MBB: Liberty League

[woot]

i will post the hamilton score right after i walk back to my room tonight and tomor

[unionalum]

Feane-Welchons is a real good debate.

I'm telling you Scordato might be the most talented kid in the conference when he puts it together.
Avitable comes to play every night, real hardworking kid.  Gets his numbers but not sure I would take him over other guys in the conference.

The big men are down this year with the graduations of Marshall, Flack, Bruce from last year... Georgi is a tough kid.
I saw the Hobart kid this year, i forget his name, but he has some real touch for a kid his size.

[shooters]

didn't talke long for my St. Lawrence prediction to come true, nice work by RPI!! Big game today up at Union, should be a barn burner, Montana v. Anderson the best v. the worst according to this site. This should be the last big test for the Hamilton squad and with a victory should pretty much wrap the LL conference title (i better not get ahead of myself). Interesting win last night by Hobart as well. Boy just can't seem to figure that team out. Well good luck today unionalum, can't wait to post after the game one way or the other. (yes i have no life, its true).

[shooters]

the hamilton v. union game will be on the radio via the internet, check out hamilton's site if you are interested!!!

[bed]

Hamilton was impressive yet again.

Here's my question for Shooters or anyone else who's been able to see Hamilton play this season more than one or two times:

        Is there any method to how Coach Anderson is substituting his players?  Is it a random substitution pattern?  Is there a certain rotation he uses depending on any factor(s)?

The reason I ask is based on boxscores and summaries/recaps of games, it appears that some games certain players hardly play or see the light of day off the bench.................and other times, those guys are the leading scorers/rebounders, etc.

I just can't figure out and was hoping someone who's seen the team play more can provide some insight in that area.

No doubt is the team successful and as we all know..........WHEN A TEAM WINS, most don't complain.........but WHEN YOU START LOSING.......things arent always as nice between teammates.

[shooters]

Although i haven't seen them play much this year i agree with you on the fact it seems like someone different leads the team every time. I notice that Giorgi didn't play/score much at all yesterday and although i didn't see the box scores i did listen to it on the internet. I know he plays a certain five to start with, lately its been welchons/peck/valenti/giorgi/TK or Jones. Then after a couple minutes of the press he subs in an entire new group w/ Wood/Rogers/jones(or tk) and two others. Sometimes it seems that this group will outplay the starters. I personally have not been on a ball club that presses the entire time but i can only assume that if worked correctly players will need time off the court. Sometimes I wish they would just sit back and play ball but that is not how Anderson runs his program. I also know that last nite Union started a small lineup and therefore i think Anderson went small and didn't use Giorgi much at all. And for all you "Anderson doesn't play Murhpy guys" I did notice Nick Jones came off the bench, I haven't seen that move before, especially w/ the fact Nick is their best shooter by far. Bed, I can't answer much beyond that, I did notice they were down 8 at half and came back to win by 10 in the second half that was impressive.

[unionalum]

Alright I wasn't able to attend either of the games, but Union is in trouble.   After talking with the guys, the offense has become terribly one dimensional.  They took 36's on Friday night and 28 more on Saturday. Last year at least Bruce was there down low as an option.  This year they are getting nothing inside, and when the shots aren't falling, they dont have a chance
Also rebounding has been killin them.  Hamilton outrebounded them 42-21.  Tough to win games that way.

However, on a positive note, this season wins and losses wise, is eerily similar to last season when they snuck in as the #4 seed, and then shot the lights out at Hobart for the weekend to take the conf. title.

Hamilton truly looks like the class of the league...

[the_prototype]

Tom Schneider from RPI is absolutely the player of the year at this point.

I agree that Hamilton has the most overall talent, but to say whether there are players in the league who would start for them is overboard.

Cagianello is probably the Player of the Year in the conference, and is threatening Union's alltime scoring record.

Scordato not only scored 34 on Hamilton in last year's Liberty League title game but has won Liberty league guard of the week 2 of the last 3 weeks.

Point guard Murphy has led the conference in assist to turnover ratio every single season so far, and now as a senior he has a chance to do it for a 4th time.

So let's not go crazy, and be blinded by Hamilton's "on paper" talent

[shooters]

unionalum,

I didn't realize that Hamilton out rebounded by that big of a number. I was listening to the game and it sounded like Hamilton was getting a ton of offensive rebounds. It also sounded like when Union shot the ball well they controlled the game but once the shots didn't start falling then the game turned around. There was some altercation between the great Montana and the fans at the end of the game, I guess from what someone said he had to be restrained, they caught some of it on the radio before signing off. Did you hear anything about that?

