MBB: NEWMAC

[Hugenerd]

Hollingsworth's shooting performance tonight isnt typical for him, he is shooting close to 60% on the year.  It is always tough to beat a team if they shoot 65% from 3 and outscore you by 19 points on the foul line. 

[mass_d3fan]

A very bad loss for WPI last night against Springfield.  The Engineers were coming off 3 good games (I only saw the last one Vs Babson) where they had made a change in their player rotation. In that Babson game Stewart, Lessard, Perez & Carr combined for more than 50% of the offense scoring.  The Engineers had move to rotating players so that most of time Lessard or Carr was in the game with Stewart or Perez. During that 3 game stretch, Lessard had 11 pts/17 rebs, Carr had 25 pts/23 rebs, Perez had 27 pts/15 rebs & Stewart chalked up 22 pts/14 rebs.

Last night, was a horrific shooting night for WPI - 27.4% (17 for 62) for the game.  Bad shooting and a lack of getting the ball inside just killed them. The Engineers went long stretches during the game without scoring.  For the game, Lessard was 0 pts/2 rebs, Carr was 6 pts/6 rebs, Perez was 6 pts/4 rebs & Stewart was 2 pts/4 rebs.

The game was basically decided in the final 10 minutes of the 1st half.  Back-to-back Perez lay-ups, one of them right-handed, gave WPI a 22-21 lead at 9:33 to go in the half.  That would be the last points the Engineers would score until a Kyle Nadeau 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer. That made the game 38-25.  WPI got it to 11 a couple of times in the 2nd half, but the Pride always responded.  WPI struggled mightily against the Pride's 2-3 zone.  They could not hit the outside shot, and very rarely were able to get penetration and dish off.

Matt Cavalieri & Pat Crean made all the big plays either scoring or hitting open teammates to keep Springfield's lead in double digits. Cavalieri was game high scorer (20) and looked very comfortable shooting the ball all night.  He did have a bandage on his forehead, which I assume may have been the reason for his absence Vs Clark.

On the other side, Jeff Robinson had his worst game of the year scoring only 5 pts on 2 of 13 shooting.  While Nadeau was the only Engineer in double figures (16 pts), he was only 5 for 13 shooting.

The highlight of the evening for WPI was a monster dunk by Carr over Coburn.  It pulled the Engineers within 11, but then another of those scoring droughts (9 possessions over 5 minutes this time) killed any momentum the dunk had generated.

It had looked like WPI had climbed back into contention for a possible at-large bid to the NCAAs, but that possiblity flew out the doors of the gym last night.  They must win the NEWMAC tournament to go back to the dance this year.  They have a big game against Clark on Sat. to at least grab 3rd place in the conference.  A loss would mean a possible tie-breaker with Wheaton if the Lyons defeat Coast Guard.

The Engineers need to re-group and get back to what they were doing in the 3 previous games.  The good inside play was opening up things for the perimeter shooters.  As MIT's loss last night reveals, any team is capable of taking out any other team when the tournament starts.

[Hugenerd]

Interview with MIT freshman point guard Mitchell Kates at the new MIT basketball blog (mitbasketball.blogspot.com).

I am looking forward to Saturday's games.  Nothing is set in stone except for the #7 spot (Babson).  #1 and 2 is not yet decided between MIT and Springfield.  #3 and 4 is not yet decided between WPI and Wheaton, and #4-6 is not yet decided between Wheaton, Clark, and CGA (Wheaton could be high as 3 or low as 6 depending on tiebreakers, Clark and CGA could potentially finish anywhere between 4 and 6).  Should be an exciting weekend as the top 6 teams are all in action (only Babson is idle) and all 3 games mean something in terms of the standings.

[Hugenerd]

MIT pulls it out on the road, 66-62, to pull out the NEWMAC championship.

[BBallers]

Appreciate the tournament seeding scenarios.  I'm very happy and relieved that MIT got the win over Springfield on the road.  This was a very close game where 6 of their best 7 players (Lehto played 9 minutes) had 3, 4 or 5 fouls.  Coach Anderson was forced to go to a 2-3 zone (that is rare) to protect his players from fouling out.  It ended up working out great as Springfield failed to hit their outside shots.  Pat Crean had his way in the first half and first part of the second half, then went bombing away unsuccessfully at the end of the game.  Matt Cavalieri only went 1-4 and fouled out and Ryan Coburn missed a boatload of lay-ups.  Especially glad to see Billy Johnson have a breakout game scoring 20 points.  Springfield also did a lot of doubling up which left Burke open and he definitely made them pay for those mistakes.  Hollingsworth had a great 15-15 (points-rebounds) game.

It is obvious that Wheaton is a bad matchup for MIT as the only D3 team to beat MIT, but I'd still like to see MIT get a third shot at them in the conference tournament.

