MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[D3HoopJunkie]

WPI - They are absolutely that good......I feared this game would get out of hand and it surely did. To much experience on the JWU side of the ball and FAR FAR to much youth for Albertus. JWU shoots the ball extremely well. Offensively they are very balanced and have a number of players who can hurt you from the perimeter. Greenaway is an outstanding player but really there only slasher. They don't take the ball to the whole a lot but they are effective when they do. They are very similar to last years Albertus squad in terms of senior leadership who can go for the juggler and take you out of a game both physically and mentally in the 1st half.

The only thing that separates last years Albertus team to this years JWU team is an inside offensive scoring presence for JWU. They do not have a legitimate 5 who can get touches on the low post and help you stay in a game if your perimeter shots are not falling. They should run through the GNAC although I do believe Albertus will play them much tougher at home.

I didn't like are chances going into that game on the road but at the same time I didn't think we would get blown out as bad as we did. That is hands down the worst loss in terms of score in the Oliver era. Jamie Benton and JWU have played second fiddle to Albertus for the last 3 season and now that they have a formidable team, if they can remain focused.........they just might be able to pull off a few upsets if they are fortunate enough to make the big dance!

[WPI89]

+1 D3HJ 

Does Coach Oliver eventually settle down during a 50 point loss - or does he just get angrier and angrier?  I love how animated he is, but I just can't wrap my head around him on the bench for this type of game!

[7express]

+1 D3HJ 

Does Coach Oliver eventually settle down during a 50 point loss - or does he just get angrier and angrier?  I love how animated he is, but I just can't wrap my head around him on the bench for this type of game!

I'd always think it's much easier to take the 60 point beating.  Imagine if they were up the whole game and lost on a buzzer beater??  The HS team I assist with lost by 1 last night on a made field goal with like 5 seconds left....I would have rather lost by 50.

[D3HoopJunkie]

HAHAHAH.....WPI......He was just as animated as always! I have to give him credit though because all the way to the end of the game he coached them as if they were trailing by 2 with 3 seconds left! We as Albertus fans are not shocked by this however as Oliver will always push his guys to do better and compete to the very last play. I am so sick of people saying that he is just an amazing recruiter! That couldn't be more far off. He is an outstanding recruiter but he also knows more about the X's and O's then just about anyone and his teams run more sets and more plays than any team you will see in D3 basketball. Anyone who says other wise either doesn't know basketball or simply doesn't like Albertus and Oliver because of the way they play the game and how animated he is.

Coach Benton certainly extracted some revenge for himself in this game. He left his starters in WAYYYYYY longer than he should of. I do understand that as a competitor he wanted to bury Albertus last night and they certainly did but at the same time he really put some of his players at risk. These 2 teams HATE each other and Coach Oliver and Coach Benton certainly aren't getting together for lunch and talking hoops in the offseason LOL. But Albertus competed to the very end and there was an interesting sequence I saw with about 5 minutes to go, Tom Garrick for JWU who is arguable just as important to the team as Grennaway  took a pretty good shot to the knee on a loose ball play which results in a couple players hitting the deck and banging into a few upright player, in this case Garrick. At that point I said to myself, this Coach is walking a thin line because with that lead there was simply no reason to have those kids in the game.

Oliver and Albertus have absolutely owned the GNAC for the last three season, in fact, JWU hasn't beaten Albertus since 2013! So again I think this was personal in a way for Benton and the Wildcats but at the same time, Coach Benton should really be thinking big picture

[D3HoopJunkie]

7Express.......Respectfully I have to disagree with you on that statement

In my opinion if your team is in engaged for 40 minutes, competing their rear ends off and losing on a buzzer beater, while that certainly sucks! The fact is you were in that game, you deserved to be on the court with whoever your opponent was that night and your players did everything they possibly could have done for 39 minutes and 59 seconds to be in position to get a victory

A 60 point loss on the other hand for me would be much harder to swallow as both a player and Coach. As a Coach I wouldn't be able to help but think OK I just didn't prepare my team enough to win this big game, we didn't put our players in the right position to make this competitive and that would drive me crazy. And of course as a player you cant help but to think how terrible you played individually and how ever worse it must have been as a total team effort.

Again respectfully I certainly understand your point as well, kind of wipe it clean from the memory and move onto the next one but me personally I think it would just eat at me way to much getting blown out!

[Ferraro13]

Junkie,

you took the words right out of my mouth. Benton and JWU took this game personal. They have been second fiddle to Oliver and Albertus the last 5 or so years, minus the year they won the gnac (thanks to albertus suspending three starters for the year). So to me, this game was more to them then it was to us. And they took it to the young albertus team. Walters was completely taken out of the game which left only Lovell as an option. Albertus doesnt really have anything after that at this moment. But lets not forget how young this team is. a team littered with underclassmen. Our expectations are a little high bc of how spoiled Oliver has gotten us with his success. I will say this, the last time a team ran up the score on us, it was Emmanuel in olivers second year. They havent beaten us since. Jamie Benton and JWU want to make this personal by running it up, thats fine, but Oliver isnt going anywhere, and these Falcons are young. you better believe Oliver wont forget this loss.

Junkie  what happened with the combo guard transfer?

[7express]

Just my opinion Junkie and I like your opinion, but I just think, at least for me, losing by 55 is a lot easier to deal with and rebound from.  We weren't ready to play, they are just better, we were worse then awful, blah blah blah, we can and will do better the next game.  I've seen unbeaten teams lose on a buzzer beater the first conference game of the year on January 2, and those teams never recover.  Of course, some of those teams weren't that good anyways and just beat up on tomato cans & cupcakes, but for some of them it really does take a toll losing like that.  Case in point: look at Duke football.  They lost that game to Miami on the 15 lateral play where the refs missed like 3 calls that would've ended the game, and they only won I think 1 or 2 more games the rest of the season, even though when it happened it was the first Saturday in November.

[booyakasha]

7exp - do you think any team that loses by 55 is capable of beating that time at another time during the same season? It would seem highly unlikely so I vote for the close game. JMHO

[7express]

I doubt it, but you never know.  Let me rephrase it differently: your down 20 at halftime, go down as much as 35 in the second half, but outscore them 25-7 the final 8 minutes and ONLY lose by 15 even though it was a blowout most of the game.  Which one would you rather have??  Under that scenario, the team that lost could probably win the second game at home.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The one positive in losing at J&W... that post-game spread has got to be fantastic!

[WPI89]

Funny Hoops.  My nephew's buddy is a graduate and went back to Long Island and opened up an Italian Restaurant/pizza shop.  Best Chicken Francese I have ever tasted!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's not a joke.  I remember going there to watch a volleyball match one time in college and their concession stand was like a five star restaurant.  Amazing.  Gotta be a fantastic perk of attendance.

[GnacAlum55]

Any one know what happened to Andre Ruff at Rivier? He was their leading scorer and rebounder, but is no longer on the roster.

[WPI89]

J & W continues to just absolutely pound people!  Winning by 40+ regularly!

I have to remember to watch them - do they have video of their home games?

[WPI89]

I didn't even realize they were playing right now - I tried to watch video but it says they are "playing" tonight?

May not have learned much anyway as they are already up 33 at the half!