MBB: Liberty League

[buck1053]

Four games on tap tonight. They all start at 8 PM.  The D3Hoops scoreboard says the Skidmore-RPI game is a 4 PM start but it doesn't tip off until 8 PM. The scoreboard also shows tomorrow's game of Hobart @ St Lawrence as an 8 PM start when it will tip off at 4 PM as will all of the Saturday games.

Skidmore  @    RPI
Thoroughbreds and Red Hawks battle it out for 2nd place. Skidmore won earlier contest by 4 points. RPI turns the tables 77-74       
   
Union  @    Vassar
Union finally escapes the cellar at the Brewers expense. Union 74-51         
   
Hobart   @   Clarkson
Statesmen must avoid looking ahead to Saturday's revenge match against St. Lawrence. Clarkson has to win out to have any hope of a playoff berth. Hobart will win 87-72.     
   
Hamilton  @    St. Lawrence
Saints fighting for a playoff berth and with Hobart and Skidmore left to play they can't afford to lose this game. Continentals beat the Saints on a buzzer beater off an inbounds steal 2 weeks ago. Don't think they get that lucky tonight. SLU takes the rematch 68-63. 

Magic, you continue to show you know what's up.

RPI over Skidmore, 65-63. You were a little high on the point totals, but the differential was pretty damn close.

Union 79, Vassar 66 (The scoreboard has this reversed, but I double checked this and Union did indeed win this game to move out of the cellar at Vassar's expense).

Hobart 68, Clarkson 59. The Statesmen continue their dominance of the league.   
      
St. Lawrence 60, Hamilton 53. You had it a five-point differential, it winds up 7.

All four games right and all of your scores pretty close.

This is what the standings look like after tonight's games.
Hobart 10-1
RPI 7-3
St. Lawrence 7-4
Skidmore 7-4
Hamilton 6-5
Clarkson 3-8
Union 2-9
Vassar 1-10

Hobart has pretty much wrapped up the #1 seed, although I suppose some crazy finishes could change that. Just don't think it's going to happen.

RPI remains in a pretty good position, beating Skidmore to give those two a split for the season.

St. Lawrence moves from 5th to 3rd (by virtue of their current tiebreaker lead over Skidmore with a win in their first matchup. The two square off on the final weekend, a Friday night game at Skidmore.) the best improvement in the standings this week.

Hamilton drops into 5th place with their loss tonight. Union and Clarkson are both out of the playoffs but I see at least one of them impacting some team's playoff hunt.

Now, I'm going to try my hand at predicting Saturday's games, though I'm not picking the scores. I'm terrible at that.

Saturday's Games:

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

[magicman]

Four games on tap tonight. They all start at 8 PM.  The D3Hoops scoreboard says the Skidmore-RPI game is a 4 PM start but it doesn't tip off until 8 PM. The scoreboard also shows tomorrow's game of Hobart @ St Lawrence as an 8 PM start when it will tip off at 4 PM as will all of the Saturday games.

Skidmore  @    RPI
Thoroughbreds and Red Hawks battle it out for 2nd place. Skidmore won earlier contest by 4 points. RPI turns the tables 77-74       
   
Union  @    Vassar
Union finally escapes the cellar at the Brewers expense. Union 74-51         
   
Hobart   @   Clarkson
Statesmen must avoid looking ahead to Saturday's revenge match against St. Lawrence. Clarkson has to win out to have any hope of a playoff berth. Hobart will win 87-72.     
   
Hamilton  @    St. Lawrence
Saints fighting for a playoff berth and with Hobart and Skidmore left to play they can't afford to lose this game. Continentals beat the Saints on a buzzer beater off an inbounds steal 2 weeks ago. Don't think they get that lucky tonight. SLU takes the rematch 68-63. 

Magic, you continue to show you know what's up.

RPI over Skidmore, 65-63. You were a little high on the point totals, but the differential was pretty damn close.

Union 79, Vassar 66 (The scoreboard has this reversed, but I double checked this and Union did indeed win this game to move out of the cellar at Vassar's expense).

Hobart 68, Clarkson 59. The Statesmen continue their dominance of the league.   
      
St. Lawrence 60, Hamilton 53. You had it a five-point differential, it winds up 7.

All four games right and all of your scores pretty close.

This is what the standings look like after tonight's games.
Hobart 10-1
RPI 7-3
St. Lawrence 7-4
Skidmore 7-4
Hamilton 6-5
Clarkson 3-8
Union 2-9
Vassar 1-10

Hobart has pretty much wrapped up the #1 seed, although I suppose some crazy finishes could change that. Just don't think it's going to happen.