[Hugenerd]

It was a big win today for MIT.  Lehto had to play because the starting shooting guard, Billy Bender, was out with an injury in todays game (the injury was reported by deiscanton from Wednesdays game).  From what I hear, he is will be a gametime decision next Saturday.

One other quick note, Cavalieri actually didnt foul out, he did see limited mintues due to foul trouble, but ended with 4 fouls. MIT was able to hold him to 5 points, which was a key in the game, because he is the 5th leading scorer in the conference at 16+ ppg.  He was huge in the win over WPI on Wednesday.  Also, MITs entire starting 5 was in foul trouble pretty much from mid-way through the first-half and on, but the only player to foul out was Hollingsworth in the last minute.  The zone, as Bballers pointed out, was key in allowing MIT to protect the guys who were at risk.

[T990]

FWIW, here's a website predicting the D3 NCAA field.

http://www.mittensportsreport.com/2009/10/d3-bracketology.html

They are not showing WPI with a Pool C slot.  WPI didn't even make "Left on the Board".  So that would mean the only way the NEWMAC gets 2 teams into the NCAA is if someone other than MIT can win the NEWMAC tournament.

Also has a projected bracket here:

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3eUjT5MfRzjYzk0ZTEwNTAtMDQ0ZC00MDFmLTgwMTctNDE3NTRlNTY3YjA4&hl=en

According to that, MIT would be hosting the NCAA first round, along with Williams and Middlebury.  Of course, lots of games to play before any of this is settled.

[tball]

Bracket has issues as Ramapo, Merchant Marine, Cabrini & Rutgers-Newark are listed twice.  They are in both the top right & bottom right brackets.

[T990]

Good find!

Either there are 4 more slots for New England teams, or those teams are being given double-elimination seeds! 

[toooldtoplay]

Semifinal are set for Rockwell Cage!!

MIT vs. Clark who survived a furious comeback by Wheaton to hang on by 3. Degnan misses a 3 pointer off his own (intentional) foul shot miss at the buzzer. Game time 1:00.

WPI vs. Springfield at 3PM.

Big snow storm forecast for the East Coast but it should be cleared out by Saturday.

[Hugenerd]

Clark shot 3-11 from the FT line in the final 4 minutes (including a front end of a 1-and-1) and almost handed the game to Wheaton.  They were fortunate to survive with all those missed opportunities.

Babson played Springfield tough, but comitted way too many turnovers (especially in the final minutes) to pull out the win.

WPI was up big (really big) early in the game, but CGA stormed back and were within 2 points near the end of the game, but could not pull it out.

[Mr. Ypsi]

hugenerd,

Would you characterize MIT as disappointed they can't seek revenge on Wheaton, or relieved they don't have to face them again?

[Hugenerd]

hugenerd,

Would you characterize MIT as disappointed they can't seek revenge on Wheaton, or relieved they don't have to face them again?

I have heard both sentiments from people on campus prior to tonights game (I havent talked to anyone within the program about this).   This year, I think they would have liked to exact revenge because I think they are good enough to pretty much beat any team you put in front of them if they play well.  Obviously any team can have their pitfalls on a given night (even WashU lost to a ~.500 team), but for some reason Wheaton would just shoot lights out against MIT from deep.  I dont know if it was chance that it happened two games in a row against the same opponent (they were combined 20-35 in those two games from 3), or if the Wheaton shooters were getting more arc on the ball because they had to shoot over the taller MIT players, but it is tough to beat anyone when they are scoring 30 points from 3 on 57% shooting, on average, especially when the games are low scoring like the first matchup was (MIT was also outscored by nearly 20 at the FT line in the second matchup at Wheaton).

With that said, in past experiences, such as last year, I know that I personally was very relieved they did not have to play WPI in the NEWMAC finals in last years tourney.  In fact, Bartolotta never beat WPI in his 4 year career (I believe 0-10 counting the conference tourney).  This years team has already beaten them twice.  I dont think they care that much in either direction about who they play.  However, another plus about getting the bye in a conference like the NEWMAC is that you dont have to play on Wednesday night and so the coaches get an extra game to scout live (this is not a huge factor because this late in the season they have already seen eachother twice, but it is an advantage, along with the extra game off to get guys healthy).

[toooldtoplay]

The 3 point shot is the great equalizer.  Going 10-18 vs. 3-18 is 21 points - certainly more than enough to elevate a middle of the pack team over a better group. If they didn't have to put them in the outcomes would be pre determined. That is why we love the game. I personally would have loved to see another chance at Wheaton but believe the spread is higher over Clark.

If the weather is not too bad it should be a fun weekend in Cambridge. I see a WPI vs. MIT final going down to the wire. Predictions??

[tball]

Wheaton shot 24 for 27 (88.9%) free throws against MIT and only 14 of 24 (58.3%) last night v. Clark.

MIT will need to step up their free throw defense this weekend.