MBB: Liberty League

[Caz Bombers]

is Hobart going to make up its scratched weekend in the North Country, and what about the Skidmore-RIT game from December that somehow never got re-scheduled?

I can see not worrying about games that won't impact the conference tournament (like Hartwick-Keuka in the E8), but these three seem kinda vital to who gets in and who doesn't.

Other conferences in similar situations have changed their conference tournament to invite everyone, figuring that they would just let everyone in and decide it that way rather than create tiebreakers for these one-off scenarios. No idea whether the LL will follow suit, but a number of conferences have, including the NESCAC.

certainly a good idea for leagues that have lost a lot of games to cancellations. If the LL ends up playing 98 of 99 scheduled MBB contests and all 99 women's games (as they are knock on wood on track to do), I don't think they'll let, say, Bard into the playoffs just for that.

[d3d3d3]

Liberty League ADs have agreed that to be eligible for the tournament, a team must have played 13 of the 18 conference games minimum. I don't think anyone is going to have trouble hitting that number. Hobart is currently the low team with eight going into tonight, but they've got nine left on the schedule.

[stlawus]

Liberty League ADs have agreed that to be eligible for the tournament, a team must have played 13 of the 18 conference games minimum. I don't think anyone is going to have trouble hitting that number. Hobart is currently the low team with eight going into tonight, but they've got nine left on the schedule.

Does that mean every team that has played at least 13 conference games makes the tournament, or does the conference tournament remain at 6 teams with all 6 having had to play 13 conference games?

[d3d3d3]

It means six teams will be in the playoffs - but none that didn't play at least 13 conference games.
Union is burying RPI. Mahoney not in the lineup ...

[Caz Bombers]

RPI comes almost all the way back but Union survives for the 69-67 upset. Home teams go 3-0 on the night with Bard beating Clarkson and Skidmore defeating Hobart.

[stlawus]

Union almost chokes it away.  Ice Bear was probably clenching his posterior in that final minute but his beloved Garnet held on.    Johnny Angbazo is probably going to think twice now about doing a pull up on the rim when his team is down 9.   Good bounce back win for Union after a 5 game losing streak.  RPI was completely out of it without Mahoney, an extremely uncharacteristic 22 turnovers including 2 really bad ones by Dom Black in the final minute.   

Skidmore puts on an offensive show against Hobart to reach a quiet 6-4 in the league.  Starting to look like we might have our 6 conference tournament teams barring a strong finish from RIT.

[Ice Bear]

Union almost chokes it away.  Ice Bear was probably clenching his posterior in that final minute but his beloved Garnet held on.    Johnny Angbazo is probably going to think twice now about doing a pull up on the rim when his team is down 9.   Good bounce back win for Union after a 5 game losing streak.  RPI was completely out of it without Mahoney, an extremely uncharacteristic 22 turnovers including 2 really bad ones by Dom Black in the final minute.   

Skidmore puts on an offensive show against Hobart to reach a quiet 6-4 in the league.  Starting to look like we might have our 6 conference tournament teams barring a strong finish from RIT.

Ice Bear almost regurgitated a seal stlawus...he was ecstatic that the U was able to hang on though and get that quality W after a pretty disheartening couple of weeks. Ice Bear says defeating RPI in anything is very enjoyable (however the Bear really respects RPI across the board and has lost his hatred of them that stemmed from when he was a cub) and Ice really didn't think the Dutch were going to be competitive against the Engineers last night. Ice bears sighs as he's reminded again how he just can't get a read on the Dutch.

Ice also is thankful for this win as last night he was going back and forth between the basketball game and the hockey game where his Dutchmen were embarrassed at home by a first year D1 team in LIU. While LIU has some quality transfers (including an excellent former D3 player from UMass Boston) and some impressive speed the Dutch didn't even show up.

Ice is looking forward to the LL playoffs as they may certainly provide some fireworks (and heartburn) for all of us. Ice wishes everyone a great day.

[stlawus]

I was going to comment that there weren't any upsets tonight as it looked like RPI was going to finish off Skidmore in regulation but the Thoroughbreds close out regulation to tie and seal the win in overtime.   I've said before that Skidmore is a team to keep an eye on, and now they've won 5 in a row.   Big matchup tomorrow between them and Ithaca.  RPI had Mahoney back for that game, but their lack of depth is starting to hurt them down the stretch.     

Vassar now leads the league just like everyone expected them to at this point in the season. 

RIT has a chance to be a pest down the stretch.   They're now in the 6th spot with Union's loss tonight. 

I guess technically SLU beating Hobart is an upset according to Massey, but record wise it wasn't.  Luke Hicks finally playing like his old self as SLU closes out the game on a 21-4 run. 

Congratulations to Chris Downs, as tonight's win against Hobart was his 350th victory. 

[d3d3d3]

What a game at Skidmore, where Ithaca snaps the Thoroughbreds' streak in triple OT. At Vassar, RPI wins by three but Mahoney went down in a heap after hitting a huge shot with 1:10 left. He didn't return.

[stlawus]

Wow do I feel like an idiot.  I had the Ithaca-Skidmore live stats up and closed them out when Skidmore was up 8 in the last 2 minutes.  Once the SLU game was over I went and got pizza and am just learning I missed a double OT game.    We might be in for a wild ride the next few weeks, the standings could change dramatically.

[stlawus]

That Mahoney injury looked pretty bad.   Non contact injury that made him go down in an instant.   I hope it's not an achilles. 

[stlawus]

RPI and Ithaca included in the first set of regional rankings.  Ithaca is a bit of an interesting selection, lost to Vassar and has 2 losses against RPI who Vassar has a road win against.

[d3d3d3]

Hobart beat St. Lawrence in the first of four games this week for the Statesmen. Mahoney not in the lineup for RPI; game vs. Bard starting 40 minutes late because the refs didn't show up.

[stlawus]

Beach ball sized offensive egg laid by SLU tonight.  All credit to the Statesmen who played great D and couldn't miss in the 2nd half.   Skidmore and Union has some pretty major standings implications.  As d3d3d3 mentioned Mahoney not in the lineup with a walking boot.  I really hope it's not a long term injury.

[d3d3d3]

Hobart cruised by Clarkson this afternoon.

RIT COVID issues. They're not going to Vassar or Union this weekend.