MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[7express]

Without Neri they are nothing.

The losses to cabrini & Catholic were kinda expected (those were the 2 reasons why I dropped Purchase from my undefeated team in the undefeated pool and went with Western), and the losses to Colby & Manhattanville can be explained: Manhattanville because it's the rivalry game, Colby because they are a pretty good team.  Even though Colby ended up getting killed by Eastern Connecticut in the finals of that tournament, Colby did beat Amherst last season.
The loss to Newbury was just bad and told me they had something seriously wrong.  Newbury was 3-22 last season and have lost every game this year by 13 or more points, including the last 2 against teams that finished a combined 14-38 last year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Dave Mchugh said Purchase has seven guys out with injury right now.  That's rough.  The team I saw was barely a team.  They looked like five guys at the Y.  They do expect to be back in form after the holidays.  If they can still win their conference, these losses won't matter too much.

[warriorcat]

Lasell defeated Brandeis for its first win of the season 64-60.  Balanced scoring for the Lasers (three players in double figures) highlighted by a double-double (14pts 10 rebs)by Pat Marchand.  The Lasers played good defense down the stretch and knocked down all four free throws in the final 15 seconds.  Coach Galetta shortened his bench tonight and played his more veteran players the majority of the game.  They looked more like a team tonight than they have at any point in their previous three games.  I would like to think that this team willget better as the season progresses.

[lildave678]

AMC defeats Purchase 86-82. Based on previous results and injuries this is an unpleasant result. As I said earlier it was still a road game against a team looking for payback but a team that loses to Newbury shouldn't be within 20 of the Falcons talent wise...there was no video but let's hope the kids were aware of Purchase's early season shortcomings and took the night off.

[Saint-Paul]

Saints win,  unbelievable, the Emmanuel Saints finally put two good halves together to win a game at home.  Wheaton won only 9 games last year but still a win is a win.  The Saints guard that was buried on the bench after the tip off tournament was back in the starting line up last night and knocked down 22 points leading the team to an 80 - 65 victory over Wheaton. It makes a big difference when you don't give up 60 points in a half and don't commit 23 turnovers. Good win for the Saints.

Different Subject -  I also saw the Anna Marie Amcats on live stream win over Clark and thought they moved the ball well.  The don't have any star players but their two starting forwards can finish in the paint and their guards can knock down open three's.  They showed good team chemistry in beating Clark.  The only thing I didn't understand was the Amcats match up zone. Every time the ball got reversed they ended up with a guard defending a Clark forward on the strong side block. Don't know if they were running a long switch or how they ended up in that position, but Clark was taking advantage of that switch all night.  It kept Clark in the game.  Do any Amcat fans understand their match up zone?  The Amcats looked like a competitive team that will contend for the 3 rd or 4 th playoff spot.

[Saint-Paul]

Watched the ST Joe / S Maine game tonight on live stream.  St Joe is a really small team with four guards and one forward. Yes, they run their sets well, especially the triangle offense, the guards are aggressive they attack the rim, and make shots , but they cannot keep anyone out of the paint, they are not super athletic, and they cannot control the rebounds.   St Joe lost by a lot to an OK S Maine team and just did not look as sharp as last year.  I don't see any big upsets in their future this year.  It still looks like the 3 rd and 4 th GNAC playoff spots are still wide open.  I have not seen any GNAC teams that look like they can dominate the 3 rd or 4 th spots.  All the conference games will be meaningful this year even late into February.

    Different Subject - checked out the JWU / Brown University box score.  It was an 8 point game at halftime and ended up a 10 point game.  JWU only lost the second half by 2 points.  That is pretty impressive, especially since JWU is starting 4 guards and one forward.  They must be very athletic.

[Saint-Paul]

Another bad loss for the Saints again last night.  The game against Rivier was a very winnable game.  The Saints had bigger, stronger post players, and quicker, more athletic guards, and yet they managed to lose to Rivier 71 - 61.  Rivier ran a simple flex offense.  They didn't even use any flex options, just plain baseline screens followed by down screens.  How hard is it to defend a plain flex ?  You know where the cuts are coming from, don't you ?  Rivier played a tight 3 - 2 zone at the defensive end of the court with all 5 players packed in below the 3 point line, daring the Saints to shoot over top and it worked.  A smart move by the Rivier coach since Emmanuel missed 41 field goal attempts in 40 minutes of play.  They shot 17 % behind the 3 point arc.

Different Subject :  a quick check of the Saints roster shows another player quit the team over the Thanksgiving break.  The roster now lists only 14 players when they started the year with 16.  That is 2 so far this year that couldn't take any more.  The Saints average 6 players quitting the team per year so this is probably just the beginning. The Saints have the worst player retention record in the GNAC conference over the last six years.

