MBB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

The LL Tourney will be fun this year as all the top teams seem to have ebbed and flowed during the season. Hobart may have a hot hand now but one cool shooting night and anyone in the next group can take advantage. Case in point was Hobart beating Skidmore last year when Skidmore was #1,I am sure they would like to return the favor. Should be fun.

[gordonmann]

This one goes out to you, Bartman.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2017-18/week10

[Bartman]

This one goes out to you, Bartman.

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2017-18/week10

+K Gordonmann for the alert and What a great surprise! Thanks to the voters for the recognition of the efforts of Coach Sweeney , his staff and the entire team to date.....this ranking is well earned while the early season ranking seemed  a bit premature.....now the rest of the league gets to take a shot at a ranked team and Skidmore gets the first shot on Friday ......looking forward to the competition

[ITH radio]

Nice recognition for the Statesmen and Coach Sweeney.

Looking like things are headed towards that final regular season game vs. Union for LL tourney seeding, but Hobart can't afford to take their foot off the gas as it's AQ or bust.

[Bartman]

Nice recognition for the Statesmen and Coach Sweeney.

Looking like things are headed towards that final regular season game vs. Union for LL tourney seeding, but Hobart can't afford to take their foot off the gas as it's AQ or bust.

Hopefully we the Statesmen can sew it up before then!

[ITH radio]

The winner of the LL tourney gets the AQ. Hobart could go 21-3 in regular season and not make the tourney if they don't win the tourney.

Wouldn't be surprised if Hobart had to play Union twice (final reg season game and for LL title).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The winner of the LL tourney gets the AQ. Hobart could go 21-3 in regular season and not make the tourney if they don't win the tourney.

Wouldn't be surprised if Hobart had to play Union twice (final reg season game and for LL title).

To be honest, I would be pretty surprised if Hobart ends up 21-4 or 22-4 and doesn't make the NCAA tournament. They currently have a .535 SOS and their non-conf SOS is a .593. Those are solid numbers. If they only lose in the conference tournament, I don't see any reasons... as of now... they still wouldn't be in the NCAA tournament.

The key is taking care of business between now and the LL tournament.

We will know a bit this week with regional rankings and then know a lot better next week with Week 2's rankings.

[ITH radio]

That's reassuring, I figured there would be Pool C type bids like FB, but I don't really know it as well for MBB.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

That's reassuring, I figured there would be Pool C type bids like FB, but I don't really know it as well for MBB.

Do yourself a favor and lower your stress... don't even think about FB outside of FB. Football has a lot of reasons for tight Pool C consideration. Basketball gets tight as well, but when you have far more teams playing the sport and thus far more at-large opportunities (20+), the discussions are far different. We know, pretty much, who the slam dunk choices will be and they usually encompass half the at-large choices. The rest are tough and challenging to decide, but we understand the process so well that we usually don't miss more than one (we being Hoopsville and D3hoops.com). The process is even different than FB - for example, we don't have the previous tournament experience even a factor for any part of the selections or bracketing.

Trust me when I say, we will be talking a lot about the process on Hoopsville and the boards. The multi-regional boards has a Pool C thread where we talk a lot about it. This area has an East Region thread that I think we have talked about the process as well.

[Libertatem Foederis]

Liberty League Power Rankings (Week 7)


1. Hobart : (18-3 Overall & 13-1 in League : Movement: - )  3-0 this past week, RPI gave them a test @ home, but other than that it was a breeze week for the statesmen.  I can't overstate that the margin of victory is staggering (+15.9) with the next team being Skidmore @ +3.3 !!
2. Union : (12-7 Overall & 8-5 in League : Movement: - ) 1-1 this past week.  The road ahead looks favorable 3 of the next 5 games @ home and against the bottom of the league.
3. RPI : (12-9 Overall & 7-7 in League : Movement: +2) 2-1 this past week and they clearly handled the test of last week & are on the move! jumping 5 spots in the past 2 weeks.  Going 4-1 against the top part of the league & getting what appears to be some solid support from other than the usual guys.
4. RIT : (9-11 Overall & 7-6 in League) 1-1 this past week, RIT was able to stop the bleeding w/ a win against the Saints, but this year that does not hold as much weight.  A favorable scheduled heading down the stretch with 4 of 5 games @ home and a mix of teams on either end of the talent spectrum.  There is no reason they shouldn't be able to hold things together.
5. Ithaca : (12-8 Overall & 7-6 in League : Movement: -2) 0-2 this past week part of a 0-4 skid. The hard part of the schedule is over, 4 of the next 5 @ home & the 4 opponents are @ the bottom of the league.  Time will tell if they can right the ship in time for the tournament.
6. Skidmore : (11-8 Overall & 7-6 in League : Movement: +2) 2-0 this past week.  The conundrum of the league...  I feel confident in saying they could finish in the 6th spot make the playoffs and win it all....or not make the playoffs... Feb. 9th Hobart comes to town.  Could be a great game, could be a blow out....
7. Clarkson : (9-11 Overall & 5-8 in Conference : Movement: - ) 1-1 this past week.  Of the next 5 games they have beat Ithaca already & SLU, Union had to go to OT to beat them so I'm not counting them out of that that game either.  finishing 8-10 or 9-9 is a possibility and making the playoffs.
8. Vassar : (6-14 Overall & 5-8 in League : Movement: -) 1-1 this past week.  They have their work cut for them, 3 of their last 5 are on the road & against the top of the league.  I think the magic # to make the playoffs is either 8-9 wins to early to tell, but they need to go 3-2 or 4-1 down the stretch to have a chance.
9. Bard : (6-14 Overall & 4-9 in League : Movement: -) 0-2 this past week.  5 game skid, but all tight 1 or 2 possession games, the won't be easy wins for anyone down the stretch.
10. St. Lawrence : (5-15 Overall & 3-10 in League : Movement: -) 0-2 this past week.  If they can get a split this weekend on the road & Bard continues to slide, I'm pulling them out of the basement!


Calmest week to date as far as movement goes in my eyes.  RPI has had a great 2 weeks moving up the board nicely.  The league continues to be in flux, Hobart is the clear #1 & then 2-7 I feel anything can happen!

[gordonmann]

The Liberty League received almost as many Pool C bids last year as a conference (two) as football offers to everyone combined. That should make you feel better.

http://d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2016-17/conference-tournaments/index

By the way, is that username the latin translation of Liberty League? If so, that's really clever.

[Bartman]

Did I hear Latin?.....who says it is a dead language.....Semper Ubi Sub Ubi(Always where under where...especially under your uniform)......Liberty leaguers possess much ancient knowledge........ego amare Libertatem Foederis basketball!

[gordonmann]

Ha! Semper Ubi sub ubi!

The only thing I remember from high school Latin.  Well, and I can conjugate girl. Puella, puellae, puellae...

[ronk]

Ha! Semper Ubi sub ubi!

The only thing I remember from high school Latin.  Well, and I can conjugate girl. Puella, puellae, puellae...

You may be treading in dangerous water.

[d3d3d3]

Wow. Down 2 with 3.7 seconds left at Skidmore, Vassar throws three-quarter court pass to 6-10 guy, he passes off to freshman guard who gets fouled shooting a three at the buzzer. He sinks all three with triple zeroes on the clock. Vassar wins.