MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[7express]

This is Albertus' tougest week of the season with home games vs Purchase, J&W, and a road game on Saturday to St. Joseph's-Maine.  If they go 3-0 they'll probably be a top 15 team, or at least should be.  Looking forward to it.  Everyone's talking up the Purchase game rightfully so, but the J&W game might be better considering it's a conference game.

[pjunito]

I completely agree 7, JWU is just as important, if not more important, since if Albertus wins, it gives them a 2 game edge in the conference. That is key, having home court, not having to travel and playing in a familiar gym. Plus avoiding JWU or ST. Joe until the championship game...

But, from a fan's standpoint, the Albertus/Purchase game is the biggest regular season game Albertus has ever played in. We are all excited, sorry you can't make it. Hopefully your team has a solid practice 7!

[GnacBballFan]

Junkie, if they don't have anything tomorrow in that paper they will get an earful from me! Lol! I think pj always does some great previews and seems to know purchase a little better then me. So I'll let him have at it. I am excited for this one! We will get a good understanding of how good we are tomorrow night. But I agree with 7, jwu game is gonna be tough. They are hitting on all cylinders right now, can't wait for tomorrow!

[pjunito]

The last time I did a preview for a game was last spring before the Alvernia game.. I think all falcons fans remember that. lol.

So, take everything I say with a grain of salt..

First, let's look at SUNY Purchase - they beat East Conn early this year in Willimantic. They did not have the big man, Neri playing in that game. They got 24 from Singleton, who is no longer on the roster.. So, they are a different team now.

Starters:
03 Nixon - 6'3 guard, SR 19 pts, 6 rebs,
12 Pearson - 6-4 guard, JR 8 pts, 6 rebs
14 Haughton - 6-6 forward SR 8 pts, 10 rebs
25 Lobban - 6-7 forward SR 5 pts, 4 rebs
33 Neri, 7-2 (yes 7-2), Center 15 pts, 8 rebs
Key Reserves:
04 Sillaro - 6-5 F JR 6 pts, 3 rebs
10 Mickens - 6-4 G FR 9 pts, 3 rebs

This team wants to play in the 60s, they are strong defensively. They are also very experienced. They are long and play a 2-3 zone. They don't block a lot of shots, only 69 on the year, but avg 43 rebounds a game which tells me they contest every shot and make you work on offense. The most points they gave up in a game this year was 90 (and that was a double overtime game), besides that game, 78. So, this team plays strong solid defense. Offensively, they must get a lot of easy putbacks or one on one play, they have one guy who averages more than 3 assist per game. They average 80 pts a game and shoot from the field at a 44% clip and 33% from threes. Over the last few games Mickens minutes have been reduce, not sure if he is hurt or just lost confidence. It looks like it has been a short bench for Purchase.

Albertus
Davis, Vic, and Watson all average over 16 a game. They like to share the ball as they avg 16 assist a game. They also like to push tempo. The want to play in the high 80's.. They believe no one in the conference can score with them. Albertus is avg 91 points a game, shooting 50% from the field and 38% from long range. They've only score under 80 twice this season (77 and 73, both wins). They are also doing it at times on defense, they have 90 blocks this year and average 42 rebounds. Over the last few games, Oliver has gotten a lot of production from Wilson, Wiggins, and Walker. This allows him to rest key starters.

Soo... This is Seattle/Denver...

One time wants to keep the score low the other wants to run up the points... Whoever wins that battle I think wins the game.

Usually Albertus tries to start the first 5 minutes with a lot of long range jumpers... I think you will see a lot of attacking the first few minutes. I think they want to get the big guys (Neri and Haughton) off the floor for the first half and force Nixon into taking bad shots and force Purchase into a jump shooting team. All of their starters are shooting over 41%, the bigs are shooting over 50%. They must be getting a lot of looks within 5 feet. If Purchase can slow down Albertus and the game and control the boards.. The Falcons will be in trouble.

A good test for both teams..

