In division 3, the NESCAC (New England Small Conference Athletic Conference) gets the most publicity...and rightfully so. The Amherst women are currently undefeted, have made the final four the last 2 seasons, and including this year have only 2 losses since the start of the 09/10 season. On the men's side it's probably even more deservedly so; Amherst, Williams and Middlebury all made the elite 8 last year, and Williams and Middlebury made the final 4 consist of 50% NESCAC teams (Amherst got matched up with Williams), but that was last year and this year is a different year, a year to have the LEC take some of that luster away from the NESCAC.
Middlebury is the most dominate team in the NESCAC this year; undefeated, and ranked #1 in division 3. Williams had some injury trouble earlier in the year, lost a few games because of it, and they haven't recovered from it (already with 5 losses and still have a road game @ Amherst left this year, finished with 3 all of last season), while Amherst is undefeted at home but has two questionable road losses to teams they wouldn't have lost to last season. Part of that strugging, is due to Wesleyan and Tufts turning their programs around, and being competitive this year (both teams beat Williams this year; Wesleyan beat Amherst and lost to Middlebury by 3).
The LEC is a step behind the NESCAC for east surpremecy; the top of the conference may actually be slightly better (the top 4 are seperated by 2 games), but it's 3 matchups over the course of the next 2 days that will show whether the LEC has closed the gap on the NESCAC or whether the NESCAC is still king in the Northeast.
1) Middlebury @ Keene state (Tuesday). As already stated Middlebury is undefeated and ranked #1. Keene state has won 7 of 8 games since the calendar turned to 2012, and 5 straight since they dismissed their leading scorer from the team to vault into the LEC lead with an 8-1 conference record. Keene's Spaulding gymnasium is one of the toughest places to play in the LEC, while Middlebury is coming off a 1 point win over Williams on Saturday.
2) Rhode Island College @ Amherst (Tuesday). This matchup was supposed to take place last season, but it got postponed with one of the blizzards, and unfortunately, the teams could not come to an agreement on a day to play it. However, they did end up meeting in the sweet 16, which was won by Amherst 78-74. It's unfortunate they couldn't meet in the regular season though.
3) Eastern Connecticut @ Wesleyan (Wednesday). Both coaches have turned these programs around to the top of their respective conferences. This is probably the best senior class in the 10 year's coach Bill Geitner has been on the sidelines in Willamantic, while Joe Reilley at Wesleyan might have the most exciting player to watch in the NESCAC in Shasha Brown. Wesleyan won last season's matchup by 1, expect another close game.
Other LEC vs. NESCAC matchups on Tuesday:
Colby @ Southern Maine. The men's game has two of the worst teams in the conference, but the women's game involves two programs in the top 50.
Tufts @ RIC (women). Probably the best game on the women's side. RIC is running through the LEC with a 9-0 record and has only been involved in 1 conference game that was decided by single digits. Tufts is a great defensive team, and will be the best team RIC has played since December. RIC comes in winners of 14 straight games.
Eastern @ Bowdoin (women)
Tufts @ UMass-Dartmouth (men)
Connecticut College @ Western Connecticut (men)
Should be a great night of basketball!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
January 5 schedule
NEC conference play kicks off tonight, and the final game of OOC play in the LEC tonight.
Robert Morris 76 @ Bryant 58.
Robert Morris is rolling, Bryant is struggling
Long Island 76 @ Sacred Heart 72.
I've written all about LIU about how their terrible defensively, and how their transition d sucks, but they can score, and score in bunches. SHU has played well to start the year, but I don't think they have enough offense to keep up, but they will keep it close.
SFU 65 @ Central 79.
Central's really struggled this year, but this is the part of the season that counts. SFU's only 2 wins are against FDU & Monmouth at home, and they are notoriously a terrible road team.
Wagner 85 @ FDU 52.
This game, the West Conn/CCNY women's game and the RIC/CUNY-York women;s game will be the 3 worst games of the day, and coincidentaly, they're all being played within 25 miles of each other.
Mount St. Mary's 65 @ Monmouth 62.
Both teams are terrible, MSM is slightly better
Quinnipiac 72 @ SFC 68.
Probably the best game of the day.
LEC men's action:
Lasell 67 @ Keene state 82.
Lasell is 3-6, but started the season with a 91-82 win at Brandeis. They also beat Anna Maria (won the CCC regular season title last year) and only lost by 3 @ RIC earlier in the year. Keene state has given up 83+ in 3 of their last 4 games, so they need to tighten it up on the defensive end with conference play resuming Saturday.
RIC 76 @ Wheaton 58.
This is RIC's first game back from break, and first game since they suffered their first loss to Eastern way back on December 10. Wheaton is 6-4, but got pounded by 17 against Tufts, the best team they've had on the schedule so far.
LEC women's action:
Boston 54 @ Merchant Marine 51.
