When the Dips were good their teams were super physical and you knew heading into the game you better put on some pads. And the fans were so proud of how "old school" Glenn had the boys playing. But now that its a down period in the program everyone is just complaining.

Biggest game of the CC season to date- who gets the W tonight? "Dirty" Swat or the Dirty Birds of Hop?

I totally disagree that Ithaca doesnt play a physical style. As an undersized team they really fight for rebounds by hitting bigger players and trying to bury them under the hoop. That is what a good coach would tell a smaller team to do and they are really good at it. I also saw a lot of bumping on drives with and without hand checks. again, a smart way to play when you aren't as big but to pretend they arent physical because they are small and shoot threes seems misguided. I don't think the reffing helped or hurt one team or another but I think a coach should try to get the calls he needs to win. If you are the smaller team and you are trying to use tricks to beat the bigger team shouldn't the bigger team try to stop that from happening? Both teams played physically, the refs let it happen, it was a physical game.

Funny to me that a team who might go unbeaten in conference could have zero major individual awards. But I think that is more a testament to the style of play and kind of players they have at Swarthmore. Everyone touches the ball, everyone contributes, and on any given night you might have the best game on the team. Hard to prepare for that. I do hope that Zac, Connor, Nate, Visconti, DeAngelo get some pub for the great seasons they have had but I know that all those guys raising a trophy will be the only thing they care about.

I was shocked at how mediocre JHU looked when Delaney has a bad stretch. They are such a good team and they play so well but he really is the spoon that stirs the drink for the Jays.

I am always against the idea of just giving the coach from the first place team COY and definitely think Haverford has exceeded expectations. On the other hand, winning every game is pretty darn hard to do. Hard to fault Doherty or Landry as a choice

One week left in the regular season. Would be interested to hear some picks on the end of season awards. A lot of great individual players in this conference and a lot of teams that stepped up.

Wednesday's big game is Mules vs Bears. While in natural world this would be an easy pick, on the hardwood the Mules have a chance to lock up a spot in the tournament and send the fifth-place spot into a complete guessing game going into the last weekend. Exciting finish ahead!

Tell me what, besides having the best individual players, Ursinus does as a team. They consistently place 2+ players on all-conference teams but, other than last season's third place finish, they have been in the play-in game or out of the tournament for a long time. I am not sure the question with their team is "will the shooters show up tonight" but "what style of play will they have this week"? It is a luxury at the D3 level to have players as athletic and talented on your roster but to me the Bears don't have any identity. They play a different kind of defense, run different plays, and will scrap everything depending on the matchup. Not the way to be consistently good IMO.

Swat and Haverford ran away with their games and Hopkins made it comfortable at the end. Now that Dickinson is full-strength it really looks like four tiers this year: Hopkins and Swat, then Haverford on their own level just below, then everyone else, then McDaniel.

That being said, Swat plays F&M with one day to prep AGAIN (I am not going to go back for the exact numbers but this happens at least once a year for no real reason) and that is when the Dips thrive. Everyone is talking about next Wednesday but tomorrow's game is a big one for #1!

In my experience being warned for a coach's box violation seems like a ref saying "I dont want to give you a T but I am tired of hearing from you" or "OK I blew a call, but I dont want to hear any more about it" 

Well CCD3, you got me. But I think we both had a decent handle on the day's results.

I didn't realize that Bryce Allen had been out, he will definitely make Dickinson more competitive. When he and Hinckley were the guard duo that was a tough combo to beat.

Only thought on the Swat game is that refs are so inconsistent on verticality calls. I like the way WC plays, some of their off-ball cuts are really nice to open passing or driving lanes but when the guards go up into the air contact doesnt always have to be a foul. Washington's guards should try to negate height disadvantage with their speed, not with high school reffing.

Anyone have any guesses for tonight's round of games?

Hopkins over McD
Mules over Devils
Swat over Wash
Those seem rather easy to predict, I never thought I'd see the day when McDaniel tried to slow the pace of a game against Swarthmore, they used to get DUDES up in Westminster. Curley still has them playing hard but they just dont have the edge they used to. And I feel a little badly for Seretti, he had a great squad for a long time then had chances to leave but decided to stay and now admissions is really holding them back (I believe). I think Swat will win but the midweek trek down to play at Washington is always tricky. Thats a long bus ride to play in a tough environment, so be ready for some bumpy moments early?

