MBB: Liberty League

thomashoops42 · February 25, 2008, 11:17:58 PM

will rpi have any fallout from the ineligible player situation? Also, didn't they lose some other players this year too?
Who are the underclassmen guards?
Simmons is a good start, but if they couldn't get into the playoffs with 3 senior guards, what do they have coming up?

I think Union will be much better next year too

bucketsallday · February 26, 2008, 12:52:31 AM

Quote from: XVII on February 25, 2008, 08:17:16 PM
Simmons is playing next year, because he didn't play as a freshman and is attending RPI in 2008/2009. Can anyone say back to back POYs?

First team: Grazioli, Simmons, Avitabile, Sharlow, and Wood

If simmons is POY he isnt on the first team, aka there are six first teamers i believe. regardless, i think brazell needs to be on that list. he is the best off guard in the conference. avitabile had a tough year with injuries, so although he is prob the best player in the conference, i doubt he gets the award (although tk missed a bunch of time last year and won it) because he didnt have the best year.

with age comes? · February 26, 2008, 04:06:49 AM

This was hard:

POY- Grazioli - Hobart (Edges out Simmons & Avitabile)

1st Team : Avitabile - Vassar
Simmons - RPI
Brazell - Vassar
Wopperer - SLU
Wood - Hamil

This was REALLY HARD:

2nd Team : Demaris- Union
Douglas - Skd
Estep - Hobart
Pickering - Clark
Shaver - SLU (Really struggled between Shaver & Hoercher - SLU but Shaver gets the nod because he's a Sr.

This was nearly Impossible for me:

Honorable Mention: Simpson - Hamil
Hoercher - SLU
Murray - Clark
Linton- Clark
Grimm - Union
Willimas - SLU (If I only get 5 then Grimm & Williams were tied anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Possible Breakthroughs : Llewellyn - Hobart (Really struggled not putting him higher but for reason to be explained later- did not)
Manns - Hamil
Altimar- Skid
Sharlow - SLU
Wright- SLU
Vonnak - SLU
Goldstein - Union
Rozgys - Hamil
Haviland-Markowitz - Skid
Butterworth - Vassar

SLU guys if they played on lesser teams would all be higher as their stats would probably be better but as they are probably going to win the league I'm sure they are happy where they are.

ROY - Estep (This was my easiest choice and the only no-brainer - unless somebody was watching a different league than me). This is the reason I didn't rate Llewellyn higher- Hobart with POY & ROY somebodies got to wait their turn and Frosh Llewellyn is the guy.

Coach of the year has to come down to two- Chris Downs- SLU or Adam Stockwell - Clarkson OlBall Coach gives a compelling agruement for Downs, 12-2 record, road wins down the stretch, etc I agree with what he said, but I think he had the horses and he rode them home. He didn't I believe have to deal with multiple injuries and I think everyone expected SLU to be the team to beat. He did what he was expected to do, Coach the most talented team in the league to victory. Stockwell on the other hand had to deal with multiple game injuries to 5 of his top eight players. I had Clarkson picked as last before the season began, but here they are playing this weekend. They beat every team in the league except SLU (and that was only because of a questionable jump ball call with 4 seconds left and a great shot by Wopperer with 2.9 seconds left) They have been out shot at the freethrow line 211 to 122 by playoff teams (nearly 15 less attempts per game) but they are still playing. I think Stockwell is the Coach of the Year, but Downs will get it......

XVII · February 26, 2008, 10:00:37 AM

Quote from: thomashoops42 on February 25, 2008, 11:17:58 PM
will rpi have any fallout from the ineligible player situation? Also, didn't they lose some other players this year too?
Who are the underclassmen guards?
Simmons is a good start, but if they couldn't get into the playoffs with 3 senior guards, what do they have coming up?

I think Union will be much better next year too

Underclassmen guards are Anderson, (sophomore), Blakemore, Rashad Simmons, and Rodriguez (all freshman), and whoever they recruit. Anderson has played 2 years of varsity and is looking to make waves.

I agree that Brion is a stud, let's hope he doesn't hit the sophomore slump.

Also, they do have the freshman Jeremy Bull, who played serious minutes for them as a 3 before going down with an ankle.

XVII · February 26, 2008, 10:08:09 AM

Quote from: thomashoops42 on February 25, 2008, 11:17:58 PM
will rpi have any fallout from the ineligible player situation? Also, didn't they lose some other players this year too?
Who are the underclassmen guards?
Simmons is a good start, but if they couldn't get into the playoffs with 3 senior guards, what do they have coming up?

I think Union will be much better next year too

Oh forgot to answer half the question: they lost Rourke, Gordon, and Korbas this year. The first two were contributors in the front court, basically the first two forwards off the bench, though each had some injury problems. Korbas was a PG who played some minutes.

