MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[pjunito]

I emailed the new haven register editor, it's a sham they had no mention of this game. Meanwhile i found a yahoo article on the game. How's that work? Lol

Found this too

http://www.ccsufans.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2755

I feel for those guys... I hope there are no bridges in New Britain..

Belated congrats to Albertus Magnus on a fine game vs CCSU. Wish them luck through the rest of the season!!  Channel 8  (WTNH I think), had a couple of nice clips of the game and interviews with AM players, which was finally nice to see vs all the publicity UConn gets every day on Connecticut Sports channels

ECSU - tough games in Florida for East Conn over the break. But, I am a firm believer that trips like that make teams better in February and March. Hope they have a successful conference season. It is good to see ya in the GNAC boards. I am always in the little east boards, but don't really know a lot about those schools or players or coaches to comment. You and 7 (or as I like to call him Jimmy the 7) always give great insights.

Wait, are you saying that the State of Connecticut has more than 3 institutions of higher learning? Go on now...

Hopefully East Conn, West Conn, and Albertus will continue to get more media attention as the season progresses.

[pjunito]

GNAC... All I did was copy and paste. All the credit goes to Titan.

[GnacBballFan]

WTNH is at the game

[GnacBballFan]

46-35 albertus at half over Norwich. Falcons came out flat and took some bad shots. Then turned up a bit with about 6 mins left. Here's a 45 second sequence of the 6'8 juco transfer Victor Ldujaja(that the right spelling lol?). Steps back and hits a three, next possession put back dunk, next possession amc turns it over, fast break 2 Norwich guys and just Vic, and he blocks the shot to about the third row

[GnacBballFan]

Albertus wins 97-85, as Norwich hits a three at buzzer to make it look respectable. Lackluster performance by amc, they were in control all game and never in danger but they took bad shots and went in spurts. Credit the cadets for hitting some shots of their own and playing to the last second. Albertus can't play like this against the like of purchase or JWU. Anyone see that JWU Emmanuel score?? Jeez anyone have any insight lol that's a big differential

[Saint-Paul]

Final Score :  J & W  94 -  Emmanuel  36

     After the first 6 minutes this game was not very competitive.  J&W used an aggressive man to man defense to force turnovers and hurried shots to go on a 31 - 9 run to close the first half with a 26 point lead.  The second half was mostly substitutions and one pass shots not by offensive design.  The J & W lead reached 60 points at one spot late in the second half.  The Saints looked like a JV team playing against a varsity, finishing the night with  26 turnovers.
     J&W put 5 athletic players on the court who defended passing lanes very well, rebounded the ball, and got out in transition to finish plays at the rim.  They have a 6'7" big man who can step out to 21 feet and shoot 3's. The guard Greenaway is the real deal, he is quick, can both shoot and drive to the basket and defends all over the court. J&W has a deep rotation, they can go 8 players deep and not lose momentum.  They play very unselfish, they move the ball and don't force shots, they can score against both zone and man defenses. The only negative that I saw was closing out shooters off the skip pass.  They were late recovering from a help position and closed out with their hands down giving up too many open 3 point looks. Against a better team those 3 point shots may hurt them.  Other than that they looked to be a very solid team that has active hands on defense, use defensive stops to generate transition, and very patiently runs their half court sets. 

The score of the J&W game was not the big story on Tuesday night. The big story was more Saints roster changes again.  Two more players have left the team. That makes a total of three so far this year. Their leading scorer and rebounder from the first semester is no longer listed on the roster.  This is the second year in a row the Saints starting center and leading scorer / rebounder has left the team in the middle of the season.  He was not a recruited freshman, only a junior college transfer so he was only part of the program for eight games, but still, it's another player who didn't finish the season. The second player who left the team was a bit of a shock, the Saints senior point guard and team captain who has played over 75 career games for the Saints is no longer on the roster.  For a senior captain who has been through 54 GNAC games to quit the team 15 games shy of senior night is an indication that something is very wrong in the Saints program. There is a real cancer somewhere in the Saints program. This now makes 28 players who have quit the Saints basketball program in the last five seasons.  That's an average of 5.6 players per year and I find that alarming. I can't be the only Saints fan to notice the constant roster changes. I would assume that when so many uniforms and warm ups are returned to the equipment room each year that somebody takes notice.

[pjunito]

GNAC I agree with you, Albertus needs to remain focus for a full 40 minutes. At home against a weaker opponent they need to be able to control the game. Interesting to see how they respond on the road against an improved  Rivier team on Thursday. And they have Suffolk on Saturday in Boston.. Albertus lost there last year and beat them this year at home by 30. I hope they don't take that game lightly.

