MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

I am in

[WPI89]

Unfortunately WPI is not.  Was surprised - d3hoops had them in relatively easy...................Keene also out!

[Hugenerd]

It was a 2 pronged comment. One even when I was playing Springfield conducted themselves in a less than classy way- they are simply staying true to their roots. That being said...

I just don't much care for MIT's act. People act like it's a shock that good basketball players would want to come to probably 2nd best academic school in the entire country. That coupled with their ridiculously weak schedule makes me less than willing to jump on their bandwagon. They should win a game or two in this year's NCAA tournament (particularly if the projected bracket holds up- they will POUND Endicott) but overall I'm not impressed with their whole act. People are trying to make Larry Anderson out to be Dean Smith.

They have been pretty awful for most of his tenure and he's just recently gotten a decent group of players together and won some games. I think in a league where you have schools like Coast Guard who have been to an elite 8 and turn out honesty to god american heroes and WPI who has had as good a 10 year run as anyone, the love for MIT seems a little over the top- they also do more whining than any other fan base in the league, complaining about rankings, complaining about their guys getting fouled too hard, etc.

I know Hugenerd will surely have some sort of equation that disproves everything I'm saying as I'm pretty sure he has an alarm hooked up for whenever anyone says anything less than complimentary about MIT Basketball. All I know is they played TWO teams all year that will make the tournament (if WPI gets in) which is a joke. Have some pride and schedule someone.

First off, let me know how many teams Amherst scheduled out of conference that were so great? I may have missed a team, but Amherst didnt schedule a single NCAA tourney team out-of-conference this season. So if Wesleyan doesn't make, Amherst will have played 1 NCAA tourney team (Middlebury).  Nobody is arguing that Amherst doesn't deserve their in-region or national ranking because of their SOS being boosted by NESCAC competition.  Why don't you 'man up' and do some research before making claims that are applicable to a lot of highly ranked teams (if Wheaton (IL) doesnt make the NCAA tourney, Hope will not have played a single NCAA tourney team either, and you could say the same thing about a few other top 10 teams also).

2nd, this is the 5th season in the past 7 years that MIT has had a 20 win season, going back to 05-06, they have made the NCAAs 4 seasons in a row.  They may be 3-4 years behind WPI in their success, but they are on pace to push that mark.  Also, there is something to be said for consistency, a lot of teams can play well on one night and beat a good team, but the teams that aren't that great sometimes play down and lose games to teams they should beat (eg, West Conn losing to Plymouth State and Southern Maine).  MIT has proven they can win despite not playing their best against winning teams.

3rd, MIT earned their current ranking and recognition through their hard work.  They received no votes in 05-06 despite winning 21 games, same thing 4 years ago when they won 21 and upset RIC at RIC in the first round.  And those first years they were doing well, they were not doing it with a roster like they have now, they literally had 7-8 guys suiting up for games. They have been steadily building up each year to get to this point.

4th, Anderson's tenure has been about 15 years, give or take a few years.  They have been pretty darn good for half that time.  He has the second best winning percentage in MIT history as a head coach, and will only improve on that after this year and the years to come. 

5th, I dont know where all these comments about the fan base are coming from.  I am the only one on here defending the team and I wouldnt consider myself a fan base.  I will go out of my way to defend MIT and its players, and if you interpret that as whining, so be it. 

Finally, its hard to read your post without interpreting your comments as having some tinge of jealousy.  When you say things like, 'I just don't much care for MIT's act. People act like it's a shock that good basketball players would want to come to probably 2nd best academic school in the entire country', it reads rather pathetic to me.  The fact is that there are lots of players that want to come to MIT, just as there are a lot of students who want to come here for the academics, unfortunately, the vast majority of them cant get in.  There are players every year that go to D2 programs or highly rated D3 programs and have prolific careers that wanted to come to MIT but could not get in.  If MIT could get everyone they wanted, maybe your comment would be fair, but they can't, so recruiting is still one of their biggest challenges.

[Hugenerd]

MIT gets shipped to upstate NY (Hartwick).  The schedule doesn't seem that unfavorable, however.  The NCAAs did a decent job of spreading teams out in the regions.  Looks like in MITs bracket, according to hosting (assuming geography didnt play a role in hosting), the seeding looks like:

1. Amherst, 2. Staten Island, 3. Hartwick, 4. F&M, 5. West Conn, 6. MIT, 7. RIC, 8. NYU, 9. Mesiricordia, 10. Salem State, 11. Skidmore, 12. Christopher Newport, 13. York, 14. Farmingdale St., and 15. Ithaca.

