MBB: Conference of New England

[Bill Gorman]

TCCC Scores (1/31/08)

Endicott 67, Roger Williams 64
University of New England 77, Regis 69
Gordon 87, New England College 78
Wentworth 66, Salve Regina 55
Western New England 77, Nichols 61
Colby-Sawyer 73, Eastern Nazarene 65
Curry 100, Anna Maria 65

[AJ]

No way Tim Jones deserves POY,

Very good player offensively but his defense and his attitude about the game would make it a shame if he actually won the award.

Watching last Saturday's game at Gordon (yes I'm a Gordon poster or "homer" as were more commonly referred to on this board) Tim was having a solid game and was covering Brady Bajema on Gordon when he got screened and Brady his a three.  Thinking the screen was illegal he complained and then walked up the floor.  A Gordon bball alum I'm sitting with tells me that Tim is done for the game, he'll just shoot everytime and not play D anymore.   He couldn't have made a more accurate statement, not only did he jack the next couple shots up but he refused to run up and down the court.  He was literally walking as both teams ran past him for 3 or 4 possesions.  The man he was covering Brady hit 4 straight 3's on those possessions....because Tim was at half court for all of them.  He just gave up, it was sad to watch. 

So yes I do believe he is a good bball player but they're a lot of better players in the TCCC who play good offense and defense and play with a little heart.  I would be disappointed if Tim would win POY over one of those types of players

(Side note my opinion is from only watching one game, but the Gordon alum who I was sitting with, who played with Tim over the years, said that this was typical of him, so I don't feel like it was just a one game only situation)

[scout]

i think it's time that everyone starts to recognize that endicott is back in the mix in TCCC... nearly everyone outside of beverly, ma counted endicott out after the first 10 games or so... but after knocking off emerson and rwu in the past week, i think they deserve some respect now...

i completely give credit to dwebbs for initiating this idea... i'm just trying to propagate it a little more... the gordon-endicott game this weekend will very much be a contest rather than the blowout a lot of us considered it to be two weeks ago...

in addition, i don't think RWU's loss discredits them at all... they are a very solid team with barringer et al playing tight defense through most of their games...

one last comment... POTY 'should' be given to a player who overall benefits their team the most in every aspect of the game... with that being said, i would agree that Tim Jones should not be given the title at this point... he is an incredibly quick offensive weapon... he spins and creates shots where it appears impossible... however, he does seem to sit back on his heels defensively, especially with big deficits for Curry... in that same vein, jaziri appears to have the same conundrum... he puts up 22-24 pts a game, but is very inconsistent defensively... prezzie-blue is out of sorts this year compared to his consistent dominance last year...

to be honest, i don't know who should get POTY this year... but if people are suggesting tim jones, ryan jaziri and sherrad prezzie-blue, then geoff barringer, aaron trigg, justin kaufman, jean-paul marcellus, and a few others certainly deserve consideration as well...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I hadn't heard that about Jones.  I've seen him 4 or 5 times, albeit a few years ago and never got that impression.

I have heard that he's a football player first and basketball player for fun, so I wonder if the years of injuries have somewhat eroded his desire to go all out for the "second" sport.

A lot of my more recent conclusions come from my brother, who is a basketball nut (and life-long player) who takes every opportunity to shoot over to Curry to see him play.

I'll have to take it into consideration, but the CCC award is a POY rather than an MVP, so the whole "attitude" thing plays less into my decision-making.  The thing I can't get away from is that his team has been, over the course of his career, far better and more solid when he's playing than when he's not.

[broke_ya_ankles]

half time score from Beverly
Endicott 30  Gordon 28

[broke_ya_ankles]

just a couple thoughts on the individual awards as well as TCCC in general...

individually POY has got to be completely up for grabs, I think Jones and Prezzie-Blue are the front runners, although should someone come on very strong in the final 5-6 games anythings possible.  Bowers of Curry isnt so much a candidate for POY although 1st team is very much within reason, being top 5 in the league in points and rebounds has got to get you some consideration, as well as Johnnie Jefferson from UNE, he has very quietly led UNE to a 5-1 conference record and individually should finish in the top 5 in scoring and possibly crack the top 10 in rebounds (hes 12th in the latest stats)  Im very surprised Jon Marstaller of Gordon hasnt had a big senior year considering the past 2 years hes been 1st team all conference and was in contention for POY in at least 1 of those years if i recall correctly.  watching the gordon/ec game right now hes a matchup nightmare and should be dominating, and on the other side, this burgos kid is legit, too bad he wasnt around the first half of the year to make more of a name for himself

