MBB: Liberty League

[OldDanny]

No doubt.  Coach Metz left a lot of pieces to work with, and I'm sure Coach Neer will know how to put together a winner.  They hound the ball well, and if the younger bigs can replace Salzman on the baseline, they will be a pretty solid defensive team.  Not to mention that they have two of the best scorers in the conference.  They'll be exciting to watch.

[SKYLINEBOY]

I'm not completely disagreeing with you that it will be tough for Bard to win a conference game but would I be surprised that they win one? Absolutely not. If you look at the Massey ratings for St. Joes LI (258) and Mt. St. Mary (232) you see that they are better or right around several liberty league teams. Last year Bard went toe to toe with both St Joes and Mt St. Mary.
Union 226 Vassar 393 RIT 224 Clarkson 277 St. Lawrence 243.
I'm not saying Bard will win a conference game, but to completely count them out seems foolish to me.
I'm looking forward to see how Bard does in this conference this year because as a Skyline Conference fan, I'm really interested to see how our teams compare to Liberty League teams. I wish there were more games between teams from these conferences.

I'll be surprised if Bard manages to win a game this year in the LL. I think they will be hard pressed to improve upon last year's 2-23 record. Several of the top teams in the Skyline conference could compete in the LL but overall the teams in the LL are stronger from top to bottom. Bard's coach is high on their recruiting class this year but he will need an immediate impact from those recruits to break into the league win column.

[OldDanny]

Counting anyone out before the season starts seems a little odd, but it's going to be tough for Bard to find a win in conference this year.  The index may have had them close to LL teams, but the reality is that Bard lost badly to the only two Liberty League teams they played.  Bard's only scorers from last season are gone, and although they recruited fairly well, it is tough for Freshmen to score consistently.  The LL is solid, and most of the all-conference players from last year are back.  I do think Bard will be a good addition to the conference, but this year is going to be tough.

[d3bballlova]

It will certainly be an uphill battle for Bard to compete at a high level consistently seeing that they will be depending on so many of inexperienced players. However, do not count this group out. Their upperclassmen have lost a lot of games over the years and are very hungry to compete with LL teams. In all fairness, though the Skyline gets a bad reputation sometimes for not being a competitive league from top to bottom, Bard will match up better with LL teams this year than the Skyline teams they played last year. Bard's recruiting class brings them a combination of size, strength and speed that they have not had ever probably. In addition, though inexperience will be a factor that plagues their freshmen all year, the fact of the matter is they are all competitors and will not shy away from the competition. To put it more simply, this class of Bard freshmen possess a swagger that their previous recruiting classes have not had. And even though they have size that they have not had in quite sometime, their guards--particularly Francis Arnold (Fr.) and Lamar Powell (So.)--are going to make one hell of a duo in the backcourt, especially on the defensive end. LL guards will not look forward to having to match up against these guys.

There will certainly be bumps in the road but I definitely see Bard winning some LL games this year. In fact, give them a couple of years with this group and they will be competing for a LL championship. Coach Turner is doing an awesome job not only recruiting but also coaching his players. It should be interesting to see the product they put out on the basketball court this year.

[7express]

At least Vassar will have company for the cellar spot.  Misery likes company, isn't that what they say??

And I agree, Vassar is Bard's only chance for a LL win this year, if they can't beat Vassar they ain't beating anyone else.

[SKYLINEBOY]

At least Vassar will have company for the cellar spot.  Misery likes company, isn't that what they say??

And I agree, Vassar is Bard's only chance for a LL win this year, if they can't beat Vassar they ain't beating anyone else.

Didn't Vassar beat Clarkson last year? If Bard can beat Vassar, they can should be able to play with Clarkson

[d3bballlova]

So much Bard hate on these message boards. Coach Turner and his staff have, and continue to, rebuild a once dismal program. It's only a matter of time before Bard is an annual contender in the Liberty League. It probably won't be this year, but I assure you they are not far removed from being LL champs.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't think people hate Bard, lova. They're just pretty realistic about what they've accomplished the past few years and given a move up into a stronger conference, it's hard to have optimism based in fact.

[magicman]

This is a copy of a post about Hobart that I placed on the E8 board but thought it was appropriate to show it here as well. Clearly based upon early season results it looks like Hobart will be the team to beat in the Liberty League. No surprise there. Challenges will come from Skidmore, RPI and St. Lawrence, not neccessarily in that order. Union, Clarkson, Vassar, and Bard will round out the bottom 4, probably in that order, although Clarkson and Union will probably fight it out for 5th place.

