MBB: Liberty League

[magicman]

Clarkson had a nice win against Ithaca as the Golden Knight's Marques Charlton hit a buzzer beater to down the Bombers 65-63 on Saturday. Four starters had double figures led by Sophomore John Coleman's 14 points and 15 rebounds. Coleman opened the season on Friday with another double-double scoring 24 pts with 12 rebounds in an 84-74 win against Berkeley College (NY). Coleman's brother Jerry was an excellent baseball player for Clarkson and played basketball last year, his senior year, because his younger brother was on the team. He chose to do graduate work this year and because he had a year of eligibilty left is also back on the team to enjoy another season with John. Potsdam natives know the brothers well as they both graduated from Potsdam High School. John was the Liberty League and also ECAC Upstate Rookie of the Year last year and looks to be taking right up where he left off last season.

In addition to John Coleman's double-double in the Ithaca game, 3 other starters hit double figures. Charlton's buzzer beater gave him a total of 13, while Jerry Coleman had 12 and freshman guard Felix Abongo had 10. Both Jerry Coleman and Abongo led the team with 4 assists each. Clarkson returned 4 starters from last year's team and the 6'4' Abongo looks to have claimed the other starting spot right out of high school. 

In Fridays game the same 4 players had double figures. Charlton had 18 pts, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Jerry Coleman scored 15 pts with 4 rebounds 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Abongo was 6x8 from the field, including 2x3 from downtown to total 18 pts and had 6 rebounds. He may be stating a case for the League's Rookie of the Year honors this year if he continues his solid play when the conference games start up.

Clarkson is off to a good start and should be in the hunt for the conference crown. After the 1st weekend of play they certainly have probably the best win of any of the LL teams with their win over Empire 8 defending champion Ithaca. The Bombers are picked by many, to once again, be near the top of the standings.  Berkley College, while not known much in D3 circles as they play in the USCAA division played in the consolation game the next day after their loss to Clarkson and defeated Potsdam State 95-85.

The Golden Knights have a roster of 15 players with 10 returning lettermen and 5 freshmen. However their main weakness may turn out to be a short bench as only 8 players have seen playing time so far. They could also be vulnerable to teams that have a lot of height. The tallest Clarkson rotation player is 6"5'. They do show some taller guys on the squad but it doesn't appear that they will see much action. 

It will be interesting to see how well the Knights do this year in the Liberty League. A lot of teams graduated a ton of talent last year so I think it's a wide open race and will depend a lot on how well the recruiting classes turn out and what, if any, transfers show up on the various rosters.     

[Bengalsrule]

Hobart came out of the weekend 1 and 1 after they beat Messiah in the consolation game.  The opening loss was to Dickinson  by three after the Statesmen had a double digit lead early in the second half.   Dickinson's big man went off for 34.  Gibbons and Davis are both nursing ankle injuries.  Thompson and Bonney played well, and Hobart actually showed more depth than I thought they could with the two bigger guards hobbled a bit.

Which 3 "bigger guards" were hobbled???

[magicman]

Hobart came out of the weekend 1 and 1 after they beat Messiah in the consolation game.  The opening loss was to Dickinson  by three after the Statesmen had a double digit lead early in the second half.   Dickinson's big man went off for 34.  Gibbons and Davis are both nursing ankle injuries.  Thompson and Bonney played well, and Hobart actually showed more depth than I thought they could with the two bigger guards hobbled a bit.

Which 3 "bigger guards" were hobbled???

Bengalsrule needs to wear his glasses when he reads these boards.

[Bengalsrule]

Duly noted magicman....duly noted!

[magicman]

Liberty League goes 4-3 in Tuesday's action. here's the results:

Hobart loses to visiting Buffalo State 80-74

Union travels to Hartwick and opens their season by downing the Hawks 62-54

Skidmore hosts Southern Vermont and wins 76-43

RIT defeats Keuka 71-57

Clarkson beats host Morrisville State 78-75

Sage beats host RPI 94-89 in a crosstown rivalry. Has Sage ever beaten RPI before last night?

Vassar loses to host St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) 63-56

Liberty League's out of conference record now stands at 12-8 through Nov. 20th.

[hopefan]

Liberty League goes 4-3 in Tuesday's action. here's the results:

Sage beats host RPI 94-89 in a crosstown rivalry. Has Sage ever beaten RPI before last night?

