MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[Saint-Paul]

Well, that didn't take long.  Only two games into the second semester the Saints reached their milestone game, L-100, or perhaps it should be called a mill stone game.  That is Emmanuel's 100 th loss since the start of the 2009 season.   The Saints used poor shot selection, no clock management, and loose defense to lose to Lasell by 5 points, giving the Emmanuel coach his 100 th loss in the last 138 games. The players, line ups, and rosters, have had many changes over the last six season, the only common denominator over the last six years has been the coach.

    I wonder if some creative Emmanuel art major student can photoshop a picture of the Emmanuel coach, a face shot, on top of that iconic photo of Wilt sitting in the locker room holding up a cardboard sign reading 100.  That would be too funny,  the Emmanuel coaches face on Wilt's body  holding the 100 sign.  It would be even funnier if they could photoshop the letter " L " next to the 100.   Anyway, the countdown to L-200 begins on Saturday at Rivier.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Albertus vs St Joes today 3:00PM at the Nest. Certainly two of the top 3 teams in the conference with the other being JWU. A little suprised at the St Joes/JWU outcome from the other night with the Monks getting blown out by the Wildcats. With that said this is still a game the Falcons can not take lightly. St Joes is a very good 3 point shooting team and we all know they will be prepared to play. The nations longest home winning streak kicks off for the first time of the 2nd half of the season.

Lets Go Falcons!!! DUNK HAVEN!!!

[lildave678]

Second game in a row with 6 people in double figures. I love seeing 30 a night but if the Falcons keep this up they may be more scary then we thought...doing this knowing Sledge, Davis, or Vic can go for 30 at any point.

Plus Eian for 19 and 16(!) Last year all everyone (neutral fans) talked about was how good Eian was. If he can keep this up then the sky's the limit!

[Saint-Paul]

A few weeks ago I watched the Anna Maria / Clark game to get a feel for the Amcats style of play.  I was very impressed with how they moved the ball, looked for open men, and knocked down open shots to handle Clark and win the game.  My gut feeling was that Emmanuel was going to have their hands full with a team like Anna Maria and that proved to be true today as the Saints lost by 17 at home to the Amcats.  Anna Maria runs a plain flex, with baseline screens followed by down screens, followed by a ball reversal.  They run it very well, sharp cuts, crisp passing, strong screening, and good shooting.  The Amcats are not the only GNAC team to run a flex.  Why the Saints have such trouble with teams that run a flex is still a mystery, the cuts and screens always come from the same location.  After seeing the flex more than once you would think that they would be better able to defend it, but every time the Saints defense sees the flex they look completely lost. 
   The Amcats are not a big team, they start four guards and one forward, but their guards are very athletic and can rebound very well with other teams forwards.  Especially number 22, who rebounds like a strong forward.  He is not a great outside shooter but he is very smooth and athletic when attacking the rim.  What they do best is spread the floor and move the ball until they find an open man.  A nice team but not an overpowering team.  The Amcats played a 3 - 2 match up zone daring the Saints to beat them with perimeter jump shots and the Saints responded by missing 36 FG attempts, and shooting 23% from the three point line scoring only 48 points in the entire game.  Most GNAC teams have 48 points by halftime.  The Saints never appear to have a pure shooter on their team.  They always recruit driver / slasher type players but then give them the green light to jack up shots from the perimeter.  That is a strange recruiting strategy. After watching most of the GNAC teams this year ( except Norwich ) it appeared that all the playoff spots from 3 to 8 were wide open, but losing home conference games continues to limit the Saints opportunities.  This was L-101 and still counting.

[pjunito]

Just watched the video of the Albertus game; does anyone know why Sledge went into locker room with about 4 minutes left? Didn't seem like a big injury, but I didn't notice him come back onto the court or on the bench.

Saint, you know your basketball. So, may I ask, what is the offensive philosophy of Emmanuel? At the beginning of the year, you mentioned the fast that there were some new players (mostly big guys). Do or have they tried to run the offense through the big guys, in the post? Emmanuel played well for a few games and you mention that the guards were really playing well. Is the offense a flex offense; were the guards are moving the ball and themselves to get in position for easy looks at the basket? What are they running up there? And in your opinion, what should they be running?

