MBB: NEWMAC

[7express]

I think Western charges $3 or $5 for football, but the basketball is free.  Really, if 1 school should be charging in the Northeast it should be them; they have better seats (charback) then the local division college I go to down the street when there's no Western/LEC/other area game.  The price for that??  $10 to sit on a hard bench.  The price of a Western Connecticut basketball game (student or non student because I said they don't charge unless its an LEC tournament/NCAA game)??  $0 and you get to sit in a nice comfortable chair with a back rest.

[Hugenerd]

I think Western charges $3 or $5 for football, but the basketball is free.  Really, if 1 school should be charging in the Northeast it should be them; they have better seats (charback) then the local division college I go to down the street when there's no Western/LEC/other area game.  The price for that??  $10 to sit on a hard bench.  The price of a Western Connecticut basketball game (student or non student because I said they don't charge unless its an LEC tournament/NCAA game)??  $0 and you get to sit in a nice comfortable chair with a back rest.

MIT is the same way, they have only charged in recent years when they hosted NEWMAC tourneys.  However, I believe in the years where they hosted the tourney, and had to charge for games, the webcast was free.

MIT also upgraded their seating recently from bench style to chairback style. You can see the new stands in the background of this picture:
http://rlk.smugmug.com/Sports/Basketball/MIT-Curry-Mens-20121124/26703072_9tVJM4#!i=2234404423&k=3bGtGfb

[WPI89]

WPI charges for home games - it was $5 last year - have not been to a game this year yet.  I think students may be free.

Westconn is a great place to see a game - that is where I live now and I go all the time.  Grab neighbor buddies and the kids - get in free - they have a full service concession (hot dogs are $2 etc....),, can always sit right up near the action - although I must admit, we have not been back yet......post Daquan!

[mass_d3fan]

WPI89

I am looking forward to heading over to Harrington tonight to watch this one.  Ramifications on this outcome are big given the fact both teams will could be in that top 10 or so in the NCAA Northeast Rankings in February.  We all know after last year how critical positioning in those rankings can be.
 

A win in this one and taking care of buisness against Fitchburg St. on Sat. will probably vault WPI into that Top 25.

[Hugenerd]

Great night for the NEWMAC, as Babson and WPI upset the #10 (@Amherst) and #14 (RIC) teams in the country, respectively.  NEWMAC holding their own against the NESCAC this year, now at 7-2.

Unfortunately, MIT couldnt contribute to the conference's big night, as they fell on the road by 5 to Salem State.  MIT will likely fall from the rankings next week, but I think we will see WPI, and possibly Springfield (who won against Trinity tonight), jump into the Top 25.

[ECSUalum]

Great night for the NEWMAC, as Babson and WPI upset the #10 (@Amherst) and #14 (RIC) teams in the country, respectively.  NEWMAC holding their own against the NESCAC this year, now at 7-2.

Unfortunately, MIT couldnt contribute to the conference's big night, as they fell on the road by 5 to Salem State.  MIT will likely fall from the rankings next week, but I think we will see WPI, and possibly Springfield (who won against Trinity tonight), jump into the Top 25.

Huge,

Really sucks that MIT will again not have the services of key player that would likely have made them a candidate for a national championship this year
I have been a fan for a while, MIT has a wonderful program especially in view of the demanding academic responsibilities, and it is just a matter of time when Coach Anderson's program will take home the Walnut and Bronze!!!

[Hugenerd]

Great night for the NEWMAC, as Babson and WPI upset the #10 (@Amherst) and #14 (RIC) teams in the country, respectively.  NEWMAC holding their own against the NESCAC this year, now at 7-2.

Unfortunately, MIT couldnt contribute to the conference's big night, as they fell on the road by 5 to Salem State.  MIT will likely fall from the rankings next week, but I think we will see WPI, and possibly Springfield (who won against Trinity tonight), jump into the Top 25.

Huge,

Really sucks that MIT will again not have the services of key player that would likely have made them a candidate for a national championship this year
I have been a fan for a while, MIT has a wonderful program especially in view of the demanding academic responsibilities, and it is just a matter of time when Coach Anderson's program will take home the Walnut and Bronze!!!

Thanks for the comments.  However, I am still hoping that after the semester break, we will slowly see those guys coming back.  In both losses, MIT has had at least 3 of their rotation players out, who all return from last year.  Two of those are the seniors everyone is aware of, but Dennis Levene has also been out. 

I forgot to mention that Tashman really had a huge game last night (25 points and 13 boards), stepping up for the Engineers, but they unfortunately could not overcome poor outside shooting (3-19 from 3) and turnovers (Tashman had 7 himself, the team had 21).  Hopefully they can adddress those isssues, and close out the semester with a win over BSU next week.

