MBB: NEWMAC

[larry_u]

Can someone post your NCAA team's profiles in here:

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6299.0

[Hugenerd]

WPI drops out of the top 25 this week, receiving 11 votes.  MIT receives votes for the second time in their history (and the season), picking up 2 votes.

[Hugenerd]

NEWMAC season ending awards were announced today:

Player of the Year
Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT 


Rookie of the Year
Brian Vayda, Clark


Coach of the Year
Larry Anderson, MIT


Sportsmanship Award
Babson College


First Team All-Conference
Jimmy Bartolotta, MIT
Craig Johnson, Coast Guard
Pat Crean, Springfield
Anthony Coppola, Wheaton
Jerome Kirkland, WPI


Second Team All-Conference
Zach Etten, Babson
Mark Alexander, Clark
Bradley Gampel, MIT
Billy Johnson, MIT
Ben Etten, WPI
Adam Lirette, WPI

[Hugenerd]

I think, in general, the picks were pretty good.  I think the coaches got it right for the top 3 individual awards (an argument could be made for Jamie Karraker from MIT for ROY, but I guess you cant win them all).


The only major difference I would make would be to put Billy Johnson on the first team and have Pat Crean on the second team.  In NEWMAC play, B. Johnson's rankings were: 2nd in scoring, 6th in rebounding, 9th in FG%, UR in assists, 9th in FT%, 13th in steals, 1st in 3FG%, 3rd in 3FGM, and 5th in blocked shots.  Crean's rankings in the same categories were: 8th in scoring (-6 spots compared to Johnson), 9th in rebounding (-3 spots), 15th in FG% (-6 spots), 4th in assists (+), 15th in FT% (-6 spots), 13th in steals(even), UR in 3FG%(-), UR in 3FGM (-), and 14th in blocked shots (-9 spots).  So Crean only has him in the assists category, while Billy Johnson is ranked higher in every other category.  I dont think you could argue that Crean or Johnson are any more/less important to their team, and obviosly MIT had the better team this year (MIT beat Springfield 3 times).  I think Johnson is a first team player.


STATS for all games
##  SUMMARY        Min/G  FG%  3PT%  FT%  Reb/G  Ast/G  Stl  Blk  Pts/G
33  Billy Johnson     31.8   .469  .378  .705     6.9      1.6    34   23   17.3
41  Pat Crean         31.2   .438  .263  .683     5.6      3.0    46   12   14.5

[T990]

MIT at RIC on webcast Friday 6:00PMLIVE VIDEO:

http://d3sports.prestosports.com/links/p47f78

Live stats:

http://d3sports.prestosports.com/links/15o9lp

http://www.goanchormen.com/livestatsbb/XLIVE.HTM


Interactive NCAA Bracket:

http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2009/ncaa_bracket_DIII_basketball_men.html

[massd3fan]

Congratulations to the entire MIT team and staff on a great season, the NEWMAC Tournament title and their first NCAA tournament appearance.  Tremendous job by any measure, but extraodinary when your talking about playing with 9 men in uniform for most of the season!

Congratulations to Jimmy Bartolotta on the NEWMAC Player of the Year and also to Billy Johnson & Brad Gampel for their All-Conference honors

[massd3fan]

Sorry for my absence since last week.  Family concerns had me out of town since Sunday.  I did however get to the WPI/Springfeild game and saw the first 10 minutes of the MIT/Babson game as well.

I was very disappointed to say the least in WPI's performance on Sat.  I was (until we got called away) so looking forward to seeing a WPI/MIT matchup in the final.

The WPI/Springfield game looked like a blowout early.  WPI hit 3 3's and got out to a 14-5 lead after the first 6 minutes.  if you check the box score, they were 6 for 12 at that point.  After that, they went on a cold streak to rival the last Ice Age.   32 points in the next 34 minutes on 8 for 48 (17% !!!).  Even shooting that bad, they stayed in the game until around 4 or 5 minute mark.

My general observations were they played very tight in that second half.  They really made no adjustments to the 2-3 zone employed by Springfield.  The perimeter players all seemed reluctant to take open shots.  It seemed almost every time that ball movement created an open look, the player who received the ball would ball fake (a shot or a pass) and allow the defense to recover.

They never seemed to get the ball into the typical weak spots of the 2-3 zone and then attack it. My guess is practices this week will be highly focused on that!

In my opinion, they were shown a lot of respect from the Selection Commitee because of their SOS.  They get to host and have a very favorable matchup in Husson from Maine.