Bullets and Dips is such a strange game, both teams seem pretty up and down. But since Gburg won by 12 on the road I am going to go with... The Dips! Because picking upsets is fun.

Haverford at Ursinus is going to be fun. Every year the Bears have a five or six-game run where they win and everyone says "here we go! Bears are real!" This is the time- win this game and they have a chance for a nice run heading into the late season. I don't think the Bears should be considered a contender but I know people are going to be jumping on the bandwagon if they win tonight!

What a first night back into conference play! I would love to hear some thoughts on the Bears/Bullets (Battlestar Galactica) game. Looks like the Bullets came out gunning (fun with puns!) and Ursinus responded too late to get back into it. Rest of the league shook out as expected- if you can count Haverford being 5-0 as expected.

Didn't get to watch the game, why did McGrath only play 5 minutes for F&M?

Points and Rebounds aren't the only factors to determine a POY. Scibelli is a great player, and he has recovered from his injury (i thought it was two years ago) to be a strong candidate for First Team. But a good player on a mediocre team gets every play called for him and a ton of touches. Doing the most with fewer touches and getting stops on D against basically all five positions is a good recipe.

Now, knowing my luck Joe will have a great game tomorrow and you will "show me" but I know what I see on the court and I know what the numbers say.

Scibelli- 22.7% Usage, .916 Points/Poss (68th percentile), 49.4 TS%, gives up .919 PPP on D (37th percentile)

ODell-  14.5% Usage,  1.03 PPP (88th percentile) 63.3 TS%, give up .747 PPP (78th percentile)

You're right, I forget because he was behind those guards last year.

Three years ago, because of injuries, F&M went to the McGrath/Sylka lineup and it worked so they have never gone back to the days of two towers out there, tough for a big to get a ton of touches because of it. Some other players who should get some consideration but probably aren't first-teamers are:
Vila from JHU
Shafer and Wiley from Swat (Harkins?)
Turkson from Haverford
Gnias from Mules
McGrath from F&M
Washington from McDaniel was a stud scoring the ball early on but I think he has faded

Any precedent for Delaney as an Honorable Mention? he was doing so well in the first half of the season.

I agree about Kupa. I think he is one of the top wing defenders in the league with room to grow as he gets smarter, right now he is playing on instinct and he is still really good. His shot is a little up and down and he does well in Robinson's strict offense but makes some poor decisions when it breaks down or he is in transition. But those are only tiny points for a guy who has handled a lot for his first year and kept the Dips in a lot of games. I think he has a real chance at Freshman of the Year.

Last week of the regular season. This has been a great year for competitive games up and down (mostly, sorry McD and Gburg) the conference. F&M has a doozy of a final week playing both Ursinus and JHU so they have to really lock in to keep that fifth spot for the playoffs.

Anyone have any thoughts on COY, POY, FOY, DPOY or all-conference teams? It is always fun to hear other people's opinion since I only catch a few games and have some thoughts but maybe I missed someone, or saw a player when they had an off night.

Coming down the home stretch and there are three teams with a chance at hosting the tournament (I guess there's a way for the Mules to win the conference but if that happens it deserves a much longer post). Take a quick look:

JHU-  (Opp Conf Win% 58.9)
@Swat
Ursinus
@ F&M
Haverford

Swat- (44.6%)
JHU
@Dickinson
@Haverford
McDaniel

Ursinus- (55.3%)
Wash
@ JHU
Mules
F&M


Hopkins has the toughest remaining schedule but also has a chance to sweep both of the other teams. Ursinus gets three of their last games at home but a 4-2 record at home isn't super flashy. Swat has the game against McD to finish at home which is nice. But Dickinson and Haverford would LOVE to play spoiler at home. What a fun end to the season, anyone could end up the regular season champions!

Points of Interest:
- Only one team in the last six years has hosted the conf tournament and won it- Swarthmore, two years ago.
- F&M has not missed a conference tournament since the 2007-08 season (I think that's right)
-F&M hosted the tournament for 5 straight years 2009-2014, no one else has won the regular season championship more than two times in a row (Swat could three-peat this year)