MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[D3HoopJunkie]

As PJ mentioned, tonight's matchup between Albertus and Johnson and Wales is hands-down the biggest regular-season GNAC game of the year. This is going to be a fun one to watch. Even with the current weather, all signs point to the game remaining as is and starting at 7:00 PM.

This has always been a tough place for the Falcons to play. Anyone who has followed the program the last few years can tell you that. Huge implications for both teams in regards to conference standings and a big game for the regional rankings committee to evaluate. I know the Falcons feel they should be higher, and I must say that I feel Johnson and Whales should certainly be a top 10 team in the region. I'm sure the Wildcats feel a little disrespected as well.

Anyone traveling tonight? JWU provides an excellent wencast as well with full play by play commentary.

[7express]

So, if J&W wins and assuming AMC, J&W and SJME all win Saturday, how are the top 3 decided??

[pjunito]

The GNAC has no official tie breakers on their website; but from what I remember. Tie breakers in split situations (which will happen if Albertus, JWU, and St. Joe's all finished tied) is determined by best overall record. Which means Albertus #1 seed, followed by JWU and St. Joe's.

St. Joe's game has been cancelled for tonight, they play host to Anna Maria tomorrow night, travel to Mt. Ida on Thursday, and then travel to Lasell on Saturday.  3 games in 4 days for a team that doesn't have a lot of depht. Lasell is going to be a tough game for them, I can see them struggling if they have tired legs.

[pjunito]

Albertus clinches the #1 seed with an impressive 96-81 win at JWU.

Everyone played well, Lersen is such a good player and a key to the team. Jennings hit three 3s in a row. Vic is the Player of the Year in my opinion, he is just amazing, 24 pts 14 rebounds, and 6 blocks! Davis had 14 assist. Watson had 19 but didn't score until 6 mins left in first half. Wiggins and Wilson had a good game off the bench, Wilson in first and Wiggins in second.

Hats off to the guys who called the game. They did a great job!

If St. Joe's win's out, they have the 2 seed and JWU 3.

[D3HoopJunkie]

What a game tonight!! I'm going to use the term "HEAT CHECK" victory for this one. Overall just a tremendous performance by the Falcons in all aspects of the game. In a game with such high implications on the line the Falcons and Coach Oliver really stepped up and delivered a big time!!

I'm not going to get into individual stats because it too late and work comes early in the morning (and yes I traveled to the game tonight.....I just had too) Check Vics stat line. He was a beast. James made some huge three pointers which looked like he got his stroke back and just as Johnson and Whales looked like they might have gone on a little bit of a run Darius Watson knocked down a monster three pointer that just took the home crowd completely out of the game for the final 9 minutes.

I really hope that the Falcons can keep there emotions in check though as the rest of the season unfolds. They are all so emotional from the players to Coach Oliver but they had a few Technicals that really should have been avoided. While some of the T's were questionable, they still have got to do a better job at controlling there emotions and keeping their absolute focus on the game. If they do that I really think they can beat any team in the country. YES I said COUNTRY!!

They must remain focused with there final home game and senior day coming up on Saturday against a surging Emmanuel team. If I am not mistaken Darius is 9 points away from 2000 for his career and what an accomplishment that would be to achieve on Senior Day!!

The road to the GNAC Championship runs through New Haven baby!!

[lildave678]

What a game tonight!! I'm going to use the term "HEAT CHECK" victory for this one. Overall just a tremendous performance by the Falcons in all aspects of the game. In a game with such high implications on the line the Falcons and Coach Oliver really stepped up and delivered a big time!!

I'm not going to get into individual stats because it too late and work comes early in the morning (and yes I traveled to the game tonight.....I just had too) Check Vics stat line. He was a beast. James made some huge three pointers which looked like he got his stroke back and just as Johnson and Whales looked like they might have gone on a little bit of a run Darius Watson knocked down a monster three pointer that just took the home crowd completely out of the game for the final 9 minutes.

I really hope that the Falcons can keep there emotions in check though as the rest of the season unfolds. They are all so emotional from the players to Coach Oliver but they had a few Technicals that really should have been avoided. While some of the T's were questionable, they still have got to do a better job at controlling there emotions and keeping their absolute focus on the game. If they do that I really think they can beat any team in the country. YES I said COUNTRY!!

They must remain focused with there final home game and senior day coming up on Saturday against a surging Emmanuel team. If I am not mistaken Darius is 9 points away from 2000 for his career and what an accomplishment that would be to achieve on Senior Day!!

The road to the GNAC Championship runs through New Haven baby!!

Albertus write-up says he's just 1 point away from 2000.

Any comments on the first half? They were down 1 and gave up a 50 spot. Great to see them lockdown and only give up 31 in the 2nd half on the road in the biggest GNAC game of the season. Did they make any adjustments, play harder, or was JWU just lights out in the first half...or a combo of all 3 haha?

