Going 9 and 9 would presumably imbalance both conferences' scheduling. Why mess up two when you only have to mess up one? But I think the bigger thing is geography - both Stevenson and Hood are down in Maryland, much closer to the Commonwealth schools than the Freedom. Going from Hood to FDU or any of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre schools would be a haul. Heck, Stevenson is closer to Widener than Messiah is.

Kate - Hood and Stevenson will join the Commonwealth Conference for all sports. It will be a 10-team league in basketball. My understanding is that there is consideration to expand to the playoff field in the CC from its current four-team format, but I haven't heard if that's a done deal yet.

Quote from: Warren Thompson on December 15, 2010, 05:09:15 PM

Quote from: Hoops4lfe on December 15, 2010, 09:42:26 AM
Lebanon Valley is sure to shine this year, considering that they do not play against any strong teams.

UConn refused to play the LVC ladies ....

They didn't want to put their streak in jeopardy 

But in all seriousness, our next two opponents (Stockton and Ramapo) are 7-2... plus two vs. Messiah and two vs. a very good Widener team (not to mention E-town is 6-3). I'm not saying our schedule is super tough, but it isn't that bad...

No, postseason all-conference teams are nominated by and voted on by coaches. The conference playoff MVPs, similarly, are chosen by the winning coach.

Quote from: Hoops4lfe on December 15, 2010, 09:42:26 AM
On another topic. Does anyone know the process for the schools to select thier atheletes of the week ? Seems as though some of the schools select the same player every week. Do coaches select, is there a committee that selects ? Just wondering.

For the Commonwealth and Freedom conferences, SIDs nominate Player of the Week candidates every Monday morning for the previous week's games. There is then a committee of SIDs who vote for their choice based on objective statistical data, strength of opponents, important plays, etc., and the conference SID tallies it up and releases it. I forget how many voters we have now, I want to say it's three. I'm sure BJ will correct me. Coaches do not have any hand in the process.

Now as for the actual schools that select athletes of the week, I'm sure there are all sorts of different ways to do it (we don't do it at Lebanon Valley). My guess is that it's usually the SID doing it.

-Tim Flynn
Sports Information Director
Lebanon Valley College

The MAC preseason poll has been released:

MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll
1.    Delaware Valley College    47 (6)
2.    Lebanon Valley College    41 (2)
3.    Albright College       37
4t.    Wilkes University       27
4t.    Lycoming College       27
6.    Widener University       24
7.    FDU-Florham          11
8.    King's College          10

To answer an earlier question, the MAC preseason poll is scheduled to come out on Tuesday, Aug. 3. That week, we'll also have an entire series of football previews on our site, GoDutchmen.com, like we did last year. LVC's preseason roster has already been posted!

-Tim Flynn
Sports Information Director, Lebanon Valley College

Hi guys, Tim Flynn here, SID at LVC. An unbelievable night in the Commonwealth Conference as the Dutchmen came back in the final minute to beat Albright, and an absolute shocker at Messiah as Widener held them off to win. We're more than happy to be the hosts on Saturday - championship game is at 2 p.m. We'll have live stats and streaming audio on www.GoDutchmen.com starting then!

Kate -

The MAC office is having technical trouble with their computer that handles stats. They hope to have it back working soon. In the meantime, lots of great games tonight as conference play starts in the Commonwealth!