MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[D3HoopJunkie]

Falcon2010, I think the issue was on Johnson and Wales. The GNAC provides the ezstream link but i'm thinking it had to be something on JWU's end of it. What blows my mind is that it apppears they did nothing to try and fix the situation. Best game of the year for the entire confernece and it gets messed up!!! I doubt we'll even be able to watch the replay

[Ferraro13]

Well k think it's official that Jennings is off the team. What an unbelievable ending

[Ferraro13]

Side note. Although Sledge and Vic get all the hoopla this yr, Eian Davis is what makes this team go. From his play to his leadership. He just has Incredible court generalship

[lildave678]

We can all look at the game in a negative in such that we blew a 20 point lead and we're without a starter...But in this game we were without his replacement AND we were on the road. Losing a 20 point lead has no excuse but I think this game will obviously be the closest thing this team has to an NCAA tournament game.

If they see JWU at home, with Julian in the GNAC finals I don't think it's as close. I think (read as; I hope) if we see them again it will be more of a result we're used to with the other GNAC teams lol

[falcons2010]

Junkie, i am sure this issue was with JWU. However, when you are in a conference which has no regional respect. You need to make sure that issue gets fixed. No excuse. The little east, newmac, and nescac would have all had it fix during a game of this magnitude.

A few things about the game.

1. Albertus won a game in the 70s, showing a lot of calm in the final minute.
2. Albertus wins with no outside threat and jwu really dominating thr boards.
3. Albertus hits clutch free throws, area they struggled in the past
4. Davis is playing under control, shooting the ball better and understanding when to push and when to pull ball out.

Things of concern

1. Juilian injury. Albertus need a consistent shooter
2. Vic and larsen need to be in court, cant get in foul trouble
3. Can't blow 20 point lead in post season. I know college basketball is all about teams making a run, however, need to stop that run with a few solid offensive possesions and/or grabbing a few offensive rebounds

[Ferraro13]

If Albertus wins out to title game and loses to JWU, they aren't losing to any other team at home, do they get an automatic bid? Be a shame if not

[Saint-Paul]

Final Score  St Joe  70  -  Emmanuel  47


    Saints looked non competitive again against a good team, only scoring 12 points in the first half.  At the 17 minute mark of the game the score was 30 - 8 .  The game was essentially over at that point and the rest was just played for the final numbers.  Emmanuel shot 4% from behind the 3 point arc, going 1 -  24 .  If you don't recruit anyone who is a capable shooter why do you give them the green light to launch threes?  Emmanuel brought in two JUCO transfers this year to play the low post positions, but then they get ignored and the guards rush down court to launch threes.  I just don't understand that game plan.  Only 6 assists for 21 field goals so they were not running any kind of offense again.  Simonds had a nice game again, 26 points, for St Joe.  St Joe shot 57% from the field with 13 assists so they were doing what they do best, moving the ball.
    Not sure if Tuesday's game with Albertus will get played or postponed.  I am sure the Saints hope it will get canceled.  It most likely will not have any effect on the playoffs,  but a make up date is probably going to get scheduled anyway.  Would really like to see what the Albertus scouting report says about the Saints.  What starting lineup do you prepare for ?  Do you prepare 16 different scouting reports depending on who the Emmanuel coach feels like starting that particular day?    What plays do you prepare to defend?  Do you chase 3 point shooters off the arc or let them take any 3 point shot they want ?  If they are going to shoot 4%  why guard them at all?  Do you try and control game tempo or just let the opponents do that for you ?  If travel conditions are too difficult just mail in the score !

[GNACFollower11]

Ferraro, no they would not get an automatic bid. The only way to get an automatic bid is to win your conference tournament.

Where that to happen, they most likely would not get an at-large bid either. Unless they rise significantly in the next regional rankings, it would be hard for them to get an at-large. They aren't getting in with your scenario because there's no way the region gets 11 teams into the tournament and right now Albertus sits at 11 in the Northeast.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

AMC is tenth... and considering how many teams ahead of them will probably take Pool A bids, AMC will at least get to the table for consideration. However, Staten Island is an example last year of a team that lost it's second game of the season in the conference championship game that had a poor SOS and stayed at the table for at-large consideration... the entire 19 rounds. Certainly a cautionary note for AMC fans.

[GNACFollower11]

My apologies, 10th, not 11th.

Dave, you probably know more about it than I do. If I'm not mistaken, you can only earn a Pool A bid if you win your conference, correct? If that's the case, then there'd still be (as it stands now) 6 teams ranked ahead of them in the region. The way the process has been explained to me, I find it hard to believe that, in a relatively down year for the NESCAC, the Northeast region will get 10 teams in.