[Saint-Paul]

No, Emmanuel does not run the flex offense.  Rivier, JWU, Suffolk, and Anna Maria are the GNAC teams that run the flex offense.  The flex is a repeating patten of cross screens followed by down screens that you keep running until you expose the weak defender ( every team has one )  .  It keeps your players from standing still on offense and often results in lay ups or wide open elbow jump shots.  Emmanuel does not run a repeating offense, the Saints run a series of half court sets based on the 3-out 2-down principle.  They start three players on the perimeter, usually one on the point and the two wings , and start the other two players on the blocks.  The big men don't necessarily have to start on the blocks.  If the big men start on the wing they will down screen for the blocks and then turn and seal on the block.  The guards popping out from the block are suppose to look to enter the ball to the low post.  If they can't enter the ball to the low post they are suppose to reverse the ball through the point.  The big man then steps off the block and sets a back screen for the wing who cuts through the baseline to receive a double screen on the other side of the court.  The big man who set the back screen then steps out to the wing to receive the ball for an isolation play.  He is suppose to drive baseline against his defender because usually the big men are not good open court defenders, but a lot of times the Emmanuel big man will shoot jump shots from this isolation play.  That is what I mean by poor shot selection.

    If the big men do start on the blocks in the 3-out set, then the point guard is suppose to dribble at the wing and wave him through.  The wing then cuts baseline behind the block and straight up the lane to the point position.  The point guard, now on the wing is suppose to reverse the ball to the top of the key.  When this is done the big man steps into the middle of the lane and seals his defender and the wing, who is now at the top of the key is suppose to enter the ball to the big man for a low post move.  Every once in a while they also run a box set with the two big men at the elbows and the guards on the block.  The big man set a down screens for the guards who pop out and enter the ball to the big men on a seal.

    The problem is not the sets that they run , the problem is that they hardly ever run any sets.  Very often they take a defensive rebound and run wild down the court and fire up a shot without ever setting up any plays.  When they do set up a play they almost never get through the whole play before someone gets trigger happy and jacks up a shot.  What good is having plays if you don't have the discipline or patience to run them ?  That is where good coaching comes in to play.  Next time you see Emmanuel play, count the number of times in a half that they actually set something up and run a play.

[pjunito]

+1 for the breakdown. I will try to catch their next game.

[lildave678]

I wish Emmanuel was better just for you Saint! LOL

[D3HoopJunkie]

PJ, not sure why Sledge left the court. It looked like he got struck in the eye with a flying hand and with under 2 minutes-ish to go he knew they had it all wrapped up. He had a great day shooting the ball but was visibly frustrated with a lot of the hand checking that he was the recipient of. St Joes played him about as physical as any team has yet and it looked like it got to him a little. Obviously you couldn't tell by the box score because he still dropped 24 points but again visibly he looked upset. He had a couple turnovers to that looked like they upset him because they weren't really his fault but rather the other players not being aware that the pass was coming. Sometime he is so quick and decisive he throws his own players off. It looked to me like it got to him too. He just needs to remember that while we certainly have some D1 talent like where he came from he still needs to remember that some of the guys aren't quite ready for the bullet no look passes that he has dished out. Are starters are ready for them but some of the "youngins" that come off the bench just aren't quite ready for those yet....I certainly understand his frustration though.

I was surprised at the way St. Joes was playing D with their hands. They were pushing and extended out while setting screening and blatantly slapping the Albertus players hands on out of bounds and set plays. This happens every game but it was pretty obvious that they were doing everything they could to try and fire the Falcons up and hope for mental mistakes because they certainly can't match Albertus talent wise. It was very chippy out there and the refs let a lot of it go.

He ran off the court fine so I don't think there was a significant injury. I will say though PJ my heart stopped for a moment when I saw him take off and I heard Coach Oliver say "where the flip is he going." You can insert your own word for flip.......kinda of like I did 

[7express]

+1 to Saint Paul for that excellent Emmanuel offensive breakdown.  I have no doubt they could be the lead college basketball analyst on ESPN or Fox Sports 1.  Really knows his stuff!

[D3HoopJunkie]

Saint, Great recap and analysis as usual.....

Tomorrow the Falcons and Saints will go head to head in Boston at 7:30. I want to get your opinion on the matchup Saint.

For me, I really believe that Emmanuel is one of 2 teams in the league (the other being JWU) that can somewhat matchup with the Falcons from an athletic and size standpoint. Notice I said "somewhat"

They have bigs down low but judging by your recaps and analysis they don't seem to get them involved a lot. The Saints have some guards who can get up and down but again appears they aren't good decision makers and take to many quick shots before letting their offense run its course.

