MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

Thanks for the recap Mass!

[mass_d3fan]

Congratulations to Clark's Brian Vayda for being named NEWMAC Player of the Week.

http://www.newmacsports.com/sports/mbkb/awards/weekly/2010-2011/mbkbweekly020711

[leelowlang]

Curious of the posters thoughts of who is the league's best:

Best Team:

Best Coach:

Best Player:

Best Point Guard:

Best Low-Post Scorer:

Best Shooter:

Best Dunker:

Best Defender:

[WPI89]

Curious of the posters thoughts of who is the league's best:

Best Team:  WPI

Best Coach:  Bartley

Best Player:  Robinson (Jefff)

Best Point Guard:  Kates

Best Low-Post Scorer:  Carr

Best Shooter:  Kates

Best Dunker:  Vayda

Best Defender: Kates?

[Hugenerd]

Here are my admittedly biased choices (my choices reflect only currently active players):

Best Team: WPI (given current rosters, my choice would be different if Hollingsworth was healthy)

Best Coach: Anderson

Best Player: Mitch Kates

Best Point Guard: Mitch Kates

Best Low-Post Scorer: Matt Carr

Best Shooter: Jamie Karraker

Best Dunker: Nick Davis (I havent seen anyone else besides Carr dunk in a game this season), the MIT Hoops Blog has some highlights

Best Defender:  (G) Billy Harkins, (P) Will Tashman, Matt Carr

[mass_d3fan]

Best Team: WPI

Best Coach: Tie - WPI – Chris Bartley & MIT – Larry Anderson
                   
Best Player: 3-way tie - Springfield – Matt Cavalieri
-   WPI – Jeff Robinson
-   MIT – Mitchell Kates  

Best Point Guard: MIT – Mitchell Kates

Best Low-Post Scorer: WPI – Matt Carr

Best Shooter: MIT - Jamie Karraker

Best Dunker: WPI – Matt Carr

Best Defender: Front Court – Tie - WPI – Matt Carr
                                                MIT – Will Tashman
                        Back Court – Tie - Springfield – Billy Harkins
                                                MIT – Mitchell Kates


Coach : Bartley for returning his team to the top of the conference & back into the national rankings – best ranking of his tenure I believe.  Anderson for overcoming a slew of injuries, including the conference's best player, and still keeping MIT in contention (ranked 11th in the Northeast).

Best Player: for various reasons, these 3 are in a virtual tie.

Dunker:  Sorry to disagree with you WPI89, but Vayda has not had a dunk this year.  This one is no contest, I took some time last night and looked through the box scores (Thank God there are only 7 teams!)

Here are the dunk totals (including tonight):

M. Carr (WPI) – 14 with 1 miss
R. Braithwaite (BAB) – 7
M. Hall (BAB) - 7 with 1 miss
J. James (CGA) – 6
J. Galloway (WPI) – 3 with 1 miss
DJ Bailey (CLK) – 3
R. Coburn (SPR) – 2 with 2 misses
C. Desravines (WHE) – 2
N. Davis (MIT) – 2
M. Renshaw (CLK) – 1
B. Johnson (WHE) – 1
J. Rote (SPR) - 1

Best defenders: Combination of stats and what I have seen.  You really do need to separate that into the 2 categories of front & back court for the obvious reasons.

[mass_d3fan]

Sorry it took me a bit to get this up, I got caught up in the Duke-N. Carolina game.  Great Game!

WPI defeats Coast Guard tonight 60-47.  Not a particularly impressive performance, but a win nonetheless.   The Engineers were led by Matt Carr's 6th double-double of the season of 10 points and 12 boards.  Freshman Ryan Kolb had a career high 11 points and Jerome Stewart also posted 11 points to go with 5 rebounds. Fernando Perez came off the bench to add 8 points and 4 boards. Ben Etten chipped in with 7 boards to help WPI to a 43-29 advantage on the glass.  Jamie Shannon handed out 4 assists.

