Now to the South:

Brooklyn: Caught the games against New Jersey and York. Brooklyn returns almost the entire team from last year's 20 win campaign. However, the loss of McFarlane is evident in this year's Bridges' lack of defensive play. All-American, Baptiste continues to put up numbers. As does Nisbett. New guard Hemingway is solid but is in no manner a point guard and at times can be a turnover factory. Though very talented, Brooklyn does have their issues as well. They seem to disappear for stretches during games and they play very lackluster defense. Aside from Baptiste, Nisbett and # 20, they do not seem to have someone capable of knocking down the open 3 as they bring no shooting depth off the bench. Brooklyn also seems to dish out excessive minutes to 5 or 6 guys, hopefully they do not break down when they hit the stretch run.

City Tech: As they always seem to be, City Tech is maddeningly inconsistent. Returning All-Conference players in Hall and Philip, Tech is bound to be dangerous. However, at times when Jamaal Hall is not dominating the ball, Tech seems unsure of what to do. If Tech is able to find some cohesion within their offense that does not allow to defenses to focus solely on Hall, Tech could be a serious contender for the CUNY Title this season.

York: Why how the mighty have fallen. For the past few years, York has been the clear cut power in the conference. However, they do not seem to be nearly as good this year. I caught the aforementioned York-Brooklyn game. York is a huge team, with players at  6'9, 6'9, 6'7 and wing players at 6'3 and 6'4. While the new guy Exum is very talented, they seem to desperately miss Salamanaca's ability to facilitate the offense. However, their big guy Marcel has missed most of the games this season due to injury and it is unknown how they will play when he returns to form.

CSI: Coach Petosa seems to have lost all control over his team. In the past year, Petosa has had multiple players quit his team, including core players such as Weismuller last year and Yocum this year. Yocum's departure combined with the loss of graduating seniors Mesjaz and Blackett, has left CSI with a huge whole at the most important position, point guard. While freshman Jordan Young seems to be a promising player, it would be good to see what he could do if he had someone to get him the ball where he needs it. It is said that CSI has multiple players ineligible that can be of help to the team. For their sake, let us all hope so.

Medgar Evers: Just like CCNY, Medgar can be very painful to watch at times. They are a very unorganized team and they simply do not have the talent to make up for their lack of understanding of the game. While they have been bad for years, for the most part Medgar has given teams a competitive game. Hopefully for the sake of the game, they can continue to do so.

I've been holding off on writing on the board until I've seen all of the CUNY teams. Having now seen all of them, I can now enlighten you all on my opinion on each team, knowing just how much each of you care about it.

Let us begin with the North:

Baruch: Bearcats are a solid team. Coach Rankis plays alot of players, in an attempt to provide mismatches and keep guys fresh. That being said, Baruch is a flawed team. They only have one consistent scorer out of the backcourt in Farid. Hillaire struggles with his shooting and overall as a team, they do not shoot the 3 particularly well.

Lehman: Another team that plays a lot of players. Seemingly they have lost their 2nd scorer, Garcia. However, Rhoden is an All Conference Player who does everything he can to win. Lehman has a surplus of role players on their team and they seem to have great chemistry. Could be a surprise team in the conference this year.

Hunter: Caught their spirited effort against William Paterson. Deluca's return brings another needed scorer. They can shoot the 3 as a team and the new guard Kinaj seems to be a good pickup for them. However, they are lacking athleticism on the wing and overall depth of the team. Their lack of those 2 assets could be detrimental in the long run.

John Jay: Defending champions are struggling. Although they return everyone from last year's amazing run, they seem to have gotten very complacent with themselves. Coach Jackson needs to wake up his team soon or they won't have a chance at a repeat. Mason seems to be playing his way out of any awards he accumulated last year.

CCNY: Although they have some new faces, they are painful to watch. Caught their game at Yeshiva, a 15 point loss to the Macs is shameful in and of itself.

Any thoughts on the upcoming season? Any rumors? Transfers? Anything at all? Let's see if we can't get this board hot again.

What are some thoughts on the upcoming season in CUNY? This board has been dead for a while, lets see if we can't get it back up again. Any rumors? Transfers? Just plain thoughts?

Coach Podias finally seems to have the team that can make it to the promised land. He has an inside presence in Weismuller and the freshman Purisic. He has versaitility in Guerin, a hard nosed, old school basketball player who simply gets the job done. Nisbett is one of the best perimiter players in the region, able to shoot the ball with range and make moves to the cup, however at times he does get somewhat erratic. McFarlane is by far the best defender in the region, and perhaps the country, if he cuts down on the gambles and reaches, he could solidify that very fact.