[unionalum]

I just got a first hand report from one of Union's players about the end of the game. (keep in  mind this is from the point of view of a Union player)
Apparently the Hamilton crowd was as ruthless and vulgar as ever... yelling chants that if i repeated them here, would get me kicked off the server.
After the game, a group of hamilton students approached Union's bench and kept yelling things, including some racist comments to one of union's black players....
Montana went to security nearby and asked them "you have this under control right"... apparently they did nothing and were just very laid back about the whole thing... finally a student about 2 feet from Montana yelled something about his wife, or ex-wife, and Montana kind of snapped on him.

I dont think he ever got to the kid, security, players and parents were all restraining him and no punches were thrown but there was pushing between people.  Sounded like an ugly scene.

Note about the game:  Montana started basically 5 guards, that would explain the lack of rebounding and unbelievable amount of 3pt attempts

[bed]

shooters,

i just worry that Anderson's substitution patters might plague the team in the playoffs or in a big game (which at this point would be LL playoffs or NCAAs).

how many times have you seen coaches be successful with a rotating lineup like that?  i understand matchups and for example, union playing a small lineup, with a lot of guards, so not playing Giorgi for matchup reasons.  However, one could argue playing giorgi for big minutes and TK would cause defensive fits for a union team with 5 guards.

also, players like to know their roles and know they're going to GENERALLY play X amount of minutes per night.  It sometimes becomes frustrating when the coach tinkers with the lineups on a night-to-night or game-to-game basis AND ALSO..........rotates in 4 or 5 guys at a time.

Perhaps Hamilton's press is the reason for this, but call me old-fashioned or conservative, but i'd rather see a lineup of welchons, peck, jones, TK, and Giorgi with Valenti off the bench and those 6 playing the majority of minutes.  Maybe throw in 1 guy for like 5 minutes or so but if i was TOBIN i would RIDE THOSE 6 as far as they'll take me.

[UCAAHoops21]

Tom Schneider would be a great choice from RPI, he has been LL forward of the week 5 times, maybe 6 this week after 30 points vs. clarkson and he is averaging a double-double this season.  Not to mention he seems to be leading RPI back from a poor start...
As for Montana and Hamilton, anybody who has played for an opponent vs. Hamilton knows how bad they can get...I remember being the subject of a few taunts when I played and Montana can have a bit of a hot streak in him as well.

Big games this weekend as Hobart and Hamilton go to RPI and Vassar...I still think Hamilton has another loss in them before the LL tourney, maybe it happens this weekend???

I am sure Union is looking to rebound from this weekend and the buzzer beater at SLU last time, and SLU has to come downstate after its rivalry game with Clarkson (who took vassar to ot and almost knocked RPI off after their big win at SLU)

Another weekend of big games...

[casey]

I just got a first hand report from one of Union's players about the end of the game. (keep in  mind this is from the point of view of a Union player)
Apparently the Hamilton crowd was as ruthless and vulgar as ever... yelling chants that if i repeated them here, would get me kicked off the server.
After the game, a group of hamilton students approached Union's bench and kept yelling things, including some racist comments to one of union's black players....
Montana went to security nearby and asked them "you have this under control right"... apparently they did nothing and were just very laid back about the whole thing... finally a student about 2 feet from Montana yelled something about his wife, or ex-wife, and Montana kind of snapped on him.

I dont think he ever got to the kid, security, players and parents were all restraining him and no punches were thrown but there was pushing between people.  Sounded like an ugly scene.

Note about the game:  Montana started basically 5 guards, that would explain the lack of rebounding and unbelievable amount of 3pt attempts

This also happened at the Skidmore game on Friday night.  A group of Hamilton students, especially one particular student, sat behind the Skidmore bench yelling comments at  the players and coaches.  The student was sitting next to/nearby an administrative security personnel and he was doing nothing, as was the rest of security personnel.  .  After the security was approached the student was finally escorted from the building and within 2 mins returned (without his costume) and was allowed to remain for the game yelling the same rude and vulgar comments.  So it seems that this continued through to the Union game the next day - but was allowed to go to yet a higher level of rudeness and vulgarity! 

[woot]

thats home court advantage boys. we yell and scream at everyone

[unionalum]

No one is agruing against screaming and homecourt advantage... but post game antics are not part of the game... especially in the fashion that could lead to physical altercations