MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

Buzzer beater to get to 10-0!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEYlyuVtfHU

[mass_d3fan]

WPI89

I spent my Sat. wrapping gifts and watching games on the net.

Great win for the Engineers and I believe we will see them in the top 25 today.  They hung in there after being down big early on and Fitchburg left the door open for them to make the game managable at the half. Great shot by Davis to make it a very enjoyable break for the team.  Like I said, they seem to be capable of shooting themselves out of any issues, certainly that has been the case so far.

Springfield got roasted by Williams and there was mention on the broadcast that Berthiaume has some kind of injury.  Not sure what it is though.  Any of the Pride faithful out there care to weigh in?  I know he has shot terrible the past 2 games.

WP89 - Did you see the game online as I did ?  If so, what was your opinion of Fitchburg's use of Valliere?

Also Congradualtions to  Babson's John Wickey for his 2nd consecutive Player Of The Week selection.

[BBallers]

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 do not believe Strobos was hurt, but it appears coach may be shortening the leash for mistakes.  He started both halves, but was pulled after a turnover or error.  Before I make my next statement regarding the referees, I want to clarify that they did not cause MIT to lose in and of themselves.  However, I am disappointed when I see referees joke around with the home team players and tap them on the back as it gives a perception that they could be biased.  I do not believe they are intentionally biased, but they did anticipate a play before it actually happened.  I don't remember every bad call, but there was an over the back call on Redfield where there was absolutely no contact and a lot of space.  They let the Salem State guards play very physical while pressing.  Burke and Dawson brought the ball up court the majority of the time that I think was an excellent decision in trying to keep Kates fresh.  MIT needs Kates as fresh as possible.  Most of Kates' drives had significant contact with often no calls (that contributed to his poor shooting percentage), while Dawson had a very slight hand check that was called, so there was also some inconsistency.  BTW, there were several Salem State fans and former players who agreed with these opinions (so I'm not completely biased).

Tashman had a rare series of turnovers to start the game and was benched.  When he returned, he used his physical presence inside and was dominating.  If he sealed better and the guards were able to throw better post passes where Tash could of had 20 shots instead of 10, MIT would have won easily as Tash really played well underneath.  Redfield might have played his best game as he had several dunks that were open and rebounded well.  It was a physical game and MIT had a height advantage, but only had 2 more rebounds than Salem State.

There were some transition buckets that MIT allowed and there were some unfortunate turnovers.  Burke, Kates and Dawson played descent defense against the guards, but there were a lot of defensive mistakes that allowed Salem State to have uncontested shots.  MIT was able to beat the press for the most part (except a couple of turnovers), but did it on individual effort without the efficient passing that could have potentially created some easy shots.

Except for the loss, it was a close game that was entertaining and the Salem State fans were nice and reasonably objective.  Salem State plays well at home and MIT's earlier wins in this gym were very close.  I believe Salem State is a lot better team at home than their record indicates and MIT still has a target on their back because of their initial ranking.  I believe these games will help MIT improve much more than blowing out a weak team and they should be commended for improving their strength of schedule.  This type of game should help the team down the road.

[mass_d3fan]

Congradulations to WPI for busting into the top 25 at #19!

Enjoy the break team and good luck on finals!

[WPI89]

Congradulations to WPI for busting into the top 25 at #19!

Enjoy the break team and good luck on finals!

Ditto from me.  Unreal first 10 games.  Good luck on your finals/projects etc.........enjoy the holidays and come back hungry.  I remember how dark and dreary Worcester seemed with the empty campus when we had to come back on the 26th - the snow always seemed white and fun before Christmas and grey and dreary after.  However, we were never 10-0 back in the 80's - I am sure that is great motivation.  Great job boys - good luck getting back to 20 again this year!

[rlk]

Looks like Matt Redfield and Jimmy Burke had nice games for MIT as they beat Bridgewater State 74-61.  Redfield had 18 points and 9 boards, the kind of game that the Engineers need from the young bigs.  Burke added 15.  Mitch Kates was quiet (11 points, 4 assists, 2 steals).

One more non-conference game, against LaVerne College in southern CA on Dec. 31, and then the conference games start.  A long trip for just one game, but there really wouldn't be much point in playing Caltech.  But I wonder if any of the Caltech folks will be scouting LaVerne, and say hello to Todd Cramer while they're at it.

[Hugenerd]

Looks like Matt Redfield and Jimmy Burke had nice games for MIT as they beat Bridgewater State 74-61.  Redfield had 18 points and 9 boards, the kind of game that the Engineers need from the young bigs.  Burke added 15.  Mitch Kates was quiet (11 points, 4 assists, 2 steals).

One more non-conference game, against LaVerne College in southern CA on Dec. 31, and then the conference games start.  A long trip for just one game, but there really wouldn't be much point in playing Caltech.  But I wonder if any of the Caltech folks will be scouting LaVerne, and say hello to Todd Cramer while they're at it.

Not to mention that Caltech's Head Coach, Oliver Eslinger, was an assistant/associate head coach at MIT for the better part of a decade.