Since MIT is a 6 seed, that puts them in the 21-24 range nationally in the NCAA committee's eyes, which I guess is not that bad considering the emphasis they put on SOS.  With that said, really tough break for WPI, being left out of the field with one of the highest SOS' in the country.

[ECSUalum]

It was a 2 pronged comment. One even when I was playing Springfield conducted themselves in a less than classy way- they are simply staying true to their roots. That being said...

I just don't much care for MIT's act. People act like it's a shock that good basketball players would want to come to probably 2nd best academic school in the entire country. That coupled with their ridiculously weak schedule makes me less than willing to jump on their bandwagon. They should win a game or two in this year's NCAA tournament (particularly if the projected bracket holds up- they will POUND Endicott) but overall I'm not impressed with their whole act. People are trying to make Larry Anderson out to be Dean Smith.

They have been pretty awful for most of his tenure and he's just recently gotten a decent group of players together and won some games. I think in a league where you have schools like Coast Guard who have been to an elite 8 and turn out honesty to god american heroes and WPI who has had as good a 10 year run as anyone, the love for MIT seems a little over the top- they also do more whining than any other fan base in the league, complaining about rankings, complaining about their guys getting fouled too hard, etc.

I know Hugenerd will surely have some sort of equation that disproves everything I'm saying as I'm pretty sure he has an alarm hooked up for whenever anyone says anything less than complimentary about MIT Basketball. All I know is they played TWO teams all year that will make the tournament (if WPI gets in) which is a joke. Have some pride and schedule someone.

First off, let me know how many teams Amherst scheduled out of conference that were so great? I may have missed a team, but Amherst didnt schedule a single NCAA tourney team out-of-conference this season. So if Wesleyan doesn't make, Amherst will have played 1 NCAA tourney team (Middlebury).  Nobody is arguing that Amherst doesn't deserve their in-region or national ranking because of their SOS being boosted by NESCAC competition.  Why don't you 'man up' and do some research before making claims that are applicable to a lot of highly ranked teams (if Wheaton (IL) doesnt make the NCAA tourney, Hope will not have played a single NCAA tourney team either, and you could say the same thing about a few other top 10 teams also).

2nd, this is the 5th season in the past 7 years that MIT has had a 20 win season, going back to 05-06, they have made the NCAAs 4 seasons in a row.  They may be 3-4 years behind WPI in their success, but they are on pace to push that mark.  Also, there is something to be said for consistency, a lot of teams can play well on one night and beat a good team, but the teams that aren't that great sometimes play down and lose games to teams they should beat (eg, West Conn losing to Plymouth State and Southern Maine).  MIT has proven they can win despite not playing their best against winning teams.

3rd, MIT earned their current ranking and recognition through their hard work.  They received no votes in 05-06 despite winning 21 games, same thing 4 years ago when they won 21 and upset RIC at RIC in the first round.  And those first years they were doing well, they were not doing it with a roster like they have now, they literally had 7-8 guys suiting up for games. They have been steadily building up each year to get to this point.

4th, Anderson's tenure has been about 15 years, give or take a few years.  They have been pretty darn good for half that time.  He has the second best winning percentage in MIT history as a head coach, and will only improve on that after this year and the years to come. 

5th, I dont know where all these comments about the fan base are coming from.  I am the only one on here defending the team and I wouldnt consider myself a fan base.  I will go out of my way to defend MIT and its players, and if you interpret that as whining, so be it. 

Finally, its hard to read your post without interpreting your comments as having some tinge of jealousy.  When you say things like, 'I just don't much care for MIT's act. People act like it's a shock that good basketball players would want to come to probably 2nd best academic school in the entire country', it reads rather pathetic to me.  The fact is that there are lots of players that want to come to MIT, just as their are a lot of students who want to come here for the academics, unfortunately, the vast majority of them cant get in.  There are players every year that go to D2 programs or highly rated D3 programs and have prolific careers that wanted to come to MIT but could not get in.  If MIT could get everyone they wanted, maybe your comment would be fair, but they can't, so recruiting is still one of their biggest challenges.

