I know it's getting tight for the Hood Blazers now. I'd appreciate it if all CAC fans would ask the basketball god's for a little help to come Hood's way! Thanks Fellas!
Dmac or Matt, I see Hood's QOWI is better than Mary Hardin Simmons and UW Lacrosse. I assume they are on the bubble with us. Do you think the QOWI is enough to get us in? It feels like it's coming down to acoin toss.

Matt, with all due respect I think your bias is showing in terms of Howes getting COY. He has a senior laden club that has competed in the CAC regular season and tourney. Based on this season Coach Dickman has done the best coaching job of anyone in the league. Hood has only 2 seniors, and they won on the road, and recovered from some losses late in the year to refocus and win the regular season title, and make the tourney final.
Catholic played very well last night, and their seniors experience showed in that game. Good luck to you all.

Hood 92 SM 76, Big games from Gutekunst (29pts, 22rebs) and Junghans (31 pts) lifted Hood to victory tonite. Close through out 1st half,  Hood gained some momentum at end of half to take a 5 point lead. Hood slowed the pace of the game in the 2nd half and slowly pulled away. SM had trouble connecting from 3 point land (5-26). Credit SM kids with handling themselves with class during and after the game.  SM really turned their season around after a rough beginning. Looking forward to a great final on Saturday. Hopefully it won't be the last game for either team

As DMac posted earlier Hood won 82-72. Balanced scoring helped the Blazers as 4 of 5 starters reached double figures. Gutekunst only starter not to reach double figures with 7 points, but he pulled down 17 boards. Junghans 22, Robine 18, Abercrombie 17, and Edmonds 14. Balanced attack for Hood tonite. Hood led at half 32-30, and started in a zone for the second half and slowed Goucher down a little. Ruuso got his 3rd foul early in the 2nd half, and sat for awhile. Russo played well in the first half, and when he went out Hood was able to extend their lead a little.

I really like Pierre Jones for Goucher. I have seen him play against Hood a couple of times, and watched him in the Pride of MD tourney at beginning of season. Against Hood this year he has gotten 20 or more in all 3 games they've played this year. Tonite he had 22 points, 10 boards. What do my fellow posters think of him in relation to all conference selections?  Based on how he's played against Hood this season, I'd give him first team, but have not seen him play against anyone else.

Congratulations to the Blazers on their 1st CAC conference tourney win. Got the SeaHawks on Thursday. Hood has been developing a pretty good following as the season has progressed, should be a good crowd on hand as there won't be any High School games competing with the Blazers on Thurs. night

Seagull Fan, evidently Menakaya was dismissed from the team. I was talking  to someone from Salisbury yesterday at the Hood game, and apparently there have been different issues all year long. He was off the team for a few games earlier in the season, only to return and play again. There must have been some problems more recently, and he was removed from the team. He didn't play in either Hood game during the regular season. They list him at 6'2", yet I believe he was near the top of the conference and nation  in rebounding. That certainly is a big blow for them. It doesn't sound like he is playing in the tourney.

Hood 100 Salisbury 84

bbsquared, it is really hard to figure how the upcoming tourney will go, obviously tomorrows games are all very important. I think it has been a great year in the CAC, a lot of competitive games, certain teams got hot at different times only to drop a couple of games another time. In reality it can be anyones tournament. If you look at some of the top teams (Hood, York, Catholic, MW) they have all probably been the most consistent throughout the season, but as of late MU, and SM have been very tough toward the end of the season. Home court at this point is very important and tomorrows games will help decide which teams might get an extra game on their home court. I believe last nights win secured Hood home court throughout the tourney, so that is big for them. I don't think there is a clear cut favorite which is why it should be a great tourney.
  Does anyone think that the CAC could possibly get 2 NCAA bids this season?

Hood played very well tonite. Defensively York had a very hard time stopping them. Hood played very well in the 1st half, and put York in a hole early. Hood was running and getting a lot of good looks the whole first half.
Hood held a 15 point lead at the half. In the 2nd half York started to play better offensively, but they still had trouble stopping Hood. York cut the lead to about 8 at one point in the 2nd half, but Hood went on a run of their own to spread the lead to 20 with about 13 minutes to go. York got as close as 5 coming down the stretch, but couldn't get Hood to fold. Gutekunst gave a solid performance with 27pts and 14 boards. Gutekunst made a good case for POY honors tonite, considering McGowan had a very subpar night for him 11 points. Abercrombie and Junghans were very solid on the perimeter for Hood tonite. They evenly divided 36 points. Ryan did his damage from the outside in the 1st half making 4 3's, and Tim made some great plays on dribble penetration to the basket. Great win for Hood as they seem to have regained momentum going into the tourney. Hood has Salisbury on Sat. at home, it should be another good game.