Rich Jean Baptiste is simply an excellent basketball player. Whether around the basket, or beyond the 3 point line, Jean Baptiste gets it done. He is the best all around player in the region, and if he would show a little more heart on defense, I believe the Bridges can go very far.

However, that being said, Podias needs to be smarter with his players. He has some players banged up,
Baptiste and Nisbett have both been seen hobbling on the court and to the bench. In Podias' all pressure, all the time system he needs to learn to use his entire team. Brooklyn often jumps out to a big lead, as I witnessed when they played Baruch, jumping out to a 28-4 lead. If Podias wants to keep his players intact for the long run, he needs to learn to throw 3-4 bench players in there, fresh players able to apply full pressure while the others get a slight rest, and then allow them to come back in. I'm sure that if a team has  fresh defenders all over them, the effect of the press will be that much more enhanced, than the lead could get pushed up even further.
Reviewing the box score for last night, Brooklyn's bench played well, scoring 21 points. Brooklyn seems to have a squad about 10 players deep. If Coach Podias wants to totally utilize his team, while saving his stars for the stretch run, he will look to throw fresh players into their deadly press every so often, not make 1 sub, but if he has a big lead, take out those who are a little banged up, and go from there.

Mark my words, if Brooklyn is able to save the health of Baptiste and Nisbett, they will be a forced to be reckoned with.

Looking forward to see the results of their games against Lehman and City Tech.

can somebody tell me what the heck is going on here?

The Weismuller-less Dolphins take down the Hunter Hawks with the supposed savior Marlon Smith, the highly touted D1 transfer?

Are the Dolphins really better off without Weismuller? Is he perhaps the most overrated player in the region? Because let's face it folks, if your 6'8 265 pounds and are playing in the CUNY, a weak DIVISION III, school... you aren't THAT good, because if you were, you would be playing somewhere alot better than knicky knack schools such as CSI and now Brooklyn.

And are the Hunter Hawks now pretenders?

so the answer to my question would be no?

wait now, is Bernard also returning for Hunter, will there be a Bernard-Smith backcourt in the CUNY? or was those whispers of a Bernard return just a fabrication?

Checking the scores today, I noticed that Brooklyn seemed to handle Hunter pretty easily. Brooklyn had 5 players in double figures and put up 94 points on Hunter.

Was anyone at the game? How did it go?

Does this mean that Brooklyn is not in fact a PRETENDER, but instead they are legit CONTENDERS ?

I'm just joshin with you feller.  Nobody cares about your lack of eloquence during your posts as long as you know your basketball..

Happy New Year to All. !

WISDOMISTHEKEY

FOR THE HOLIDAYS I WILL BUY YOU HOOKED ON PHONICS.

I merely stated that Polytech had a young exciting team, with intriguing prospects in Ohri and Mottola, never said anything about whos gonna win what.
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have you seen poly play?

 Posted by: Pat Coleman      Posted on: Today at 01:32:51 pm
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Greensboro is definitely the best team they've played so far. The CUNYAC on the national scene is ... well, not really on the national scene at all. Being the best of the CUNYAC isn't an automatic bid to the Top 25 at this point.

Force to be reckoned with in the Atlantic? Maybe, but the Atlantic is a small region.

Pat, Have you seen Brooklyn play this season? Or are you simply going by what you read in the box scores? Brooklyn has dominated their competition in every game, except their game against CSI, which they did not play well in until the last 5 minutes of the game.
Even the loss to Old Westbury, their first game of the season and their only loss, Brooklyn controlled the game the entire first half, and if it were not for sizzling shooting on the part of the Panthers, Brooklyn would be 7-0.

CityD3:Polytech is playing under a new a system under a first year coach and a team full of freshman. They are gonnna go through some growing pains, but may knock off some of the powerhouses along the way. They will be a force in the coming years tho. This year, the conference is gonnna come down to old westbury and st joe's-LI (sorry raptormania, bard aint there yet.) St Joe's may have an all-american in David Acree.

Yes, they are a very young team and as I mentioned before, Ohri and Mottola are both freshmen who could be a great 1-2 punch. Does anyone agree?

I understand your statement. However, all I am saying is that they are a great team. They beat Greensboro, a team that went on to defeat Guilford (then # 3 in the nation). They have also defeated York, last years CUNY Champion, I was at that game and Brooklyn controlled their game since their pre-game layup line. And they defeated CSI, last year's CUNY runner up.
  Brooklyn is a team with exceptional depth and talent, they can go 10, 11 deep. I think it would be prudent of everyone in the area to take note of Brooklyn and go to see them. They should be the favorite to be the last one standing at CCNY at the end of the year and go on to make some noise in the NCAA's.