MBB: NEWMAC

[mass_d3fan]

Congratulations to WPI's Matt Carr for being named NEWMAC Player of the Week. He joins Springfield's Matt Cavalieri as the only multiple winners of the award this season.

Also – Congrats to the entire WPI team for cracking the top 10 in this week's national poll.  The Engineers are ranked 10th.

WPI89,

I from what I can tell, this is the 2nd highest ranking ever for WPI.  They were ranked 9th in the '05-'06 season (Cain's junior year).

Here is a link to something I found on the Worcester Telegram site.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20101215/COLUMN11/12150441/1009/SPORTS

[WPI89]

Well I actually don't feel great about the game at Springfield - but if they can beat them and then Clark at home - maybe they can finish up the regular season poll ahead of their number 9 all time ranking.  Not only did they move up this week, but they tightened the points in the rankings.

Hopefully they beat Springfield - I will be at the home game next Saturday and the momentum would be fun.

Does anybody know if they still draw well for the Clark games - even in the middle of a Saturday afternoon?

Back in the day - they were the only games we played to a packed gym...................the semi-funny chants would rain back and forth............."we got girls"................."we got jobs"................

[mass_d3fan]

I have not seen the gym packed, but last year the Clark game was Senior Day for WPI as it is this year.  It was a big crowd and the game went down to the last seconds.

I would expect there will be a big crowd on Sat. as well.

On the topic of the Babson women - They are still ranked 5th and one of 4 unbeatens left on the women's side of D3.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/

[WPI89]

Wow - probably silly that Becker (and WPI for that matter) are ranked above Amherst but I guess it is all about when you lose.

[WPI89]

Wow - just saw last nights scores!  Which was a worse loss - WPI to Springfield or MIT to Wheaton?

[mass_d3fan]

WPI89,

Your fears were well founded.  I had been in Albany on business and stopped in to see the game on my way home.  Not pretty.  A bad performance all around from the bench to the court.  This is something I have been fearing  - they have not played good 1st halves lately but have been able to rev it up in the 2nd half.  Not in this one.

Before I get in to the Engineers problems, let's give credit were credit is due.  Cavalieri and Harkins played great in their final home game.  The Pride made plays when they needed to, and WPI did not. Cavalieri had game-highs of 21 points and 11 boards.  Harkins posted 18 with 7 assists and 4 steals. Darvis Rankins added 11 points and Jordan Rote continued his good play of the bench with 8 points and 6 boards.

For WPI, Robinson led the way with 14 points and 7 rebounds; Etten tossed in 13 to go with 7 boards and 3 assists, Jerome Stewart came off the bench with 11 points and 5 boards.  Kyle Nadeau put up 9, Jamie Shannon 7 and Carr was held to 4 with 9 rebounds.

Hopefully, WPI will get back to the style of play they had been playing.  They got completely away from the inside game in this one and continued the trend of the past few games of bad perimeter shooting.  The WPI shooting stats were almost identical to the same game (next to last regular season game) last year. Last night 21 for 64 overall and 8 for 29 from beyond the arc – Last year – 17 for 62 from the field and 8-28 on threes.  Same end result – A Springfield win.

Besides the poor shooting, WPI looked lost offense.  On thing that was very disappointing was the fact they could not even solve a simple 2-3 zone.  There was no on court recognition or any adjustments by the coaching staff.  Also I think Springfield did a great job of playing up tight when they were in man-to-man.  The Engineer's lack of cutting off screens tightly allowed those tight defenders to stay in touch.  Springfield did a good job of doubling down low when WPI did manage to get the ball down there, but the Engineer's helped them by not having good spacing and actually presenting a double-team possibility by putting an additional defender close to the ball.  Springfield's defense was very quick and lively.  WPI was lethargic on offense and that combination led to 10 turnovers and 12 points for the Pride in the first half.

If Cavalieri has another performance like last night this weekend in Cambridge, I think he takes the player of the year.

I see that MIT fell, 80-72, to Wheaton behind a huge night from Coppola (41 pts).  Tashman had a double-double of 24 points and 13 boards.

Clark won over Babson 76-62.  Brian Vayda's double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Big battle for those last spots as we go into the last games this weekend.

[WPI89]

If WPI beats Clark and Wheaton beats CG - all 3 will be tied for the last playoff spot.  All 3 would be 1-1 against each other.  Anybody know the second tie-breaker?

