MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[7express]

if Mt. Ida is able to score more than 70 points I'd be extremely worried.  As you said Junkie, the team isn't very good, they'll pretty much be able to do what they want on the offensive end, so this game should be about working at getting better on the defensive side of the basketball.  As I've said before, they can score, but to get to the next level, they'll have to step it up on defense.  Can't expect to beat great teams giving up 88 & 104 points.

[GnacBballFan]

Preview :  J&W  /  Emmanuel

      No preview necessary for this game,  just try and keep it under 60 tonight coach !!  If the Saints come out pressing in full court man to man against this very athletic J&W team the refs should stop the game on account of stupidity.

Awesome post

[7express]

Preview :  J&W  /  Emmanuel

      No preview necessary for this game,  just try and keep it under 60 tonight coach !!  If the Saints come out pressing in full court man to man against this very athletic J&W team the refs should stop the game on account of stupidity.

Hilarious.  +1!

[lildave678]

AMC up 41-26 at half. Good to see they're under a 70 point pace on D. The key is can they keep it up. A 15 point win means nothing to me if the 2nd half is close with both teams over 35 points. Lock down this game right out of halftime.

[lildave678]

Finally a result that restores my faith haha 88-52 I believe was the final

[FormerGNACplayer]

Hardwork beats talent, if talent don't work hard. I have seen enough games and teams.. This is not the best Albertus team. Certainly the most talented and prolly the one with the most potential. I'll give it to the 2012 team when Ray Askew was a sr. I played against that team. They were amazing on both ends. This years team has no heart, no fight, and no defensive discipline. Mt. Ida should've got 30-40 points. Albertus only had to stop one player. They have time to pull it together but they don't look as fluid as they once did and I haven't seen them play 40 mins of de since Central Ct game. They are long and athletic and strong but only use it offensively. The gym is virtually empty and you only hear fan cheer after a dunk, and even that's dead. What the heck is going on in New Haven?? The Falcons will be a Gnac champ if they play at home, out first round in the NCAA. It's not good. I even think the 2010 first champion team could beat this one. They just played harder and with more passion and teamwork. I fear for this Falcons team as I didn't before. Tough stretch with a Lassell and JWU still on their plate... Any thoughts?

[GnacBballFan]

Former,

I respectfully disagree. I didn't miss a game in 2010, and while those group of players were most of my friends, they weren't beating this team. 2010 team was special no doubt, from the first gnac title in over 10 yrs, to Byron reeves shot, to bring on sportscenter. But it's also a team that had 7 or 8 losses and lost to desales by 33. This yrs team is 18-2, in a stronger gnac imo(I think this Johnson and Wales team is better then 2010 Emerson), and besides st joes loss and jwu and purchase games has not just won but dominated. In 2010 a gnac loss didn't mean much, but with the expectations of this team I feel like some has been lost on what good a yr they are having. They have their lapses on D no doubt, but I've seem them step up the D against CCSU, Purchase, and JWU. Let's not let one road game against a tough conference opponent who shot lights out overshadow what this team had accomplished at 18-2. Askew is the only 2010 starter that would start on this team. Let's not be so quick to say albertus is gonna exit in the first round when were not even sure if 1) they will make it 2) who they will face. Just my opinion

[7express]

Hardwork beats talent, if talent don't work hard. I have seen enough games and teams.. This is not the best Albertus team. Certainly the most talented and prolly the one with the most potential. I'll give it to the 2012 team when Ray Askew was a sr. I played against that team. They were amazing on both ends. This years team has no heart, no fight, and no defensive discipline. Mt. Ida should've got 30-40 points. Albertus only had to stop one player. They have time to pull it together but they don't look as fluid as they once did and I haven't seen them play 40 mins of de since Central Ct game. They are long and athletic and strong but only use it offensively. The gym is virtually empty and you only hear fan cheer after a dunk, and even that's dead. What the heck is going on in New Haven?? The Falcons will be a Gnac champ if they play at home, out first round in the NCAA. It's not good. I even think the 2010 first champion team could beat this one. They just played harder and with more passion and teamwork. I fear for this Falcons team as I didn't before. Tough stretch with a Lassell and JWU still on their plate... Any thoughts?

