MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[Falcons 25]

Spot on Junkie! I agree with your thoughts on Mason Jones, English etc.!
Mitch knows what type of player that THE TEAM needs...& Jones wasn`t
it!
J.Green-Younger brought great energy to the floor today vs Suffolk, defensively
& offensively. The 22 points he scored was a bonus!
Amir Maddred finally put together a COMPLETE GAME- 20 points(great low post
moves) & he played well on defense & rebounded well.
J Walters had a slow first half, but finished strong, especially on the boards!
( 14 pts. & 15 rebounds)
GOOD GAME against an improved Suffolk squad!
NEXT GAME: TUESDAY vs a VERY GOOD MT.IDA TEAM (Hope you like scoring!)

[Greek Tragedy]

No English???

[Saint-Paul]

Saints return from their Florida trip relaxed and well rested, ( 0 - 2 in FLA ), and ready to resume the GNAC play with a Tuesday game against Regis.  Regis already holds wins over Rivier and Anna Maria, so this will be an uphill battle for the 1 -10 Saints.  Saints had a chance to work on their full court press over the break, so Regis will have their work cut out for them just to get the ball across half court. Should be a competitive game.

[D3HoopJunkie]

No English???

Greek! Dont worry! Our intel didn't let you down LOL. English was on the bench Saturday and is on the roster. He is eligible to play right away and I am told he will get his first minutes tomorrow night.

It's a lot for a new player to take in and expect to play right away in his first official game. Oliver took a number of opportunities throughout the contest to sort of kneel right next to English while he was on the bench. I'm sure they were going over plays and where you should be on the court and so on. English himself looked very much in tuned to what he was saying. I think this kid is very eager to get out on the court and prove himself!!

Check out the broadcast tomorrow night. Like I said, I have been assured that he is going to get minutes tomorrow!

[Saint-Paul]

Saints blow a six point lead in the final two minutes and give Regis a shot at winning the game with 5.6 seconds on the clock and you can guess what happened.  Regis came out of the time out and immediately fumbled the in bounds pass towards half court, picked the ball up forty feet away, and throw up a long bomb that goes in at the buzzer giving the Saints their 11 th loss of the season.  Saints started the game asleep like they were still at the beach in Florida. Regis, fairly athletic, but lacking ball control, took an eleven point lead into halftime, mostly on scoring easy baskets in the paint. Saints came out to open the second half using their only weapon, lots of long range three's, and took a six point lead into the final two minutes of the game before Regis pulled off the shot of the year leaving the Saints stunned and staring at another home loss. 
     Saints play Lasell on Thursday.  Lasell already has wins over Anna Maria and Mt Ida, so I don't see this becoming the Saints second win of the year.  After Lasell, the Saints move on to play Albertus.  Saints have a lot of trouble with teams that have long, athletic centers, or quick, athletic point guards and Albertus has both so i don't see that elusive second win coming on Saturday either.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Albertus plays their most complete game of the season and pick up an easy win last night at home against Mt Ida. I really expected Mt Ida to come out and perform much better than they did. They are a team with a ton of senior leadership and pretty good athletes, however Albertus came out of the gates so fast and strong and they simply did not have an answer once they looked up and it was 20 to 2 within the first 4 minutes of the game.

34 points and 18 boards from JQ Walters with another monster game. Amir Maddred has come along nicely in the second half and had another good performance last night with 15 points and 14 boards. We also saw A'jen English for the first time last night. While he had some troubles with finishing he had some really nice passes and looks like he is going to be a really nice player once he gets more comfortable with the offense. Green Younger has provides this team with a huge boost. He can score almost at will and is a really strong finisher at the rim and is a great 3 point shooter as well.

One huge concern continues to be free throw shooting for the Falcons. There is no getting around the fact that come GNAC tourney and hopefully NCAA tourney time that this problem can and will lose you a game. Each individual player needs to take it upon themselves to improve on this area of their game. If the Falcons have any hopes of stringing together a run in the tournament this will have to improve because great teams will capitalize on these miscues.

Falcons travel to Rivier tomorrow night. Not expecting much of a contest here as the Falcons should roll but regardless of the opponent you cant take anyone lightly and must come out with a lot of energy especially in conference play.

[Greek Tragedy]

+1 Saint Paul for your dedication on continuing your write-ups despite your team being 1-11.

[D3HoopJunkie]

Hey Greek, are you allowed to adjust your Futures fantasy team still? If so you or somebody needs to add Jahmerikah Green-Younger to their roster immediately. He is the real deal and will continue to produce and put up huge numbers for this Falcons team. He is only a sophmore and by my estimations from what I have seen he will be our second leading scorer behind JQ Walters. I suspect he will produce anywhere from 16 to 19 PPG for the remainder of the season. And for next year, unless Oliver lands a big time JUCO transfer or player (which is very possible) he will without question be pur leading scorer next year.

[Smitty Oom]

Hey Greek, are you allowed to adjust your Futures fantasy team still? If so you or somebody needs to add Jahmerikah Green-Younger to their roster immediately. He is the real deal and will continue to produce and put up huge numbers for this Falcons team. He is only a sophmore and by my estimations from what I have seen he will be our second leading scorer behind JQ Walters. I suspect he will produce anywhere from 16 to 19 PPG for the remainder of the season. And for next year, unless Oliver lands a big time JUCO transfer or player (which is very possible) he will without question be pur leading scorer next year.

