BB: General New England Discussion

Hobbesy · February 03, 2011, 10:58:19 AM

And my regional preview was just posted on the d3baseball website

http://d3baseball.com/notables/2011/01/NewEngland_Regional_preview_2011

ECSUalum · February 03, 2011, 11:33:43 AM

Hobbesy,

Great job on the NE Preview on front page for d3baseballl.com!!!

3rdgenerationnation · February 03, 2011, 12:41:03 PM

Hobbesy:

We appreicate all of the hard work that had to go into putting together such a comprehensive review of D3 baseball in New England. Great job - thank you.

KSCfan · February 03, 2011, 01:23:03 PM

Hobbsey i agree as well. Great job breaking down the conferences and some key players to look at.

One question that i thought of. With the AQ of the NECC you now have AQ's in

1. Little East
2. TCCC
3. NESCAC
4. MASCAC
5. GNAC
6. NEWMAC
7. NAC
8. NECC

That means 8 AQ's in New England. This means that there will only be 1 at large team going to the regionals from NE? The New York Regional usually takes one team from NE and will have 6 or 7. Could we see 2 teams from NE going out to NY to fill up their regional to 8 teams. This could bring up the debate when a 30 win team from a "power" conference stays home while the winner of the NECC with a record of 22-17 goes. Are the days of the Little East sending 3 teams over with the addition of the NECC AQ?

Wally · February 04, 2011, 09:11:51 AM

Hobbsey super job as always! If the rumors are true about Davis and Nelson(KSC), who steps into those shoes? Did USM bring in any freshman pitching that might help(transfers), there staff really seemed to struggle at times last year. Any word on DeGoti for sure? How much will St. Joe's miss Pat Moran? Just some thoughts...

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 10:32:02 AM

KSCfan-

I think there is still room open for one or two at large bids from New England but they might be a little more hard to come by. We saw last year that the NAC/NEAC winner (Castleton St.) played in the New York regional and I see that continuing this year and into the future. Obviously the NECC winner probably won't be shipped out so they will, unless a team is extremely good, be an 8 seed in the region. That leaves an open spot in NE for an at large team and then depending on travel distances and the season a team has had, another NE team could be shipped out to New York or the Mid-Atlantic. I think it comes down to if you're good enough to be in, you should be ok but that has not always been the case even in the past.

Wally-

The coach at Tufts is very well informed and it was confirmed so that leaves a big hole at the back end of their bullpen. Still a very good team and I am not sure how much a closer will effect their chances. As for Moran, they will miss him come regional time. There is no substitute for a pitcher of his caliber when he is on. They should have no problem winning the GNAC again with what they have but they will have to get strong outings from the younger guys on their staff.

Not sure about USM and KSC pitching problems but I am planning on talking to every coach in the region to get their thoughts about the upcoming season. I hope to add the audio to my website and even get video from the coaches that are around Boston. Could take a couple weeks but it doesn't look like we are in any hurry unless the groundhog was right!

KSCfan · February 04, 2011, 10:59:40 AM

Hobbesy thanks for the insight on the AQ's. This will put huge emphasis on big regional weekday games. Those mid-week games just got that more important

Some pitchers that might step up for Keene are Perreault, Theising, and Pelkey. Pelkey is going to need to rebound to his freshman form, and improve on it for the OWLs to be where they want to be. You might see a bullpen guy like a Quags, and or Lacourse get stretched out to start.

KSCfan · February 04, 2011, 12:30:51 PM

Or maybe Stanclift who started during high school and his summer teams, and or the Igram transfer kid. Im not sure who will step up but i am sure that the coaching staff has some pretty good ideas... and that is if said pitchers are not returning, no roster posted yet so its still very much up in the air.

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 01:05:42 PM

You make a great point KSCfan. The mid-week games are going to be even more important now, especially for teams like Keene, ECSU, USM, Babson, Wheaton, WNEC and the like. With all the parity in New England and all of these teams scheduled to play each other, there is not much room for error especially if they struggle within their conference. You look at the NEWMAC this year going to a three-game series and that will put a big strain on the pitchers.