Coast Guard got 11 from both Kevin Sowers and Ed Gailor. Adam Radtke tallied 10 points and 4 rebounds.  Jevon James had a team-high 8 boards.

In a total reversal from their last game, the Engineers shot 25% (4-16) from 3-pt land tonight.  The first half was a primarily a defensive battle.  WPI held the Bears to 22% from the field, but shot only 31% themselves.  Stewart's 8 points powered them to a 21-15 halftime lead.  The second half was a series of runs.  WPI opened up a 29-19 lead, then the Bears cut it to 4.  The Engineers surged out with a 24-7 run to hold a 55-34 lead with 6 minutes to go.  Play got a bit sloppy with the reserves, and the Bears sliced it to as low as 11 with less than a minute to go.

The interior game took a while to get going, but the frontcourt guys shot a combined 17 for 30 on their way to a 34-21 points in the paint advantage.

[mass_d3fan]

The rest of the action last night in the NEWMAC:

MIT wins over Clark, 69-58.  Mitchell Kates led the way with 21 points, 5 assists, 4 steals and 4 boards.  Will Tashman posted 16 points and 7 rebounds, Jamie Karraker had 17  points, Will Dickinson added 9 points and 7 boards and grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds to go with 5 points.

Clark got 14 points and 6 rebounds from Brian Vayda, 11 points from Jake Gubitose, 6 points and 7 boards from Tucker Esborn.and 8 points from Travis Curley.

This was another low scoring first half (MIT led 25-19) with both teams shooting poorly. MIT was 11 for 30 (37%) and Clark went 6 for 20 (30%). The second half saw MIT get to the free throw line 20 times and shoot 55% from the field.  The game was back and forth throughout the half and Vayda tied it at 44 with a 3-ptr at 5:33. MIT then went on a game-deciding 12-0 run over the next 2 minutes.

The game of the night went down in Norton as Babson & Wheaton combined for 190 points.  The Beavers won 99-91 in 3 overtimes.  Marcus McDermott went 10 for 13 tallying 29 points.  Alex Rudolph put up 18 points, 6 boards & 4 assists. Russell Braithwaite contributed 17 points with 5 rebounds and Kris Noonan added 11 points and 7 boards. Guards Matt Florio (10 pts/8 assists) & Matt Zioa (10 points) rounded out 6 double-figure scorers for the Beavers.   

Wheaton got a game-high 30 points from Anthony Coppola. Freshman Brian Grossman posted a career-high 18 points and 8 rebounds to go with 4 assists.  Will Bayliss chipped in with 12, Brendan Degnan posted 11 points & 5 boards and Shawn Dailey recorded 8 blocked shots, which tied the school single game record.

Three players (Bayliss, Florio & Zioa) played 50 or more minutes.

Babson held a 9-pt lead with 7 and a half minutes left in regulation, but Wheaton went on a 13-4 run to force OT.  The first overtime went back & forth as neither team could take control and a McDermott jump shot forced OT #2.  Babson looked like they would pull out a 2-pt win, but Bayliss hit a layup with one second to go and the game went to a third OT.  The game continued to see-saw until a Rudolph 3-ptr and two FTs by Braithwaite opend up a 7 point lead with 1:33 to go.


WPI can clinch the #1 seed with a win at Babson on Saturday.  MIT & Springfield pretty much have the #2/#3 slots locked up and the higher seed will most likely be decided in their meeting on the last day of the regular season.  Babson looks like it has a good hold on the fourth seed.  The battle over the final week and a half for the last post-season spot has:

Coast Guard at 3-7 (Split with Clark, 1-0 Vs Wheaton)
Clark at 2-7  (Split with Coast Guard & Wheaton)
Wheaton at 2-8 (Slpit with Clark, 0-1 Vs Coast Guard)

[WPI89]

With tail slighlty between my legs - I have not ever seen Vayda play for Clark (although I will next Saturday - the 19th) - my buddy lives in Southbridge and I saw Vayda come in there his senior year (I think for Sturbridge?) and he had 3 dunks - so I took a shot!

