MBB: Liberty League

[Greek Tragedy]

I'm totally confused how that works and I stopped asking because I was still confused and it hurt my head. In the past, it was 5 years to complete 4 years of playing. They just basically added a year to get 4 years of playing, completely discounting the covid year, whether you played or not. Now it's 6 years to get 4 years of playing (covid would be your "5th" year since it doesn't count). So, I don't know how someone can get a 5th year of playing in (6th with covid).

[stlawus]

A lot of times the initial rosters include guys from the previous year by default, doesn't mean they are still on the team.  However, the fact that the roster does not include other seniors from last year like Memmelaar does lead me to believe those 2 are back, which once again changes the calculus for the league.  Mahoney would still be coming off a major injury so who knows if he'll be at 100%.    If those guys are back that means between RPI, Skidmore, Vassar, SLU and Ithaca there are a combined 3 starters lost to graduation from last season 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Based on the stats listed on his roster bio, Mahoney should not be eligible to play again.  He played four full seasons (sitting out the COVID year).  15 games is too many for a medical redshirt.

Black should have a year remaining.

[Greek Tragedy]

He's not coming back. I asked him.

[stlawus]

He's not coming back. I asked him.

Thanks for the info Greek.  Can you ask Black? lol

[stlawus]

Thanks to Ryan Scott for the news on Reese Swedberg grad transferring to WPI.  I was wondering if he would be coming back for a full year this season for Clarkson, would have been a big return for them.   He was starting to find his legs by the end of the season, not easy to come back from a broken leg at that size.  He will be greatly missed by the Golden Knights.  Interesting note that former SLU great Riley Naclerio joined the WPI staff this year as well.

[d3d3d3]

RPI and Ithaca getting some love from voters in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25:
https://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2022-23/preseason

[Greek Tragedy]

He's not coming back. I asked him.

Thanks for the info Greek.  Can you ask Black? lol

Dom is Back in Black.

https://rpiathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2022-23

[stlawus]

I noticed that a week or so ago, but the roster has been up long enough to officially confirm it.  They'll have a good core returning and will hope Eugster plays as well as he did in Mahoney's absence at the end of the year.  Probably fair to have them ranked in the top 25 to start the year, but I think Memmelaar's departure will have a bigger effect than some might expect. 

Now that we got the rosters (for the most part) I'll do a preview of how I think the league stands going into the season.

Since Ithaca has everyone back I would assume they'll be picked 1 or 2.  They were not very consistent last year, with some bad losses to teams like Clarkson and near misses against teams like RIT.  Their scoring will keep them in most games but they had defensive matchup issues against teams that had athletic forwards.   If you can't get stops against them though they are going to win most games and will wear you down with their speed.

I see Burke is complaining about his first years' defense on twitter already, but Skidmore wasn't really expected to get production from younger players given their senior heavy rotation is back.  We'll find out if their run at the end of last season with a full squad is indicative of that group's play overall going forward.   Skoric is a matchup nightmare for most teams which is exacerbated by Skid's two good shooters in Eichelberger and Kupstas.

I've said it numerous times but Vassar is just a straight up wild card.  They have everyone back and are reigning league tournament champs, but I would not be shocked to see some regression.  They needed a 3/4 court baseball pass catch, turn and shoot off the backboard at the buzzer to beat Hobart to advance to the LL semis last year.  They did get some good wins against the top of the league, but probably should have been swept by SLU and only got a split with RIT.   We'll see if they take another step forward, if any of them read these boards I just gave them some bulletin board material I guess. 

Now for my attempted unbiased assessment of the Scarlet and Brown, I think this squad should at least be top 4 and should be aiming to get a first round bye.  Winning the league outright might be a stretch, but they have a good group returning.  They're probably the biggest team in the league next to Skidmore and have a good mix of seniors and younger players.   SLU lost some ugly games last year at the buzzer to teams like RIT and Bard, and that had a lot to do with the shooters going cold at inopportune times.  They were second only to RPI in opponent FG % so defense was never an issue, their downfall was usually long offensive cold streaks. SLU has a really good freshman in the first year class who I suspect will get a lot of playing time due to his defensive prowess.

Hobart had a really poor start to the season last year but caught fire in the 2nd half to claim the last playoff spot.  They have the reigning LL rookie of the year returning along with one of the league's best in Jackson Meshanic.  They've always been a great rebounding team that shoots well, a lot just depends on their younger players from last year developing more.  I would not be shocked if they ended up in the top 3.