I still think they'll win the GNAC tourney no matter if it's in Maine, Providence, or New Haven, but their skating on extremely thin ice.  The J&W game is more important than the Lasell game so if they "had" to lose another game in the regular season, it's probably better if they lose that game.  Losing to Lasell and beating J&W gives Albertus the season sweep of J&W in their pocket which St. Joes doesn't have. 

[lildave678]

I think what it comes down to is this current squad is boom or bust while the (EDITED) 2012 team was solid, but safe. I think the 2nd round was a realistic ending point for that team. Not a whole lot of flash, Ray was going to get his and a young Darius would pick up the rest. You were going to get solid play on both ends night and night out but nothing was really going to surprise you. This team I think, if they can string a few Purchase/CCSU type efforts together in the NCAA tournament could easily surpass the 2nd round. They've shown they can play with anyone on the offensive end, it's a matter of matching that play defensively. But to Echo Former's point, would a first round exit SURPISE me? I'd be extremely disappoint by it but no, not surprised at all.

[Saint-Paul]

Final Score :  J&W  89  /  Emmanuel  66


      I have only 3 points that I want to make about this game.

1  -   The Saints did indeed open the game in a full court man to man press defense.  J&W responded by scoring on their first six possessions of the game.  The first two trips down court J&W ran their baseline flex cuts for two uncontested layups.  The next four trips J&W ran their flex set to get four wide open 3 point shots off the flex downscreen, draining all four to total 16 points on their first six touches. 
     Apparently I am not the only one who thinks that the Saints game plan is ridiculous.  The J&W game announcers could not stop themselves from laughing out loud in the middle of the broadcast about the logic of the Saints game plan.  I believe I heard one of the announcers say that if the Saints don't change their defense soon the Wildcats will have 60 points by halftime.  They were close, J&W finished the first half with 47 points, on 71 % shooting percentage.  Yes, 71%, that is not a typo, that is the result of the Saints full court man defense.

     To continue to put your team into a double digit deficit four minutes into the start of each game is nothing but pure coaching incompetence.  Most college coaches try to develop game plans that will keep their teams in games as long as possible against more talented teams.  The Saints coach does just the opposite, stubbornly sticking with a faulty game plan that puts the game out of reach quickly.  It is not hard to understand why so many players have decided to leave this team in the last five years rather than continue with the frustration of following this game plan.  Early in the second half, down by 22 points, instead of going to the huddle during a timeout, two of the Saints guards stood at half court screaming and arguing with each other. Their frustration was obvious.

2  -  I have seen GNAC conference games before where the teams have opposite talent levels and opposite records, like 16 - 4 vs  4 - 16.  But when it is a conference game the lower rated team usually gets up for the game and gives the higher rated team a very competitive game.  Two examples of this are from recent conference games, the Anna Maria / AMC game and the Norwich / St Joe game.  This does not happen with Emmanuel.  The moral on this team is so low that even when faced with the chance to knock off one of the top teams in the conference they play with no emotion, no passion, and most of all no confidence in themselves.  Whatever is being said to them in the lockerroom before, during, and after the games appears to just drain all the competitive spirit out of them and that is really a shame.  In the second half of this game the Saints appeared to be just going through the motions.

3  -  The third thing I noticed about this game that was surprising was that some of the J&W players were not taking this game seriously in the first half.  A few of the J&W players were not sprinting down court, not attacking the rim, and not playing intense defense.  Teams with championship aspirations don't do that, they play hard each and every possion even against the last place team.  Apparently I am not the only one to notice some of the J&W players taking it easy.  At halftime, even through closed doors, the spectators could hear the J&W coach screaming at his players about their lackluster  effort in the first half inspite of 47 points on 71% shooting.  In the second half the Wildcats showed a much more intense effort  worthy of their standing in the conference race.  They forced turnovers, ran the floor, set guys up for layups, and got 4 players into double figure scoring with 20 assists on 28 field goals.

