MBB: NEWMAC

[WPI89]

I thought it way to juicy for them to pass up - yes!  Did the committee see it as a "reward" for WPI regular season and beating Babson twice, to  move them away from Trinity? 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I thought it way to juicy for them to pass up - yes!  Did the committee see it as a "reward" for WPI regular season and beating Babson twice, to  move them away from Trinity? 

If you want to know my honest opinion, I think they had a bracket in place Friday morning and tweaked it a little based on conference tournament results rather than going back to start over once the weekend finished.  I say this mostly because the bracket we got looks a lot like the mock bracket I made Friday morning.  The teams are placed where they should've been placed most of the week and not necessarily where they should've been placed after the events of the weekend.

[D3BALL13]

I believe Babson is in trouble. SJC Me is a bad match up for them. They have to defenders and athleticism to take both of Babsons guards out of the game. Also, All-American Remijo Wani seems unstoppable at this point in the season, and with a supporting cast like his, I believe it will be too much for Babson to handle. Im excited for this match up!

[D3BBALL]

I thought it way to juicy for them to pass up - yes!  Did the committee see it as a "reward" for WPI regular season and beating Babson twice, to  move them away from Trinity? 

If you want to know my honest opinion, I think they had a bracket in place Friday morning and tweaked it a little based on conference tournament results rather than going back to start over once the weekend finished.  I say this mostly because the bracket we got looks a lot like the mock bracket I made Friday morning.  The teams are placed where they should've been placed most of the week and not necessarily where they should've been placed after the events of the weekend.

So, we have you to blame,     .

But seriously it just looks like they had it done and didn't want to put the effort into changing anything. Just like the person thought Wesleyan and Tufts couldn't meet until final 4, if they meet it will be in the sweet 16! Doesn't matter that they are playing to go to Ft Wayne, same conference shouldn't be meeting this early (sweet 16) especially top 10 rated teams. Again, it just shows NCAA doesn't care to do the right thing for D3 sports. It has been that way for a long time.

[D3BBALL]

I believe Babson is in trouble. SJC Me is a bad match up for them. They have to defenders and athleticism to take both of Babsons guards out of the game. Also, All-American Remijo Wani seems unstoppable at this point in the season, and with a supporting cast like his, I believe it will be too much for Babson to handle. Im excited for this match up!

I think you are correct, will come down to how those 2 guards handle the pressure. If they handle it, they can stay and have a shot to beat St Joes at the end.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Both of those teams play with incredible confidence, which should make for a great game.  Whichever team can back up that confidence the most will win (obviously).

[BaboNation]

It would be foolish for Babson to take St. Joseph's for granted, but I hardly expect that to happen.  St. Joseph's is a formidable opponent, with a high-octane offense.

But the Babson guards have played against strong perimeter defenses in and out of conference.  I don't expect them to wilt.  And it's more than just  Ferdinando and Mulvey.  Logan Murphy stepped in when Begin got injured and is a deadly spot shooter and a better all-around player imo.  Ryan Frauenheim has also provided steady play at point guard and is a tenacious defender.

I expect Babson will play a fair amount of 4-guard sets with  Ferdinando, Mulvey, and Murphy playing 37+ minutes each, and Frauenheim and Fiore providing spot minutes.

Keys for Babson:

O'Toole and Lauder need to avoid foul trouble.  The interior defense gets shaky when they are out.  I'm less concerned about forward matchups than I am with dribble penetration.  Babson is 17-0  when they outrebound their opponents.

Keep turnovers to 10 or less.  I have confidence in their set defense, but they can't give away transitions that lead to easy baskets.

Hit the open 3's.  Babson is 16-1 when making at least 10.  Again, Mulvey, Ferdinando, Murphy, Frauenheim, Fiore are all capable of lighting it up.  Mulvey and Ferdinando are probably going to wind up #2 and #3 for most 3's for a single season in Babson history.  They're also 2nd and 8th in the entire country.

[D3BALL13]

It would be foolish for Babson to take St. Joseph's for granted, but I hardly expect that to happen.  St. Joseph's is a formidable opponent, with a high-octane offense.

But the Babson guards have played against strong perimeter defenses in and out of conference.  I don't expect them to wilt.  And it's more than just  Ferdinando and Mulvey.  Logan Murphy stepped in when Begin got injured and is a deadly spot shooter and a better all-around player imo.  Ryan Frauenheim has also provided steady play at point guard and is a tenacious defender.

I expect Babson will play a fair amount of 4-guard sets with  Ferdinando, Mulvey, and Murphy playing 37+ minutes each, and Frauenheim and Fiore providing spot minutes.

