MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[jamiejohn]

Games over lasers wins by double digits but it was much closer then that. the big 3 for lasell had 68 points, shannon played very well had close to 30

[broke_ya_ankles]

wow im not sure I could have been more wrong on this one.  Lasell wins handily with Guitian and Crawford leading the way but as for the game story itself I was way off.  Emerson put up 17 MORE shots than Lasell but were not the typically efficient team they had been all season.  Emerson shot just 41.2% from the floor including 6-24 from 3pt land.  Lasell had 21 giveways to Emersons 11 which I thought if that was gonna happen there would be no way Lasell would win this game   Lasell was EXTREMELY efficient from everywhere shooting wise 54.9% from the floor, 48% from 3 (12-25), and 81.8% from the free throw line.  They did control the boards (37-30) and allowed GNAC Player of the Year Shannon to go off and have a stellar game but held the other big 3 in check. 

Hats of to Lasell for really getting things done and finishing the season out in very strong fashion.  They really had a gameplan against Emerson today and executed it to near perfection. 

I really think this Lasell team can make some noise in the NCAA's winning a game or two (maybe more if they get a great draw).  But it will be very interesting to see what happens with Emerson they had a terrific season finishing 24-4 although I personally think the selction committee will frown upon their out of conference schedule and simply fail to see any BIG wins needed to warrant an at large bid.  Regardless I expect to see them getting the top seed in the ECAC's should thy chose to accept.

[UnsungHero11]

Ankles, i was just wondering(in your opinion), do you think its completely out of the question that Emerson gets an At-large bid? I realize its not about how many wins, and its about who you beat, regardless, the NCAA committee has to look at Emerson, they had only 4 losses all season, and 24 wins... that has to account for something, no?

[broke_ya_ankles]

unfortunately no theres a zero percent chance they get an at large after the way today went.

amherst, umd, and brandeis all missing out on AQ's puts them into the NCAA's by way of an at large bid, and then still in front of Emerson is trinity and middlebury in terms of being considered for an at large bid and its extremely unlikely both of those teams receive bids as well.  Emerson although having had a tremendous season going 24-4 and playing great basketball every game they did not beat anyone.  They need to have at least 4-5 legit out of conference games, MIT, wheaton, babson, etc. they are ok teams but they cant be the toughest competition you face all year.  If they were to schedule a Keene State, Middlebury, WPI, Salem State, and Tufts they would at least have the foundation for a good solid respectable out of conference schedule that they should still win a number of games with.  Keene State will be amongst the tops of the LEC, Middlebury is a top NESCAC team, WPI is tops in the NEWMAC, salem is tops in theirs, and tufts/bates is a good team who might have struggled this year but is still a worthy opponent on anyones schedule.  All of these are winnable games, if they could get a RIC, Williams, Amherst type team or even better 2 that would be ideal but unlikely to happen.  They cant afford to have Babson, Wheaton, and MIT be the cream of their out of conference play when they play in the GNAC.   Even a close loss to Amherst is probably worth more than wins over each of those 3 teams in the committees eyes.

[kmk72289]

Lasers just outplayed Emerson today.  Dawkins only had around 7 points today and Rause was in foul trouble and didn't play much of the second half.  Shannon proved worthy of GNAC player of the year, he put in around 30, but the big three of Guitian, Crawford and Caravoulis was just too much, as they put up 20+ points a piece.

...And yeah, there's no chance of an at large at this point.  If Salem State, UMD, Brandeis, Amherst, among others had won their conferences, then maybe I'd say there's a chance, but not now.  It was a good season regardless, though.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Ankles, i was just wondering(in your opinion), do you think its completely out of the question that Emerson gets an At-large bid? I realize its not about how many wins, and its about who you beat, regardless, the NCAA committee has to look at Emerson, they had only 4 losses all season, and 24 wins... that has to account for something, no?

The process involves making a regional ranking for every region like they've been releasing the last few weeks.  These final rankings are never released.  They use primarily regional record and a computation of opponent's winning percentage and opponents-opponent's winning percentage (so beating good teams in bad conferences aren't as valuable as they used to be).  They also take into account who teams beat and head-to-head against other top teams, but these are lesser criteria.

Once they get these together they remove all the teams who won automatic bids and teams that were awarded pool B bids.  Finally they take the top remaining team from each region and put them "on the table."  Then, using other complex criteria, they pick the best team.  Once that team is given an at-large bid, they take the next highest team from that region and replace the one chosen "on the table."  Theoretically, one region could supply all the at-large bids, although that's probably mathematically impossible.

All that to say, Emerson will have 4-5 teams (at least) will still be there above Emerson.  So they have to survive not only 4-5 teams from their own region, but a number of teams from other regions as well.  There's only, what? 17 at-large spots and there are locks in other regions like Amherst is in NE.  I'm not sure if Emerson will even make it to the table.

[baseballguy]

Emerson has no shot.  With UMD, Amherst, Brandeis seemingly locks for Pool C.  I would take the loser of WPI/CGA NEWMAC final before Emerson

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Some of the guys who run numbers are saying Emerson may still have a chance.  We'll see, but stranger things have happened.

[kmk72289]

so just to clarify from one of your above posts, you're saying that theoretically one region could supply all 17 at-large bids?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

so just to clarify from one of your above posts, you're saying that theoretically one region could supply all 17 at-large bids?

Yes, theoretically, but realistically there's almost no way it's possible to have that many teams with regional records strong enough to trump the rest of the country.  The mere fact that a lot of them play each other, it precludes that outcome, but there is no division of bids by region.

[jamiejohn]

another blow for emerson, coast guard beating wpi

[hoops]

anyone know if carpenter from rivier is looking to pursue professional options he had a great career in the GNAC. 1500+pts and 1000+ reb

[Marty Peretz]

Moral of the story for Emerson: Next year, go out and play somebody in the nonconference. Sucks that you won't get in this year, but MIT as your biggest win won't do the trick. Play a Nescac. Play UMD, Deis, anybody.

[All-around]

Wouldn't William Paterson be their biggest win?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's looking like they'll be in behind Middlebury on the NE list.

Amherst, Brandeis, UMASS-D seem absolute locks.

Next comes Bowdoin and WPI who have good shots.

Then you have Middlebury really on the bubble and Emerson even more so.

It's not out of the question, but it doesn't look good.