[GnacBballFan]

I think what it comes down to is this current squad is boom or bust while the 2010 team was solid, but safe. I think the 2nd round was a realistic ending point for that team. Not a whole lot of flash, Ray was going to get his and a young Darius would pick up the rest. You were going to get solid play on both ends night and night out but nothing was really going to surprise you. This team I think, if they can string a few Purchase/CCSU type efforts together in the NCAA tournament could easily surpass the 2nd round. They've shown they can play with anyone on the offensive end, it's a matter of matching that play defensively. But to Echo Former's point, would a first round exit SURPISE me? I'd be extremely disappoint by it but no, not surprised at all.

I agree with that dave. Darius wasn't on that team yet, wish he was lol. 7, absolutely, JWU game is the one we need to win to have the sweep

[lildave678]

Ah yes, didn't mean the 2010 team, I read your post last so that was in my head...Meant Ray's senior year team.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Good Lord, stop the presses!! Dave has finally placed Albertus Magnus in this top 25 Ballot. I only poke fun Dave 😜 and I must concur with everything that you said in your blog post about the Falcons. I think your description why you left them out so long is valid and accurate from a non biased and knowledgable perspective and I really hope that the Falcons can prove to you that they deserve the ranking.

Now onto a question that popped into my head once I read your post. You mentioned that the Falcons might have a shot at hosting the first round of the NCAA's. (if there fortunate enough to make it that is) Again i'm just trying to learn a little bit more about D3 as a whole and was curious as to how one is able to host an NCAA tournament round. My thought process on it was that you had to put in a bid in advance to get the spot but I'm starting to think that I might be wrong considering how games are played at schools that are in the tournament. Which leads me to believe that the schools arent picked until after the brackets are set?? Whats the criteria and timetable?? Any info would be much appreciated from anyone!!

Thanks!

[pjunito]

Hey guys, love the post.. I haven't had internet since halftime on Saturday.... But, I am back.

Very quickly, The 2012 Albertus team was very solid. Ray Askew best player in falcons history and he willed that team. But, as I wrote a few weeks ago. Three of the starting positions are better now (by far) and the bench as a whole is much better. The issue is the identity of the team. 2012, It was Ray's team and he played amazing defense. He blocked shots and made stops. He was able to put the team on his back and win the game (remember the Lasell game, he scored 50 something and the rest of the team 24). There was that comfort watching them, knowing that when they needed a big bucket, Ray was going to get it.  The 2014 team has so much more explosive talent, you can't compare it. They have 3 guys who can score at anytime. The problem, I think, is the intensity on defense isn't there. But, does that mean this team isn't better. I thought it. The 2012 GNAC was soo weak. Albertus played horrible teams, and played Anna Maria in the championship who was the 6th seed and beat them by almost 30. This year, the JWU team is legit and the St. Joe and Lasell can play well at home. Plus the out of conference schedule is much stronger than that year. I think this team has a higher ceiling than the 2012 team (they had a 7-0 lead at Midd in the second run, lol). Now, this team could lose in the first round if they make the NCAAs... but, I think they have a higher ceiling.

[D3HoopJunkie]

PJ, Welcome back. I was wondering where you were all this time. Big game tomorrow against Lasell. They do present some interesting matchup problems especially with Clyde Niba who has been playing out of his mind recently. Being that the game is at home and the Falcons clearly have a much more polished team the edge goes clearly to the Falcons. Remember the game at Lasell earlier in the year. The Falcons could've easily won by 20 but unfortunately fell asleep in the second half on defense and werent able to completely pull away and Lasell made it a fairly close game late.

Nonetheless this is a good game and a good matchup with alot of familiarity and is a nice game to have late in the season as teams really begin to make the final push!!