[Hugenerd]

First tiebreaker would be record against eachother (record among tied teams). These records are currently

CGA is 1-1 vs. Clark and 1-0 vs. Wheaton
Clark is 1-1 vs. CGA and 1-1 vs. Wheaton
Wheaton is 0-1 vs. CGA and 1-1 vs. Clark

If Wheaton beats CGA, all teams will have split.  Therefore it would go to the next tiebreaker, which is record against the top ranked teams, sequentially.  Since all teams lost to WPI twice, it would depend on who the #2 team is.  If MIT wins on Saturday they would be the #2 team, if Springfield would be #3, or vice versa if Springfield wins.

If MIT is #2, Clark would be eliminated, as they were swept by MIT, but CGA and Wheaton split with them. The tiebreaker between those two teams would then be record against #3 team Springfield.  Since CGA was swept by Springfield, and Wheaton split with them, Wheaton would win the tiebreaker.

If Springfield is #2, CGA would be eliminated because they were swept by Springfield, and the other two teams split.  The tiebreaker between Clark and Wheaton would then go to record vs. MIT, since Clark was swept by Wheaton, Wheaton would again win the tiebreaker.

Therefore, long story short, if Wheaton wins they get the #5 seed and make the tourney, they lose and they are out (that is, if Clark also loses to WPI).

If Clark loses and CGA wins, CGA makes the tourney.

If Clark and CGA win, then Clark gets the #5 seed as they would have the same record as CGA, while also splitting the two matchups, but by virtue of their win over WPI, they would win the tiebreaker.

Therefore, Clark holds their destiny in their own hands, although they have the toughest matchup.  If Clark loses, the winner of the CGA/Wheaton game makes the tourney.

[WPI89]

WOW - HN - I could have spent 2 hours with 5 calculators and not figured that out - thanks for the help!

[mass_d3fan]

WPI89

None better than the 'Nerd to piece these kinds of things together!

HN

What are your thoughts on MIT-Springfield?  I am curious how you see tomorrow's game playing out and more importantly how playing back to back  will factor into next week's really critical game.

WPI needs to get refocused and make a statement with a good performance on Sat.  vs Clark.

I think Wheaton beats CGA.  Coppola carried the Lyons in Cambridge, I have a feeling he will do the same in his final home game.

[WPI89]

Another thought - clearly a Friday at lunch and I do not feel like working..........

If Clark wins and CG wins - they will be tied with Babson (3 team for the last 2 slots).

Using H-Nerds methods (likely incorrectly) - I think it ends up with Babson and CG in and Clark on the outside looking in - based on their 2 losses to MIT.

If you have a minute NERD - can you check?

All based on MIT (not Springfield in second place). 

Clark is the only one to beat Springfield.

If Springfield gets second - then Clark would be in and I think you need to go to differential equations to figure out the Babson/CG tie-breaker.

[Hugenerd]

You are slightly off.  If CGA and Clark both win, both are tied with Babson for #4.  They all split against eachother.  However, for Clark to win they would have to beat WPI; therefore, Clark is into the tourney with a win tomorrow, regardless of the other games.  Therefore CGA or Babson would be odd man out.  Since Babson and CGA both split with MIT, both were swept by Springfield, and both split with Clark, it would go to record against Wheaton.  However, for CGA to be in this tie, they must beat Wheaton, meaning both teams would have swept Wheaton.  Therefore, those teams would also be in a tie for this tiebreaker.  It would go to the next tiebreaker.  I am not sure if they look at home or away conference record, or if they just do a coin toss after the first 3? I hope it doesnt come to that.

[Hugenerd]

Was able to watch the second half of the MIT-Springfield matchup this afternoon.  MIT pretty much destroyed them in every facet of the game.  Coburn did not play for Springfield, but I do not know the reason.

Harkins took a cheap shot at Kates in the second half, throwing him to the floor well after play was over, but the officials some how didnt see it.  I wonder if the NEWMAC office will review it this week, as it could have consequences to next week's rematch.

The WPI/Clark game worked out as expected, so no extreme tiebreaking scenarios are necessary.  I honestly dont know if Babson or CGA is #4, because they split and have beaten exactly the same teams as one another (MIT, Clark, Wheaton x2).  Maybe a coin flip will decide home court in the play-in?

[atn alum]

Hugenerd. I am of the understanding that the next tiebreaker is common opponents. They had one common non-league opponent: Gordon. Babson won, Coast Guard lost. Babson is 4, CGA is 5.