MBB: Liberty League

ucaafan · March 05, 2025, 05:15:02 PM

Congratulations to all the award winners for the Liberty League! Does anyone know how the awards are determined? Reason I ask is because I thought the Ithaca Coaching staff (Farid) would be Coaching Staff of the year with their LL Championship winning on the road versus the Top Seed and Logan Wendell for Player of the Year. Just curious and congrats again to all!

stlawus · March 05, 2025, 05:30:39 PM

Postseason is not considered.

Farid has also dug himself a hole with the rest of the league's coaches when it comes to these kinds of awards due to his sideline antics since taking over the reigns. It would take a pretty significant change in on court behavior as well as a dominant regular season to get a coaching staff of the year award. The last couple weeks he appeared more subdued and less histrionic, which I think was a direct response to this dynamic.

UfanBill · March 06, 2025, 10:24:01 PM

In summing up Union's season...They started OK going 3-1 in their first 4 then lost 4 in a row including their first 3 in Liberty League play. They grew up in a close loss at then #1 Emory which catapulted them into a stretch of 11-4 in league play. That put them at 11-7 in conference and the 4th seed in the LL tournament where they beat Hobart to get a shot at top seed RPI. Another close loss ended their season at 16-11. A very successful 2024-25.

Along the way the Garnet Chargers led the nation in Free Throw percentage shooting 80.8%
They had their first First Team All LL player in 7 years. Point guard Tanner Tedesco and a Second Team selection in forward Jack Plesser, both sophomores.

And did I mention everyone is back. There are no seniors on the squad. The future looks bright.

stlawus · March 06, 2025, 11:24:58 PM

Union definitely exceeded expectations. I would not bet on them taking a step back next year even after a whole season of tape, they have players that have a couple seasons worth of consistently good shooting. They also played the whole season without a true center, and I assume Cummings is back next year so that's definitely a boost. I'd probably include them in top 4 preseason rankings for next year.

Winning all those games by one possession could produce some regression trickery next year though.

Caz Bombers · March 07, 2025, 04:53:02 PM

Ithaca beats Stockton 80-69 to advance to Round 2; this is the 7th NCAA tournament win in Bombers history, IC has advanced to the second round in each of its last three NCAA appearances.

IAGDTBAB

IC798891 · March 08, 2025, 10:03:23 AM

To put this game into perspective:

Ithaca jumped out to a 16-9 lead eight minutes into the game, and it never got closer than that the rest of the game. Ithaca got up by as much as 22 in the second half, and it never got especially close again.

Stockton was done in largely by going just 3-for-23 from three. Sometimes the shots just don't fall.

Still, Ithaca was picked to finish 7th in the conference this year. They have played in three straight "win or go home" postseason games and trailed for a grand total of 30 seconds combined. Playing their best basketball this time of the year is what every program wants, and it's what Ithaca is doing. Great season for the Bombers

IC798891 · March 08, 2025, 07:11:28 PM

A wise friend once told me that there was nothing wrong with bowing out with dignity against a better team. I think that sums up Ithaca tonight. They fought and battled and played well, but their opponent was just a little better.

Great season, Bombers!

stlawus · March 08, 2025, 07:45:55 PM

Represented the league well. Got hot at the right time, beat a good team in the first round, hung with WPI for the whole game. The Liberty League is tough.

Only 7 months until we get to do it all over again.

stlawus · March 11, 2025, 08:20:34 PM

Next month or so commits should start being finalized.

Some day in the near future I'll comb through the rest of the league, but so far this is the recruiting class next year for SLU:

Tommy McMahon, 6' PG, Deerfield Academy MA.
Nathan Clay, 6'1" SG, Kimball Union Academy NH.
Daniel Hoey, 6'5" G/F, Scarsdale HS NY.
Drew Baker, 6'8" F/C, Hamilton HS NY.

No surprise the class is very defensive oriented along with all players having good shooting ability. Hoey is pretty highly touted, can be a 3 level scorer and at 6'5" can give defenses a lot of issues. Good chance he ends up being a 4 year starter.