It would appear that coaching will be a big factor in this game and we all know how Saint feels about Coach Jackson.  Regardless we can all basically give Coach Oliver the nod in the category anyways. The Falcons do struggle on the road a bit because of their inability to shut teams down on the defensive end. I can see the Saints hanging around in this game before a late second half push that we as Falcon fans have grown accustomed to seeing night in night out.

My final score prediction is 94-79 Albertus. This will no doubt be a very physical game as well......to teams with animated coaches who from what I have noticed over the years don't exactly share many pleasantries before and after games. 

[Saint-Paul]

No, I don't think the Saints are going to match up with AMC, I believe that they will play a 3 - 2 zone with Hadley and Davis on the blocks, and Diggs, Smith, Bushman, on the perimeter.  I think they will double Victor in the post and take their chances with the AMC perimeter shooters.  The Saints lineup has changed nine times already this year so that alignment is tentative at best.  I am sure that the game plan is to try to get Victor in foul trouble early in the game by going to the low post on the first three possessions of the game, but again, that only has a chance of working if the guards don't get trigger happy first.  If they do have to match up you can expect  Diggs / Davis,  Smith / Sledge,  Bushman / Jennings,  Hadley /  Larsen,  Davis /  Victor.   I don't see  the Saints winning any of these match ups if they have to play man.  So much for the game plan, what will really happen is that the Saints guards will try to bomb a lot of 3 balls early in the game to see if they are going to have a " hot " night.  I can't stand that strategy because it leads to long rebounds and easy run outs for the other team.  AMC is so quick in transition that you don't have to give them a head start by shooting a lot of threes.  I would like to see the Saints slow the pace, keep the zone below the arc, walk the ball up the floor, take 28 seconds off the shot clock,  not shoot until one of the post players has already gotten a touch, keep the score in the low 60's, and try to steal a win with a shot at the buzzer.  Fat chance of that happening.  And finally, yes coaching will play a part in this game as well, but for the Saints coaching plays a part in all their game, not just this one.

[GnacAlum55]

Question for the GNAC crew....I saw that the GNAC's leading scorer (24.9) Nwadike from Suffolk has not played in the last two games.  I just heard from someone I know who said he has a possible season ending injury.  Does anyone have any info on this one?  Would be a devistating loss for Suffolk.

[lildave678]

I honestly had no idea it wasn't Sledge   

[Saint-Paul]

Last nights game with AMC is a perfect example of why I am so frustrated with the way the Emmanuel program is being run.  AMC is one of the best fast break teams in the country, with very quick, athletic, players who can get down court and finish.  Why would an opponent play right into that up tempo style of play.  The Saints were obviously given the green light to push the ball up the court every time the got their hands on the ball.  That kind of coaching game plan just puts a team at a disadvantage before the ball is even tossed.  The majority of the time the Saints pushed the ball up the court without running any plays which resulted in wild, off balanced shots that missed and led to runouts for AMC, or just plain turnovers that resulted in slam dunks at the other end. The fast break points were 26 to 2.  I guess the Emmanuel coach just doesn't understand the concept of controlling tempo, slowing down a fast break team and making them run a half court offense.  There are a few different ways to bottle up and frustrate a fast break team, and the Saints didn't try any of them,  they just continued to try and outrun one of the best running teams in the country.  That is just a ridiculous game plan.  This game was only competitive for the first eight minutes of the first half.  After the twelve minute mark of the first half it was all AMC. The game was already over with 32 minutes left to play.  I can remember saying the exact same thing about last years game with AMC also, so the Saints coach refused to change his game plan this year even after getting clobbered last year.  That is the kind of stubbornness that has resulted in 102 losses in the last 140 games.

    Some game notes :

1 - AMC had 33 FGs from 26 Assists,  that is outstanding production and great ball movement.

2 - Victor had 10 blocked shots and shot 8 -12 from the field,  that is dominating the paint.

3 -  Kyle Davis had 19 points / 10 rebounds.  That kind of effort is needed ever night, not just in big games.

4 -  Saints had 22 turnovers that led to 27 AMC points,  completely unnecessary if you slow down the game and take care of the ball.

5 -  Saints used their tenth new starting lineup in 13 games so far this year.  Will one of the other GNAC coaches please send the Emmanuel coach  an e-mail telling him who his 5 best players are, because obviously he doesn't know.

6  -  Saints shot 24 - 72 from the field, missing 48 shot attempts.  Maybe it is time to recruit a shooter instead of a driver ?