MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Word around the league is that Coach Smith was forced out (which if true...is ridiculous).

Depends on why.

[Pat Coleman]

Some great commentary on the Smith "resignation" on the campus newspaper's story:

http://www.berkeleybeacon.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=dec6b422-a924-44fa-a0e3-e6d17d6edb8e

[GnacAlum55]

Good for all of Coach Smith's former players for commenting on the article.  Great to hear all of the positive comments about the impact that he had on their lives.  Sounds like Emerson lost more than just a coach here.  Good luck to the current Lions, I hope they finish the season strong!

[All-around]

The comments on that article are very touching. Coach Smith should be proud of that.

[pjunito]

St. Joe's is playing very good basketball. They have strong shooters and rebound very well. They also have a couple of players who are winners. They will be tough to beat this year. JWU is very athletic and gives match-up problems to a lot of GNAC teams. Albertus is struggling to find their way, they added a few players for the second semester. The players are talented but can they fit into the system before conference tournament begins? I think one of these three teams will make a good run during the GNACs and in the NCAAs. IF JWU or Albertus wins conference, I can see St. Joe getting an at large. They have a good body of work and are talented.

Coach Smith is one of those coaches who got the most out of his team. I think Emerson reallys falls off this year. I feel bad for the kids, because they only live this experience once. I hope they can come together, but it looks like they will have a rough finish to their season.

PS. Kelly from St. Joes is a player!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

First Regional Rankings: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/02/ncaas-mens-regional-rankings/

[deiscanton]

As you can see from the first week's regional rankings, it looks like the GNAC is only going to send the winner of the conference tournament to the NCAAs this season, as no GNAC men's team is regionally ranked in the Feb. 2 regional rankings.

The Monks look to be the favorite to win the GNAC men's tournament at this stage, but they have three tough games coming up-- a home date vs Suffolk-- the Rams were the only team so far to defeat the Monks in GNAC play this season when St. Joe's went to the Regan Gym in Boston.   St. Joe's will look to avenge that loss in Standish, Maine before St. Joe's has two tough road games coming up at Norwich and Johnson & Wales.  If the Monks win these next 3 games, then St. Joe's will be in good shape to get the #1 seed for the GNAC tournament.

[beaner11]

I don't know about you all but i thought that was an interesting week of games. Frirst off, the storm cancelled all the tuesday games so the conference is really unbalanced when it comes to records because half the league played mondy. Emerson continues to be an enigma as they beat teams they shouldn't but lose to teams they should beat, but I don't think they are the same team with out coach smith. I think he brought them together. Does anyone know what is going on with Albertus. Watson all of a sudden disappeared an Lora didn't even play last game. They have so much talent but something has to turn around from them. The battle for the top two may be interesting. I think Johnson and Wales may have the advantage with St Joes losing to a middle of the road Norwich team Saturday. Either way I think that the leagues still goes through those top three teams. Just noticing that Emmanuel is picking things up though. The higher seeded teams may not want to see them come playoff time. Any other thoughts?

PS Did anyone see the Lamonte vs Javon Showdown at Lasell?

[leelowlang]

Curious of the posters thoughts of who is the league's best:

Best Team:

Best Coach:

Best Player:

Best Point Guard:

Best Low-Post Scorer:

Best Shooter:

Best Dunker:

Best Defender:

[deiscanton]

Final score from Providence Feb. 8, 2011

Johnson & Wales 106, St. Joe's Maine 90

I caught the last 4 min of the game via John Parente's audiocast from the Harborside Recreation and Athletic Center (a/k/a Harborside RAC)

DIII's leading scorer, Lamonte Thomas, led JWU tonight with 28 pts.  Thomas fell 1 rebound shy of a triple-double.

According to Parente, JWU put 7 players in double figures tonight.   Player of the night for the Wildcats was Santino Cinotti, who came off the bench late to sink 4-4 from 3 pt land in 6 min of action-- breaking an 85-85 tie in the process.

(Box score confirms the 7 JWU players in double figures.    Johnson & Wales sank 11-16 from 3 pt range in the second half of the game.)  

For the Wildcats:

Lamonte Thomas-- 28 pts
Calvin Jones-- 17 pts
Darren Faust, Santino Cinotti, and Mike Harris had 12 points each.
Louis Ferreras had 11 pts
James Folk had 10 pts.

