Checking in on the… Northeast Conference
Posted by rtmsf on December 13th, 2008Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC Conferences.
Decided to take a tempo free look at the Northeast Conference. The win-loss record includes all games, though everyone has a couple conference games in the total. The plus-minus is the difference between offensive and defensive points per possession. Naturally a figure on the plus side is good, while a minus figure suggests defense (most likely) should be addressed. The far right column is the average possessions per game. In the sixties is slow to moderate. Low seventies is still moderate while high seventies on up is ‘metal to the pedal’ range. A thank you to Basketball State for expedient availability of the data. The average possessions for NEC teams is 68, more on the moderate to slow variety.
Give him the ball. Over a three game stretch Quinnipiac sophomore forward Justin Rutty averaged 27 points and 9 rebounds per game. During that stretch he shot 74% (28 of 38 ) from the floor.
Sophomores are making their presence known and lead the NEC in two major statistical categories. Ken Horton of Central Connecticut is the top NEC scorer with 20.6 ppg. Horton’s teammate and passer Shemik Thompson leads with 6.6 assists per game. Showing he can do more than shoot, the aforementioned Rutty of Quinnipiac is the best second year man in assists at fifth place with 5.5 rpg.
Was it a game of H-O-R-S-E ? St.Francis (NY) shot 17 of 25 beyond the arc (that’s 68%) in an 87-79 win at Robert Morris. Apparently Terrier coach Brian Nash had a plan. St.Francis shot 11 of 30 (37%) from two point range. So the trifecta was a big winner. Another team that was hot from three was Sacred Heart. The Pioneers won both NEC contests, over Mount St.Mary’s and FDU, by going 22 of 41 (53%) from downtown.
Something had to give. FDU was looking for its first triumph while Monmouth had one. The two New Jersey rivals met on Monday night in an NEC televised game. FDU came from behind to post a 71-67 victory. Sean Baptiste (23 points) and Alvin Mofunanya (20 points, 8 boards) paced the Knights. A look at the plus-minus breakdown in the tempo free section tells us a good reason the Garden State schools are a combined 2-16. In their behalf, both are working newcomers into the rotation and both had extremely demanding non-conference slates.
Time flies. Seems like it wasn’t too long ago that Howie Dickenman took over a struggling program at Central Connecticut. Today he is number two on the all time win list . That figure includes wins at an NEC institution. Dickenman has 196 overall but 188 at Central. He recently surpassed Ron Ganulin who posted 187 from 1991-2005 at St.Francis (NY). The leader and far ahead is Tom Green with 401 wins in 26 years at Fairleigh Dickinson.
Over the last two years (’08 and start of current campaign) the winningest program in the NEC is Wagner at 28-10 (.736 pct). Runner up is Robert Morris with a 30-12 record (.712 pct). Robert Morris captured the regular season crown last year but was upset by eventual champion Mount St. Mary’s in the conference semifinal.
