Congrats to Clarkson

Although it's true that they weren't the top team of the LL going into the tourny, one thing for certain they were was the best defensive team in the LL throughout this season.

They held their play true to form, relying on their aggressive defensive style to get the job done, and thus were rewarded with two hard earned victories and a NCAA Tourny Birth.

Official 2008 LL Awards

Congrats goes to:

Coach Adam Stockwell (Clarkson) for earning Coach of the Year Honors

Lawrence Avitable (Vassar) for earnings Player of the Year Honors

LL First team 2008

F Lawrence Avitabile  Vassar SR Southington, CT
G Tyson Brazell  Vassar SR Salt Lake City, UT
F John Grazioli   Hobart SR Melville, NY
F Sam Simmons  Rensselaer SR Newburgh, NY
F Harlee Wood  Hamilton JR Clinton, MD
F Tyler Wright  St. Lawrence SR Teaneck, NJ

LL Second Team 2008

F Drew Desmarais  Union JR St. James, NY
F Elson Pickering  Clarkson JR Brooklyn, NY
G Josh Sharlow  St. Lawrence SO Norwood, NY
G Jay Simpson  Hamilton SO Fort Washington, MD

Ok, so I wasn't correct in either of my Coach (Downs) or Player (Brazell) of the Year selections.... yet, even if you were to subject me to "water boarding" I wouldn't change my selections.

Best of Luck to all the teams and coaches ( St Lawrence, Vassar, Hamilton, Clarkson) playing this evening at St Lawrence.

Quote from: sjfcards on February 24, 2008, 02:20:06 AM
Are the LL tourny pairings out yet, or is the season not over yet? From what I can tell it could be a good show.

2008 Liberty League Championship
Friday, February 29 and Saturday, March 1
Hosted by St. Lawrence University

Semifinals - Friday, February 29
#3 Vassar vs #2 Hamilton - 6:00 pm
#4 Clarkson at #1 St. Lawrence - 8:00 pm

Championship - Saturday, March 1
Semifinal Winners - 3:00 pm

The OlBallCoaches Thoughts on Liberty League Awards:

Coach of the Year Award: St Lawrence Head Coach, Chris Downs
......
This Award is a no brainer for me as the Saints finished 12-2 in the LL, but far more importantly closed out the season with 5 consecutive wins,  while winning 7 of their last 8 (going 5-1 on the road in that span) games.

Player of the Year Award: Vassar Guard: Tyson Brazell

This award is up for much debate as there are a handful of LL players with a legit shot.

I'll go with Vassar's Tyson Brazell, who had a fabulous all-around season.

Brazell finished as the only Liberty League player ranking in both the Top 5 in scoring (5th)and Top 5 steals (2nd).

Although he ranked high in many other statistical categories (12th in rebounding & 12th in assists) if one takes a close look at the final Liberty League Free Throw stats, Brazell's attempts and FT's made make a statement in themselves. He was able to get to the line far more than any other LL player (81 attempts) and made far more than any other LL player (66), while converting a solid 82% (7th).

While statistics are what coaches usually use to guage MVP's, circumstances must also be thrown into the mix.....and with Vassar down Avitable almost all of the final three conference games, it was the senior leadership of Tyson Brazell who put the Brewers on his back, leading to 2 VC wins.

Saturday LL Final Score

Clarkson 75 Hobart 72

Saturday Afternoon LL Scores:

St Lawrence 72 Hamilton 59

RPI 74  Skidmore 69

Vassar 56  Union 44

Hobart v Clarkson 

LL Final Scores for Friday Evening Contests:

St Lawrence 69 Hobart 58

Hamilton 59 Clarkson 42

Union 67 RPI 61

Vassar 74 Skidmore 58

Quote from: Bart1117 on February 14, 2008, 03:47:47 PM
Thoughts on the weekend?...

 

This is a monster weekend in the LL no doubt about that...., one that could very well decide the fates of the 5 teams packed in the middle of league standings from making LL post season play or sitting home and watching it!

Here are my calls for Friday evening affairs........