[D3HoopJunkie]

As usual great preveiw PJ. Time to get the prediction machine goin. I will start it off. After hearing PJs take, and doing some research on both teams offense and defense unbiasedly im taking the Falcons at home 84 to 76. Just feel there a far better shooting team and can without doubt hold there own on the boards because lets face it CCSU had much more overall size and we did well there. Vic is going to step up and have a big game and Wiggins will be key. I also think James Jennings is goin to recapture his touch against the zone. The kid is fearless and he's a big-time performer. LETS GOOOOOOOO!!!

[7express]

I completely agree 7, JWU is just as important, if not more important, since if Albertus wins, it gives them a 2 game edge in the conference. That is key, having home court, not having to travel and playing in a familiar gym. Plus avoiding JWU or ST. Joe until the championship game...

But, from a fan's standpoint, the Albertus/Purchase game is the biggest regular season game Albertus has ever played in. We are all excited, sorry you can't make it. Hopefully your team has a solid practice 7!

Thanks.  I'll try to get up there Wednesday night for the J&W game.  Do you know if it's a doubleheader with the women's team that day or just a single game on the men's side??

[7express]

As I said yesterday, comparing Eastern to Albertus is like comparing apples to oranges and those 2 teams are completely different now then they were back on November 15 or whatever that game was.  Purchase has the big 7 footer playing a major role when he had virtually no minutes that game.  They got 12 points off the bench from Singleton who is no longer with the team, and 21 points from Mickens who comes off the bench now.  Meanwhile, Eastern had freshmen Hugh Lindo playing in only his second career game and even though he grabbed 10 boards only scored 4 points, and the other big guy (Brandon Yarborough) didn't play in that game, and Eastern is one of the better teams in the Northeast.  That 68-62 Purchase win could be completely reversed if those same teams played tomorrow, but have to give credit for beating Eastern up at home in a place where not a lot of teams win.  It's not the Murray Center @ RIC, but it's pretty tough for opponents.  But I'll take Albertus by a score of 74-68.

Btw, as a sneak peak to anyone who reads the posters poll on the national board.  I have Purchase at #15 and Albertus at #17 this week.  If Albertus sweeps this weekend, Albertus will go to at least #15 on my board next week, and possibly even higher depending on who else loses.  Albertus may not go that high with the national voters, but they should take a significant jump none-the-less I would assume.

[D3HoopJunkie]

It's a single game at home on Wednesday for the men 7. The Lady Falcons host JWU the following day at 7 o'clock in New Haven

[FormerGNACplayer]

BIG GAME TONIGHT FOR ALBERTUS and THE GNAC!!!

[lildave678]

I'll be watching this one from home. Definitely wanted to go, but if I want to attend multiple games come GNAC/NCAA Tourney time (especially since there'll be travel with the NCAAs) I need to save up those "Go ahead"s from the girlfriend haha. I'll chime in here with thoughts during the game!

[D3HoopJunkie]

Dave. Your killin me. Just tell her your going out to get a gallon of milk LOL. That was my Fathers old trick when he wanted some "me" time at the local watering hole. Its gonna be a great one. Enjoy the game.

P.S. My Father always came home with the gallon!!

[D3HoopJunkie]

Also, the New Haven Register is an absolute joke. I'm seriously considering canceling my subscription. The lack of coverage for not just Albertus but all Division III schools is a joke and I really don't understand it.

GNAC thats your cue LOL. Go get em!!!

[lildave678]

Haha I absolutely would if I didn't live 45 minutes away now!

[D3HoopJunkie]

Oh that's tough Dave. Yeah you better sit this one out. Don't want to be in the doghouse for later in the season. Enjoy!!

[GnacBballFan]

Always came home with the milk! Love it lol

Going to email the register now, and I send them this thread about possible cancellations to subscriptions! I'm sure they'll love that! Lol

Ok last yr against alvernia I told pj that I wasn't too high on our falcons as I was in previous yrs. I really thought we were gonna lose solidly to alvernia and unfortunately it was one of the few times I was right on a prediction lol. This yrs team is unreal, 3 legit stars. Anything can happen in one night foul trouble etc, but I'm gonna be a homer and go albertus wins 85-80. But I actually believe it. Let's go falcons!