I believe there won't be any fallout from Henrik-gate. If they didn't have to forfeit the LL games, what else would the NCAA do? It's not like they can lose scholarships.

thomashoops42 · February 26, 2008, 12:26:17 PM

XVII-I was thinking more along the lines of fallout from RPI itself...

Gordon and Rourke were the 2 I was thinking of, I don't know korbas. Looking at next year, I think SLU stays really tough, as does Hamilton. I think Hobart gets better, as does Union, RPI, if they get simmons back will be in the mix, but I think they need more, as does clarkson if they want to stay in the top 4. I think Vassar falls back into the mix after being upper level the last few years. It will be interesting to see if Skidmore gets any better after having a full year with the new coach

XVII · February 28, 2008, 08:54:55 PM

Well Simmons got SCREWED...

Simmons: 16.1 pts
Avitabile: 13.2

Simmons: 8.6 rebs
Avitabile: 8.1

Simmons: 54.7 FG%
Avitabile: 47.4%

Simmons: 5x forward of the week
Avitabile: 4x

Larry had 2 more assists, a lot more blocks, and a lot more help.

with age comes? · February 29, 2008, 01:44:50 AM

Must admit that I was truly shocked that Llewellyn got ROY over team mate Estep. Both were high school team mates also, I wonder how recogniction was handled there as well? Nothing against Llewellyn he is an extremely good player but Estep was the better in my opinion. As far as POY goes any from the top 3 Avitabile, Simmons , or uninamous selection Grazioli would have been good choices. Perhaps the coaches felt that Simmons, since he's rumored to be coming back next year, will have his chance then, and chose to give the award to a non-returning Senior. The only first team shocker to me was Wright (I can only assume a huge lobbying campaign to get the senior on the first team). I felt there were several SLU players that played better throughout the year but you've got to like a senior getting honored. I was truly pleased to see Coach Stockwell recognized, he was my choice but I thought that Coach Downs would get the nod based on his 12-2 record. I'm looking forward to some great hoops tommorrow!! One last question does anyone know why only 4 were honored as 2nd teamers? Last year they honored POY and 4 others on first team and 5 on second team? Maybe they wanted to cap both teams at 10 total??

UCAAHoops21 · February 29, 2008, 12:12:01 PM

does anyone know if there is any audio or livestats for the games tonight at SLU?

bucketsallday · February 29, 2008, 01:35:56 PM

I'm pretty sure that you can watch it on the STL website.

OlBallCoach · February 29, 2008, 04:21:08 PM

Official 2008 LL Awards

Congrats goes to:

Coach Adam Stockwell (Clarkson) for earning Coach of the Year Honors

Lawrence Avitable (Vassar) for earnings Player of the Year Honors

LL First team 2008

F Lawrence Avitabile Vassar SR Southington, CT
G Tyson Brazell Vassar SR Salt Lake City, UT
F John Grazioli Hobart SR Melville, NY
F Sam Simmons Rensselaer SR Newburgh, NY
F Harlee Wood Hamilton JR Clinton, MD
F Tyler Wright St. Lawrence SR Teaneck, NJ

LL Second Team 2008

F Drew Desmarais Union JR St. James, NY
F Elson Pickering Clarkson JR Brooklyn, NY
G Josh Sharlow St. Lawrence SO Norwood, NY
G Jay Simpson Hamilton SO Fort Washington, MD

Ok, so I wasn't correct in either of my Coach (Downs) or Player (Brazell) of the Year selections.... yet, even if you were to subject me to "water boarding" I wouldn't change my selections.

Best of Luck to all the teams and coaches ( St Lawrence, Vassar, Hamilton, Clarkson) playing this evening at St Lawrence.

hoops · February 29, 2008, 05:22:07 PM

It was really wide open this year 3 or 4 guys could have gotten POY and a couple coaches could have also. First time ina couple years you could have given it to many people and not gotten upset.

thebear · February 29, 2008, 10:40:10 PM

If the Clarkson website is accurate, the Knights beat SLU at SLU in the LL 4 vs. 1 game 54-48.

This certainly throws another of the regionally ranked teams out the window.

Knights face Hamilton, a 58-57 winner over Vassar tomorrow at 3:00. Wonder if they will move the game to Clarkson?

airball55 · March 01, 2008, 10:42:23 AM

Why wouldn't the Clarkson website not be accurate.... what is this Dewey beats Truman?? Also, I HIGHLY doubt that the venue would change, especially to the lower seed!!!! Cmon Bear pick up your game, you are better than that!!

thebear · March 01, 2008, 03:33:47 PM

The only reason I questioned the accuracy of this one, is that the score involved a Clarkson sport other than hockey.

For about a thirty year period, this would have been the height of incredulity to see Clarkson beat SLU in hoops.

If Clarkson wins, they will be 11-16 goin to the dance.

From local radio reports, the game started with a fairly empty gym, guess folks are finally starting to arrive.

Latest score I've heard is Hamilton 27-23 at the half.

Nap time