Congrats to Kings for a well played game.  They certainly earned the victory and the automatic NCAA bid that goes with it.  Good luck and represent the MAC-Freedom well.  Hopefully DeSales will get an at-large bid.

ljk,

Thanks.  I would love to see these seniors get one.  Kings already has two, they should share.

Nais,

I agree with most of what you said, however, there is one item that I would like to correct.  This year, Phil Stricker has really reduced his fouls.  I can only think of 1 or 2 games that I would consider him to have been in foul trouble.  I don't consider picking up your 4th foul late in a game as being in foul trouble, I think of picking up your 2nd 10 minutes into the game and have to sit for an extended period of time as being in foul trouble.  He did not foul out of any games.

As far as the POY pick, I would have no problems with any of the three mentioned.  A strong case can be made for any of them, they all have very good years.  I think the thing that probably pushed it Stricker's way is the fact that he is a 3 time 1st team all conference selection.  There are probably some other names that could be thrown in there as well, Eddie Ohlson for one.  He isn't a big time scorer, but DeSales goes the way Ohlson leads them.  Ohlson is #10 all time in division III assists, that's impressive!  Below is an excerpt from DeSales website on the conference awards:

       Ohlson earns All-Conference honors for the first time in his career. He is averaging 7.5 points per game and ranks fourth in the country in assists per game at 7.3 assists per game. Ohlson owns every major assist record at DeSales including most helpers in a game (15), most in a season (227 in 2006-07) and most in a career (687). His 687 career assists currently rank 10th all-time among all NCAA Division III players. In addition, Ohlson has 180 career steals which ranks sixth at DSU.

Here are the conference awards as announced by MAC today

First Team Freedom All-Conference
Phil Stricker DeSales C Sr.
John Soboleski King's C Sr.
Cody Moffett Manhattanville G Sr.
Jamie Cousart King's G Sr.
Ed Ohlson DeSales G Sr.

Second Team Freedom All-Conference
Darnell Braswell DeSales G So.
Donte Chisolm Manhattanville G Sr.
Ryan McPherson FDU-Florham G Jr.
Tom Kresge Wilkes F So.
Brian Fink Manhattanville G Sr.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Phil Stricker, DeSales
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chris DeRojas, Wilkes
COACH OF THE YEAR: Scott Coval, DeSales

CJ,

Actually, DeSales swept the season series with Wilkes and split with Arcadia.  Kings swept Arcadia and split with Wilkes.  In the event of a tie between Wilkes and Arcadia, I believe the tie breaker would be who gets the number 1 seed, Kings or DeSales.  In the event of a tie between Kings and DeSales, I think the tie breaker is who gets the #4 seed, Wilkes or Arcadia.  Both Kings and DeSales split with Manhattenville and split head to head.  So let me ask the proverbial question, which came first, the chicken or the egg.  I don't know about everyone else, but this is clear as mud to me.  I think we both want Wilkes and Manhattenville to win on Saturday.  I think that would give DeSales the #1 seed, but I am guessing.  It would definately give Wilkes the #4 seed.  I have no idea who would get the #2 and #3 seed in that scenerio, it appears that Kings and Manhattenville would have the exact same records against the conference teams.

I think everyone should be concerned with Kings right now.  They are playing far above anyone else in the conference right now, and timing is everything.

Manhattenville should not be taken lightly.  They are very quick, aggressive, and athletic.  Their place is very difficult to play in, very small.  I will be interested in hearing what people have to say after playing there.  Personally, I'm pulling for Wilkes over Manhattenville.  DeSales has the tie-breaker with Wilkes, but they split with Manhattenville.

Does anyone know how the tie-breakers work after head to head?  What about a 3-way tie?

I Have enjoyed reading this forum this season.  Thought I would register and post.  I like DeSales to take the number one seed in the tournament.  Kings, Wilkes, and Manhattenville have a round robin, of sorts, to play with each team having a home and away game.  I think they will beat each other up.  They should be fun games to watch as each game has seeding implications.  DeSales is at Del Val tonight, home against FDU on Saturday and finish league play next Wednesday at Arcadia.  Schedule certainly favors DeSales, but you still have to play the games.  DeSales has not played well in their last two games and Scott Coval will whip them back in shape.

It seems that Kings has turnded the corner on their season and is playing well of late.  Kings and DeSales have played 10 times in the last 4 seasons with Kings winning 7 times, twice in the converence finals.  Once at DeSales in '04-'05 and at Kings last season.  Any of the 4 teams can win the tournament.  That said, I believe Kings and DeSales will be playing in the finals again.  The homer in me says that DeSales wins at home and goes to the NCAA tournament for, this group of seniors, first time.