MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[7express]

7, shows you how much I know lol 44-22 st joes at half

GNAC & PJ, Williams was down 16 at half @ Middlebury last night and won.  It can be done, but will be really difficult.  They have the firepower on offense to do it as they can score 10 points in the blink of eye, but the defense has to really step up in the second.

[GnacBballFan]

I agree 7, they were capable but it just isn't going their way today. 45 points with 5 min left. Albertus will have to regroup. I did not see this coming, I thought st joes was a little weak and didn't think the away game would have mattered. Hopefully this is what albertus needed to realize they just can't turn it on when they want

[pjunito]

Albertus losses by 19 to St. Joes.... This game was over 8 mins in... St. Joe led 27-9. They shot the ball better, played better defense, and quite frankly played a better game..

A lost is disappointing but this is still the best group of talent Albertus has ever had. This game gives Coach Oliver a lot to think about...Very quickly..

1. Over the last week, the team has struggled at the free throw line.

2. Wiggins has been awful the last week (I didn't see the St. Joe's game) but he missed wide open shots vs Purchase and JWU.

3. Watson has really struggled with his offensive game the last thre games.. Not show if he is hurting more than he has led on or is fatigued

4. The post game has gone away.. Vic and Larsen have averaged 27 points before the Purchase game, the last three games they've scored: 16 pts vs Purchase, 21 vs JWU, and 5 today..

Good team lose and play hard the rest of the year.. Great teams lose and make adjustments so they will be hard to defeat again..

Let's see what happens on Wednesday.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Well boys all I am going to say is on to the next one. I usually put that at the end of my posts and use !!!!!!! exclamation points but today they are definitely not required.

I have never been one to buy into the "good loss" perspective and this game isn't going to change that. But I do agree with GNAC and will 2nd his point and say that this might show the Falcons that they really have to show up every game and compete at a high level. Switching on and off whenever they think they can simply will not work.

I also have to make the point that I am not worried at ALLLLL. Did this game show some weaknesses YES absolutely but at the same time I think they will rebound and come out Wednesday and play the way we all know they can.

My only worry is how important the road game at JWU is going to be now that we have one loss and both them and St. Joes have 2. Does anyone know the tiebreak scenario if for arguments sake there is a 3 way tie for first place between Albertus, JWU and St. Joes

[7express]

Well boys all I am going to say is on to the next one. I usually put that at the end of my posts and use !!!!!!! exclamation points but today they are definitely not required.

I have never been one to buy into the "good loss" perspective and this game isn't going to change that. But I do agree with GNAC and will 2nd his point and say that this might show the Falcons that they really have to show up every game and compete at a high level. Switching on and off whenever they think they can simply will not work.

I also have to make the point that I am not worried at ALLLLL. Did this game show some weaknesses YES absolutely but at the same time I think they will rebound and come out Wednesday and play the way we all know they can.

My only worry is how important the road game at JWU is going to be now that we have one loss and both them and St. Joes have 2. Does anyone know the tiebreak scenario if for arguments sake there is a 3 way tie for first place between Albertus, JWU and St. Joes

Assuming they all suffer losses to each other most go to a coin flip, but I think the NESCAC and some others uses SOS to break ties..  I know when Western tied Plymouth last year all the tiebreakers were unbreakable (finished 1-1 against each other, 2-0 vs. Mass-Dartmouth, and 0-10 against the other 5 teams) so the LEC went straight to a coin flip to break that tiebreaker.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Coin flip is so ridiculous but I understand thats the process and the way it must be done.

Thanks for the insight 7, Much appreciated.

[7express]

Coin flip is so ridiculous but I understand thats the process and the way it must be done.

Thanks for the insight 7, Much appreciated.

It might be different.  Not sure of how far down the GNAC goes before going to the coin flip.  As I said in my last post, some conferences use strength of schedule (or some variation of that) before flipping George Washington.

[pjunito]

The GNAC uses overall win percentage to determine tie breakers. If JWU, Albertus, and St. Joe all finish with 2 losses.. Albertus will be 1 seed, JWU 2 and St. Joe 3. Albertus would need to lose two more games in conference to not have home court.

JWU toughest game remaining is home vs Albertus
Albertus toughest game is at JWU
St. Joe is at Lasell

St. Joe has had some questionable losses the last 3 years on the road. I would keep an eye out at Emmanual.

Albertus has Lasell and Emmanual at home. Both teams can give Albertus issues for various reasons.

JWU has played their tough road games already. As long as they play smart, they shouldn't be tested. But,  that's why they play.

A fun month of February is upon us boys...

[D3HoopJunkie]

7 and PJ, I am not doubting either of you. I just want to know how confident each of you are in the tiebreaker format?? You both proposed two different takes and want to know if either of you actually agree with the other after hearing the others side.

Perhaps Pat or Dave can also contribute with some insight since they both are D3 afficianados??

[7express]

7 and PJ, I am not doubting either of you. I just want to know how confident each of you are in the tiebreaker format?? You both proposed two different takes and want to know if either of you actually agree with the other after hearing the others side.

Perhaps Pat or Dave can also contribute with some insight since they both are D3 afficianados??

I'm more confident in PJ since he knows the GNAC more than I do, LOL.