Will love to see how Albertus plays against JWU, Lasell, and St. Joes. These teams are all very solid in the GNAC. Having strong out of conference within region wins.



St. Paul - wow.. You are right. Something is going on. Do you know if the Center failed off the team? The senior captain quitting is a big sign. The AD there has to be concerned. Whenever a D3 tuition driven institution begins to lose student-athletes mid year, it hurts the budget. You can't have 28 students leave in a 5 year span without an investigation. I hope the AD there is conducting one. If not, he needs to. Something is going on and I hope it gets fixed. I remember Emmanuel being a very good basketball team within the region in the early 2000s and their women program has received national recognition for the better part of 10 years. A 50 point lost at home has to bring huge sirens!

[pjunito]

Last Night Games:

Rivier 62    Mount Ida 42    
      
  Lasell 82    Keene St. 68       
      
  Anna Maria 71    Suffolk 74       
      
Norwich 85    Albertus Magnus 97       
      
  Johnson & Wales (RI) 94    Emmanuel 36    

Huge win by Lasell last night. Keene may not be a good basketball team this year, I have no idea. But, whenever a GNAC team beats a Little East team, the region begins looking closer at the conference. I think that helps the conference, since it has been very weak top to bottom over the last 6 years.

The GNAC is now 3-2 versus the little east this year.

[Saint-Paul]

pjunito,  thanks for your reply and also for your questions.

I have no idea what factor is responsible for driving so many players out of the Saints program.  It cannot just be the wins and losses, other GNAC teams also have sub 0.500 records and they are not losing players at this pace. It has to be something more than just losing games, like the way the players are being treated in practice or what is being said to them at halftime and after games. To continually berate and degrade your own players perpetuates a losing atmosphere and takes a toll on the players moral. A lack of encouragement and positive support can hurt players more than the final score of the games. 

Whatever the reason is, it also affects their play on the court.  What I can see when observing a game is that the players do not appear to be running the plays as they are designed.  They take quick shots in transition, often from behind the three point line, they ignore the low post even if the post player has the defender sealed on his hip, the extra pass to the weak side corner never gets made, and they love to drive into defensive traffic and force up a shot even with one or sometimes two open teammates on the blocks.  What I really notice is that after a quick shot is missed, there does not appear to be any sense of urgency to sprint back on defense and defend the paint. That in itself is a huge red flag. When players stop sprinting back on defense you know that something is very wrong on that team. Not sprinting back on defense is a sign that the players don't care about winning, they are only playing for their individual stats. The players just don't exhibit good team chemistry that I see in some of the other GNAC teams.  That is a real concern.  Whatever factor is causing so many players to quit the team is also affecting how they play together as a team.

[GnacBballFan]

Wow it sounds like a mess up there in Emmanuel, thanks for the insight. That rate is def alarming to say the least. And to me, and not to take a shot, but it all starts at the top and coach Jackson. Maybe it's time for a change

[Saint-Paul]

Mt Ida / Emmanuel preview -  When these two teams played in December it was a fairly even game at four positions except for the Mt Ida two guard who kept getting open from behind the arc. He nailed two big 3 point shots in the last five minutes of the game to swing the momentum to the Mustangs.  If the Saints guards can locate the Mt Ida shooters at the defensive end of the floor and chase them off the arc this should be a two point or overtime game. Neither team has a standout player, or dominates in the paint so it should be a competitive game. I would be surprised if either team is able to run away with this game.  I hope that the Saints are able to shake off a 60 point drubbing in their last game and come out with some intensity and effort especially at the defensive end of the floor. This is the Saints chance to get their first GNAC win of the season.

[pjunito]

Albertus 44 Rivier 34 at half in New Hampshire. Albertus shooting ball well from behind the arc, but Rivier is getting to the basketball.

[GnacBballFan]

Looks like albertus is playing Rivier and the refs. Refs are calling albertus if they cough when riv has ball. Sorry don't wanna be that guy but it's an absolute joke

[pjunito]

Albertus wins 93 - 82 at Rivier. The game changed when Oliver called a time-out with about 7 minutes left. The score was 79-71, Rivier was on a run to cut a 15 point lead to 8. Albertus applied a tough man to man pressed and scored 5 points in 40 seconds. They pushed the lead back to 15 and coasted from there.

Lot of questionable foul calls in the game, both ways, but Riv was in the bonus 6 minutes into the half.

Albertus plays at Suffolk on Saturday.

[lildave678]

Any news on Marc Wilson? Haven't been able to catch much of the action, but I did see him in the Central game (16 minutes). Then he only played 9 against Norwich, and wasn't even listed in the box score for last night's game. Perhaps an injury? I know AMC is always good for a player or two leaving the roster after the break, but he was there for CCSU and Norwich so that's not it.