Hopefully, because a lot of the other top teams share conferences and thus games against one another, Albertus will be able to move up a few spots when it's all said and done.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Yes... win your conference and earn the AQ (for all conferences this season - no Pool B bids this season). And while that does leave six teams ahead of AMC in this past week's regional rankings, consider the fact that teams ahead of them have already lost since those rankings (Bates, Amherst, Rhode Island, and Springfield) AND if those teams haven't won their AQs that means they have lost at least one more game between now and the end of the season - including other teams ahead of them in the rankings.

While AMC's SOS is poor (roughly a .475 right now), at least AMC will climb the rankings based on the fact they are still winning. The problem AMC has, though, is that SOS and the fact they are 0-1 in vRRO from now on and that won't improve.

Do I think AMC gets an at-large bid if they lose in the tournament? Iffy at best. That is what I indicated when referencing Staten Island from last year. However, I do think they will move up and at least give themselves a chance to get to the table to be discussed which is better than never getting to the table in the first place.

That all being said... I think they need to win the AQ to avoid being on a very precarious bubble... and expect to be on the road in the tournament.

[lildave678]

Hey, at least we can say we're used to having to win the conference tournament to ensure a spot in the big dance. Nothing to see here haha...

F13, any chance Jennings returns next season or is this a permanent thing?

Couple comments about F2010's post - First, I think 1 and 2 of the negative kind of go together. We need Vic and Lemar to stay on the court BECAUSE we don't have James  (or Julian currently) to stretch the D by just standing there in a dangerous position. With the bigs on the court, they attract a lot of attention and can open the floor that way. Second, you are absolutely right about the 20 point lead. Teams absolutely will make their run, but it wasn't like this was an 8 point game where they made the run. A 20 point lead should not become a tie game if you're an elite team. Since the feed went down I was doing other things while keeping tabs on the live stats. It seemed like Albertus could never get that bucket or two just to stem the tide even just a little. I saw it creep from 20, to 15, to 13, to 11, etc etc. I was waiting for it to pop back up to 15, 17 and it never did. But as you said, GREAT on them to keep their composure and get the job done. Huge props to Lemar for hitting the two free throws on the road. And while I have no idea what happened because of the feed, that possesion shows what a true team this is - Larsen taking that shot. I'm sure JWU keyed in on Vic and Tavon and someone had the confidence to get it to Lemar. As the ball is coming up the floor he's probably our 4th offensive option? An excellent thing if you ask me.

A nice 3 game week for the Falcons to close the regular season out. They should take care of all 3, especially with the way Anna Maria has come back to earth the past couple of games (getting pumped by JWU, losing to Lasell). But obviously that closing game against the AMCats will be their championship game especially on senior day. If Julian is that hurt, obviously sit him for the first 2 against Emmanuel and Mt. Ida and go from there.

[Saint-Paul]

Game Report on Lasell 69 / Anna Maria 60

Watched the video reply of the Lasell / Anna Maria game because I wanted to see how Lasell beat the Amcats.  The Amcats were very patient, running their sets and getting good shots, not forcing anything.  They were mixing up their offense, scoring inside and then stepping out to make some shots.  Bradanese and Franklin each had 20 points,  Delorey had a sub par game only making 2 shots, but the point guard had another good game with 8 assists.  Overall the Amcats had 14 assists on 25 field goals so they were still playing unselfish basketball.

    The problem came on the defensive end of the court.  The Amcats did not play aggressive defense until it was too late.  Lasell was also very patient on offense, spreading the floor against the Amcats zone, moving the ball until they found an open 3 point shooter.  The Amcat defenders did not close out on the Lasell shooters hard enough and most of the Lasell shooters had time to measure their shots.  The difference in the game was Lasell making 15 three point shots.  That accounted for 45 of the 69 points.  Making shots early in the game gave Lasell confidence they could hang with the Amcats and that certainly proved to be true.  Anna Maria was down 26 to 12 after the first 7 minutes of the game and then pick up the intensity of their defense holding Lasell to just 4 points the rest of the first half, but the damage was already done.  Lasell came out in the second half confident that their shots would fall and that is exactly what happened.  I hope the Amcats learn a lesson from this game and bring their defensive intensity onto the floor at the start of every game.

[lildave678]

Lasell has recently hit 16 3 pointers against Albertus, 12 against Mt. Ida, 14 against Rivier, and now 15 against Anna Maria (though they only hit 5 against Amherst). Obviously come tourney time if Albertus were to play them it would be at Albertus and I'd expect the Falcons to be tuned in defensively, but the rate at which they hit 3 pointers is scary. The good thing is even though they hit 16 against us they still lost by 10 

[warriorcat]

Another factor in Lasell's game vs Anna Maria was the return of Pat Marchand.  He missed 8 games with an injury. He is Lasell's only big man leading the team in scoring (15.2) and rebounding (9.6)  Part of the 3 pt story is freshman Scott Arsenault.  He has only recently begun to play significant minutes but it is an understatement to say he is a three point specialist.  97 of his 120 shots have been three point attempts and he has hit 42.3 % of them.  If they can establish some rhythm and consistency in the final couple of weeks they may be a tough out in the conference tournament.