Should be a great game on Wed. at York, I think it benefited Hood to have some time off before going to York to play. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the game will be played. I know there's a lot of snow in the forecast. Should be alright for Wed. though. I need some things to work out for me if I want to attend, hopefully they will.
CACsportsnut or YCP, will they have so big a crowd that they would turn people away? This is my first go round in the CAC, and I have no idea what kind of crowd they will have for this game. Don't want to drive that far and get turned away.

former D1fan, I started watching d3 basketball when Coach Dickman started coaching at Hood 4 seasons ago, and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed watching this level of basketball. To me it seems that the players are more in tune to the fundamentals of the game, and I also think the coaching at this level is very solid. I am a Hood fan, but I enjoy watching a lot of the teams that they play against as well. Last season I went to the D3 final four in Salem Va, and I saw some of the best played basketball I've ever seen in my life. Four games (they still play the consolation game at the d3 level) the biggest margin of victory in any game was 4 points. What a great weekend!
Those T's in the Hood-Goucher game were huge, Goucher was leading by 7-9 points and they enabled Hood to cut into the lead and keep the game close at the time.
As far as officiating goes, I'll reference back to an interview I read with  Kevin McHale a few years back. He stated that he thought 3 man officiating was ruining the NBA. In watching a lot of the Hood games this year I am starting to agree that 3 man officiating is overrated. To me you see a lot more ticky tack calls being made that could be let go because there's no clear advantage or disadvantage. Officials proclaim that 3man gives you better coverage of the floor which I don't dispute, I just don't agree that you have to call so much when it has no bearing on the play.
Also I've noticed that there are a lot of calls that get made from far away when another official is standing closer to the play. I don't think any schools in the CAC teams have a home court advantage because of the officials, I would just like to see the players get the opportunity to play a little more, and not see so many games turned into Free throw shooting contests.

Goucher and Hood played a very competitive game tonight, although it was filled with a lot of mistakes from both teams. Goucher missed some critical Free throws down the stretch, and Hood benefited from some T's that Goucher got in the 2nd half that allowed Hood to stay in striking distance. Ryan Junghans returned from a injury and really helped Hood's cause with 31 points. Gouchers Russo and Jones played their last home games tonight and finished with 29 and 21 respectively. Good win for Hood to end a 3 game skid. Hood gets a little break until next Wednesday's game at York. This is probably good for Hood to get back on the winning track, and get some rest before the York game.

It's been an interesting year so far in the league with so many teams getting hot at different times. The parity of the league is impressive, and should make for a very interesting tourney. It will be interesting to observe at the end of the conference season how many regular season sweeps there will be. As a Hood fan I know that they have only swept Gallaudet so far, with 3 teams left that they have beaten once. Hopefully Hood can get back on track and get 2 of their last 3, it's all about momentum and Home court going into the tourney.

Hood loses to Mu by about 14, Junghans was out with injury and MU's zone surrounded Gutekunst and made things difficult for him. Blazers are in need of a big win Thursday at Goucher

hugenerd, Santo completed his undergraduate degree in the spring of 06, and didn't want to enter into a graduate program just to complete his athletic eligibility. Before he came to Hood he had a year of Community College credits, so he completed his undergraduate degree early relative to his athletic eligibility.

Tough game for the Hood Blazers last night. Hood started well getting out to a nine point lead in the early going, but SM got hot and Hood couldn't buy a basket and combined with some careless turnovers faced a 16 point halftime deficit. in the second half Hood played much better as Gutekunst started to assert himself, and Junghans scored 15 points after being held scoreless the first half. Hood took the lead back late in the second half, but only briefly. SM shot the ball extremely well all night, and made crucial shots when they needed them down the stretch. Hood couldn't get the stops when they needed them. It's interesting to see how competetive the games are becoming as teams head into the home stretch of the season. A lot of close games and overtime games are being played in the league.
Hood plays Catholic on Sat. in Frederick and that should be a good one as well.