MBB: Liberty League

[magicman]

Skidmore defeats St. Lawrence 76-67 and will take on Hobart for the LL Championship.

That game will be on Saturday at Hobart with the time to be announced on Thursday.

[magicman]

Skidmore with a 30-28 lead over Hobart at halftime of the LL final.

[magicman]

Hobart is upset by Skidmore 69-66

Teams in a back and forth 1st half until Skidmore gains the lead with 2:42 remaining in the period and holds on for a 30-28 advantage at the break. Teams exchange baskets through the early going in the 2nd half until the Thoroughbreds break loose from a 34-34 score, with a 10-2 run and grab an 8 point lead. They extended the lead to 11 points on 3 occasions, the last at 53-42, with 10 minutes left in the game. The Statesmen would chip away at that lead and finally caught Skidmore at 61 with 1:30 to go. A three pointer by Skidmore's Terron Victoria on the Thoroughbred's next possession however gave them a lead they would not relinquish. Skidmore hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to keep Hobart at bay.

This marked the 2nd straight year that Hobart has been upset in the conference tournament. With Hartwick losing yesterday and NYU winning today the Statesmen may be missing the NCAA tournamnet once again. There is no way the East region will get 3 Pool C bids. The most we will get is two and we may only get  one. Hartwick I believe is a lock to get a Pool C . If we do get a second one it will be between Hobart and NYU. Hobart moved ahead of NYU in last week's regional rankings but after this week's results NYU may go back in front of Hobart and get that 2nd Pool C bid if there's one there to be had. Tough loss for Hobart and their seniors. I hope I'm wrong and the East somehow gets 3 at large bids but I really don't think that's going to happen. 

[with age came?]

Always liked that Freshman year's class at Skidmore (this year's Seniors) and once again they prove their worth.  Feel bad for Hobart that they have lost at home for right "to dance" 2 years in a row.  I agree with you Magic it is unlikely that they get a "at large" bid so to speak.

[7express]

Hobart joins Skidmore in the field.  Surprised the East got 3 bids (Hartwick, NYU & Hobart) at the expense of WPI & Keene state (only team besides Amherst to beat Middlebury this year) who got left out.

[magicman]

Posted this list of NCAA matchups on the N Y State boards:

The East region comes out smelling roses as Hartwick, Hobart and NYU all recieve a Pool C bid to the dance. The following eight teams from the East Region are all dancing:

Oswego State--Ithaca--Skidmore--Medaille--Morrisville State--Hobart--Hartwick--NYU

Oswego State as I thought gets to host a first round pod with their opponent being the Endicott Gulls who won the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship in the Northeast Region and got a Pool A bid.

Medaille, winners of the AMCC conference will take on Eastern Connecticut who won the Little East Conference from the Northeast Region, in the other  game at the Oswego site. So all four teams in the Oswego pod were Pool A winners

Hartwick in a bit of a surprise also gets to host a first round pod as they will take on Farmingdale State from the Atlantic Region. The Rams were the winners of the Skyline conference championship.

The other game at Hartwick will feature the #3 ranked team in the country the MIT Engineers. MIT was the champion of the NEWMAC conference and they will take on the winners of the Liberty League, the Skidmore Thoroughbreds.

Ithaca who won the Empire 8 championship will travel to Staten Island to take on the Saten Island Dolphins,from the Atlantic region and winners of the CUNYAC championship. The other game in that pod will have two Northeast Region schools squaring off as Rhode Island College takes on Salem State. Rhode Island College from the Little East Conference received a Pool C bid, while Salem State won the MASCAC championship. 

Hobart will travel to Radnor Pa. home of the #6 ranked Cabrini Cavaliers. The Statesmen will face off against Ohio Wesleyan University who received an at large bid from the Great Lakes Region. The Battling Bishops finished in third place in the North Coast Athletic Conference and bring a 20-7 record into the dance. Host Cabrini will play Castleton State who won the North Atlantic Coference Championship, in the Northeast Region.

NYU a Pool C winner will host the Misericordia Cougars in a first round game. The Cougars, winners of the Middle Atlantic Conference-Freedom are making their first trip ever to the NCAA tournament. The winner of this game will travel to Amherst for a 2nd round matchup. The Lord Jeffs were one of the two teams that received a first round bye. (The other team was Virginia Wesleyan)

The Morrisville State Mustangs, winners of the NEAC championship are making their first appearance in the NCAA tournamnet and will travel to the Middlebury Panthers and face the 4th ranked team in the country.

I don't see a lot of wins here for the East Region. Oswego is a double digit favorite in their matchup against Endicott. NYU will be favored by about 8 points against Misericordia and Hartwick is a slight favorite (5 points) against Farmingdale State.  Morrisville State is a 25 point underdog, while Medaille, and Skidmore are both about 10 point underdogs. Ithaca (+7) and Hobart (+3) won't be favored either but upset possibilities are there. 