Way to go Nerd, as quoted by Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting: to CCC Talk, You like Apples? Yeah, How do you like them apples!!!!!

[WPI89]

Let me preface by saying that I am not complaining - I don't have enough data to truly evaluate where WPI sits as one of the last teams in or out.

The stats don't lie though - WPI played 6 teams (7 games) against tournament teams (Castleton, Salem, RIC, Western, Becker, MIT, MIT).  They went 4-3.  Not being selected certainly does not inspire teams to go out and schedule tough games.  All that being said, if they di not lose to an 11-14 Wheaton team twice - they are in and the "tough" games should have prepared them for a tourney run.

I would assume no other team in the country played 6 different tournament teams?

[pjunito]

WPI,

Tough break; all the posts that I've read over the last 3 weeks had WPI as a lock. If I remember correctly, when the committee is taking teams; their assess only one team per regional at a time. Do you think that a team may have blocked others in the national arguement?  If so, who could that team be?  I would have had WPI in and Keene out.

[7express]

WPI,

Tough break; all the posts that I've read over the last 3 weeks had WPI as a lock. If I remember correctly, when the committee is taking teams; their assess only one team per regional at a time. Do you think that a team may have blocked others in the national arguement?  If so, who could that team be?  I would have had WPI in and Keene out.

I think Wesleyan jumped WPI and Wesleyan was the blocker.

[Eye in the Sky]

I know Hugenerd will surely have some sort of equation that disproves everything I'm saying as I'm pretty sure he has an alarm hooked up for whenever anyone says anything less than complimentary about MIT Basketball. All I know is they played TWO teams all year that will make the tournament (if WPI gets in) which is a joke. Have some pride and schedule someone.

I know everyone will hate it but well put CCC. MIT is a good team and deserves their league title and trip to the NCAA. But their schedule is very week. And everyone wants to say they are a top 5 team in the country? Would love to see how they would have held up playing in the Little East or NESCAC this season, where everyother game is playing a tournament caliber team.

You guys are acting like MIT is getting some kind of break - they won their way in - what is the complaint?  HugeNerd likes to talk on the boards - I find him entertaining.  Where else is the whining?  Any other team had a "posting-advocate" like HN and went 25-1 (or whatever) - they would get lots of attention as well.

Really hoping WPI (if??) and MIT get LEC match-ups early - I love our chances........................

Without having any clue as to the circumstances, Springfield walking off seems bush league?

Sorry I may have been on a little different page than CCC, in that, MIT is a very good team, and of course earned their way to the tournament! They are definetly a tournament team. I have just noticed that people have had them ranked very high nationally which I think was a little off, very good team, can make some noise, but as high as top 5 in the country at some points this season struck me. But certainly don't want to take away from what they have done this year.

Now, if you like your chances against the LEC teams, I would say they would be great games! However, even though WPI didn't get in, if they did, you would still like them ? They played two games against LEC teams this year, and lost both. Those were against the 2 and 3 seed team in the LEC. So I find that interesting.

[WPI89]

Eye - no logic to it - just didn't like the way some of the LEC team's were playing down the stretch.  I saw Westconn in person twice in late jan/feb and just thought they looked tired and vulnerable.  Opposite holds true also - WPI beat up on Castleton, Becker, and Salem - all 3 of them are playing much better than they were 3 months ago when we beat them.

I wish all 3 of your teams and all the New England teams nothing but the best.

Potential games I would love to see:

1)  F&M vs. West Conn  (My nephew played at Dickinson the last 4 years and I have seen F&M a couple of times - Westconn will have the far superior athletes if they match up in a second round game.............)
2)  Magnus vs. Middlebury   Stating the obvoius but if Middlebury lets Magnus get up and down the court - watch out!
3)  MIT vs. Amherst (way ahead of myself but I have been talking up this match-up for 3 months)!

WPI vs. Worcester State (NEXT NOVEMBER!!!!!!)

[ECSUalum]

A lot of it has to do with who is hot, who's not, who is confident going in and who isn't, the luck of the draw (Bracket) and health of the team.  I guess that why we play the games down to a national championship!!

[Hugenerd]

I know Hugenerd will surely have some sort of equation that disproves everything I'm saying as I'm pretty sure he has an alarm hooked up for whenever anyone says anything less than complimentary about MIT Basketball. All I know is they played TWO teams all year that will make the tournament (if WPI gets in) which is a joke. Have some pride and schedule someone.

