Bard basketball has had a tough year to say the least, but the two times I saw them play the coaching staff and the players conducted themselves with class. They could have easily turned on each other, but I saw them put forth a valiant effort, despite losing almost every game.

Moving on, the playoffs should be interesting this year. Here are my predictions: The Purchase at Old Westbury game will be a close game with Old Westbury coming out on top. I think the homecourt advantage and Lester Prosper inside will end a nice run for Purchase this year (Remember: only 3 wins last year for Purchase, not a bad turn around). The rumble in the Bronx between Maritime and MSV will be another close one. I got a chance to see MSV three times this year and they put up a good fight against my Rams last Saturday where Joe Cooke (28pts) and Nick Dimaggio (24pts) were lights out once again. However, Mike Campbell (31pts) was too much inside for them. If MSV stays hot and does not get completely dominated on the boards, I can see them traveling to Long Island on Thursday night where they will ultimately meet their demise against a very talented St. Joe's team. Old Westbury will fall to Farmingdale on Thursday night as well, setting up a great game for Saturday.

Saturday's championship game between St. Joes and my Rams will be an instant classic. Although St Joe's is very good, my bias prediction is that Damien Santana and the Rams will be cutting down the nets once again and making a return trip to the NCAA tournament.

As a Farmingdale fan, I have wanted them to move to another conference for quite some time now. Only then will they recieve some national attention. On a side note, my Rams were not in action last night, so I took a drive over to see MSV play CSI. The game was up and down, but MSV hung on to win. Cooke put on an impressive performance scoring 29 points including 7 three pointers. Dimaggio chipped in with 20 points and 8 helpers. If MSV stays hot they could upset a team in the first round. Looking forward to tonight as the Rams host Purchase.

You guys were right about MSV hitting the tough stretch of their schedule. I was at the MSV Farmingdale game on Saturday and have a couple of observations. First, Farmingdale is a very powerful team both inside and outside. It goes without saying that Santana is a great player. Second, coming into the game I thought MSV would put up a better fight. They seemed disorganized. Players are in and out like hockey line changes. They have two shooters in Cook and Dimaggio, but from what I saw on Saturday they weren't the ones taking the shots. At any rate, it looks like Farmingdale is on their way to another championship. I'm going to try and catch the Rams back in action at Yeshiva tomorrow night.