Hobart @ St. Lawrence - Saints will find the home confines of Burkman Gymnasium much more to their liking in defeating Hobart for the second time this season.
Selection: St. Lawrence

Hamilton @ Clarkson - Knights in-league defense has been nothing less than super so far (giving up only 59.5 per game), yet I'll give the slightest of edges to the Continentals offense to return the favor to Clarkson who defeated them by 10 at M.B.S. Field House.
Selection: Hamilton

RPI @ Union - Union continues to play better as the season has progressed.
But are they playing well enough to up-end RPI, at Viniar Athlertic Center for their 4th consecutive LL win? Slight edge goes to the road team in this one.
Selection: RPI

Vassar @ Skidmore: Albeit on the road, V.C. gets what any doctor would prescribe as a best chance remedy (Skidmore 1-9LL) to cure the back-to-back road losses at Bart and Ham.
Selection: Vassar



"One False Assumption And Logic Will Do The Rest"




 

Great call this weekend from Bart1117.....can't hit the bottom of the net any purer than that!

Quote from: Bart1117 on February 08, 2008, 10:52:07 AM
Sweep this weekend for hobart...

V.C. scratched18 more 3 Balls-For Life attempts vs. Hamilton, and in doing so only found 3 winners in the bunch for a lack luster 16.7%.

It ended a weekend of disastrous long range bombing for the Brew Crew that saw them go 9 for 38 (23.6%) from behind the arc.

X out the 3 ball attempts and the Brewers shot a blistering 33-64 (51.5%) from 2 pt range for the weekend.

While I also must also add to this by stating that V.C. went 27-34 from the foul line over the weekend for a red-hot 79.4%.

Can anyone say Bill Murrey (V.C.) in Ground Hogs Day (Liberty League action) ?   

A box score view.....

V.C. played 20 more 3 Balls-For Life (scratch-offs), cashing a mere 6 (30%) ...... in their 1 point loss (57-56) vs. Hobart.

The Bart (49) got 6 less total attempts from the field vs. the Brewers (55), while converting only 1 less of those FG trys (22 vs 23) for the ball game.

First I would like to tip my hat to both Brazell (Vassar) and Grazioli (Hobart) for joining the 1000 pt club this week.
Congrats men...great accomplishment!


Although the OlBallCoach couldn't make it to Po-town to watch the Brewers today, the box score clearly indicates a more typical Vassar like approach to taking care of business. The Brewers wisely relied on their super seniors Avitabile and Brazell to lead the way on the offensive end....and they responded in kind, taking 28 of the teams 53 attempts, while converting 12 of Vassar's 23 made FG's.

Jon Schwartz, who came off the bench to spark the Brewers in the second half on defense versus Union last evening, today got a much earned spot in the starting lineup, and with it came up large for Coach Dutton, going 3-4 from the floor, 5-6 from the charity stripe, while also tallying a game high 3 thefts (making his weekend totals 6-8 FG's,8-9 FT's including 8 steals during the LL homestand).

Vassar who had been firing 3's like they were going out of style, took a much more managable 15 three point attempts converting 7 versus the Thoroughbreds.
Senior Dan Forcella capitalized on his 13 minutes of play by going 3-5 from long distance.

VC once again made their opponents pay for fouling them by shooting lights-out from the FT line going 21-24 for an eye popping 87.5%, just one day after netting 18-22 (81.8%) vs. the Dutchmen.

As long as this Brewer team continues to make defense priority #1, they will be difficult to discard at any LL location.

Although the Brewers did what they needed to do to stay in the LL Title hunt we will grant to those who also closely follow this league that this was versus the 2 teams (Union, Skidmore) who currently reside at the bottom of the LL standings.

Just returned from Brew House and watching Vassar survive the Dutchmen, in a game that could only be described as both sloppy and ugly. Both teams turned the ball over 20+ times (Vassar 22, Union 27) as both team failed to "value the basketball".

It took nothing less than an amazing Brewer run late in the second half of play to survive a gutsy road performance from Union.