The portion of the MIT/Babson game that i did get to see, well it seemed that whatever "infected" WPI was still on the court.  Both teams struggled to hit shots.  Bartolotta was off, and the score was 10-6 MIT when I had to leave.  I was surprised to see the final score to olny be 50-39.

I think MIT has picked up some swagger on their run to the automatic NEWMAC bid, I think they will upset RIC.

[massd3fan]

Before  I forget!

Congratulations to Jerome Kirkland, Ben Etten, & Adam Lirette of WPI for gathering All-Conference Honors!  Also glad to see Zach Etten from Babson up there too (as an older brother myself, I always root hard for the older one in brother-brother battles)

I do  agree with you Hugenerd in that I would have placed Johnson on the first team over Crean as well.  Both are deserving, but Johnson was asked to play huge minutes as well as alter his own style of play to help the team.  Numbers aside, performing the way he did under those circumstances (knowing there was really no backup for him to play down low) puts him on the first team in my mind.

[WPI89]

Hugenerd - I really enjoy your posts and in fact that is how I stay in touch with NEWMAC hoops - however, I think you talked yourself into a corner a bit.

One post you talk about how Jimmy B should win national player of the year because he "has absolutely no help" and the next post you show us stats on why Johnson should be first team all conference.  I have not seen MIT since last year so I am not qualified to talk post season awards, but it is tough for you to make both those arguments back-to-back.

ps - although I root for WPI and clearly they have an easier first round matchup (at least on paper), I could see Bartolotta as the best player on the court, willing MIT to a win or 2 in the big dance.

Hope they both do well

[Hugenerd]

Hugenerd - I really enjoy your posts and in fact that is how I stay in touch with NEWMAC hoops - however, I think you talked yourself into a corner a bit.

One post you talk about how Jimmy B should win national player of the year because he "has absolutely no help" and the next post you show us stats on why Johnson should be first team all conference.  I have not seen MIT since last year so I am not qualified to talk post season awards, but it is tough for you to make both those arguments back-to-back.

ps - although I root for WPI and clearly they have an easier first round matchup (at least on paper), I could see Bartolotta as the best player on the court, willing MIT to a win or 2 in the big dance.

Hope they both do well

I never said Bartolotta had no help (maybe you can provide a quote of what you are talking about).  If you are talking about my comparison to Raymond, I just said that Raymond has a deeper and more talented team around him (he has an all-american center on his team).

Im not trying to detract at all from Raymond.  I got to watch him a few times online this year and he his a great player.  Since MIT doesnt webcast there games, it is hard for people from other regions to know how good he is.  I would say that Raymond and Bartolotta are the two best guards in the country and arguing who is better is an argument that can go back and forth.  Obviously, Raymond has had more team success to this point but he also has a better and deeper team around him.  Bartolotta has put up better numbers but he doesnt play in the CCIW.  They are both great players and I dont think there is use in arguing this.  I think the voting for player of the year will probably depend alot on the region of the voter.  Whoever wins Player of the Year and the Jostens will be deserving regardless of who wins.

I really don't think it is even close hugenerd.  A first team would look something like him, Shelton from UMD, Rudin, Baskauskas, Deluca, but of that group, he put up the best numbers by far, and all the rest of those guys had a lot more talent surrounding them.  I mean, I think he is a legit contender for national player of the year -- he's gotta be most valuable -- I mean, w/out him, what would MIT's record have been there year?  Although Wheaton fans could make a similar case for Raymond ...

I agree.  Raymond does have another All-American on his team (a legit big-man, nonetheless, Wiele).  Wheaton (IL) did win a few games without Raymond, though.  I do not think MIT has won a game without Bartolotta, during his entire career (given he has only missed a few games).

You look at other NE All-Americans with not much depth (Pierce at Tufts and C. Johnson at CGA) and you see how their doing and compare that to how MIT is doing, and you can get an idea of how valuable Bartolotta is.

That doesnt mean Bartolotta has 0 help, it means he has less help (especially in terms of guys off the bench) than most other teams. I have said all along that MIT has very little depth and that Bartolotta garners double or triple teams on most nights, but lack of depth doesnt mean they have lack of talent.  I have said on numerous times that MIT has strength in their top couple of players, whereas teams like WPI have strength in their depth. B. Johnson is a legit player, he put up 40 points on senior night, he was the second leading scorer in NEWMAC play behind Bartolotta, he is good.

[Hugenerd]

hugenerd,

   I will say MIT wins this one at WPI.  With the way Johnson has adjusted to playing the 5, MIT has two definitive "go-to" players that both provide matchup difficulties for WPI.  Johnson presents a huge huge problem for WPI.  If WPI goes with their small lineup, he can take over inside, if they play their only big guy (big body, but slow) on him, he can go back outside or work him off the dribble.