Those 6 teams will likely be battling it out for the top 4 spots again like last year.  RIT has a couple good freshman but they were simply too poor defensively last year, but will definitely have a shot to make the LL tournament.   Union is the one team I don't have a good grasp on yet, but if they don't return Manley, Concannon and Noone they will be in a rebuilding year.   Clarkson and Bard were not great record wise last year but they did get some good wins and were no easy out.  It's unfortunate Clarkson couldn't keep Swedberg for a 5th year (he'll be with WPI) but they still return a nice core. 

[d3d3d3]

UAlbany 71, Skidmore 69

[Caz Bombers]

UAlbany 71, Skidmore 69

Yikes for UA. They're not going to be very good this year.

[stlawus]

Albany were missing some guys and Skidmore does have a good team, but the expectations for UA probably drastically dropped even lower than they originally were. 

Depending on the matchup Skidmore is a tough given their size.  They have more size than a lot of D1 teams.  Their only issue this season is going to be depth. 

[names jaismith]

UA drops to 4th in LL preseason poll

[UfanBill]

I noticed that a week or so ago, but the roster has been up long enough to officially confirm it.  They'll have a good core returning and will hope Eugster plays as well as he did in Mahoney's absence at the end of the year.  Probably fair to have them ranked in the top 25 to start the year, but I think Memmelaar's departure will have a bigger effect than some might expect. 

Now that we got the rosters (for the most part) I'll do a preview of how I think the league stands going into the season.

Since Ithaca has everyone back I would assume they'll be picked 1 or 2.  They were not very consistent last year, with some bad losses to teams like Clarkson and near misses against teams like RIT.  Their scoring will keep them in most games but they had defensive matchup issues against teams that had athletic forwards.   If you can't get stops against them though they are going to win most games and will wear you down with their speed.

I see Burke is complaining about his first years' defense on twitter already, but Skidmore wasn't really expected to get production from younger players given their senior heavy rotation is back.  We'll find out if their run at the end of last season with a full squad is indicative of that group's play overall going forward.   Skoric is a matchup nightmare for most teams which is exacerbated by Skid's two good shooters in Eichelberger and Kupstas.

I've said it numerous times but Vassar is just a straight up wild card.  They have everyone back and are reigning league tournament champs, but I would not be shocked to see some regression.  They needed a 3/4 court baseball pass catch, turn and shoot off the backboard at the buzzer to beat Hobart to advance to the LL semis last year.  They did get some good wins against the top of the league, but probably should have been swept by SLU and only got a split with RIT.   We'll see if they take another step forward, if any of them read these boards I just gave them some bulletin board material I guess. 

Now for my attempted unbiased assessment of the Scarlet and Brown, I think this squad should at least be top 4 and should be aiming to get a first round bye.  Winning the league outright might be a stretch, but they have a good group returning.  They're probably the biggest team in the league next to Skidmore and have a good mix of seniors and younger players.   SLU lost some ugly games last year at the buzzer to teams like RIT and Bard, and that had a lot to do with the shooters going cold at inopportune times.  They were second only to RPI in opponent FG % so defense was never an issue, their downfall was usually long offensive cold streaks. SLU has a really good freshman in the first year class who I suspect will get a lot of playing time due to his defensive prowess.

Hobart had a really poor start to the season last year but caught fire in the 2nd half to claim the last playoff spot.  They have the reigning LL rookie of the year returning along with one of the league's best in Jackson Meshanic.  They've always been a great rebounding team that shoots well, a lot just depends on their younger players from last year developing more.  I would not be shocked if they ended up in the top 3.

Those 6 teams will likely be battling it out for the top 4 spots again like last year.  RIT has a couple good freshman but they were simply too poor defensively last year, but will definitely have a shot to make the LL tournament.   Union is the one team I don't have a good grasp on yet, but if they don't return Manley, Concannon and Noone they will be in a rebuilding year.   Clarkson and Bard were not great record wise last year but they did get some good wins and were no easy out.  It's unfortunate Clarkson couldn't keep Swedberg for a 5th year (he'll be with WPI) but they still return a nice core.

Union has posted it's '22-'23 Roster (https://unionathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/2022-23) and Manley, Concannon, Noone and Chris Lovisolo (6'9" but more of a outside presence) are all back as 5th years. Leading rebounder Tami George is gone but the Regis brothers are back to lend hustle and experience. The boards could again be an issue for this pesky bunch of sharpshooters as they have no real postman  None of the four first years are over 6'5''. Look for them to surprise some people but also to fall flat when their shots aren't dropping.

[stlawus]

I noticed that Caporale is not on Union's roster.  He was their only real inside presence last year and would have been a senior this year.  Wonder what happened.  As you mentioned Lovisolo is back but his playing time was inconsistent last season due to his defense.