[broke_ya_ankles]

final score from beverly
Gordon 56  Endicott 55

2 point EC lead with 1:01 remaining, endicott basketball, its taken into the lane only to be denied by gordons jon marstaller, gordon basketball, no timeout they just play, justin kaufman takes it to the lane off a high screen as he had done all day long, blocked by burgos! 6 seconds left gordon ball, time out gordon....

inbounds play finds marstaller in the corner for 3 its good!!! gordon up by 1 with 3.7 seconds to go

endicotts todd burton (last year game winning 4 pt play in similar game) takes it up court gets fouled with .5 seconds left, but EC is NOT in the bonus!  endicott throws it up towards the rim hoping for a tip in....nadda game over 1 point win for gordon

[dwebbs]

A few more points about the Gordon first ever win at the Post Center:

-Say what you want about Marstaller's lower numbers this year, but today, he was the difference in the final two minutes. Before the the final minute, Gordon was down by 4, with Marstaller on the block with his back to the basket. Burgos came over to double team, and this time, Jon read it and fired a no look over the shoulder pass to Derr open underneath the basket. He would later ad a steal and a three as described by BYA.
-Endicott lost by 1 point. Rewind to earlier in the second half when the freshman, Ben Ford picks Aaron Trigg at center court, and then blows and uncontested layup at the other end. It seemed like just a knee slapper at the time, but the Gulls could have really used those 2 points down the stretch.
-Watching Endicott play defense, it makes sense that they could handle teams like RWU and WIT at home. They play very, very physical, with quite a bit of slapping.  If they end up in a big game with refs who are whistle happy, they'll have no chance.

Other than that, this was a good road win for the Scots, who lost their first two road conference games. They fell behind 16-2 eight minutes into the game, but battled back. And really, that's what the conference has been and will be this year -- who can go on the road and win the big games.

[akirk]

Just for the record.  This is not Gordon's first win in the Post Center EVER.  It is just the first in a few years.

[dwebbs]

Whoops. I heard wrong then, my mistake.

[j.CCC]

i think this could be a very big win for gordon, that maybe gives the momentum they need to get through the rest of the conference schedule un blemished.  schauer said it earlier this season; that Gordon has been losing by 10+ or winning by 10+.  Also we've seen that up until this point, Gordon has had huge issues on the road.  this is a close game, for the win, and it looked like this could be the game that gives gordon the experience it needs to go out and put it all together.  i think this team has as high of a ceiling as past gordon teams, but the basement is lower.  gordon beat a plattsburg st team that went on to beat the number 1 team in the country, so Gordon has it.  maybe this win is the catalyst to a successful stretch run.   or maybe the bottom drops out.  we'll have to see.

for poy, my vote is kaufman.  i see gordon taking the conference (opinion obviously), and kaufman is clearly the guy that makes this team click.  hes the best on ball defender ive seen thus far, and is the key cog to gc's offense.  i think that being the most important player on the conferences best team should be enough to win the award.

[witfan]

good to hear a classic TCCC rivalry didn't disappoint (EC-G)

Regis-WIT was a good alumni day game.  Probably more entertaining than WIT hoped for.  When all was said and done the lack of any Regis bigs was a key (West pulled down 21 boards!, close to a school record?).  Alibrandi played a good inside & outside game,  PB and Doyle were solid.

Both teams had 5 different players score from behind the arc.

[gullfan]

  WOW!!!!!! What a great game! Knew the big lead in the first half wasn't going to stay. Had to hold my breath through the whole second half. Now that my Gulls are playing as they are - EC/GC is pretty evenly matched!
  The Gulls played tough defense and the Gordon players and coaches whined the whole first half. Then, when the refs turned the screws the other way - not a peep. Too bad that another great game "A classic D3 game" as one guy near me said, had to have the refs intrude on the game. You'd think that with this rivalry and the history, the powers that be would make sure that better teams of refs would work the game.
  But enough of that. Gordon is a very good team. I even give props to "the Pit", although there was a lot of booing and derisive talk. Here's hoping that they can meet again in the finals of the TCCC!!!!!
  Kaufman, Trigg and Marstellar are good players, but they were shut down pretty effectively by the Gulls "D". j.CCC says that Kaufman is the best on ball defender he's seen. I'm not looking to start anything- cause I know for whatever reason he doesn't get respect- but Corbett's on ball defense is pretty tough to beat, when you see a 6'5/215 guy guarding and denying the 2 or three GUARDS in the conference. I've never understood their use of him. Once Plansky left, his role got totally screwed.
   Hope to be back for the next Gordon game. A good season finish and the proper seeding might just give the "TCCC" another classic ( a third "the shot"opportunity!) And can we get rid of the "T" in TCCC - it screws up the syntax.


GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        37-17

[backboard]

Neither of these teams will in be the finals

[gullfan]

Maybe not - but I can hope can't I??