MBB: NEWMAC

[Hugenerd]

MIT recruit Will Dickson is averaging nearly a double-double this season for his high school team in Dallas (and thats in only a 32 minute game).

http://www.dallasnews.com/highschoolsports/st-marks/

[BBallers]

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).
[/quote]

I agree as I can still remember how grateful I was for MIT not having to face WPI again last year.  It always appeared that WPI knew MIT's plays last year and matched up very well against MIT, since only Bartolotta could beat their opponents off the dribble with any consistency.  It is surprising (but correct) that MIT had such a long losing streak to WPI.

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.

I heard Bender is out, but hopefully be will be back for the NCAA's.  I am nervious about MIT's game against Clark as they appear to match up well against MIT.  They are a quick team.  MIT's games against Clark were wins, but were hard faught and close.  Hopefully Burke and Johnson will come out hitting a high perccentage of 3-pointers; Tashman rebounds, plays good defense and gets a lot of put backs; Kates dibble penetrates to some easy layups; Hollingsworth plays like the conference player of the year that he is; and Zuk and the other players bring intensity.

[BBallers]

Hugenerd, my apologies for screwing up your first quote in the other post.   

[toooldtoplay]

Hope that Bill heals quickly. He is an integral part of the team this year, making big shots, rebounding, and oftne guarding the other teams stud (Jeremy Lynn).   Eric Zuk will have to pick it up on D. I expect that Bill Johnson and Mitchell Kates will pick up the slack on O. Defense tomorrow is critical.

Need to handle the dribble penetration and kick out game and limit turnovers. It has been awhile since the Engineers put together a top notch game but now is as good a time as any to put it into another gear.

[ECSUalum]

hugenerd,

Good Luck to the Engineers tonight, been following MIT all year!!

Kick some butt in the NCAAs!!!

[Hugenerd]

Thanks.

They started out the game really well today, going up 17-4 in the first 4.5 minutes.  Then something unfortunate happened, Mitch Kates hurt his ankle and was out of the game for about 5 minutes of the game, during which Clark went on a 15-2 run.  The game was close the rest of the way, until Clark used a big run near the end of the game to take the win.  MIT also missed the presence of starting shooting guard Billy Bender, who usually guards the other teams best perimeter player and also adds a decent scoring punch.  Hopefully the team recoups and can get healthy enough to compete if they get a bid.  I think they should get a bid, but you never know.

[T990]

Just an observation:  In the 2 earlier games between Clark and MIT, MIT scored 54 and 59 points.  Yesterday they scored 59 points again.  In the 3 games, Clark scored 51, 52, and yesterday had 71.

Looking at Clark's 3 top scorers from yesterday, in the 3 games they went:

Mitch Renshaw  11p, 0p, 19p  (game1 pts, game 2 pts, game 3 pts)

Mark Alexander 12p, 17p, 15p

Jack Minister  5p, 3p, 19p

Minister and Renshaw were the difference, with Renshaw hitting 7 of 8 from the field and Minister hitting 5 Treys.  Clark got 38 points from 2 guys who put up a total of 11 and 8 in the previous games. 

Clark has a senior ladden team and they played like their backs were against the wall.  Maybe thats part of the reason why the NEWMAC host team has been bumped from 4 straight NEWMAC tournaments.

[T990]

For what it's worth, here's a projected bracket showing East region first round host schools MIT, Williams, Middlebury, and Plattsburgh State.

http://www.d3boards.com/playoffs/proj-mbbbracket2010.pdf

[ECSUalum]

Thanks.

They started out the game really well today, going up 17-4 in the first 4.5 minutes.  Then something unfortunate happened, Mitch Kates hurt his ankle and was out of the game for about 5 minutes of the game, during which Clark went on a 15-2 run.  The game was close the rest of the way, until Clark used a big run near the end of the game to take the win.  MIT also missed the presence of starting shooting guard Billy Bender, who usually guards the other teams best perimeter player and also adds a decent scoring punch.  Hopefully the team recoups and can get healthy enough to compete if they get a bid.  I think they should get a bid, but you never know.

Yes I heard, Hopefully the MIT bench can come through in case  Bender and Kates are not 100%!!  Never the less you cant take away the fact that the team had a tremendous regular season!!! Good Luck on your NCAA draw and will be looking for the boys to go deep into the tourny

[Hugenerd]

Thanks, I hope they can get healthy and go on a run as well.

Congrats to Clark for getting the automatic bid today.  Maybe they and MIT could meet for a 4th time if both teams take care of business.

[atn alum]

Congrats to Clark...4 straight yrs in which the NEWMAC's 1 seed wasn't the league tourney champ. Wonder if any other leagues have a current streak of that length.

And remember that next yr...NEWMAC men's tourney will be a 5-team deal. (6 and 7 won't make it)

[toooldtoplay]

Interesting. Why are they going to a 5 team tourney? I guess that would mean 3 byes and 1 play in game?

[atn alum]

I believe it's an across-the-board measure for all sports. Women's tourney is being cut from 8 teams to 6.

And yes, 5 would play 4, with the other 3 getting byes, from what I was told.

Last 4 yrs in the NEWMAC, the tourney champs have been the 7, 3, 2, and 5 seeds.

and in the first round, the 7 seed has beaten the 2-seed twice, and lost VERY close games the other 2 times.

I'd also guess that if you looked at the winning percentage of the lower seed in conference tournaments over the last 4 yrs, the NEWMAC would rate near the top...

Makes for good discussion...I had a good chat at the CUNYAC with some folks about whether I'd rather see a reg season champ in the NCAAs or would rather have the conf tourney champ get in, a la the Ivy League.

[Rick Vaughn]

MIT fans must have been sweating it a little bit...They had to have been confident, but that was cruel to put them in the bottom right corner bracket.   MIT has a tough road ahead.

Speaking of that bottom right hand bracket...Don't see any real favorite there.  I could easily see a match up of the two ODAC teams in the Elite 8. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, I think VA Wesleyan and Williams have the easiest road to the final eight.

If MIT's hitting shots, though, I think they have a fighting chance to win a game or two.