Both teams are terrible, both teams have 2 wins, and each of these teams beat a non D-3 team for 1 of their wins, and beat a crappy d-3 team for their other win. Boston's non d-3 win was against the music school Berkeley college (out of the USCAA) while Merchant Marine's non d-3 win was against Vaughn (I have no clue who they are what conference/division they are a part of). Boston's D-3 win is against Wheelock (winless), while Merchant's D-3 win is against CCNY (1 win). Normally in these games I pick the home team, so why am I picking the road?? Boston beat Berkeley college 74-40, while Merchant Marine lost to Berkeley college 49-44; therein lies the difference.
Plymouth state 49 @ Johnson & Wales 52.
Another crap vs, crap game. Plymouth has been off since they lost by 17 to Dartmouth on Dec 10, J&W is coming off a 41-40 loss to Gordon last Saturday in which the score at halftime was 10-9. Each has 2 common opponents: J&W lost @ Dartmouth by 15, Plymouth lost there by 17. Plymouth lost at home to RIC by 29, J&W lost @ RIC by 48.
RIC 86 @ York 42.
I have a feeling RIC coach Marcus Reilley can have Rachel Riley, Cynthia Gaudet, Ashley O'Dell, Courtney Burns, Nicole Girard, and Stephanie Coro put on street clothes and I'm sure they'll win this going away. York is 0-11 on the season, have lost only 2 games by single digits, and have lost by an average of 33.8 their last 5 games. They haven't scored more then 43 points those 5 games, and have been held to 53 or fewer in 10 of their 11 games this year. They got beat by 50 by William Paterson and by 80 (yes 80, 8-0) against Eastern Mennonite. This could be an easier win then the West Conn men had against SUNY-Cobleskill back in December.
Western Connecticut 85 @ CCNY 43.
Another game where coach Kim Rybczyk could put Stephanie Slonski, Carly Muphy, Nicole Eanillio, Sciarra Brandt, Jackie Zilnicki, and Amber Litwinko in street clothes, and we'll probably win fairly easily. Actually, I'm gonna do a running count tomorrow between RIC & Western comparing 3 things because they both play absolutely awful CUNY teams: 1) Which team scores more points 2) which team gives up less points and 3) which team has a higher winning margin. I have RIC winning each category by the slighest margin (86 to 85, 42 to 43 and 44 to 42). CCNY's lone win is against New Rochelle, and haven't lost by fewer than 10 this year, but have been playing better in December then they did in November. CCNY has cracked 60 just twice this year.
LEC should do worse than 4-2 tonight.
Robert Morris 76 @ Bryant 58.
Robert Morris is rolling, Bryant is struggling
Long Island 76 @ Sacred Heart 72.
I've written all about LIU about how their terrible defensively, and how their transition d sucks, but they can score, and score in bunches. SHU has played well to start the year, but I don't think they have enough offense to keep up, but they will keep it close.
SFU 65 @ Central 79.
Central's really struggled this year, but this is the part of the season that counts. SFU's only 2 wins are against FDU & Monmouth at home, and they are notoriously a terrible road team.
Wagner 85 @ FDU 52.
This game, the West Conn/CCNY women's game and the RIC/CUNY-York women;s game will be the 3 worst games of the day, and coincidentaly, they're all being played within 25 miles of each other.
Mount St. Mary's 65 @ Monmouth 62.
Both teams are terrible, MSM is slightly better
Quinnipiac 72 @ SFC 68.
Probably the best game of the day.
LEC men's action:
Lasell 67 @ Keene state 82.
Lasell is 3-6, but started the season with a 91-82 win at Brandeis. They also beat Anna Maria (won the CCC regular season title last year) and only lost by 3 @ RIC earlier in the year. Keene state has given up 83+ in 3 of their last 4 games, so they need to tighten it up on the defensive end with conference play resuming Saturday.
RIC 76 @ Wheaton 58.
This is RIC's first game back from break, and first game since they suffered their first loss to Eastern way back on December 10. Wheaton is 6-4, but got pounded by 17 against Tufts, the best team they've had on the schedule so far.
LEC women's action:
Boston 54 @ Merchant Marine 51.
Both teams are terrible, both teams have 2 wins, and each of these teams beat a non D-3 team for 1 of their wins, and beat a crappy d-3 team for their other win. Boston's non d-3 win was against the music school Berkeley college (out of the USCAA) while Merchant Marine's non d-3 win was against Vaughn (I have no clue who they are what conference/division they are a part of). Boston's D-3 win is against Wheelock (winless), while Merchant's D-3 win is against CCNY (1 win). Normally in these games I pick the home team, so why am I picking the road?? Boston beat Berkeley college 74-40, while Merchant Marine lost to Berkeley college 49-44; therein lies the difference.
Plymouth state 49 @ Johnson & Wales 52.