Thanks for the Coast Guard update.

[Hugenerd]

Best Team: WPI

Best Coach: Tie - WPI – Chris Bartley & MIT – Larry Anderson
                   
Best Player: 3-way tie - Springfield – Matt Cavalieri
-   WPI – Jeff Robinson
-   MIT – Mitchell Kates  

Best Point Guard: MIT – Mitchell Kates

Best Low-Post Scorer: WPI – Matt Carr

Best Shooter: MIT - Jamie Karraker

Best Dunker: WPI – Matt Carr

Best Defender: Front Court – Tie - WPI – Matt Carr
                                                MIT – Will Tashman
                        Back Court – Tie - Springfield – Billy Harkins
                                                MIT – Mitchell Kates


Coach : Bartley for returning his team to the top of the conference & back into the national rankings – best ranking of his tenure I believe.  Anderson for overcoming a slew of injuries, including the conference's best player, and still keeping MIT in contention (ranked 11th in the Northeast).

Best Player: for various reasons, these 3 are in a virtual tie.

Dunker:  Sorry to disagree with you WPI89, but Vayda has not had a dunk this year.  This one is no contest, I took some time last night and looked through the box scores (Thank God there are only 7 teams!)

Here are the dunk totals (including tonight):

M. Carr (WPI) – 14 with 1 miss
R. Braithwaite (BAB) – 7
M. Hall (BAB) - 7 with 1 miss
J. James (CGA) – 6
J. Galloway (WPI) – 3 with 1 miss
DJ Bailey (CLK) – 3
R. Coburn (SPR) – 2 with 2 misses
C. Desravines (WHE) – 2
N. Davis (MIT) – 2
M. Renshaw (CLK) – 1
B. Johnson (WHE) – 1
J. Rote (SPR) - 1

Best defenders: Combination of stats and what I have seen.  You really do need to separate that into the 2 categories of front & back court for the obvious reasons.

I think the defeinition of "best dunker" is subjective.  I can see players like Carr and Hall having a lot of dunks because they are tall and get some easy dunks around the basket.  I think other factors go into it like the type of dunks, dunks over opponents, etc.

[mass_d3fan]

HN,

I agree with you, and thats why I said it was no contest.  In my view the best dunker must have quantity AND quality.  One or two a season is not good enough. Would anyone think Blake Griffin was a great dunker if he only had one of those highlight dunks every 3 months? If you're talking about the best dunker, you actually have to have some dunks. I have been fortunate to see Carr do various types in the games I have been to, from the easier ones to the ones in traffic to dunking on guys.  He had 3 here in Worcester against Babson including one off a rebound. 

Another aspect of a low-post player getting the so-called "easy" dunks is the work he does before the dunk.  Good position, footwork & hands create that "easy" one.  If my memory serves, the dunk Carr had at MIT was like that.  The real easy ones are the break-away with no-one around.  Those are the ones most "non-bigs" get at this level of ball.

If one wants to create a separate Best Dunk category, then there would be a good debate I'm sure.

Personally, I do not buy into the argument that you discount a taller players dunks just because he is tall.  Is Dwight Howard less of a dunker than Dwayne Wade because he is 7 feet tall. Is a 3-pt specialist less of a shooter because he takes most of his shots beyond the arc? OR is he taking advantage of something he can do better than others? It would be like discounting a quick point guard's abilities just because he is quick.  Height is an asset and dunking is one of the best ways to maximize it in this game. 

[mass_d3fan]

Gentlemen,

   I got to see the WPI/Babson game today as it was a mini-reunion day for my wife and some of her friends.  Before we get to the men's game, I got to see the Babson women's team play today.  Each and every men's team in the conference should take a day or two and watch film of this Babson team.  Extremely impressive talent and even more impressive execution!