Hate to say it, but Sage beat RPI last year too......

[magicman]

Liberty League goes 4-3 in Tuesday's action. here's the results:

Sage beats host RPI 94-89 in a crosstown rivalry. Has Sage ever beaten RPI before last night?

Hate to say it, but Sage beat RPI last year too......

Yeah, and if I'd done about 30 seconds of research, I'd have discovered that fact. This is the 4th year that Sage has had a men's varsity basketball team. RPI beat Sage the first 2 years and now Sage has evened the score with wins in the past 2 years. I got a chance to see Sage last weekend as they were in the Cardinal Classic here in Plattsburgh. They were better than I thought they would be. They have a pretty good big man and a decent forward, who played his high school ball 15 miles from Plattsburgh. The big guy Ryan Sager (6'8", 240 lbs) scored 25 against my Cardinals in an 80-62 loss. The forward, Matt Farbotko (6'3", 200 lbs.) had 14. The next day they beat Norwich in the consolation game and Sager was in early foul trouble and only played 14 minutes. Had two fouls in the 1st half and went to the bench. Started the 2nd half got two more quick fouls in the first minute and sat on the pines for the rest of the game. I felt he was victimized by the zebras on several of the calls. He moves pretty good and has a nice scoring touch. The Farbotko kid played an outstanding game and ended up with 17 points and made the all tournament team. Against RPI, Farbotko had  28 points and 5 boards. He now has 890 career points and in the near future will become Sage's first 1000 point scorer. Sager had a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds. Sage also has a decent guard, Mason Horne, who had 25 pts and 11 rebounds against the Red Hawks. No reason to feel embarassed by the loss as Sage is a competitive team and will surprise a few teams this year. 

[Ethelred the Unready]

Wendy's College Classic pairings:


http://www.wendyscollegeclassic.com/media/documents/2012/11/MensBracket.pdf

[7express]

My prediction is Hobart vs. Rochester in the finals with Rochester winning.

[Ethelred the Unready]

My prediction is Hobart vs. Rochester in the finals with Rochester winning.

I'd have to agree

[Bengalsrule]

Wendy's College Classic pairings:


http://www.wendyscollegeclassic.com/media/documents/2012/11/MensBracket.pdf

I wish we had something like this in the Buffalo Area. Maybe Buffalo State, Hilbert, Medaille, Fredonia, Houghton, Alfred State, D'Youville and Damien (?).

[magicman]

My prediction is Hobart vs. Rochester in the finals with Rochester winning.

I'd have to agree

I wouldn't count out Nazareth making it to the finals. Just this past week Buffalo St beat Hobart at Hobart and then Naz beat Buff St. in Buffalo. I do agree that the title will probably go to Rochester, though.

[Bengalsrule]

My prediction is Hobart vs. Rochester in the finals with Rochester winning.

I'd have to agree

I wouldn't count out Nazareth making it to the finals. Just this past week Buffalo St beat Hobart at Hobart and then Naz beat Buff St. in Buffalo. I do agree that the title will probably go to Rochester, though.

I'd have to agree with magicman.. If Naz plays like I witnessed them play Saturday then watchout. In fact I'd pickthe winner of a "potential" 2nd round game between Hobart and Naz, to win it all (Wendys tourney that is) .

[Ethelred the Unready]

My prediction is Hobart vs. Rochester in the finals with Rochester winning.

I'd have to agree

I wouldn't count out Nazareth making it to the finals. Just this past week Buffalo St beat Hobart at Hobart and then Naz beat Buff St. in Buffalo. I do agree that the title will probably go to Rochester, though.

I'd have to agree with magicman.. If Naz plays like I witnessed them play Saturday then watchout. In fact I'd pickthe winner of a "potential" 2nd round game between Hobart and Naz, to win it all (Wendys tourney that is) .

Based on Rochester's 34 point win over Naz, I'd have to go with them in any rematch.  UR/Hobart is different given that this years UR senior class is the last one recruited by Mike Neer.  Emotion could play a part

[magicman]

Rochester defeats RIT 66-59

Hobart scores with 2:03 to go to tie Roberts Wesleyan at 64. Neither team can score in the final 2 minutes and they head to OT.