Another crap vs, crap game. Plymouth has been off since they lost by 17 to Dartmouth on Dec 10, J&W is coming off a 41-40 loss to Gordon last Saturday in which the score at halftime was 10-9. Each has 2 common opponents: J&W lost @ Dartmouth by 15, Plymouth lost there by 17. Plymouth lost at home to RIC by 29, J&W lost @ RIC by 48.
RIC 86 @ York 42.
I have a feeling RIC coach Marcus Reilley can have Rachel Riley, Cynthia Gaudet, Ashley O'Dell, Courtney Burns, Nicole Girard, and Stephanie Coro put on street clothes and I'm sure they'll win this going away. York is 0-11 on the season, have lost only 2 games by single digits, and have lost by an average of 33.8 their last 5 games. They haven't scored more then 43 points those 5 games, and have been held to 53 or fewer in 10 of their 11 games this year. They got beat by 50 by William Paterson and by 80 (yes 80, 8-0) against Eastern Mennonite. This could be an easier win then the West Conn men had against SUNY-Cobleskill back in December.
Western Connecticut 85 @ CCNY 43.
Another game where coach Kim Rybczyk could put Stephanie Slonski, Carly Muphy, Nicole Eanillio, Sciarra Brandt, Jackie Zilnicki, and Amber Litwinko in street clothes, and we'll probably win fairly easily. Actually, I'm gonna do a running count tomorrow between RIC & Western comparing 3 things because they both play absolutely awful CUNY teams: 1) Which team scores more points 2) which team gives up less points and 3) which team has a higher winning margin. I have RIC winning each category by the slighest margin (86 to 85, 42 to 43 and 44 to 42). CCNY's lone win is against New Rochelle, and haven't lost by fewer than 10 this year, but have been playing better in December then they did in November. CCNY has cracked 60 just twice this year.
LEC should do worse than 4-2 tonight.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
schedule, January 4
Starting from now on, each day I'll post the LEC schedule with games and predictions, NEC conference predictions (when it resumes) and 1 or 2 games to keep an eye out on in division 3:
For today, we have two games each on the men's and women's side of the LEC. On the men's side we have Massachusetts-Dartmouth playing Northwood, and Plymouth state @ Bowdoin. On the women's side it's Massachusetts-Boston @ Rutgers-Newark and Southern Maine @ Husson.
Dartmouth 66 vs. Northwood (FL) 78 (at Warner college).
This is the first of 2 games for the Corsairs down in Florida, they play Warner Wednesday afternoon. Both Northwood and Warner are NAIA-1 schools and both resides in The Sun conference. Division 3 teams have been awful against NAIA teams this year I believe (D3 teams are 78-108 against NAIA teams this year but only 8-32 against NAIA-1 teams like Northwood and Warner are), and I doubt this is any different. Ex-Villanova coach Rollie Massimino is in his 6th year at the West Palm Beach school, and has a 148-34 record, including 11-1 so far this year.
Plymouth state 66 @ Bowdoin 81.
Bowdoin was going into the end of January last year in 4th place in the NESCAC, collapsed down the stretch, and snuck in the NESCAC playoffs on the final day of the year. With a young team they had expectations for this season, and so far they've lived up to it: a 7-2 record, and the 2 games they lost were by a combined 3 points, so they could very easily be 9-0 going into the new year. Plymouth state was at the opposite end of the sprectrum. They graduated all 5 starters from last year, are on their 3rd coach in the last 3 years, and frankly, at least in my opinion wasn't expected to do anything, but here they are on January 2 with a respectible 4-5 record including a victory over another NESCAC team expected to do big things in Tufts. Each team is 1-1 against each other's conference; Plymouth state got crushed by Amherst 90-63, and as a said earlier beat Tufts 79-73. Bowdoin lost a tough 1 point decision to Southern Maine 80-79 and beat Dartmouth 66-51. This is the final OOC game for each team before conference play starts; Plymouth resumes Little East conference play at home against Eastern on Saturday, while Bowdoin travels to newest NESCAC member Hamilton on Friday evening. That will be Hamilton's first ever NESCAC conference game.
women's games:
Boston 48 @ Newark 65
Newark is 8-3 and 1-1 in the NJAC. Lost by 11 to Rutgers-Camden, 2 to Mount St. Mary and by 23 to Williams. They only have 2 wins against teams with winning records; 49-42 against King's (who's 8-3) and 73-72 against Montclair state, who's 8-4. Boston's 2 wins are against Berkelely college, a USCAA school, and Wheelock, a team that's 0-8, has scored less than 20 points twice this year and has lost by an average of 38 points this year. Newark will kill them.
Southern Maine 79 @ Husson 54.