[Hugenerd]

Coach Anderson got an early Christmas present this week, when former Cornell commit, 6'10" Tim Higgins, changed his choice to MIT.  It is listed on the Big East blog here, as he was recruited by some Big East schools as well:

http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2012-1220/recruiting-notebook-12202012-jabari-parker-decision-nearing-dakari-johnson-cuts-list-to-three/

Former Cornell announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/post/paul-vi-c-tim-higgins-commits-to-cornell/2011/08/29/gIQAbCCFnJ_blog.html

He is a two-star recruit on scout.com:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5541447

[Hugenerd]

More recruiting news out of the NEWMAC:

Looks like MIT is getting a 6'6" PF out of Fairfield Prep, Tim Batula, and Babson has picked up a commitment:

http://www.newenglandrecruitingreport.com/news/article/2900/Early-Decision-Commitments.php

[ronk]

Coach Anderson got an early Christmas present this week, when former Cornell commit, 6'10" Tim Higgins, changed his choice to MIT.  It is listed on the Big East blog here, as he was recruited by some Big East schools as well:

http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2012-1220/recruiting-notebook-12202012-jabari-parker-decision-nearing-dakari-johnson-cuts-list-to-three/

Former Cornell announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/post/paul-vi-c-tim-higgins-commits-to-cornell/2011/08/29/gIQAbCCFnJ_blog.html

He is a two-star recruit on scout.com:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5541447

  While he is on a strong high school team, he plays sparingly, so this is a potential player at the upper D3 level.

[Hugenerd]

Coach Anderson got an early Christmas present this week, when former Cornell commit, 6'10" Tim Higgins, changed his choice to MIT.  It is listed on the Big East blog here, as he was recruited by some Big East schools as well:

http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2012-1220/recruiting-notebook-12202012-jabari-parker-decision-nearing-dakari-johnson-cuts-list-to-three/

Former Cornell announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/post/paul-vi-c-tim-higgins-commits-to-cornell/2011/08/29/gIQAbCCFnJ_blog.html

He is a two-star recruit on scout.com:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5541447

  While he is on a strong high school team, he plays sparingly, so this is a potential player at the upper D3 level.

When you have multiple D1 programs with interest in you (Ivy and Patriot league, mainly), it seems the potential is a bit more than that.  As you stated, his high school team is ranked top 12 by ESPN (they beat Oak Hill Academy a couple weeks ago) and he also plays on a top 10 AAU team, so he undoubtedly has some talent.

Another article, from the Cornell Blog, from last year:

http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2011/08/cornell-receives-class-of-2013.html

[rlk]

Coach Anderson got an early Christmas present this week, when former Cornell commit, 6'10" Tim Higgins, changed his choice to MIT.  It is listed on the Big East blog here, as he was recruited by some Big East schools as well:

http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/2012-1220/recruiting-notebook-12202012-jabari-parker-decision-nearing-dakari-johnson-cuts-list-to-three/

Former Cornell announcement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/recruiting-insider/post/paul-vi-c-tim-higgins-commits-to-cornell/2011/08/29/gIQAbCCFnJ_blog.html

He is a two-star recruit on scout.com:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=5541447

  While he is on a strong high school team, he plays sparingly, so this is a potential player at the upper D3 level.

When you have multiple D1 programs with interest in you (Ivy and Patriot league, mainly), it seems the potential is a bit more than that.  As you stated, his high school team is ranked top 12 by ESPN (they beat Oak Hill Academy a couple weeks ago) and he also plays on a top 10 AAU team, so he undoubtedly has some talent.

Another article, from the Cornell Blog, from last year:

http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2011/08/cornell-receives-class-of-2013.html

2 years before seems awfully early to commit...

Does anyone know why he opted for the 'tute?

[nescac1]

Hugenerd, it's really hard to tell what "interest" means, and how significant it is.  I hear about tons of NESCAC players who receive "interest" from Ivy League schools (I could name several on Williams alone), some of them end up great, some of them, not so much.  What's sort of odd is that a kid, like Higgins, with stratospheric grades and SAT who can hoops a little is even MORE desirable for Ivy schools than for many D-3 schools, owing to how Ivy admissions works ... from what I understand, they average academic data of kids they bring in in any given year, so one 1600 SAT kid who might end up as a bench warmer allows them to bring in someone lower on the academic scale. 

Now, Higgins is a strange case because he committed to Cornell so early, so perhaps he is a steal for MIT, or perhaps he did not develop as expected (or was someone they saw primarily as an academic admit), and he realizes that MIT gives him a better chance to play.  If he had firm OFFERS from multiple Ivy or Patriot schools, that would indicate that he is likely to be a very strong player.  And he may well be, I know nothing about him, so can't opine on what his potential is.  I write only to caution about putting too much stock in guys receiving "interest" from D-1 places, without actual offers ... because that is incredibly commonplace, and not terribly meaningful in isolation, in particular if tht interest is from Ivies. 

[Hugenerd]

Here is an interview with Higgins from September of last year:

http://fairfaxcity.patch.com/articles/pvi-junior-recruited-to-ivy-league

He is quoted as saying: "I did have other schools within the Ivy, Patriot and Colonial leagues recruiting me."

I dont know much about him either, other than what you can find in the press.  I'm hoping he is on the par of a Hollingsworth type recruit, who could have gone to Ivy or Patriot League type schools.  In the case of Hollingsworth, it took him a year at Brown to figure out he would be better off at MIT.  Higgins may have just figured it out earlier.  Either way, he is a kid who is 6'10", grew 2 inches from his junior to senior year (so could still be growing), and will undoubtedly help fill the hole in the lineup that Tashman and Hollingsworth leave next season.

[mass_d3fan]

Congratulations to WPI for getting off to the best start in the program's history at 11-0!

One more out of conference game before the real tough sledding starts.  Their first conference game with Babson should be very interesting.