Also of note regarding Vic, after that St. Joe's game he tweeted, "Losing alone is a hard thing to explain but having my family asking me why I only took 3 shots is even harder to explain smh." He went 1-3 in that game with 5 points and I took notice when I saw the tweet. Well, guess what? Like D3 said he's been a BEAST ever since. In the 5 games after:

13 points, 10 rebs, 5 assts, 5 blocks
26 points, 11 rebs, 5 assts, 4 blocks
18 points, 18 rebs, 4 assts, 7 blocks
26 points, 14 rebs, 1 block
24 points, 14 rebs, 6 blocks

He's never taken less than 10 shots and is shooting 60.5% from the field in that span. Hopefully he keeps it up!

[lildave678]

And anyone who didn't get a chance to watch it (AKA me!) JWU has the games archived. Link here:

http://www.ezstream.com/play/index.cfm?fuseaction=embstay&id=421D8DCFBC&dsplvl=affil&org=EZ

This will get me through to the USA Hockey game at noon 

EDIT: Since no one responded after me while watching, I just wrote down some notes while I watched. Feel free to comment, agree, disagree, whatever...

Darius seemed to get frustrated early on in the first half. He had a couple traveling calls and missed his first few shots. He then hit back to back 3 pointers and got T'd up for jawing with the JWU coach/bench. D3, were you close enough to hear if he deserved it?

Love the way they took control in the 2nd half early. Couple big 3's by Jennings (though he picked up his 4th foul right after) and then a 3 by Vic pushed the lead to 10. Glad to see the lead never got to less than 8 down the stretch.

The 3 Darius hit after the Touze dunk was BIG. Took the crowd right back out of it.

Eian Davis was not good from the FT line. When he can get to the rack like he does, that's a definite issue.

Wow Wiggins hit a sick step back J with about 5 to go and he played awesome. Hopefully this gives him more confidence moving forward into tourney time.

Loved the announcers giving a lot of love to my fellow Waterburian Lemar. He really is the glue to the team who does all the little things that aren't necessarily in the box score.

[D3HoopJunkie]

LilDave,

My math was off (Not suprised with myself there) Darius is 1 point shy of 2000. What an accomplishment.

First half was very back and forth and Albertus struggled a bit out of the gate and also had some really unfortunate and head scratching fouls that put the Wildcats to the line where they converted for a high percentage. It was a battle, the JWU crowd was as rowdy as they have ever been and the Falcons just struggled adapting a bit in the early going. I must point out that Marc Wilson came off the bench in the 1st half when Darius picked up his 3rd foul and really did a superb job of filling the void and do his part both offensively and defensively. He also had a great shot at the buzzer to the end the first half and cut the lead to 1 instead what would have been 3.

I would say it was a combo of the three in the second half. Albertus came out in the 2nd half and did a much better job defensively. They contested shots and really did a good job with the dribble penetration of the JWU guards. I feel the turning point for the Falcons was the rebounding. They did not do a good job in the 1st half of rebounding but in the second they were excellent (Specifically Lemar and Vic) and were even better on the offensive boards.

Vic has been an absolute animal. You can tell both himself ad Eian Davis really appreciate and love the game. Not saying the other guys don't because I know they do but those two specifically seem like they play with a chip on their shoulders and love every minute of it. Eian had 14 assists too!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!! His game last night was like a John Stockton stat line. Right now I have to agree with PJ and say that if the season ended today Vic should be the conference POY but we still have the GNAC tournament to go and at the NEST we all know Darius can light the nets on fire.

Looking forward to Saturday and the upcoming GNAC tourney. It should be a fun one.

[GnacBballFan]

What a win gentleman! JWU is no slouch of a team, and as i have said before i think they are a top 10 team in the region. I just think this yrs team from albertus is special. Vic is the gnat player of the yr in my opinion. When we are clicking like we did in the send half we can beat anyone. The play by play guy for JWU is phenomenal. The color commentator i didn't care so much for to be honest lol. I know home broadcasters are going to be homers, but to hear the color guy cry about every foul called against jwu, and then when you hear him say "rebound rebound rebound" on an albertus miss its a bit much. The play by play guy was great and kept it at a certain level the homerism. but what a win

[Saint-Paul]

Video Replay  :  AMC  /  JWU

     Just watched the reply of the AMC/JWU game.  What a pleasure to see two teams play straight up man to man defense and actually be able to limit dribble penetration to the rim.  Also, I really appreciated how the perimeter defenders closed out hard, with hands high on shooters, even the 3 point shooters were contested in this game.  The second thing that I thought stood out in this game was how both teams came across half court and immediately reversed the ball through the top of the key, so they could set up weak side defenders for back screens and down screens.  I think that is a sign of two well coached teams.  Even though I like the ST Joe team a lot, love their unselfish style of play,  I am sure that these two teams will meet for a third time in the conference championship game.  They play hard at both ends of the court. Really enjoyed watching this college game.

