MBB: Liberty League

[buck1053]

We got a couple leagues under our belt, but it's hard to get a good read on things thus far.

Here's what's coming up this weekend, which will start to shed a little light on the league, although the second time through always seems to change things up again.

Friday
Vassar (5-6, 0-0 LL) at Hamilton (7-4, 1-0 LL)         
Clarkson (9-2, 0-0) at Union (8-3, 1-1)               
RPI (6-5, 0-0) at Hobart (3-9, 0-1)               
St. Lawrence (7-3, 0-0) at Skidmore   (5-7, 0-1)

Saturday      
RPI at Hamilton               
Clarkson at Skidmore               
Vassar at Hobart               
St. Lawrence at Union

I can never predict scores, and wouldn't even try to, but here are my predictions for outcomes this week.

Friday
Hamilton over Vassar
Clarkson over Union
RPI over Hobart
St. Lawrence over Skidmore

Saturday
Hamilton over RPI
Clarkson over Skidmore
Vassar over Hobart
Union over St. Lawrence (although this one is a real toss-up)

I think Hamilton and Clarkson will roll for both games this weekend, while Union, St. Lawrence, RPI and Vassar split, leaving Skidmore and Hobart coming up short twice.

It seems like Hamilton and Clarkson are the class of the league, followed by St. Lawrence/Union. Skidmore seems to have improved since last season, but still in rebuilding mode, while Vassar and Hobart have tumbled from last year. RPI is middle of the pack, as they have been for the last few years.

Thoughts?

[buck1053]

Things seem to be falling apart for Hamilton right now. 

Can't feel sorry for the Conts with them in 1st in the LL and 7-4 overall.

Especially as Hobart has lost 4 straight to start out the new year and pretty much guaranteed another losing hoops season.

Oh, and I don't feel too badly for Hamilton either. They may not have a 1-2 loss record like normal, but things are clearly not falling apart.

[magicman]

It seems like Hamilton and Clarkson are the class of the league, followed by St. Lawrence/Union. Skidmore seems to have improved since last season, but still in rebuilding mode, while Vassar and Hobart have tumbled from last year. RPI is middle of the pack, as they have been for the last few years.

Thoughts?

I think SLU, Clarkson, and Hamilton will come in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the league, not necessarily in that order, however I would give the edge to the Saints to end up with the top seed in the LL tournament.

[met_fan]

Things seem to be falling apart for Hamilton right now. 

Can't feel sorry for the Conts with them in 1st in the LL and 7-4 overall.

Especially as Hobart has lost 4 straight to start out the new year and pretty much guaranteed another losing hoops season.

Oh, and I don't feel too badly for Hamilton either. They may not have a 1-2 loss record like normal, but things are clearly not falling apart.

In fairness, they were 5-4 and coming off 4 losses in 5 games when I posted that.  Granted, 3 of those games were to very good teams, but they scored 50 against Conn College, which made it just look like things were going very badly.  It's possible they've turned it around now, and the injuries I'm sure played a role, but I'll be more convinced if they register a couple comfortable wins this weekend.

[with age came?]

Think I would agree with Magic a little more than Buck.  SLU still favorite, then Hamilton, Clarkson & Union.  Think that SLU will beat Union this weekend if Union only uses 6 guys like they did in their win versus Skidmore.  SLU runs and runs and if you are playing 40 minutes like several Dutchmen did, it will be tough.  Most intriguing match up to me is Union versus Clarkson and I plan on seeing that one in person. Also think that Hobart may surprise at home but that game will be close- Hobart guards versus Simmons.

[lileyes]

Union is 1-0 in the league, not 1-1.

[buck1053]

Union is 1-0 in the league, not 1-1.

Yeah, I screwed up when I was writing that.

[magicman]

St. Lawrence hits the century mark downing Skidmore 102-84. SLU grabs the lead at the 12 min mark of the 1st period and is never headed. Up by 10 at the break 54-44 the Saints stretch their lead to 18 halfway thru the 2nd half and coast from there. Bela Vonnak led 5 SLU players in double figures with 24 pts and 8 reb. Terry Parham had 20 pts and 6 boards, Richard Williams added 15 pts and 11 boards and Josh Sharlow chipped in with 10 pts, 7reb, & 4 asst. Garrett Sharlow also had 10 pts. Skidmore got 17 pts from Jeff Altimar, 14 pts from Jon Douglas and 13 pts from Terron Victoria. SLU had a 49-30 rebounding edge and shot 52.9% from the field, 50% from 3 pt land(10x20) and 83% from the free throw line (20x24). The Saints move to 8-3 overall 1-0 in conference play. Skidmore drops to 5-8 (0-2).  SLU is at Union tomorrow night who moved to 2-0 in conference play by downing Clarkson tonight 71-62. 