[WPI89]

Whoohoo.  Can't believe the Babson result.  Anyone have any insight?  I will go over to NESCAC and check on AMH63.

Way to go WPI!  MASSD3 - how big a concern is the rebounding - numbers seem crazy?

[mass_d3fan]

Tremendous performance by WPI last night.  They lost another big lead (up 17 in the 1st half, and RIC got it 2 at 37-35 early in the 2nd), but shot themselves back into double digit lead.  Great atomosphere there last night.

They way they are playing right now as a unit, I'm not sure there is a better group of guards in the Northeast.  That may change as the season moves forward, but as it stands today, I would say they are the best.  Freshman Zach Karalis had his best game with 19 to lead the way and the Engineers shot a white hot 13 for 19 (68%) from beyond the arc. Karilis and classmate Aaron Davis combimed to go 8 for 9 from long distance.  They did a bit better inside as well as Ryan Kolb played a strong game.  The Engineers had 5 players score in double digits.

LOL, just saw your post WPI89.  I was trying hard not to put any "buts" on this....

Yes, the rebounding is a big concern in my view.  Kolb is by far their best guy on the glass, but he is often out on the perimeter.  The last two seasons they had a guy haul down over 200 boards, but he spent most of his time down low on both ends.  This year's squad is doing it in a diffent manner.  The guards are grabbing a lot of boards. Longwell is the teams 2nd leading rebounder.  He and Coppola have had a 10 rebound game this season.  RIC did not take advantage of a 21 to 8 differential in offensive rebounds.  Both teams tallied 11 2nd-chance points.  This will come back to haunt them if it continues to happen.

Bottm line right now, despite what I or others may think about any of WPI weaknesses, they simply overcoming them by out shooting their opponents.  They were 26th in the country in FG PCT going into last night.  Right now hard to argue with 9-0!


Also Congrats to Babson for their upset of Amherst on the Lord Jeff's court.  John Wickey continued his great early season play with 19 pts and 11 boards and the Beavers followed WPI's lead by shooting 12 for 22 from 3pt land.

Springfield defeats Trinity with Berthiaume having a bad night (6pts). Jordan Rote picked up slack with 22.  The Pride face Williams on Saturday and a win in that one will get them close to if not into the top 25.

Tough night for MIT.  It is pretty much just Kates & Tashman there.  While they may have some talent with all these other players so far no one is stepping up to take advantage of the opportunity to play.  HN, did Strobos get hurt?  He started but only played 3 minutes. Burke has to start bringing the game you think he has.  He has only played 2 good games so far and is shooting a woeful 38% from the field.  The Engineers badly need to have another scoring option.

[Hugenerd]

Not sure if Strobos is hurt or not, I didnt see the game. 

Burke hasnt been playing up to his potential, but I still think he is a very good player.  They still need more production from the wings, Pedley going 2-10 in 33 minutes hurts, especially when Kates didnt have his best offensive night.  With that said, 77 points is usually enough for an MIT squad to win a game.  In addition to turnovers, the typical defense you come to expect doesnt seem to have been there last night (Salem State shot 50% from the field).  It also seems like the refs were overly involved, as the teams combined for 58 FTs (prior to last night, the average number of combined FTs in games MIT had played in was 32). Some of those probably came at the end of the game, but thats still a lot of FTs.

Im still hopeful they can find themselves before conference play starts and contend for the conference championship.

[WPI89]

Not sure if Strobos is hurt or not, I didnt see the game. 

Burke hasnt been playing up to his potential, but I still think he is a very good player.  They still need more production from the wings, Pedley going 2-10 in 33 minutes hurts, especially when Kates didnt have his best offensive night.  With that said, 77 points is usually enough for an MIT squad to win a game.  In addition to turnovers, the typical defense you come to expect doesnt seem to have been there last night (Salem State shot 50% from the field).  It also seems like the refs were overly involved, as the teams combined for 58 FTs (prior to last night, the average number of combined FTs in games MIT had played in was 32). Some of those probably came at the end of the game, but thats still a lot of FTs.

Im still hopeful they can find themselves before conference play starts and contend for the conference championship.

19 FT's the last 2 minutes.  Salem thrives in the 80's+ - they will do anything to get to the 80's - especially at home.  Their up-tempo plus all the turnovers spelled trouble.

[ECSUalum]

Great night for the NEWMAC, as Babson and WPI upset the #10 (@Amherst) and #14 (RIC) teams in the country, respectively.  NEWMAC holding their own against the NESCAC this year, now at 7-2.