It was Vassar however who once again this season decided to attempt and dial up long distance from behind the 3 point arc as the main thrust of their offense, to no avail. Settling time and time again for numerous 3 balls throughout a majority of the contest, the Brewers shot an anemic 2-21 (9.5%) from downtown for the game. It was because of that horrific shooting that the Dutchmen's upset possibility was kept alive almost the entire game.

In my opinion, because the Brewers returned to their truest form of old late in the game by using some blistering ball pressure defense while jumping the passing lanes in the final 4 minutes of the game to turnover Union (erasing a double digit deficit) they were able to turn the momentum of the game back in their favor.
The comeback could also be attributed to the Brewers foregoing the 3 ball late in the contest and wisely turning to their floor leaders Lawrence Avitable (18pts, 7 Off. rebounds, 4-5ft) and Tyson Brazell (22pts, 8-9ft).

Relying heavily on the 1-2 punch from seniors Avitable and Brazell (who continually attacked the rim) in the second half and a monster effort off the bench from Jon Swartz, who came up with 3 critical steals (3-4 fg, 3-3ft, & 5 steals), the Brewers locked down the Dutchmen when they needed to most. After re-securing the lead late, Vassar kept Union at bay with nothing less than spectacular free throw shooting going 16-18 (88.9%) in the second stanza.

Union received a solid effort from junior forward Drew Desmarais (8-14 fg) who certainly came to play and deserves much LL respect.
Also for a majority of the game I was impressed with freshmen point guard Drew Goldstein (5-9 fg) who has a very nice handle and solid court vision in dolling out 5 assists. Unfortunately his youth may have had him feeling some of the late game L.L. pressure as he totaled 10 turnovers in the contest, 3 during the decisive final minutes of play which lead to Vassar scores.

Although this was a very important win for the Brewers, they must vastly improve, as I believe this type of team effort will not cut the mustard versus any of the other L.L. members.

St Lawrence Saints 72
Vassar Brewers 67

For much of the 2nd Half this game remained contested.
Yet with just under 5:00 remaining, and St Lawrence leading 58-57, the Saints converted a 3 pointer...forced a VC turnover, which turned into an easy transition layup. Then following a  missed 3 point attempt for the Brewers, the Saints again were off and running converting on another easy layup in transition.

The Brewers who relied on long range shooting for a large portion of the game to remain involved, found themselves ice cold from behind the 3 pt. line when they needed it most.
The Brewers went scoreless from the 4:48 marker to a little over one minute remaining in play missing 3 three point attempts in the process.

St Lawrence opened up their biggest lead of the game 67-57 with just over a 1:20 left in regulation.

The Brewers never showed any signs of quitting, and after a layup from Brazell, a missed dunk from St Lawrence, a must 3 ptr from Butterworth, the score was 69-63 with :37 remaining.
VC then forced Saint Lawrence into a turnover, and converted it into a layup with only :27 left (69-65).

But it was the Saints who got some clutch FT shooting from Hoercher to close out the contest.

I have to say I was very impressed with the Saints interior man to man defense,
a defense that didn't put VC into the 1&1 BONUS until about 1:30 or so left in the game.

The Brewers Transition Defense was nothing less than inept getting beat time and time again for easy buckets in the second half. If not getting beat in transition, the VC defense was getting beat to the basket from dribble penetration as the Saints converted plenty of other easy lay-in opportunities.

Hat's off to to the SAINTS, a well EARNED VICTORY!

In a tightly contested first half of play on the road, the Vassar Brewers lead the St Lawrence Saints 33-31.

St Lawrence jumped out early to a 7-2 lead, the Brewers eventually tied it up at 7, but it was the Saints who held the lead for a vast majority of the 1st half until back to back 3 pointers late in the stanza. The second of which tied Vassar's largest lead (2-0).

Interior Defense,and preventing dribble penetration (from the games I've had a chance to watch Vassar play) remains the Brewers greatest achilles-heel so far this season as opponents seem to get to the rim at will.

At the Half:
Vassar 33
St Lawrence 31

I'll go V.C. by 7 pts. when all is said and done.