Keys for Babson:

O'Toole and Lauder need to avoid foul trouble.  The interior defense gets shaky when they are out.  I'm less concerned about forward matchups than I am with dribble penetration.  Babson is 17-0  when they outrebound their opponents.

Keep turnovers to 10 or less.  I have confidence in their set defense, but they can't give away transitions that lead to easy baskets.

Hit the open 3's.  Babson is 16-1 when making at least 10.  Again, Mulvey, Ferdinando, Murphy, Frauenheim, Fiore are all capable of lighting it up.  Mulvey and Ferdinando are probably going to wind up #2 and #3 for most 3's for a single season in Babson history.  They're also 2nd and 8th in the entire country.

This is a tough game because you know in the back of both SJC ME and Babson's mind is that they have a chance to knock off the #1 overall seed the next day, which is exciting but each team has to focus on winning Friday first, of course.

Babson is a very good team and program, however those guards have not seen the athleticism and length that SJC will bring on Friday. SJC ME has struggled against bigger and more physical teams which I don't see Babson as either of those. They have two of the best players on the floor at all times regardless of who they play in Remijo Wani and Wani Donato, which I also think will be the case on Saturday against Trinity when/if they get through Babson. Then you throw in one of the best shooters in the country in John Paul Frazier (over 40% for his career) and a freshman phenom Davis Mann who had to carry this team with the injuries early in the season. The supporting cast doesn't stop there as Tong Maiwen could be this teams most dangerous player on any given night, knocking down 3s and blocking shots left and right. After making the tournament a year ago and not playing their best against a good Redlands team, I believe they come in more prepared and control Babson throughout the game.

It will be tough, no doubt, but if you have seen this SJC team recently then you would understand. Not to mention, they are on a 17 game win steak with some of those wins coming against Bates, Colby, Albertus Magnus, and USJ twice. Lets get this tourney started!

[WPI89]

Good luck Babson and WPI.  Both with 50/50 games today - then TALLL tasks tomorrow if they were to win today!

[BaboNation]

Gutty win over a tough St. Joseph's team.  They were a handful trying to keep them off the offensive boards.  It felt like every defensive rebound was heavily contested.
That said, Timmy O'Toole had a monster game 18/8, Timmy Mulvey had a huge, contested 3 to regain the lead 69-67 with just over a minute left, and the team dug in and fought their way to victory.

Ferdinando had a quiet game from long-range, but finished with 13/6/6 and played with poise and didn't force his game.
Ryan Frauenheim (10 pts. 3 steals) continued to be a big contributor as the 6th man and create havoc on defense.

Statistically, a lot of things went wrong for Babson:  they were out-rebounded 41-29, outshot 48.3 - 41.5, and gave up more 2nd chance points 13-8, but they won the turnover margin 16-4 and none of their own turnovers led to easy points.

It's still a tall mountain to climb to beat Trinity on their own court, and the memory of the 77-44 thrashing earlier this year is still out there.  I think it's an advantage for Trinity that they got a wake-up call in the first round.  Postseason basketball has a lot of examples of teams righting the ship after an early stumble.

Here's how I think tomorrow has to play out for Babson:

Again, O'Toole and Lauder have to stay out of foul trouble.  There's just no reliable interior board/defensive depth beyond those two.  They each had 4 fouls today.  Against Trinity's depth you've got to concede some easy buckets without fouling and being uber-aggressive jumping over screens 35 feet from the basket won't cut it.

Again, keep the TOs under 10.  I can dream of another game with just 4 TOs, but under 10, and limiting easy transition baskets will be key.

Murphy needs to continue to hit spot up 3's, drive when the defense over-commits, and play the underrated defense that keeps him on the floor for 30 minutes a night.  He did not play a single minute of the earlier meeting.  Now he's starting in place of Begin and playing a better all-around game imo.

Frauenheim played sparingly in the earlier matchup and then in garbage time.  He's been a huge factor in the run the team is on, coming off the bench, being a pest (3 steals today), and hitting key shots.

And if Okorougo doesn't play that too could be a big factor.  All he did in the earlier matchup was score 27 on 12/15.  Ridiculous.

Let Ferdinando and Mulvey cook.  They need to be taking 50% or more of the shots.  I love the patience of both these guys and their willingness to be facilitators.

Still, Trinity is the heavy favorite, Okorougo or not.  Even if things don't go well for the men in green we'll always have the overtime thriller from 2015 leading to the first Final Four in school history.