It was Pink Zone day at Babson Park.  My wife wanted me to urge everyone to give whatever they can afford to any breast cancer fund raiser that is local to you.

Onto the men's game...  WPI won its 13th in a row, 69-55, and locked up the #1 seed for the NEWMAC tournament.  The victory also gave WPI its 7th consecutive season with 20 or more wins(topped only by Woosters 15).  The Engineers were led by Matt Carr's team-high 16 points and 6 rebounds & Jeff Robinson's 14 points and 4 boards. Fernando Perez came off the bench with his best game in over a month with 14 to go with 3 boards.  Ben Etten & Kyle Nadeau each added 7 points and 4 rebounds to the cause.

Russell Braithwaite played a very good game for the Beavers with a game-high 19 points and 6 boards. Alex Rudolph came of the bench to contribute 13 points.  Kris Noonan chipped in with 9 points and Peter Foley had a game-high 7 rebounds.

This game had the only four players in the NEWMAC shooting over 50% from the field for the season and they all shot very well.  Carr & Perez went a combined 12 for 15 and Noonan & Braithwaite hit 9 of their 11 shots.

It looked like this was going to be a blowout early.  Carr scored 8 of the Engineers first 10 points and made a nice pass to Wesoloski for the other bucket.  It was 10-2 after 6 minutes.  A 3-pt play by Braithwaite triggered a small run that saw the Babson close it to 14-10 halfway through the first half.  During that stretch, WPI missed 4 threes. The Engineers then went on an 8-0 run as 4 different players hit lay-ups.  Babson responded with a 9-0 run that ended with a Rudolph 3-ptr and it was 22-21 with 2 and a half minutes left.  WPI had the final run of the half as a Robinson jumper and a free throw from Wesoloski were sandwiched around 4 pts from Carr to yield a 29-21 halftime score.

The second half continued the pattern of runs.  WPI opened the half with a 12-6 run to grab a 41-27 lead with 15 minutes to go.  It stayed a double-digit lead until a Braithwaite FT started a small run that got the Beavers within 6 at 9:14.  The lead stayed in between 6 & 8 until Carr drained a 12 footer that put WPI up 56-46 with just under 6 minutes to play.  The Engineers put the game away with a Perez put-back hoop, a Nadeau three pointer and a Carr dunk of a Shannon miss.

This was another tough day for Engineers from beyond the arc.  They went 2 for 14, including 0-9 in the first half.  Since the hot first half (11 of 18) last Sat. at Wheaton, WPI has shot a combined 8 for 37 (21.6%) from beyond the arc. On the positive side, they have continued to be one of the toughest teams in the country to shoot threes against.  Over that same stretch, they have only allowed 8 of 36 threes (22.2%). For the season, WPI is only allowing 27.5% of threes.

After our mini-discussion on the "best dunker" this week, I would I saw the best two in this game.  Both Braithwaite & Carr had two very good dunks today.  I still say Carr is the best, but I will say Braithwaite is definitely second and not as far behind as I thought earlier this week (My other view of him was limited as he was in foul trouble in Worcester).

I see the other games in the conference were rather surprising with Clark upsetting Springfield and Coast Guard surprising MIT.

[WPI89]

Thanks again Mass - I have just seen there impressive scores - do you think Babson's women are "win the whole thing" good?

[WPI89]

TOP 10?

Not sure if they will make up enough points but I just noticed the 3 teams in front of WPI (9, 10, 11) all lost last week.  Was the team a few years back (with Cain) ever in the top 10?

[mass_d3fan]

WPI89,

I am not sure if the Babson women can win it all, but I do think they are a legit final 4 contender. They went to the Elite 8 last year and lost only 1 senior who only played 6 minutes a game.  They are very talented and experienced with NCAA tournament play. I would not be surprised at all if they reach the final game.