Overall, every team is going to need their entire pitching staff to step up and throw quality innings. I know from experience that in the past this is always what Eastern has been good at, building a complete staff. In order for other teams in the region to be successful this year they will need to emulate that. This means a solid rotation of 4-5 arms plus a bullpen that has guys that can throw 2-3 times a week out of the bullpen. After that you just pray for health.

I do think that the new bats this year will change the game dramatically. Last year was ridiculous with the amount of runs that were scored. I think at least 5 teams set program records for runs in a season. I dont think that will be the case this year which means that even back-end bullpen guys could have successful years.

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 01:19:27 PM

Also wanted to bring up a scheduling question that I think might start some good debate if it already hasn't in the past.

The NEWMAC conference tournament takes place at the end of April. That means those teams have three weeks or so of sitting around and waiting to see what happens. Obviously, the winner knows they are in and can begin preparing.

I noticed that Wheaton has 8 games scheduled after NEWMAC tourney.

What do we think guys...good thing or bad thing that they hold their conference tournament so early?

Makes them pack alot of games in a short span. Look at Babson's schedule http://www.babsonathletics.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/schedule

Not much rest for the weary!

BigPoppa · February 04, 2011, 01:22:40 PM

Quote from: Hobbesy on February 04, 2011, 01:19:27 PM
Also wanted to bring up a scheduling question that I think might start some good debate if it already hasn't in the past.

The NEWMAC conference tournament takes place at the end of April. That means those teams have three weeks or so of sitting around and waiting to see what happens. Obviously, the winner knows they are in and can begin preparing.

I noticed that Wheaton has 8 games scheduled after NEWMAC tourney.

What do we think guys...good thing or bad thing that they hold their conference tournament so early?

Makes them pack alot of games in a short span. Look at Babson's schedule http://www.babsonathletics.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/schedule

Not much rest for the weary!

WOW! Babson is not messing around! Guess they will find out about their pitching in a hurry, huh?

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 01:29:08 PM

BigPoppa-

Insane right!!?? That is one of the toughest schedules I have ever seen! They step off the plane from Florida and get right back on the field

BigPoppa · February 04, 2011, 01:33:25 PM

Quote from: Hobbesy on February 04, 2011, 01:29:08 PM
BigPoppa-

Insane right!!?? That is one of the toughest schedules I have ever seen! They step off the plane from Florida and get right back on the field

Looks more like a minor league schedule... without the paychecks, of course.

Wally · February 04, 2011, 01:45:25 PM

Check out St. Joe's schedule.@gomonks.com. Looks similiar to Babson's about 40 games. WOW

KSCfan · February 04, 2011, 02:01:03 PM

Hobbesy-

You know that i am a Little East guy and I used to love the fact that it was conference tournament time, and then Regional time. I really felt that the LEC tournament really prepared a team for the Regional run. Roughly the same amount of teams, run the same way with double loss. I like the conference tournament at the end of the year because it forms a definite end to your season.

Pro's of having it early
1. Weather not an issue, as you have ample time to make up rain outs
2. If you lose your conference tournament but knock off some really good regional teams you might be able to play your way in to an at large bid. This would mean that if you are a NEWMAC team you are looking to play WNEC, Keene, Eastern, USM, Trinity, Tufts, UMB teams for your last 8 or so games after the tournament. That way you might make be able to play in if all conference tournaments go chalk.

Cons-
1. Lackluster team if you have a .500 record and you lose. If you are that 500 team and you make a deep run into your tournament to come up short now what. You have this wave of living the dream going maybe you can get into this regional only to deflate and fall short. Then what for the last 8 games? Play for what? Play the underclassmen see what they have to prove? Play for pride? I mean not a lot to play there.
2. Can play yourself out of an at large. Lets say Babson has 33 wins and loses to Wheaton. Then they schedule tough teams at the end to try and get in and go on a losing streak. What was an at large has now played yourself into the ECAC.

Does NCAA seems to look at regular season games more importantly than conference tournament games???

What did i miss?

BB: General New England Discussion

3rdgenerationnation