JWU takes the lead in the GNAC with an 11-2 record in GNAC play, while St. Joe's drops to 12-3 in GNAC play.

JWU went 38 of 68 from the field for the game, 13 of 27 from 3 pt land, and 17 of 18 from the charity stripe.

St. Joe's Maine went 30 of 60 from the field for the game, 7 of 18 from 3 pt land, and 23 of 27 from the FT Line.

For the St. Joe's Monks, only 3 players scored in double figures tonight.  Zach O' Brien had 28 pts for the Monks, while Tyler Kelley had 15 pts and Anthony Savino had 10 pts.

Update:  Here is the link to the recap of the game:

http://providence.jwuathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/releases/20110208i4ed5i

[OxyBob]

Emerson got a mention on TotalProSports.com:

LA Lakers Greeted By Taunts From Emerson College Student

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

Emerson got a mention on TotalProSports.com:

LA Lakers Greeted By Taunts From Emerson College Student

OxyBob

Classy.
I like the ads below the UTube entry.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to St. Joe's Maine junior Zach O'Brien on becoming the 34th Monk to score 1,000 career points and only the 12th Monk to do so in his junior campaign.

Zach O'Brien accomplished the milestone with 15:15 remaining in the game at Rivier College on Tuesday, Feb. 17 when he hit an uncontested jumpshot.

Zach O'Brien joins Monk senior classmate Tyler Kelley in the Monks's 1,000 point club.  It is only the 8th time in program history that the Monks have had 2 players reach their 1,000th career college point in the same season.

St. Joe's release on the feat is at:   http://www.gomonks.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/releases/20110215gwui1y

With the victory at Rivier on Tuesday, St. Joe's Maine, at 14-3 in the GNAC, has clinched the #1 seed in the upcoming GNAC tournament for the first time in program history.  (Even if there is a 3 way tie for first at 14-4 in GNAC play between St. Joe's, Albertus Magnus, and Johnson & Wales at the end of play on Saturday, the Monks clinched the tiebreaker with a best 3-1 head to head record vs Albertus Magnus and Johnson & Wales-- 2-0 sweep vs Albertus, 1-1 split vs JWU.)  The Monks will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, opponent TBD.

St. Joe's Maine is 3-1 lifetime in GNAC tournament games played on their home floor in Standish, Maine -- (The Monks won the 2008-2009 GNAC Tournament as a #3 seed with 3 straight home victories-- defeating Emmanuel by 2 points in the title game, but lost at home to Lasell in last year's GNAC Tournament Quarterfinal game.)

[deiscanton]

Since the GNAC is only going to send 1 team to the NCAAs, I took a look at the ECAC New England teams declared list this morning-- it is shown after the ECAC Metro declared teams, so you may have to scan down the pages a bit:

  Up to date list of teams that have declared that they wish to be considered for ECAC selection if they do not make it to NCAAs.

I see that the GNAC teams on the list are Johnson & Wales, Rivier, Suffolk, Norwich, and Albertus Magnus.

Suffolk will not be eligible for ECAC selection as they will finish under .500, and Rivier could finish under .500 as well, so I don't see those two making the field for the ECAC New England Tournament.

I would not be surprised if JWU, Albertus, and Norwich all make it into the ECACs if they do not win next week's GNAC tournament-- with Norwich being the team left out if only two GNAC teams from the list make it into the field.

Of those three teams,  Johnson & Wales would be travelling as a road team in the ECAC tournament regardless of how they would be seeded  (JWU declared that their facilities would not be available to host that week), while Norwich and Albertus Magnus have declared that they can host ECAC tournament games.

Of course, while St. Joe's Maine is the top seed for the GNAC tournament, that does not guarantee that the Monks will win the tournament.   While St. Joe's is 3-1 lifetime in GNAC tournament games played on their floor, the home regular season contests that the Monks had vs JWU, Albertus, and Norwich all went down to the final minute, so this GNAC tournament will be exciting and I would not be surprised if the Monks got upset on their home floor next week.   That being said, I am surprised that St. Joe's Maine has not declared for the ECAC just as an insurance policy-- unless the athletic department at St. Joe's does not have the budget to pay for ECAC tournament expenses this season.  (ECAC is a "pay as you go" tournament-- where each school in the field pays their share of the costs to either host or travel.-- that is why schools have to declare to the ECAC that they wish to be considered.)