RPI remains in a pretty good position, beating Skidmore to give those two a split for the season.

St. Lawrence moves from 5th to 3rd (by virtue of their current tiebreaker lead over Skidmore with a win in their first matchup. The two square off on the final weekend, a Friday night game at Skidmore.) the best improvement in the standings this week.

Hamilton drops into 5th place with their loss tonight. Union and Clarkson are both out of the playoffs but I see at least one of them impacting some team's playoff hunt.

Now, I'm going to try my hand at predicting Saturday's games, though I'm not picking the scores. I'm terrible at that.

Saturday's Games:

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

Buck,
I wish you were right about my predictions but I did get one game wrong tonight and once again it's those darn Saints. Their schedule/results page on their website says they won that Hamilton game 60-53 but in reality they lost to  the Continentals 60-53. Had a bit of a surprise when I saw the D3hoops scoreboard and spotted the Union-Vassar score that had Vassar winning by the 79-66 margin. Glad to see I didn't get that wrong. Anyway the correct  standings are:

1  Hobart  10-1 
2  Rensselaer  7-3 
3  Skidmore  7-4  Owns the tiebreaker over Hamilton 
3  Hamilton  7-4    Owns the tiebreaker over St. Lawrence if needed
5  St. Lawrence  6-5 
6  Clarkson  3-8 
7  Union  2-9 
8  Vassar  1-9

Saints now on the outside looking in. Basically are 2 games behind Hamilton since the Continentals own the tiebreaker over SLU. I believe the 4 teams currently on top are your playoff teams. Bottom 3 teams are already eliminated. Saints have to win out and hope for help, but I think Hamilton wins at least 2 of their final 3 league games to slam the door on the Larries. In fact a win on Saturday by Hamilton over Clarkson, which I think will happen, and a loss on Saturday by St. Lawrence to Hobart, which I also think will happen, and the party's over for the Saints. My Liberty League record now stands at 23-5 and all 5 of those losses were games I picked involving St Lawrence. Picked them to win 4 times when they lost-- to Clarkson, Hamilton, RPI, and Hamilton again. Picked them  to lose against Hobart and they won.     
   

[magicman]

4 games this afternoon all at 4 PM.

Union  @    RPI
This rivalry would have been better before the Dutchmen lost key performers. Still, anything can happen when these 2 tangle but I think RPI will win 74-63.       
 
   
Hamilton  @    Clarkson
Clarkson simply playing for pride, hoping to be a spoiler. St. Lawrence is certainly hoping their North Country neighbor will do just that as the Saints need all kinds of help. Hamilton will hear none of that as the Continentals take down the Golden Knights, 67-61.       
   
Skidmore  @    Vassar
Another lopsided loss for the Brewers. When they met 2 weeks ago I had the perfect prediction 86-52. Of course that was in Saratoga. Today in Poughkeepsie it'll be a little closer. Skidmore wins 84-56. I did say a "little" closer.         
   
Hobart   @   St. Lawrence
The Saints been killing me all year, no reason to have that change. I picked Hobart the last time these 2 met and got burned as the Saints won down there 80-77 in OT. I haven't learned my lesson, I'm picking Hobart again, 73-68.
       
   

[magicman]

Today's results


Skidmore 60 at Vassar 46
Not as big a margin as I thought it would be. Vassar's progressing or Skidmore's bench got a lot of PT

 
Union 66 at Rensselaer 74
I almost nailed this one as I had it RPI 74-63
 
Hamilton 79 at Clarkson 50
Had the winner just thought it would be a closer game.
   
Hobart 64 at St. Lawrence 66
Once again SLU bites me and spoils my perfect record. Saints fighting like there's no tomorrow as their playoff chance are on life support.


They may be the only team that beats the conference champs, sweeping them no less, and yet not make the playoffs. Best the Saints can do in the conference is 9-5.  Hamilton at 8-4 is pretty much uncatchable. Unless by some miracle visiting Vassar could beat Hamilton next week, the Continentals are going to get a 9th win and that will prevent the Saints from moving ahead of them. Hamilton owns the tiebreaker over SLU by virtue of a season sweep. RPI at 8-3 also has a game left at home against Vassar. They would need to lose that game and their other 2 games in order for the Saints to have any chance of catching them. That won't happen as RPI will get a 9th win and also close out the Saints. Like Hamilton, RPI owns the tiebreaker over SLU with a season sweep. That will leave Skidmore as the only possible team that the Saints may be able to pass and get into the playoffs. Saints have to win both remaining games, against Skidmore and Union. If they do that they get to 9-5, Skidmore is at 9-5 and they Saints would own the tiebreaker over the Thoroughbreds. If however, Hamilton ends up at 9-5 along with SLU and Skidmore that would throw a real monkey wrench into the tiebreaker. If that happens I think (and I'm not positive about this at all) that St. Lawrence by virtue of a better record against the top 2 teams which would be Hobart and RPI (in order for the above 3 teams to all end up at 9-5 RPI has to finish in 1st or 2nd place with a 11-3 or 10-4 record) would end up in 3rd place. Then Skidmore and Hamilton would be left to go head to head. Skidmore wins by virtue of a season sweep and is placed 4th, which would leave the Continentals in 5th place and out of the playoffs. I couldn't find a link to the Liberty League rule book explaining tiebreakers, so I may be all wet with my supposition.