I almost added him, but he only gets 1.5 rebounds a game (small sample but still), has a .03 A/TO ratio. So even though he is scoring 23ppg right now he is only at roughly 25-26 fppg which is good but a lot of players are doing that. However, he is shooting crazy well right now. one might think that his 72% from the field and 66% from 3 will have to regress.

Sell me that I should pick him up for next as I look forward to bolstering my team for next year! (FCGrizz is running away with the title currently).

[D3HoopJunkie]

Hey Greek, are you allowed to adjust your Futures fantasy team still? If so you or somebody needs to add Jahmerikah Green-Younger to their roster immediately. He is the real deal and will continue to produce and put up huge numbers for this Falcons team. He is only a sophmore and by my estimations from what I have seen he will be our second leading scorer behind JQ Walters. I suspect he will produce anywhere from 16 to 19 PPG for the remainder of the season. And for next year, unless Oliver lands a big time JUCO transfer or player (which is very possible) he will without question be pur leading scorer next year.

I almost added him, but he only gets 1.5 rebounds a game (small sample but still), has a .03 A/TO ratio. So even though he is scoring 23ppg right now he is only at roughly 25-26 fppg which is good but a lot of players are doing that. However, he is shooting crazy well right now. one might think that his 72% from the field and 66% from 3 will have to regress.

Sell me that I should pick him up for next as I look forward to bolstering my team for next year! (FCGrizz is running away with the title currently).

Smitty - To simply put it, for a future league heading into next season, Green-Younger will be the #1 returning scorer in an offense that is consistently ranked as one of the top scoring offenses in the country year in and year out. While he has only played 2 games due to him missing the first half of the season, I can honestly say that I have seen few players in my time as a spectator at Albertus who have taken such a leap in their overall game from Freshman to Sophomore season. With regards to your comment on rebounding, he is a shooting guard who will grab the occasional board, Oliver has always had skilled forwards and centers who clean up the glass and in the grand scheme of things your guards don't typically grab rebound after rebound. I believe his assists might go up a little bit as well but again, he plays mostly off the ball as a shooting guard. Ultimately, this young man has a unique ability to drive and finish paired with a superior perimeter game as well. In terms of shooting guards he is exactly what any coach would look for from that position and he is a heck of a defender too.

As I mentioned, with an Oliver lead Albertus team you cant always rely 100% on any player from year to year because he has a unique ability to land talent that you dont always expect at a D3 school like Albertus Magnus. Whether it be JUCO or any type of transfer he brings in some really incredibly talented players from season to season. But with that being said I really feel like Green-Younger role is solidified because of how strong a player he is at both ends of the court.

[Saint-Paul]

Lasell Lasers hand the Saints their 12 th loss of the year tonight 82 - 73.  Saints have been playing zone all year but for some strange reason they opened tonight's game in straight man to man. Big mistake, Lasell patiently ran their offense getting dribble drives to the rim and wide open three's to jump to a 33 - 15 lead at the 10 minute mark of the first half, and a 47 - 37 lead at halftime.  It looked like the Saints have completely given up trying to get defensive stops, all they want to do is run wild up and down the court getting off quick, out of control shots.  Saints have a knack for getting their opponents to fall into this style of play, which is the only way the Saints can get back into games after falling way behind.  They did it to Mt Ida, JWU, and Regis already this year, to get back into games that started to become blow outs.  The problem with this strategy is that in the last four minutes of games when ball control counts, the Saints don't show any.  So, same ending again tonight against Lasell.  The last four minutes of the game it was Lasell with the patient execution of it sets, and with good clock management.  The Saints were still taking wild, off balanced shots when they should have been controlling the tempo and the game clock. 
      Would be very surprised if the Saints try to play man to man defense against Albertus on Saturday.  That would be just asking for a fifty point loss.  Also hope they don't try to full court press Albertus, but I know that won't happen.  Pressing starts that wild, chaotic style that they want to play. 

[Greek Tragedy]

I thought A'jen English was the next coming...  

[D3HoopJunkie]

I thought A'jen English was the next coming...  

Greek! He had a great game last night. Starting to see what type of player he is going to be for us as he gets more minutes. Last night was his first game where he saw enough minutes to get going and he did not disappoint. I look forward to the next home game when I can see him live in person with more minutes. He is going to be a great player. Still learning the offense and his role on this team. As I mentioned in one of my posts above, it takes time!!!!!

[falcons2010]

Happy New Year GNACers..

I think Greek's point is he though English was goinf to be the guy after JQ graduates. Not that he hasn't played well.

D3; you are right on! Jones' game never fit Oliver's style. I wish him the best moving forward. At the moment the falcons are trying to add two players into their rotation. I believe it will take 6-8 games to build that chemistry that will be needed. Both English and Green-younger have shown flashes but have also been inconsistent. I will be excited to see them once the rust wears off. English has shown he can get to the basket which will open up the 3 ball. He also looks like a committed defensive player.

Moving forward: Falcons need to hit the free throw; clean up some of their defensive lapses. I do think they need another outside shooter.

The league is wide open in my opinion. In years past it has been Albertus's league to lose. However, Lasell, st.joe, jwu have all played tough out of conference games and been fairly competitive. Should make for a fun winter in New England.

[Saint-Paul]

Saints have knack for getting teams to play down to their level. Saints like to play games with a lot of fouls, a lot of turn overs, and a lot of missed shots.  That helter skelter style plays to the Saints advantage.  Looks like Albertus didn't fall into that trap since they are leading 42 - 24 at halftime and cruising to an easy victory.