     My one criticism of JWU in this game was that their flex offense was not being run sharply enough.  I thought that too many times they set weak downscreens in their flex.  It looked like they were setting the screens on spots on the floor rather than on the defenders.   I am sure that AMC had them scouted and knew the downscreens were coming but I still did not see any relocations on the part of the JWU downscreeners, I thought they gave up on the flex play a little too soon.  Overall, a very hard fought, and well played game.  I also thought that this was a very well officiated game.  The players were allowed to play tough man defense without ticky tack fouls effecting the rotations and substitutions.

[lildave678]

Thanks SP for the unbiased words on the game!

[pjunito]

Awesome breakdown Saint!

[Saint-Paul]

Preview :  Emmanuel  /  AMC

     Under ordinary circumstances I would say that when a lower ranked conference team plays the higher ranked team in the conference the lower ranked team sees the game as a challenge and gets really " up " for the game and gives the higher ranked team a very competitive game.  The lower ranked team has nothing to lose, plays hard , and tries to knock off the top ranked team to salvage their season.  I looked at some scores around the country last week and saw that Baptist Bible ( 5-18 ) just beat #2 Cabrini by just playing harder at both ends of the floor.  However,  For the Saints to get up for this game, the coach would have to change his game plan from run and gun to one that makes sense, something he has rarely done this year.  His traditional game plan of full court man to man pressing puts the Saints in such a hole to start the games, especially against good teams, that it saps all the strength and competitiveness out of the Saints players and they end up just running through the motions for most of the game.  AMC is athletic, good at getting to the rim off the dribble, good at isolation plays on the low past, and good at open floor transition plays both for 3 point shots and for getting to the rim. So why not take those strengths away from them by sprinting back on defense and clogging driving lanes with a tight zone, getting good defensive rebounding position, walking the ball up the floor, controlling tempo, and getting good offensive possessions every time down court.  Keeping the game close and trying to hit a few 3 pointers in the last two minutes and steal a big win.  That is not going to happen.  Every time the Saints play a big, strong, athletic team, they try to press and run with them.  I guess being macho is more important than giving your players the best opportunity to win the game. When the Saints play their open floor run and gun style of basketball the game is usually over by the first 10 minutes of the first half. If the Saints play a cautious, slow paced, tight zoned defense I would be very surprised. When you play run and gun and find yourselves down 15 - 2 three minutes into the game it demoralizes the whole team and sets a bad tone for the rest of the game.  We shall see what game plan the Saints open up with on Saturday.

[7express]

Preview :  Emmanuel  /  AMC

     Under ordinary circumstances I would say that when a lower ranked conference team plays the higher ranked team in the conference the lower ranked team sees the game as a challenge and gets really " up " for the game and gives the higher ranked team a very competitive game.  The lower ranked team has nothing to lose, plays hard , and tries to knock off the top ranked team to salvage their season.  I looked at some scores around the country last week and saw that Baptist Bible ( 5-18 ) just beat #2 Cabrini by just playing harder at both ends of the floor.  However,  For the Saints to get up for this game, the coach would have to change his game plan from run and gun to one that makes sense, something he has rarely done this year.  His traditional game plan of full court man to man pressing puts the Saints in such a hole to start the games, especially against good teams, that it saps all the strength and competitiveness out of the Saints players and they end up just running through the motions for most of the game.  AMC is athletic, good at getting to the rim off the dribble, good at isolation plays on the low past, and good at open floor transition plays both for 3 point shots and for getting to the rim. So why not take those strengths away from them by sprinting back on defense and clogging driving lanes with a tight zone, getting good defensive rebounding position, walking the ball up the floor, controlling tempo, and getting good offensive possessions every time down court.  Keeping the game close and trying to hit a few 3 pointers in the last two minutes and steal a big win.  That is not going to happen.  Every time the Saints play a big, strong, athletic team, they try to press and run with them.  I guess being macho is more important than giving your players the best opportunity to win the game. When the Saints play their open floor run and gun style of basketball the game is usually over by the first 10 minutes of the first half. If the Saints play a cautious, slow paced, tight zoned defense I would be very surprised. When you play run and gun and find yourselves down 15 - 2 three minutes into the game it demoralizes the whole team and sets a bad tone for the rest of the game.  We shall see what game plan the Saints open up with on Saturday.

LOL +1 for you.  Your game previews are great.

[pjunito]

Saint, you have a done a great job with the previews and breakdown all year long. If Emmanuel wants a chance at the playoffs, they have to win on Saturday.

I hope this will get a team "up" as well and make the coaches game plan to win the game. Look at the St. Joe's win. They slowed the Flacons down, not by their defense, but by their offense and using smart fouls. St. Joe's hit their shots, forcing Albertus to take the ball out, and foul every time Albertus came over the half court line with numbers. They didn't allow Albertus to get easy baskets early, Albertus missed free throw, St. Joe's hit all their open looks, and when Albertus fell down by double digits, they became a team that heaved 3s instead of running their offense and trying to get basketballs in the post.