Ended up 3-1 for my picks on the day which makes my overall record 26-6.
 
   

[labart96]

Ugh - what is it with Hobart not being able to beat the Saints this season (not only in basketball but with other sports too)....?!?!?

[with age came?]

Did go up and check out the Statesmen vs the Knights.  Good scrappy game but Statesmen too much for the Knights.  Pebole is the real deal- good feet, can create for himself, and can step back for a 3 if needed.  Other bigs depend more on feeds and dishes off of drives by the other "motor" for the team Thompson and opportune put backs.  Thompson is quick and reminds me a little of the Josh Sharlow (the old point guard at SLU-though at this point he is not quite as strong or as physical).  He does have good quickness and it is a sweet advantage to have a point guard that shoots 80% from the line down the stretch in close games.  Hobart tries to force the temp by pressing pretty much non-stop.   LLewellyn (I may be mispelling his name) seems to be the one most entrusted to putting ball pressure on the dribbler and he does a good job at this altough offensively he does not seem as aggressive as he was in years past.  It might be that he does not have to be as the team has other options that were not there previously.  I am again amazed at the Saints inconsistency- losing to the Continentals and then beating Hobart.  That team just baffles me. However it does make for a wild and wooley last weekend!! 2 chairs for 3 teams (I am assuming that RPI beats Vassar and gets a spot).  But Hamilton, SLU and Skidmore have a true dogfight coming for those last 2 chairs.

[magicman]

Only 1 game on tap tonight in the League.

Vassar  @ RPI
This will be another double digit loss for the Brewers. RPI looking to move a full game ahead of their closest pursuers. Red Hawks 78-51.

[magicman]

RPI as expected picks up a win against Vassar 70-50. Red Hawks go to their bench early and often as 15 players saw action and 12 different guys scored. RPI moves to 9-3.  I had it 78-51. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/

[labart96]

Obviously there are two games this weekend to figure out the LL tourney field but I had a (somewhat stupid) question - how is the host determined (i.e., does it go to the #1 seed)?

I am guessing if Hobart wins out this weekend and is the #1 they would host the LL tourney weekend....

[magicman]

Obviously there are two games this weekend to figure out the LL tourney field but I had a (somewhat stupid) question - how is the host determined (i.e., does it go to the #1 seed)?

I am guessing if Hobart wins out this weekend and is the #1 they would host the LL tourney weekend....

TGP,
That is correct. The winner of the regular season gets the #1 seed. Right now it's Hobart's to lose. There is no way that the Statesmen will lose to Vassar on Saturday, so the important game is tonight against RPI. Win that game and you host the playoffs, which will be next weekend.  Even if you lose that game you could still host the playoffs if you win the tiebreaker over RPI, or if Hamilton beats the Red Hawks on Saturday. The tiebreaker over RPI (if RPI wins tonight and tomorrow) would be detemined by who finishes in 3rd place. Since Hobart swept both Hamilton and Skidmore, the only way they lose a tiebreaker to RPI is if St. Lawrence should end up in 3rd place. If the Saints come in 3rd then RPI will win the tiebreaker and host. I'm fairly certain that's correct.

[magicman]

All teams in action tonight with playoff berths on the line.

RPI   @   Hobart
RPI will try to capture a share of 1st place but I think the Statesmen take care of business and clinch tonight   
   
Clarkson   @   Union
Union will get another win here and tie Clarkson in the standings.       
   
Vassar  @    Hamilton
Hamilton will win this one easily and also go into the playoffs in their final year in the League.     
   
St. Lawrence   @   Skidmore
I think Skidmore will put the Saints out of their misery tonight as the Thoroughbreds clinch a Playoff berth.       
   

[hopefan]

RPI 72  Hobart 58 with 9 minutes left!!

[hopefan]

RPI   75 - 64   4:15

[hopefan]

RPI 79 - 67 2:56