[magicman]

RPI tops Hobart 71-68.

[magicman]

4 unbeaten teams in the Conference, will be down to 2 after Sat. afternoon matchups.

SLU at Union        Saints deeper than the Dutchmen, will take this one 91-80

Clarkson at Skidmore     Both teams coming off losses, will go down to the wire Knights over Skidmore 69-65.

RPI at Hamilton      Both teams on 3 game win streak. Hamilton stays hot 73-66.  

Vassar at Hobart   Both teams struggling this year. Vassar with the better record, Hobart playing a tougher schedule. Brewers fall to the Statesmen as Hobart claims this one 74-70.    

[d3lifer]

I will be interested to see the outcome of the SLU - Union game being that this is a matchup of two different styles Union has done a much better job as of late controlling tempo executing on the offensive end and forcing teams to work defensively and SLU can't put up some points they have all season. This game will probably be decided by tempo being that they are generally on opposite ends of the spectrum.

[buck1053]

4 unbeaten teams in the Conference, will be down to 2 after Sat. afternoon matchups.

SLU at Union        Saints deeper than the Dutchmen, will take this one 91-80

Clarkson at Skidmore     Both teams coming off losses, will go down to the wire Knights over Skidmore 69-65.

RPI at Hamilton      Both teams on 3 game win streak. Hamilton stays hot 73-66.  

Vassar at Hobart   Both teams struggling this year. Vassar with the better record, Hobart playing a tougher schedule. Brewers fall to the Statesmen as Hobart claims this one 74-70.    

OK, I got 3 of my 4 Friday predictions right, the only wrong one being the Union win over Clarkson.

I'm sticking by my predictions for today -- Hamilton over RPI, Clarkson over Skidmore (which I don't think will be as close as 69-65), Vassar over Hobart and Union over St. Lawrence.

The one I feel least confident about is Union-St. Lawrence, simply because St. Lawrence can score so much and Union doesn't seem to have as much firepower. Maybe if Union played a four corners, like Hartwick used to stay close with Ithaca last night, they can combat the high-powered offense. Of course, Union tends to play more of a halfcourt game anyhow, so that might be enough. It should be interesting to see the outcome here.

[magicman]

St. Lawrence nips Union 80-77 on the road to move to 9-3 overall(2-0 conference). Union falls to 9-4 (2-1)

Hamilton tops RPI 67-60 Hamilton 9-4 overall (3-0) Red Hawks drop to 7-6(1-1)

Hobart over Vassar 68-53.  Statesmen go to 4-10(1-2) Vassar falls to 5-8(0-2)

Clarkson over Skidmore 73-60 Golden Knights go to 10-3 (1-1) Thoroughbreds slip to 5-8(0-2)

[magicman]

Clarkson down early 17-4 comes back to within 1 at the break down 34-33. Tied at 46 with 11 minutes left the Knights go on a 23-6 run over the next 8 mins. to put the game away. Clarkson places 5 guys in double figures, led by B. Linton with 14 pts, 9 assists, and 5 steals. Keith Murray had 13 pts 7 rebs, Elson Pickering with 13 pts,  George Koduah 10 pts and Felix Llanos also added 10 pts. Skidmore was paced by Gerard O'Shea with 16 pts and Melvis Langyintuo with 11.

Big game for the Knights on Tuesday as they make the short trip down the road to Canton to take on SLU. "with age came" just might have to make the trip up to see that game.

[magicman]

SLU led by 2 freshmen Garrett Sharlow and Terry Parham who combined for 47 pts in their win over Union. Sharlow had 24 pts in just 25 mins. on 7x12 fg, 5x9 3's, 5x5 ft and added 7 rebounds as well. Parham had 23 pts, 14 in the 1st half on 10x19 fg including 2 3's Tom Wopperer also had double figureswith 12 pts. Drew Desmarais led Union with a game high 26 pts. Joey Lokitis with 13, Matt Covucci had 12, and Steve Madej chipped in with 11 as the Dutchmen placed 4 men in double figures.
It doesn't get any easier for Union as they travel to Hamilton for their next game on Jan 23rd.