WBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

ECSU Women make the big dance and will play SUNY Polytechnic Institute!  Congrats to the Women Warriors!!

Good luck in the tournament!

UMD Women also get in play Laroche in Montclair St NJ!  Good Luck to all!!

[7express]

LOL the Keene state win got 3 teams from this conference this year in the tournament??  Good luck to Dartmouth, Keene & Eastern in the tournament.

[AllStar]

LOL the Keene state win got 3 teams from this conference this year in the tournament??  Good luck to Dartmouth, Keene & Eastern in the tournament.

I was surprised UMass-Dartmouth got in, but now that they are, good luck to them!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

LOL the Keene state win got 3 teams from this conference this year in the tournament??  Good luck to Dartmouth, Keene & Eastern in the tournament.

I was surprised UMass-Dartmouth got in, but now that they are, good luck to them!

Not sure why you are surprised... our mock selections had them in as well. They had good numbers.

[AllStar]

LOL the Keene state win got 3 teams from this conference this year in the tournament??  Good luck to Dartmouth, Keene & Eastern in the tournament.

I was surprised UMass-Dartmouth got in, but now that they are, good luck to them!

Not sure why you are surprised... our mock selections had them in as well. They had good numbers.

I have to make an honest confession...I hadn't looked at those before I posted that.  I had looked at the men's ones, though.  Thank you for your coverage!  Obviously the wins over WPI and Babson were two that really helped UMass Dartmouth get in.

[7express]

I have to make an honest confession...I hadn't looked at those before I posted that.  I had looked at the men's ones, though.  Thank you for your coverage!  Obviously the wins over WPI and Babson were two that really helped UMass Dartmouth get in.

I only watched about 6 minutes of the selection show because I was working during that time frame, and then my internet crapped out when I watched it at home, but the way they announced the brackets and showed UMass-Dartmouth as the first LEC team, I knew from that point that the LEC was also getting in Eastern as well as Keene who won the auto bid.  Sure, the wins over WPI & Babson helped a lot.....but they were probably cancelled out finishing 1-4 against Eastern & Keene in the conference.  No way they were putting Dartmouth in the field without Eastern also being in the field, especially when Eastern swept the head-to-head series......pretty convincingly too.  So, at least the NCAA ended that suspense fairly quickly and early on.

The better question I have is a 2, actually 3 parter and probably can't be answered, but am going to try.  Hopefully Dave can come up with a reasonable explantion or reasoning for at least 2 of the questions posed:

For what we know now, it was fairly obvious Eastern was going to be in the tournament anyways once they won Saturday, no matter whether they won or lost in the championship game, and no matter whether the opponent was Dartmouth or Keene.  Dartmouth also looked like a pretty safe bet seeing as if they really were a "bubble" team like I thought, the Keene pool A bid really could have knocked them out, but it obviously didn't so let me ask:
1) IF the result Sunday is switched, and Eastern ends up winning, I assume Keene would be out & Dartmouth would still be in anyways, but instead of the conference getting 3 teams it only gets 2 in this case.  True or false?
2) Since I can't imagine Keene getting a pool C bid their win popped a bubble.  Who's ultimate bubble did that win pop?
3) I'd assume if Keene loses on Saturday to Dartmouth, the team who's bubble ultimately popped on Sunday would be in the tournament field today since Dartmouth & Eastern would still be in the tournament anyways?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

For what we know now, it was fairly obvious Eastern was going to be in the tournament anyways once they won Saturday, no matter whether they won or lost in the championship game, and no matter whether the opponent was Dartmouth or Keene.  Dartmouth also looked like a pretty safe bet seeing as if they really were a "bubble" team like I thought, the Keene pool A bid really could have knocked them out, but it obviously didn't so let me ask:
1) IF the result Sunday is switched, and Eastern ends up winning, I assume Keene would be out & Dartmouth would still be in anyways, but instead of the conference getting 3 teams it only gets 2 in this case.  True or false?

Yeah, I think that might be fair. Keene did jump to 5th in the regional rankings (Eastern was 6, Dartmouth 7), so this does get tricky. Without that win I don't think Keene jumps as high. Eastern is probably 5 and Dartmouth 6 or 7. So I think it would have been a very interesting discussion.

2) Since I can't imagine Keene getting a pool C bid their win popped a bubble.  Who's ultimate bubble did that win pop?

If it popped a bubble... Carnegie Mellon or Maryville. Though, that is a tricky question considering Keene wasn't the only team from "no chance" to "AQ" that allowed the "already in" to take a Pool C bid. One in particular was SUNY Geneseo... there were probably a couple more I just can't remember off the top of my head.

3) I'd assume if Keene loses on Saturday to Dartmouth, the team who's bubble ultimately popped on Sunday would be in the tournament field today since Dartmouth & Eastern would still be in the tournament anyways?

Probably. I don't think Keene jumps in the rankings if they had lost that game at all.

