MBB: NEWMAC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hoops Fan

I realize it was a year ago, but what was your impression of the bigs from Purchase & their style of play?  I'm not certain who much different their team was last year.  The 7"1" center would have been freshman.

I'd have to compare rosters.  I know they graduated quite a bit, if I recall - they had a senior guard who was the star of the team and pretty much kept them in the game when their discipline was lacking.

Ok, so in looking back it was actually two years ago I saw them at Cabrini - I guess the seasons run together.  I doubt my roster advice will be of much help with two years difference.  It appears they didn't have a single freshman or sophomore on the 2011 squad, so it's all new faces.

I think Charney their coach gets a lot of JUCO's.  From what I remember looking at their roster when I went to their game vs. William Paterson last season they had a ton of juniors and seniors but almost none underclassmen.  I think that team Hoops Fan is talking about from 2011 had about 7 or 8 seniors, IIRC.

Yeah, it was all juniors and seniors.  This year's roster has a good number of underclassmen, but it seems like many of their best players are transfers.

[NYHOOPS8]

Not meant to flame but WPI will have their hands full with Purchase. Purchase has been playing very well as of late. It's going to be a tougher game than WPI fans may realize.

[WPI89]

Not sure what fans you are referring to too - I have been crying form the mountain that we got a brutal draw.

Purchase is a big team nightmare for WPI.

MASSD3 - the only other WPI fan consistently on here, wrote an essay on how tough the match-up is..............

[NYHOOPS8]

Not sure what fans you are referring to too - I have been crying form the mountain that we got a brutal draw.

Purchase is a big team nightmare for WPI.

MASSD3 - the only other WPI fan consistently on here, wrote an essay on how tough the match-up is..............

General observation from reading some of the posts....This is a scary game for WPI. I saw Purchase in their conference final vs Farmingdale St and came out impressed; even with the fact that Farmingdale's NBA prospect AJ Matthews had 28 and 17. WPI needs to thoroughly dominate the backcourt to hold off the upset. Purchase has some guys that needed to gel through time and it looks like it is coming to fruition.

[WPI89]

Somebody giving you a negative karma point already NY8? Probly those mean NESCAC guys - I will give you +1 to get back on even footing.

Not exactly breaking new basketball ground here but WPI can play with anybody and beat most if they are shooting the 3 ball well.  They average over 20 3's a game and have had 2 games where they are 13-19 from 3 and multiple games where they have struggled.

A struggle on Saturday could mean an early exit.

[mass_d3fan]

NYHOOPS8

Thanks for your input.  I have not seen as many WPI games in person this year as I would have liked due to other issues, but I think everyone knew they would be vunerable this year on the inside.  For all the talk about others, most of it deserved by the way, the real glue that has held this team together is the play of Joe Wesoloski inside on the defensive end.  This is a guy who had a disappointing junior year playing in 19 games last year only averaging averaging 6.6 mpg. I truthfully figured he would have been a bigger part of the mix last year.  Give him a lot of credit for hanging in there and making the most of his chances this season.  While not the shot blocker or rebounder that Carr was, he has done a great job filling the void that was left defensively inside.  His and Ryan Kolb's play inside have allowed the Engineers to do what they needed to when they needed to.  Another aspect that has helped WPI interior defense this year is much better defensive play in the backcourt. They have made it much more difficult to get the ball inside.

All that being said, the real key to operating a good low post game in appropriate court spacing and providing good clearouts when you need to.  Many teams that WPI faced this season really had no feel for this at all and made it very easy to double any quality big down low.  I cant count how many time I have seen a big have the ball right around the block with a teammate within 5 feet of him!

Not knowing anything but what little I can glean from stats, I would say Purchase can be a real nightmare for the Engineers if they can make their obvious interior advantage work for them. Joe W. has indeed had a great senior season, but it is asking a lot of him to guard a 7'1" kid knowing there is also a 6'8" or 6'7" guy lurking to attack the boards.  I wonder if Coach Bartley is working on some sort of zone defense.  I know he is not big on zone, but this may be a situation where it is called for. 

The officating will determine a lot too.  If they let the teams play (like the WPI/Amherst game of 2 years ago) that will favor Purchase as their bigs will probably not face a lot of foul difficulty.  How well do they handle penetrating guards and forwards?  Do they stay down or over commit to try to block a shot?  If it is called very close though, the WPI slashers may get those bigs in foul trouble.  If WPI gets into the bonus early that is good for them as this team is one of Barley's best on the FT stripe.

[NYHOOPS8]

Maybe it is some sort of initiation to the boards  . I have been a lurker for years but never cared to post because of my coaching position. "Retirement" and loving postseason basketball made me want to contribute to the boards.

Now onto Purchase....Davis is a load down low but he is not your conventional post up guy who is an automatic basket if he gets in the paint. Purchase plays like your typical city team but isn't overly undisciplined. They are susceptible to giving up the 3; if you shoot it well, you can beat them. The bigs are prone to foul trouble but seems like they like to play only one at a time.

I expect a close game if Purchase doesn't go up and down with WPI. WPI will be better suited getting the game to a fast pace.

[Hugenerd]

Will Tashman on Hoopsville tonight. Maybe Dave can comment on what time he will be on?

[WPI89]

Pat C - lots of love to the Northeast in your preview article - NICE!

[WPI89]

OK - busy morning and then heading up to Worcester - best of luck to the NEWMAC 3!

[amh63]

WPI.....nice solid win for your school!...on a night that other top NE teams had close games or lost.

[WPI89]

Yeah - Amh63 - thanks.

Game went about as I had expected (hoped) - back and forth for the first 15 minutes - at times Purchase dominated with their size - multiple put backs to stay right in the game.  WPI then hit 4 or 5 3's in a row to go up 12 at the half.  Purchase made one run - got it to 7 with the ball but never challenged after that.

Purchase's 6'8" wide body (#44) was scarier than their 7 footer.  44 got in some foul trouble and also seemed disinterested at times.  He didn't but I could have seen him take over in stretches.

Been saying it over and over (and echoing MASSD3) but if this team knocks down enough shots - they can and will play with anyone!

Hope we host Randolph-Macon next!  I guess we find out around 1 today?

Gotta go check out NESCAC......should be some pretty loud exhales!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I would be pretty surprised if you aren't hosting Randolph-Macon... who was #8 in the final South Regional Rankings.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

WPI is hosting.

[WPI89]

Thanks Dave!