Hobart has probably been overlooked a bit this season, what with U of R, Buffalo State and Oswego State all being ranked in the D3 Top 25 poll. Even Hartwick has been ranked ahead of them getting 12 votes in the ORV category to a solitary nod for the Statesmen. But Hobart returned a lot of firepower from a 21-7 team that should have went dancing last year. They got upset in the Liberty League tournament and failed to get an at large bid. They did finish their season on a winning note however, as they won the downstate ECAC tournament and coupled with a 6-0 start this year have an 8 game winning streak. They may very well end up being the #1 team in the Regional rankings when it's all said and done. With wins over Ithaca, Fisher, Brockport and now Nazareth to claim the Wendy's title they can't be accused of padding their out of conference schedule with cupcakes. Another big regional contest is coming up this Saturday when they host Rochester at 4 PM.
They are led by 6'6" sr. forward Matt Pebole, a 1st team NABC All Region and Liberty League 1st team All Conference performer last year (15.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg), this year he is putting up 15.8 ppg and 9.2 rpg. He has a chance to finish as Hobart's all time leading scorer.  Close behind Pebole is 5'10" jr guard Stefan Thompson with 15.0  ppg, 4.5 apg,and 3.5 rpg. Completing their triple threat is 6'5" soph forward Rich Bonney with 11.2 ppg and 5.8 rpg. Their starting lineup is rounded out by 6'4" soph guard Joe Gibbons and 6'2" sr guard Greg Stern both averaging around 8 ppg. They feature a solid 10 man rotation and now of course, have long time Rochester coach Mike Neer at the helm. Will be interesting Saturday as Neer goes up against his old club for the first time since his departure from U of R. I think Hobart will win a close one here.     

[magicman]

Hobart gets some love in the Top 25 poll and moves  into the Others Receiving Votes at #29 with 34 points. If they can get a win over Rochester on Saturday it will probably push the Statesmen into the Top 25 right before they break for the holidays. It will be the first time in several years that a Liberty League team cracked the poll I believe.

[OldDanny]

I was surprised that the Statesmen didn't crack the top 25 this week after winning the Wendy's Classic.  They are a win away I'm sure, and with their next three games against Rochester, Drew, and possibly Franklin and Marshall, they could make a statement to move up the rankings in a hurry. 

[with age came?]

Been away for awhile and I'm glad to see all my old "teams doing well" - Union, Clarkson, Buff State and Oswego St.  May have to figure out if I can get to Hobart to see a game.  And who knows maybe I can score a ticket to UB vs Buff State.  Don't think it will be close but I always like to see how the d-3 kids stack up!!  What do you think Magicman?  You are my source of knowledge?

[magicman]

Been away for awhile and I'm glad to see all my old "teams doing well" - Union, Clarkson, Buff State and Oswego St.  May have to figure out if I can get to Hobart to see a game.  And who knows maybe I can score a ticket to UB vs Buff State.  Don't think it will be close but I always like to see how the d-3 kids stack up!!  What do you think Magicman?  You are my source of knowledge?

I wondered when you were going to crawl out of the woodwork . I was getting ready to look up your phone number to see if you were still alive.   Glad to see you haven't abandoned the boards. You're going to have to spend some time in unfamiliar territory though, as your favorite coach has moved again.

Buffalo State will be in for a long night against the Bulls. This will be the third time in the past 12 years the two teams have met. The last time was December of '09 and UB won 93-65. The time before that was November of '05 and the Bulls won 96-61. I think this one coming up on January 4th will be more of the same and the Bulls will win 94-63. Best showing  of a D3 against a D1 program could be on January 3rd when your (new? old? forgotten?) favorite team of last year, Oswego State takes on Texas-Pan American. I think the Lakers might hang with those guys.   
Look in your Personal Message box as I'm sending one to you shortly.

[gordonmann]

We had a nice interview with Skidmore coach Joe Burke at the D3hoops Classic. He touched on a lot of things including his ambitions for making the Thoroughbreads into a Top 25 team, his worldwide approach to recruiting and how last year's 7 OT game changed the program.

Check it out here:

http://www.d3hoops.com/classic/2011-12/interviews

[magicman]

Bard on the verge of winning the first Liberty League game they ever play as they lead Vassar 59-57 with 3 seconds left. Vassar with the ball and a timeout.  The Brewers inbound the ball, take a three pointer, miss it, and the Raptors win the game.   Go Bard.