I know everyone will hate it but well put CCC. MIT is a good team and deserves their league title and trip to the NCAA. But their schedule is very week. And everyone wants to say they are a top 5 team in the country? Would love to see how they would have held up playing in the Little East or NESCAC this season, where everyother game is playing a tournament caliber team.

You guys are acting like MIT is getting some kind of break - they won their way in - what is the complaint?  HugeNerd likes to talk on the boards - I find him entertaining.  Where else is the whining?  Any other team had a "posting-advocate" like HN and went 25-1 (or whatever) - they would get lots of attention as well.

Really hoping WPI (if??) and MIT get LEC match-ups early - I love our chances........................

Without having any clue as to the circumstances, Springfield walking off seems bush league?

Sorry I may have been on a little different page than CCC, in that, MIT is a very good team, and of course earned their way to the tournament! They are definetly a tournament team. I have just noticed that people have had them ranked very high nationally which I think was a little off, very good team, can make some noise, but as high as top 5 in the country at some points this season struck me. But certainly don't want to take away from what they have done this year.

Now, if you like your chances against the LEC teams, I would say they would be great games! However, even though WPI didn't get in, if they did, you would still like them ? They played two games against LEC teams this year, and lost both. Those were against the 2 and 3 seed team in the LEC. So I find that interesting.

MIT has been ranked in the Top 5 for most of the season, their lowest ranking of the season was 10, which was the preseason poll.

Eye - no logic to it - just didn't like the way some of the LEC team's were playing down the stretch.  I saw Westconn in person twice in late jan/feb and just thought they looked tired and vulnerable.  Opposite holds true also - WPI beat up on Castleton, Becker, and Salem - all 3 of them are playing much better than they were 3 months ago when we beat them.

I wish all 3 of your teams and all the New England teams nothing but the best.

Potential games I would love to see:

1)  F&M vs. West Conn  (My nephew played at Dickinson the last 4 years and I have seen F&M a couple of times - Westconn will have the far superior athletes if they match up in a second round game.............)
2)  Magnus vs. Middlebury   Stating the obvoius but if Middlebury lets Magnus get up and down the court - watch out!
3)  MIT vs. Amherst (way ahead of myself but I have been talking up this match-up for 3 months)!

WPI vs. Worcester State (NEXT NOVEMBER!!!!!!)

WPI may be a top seed in this year's ECAC. I believe they made themselves eligible.

[Eye in the Sky]

Eye - no logic to it - just didn't like the way some of the LEC team's were playing down the stretch.  I saw Westconn in person twice in late jan/feb and just thought they looked tired and vulnerable.  Opposite holds true also - WPI beat up on Castleton, Becker, and Salem - all 3 of them are playing much better than they were 3 months ago when we beat them.

I wish all 3 of your teams and all the New England teams nothing but the best.

Potential games I would love to see:

1)  F&M vs. West Conn  (My nephew played at Dickinson the last 4 years and I have seen F&M a couple of times - Westconn will have the far superior athletes if they match up in a second round game.............)
2)  Magnus vs. Middlebury   Stating the obvoius but if Middlebury lets Magnus get up and down the court - watch out!
3)  MIT vs. Amherst (way ahead of myself but I have been talking up this match-up for 3 months)!

WPI vs. Worcester State (NEXT NOVEMBER!!!!!!)

Very true about West Conn. On some days they were world beaters, some days (Plymouth and USM) they looked like they were playing pickup in a local Rec league. Points well taken!

[7express]

If this Western team actually decides to play any defense I honestly believe we can beat Amherst, even if the game is @ Amherst.  No doubt their a great team, but I don't think they can keep up with us for a whole 40 minutes if we decide to run.  Same way I think Middlebury has their hands full with Albertus, if they let Albertus run their in trouble, like the way they lost to RIC a few seasons ago. 

Of course with the way Western has been the last couple years were just as capable of getting blown out by Christopher Newport as we are of beating Amherst.

[7express]

WPI #1 seed in the New England region in ECAC tournament.  They will host every game as long as they win.
http://www.ecacsports.com/championships/2011-2012_Winter_Championships/2012_Men-s_Basketball_Championships/2012_ECAC_Men-s_Tournament_Seedings