MBB: NEWMAC

[Hugenerd]

HugeNerd:

Anyone who has seen Bartolatta play has to be impressed.  He is a complete player that makes his teammates better; he is really a D1 player.

I can't make the season opener at Wheaton (they are playing miserably at present), but wonder if you will be there (and thus will give us a full report)?  And where is Hamidou?

Dou is MIA, I dont know the exact reason, but he is away from the team currently for some personal reason that does not involve an injury.  His motivation has always been an issue even when he was playing so I wouldnt say this is a shock, but it is unfortunate, especially since his presence makes the team much more competitive (especially with so many seniors on the team).

As for the Wheaton game, I dont make road trips very often (and weekday games are usually difficult in general) because I have an infant daughter and a wife who is in medical school.  Therefore, I will probably pass along what every I hear if I talk to anyone who was there but will not be able to attend.

[Hugenerd]

The big question will be, what will Jimmy do after graduation? He is clearly an unbelievable basketball player, and he has got to have a brain in his head going to MIT as they don't have any preferential admissions to athletes. He will definitely win NEWMAC POY yet again and probably (and deservedly so) will be a D-3 All-American. As a NEWMAC alum, I wonder where he will end up after graduation.

Just to clarify, he was not NEWMAC POY last year. Coleman won that last year on a tiebreaker vote as the coaches were split between him and Bartolotta.  Bartolotta was obviously the best player in the conference but some people believe that you need to be the best player on the best team to win that award.

I dont know what Jimmy will do next year but he will undoubtedly have some options.  I, personally, hope that he wins the Jostens this year.

[Hugenerd]

MIT wins tonight behind a very balanced attack.  They were led by Jimmy Bartolotta who scored 27 points on 8-14 shooting, also adding 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block.  Billy Johnson and Jamie Karraker each added 18 points, making 7 3s between them. Johnson also had 9 rebounds while Brad Gampel added 8 assists and 5 boards.  Wheaton was led by Coppola with 17 while Weeks and Sasso chipped in 15 and 14, respectively. MIT had 0 bench points and each of the starters played at least 36 minutes.

[T990]

Wow, thanks to hugenerd's post on the Top 25 forum, there is a link to the NCAA statistics. 

http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/ranksummary

If you click on the most recent date under Basketball, you can find stats for the NEWMAC teams, or any D3 team.

Some Team stats of today (top 50 in USA):

Scoring Margin
MIT #35 11.5

FG %
MIT #37 48.8
Coast Guard #43 48.3

3-PT FGs made
MIT #49 8.2

Scoring Margin
MIT #35 11.5

FG %
MIT #37 48.8
Coast Guard #43 48.3

3-PT FGs %
MIT #30 40.2

3-PT FGs defense
Clark #41 0.284

FT %
Wheaton #17 77.1

Assists per game
MIT #9 18.1
Clark #33 16.4

Blocked shots per game
Springfield #26 4.5

Steals per game
MIT #21 11.5
Springfield #51 10.1

Turnover margin
Babson #21 5.5
WPI #42 4.2

Fouls per game
Coast Guard #33 15.8

[T990]

Top 50 Individual stats of as today:

Points Per Game
#4 Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT  27.5
#23 Craig Johnson, Coast Guard  22.1
#38 Anthony Coppola, Wheaton (Mass.)  20.8

Field-Goal Percentage
#34 Craig Johnson, Coast Guard  58.6

Three-Point Field Goals Per Game
#39 Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT 3.2

Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage
#27 Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT 46.7

Rebounds Per Game
#18 Craig Johnson, Coast Guard   10.7

Assists Per Game
#18 Bradley Gampel, MIT   6.4

Blocked Shots Per Game
#40 Ryan Coburn, Springfield 1.9

Steals Per Game
#13 Dan White, Springfield  3.2
#17 Bradley Gampel, MIT   3.1
#40 Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT  2.6

[Pat Coleman]

Such links are also on the front page of D3hoops.com, labeled NCAA Stats, and have been for about a decade.

[T990]

Thanks for the link, Pat.  The data is organized differently on those 2 views.

I see that Grinnell is averaging an astounding 124 ppg! including an outrageous 163-145 win over Fontbonne!!!  Yet they have a 6-3 record.  Even in losing, they scored 106, 107, and 109 points!