Husson is bad this year, but they did make the NCAA tournament last season. USM is only 4-3 in true road games this year, including an awful loss to St. Joseph's of Maine back in November, and a loss here would be equally as bad. In 5 losses this year Husson hasn't been closer than 22 points, of their last 4 losses (since that 22 point L was the first game of the year), the "closet" was a 32 point loss which happen twice; other losses were by 35 & 36. They've given up at least 74 in all 5 losses and have given up 95+ twice. USM is coming off a win over nationally ranked Babson, where they erased a 15 point 2nd half deficit to win by 3.
For the D-3 game to watch tonight, that game is George Fox (ranked #3) at Lewis and Clark (ranked #11). George Fox has been a consistant threat in D-3 hoops, a consistant entrance in the NCAA tournament and a few final 4 appearances. Last season, L&C snapped George Fox's 37 game winning streak against conference opponents, but GF took the next 2 matchups that season. Last season L&C finished 24-7 which was only their 3rd winning season in the last 17 years. L&C only has to win 2 of their final 13 games to finish with 3 straight winning seasons, first time that would have happened to them since 93/94.
Prediction: Goege Fox 67 Lewis and Clark 65
For today, we have two games each on the men's and women's side of the LEC. On the men's side we have Massachusetts-Dartmouth playing Northwood, and Plymouth state @ Bowdoin. On the women's side it's Massachusetts-Boston @ Rutgers-Newark and Southern Maine @ Husson.
Dartmouth 66 vs. Northwood (FL) 78 (at Warner college).
This is the first of 2 games for the Corsairs down in Florida, they play Warner Wednesday afternoon. Both Northwood and Warner are NAIA-1 schools and both resides in The Sun conference. Division 3 teams have been awful against NAIA teams this year I believe (D3 teams are 78-108 against NAIA teams this year but only 8-32 against NAIA-1 teams like Northwood and Warner are), and I doubt this is any different. Ex-Villanova coach Rollie Massimino is in his 6th year at the West Palm Beach school, and has a 148-34 record, including 11-1 so far this year.
Plymouth state 66 @ Bowdoin 81.
Bowdoin was going into the end of January last year in 4th place in the NESCAC, collapsed down the stretch, and snuck in the NESCAC playoffs on the final day of the year. With a young team they had expectations for this season, and so far they've lived up to it: a 7-2 record, and the 2 games they lost were by a combined 3 points, so they could very easily be 9-0 going into the new year. Plymouth state was at the opposite end of the sprectrum. They graduated all 5 starters from last year, are on their 3rd coach in the last 3 years, and frankly, at least in my opinion wasn't expected to do anything, but here they are on January 2 with a respectible 4-5 record including a victory over another NESCAC team expected to do big things in Tufts. Each team is 1-1 against each other's conference; Plymouth state got crushed by Amherst 90-63, and as a said earlier beat Tufts 79-73. Bowdoin lost a tough 1 point decision to Southern Maine 80-79 and beat Dartmouth 66-51. This is the final OOC game for each team before conference play starts; Plymouth resumes Little East conference play at home against Eastern on Saturday, while Bowdoin travels to newest NESCAC member Hamilton on Friday evening. That will be Hamilton's first ever NESCAC conference game.
women's games:
Boston 48 @ Newark 65
Newark is 8-3 and 1-1 in the NJAC. Lost by 11 to Rutgers-Camden, 2 to Mount St. Mary and by 23 to Williams. They only have 2 wins against teams with winning records; 49-42 against King's (who's 8-3) and 73-72 against Montclair state, who's 8-4. Boston's 2 wins are against Berkelely college, a USCAA school, and Wheelock, a team that's 0-8, has scored less than 20 points twice this year and has lost by an average of 38 points this year. Newark will kill them.
Southern Maine 79 @ Husson 54.
Husson is bad this year, but they did make the NCAA tournament last season. USM is only 4-3 in true road games this year, including an awful loss to St. Joseph's of Maine back in November, and a loss here would be equally as bad. In 5 losses this year Husson hasn't been closer than 22 points, of their last 4 losses (since that 22 point L was the first game of the year), the "closet" was a 32 point loss which happen twice; other losses were by 35 & 36. They've given up at least 74 in all 5 losses and have given up 95+ twice. USM is coming off a win over nationally ranked Babson, where they erased a 15 point 2nd half deficit to win by 3.
For the D-3 game to watch tonight, that game is George Fox (ranked #3) at Lewis and Clark (ranked #11). George Fox has been a consistant threat in D-3 hoops, a consistant entrance in the NCAA tournament and a few final 4 appearances. Last season, L&C snapped George Fox's 37 game winning streak against conference opponents, but GF took the next 2 matchups that season. Last season L&C finished 24-7 which was only their 3rd winning season in the last 17 years. L&C only has to win 2 of their final 13 games to finish with 3 straight winning seasons, first time that would have happened to them since 93/94.
Prediction: Goege Fox 67 Lewis and Clark 65
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