Real glad that Hobart got an at large bid. Hope the team can win a few games. Good luck to all the East region teams.

[thebear]

Hobart joins Skidmore in the field.  Surprised the East got 3 bids (Hartwick, NYU & Hobart) at the expense of WPI & Keene state (only team besides Amherst to beat Middlebury this year) who got left out.

I think that Mike Neer has accumulated a lot of good will during his long career, and that probably served him well as the last 8 teams were on the board.  Class guy, excellent coach.

[with age came?]

Agree with you Bear but another team that is probably pretty upset is Wesleyan.  Let's face it that conference is a beast and the third place team did not get a bid.  Only Middlebury and Amherst dancing from that conference. Pretty shocking, but I'm thrilled for Hobart.  Last years snub may also have been considered.  Team (largely intact)did win the ECAC upstate tournament. I'm predicting a first upset over Ohio Wesleyan but I think the dream stops at Cabrini.

[magicman]

Skidmore takes on MIT tonight at Hartwick.

I think the Thoroughbreds will find the going tough tonight against the Engineers. Posted line has MIT winning by 12 and I hope that Skidmore doesn't lose by any more than that, but lose they will. MIT has too many weapons and I think they come away with 73-59 win. I hope I'm wrong on this one though.

Hobart vs Ohio Wesleyan

Think the Statesmen can win this game but have a feeling that the Battling Bishops will pull out the victory. Pointspread favors Ohio Wesleyan by 1. I'm going with the Bishops in a close one 72- 68. Hope I'm wrong on this one as well. 

[magicman]

MIT downs Skidmore 62-55. Good game for the Throughbreds against the #3 team in the country. Nothing to be ashamed of here. Another good year for the Saratoga guys. Congratulations on a Liberty League Championship and NCAA appearance.

[magicman]

Hobart comes through for the Liberty League as they defeat Ohio Wesleyan in a close one 64-60. Go Statesmen.

[with age came?]

No rest for the Statesmen as they take on Cabrini!!  Great win and keep it going!!!

[BBallers]

MIT downs Skidmore 62-55. Good game for the Throughbreds against the #3 team in the country. Nothing to be ashamed of here.

Skidmore played very aggressive.  I watched the game and believe they were too aggressive in at least 2 plays.  The first one was when a Skidmore player initiated contact without going for the ball on an open layup by the MIT player, Mitchell Kates.  It was a clear textbook intentional foul.  The refs called a regular foul to the smiling Skidmore player.  I mentioned to the person next to me that someone from MIT will get hurt under these refs.  The 2nd incident came after a clean (i.e., non-contact) steal by the MIT player, Billy Bender.  The alleged attempt at the ball after the steal by the angry Skidmore player missed by ~4 feet with the Skidmore player's hand going the opposite direction of Bender causing his neck to snap back and an orbital fracture with nerve damage.  With the only senior among MIT's starters out, it almost worked as Skidmore cut the lead from ~14 points down to ~3 points, despite missing a lot of open shots.  This was clearly a case of the 3 referees not being able to control a game.  Players from all teams get amped up during these NCAA games and it is the officials duty to get the obvious calls correct and to protect the players above all else.

[magicman]

Ralph Temgoua of St. Lawrence has been chosen by D3 fans to play in the Reese's NABC All Star Game in Salem Virginia which takes place just prior to the National Championship. Temgoua, along with Dylan Richter, from Washington University in St. Louis, were the top two vote getters in nationwide fan voting. Richter received 8337 votes and Temgoua got 7913 votes. Temgoua beat out the 3rd place finisher by 385 votes.
Temgoua will join 2 other East Region players that will be selected as the top 2 players in the East Region by an NABC panel. I believe one of those will be Chad Burridge from Oswego State, who was the East Region Player of the Year last year and I think is the favorite to repeat this year. I think the other player will be from these 4 choices. Matt Pebole Hobart, Andy Stein NYU, Simon Smith Stevens, or Felix LLanos Clarkson. I'm guessing it might be Simon Smith

[with age came?]

Yes did see that RalphTemgoua got voted to play in the NABC All Star game.  lways glad to see the Lib League represented in any way!!  Glad you think that a couple of other players have a chance (if it hasn't already been annouced).  Certainly it would be crazy if Burridge isn't named after his career!  Of course it would tickle me pink if Felix was named but he is pretty isolated up there in the North Country so he probably is not that well know outside of the Upstate area.  Peole is only a Junior right?  So his time may be next year.  So that leaves me to guess that Magic will be right (as he is very rarely wrong) with the Simon Smith prediction.