[AllStar]

Unlike the men, a rough night for the conference in the first round.  UMass-Dartmouth beat La Roche by 7 to advance (will play Montclair State), but Eastern Connecticut and Keene State both lost.  The Warriors fell to SUNY Poly 80-72, falling victim to a 43-point performance by Stevie Ray.  SUNY Poly will play Scranton, who led for all of 0.6 seconds in a 49-48 win over University of New England.  Keene State struggled mightily on offense, losing 67-55 to Rochester.  The Owls trailed 27-23 at halftime, but slipped in the third quarter and that was their downfall.  When your top two players go 12-for-39, you probably won't win.

[7express]

Great win for Dartmouth over a very good Montclair team to advance to the sweet 16.  Alicia Kutail was a complete monster in the paint with a game high 23 points I think, with 15 coming in the first half when they built an 11 point halftime lead.  Unfortunately, in the 3rd quarter they went away from Kutail and started forcing jump shots which allowed Montclair to come back from 14 down with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd to only down 5 at the end of the quarter, and the Corsairs looked like they were going to pull an Atlanta Falcons as the Red Hawks got to within 2 late in the 4th on 2 or 3 occasions, but luckily for the Corsairs they were able to get a couple stops, and were able to break the Montclair press for layups as outside of the first couple minutes of the game I don't think the Corsairs ever trailed, at least they never did after the 3 minute mark of the first quarter.  I believe this is Dartmouth's first ever sectional semifinal appearance, and with the bottom half of this bracket not being very strong they can very likely make the elite 8.  Even though they'd have to play Amherst @ Amherst which isn't good, Amherst did only beat Babson by 5 while Dartmouth beat Babson by 8.  It'll probably be a complete miracle if the Corsairs were to make the Final 4, but all you need is 1 more win with a chance, albeit very slight chance, to knock off goliath, and the Corsairs have a very good chance at getting that opportunity.  Hoping their run can continue for at least 2 more games.

[AllStar]

Tremendous accomplishment for UMass-Dartmouth, especially given that it's their first NCAA Tournament.  Congratulations on the Sweet 16 run!

[amh63]

7Express...nice post on UMass-Dart. chances to advance.  Do take exception to comparative scores wrt Babson.  Until last night's win over Mary Washington' s in LeFrak, , Babson was the only team to lose to Amherst under double digits...other than Tufts. 
In the Mary Washington game, the Amherst lead was in double digits until MWU decided to foul with about a minute to go.  Amherst was slowing the game down.  Amherst missed their foul shots and did not challenge MWU layups as the game ended.  MWU HC wanted a paper close win, imo.
The Amherst win over Babson was an early season win.  Amherst had two front court players out with injuries at the time.  They are back and contributing well.  Amherst has a ROY player coming off the bench now.  Yes, in the post season, anything can happen, etc.  Amherst is playing well and now has a very deep bench.  In the Sage win, Amherst basically played all its starters less than 12 minutes.
Having said all that and picking on you a bit, my friend...good luck to the LEC teams ahead!

[AllStar]

CONGRATS to UMass Dartmouth for advancing to the Elite 8 in their first NCAA appearance.  Tremendous accomplishment, and it helps the league too!  Matt Ducharme has done a great job.

[7express]

They've got absolutely no chance to beat Amherst, but what an awesome job they have done this year.  Probably one of the last teams in the field if not the last, and out of 440+ teams they are one of the final 8 standing.  Even losing by 60 to the Jeffs, and this is a banner year for the Corsairs and the school & conference.

Also, that's a great way to validate your entry into the field.  Hey even I questioned and laughed at it as I didn't think they had a prayer to get in after the semifinal loss to Keene, but not only did they get in, they've won 3 games.  Whatever happens Saturday, even if they score less than 5 points, is complete gravy.

[ECSUalum]

Denise Bierly to Gain Induction into Connecticut Hall of Fame
http://gowarriorathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2016-17/releases/bierly-conn_HOF

[7express]

2018 LEC predictions:

1) Dartmouth (12-2)
2) Eastern (11-3)
3) Keene (10-4)
4) Western (8-6)
5) Boston (7-7)
6) Plymouth (5-9)
7) USM (3-11)
8) RI College (2-14)

Dartmouth should be the clear runaway favorite with them coming off the elite 8 combined the fact with what Eastern & Keene lost from last year's team.  Western still has a young team, and they'll be in the mix.  The Boston coach recruited Connecticut hard for this class bringing in players with winning pedigree's from the top high school programs in the state, and then all but stole Lydia Vital out from under the nose of a conference rival.  Like last year there's a pretty big drop off from 1 to 2/3, and even bigger drop off from 3 to 4/5 and than an even BIGGER drop off from 5 to 6/7/8, so much like last year I don't see the regular season or the first round LEC tournament being all that meaningful.  Yah Plymouth & USM could steal a game here or there, but I don't see them as threats to win title.  Looks like a fairly chalk tournament as well as I will take all 4 home teams advancing to the semifinals (Dartmouth 1, Eastern 2, Keene 3, Western 4) with Dartmouth beating Keene in the finals.  Unlike last year when the conference got 3 teams in the tournament, I only see 1 team (Dartmouth) returning to the field this year.

MVP:
Nakira Examond- Dartmouth

First team:
Examond- Dartmouth
Mya Villard- Eastern
Sandi Purcell- Keene
Lydia Vital- Boston
Alicia Kutil- Dartmouth
Kaitlyn LaBonte- Western