[magicman]

Pj, you realize we just jinxed albertus into losing to JWU St.Joe's on Saturday, right?

Gnac and PJ,

I fixed it for you.

[pjunito]

Junkie,

Unless they changed it this year.. That has been the rule for the men. The women only play each other once, so it is unlikey they come into this scenario.. however, they have the same rule in case it is a three way tie with no clear winner.

Magic, I thought St. Joe would be a tough game.. Didn't think they would handle Albertus the way they did. They held Albertus to 30 points in the first 28 minutes. Amazing defensive plan and execution.

[magicman]

Junkie,

Unless they changed it this year.. That has been the rule for the men. The women only play each other once, so it is unlikey they come into this scenario.. however, they have the same rule in case it is a three way tie with no clear winner.

Magic, I thought St. Joe would be a tough game.. Didn't think they would handle Albertus the way they did. They held Albertus to 30 points in the first 28 minutes. Amazing defensive plan and execution.

Pj,

I didn't expect that result at all. St Joe's played down in DC over the holidays in a tournament that Cortland State, from my SUNYAC conference, played in. Cortland played the host team, Catholic in the 1st round and won by 6 points. St Joe's played Misericordia in the 1st round and lost by a 68-65 score. Cortland won the championship game the next day over Misericordia, while Catholic beat St Joe's in the consolation game by an 87-61 blowout. Cortland is in a 4 way tie for 4th place in the SUNYAC and may not even make the playoffs. (Top 6 only). This was a bad loss for AM. They're a better team than this game indicates. I guess St Joe's came out on fire and AM couldn't catch up.       

[Saint-Paul]

Final Score  Lasell  89  /  Emmanuel  74

     The Saints used an aggressive full court man to man press to turn a winnable game into another home court loss.  Lasell is a good team but not an overpowering or extremely athletic team, and this should have been a much closer game.  It is puzzling that after 18 games the Saints coach still doesn't know what the best defensive system is that his team is capable of playing.  Over half of Lasell's field goals came from easy transition layups or back cuts behind an over aggressive wing defender. 
The Lasell post player did not have a good day making post moves from a set offense but he had a field day scoring in transition against a wide open lane with no help defenders anywhere in sight.  The Saints are not a good man to man defensive team, they get beat off the dribble all game long and give up wide open 3 point looks with poor close outs. The only games they have managed to win this year was by playing a tight 2 - 3 zone, closing down driving lanes, controlling defensive rebounds, and matching up with perimeter shooters.  Why they keep opening up games with their trademark full court man press is beyond belief.  Once again the Saints shot under 40% from the field and under 32% from the 3 point arc on their home court.  This game was their 8 th consecutive home court loss.


Final Score  St Joe 74  /  AMC  55

     I was very surprised by this score.  I thought that St Joe was a quality team who played very unselfish basketball by looking for open teammates, running their half court sets, and knocking down opportunity baskets.  I did not find St Joe to be overly athletic, or dominating in the paint or to have great foot speed.  I am really surprised that this was not a closer game.  AMC usually has 55 points by halftime, not for the game.  I thought that the AMC foot speed, the quick hands in the passing lanes, and the rebounding in the paint would have given St Joe a
lot of trouble.   When I saw St Joe play at J&W they did not get any
dribble penetration into the lane, did not get any easy transition baskets, and had trouble getting open perimeter looks against the J&W close outs.  I know that AMC had two difficult games this week.  It is possible that St Joe took advantage of tired legs, tired hands, and open passing lanes.  The last two weeks of the season should see some very competitive games where the outcome of games may be hard to predict.

[pjunito]

Junkie,

Unless they changed it this year.. That has been the rule for the men. The women only play each other once, so it is unlikey they come into this scenario.. however, they have the same rule in case it is a three way tie with no clear winner.

Magic, I thought St. Joe would be a tough game.. Didn't think they would handle Albertus the way they did. They held Albertus to 30 points in the first 28 minutes. Amazing defensive plan and execution.

Pj,

I didn't expect that result at all. St Joe's played down in DC over the holidays in a tournament that Cortland State, from my SUNYAC conference, played in. Cortland played the host team, Catholic in the 1st round and won by 6 points. St Joe's played Misericordia in the 1st round and lost by a 68-65 score. Cortland won the championship game the next day over Misericordia, while Catholic beat St Joe's in the consolation game by an 87-61 blowout. Cortland is in a 4 way tie for 4th place in the SUNYAC and may not even make the playoffs. (Top 6 only). This was a bad loss for AM. They're a better team than this game indicates. I guess St Joe's came out on fire and AM couldn't catch up.     

Magicman, I don't think anyone here expected a result like that. 7 said the long trip can really hurt them, and they had two tough games this week. But, I don't agree with Junkie, in college basketball good losses exist all the time. Let's face it, a coach needs to make sure that their team is playing its best basketball by mid-February.  Albertus has not played a complete game since the Rivier game on January 20. Now, they have won every game expect Saturdays. But, I think adversity can be a good thing. There are 4 new pieces to this team. How do they handle what just happened Saturday. They aren't undefeated in d3, they aren't undefeated in conference, they aren't the 16 ranked team in d3 basketball. Get back to basics, get back to simple offense and hard defense.

I really want to see how they play over the next 4 games.