Not 100% but I think LL re-seeds after the first round. So if Bard were to beat Hobart then they would play Skidmore as the lowest remaining seed.

Exciting final couple of weekends here in the LL. Here are the playoff races in progress:

1) Skidmore and St. Lawrence battling for the #1 seed and the right to host the semi-finals and finals. These 2 teams play in the final game of the regular season. That game will likely decide who hosts. Hobart also plays Skidmore this weekend so they have an outside chance to jump in the mix here too but they are likely locked into that #3 seed. However, if both Hobart and St. Lawrence beat Skidmore then Hobart likely takes over the #2 seed.

2) Bard and Ithaca for the #4 seed and the right to host in the first round. This will almost for sure be decided in the Bard/Ithaca matchup next weekend at Bard. Bard has already beaten the Bombers once this season so a win would secure any kind of tie break scenario. Alternatively, it Ithaca wins they would win a tie break due to their win against Skidmore. If I'm not mistaken this would be Bard's first ever playoff appearance in the LL (from the looks of it....it will be their first playoff appearance across ALL sports).

3) RPI vs. Vassar for #6 seed. Vassar is playing at RPI this Saturday and again, that will likely decide this. With a win, Vassar would have the tie break due to their win over St. Lawrence (they have also beaten Skidmore and Hobart.....surprising that their record isn't better). Union has a very outside shot to get to the #6 seed as well but it seems they are reeling with 5 straight losses.

Good luck to every team in the final 2 weeks!

Fun game last night in Union, Bard really showed what they can do when they put everything together. Previous performance against St. Lawrence showed that they are vulnerable against bigger teams with length. Bard is 7-1 against the 5-10 seeds and 0-4 against the top 3. Updated standings:

Standings
Skid     10-2    12-6
SLU       9-2     12-6
Hob       9-3     12-7
Bard      7-5     11-8
Ithaca    5-6     9-9
RPI        5-7     10-9
Union     4-8     8-10
Vassar    4-8     8-11
Clark      3-7     4-13
RIT        1-9     4-13

Absolutely huge game on Friday night for Union against RPI. If they win, they move into playoff position and secure the tie-breaker over RPI due to previously beating them @RPI. RPI on the other hand has a tough weekend coming playing at Union and then having to travel to Ithaca the next day. Lots of fun games on Friday with Hobart playing at St. Lawrence with the winner having the upper hand for a top 2 seed, a Bard-Vassar rivalry game and a must win game for Ithaca home against a powerful Skidmore team.

Things are starting to get interesting in the middle of the pack, looks like this playoff race will go right down to the last weekend. Not even Hobart at this point is guaranteed a spot. Looking ahead at schedules it looks like Bard has the most favorable schedule with just 3 away games left while RPI, Ithaca and Union have 4 away games left including 2 away weekends. Hobart has a really really tough schedule coming up with 7 of their final 9 games on the road. Vassar and Clarkson at this point have most likely played themselves out of a playoff spot. They would need 2 of the above teams to collapse to have a shot.

Huge game on Saturday as Union plays at Ithaca (and tough weekend for Union as they play at Skidmore the night before).

Almost half way through conference play and only one big surprise so far: St. Lawrence......Really didn't expect Naclerio's return to have this level of impact, although they do have a stellar freshmen class as well. Considering how rough of a season they had last year as well as a couple of impact outbound transfers, this is definitely a surprise.

Hobart is playing as well as you can expect considering what their injuries. Even without those guys, they should have enough talent to finish with a top 2 seed. Skidmore has had a rough stretch here but I expect them to turn it around. It feels like outside of RIT, any team has the ability to be beat anyone else on any given night, should be an exciting second half.

Interesting conference season so far. I thought Hobart would have some better results considering they were pretty decent out of conference. Interested to see how they will do this weekend in North Country. Definitely seems like every game is going to be a dog fight this year, no team in the league is great but every team is pretty good.

AJ Horde of RIT seems to be the favorite for conference player of the year right now leading RIT to a 3-0 record while putting up some serious numbers (47 points against Union on Tuesday!).

Also was surprised to see Clarkson beat St. Lawrence on Tuesday. It's almost impossible to predict who will be in the playoffs this year. RPI was very good out of conference this year and looked like a solid pick but they are obviously struggling right now.

Liberty League playoffs are set:

RIT @ Skidmore

Clarkson @ Hobart

Gotta think Skidmore will dispatch RIT with ease as RIT does not have a win against any other playoff team.

Clarkson @ Hobart should be a great matchup, almost too close to call.

Seems like it's Skidmore's year though.

Tough ending for St. Lawrence who just had to win one of their final 3 games to make the playoffs. Ended up blowing a 20 point second half lead in one game and losing in overtime in another. Thats gotta hurt.

Interesting playoff race developing as we get to the final stretch here in February. Hobart, Skidmore and Clarkson are fighting it out for the top 3 seeds with Skidmore having games remaining against both Hobart & Clarkson. RIT, St. Lawrence & Bard are in a tight battle for that last playoff spot with Bard having the ability to control their own destiny with games against both St. Lawrence & RIT remaining. Bard is the only team of the 3 to have a win against any of the top 3 seeds so I believe that gives them the tie breaker against both if they split the season series with both. If I am wrong there, let me know!