  As this is JB,s last go round, and I can see him having a huge game.  I you have presented the case for him being the best player in the conference for the past few years, I can see him wanting to cement that with a major statement game.  This is MIT's opportunity to take control of the conference and give their nemesis a slap in the process.

I hope to get there to see this one, it should be a great atmosphere.

We have a couple of day's to talk this one up, besides its ore fun talking about this than the Super Bowl !

I wont be able to make it but I sure am looking forward to it. 

The team's are very different, considering WPI seems to have a very balanced attack with 9-10 players contributing every game, while MIT depends heavily on their starting 5 (Bartolotta and Johnson score 67.5% of MITs points in their NEWMAC games so far, with those two + Jamie Karrakar scoring 84% of the team's offense).  I think that MIT definitely has a good chance to win, they have been playing really well on the road lately (they led both the Springfield and Clark games by 20+ points in the second half in their last two road games).  However, it is always interesting on the road.  WPI is a strong home team and it will also depend on Jimmy B and Billy J staying out of foul trouble.  Bradley Gampel will also play a key role.  If he can handle WPI's defense and not commit too many turnovers, it will give MIT a much better chance to win.

In terms of Billy J, he has definitely caused a lot of mathcup problems at the 5.  He has been knocking down two to four 3's the last several games (which is hard for a true post to defend) and at 6'8" he can take smaller guys inside.  Considering that Jimmy B has been a constant this season, scoring near his average in every game (he hasnt scored less than 20 in any game this season), I think Billy J has played a very large role in MIT's emergence as a top team in the NEWMAC.  He his currently the second leading scorer in NEWMAC conference play (23 ppg, behind Bartolotta's 30 ppg) and has also been averageing 6.8 rpg (second on the team behind Bartolotta's 7.3 rpg).  (Note all stats are through last Wednesday's games, because NEWMAC hasnt updated their stats through Saturday's games yet).

Should be a fun one to follow online (for me) and even more fun for you to watch in person.

If you read some earlier posts, I am pretty sure I have given Billy Johnson his due all along.  This post was made before the first MIT-WPI game.

There is a difference between saying a team doesnt have a lot of depth and saying Bartolotta is the only good player on his team or saying Bartolotta has no help (which I have never said).

[massd3fan]

WPI89,

   Did you attend the WPI/Springfield game last week?  If so, what were your insights?  What do you think they need to do to gather a couple of wins this weekend?

   I have only seen a very few games and would appreciate anythin you can throw into the discussion on this year's team.

[clarkie]

Hugenerd,

I know you say you can't have it all, but I have to say, relax. Brian Vayda was by far the best rookie in the league and the only real spark the second half of the season for Clark. I went to the Clark vs. MIT game and yes it could possibly have been due to Johnson scoring upwards of 40 points and Bartolotta being his normal fantastic self (I have said on this blog before that he deserves all the credit in the world, he is GOOD), but I have no idea who this Jamie player is, and I like to think I keep up with what's going on in the league. No need to defend yourself as you like to do, you make good points. But please, let Vayda have his moment.

A HUGE congrats to Coach Anderson of MIT. Absolutely always a class act and am glad to see that he put together such a successful team despite not having a big enough roster for an intersquad scrimmage (even with no substitutes). I have always been impressed watching him from the sidelines and enjoyed seeing such a poised leader coaching MIT (even if I am a Cougar fan myself).

Let's go MIT!

[remsleep]

Just want to let everyone know, especially MIT fans,  that there is a piece scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow (i.e. March 5), probably on ESPNU about MIT.   It is my understanding that it will include a live phone interview with Coach Anderson, maybe some Jimmy B. sound bites and a bit of video.  I am told it will be first broadcast during the 5:30 (ET) PM ESPNU slot.  Perhaps will be rebroadcast within the ESPN family during the following hours.   Good for MIT!

[Hugenerd]

Just want to let everyone know, especially MIT fans,  that there is a piece scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow (i.e. March 5), probably on ESPNU about MIT.   It is my understanding that it will include a live phone interview with Coach Anderson, maybe some Jimmy B. sound bites and a bit of video.  I am told it will be first broadcast during the 5:30 (ET) PM ESPNU slot.  Perhaps will be rebroadcast within the ESPN family during the following hours.   Good for MIT!

I actually heard about this a few days ago but was told not to discuss it yet (at that point).  I hear there will also be interviews with all 3 MIT seniors.