lasell at Tufts
GC hosts MIT or Middlebury
NEC hosts Framingham State or Medgar Evers
NC vs Becker or WPI at Becker
RWU hosts Bowdoin or Salem State
SRU vs Bridgewater State or St. Joseph's (ME) at Bridgewater State
UNE vs Hamilton or Hartwick at Hamilton
WIT vs Drew or Hunter at Drew

[gullfan]

Gulls got hammered tonight. Way too generous - gave the ball away like crazy. Had to be 30 turnovers!!!!!! Rhode Island didn't impress, even with the bad play of Endicott. Lots of new faces - hope they get it together. My boys need to bounce back!!!!!!!

[CCC Fan]

CSC lost to Springfield 77-53. 

--Andrew Cousins: 14 pts.
--Andrew Tracy (Freshman): 6 pts and 10 rebounds

Chargers have Newbury today. 

[CCC Fan]

Here are some more CCC scores:

Rhode Island College 73 - Endicott 59   
Norwich 76 - UNE 59
Baldwin-Wallace 110 - Curry 70
William Paterson 84 - Wentworth Tech 69
Salve Regina 81 – Maine-Machias 61     
Keene State 103 - Eastern Nazarene 65 
Springfield 77 - Colby-Sawyer 53
Gordon 89 - Mount Ida 72
Nichols 91 - Worcester State 65     
Anna Maria 72 - Bard 56     

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

AMC over Bard 72-56.  I can't find stats anywhere on this one.

CSC goes down to Springfield 53-77.  I'll chalk this one up to new faces and new roles.  Not that they should have beaten Springfield, but you have to expect them to take some time to adjust to new personnel.  CSC shot only 25% for the game and allowed Springfield to shoot nearly 40%.  I like the well-rounded scoring from CSC; once they figure out their chemistry issues, they should be a team that will make you work.  Andrew Tracy had 10 boards, Andrew Cousins had 14 points.

Curry loses to Baldwin Wallace 70-110.  Both teams like to run and Baldwin-Wallace is a top 30 team in the country, so this is a rough way to start.  They seemed to have trouble down low with all-american Tori Davis and were totally out-rebounded.  One bright spot for Curry: they shot very well from three.  They had only 10 assists however and played virtually no defense.  They were led by the two transfers in scoring (Williams with 20 and Brittain with 16) Prescod put in 14 points and Brittain got a tech.  Tim Jones didn't play for some reason and neither did Bowers.  They lacked an inside presence that Bowers (and possibly Onyechi after the break) will provide.  Anyone know why Tim Jones didn't play?  I'm interested to see what happens with this.  I sure hope he's not injured again.

ENC got spanked by Keene State 65-103.  I guess the new coach has them running alright, but he's yet to have them play defense.  Keene emptied their whole bench and extended the lead.  Either this Keene team is much better than expected or ENC is even worse than last year.  Jasmin had 21 on 10-11 shooting, a very good showing for him.  Duda had 14.  ENC shot well, but they were dominated on the boards and allowed Keene to take twice as many shots.  There is no way you can win in that situation.

EC got beat by RIC 59-73, but were able to force RIC to keep their starters on the floor.  It certainly wasn't a blow-out and a decent first game for another team looking for new chemistry.  They struggled from the line and committed 30 turnovers, but they played hard.  Burton and Burgos each had 14, Sullivan had 12 and Marinkovic had 10, mostly on FTs.  It appears that RIC keyed on Nemanja and the other players were unable to step up.  I think if they can get the turnovers under control they'll be alright.

GC beat Mt. Ida 89-72 in their home opener.  The threes weren't falling, but GC got to the line 52 times, hitting 39 of them to seal the deal.  Logan had 27 points and 5 steals, Herr had 22 points and Kauffman chipped in 21.  Ida had four guys foul out with anothed for an elobow to the face.  Marstaller only played 20 minutes and wasn't in foul trouble.  The summary didn't mention injuries, but something must have been up.  We'll let the GC guys fill us in.

NEC beat Presque Isle 117-95 in their opener.  NEC can certainly score.  It doesn't seem the loss of Onyechi and Montrod has stopped that.  Although they didn't exactly have the most challenging opponent in the world.  Jaziri led the way with 27 points (25 of them in the first half), Tonkavich had 20 and Quinn, filling in at the point had 18 with 7 assists.  No box score there yet, but NEC might not be as dead as I thought.

Nichols wins big over Worcester State, 91-65.  I didn't expect a blowout.  I guess NC is playing well to start the year.  The bison played nine players, but relied on Vallee and Lewis for most of their scoring.  Both had 7 rebounds, Valle scoring 29 and Lewis 26.  They seemed to have replaced the lost guards well winning both the rebounding and turnover battles.  Turnovers were key again in this game and Nichols looks to be on form for this year.

RWU just destroyed Fort Kent in the home opener, 82-43.  The scoring was spread around evenly with Wooley leading the way at 14.  Gumb and freshman Laughton each had 11 and Barranger put up a double-double with 10 and 10.  they shot well, but were never really tested.  They get Salem State tonight.

SRU beat ME-Machias 81-61 at Bridgewater.  I can't find any stats on this game yet.

UNE got whooped by Norwich over in Upstate New York 59-76.  Stickney went for 15 and 12, Selmer and Marriot had 12 each.  UNE's hot shooting cooled in the second half and their lack of depth killed them.

Wentworth must be looking to run this year, because William Patterson certainly doesn't.  WIT goes down to a team that won an NCAA tournament game last year with 37 total points, 69-84.  Actually this score is a lot closer than I expected it to be.  WPU did empty their bench, but WIT hung tough.  doyle had an awful game, but PB&J kept them in it with 22.  Bolton had 14 points and Wentworth (appropiately named) had 10.  They shot 40% from the floor, but allowed 51% shooting from WPU.  Most of the other numbers are pretty even; they just got beat.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Tonight:

AMC vs Rivier at Rivier
CSC vs Newbury at Brandeis
CC vs Rutgers-Camden at Alvernia
ENC vs Marymount at Keene State
EC vs Lasell at Tufts
GC vs MIT at Gordon
NEC vs Framingham State at NEC
NC vs WPI at Becker
RWU vs Salem State at RWU
SRU vs Bridgewater State at Bridgewater
UNE vs Hartwick at Hamilton
WIT vs Hunter at Drew


And the big question:  What happened to Tim Jones?

[AJ]

quick summary of the GC/Ida game.

Kaufman had 27 and Logan had 21 just to clarify stats.

Marstaller picked up 2 quick fouls in the first half and sat till halftime and then when he came in the second he picked up another quick one right away so he sat again.  I wouldn't be worried about him though, he'll be his usual self this season.

Refs were whistle happy, 3 techs and a ejection plus Mt. Ida's whole startin lineup fouled out.  They even gave Marstaller a T and he is has to be the quietest kid in the world.  They pretty much killed the flow of the game.

Kaufman picked up were he left off last year. He was the go to guy for Gordon in second half.   

Aaron Trigg played real well for freshman, he's gonna be a player to watch.  He could be something special in a couple years.

The game overall was sloppy and Gordon had trouble holding their lead.  I think tonights game against MIT will be a better judge of how good this team can be.  I'll post last nights game to first game rust as well as poor reffing.

[d3bballinboston]

CSC beat Newbury 74-70.. i think this was much closer than CSC would have liked it to be.