Had an opportunity to watch Bard play...certainly a different attitude than one that I competed against in the early 2000's a more consistent level of player than they were able to attract. I commend Coach Turner in his approach to the way his team played the game, however they still have a long way to go with regard to putting the kind of players on the floor that will be able to compete night in and night out in the Liberty League. They hung in there for quite a while against Skidmore and had an even more challenging effort with Union getting the difference to 27 at one point early in the second half.

I will be interested to see over the next few seasons whether they will be able to attract the kind of players that can put them into the top half of the league on a regular basis, while Bard is a strong liberal arts college academically that does not always translate to athletic success because campus life, student life etc...play a huge role in recruiting student athletes.

Bombers - Blazek is 14 and Ryder is 35, Blazek was actually injured for a large part of last season so he did not play as integral a role. I can remember feeling the same way about some of the Fisher teams back in the early 2000's with some of their players seemed like they had been there six years of course not the case.

The Empire 8 will be close no matter what, very few years irregardless of non conference success I can't remember too many years where teams ran away with the league. As a wick fan I will be pleased with a road split most weekends as long as you can take care of business at home. Playing back to back will always create interesting games on Saturdays.

Magic - thanks for the karma. Well the league always is competitive no matter how things look up to league play. It always benefits the league come postseason time if they fair well outside the conference. As we have seen in recent years with teams from the E8 getting a Pool C bid.

A great win for Ithaca against New Jersey City, saw that team play last year in the NCAA Tournament and there transition play is strong. Congrats to Fisher on a win against Worcester State.

Looking forward to conference tipping off everyone knows each other so well it should be a good year.

While it is no Cameron Indoor, having been in the gym more half a dozen times for the Hartwick/Oneonta game I can say two things the first is that the game no matter the talent on either team is almost always a possession or two game in either direction and second is that 275 in that gym is pretty good in terms of environment. Having also been to games at both Fisher and Naz this game would compare.

Additionally, this Hartwick team is pretty talented and they have revived a program there that up until 1996 had as much tradition in basketball as anyone else in the league. Any league is going to have some ebb and flow with regard to who makes a run at the top for the most part, but at the division III level it might be surprising to people that having the support of the administration outside of the athletic department really makes a difference. You need to be able to attract a couple of players and if you can manage to steal some games here or there and get lucky with a couple of recruits it can change pretty quickly; and that goes for the winning or losing. Hartwick has made some significant physical improvements and bought into the idea that basketball is a sport they can be successful in. But at every level all of basketball it doesn't take much to find yourself fighting again to get back to the top, if as a coach you miss on the abilities of some recruits or have injuries it creates issues.

The league might be down but the three guys Hartwick has right now in Blazek, Sudderly, and Ryder are as good as many of the best the league has seen in recent years and more importantly really good as a group. This Hartwick team is also deep and they don't quit have been down in a few games this year late and made runs to close out a win. It isn't like they have played a UAA schedule recently but to run off 9-0 to start isn't so bad including a win against a Union team that is probably better than people think.