[falcons2010]

Really bad lost by the Saints. Some of the other boards were saying that Rivier might be one of the worst teams in New England this year; I think they lost a game by almost 60 points already. I might need someone to double check that. Poor thing for the Saints, they have more guys quit so far than wins.. Maybe the AD will read this post.

As for the Falcons - they won 96-80 over Anna Maria to begin their conference play. I wasn't at the game, but heard that Albertus controlled the game from the beginning, having as large as a 28 point lead at one point. Quick check of the box socre - Vic L had 22 pts, 13 boards, and 7 blocks. the back court of Davis and Sledge combine for 17 points and 14 assists. Big nights for Wiggins and Larsen combining for 39 points on 13 of 16 from the floor (Larsen didn't miss a shot).

However, free throw shooting is still awful! 55% last night. All hopes of any run ends if this team can make free throws at a 75% clip and reduced turnovers to under 13 per game (yes, 13 is still a lot) or better yet under 5 non deadball turnovers.

Albertus Host JWU on Tuesday. This should be very fun!

[lildave678]

Also don't like that they were outscored in the 2nd half, albeit the game being in control. When it matters that halftime lead won't be nearly as big (or a lead at all) and they'll need to learn that killer instinct.

[GnacAlum55]

A couple of surprising scores from last night I thought. 
I was definitely shocked that Rivier beat Emmanuel. Also, Mt. Ida only down 2 at the half at JWU and only losing by 15 is a pretty good sign that they are improved.  I thought Lasell's size would help them vs. St. Joe's - it didn't! St. Joe's shot 66.7% from the field for the game...wow!  Finally, Suffolk blew out Norwich, I thought that one would be closer.  Some interesting games tomorrow.  I will definitely watch JWU vs. Albertus - should be a fun one!

[7express]

Really bad lost by the Saints. Some of the other boards were saying that Rivier might be one of the worst teams in New England this year; I think they lost a game by almost 60 points already. I might need someone to double check that. Poor thing for the Saints, they have more guys quit so far than wins.. Maybe the AD will read this post.

As for the Falcons - they won 96-80 over Anna Maria to begin their conference play. I wasn't at the game, but heard that Albertus controlled the game from the beginning, having as large as a 28 point lead at one point. Quick check of the box socre - Vic L had 22 pts, 13 boards, and 7 blocks. the back court of Davis and Sledge combine for 17 points and 14 assists. Big nights for Wiggins and Larsen combining for 39 points on 13 of 16 from the floor (Larsen didn't miss a shot).

However, free throw shooting is still awful! 55% last night. All hopes of any run ends if this team can make free throws at a 75% clip and reduced turnovers to under 13 per game (yes, 13 is still a lot) or better yet under 5 non deadball turnovers.

Albertus Host JWU on Tuesday. This should be very fun!

They lost to Plymouth by more than 50!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Really bad lost by the Saints. Some of the other boards were saying that Rivier might be one of the worst teams in New England this year; I think they lost a game by almost 60 points already. I might need someone to double check that. Poor thing for the Saints, they have more guys quit so far than wins.. Maybe the AD will read this post.

As for the Falcons - they won 96-80 over Anna Maria to begin their conference play. I wasn't at the game, but heard that Albertus controlled the game from the beginning, having as large as a 28 point lead at one point. Quick check of the box socre - Vic L had 22 pts, 13 boards, and 7 blocks. the back court of Davis and Sledge combine for 17 points and 14 assists. Big nights for Wiggins and Larsen combining for 39 points on 13 of 16 from the floor (Larsen didn't miss a shot).

However, free throw shooting is still awful! 55% last night. All hopes of any run ends if this team can make free throws at a 75% clip and reduced turnovers to under 13 per game (yes, 13 is still a lot) or better yet under 5 non deadball turnovers.

Albertus Host JWU on Tuesday. This should be very fun!

They lost to Plymouth by more than 50!

I thought it was 49.  Maybe we're talking about different game.

[7express]

Actually now that you said it 81-32 really only is 49.  Sure seems like it was more than 50 though.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't know how connected anybody is to Albertus, but it seems like, the last two games, they've really focused on getting the ball down low.  Was that just coincidence or are they figuring this out?  With the guards they have, the shooter, and the defense, throwing it down to an all-american under the basket might be a good way to win lots of games against good teams.

[Albertus2007]

Hoopsfan,  I'm pretty sure they are starting to figure it out.  I will be at the game tonight against JWU with Falcons2010 (Formerly PJUNITO) so we should have a better idea after the game.