Unfortunately, MIT couldnt contribute to the conference's big night, as they fell on the road by 5 to Salem State.  MIT will likely fall from the rankings next week, but I think we will see WPI, and possibly Springfield (who won against Trinity tonight), jump into the Top 25.

Huge,

Really sucks that MIT will again not have the services of key player that would likely have made them a candidate for a national championship this year
I have been a fan for a while, MIT has a wonderful program especially in view of the demanding academic responsibilities, and it is just a matter of time when Coach Anderson's program will take home the Walnut and Bronze!!!

Thanks for the comments.  However, I am still hoping that after the semester break, we will slowly see those guys coming back.  In both losses, MIT has had at least 3 of their rotation players out, who all return from last year.  Two of those are the seniors everyone is aware of, but Dennis Levene has also been out. 

I forgot to mention that Tashman really had a huge game last night (25 points and 13 boards), stepping up for the Engineers, but they unfortunately could not overcome poor outside shooting (3-19 from 3) and turnovers (Tashman had 7 himself, the team had 21).  Hopefully they can adddress those isssues, and close out the semester with a win over BSU next week.

However, I am still hoping that after the semester break, we will slowly see those guys coming back.
I hope so, as it would be a fitting conclusion to a couple of great college athletic careers!!  Good Luck to MIT in the second half.  We need to bring the National Championship back to the North East

[rlk]

Not sure if Strobos is hurt or not, I didnt see the game. 

Burke hasnt been playing up to his potential, but I still think he is a very good player.  They still need more production from the wings, Pedley going 2-10 in 33 minutes hurts, especially when Kates didnt have his best offensive night.  With that said, 77 points is usually enough for an MIT squad to win a game.  In addition to turnovers, the typical defense you come to expect doesnt seem to have been there last night (Salem State shot 50% from the field).  It also seems like the refs were overly involved, as the teams combined for 58 FTs (prior to last night, the average number of combined FTs in games MIT had played in was 32). Some of those probably came at the end of the game, but thats still a lot of FTs.

Im still hopeful they can find themselves before conference play starts and contend for the conference championship.

19 FT's the last 2 minutes.  Salem thrives in the 80's+ - they will do anything to get to the 80's - especially at home.  Their up-tempo plus all the turnovers spelled trouble.

MIT-Newbury was up-tempo also last Saturday.  The difference was that a lot more guys got into the act, so it was more than Kates or Kates-Tashman.

[mass_d3fan]

Not sure if Strobos is hurt or not, I didnt see the game. 

Burke hasnt been playing up to his potential, but I still think he is a very good player.  They still need more production from the wings, Pedley going 2-10 in 33 minutes hurts, especially when Kates didnt have his best offensive night.  With that said, 77 points is usually enough for an MIT squad to win a game.  In addition to turnovers, the typical defense you come to expect doesnt seem to have been there last night (Salem State shot 50% from the field).  It also seems like the refs were overly involved, as the teams combined for 58 FTs (prior to last night, the average number of combined FTs in games MIT had played in was 32). Some of those probably came at the end of the game, but thats still a lot of FTs.

Im still hopeful they can find themselves before conference play starts and contend for the conference championship.

19 FT's the last 2 minutes.  Salem thrives in the 80's+ - they will do anything to get to the 80's - especially at home.  Their up-tempo plus all the turnovers spelled trouble.

MIT-Newbury was up-tempo also last Saturday.  The difference was that a lot more guys got into the act, so it was more than Kates or Kates-Tashman.

I would like to think that more got into it, IMO Newbury is one of those teams MIT should be dropping in favor of a better non-conf. schedule.  They have been sub .500 for the past 4 seasons.  Again, it's just my opinion since I have no idea what kind of arrangements MIT has made with its local opponents, but it really is time to setup it up.  Look at what WPI & Springfield have been doing for the past few years and now this season Babson has stepped it up as well.

[rlk]

I would like to think that more got into it, IMO Newbury is one of those teams MIT should be dropping in favor of a better non-conf. schedule.  They have been sub .500 for the past 4 seasons.  Again, it's just my opinion since I have no idea what kind of arrangements MIT has made with its local opponents, but it really is time to setup it up.  Look at what WPI & Springfield have been doing for the past few years and now this season Babson has stepped it up as well.

I wouldn't say MIT's non-conference schedule is all that weak -- Tufts, Salem State, RIC, and Bridgewater State are not teams to be taken lightly (and then there's the Harvard exhibition).  There are some easy games in there, but by no means all.