Yes, I thought Clarkson would be decent this year but I am very surprised that they stand 4-1 at this point. They should push their record to 6-1 after this weekend. They assist on over 70% of their field goals which is an amazing stat. Clarkson & Bard are definitely the surprises of the league. Vassar & Union have to be disappointed at this point with their performances. Everyone else kind of is where they were expected to be.

It makes sense for teams that are trying to make a case for an at large bid to play a difficult schedule. Looking at the conference though, it seems only 2 teams really came in with that as a realistic expectation (Skidmore & Vassar). If you think you are going to be having an average or down year, doesn't it make sense to play an easy out of conference schedule?

Observations from the first few games:
Skidmore - Flexed it's muscles in the first weekend sweeping RIT & Vassar. Early on, it seems they are the team to beat and the overwhelming favorite to win the conference. The fact that they swept the weekend without their starting center makes it all the more impressive.

Union - Disappointing first game losing to Vassar at home. But nice bounce back win destroying St. Lawrence. It seems their lack of size was a huge factor vs. Vassar. Could be something to watch for when they go against the bigger Liberty League teams. Then again, they beat NYU who is gigantic.

Vassar - Great first win against Union and went toe to toe with Skidmore. Seemed like they were back and on their way to the a top playoff seed and then they lost to Bard..... It is difficult to gauge exactly how good this team is as they had a disappointing first semester and a great first weekend. Johnny Mrlik is still out, so when he comes back that could really stabilize them as they seem to be inconsistent right now. 

RIT - Expected results from the first weekend beating RPI and losing to Skidmore. Really enjoy watching their freshman point guard, plays with alot of energy and intensity. A bit wild however but undeniably dangerous.

St. Lawrence - Starting 2 freshman and 2 sophomores means they will be inconsistent and will get better as the year goes along. Nice win on the road vs. RPI but obviously losing by 25 to Union wasn't ideal.

RPI - Seems like they have depth issues. They lost Cardenas from last year who was a huge contributor and that really hurt them. Coach Gilbride will have some recruiting to do.

Bard - Defeating Vassar in their first conference game on the road probably opened some eyes around the conference, considering they were picked to be last in the conference and Vassar was selected first. We will see if that was a fluke this weekend as they have a challenging Skidmore/Union back to back on the road.

Excited for tonights tip off of Liberty League Play!! Here are my predictions for tonight:

Union Over Vassar 73-58

St. Lawrence over RPI 65-60

Skidmore over RIT 84-76

VERY good night for the Liberty League. Hobart seems to have not lost a beat even when losing the conference player of the year, the conference defensive player of the year and a hall of fame coach. Clarkson has absolutely shocked me with their results so far. Same goes for Union. RIT keeps beating up on mediocre competition and Vassar loses big again. RPI losing to Sage was somewhat predictable.

I watched a little bit of the Bard-Hamilton game last night as I wanted to check out freshman Devahnte Mosley. Even though he struggled offensively, he is very very good. Great passer, great rebounder and great one on one scorer. If Bard had made a couple more open shots they would have beat Hamilton. Bard destroyed them on the glass grabbing 16 offensive rebounds to Hamilton's 4. The guards just could not hit a shot all game.

Quick note about Royce Paris, he is a transfer from Marist but he was not on the team in any capacity. So it is a little misleading to say they have a transfer from "Division I Marist". He was essentially just another student on campus. 

Thoughts from this past weekend:

Clarkson is looking impressive as they have been steam rolling everyone they play. Granted, they aren't playing the toughest competition but they look as they haven't lost a beat with new coach Jeff Gorski.

St. Lawrence playing two very close games with elite SUNYAC teams is also impressive. Especially considering they were playing without Kyle Edwards and were starting 3 freshman.

RIT goes undefeated for the weekend again beating SUNY Maritime and D'Youville. RIT is undefeated this season and is showing some real depth in their scoring balance. Freshman PG AJ Horde seems to be a difference maker for them.

Skidmore loses a heartbreaker to Babson in overtime. I checked out the video and it seems like the rebounding foul called at the end of the game was bogus and the awkward ending was just unfortunate for Skidmore. The game has to be taken as a positive for Skidmore though given that Babson is currently ranked #23 in the country.

Bard loses an away game at Lehman by 9. Lehman is a tough team with a lot of athleticism who already have some great wins early on in the season.

Finally, Vassar loses by 20 to Drew. Seems they are having some serious offensive issues without Mrlik. Looks like they are in for a tough first semester without him. Hopefully his return can turn things around once conference play starts up.

One thing that can definitely be said early on in the season is that there are no bad teams in this conference and Skidmore and RIT seem to be the early favorites.

Another good night for the Liberty League, going 3-0 last night against 3 very solid teams. Especially impressed with Hobart's big win on the road at Ithaca. Liberty League is now 13-3 against non-conference opponents.