[Hugenerd]

MIT used strong second half play from Billy Johnson and Jimmy Bartolotta to beat Babson this afternoon, 69-56.  In fact, Johnson and Bartolotta (59 points) outscored Babson between the two of them and the tandem scored 38 of MIT's 39 points in the second half (Johnson had 24 and Bartolotta had 14 in the 2nd half).  The game was really close the entire first half and Babson even grabbed a lead in the first few minutes of the 2nd half before MIT started playing shut down defense. Johnson played stellar in the second half, especially, ending up with 26 points (24 in the 2nd) on 7-11 shooting (2-2 from 3), 7 boards and 3 steals.  He had 2 dunks, the second one coming off a Bartolotta steal and save, that really ignited the crowd. Bartolotta was also efficient shooting the ball, ending up 12-17 from the field (5-8 from 3).  He also added 4 boards, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.  Brad Gampel did a good job running the team and ended up with 6 assists and only 2 turnovers.  Everyone on the team played tough defense, only allowing one Babson player to score in double figures (11 by Landson) and held one of the top players in the conference, Zach Etten, to 9 points on 2-6 shooting. Babson, as a team, shot 39% for the game and only 33% in the second half.

MIT is now 2-0 in league play (along with WPI, who beat Springfield today, and Clark, who beat CGA).  Bartolotta is averaging 30 ppg (shooting 20-31, 65%, from the field and 7-11, 64%, from 3), 6.5 rpg, 3 apg, 2.5 spg, and 1.5 bpg in the young conference season.

MIT plays Newbury next, on Monday, before starting a 4 game conference road trip. Babson plays Amherst on Monday.

[Hugenerd]

Congrats to Bill Johnson (MIT) on being named NEWMAC Player of the Week.  He averaged 22 points and 8 rebounds for the week while helping MIT pick up 2 conference wins over Wheaton and Babson:

http://www.newmacsports.com/sports/mbkb/awards/weekly/2008-2009/mbkbweekly01122009

[Hugenerd]

MIT beats Newbury tonight by 31.  The score was 48-18 at half time after MIT went on a 47-10 run to end the half.  Jimmy Bartolotta had 21 at the half.  The starters didnt play the last 16 or so minutes of the game.  MIT has CGA next on Wednesday in CT.

[Hugenerd]

MIT improves to 3-0 in conference play with a 75-72 win over CGA.  CGA drops to 0-3 (7-7 overall).

Billy Johnson led the way for MIT with 25 points on 8-12 shooting (4-6 from 3) along 6 boards.  Jimmy Bartolotta had another outstanding overall performance with 24 points on 5-10 shooting (3-5 from 3), 12 rebounds, 2 assists and a block. Jamie Karraker added 14 points including 4 - 3 pointers and Erik Zuk added 7 including 2 3-pointers.  MIT shot 13-22 from 3 and 22 - 40 from the floor overall.  C. Johnson added 23 points for CGA.

MIT plays at Springfield on Saturday while CGA hosts Wheaton (MA).

[T990]

Bill Johnson (MIT) is off to a strong start to contend for another Player of the Week Award.  He was a monster vs CGA.  Now playing the 5 full time, his versatile offensive repertoire and rebounding presence has presented match up problems for NEWMAC teams. 

The NEWMAC season is early, but so far MIT (3-0) has pulled together and is playing as a cohesive team after moving Johnson to the 5 and adding 2 first year starters in the line up.  They are playing better offense and better defense than last year.  For example, last year vs CGA in 3 losses, MIT scored 58, 52, and 44 points.  Last night on the road, they put up 75.

Through last Sunday, MIT was 8th in the nation is Assists per Game (18.2), 19th in Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (41.0), and 25th in Field-Goal Percentage (49.2).  On defense, they were 45th in Scoring Defense (62.8 ), 64th in Field-Goal Percentage Defense (41.0), and 25th in Steals per Game (11.0).  I believe this is out of 392 teams in D3.

Some great matchups ahead as Clark (3-0) and WPI (2-0) are also undefeated at the moment.  Clark visits WPI on Saturday.

[T990]

The MIT at Springfield game has been changed to 8:30PM Saturday.

http://www.spfldcol.edu/homepage/athletics.nsf/Mens-Basketball-Schedule-2008

The Springfield site gives a Live Stats link of:

http://winus.spfldcol.edu/sports/xlive.htm

[Hugenerd]

Any known reason for this change?

[remsleep]

Hugenerd:
Reason for game time change for the MIT v. Springfield game is because there is some kind of tournament taking place all day at Springfield.  Result  was need to move the college game  to the 8:30 start.  That is based on "usually unreliable" information I received.  ( i.e. info from one of my kids).