MBB: MAC Freedom League

[chairman]

Sam?

[lefty2]

Sam?

I am?

[chairman]

I am...

[chairman]

Just being silly.

Funny thing is. This league has a lot to do with taking care of your home court. A couple observations.

1) Match-ups are everything. Del Val struggles against teams North of the tunnel. Manhattanville's road loss is not nearly as surprising, because that is a tough trip and King's is playing well.

2) Freedom and Commonwealth standings match perfectly, 7-1, 6-2, 5-3, 4-4, 4-4, 3-5, 3-5, 0-8

3) Looking at the Del Val v. Misericordia Box and Jones and Mayo only released ten shots total. Foul trouble obviously played a role in this game.

4) Manhattanville has the potential to get in a lot of foul trouble on the road.

5) Eddie Mbanda has played a major role in two Eastern wins. He scored 10 points at Wilkes and had eight boards and five blocks at home vs. DeSales. It will be interesting to see if his role can expand down the stretch.

[lefty2]

Chair,

I figured you were reading Dr. Seuss or looking for your Uncle.

[chairman]

No one told him that America's team has to play against teams from off exit 105. I'm sure he'll be checking in soon.

[Wolfpac]

Hey Lefty, Chair, is Desalles deep off the bench?  Seems EU is scoring less than 50 alot.... curious to know if it is the defense of the MAC as whole being better than the PAC was or if EU is living or dying by the 3 ball.. appreciate it if either of you would give your take...

Chizwiz?  where are you?  Seems you come out when EU wins and go away when they lose.... let me know your take.

[lefty2]

Wolf,

I've only seen DeSales once, but as is their tradition, they seem to go 8-10 deep without any significant drop-off.

It has always been my belief that the best teams in the PAC/CSAC could compete in the MAC, but the MAC as a whole is deeper.

[Wolfpac]

Thx sir.  I was hoping the Cavs could move to the MAC as well but they would rather try to win conference titles in the waterd-down CSAC I guess instead of trying get to a regional power.  I love the Cavs obviously but I think they are going to get exposed by teams that would be considered weak in the MAC down low.   Have a good day.

[chairman]

Wolf-

A couple corrections. Eastern has scored less than 55 twice this year. Once at Manhattanville and once in Florida against Hood. Didn't see the Hood game, but the shooting was abysmal. Manhattanville wanted to play a slow game, and they were able to win with 52 points. Not a good day for the Eagles.

We were trying to figure this out the other night as well. I think it is pretty well accepted that Cabrini could compete in either side of the MAC. Lefty's point about league depth is very valid. FDU is struggling to win this year, but- as evidenced by EU's double-overtime win and their one point home loss to DelVal and Saturday's thre point loss against Wilkes, they cannot be taken for granted. Every other team in the league is capable of beating the other seven on almost any day. The CSAC does not have that. Where the Neumann's, Gwynedd Mercy's, and Keystone's would stack up is up to conjecture.

DeSales is deep, but their depth is a little misleading. All the players off the bench can play, but at the end, their primary scorers/creators are Braswell and Hunter, and those two make all their other players go. All their players play hard, set hard screens, and defend, and they can either make open perimeter shots or cause problems on the offensive glass. I think Braswell and Hunter, over the course of the year, have been pretty successful down the stretch because they each get some rest in each half.

Back to the Eastern offense. I was curious about this, because you said something about relying on the three ball. Eastern hits 38% from behind the arc on the year. They have taken 216 three pointers in 19 games. PBU has launched just 152-- It stnads to reason because they have only made 38 of them-- , F & M is 69-225, and PSU-Harrisburg has shot 208 in 15 games ( which is 2.5 more attempts per game less than the Eagles). Those are the only three teams in the region that are close to being under Eastern's 11.4 3pt attempts per contest.

This is interesting, and to be honest was a little surprising. With the exception of Mbanda and Malloy, the Eastern team is very undersized and it would seem that they would be stepping outside and bombing away, but in reality they make about 4 and a half threes a game.

[Wolfpac]

Chair---thx for getting back.

It is puzzling.  Perhaps they do not rebound well so they do not shoot when the 2 big men are not down low?  The fact they are undersized could be disadvantage when they are face-gaurded or just a lack of confidence if the coach is being selective on 3pt shots in slowing down the tempo of the game if they do not want to run and gun. 

I would have though they were bombing away which is why I asked. Without the 2 guys they lost one ACL early on did this change their way of shooting from the outside in terms of a weak inside presence?  I thought the coach would use their strengths but that is why I am not the coach.

[chairman]

They are more focused on utilizing match-ups at the offensive end. With the smaller line-ups, it usually means either the other team will change their rotation or have a big forced to guard either Nelson, Wright or even Soaries.

Most of the three pointers they shoot come as a result of teams having to help on one of these match ups. They feel pretty confident that there is a better shot than a contested three somewhere later in the shot clock. This works well as long as the game stays within a couple possessions.

With a couple exceptions, they have shot fairly well throughout the year. They lost 3 starters and a key reserve between August and December. That they are sitting alone in third with four of six games left at home seems to indicate that they are figuring things out. 

While the Eastern team got good minutes from Mbanda and Trusty against DeSales, they Typically play with six guys. A high tempo game gives more opportunity for foul trouble (deadly) and fatigue ( a reality that impacts even super well-conditioned players)

I think the coaching staff would like to speed the game up-- Nadelhoffer once had 21 assists in a college game-- but in my opinion good coaches are more committed to winning and preparation than they are to a particular style of play.

[Wolfpac]

Sounds like a good assessment to me Chairman!  Makes complete sense.  Thank you for the analysis.  I think they would be playing differently obviously with the three men back.  Perhaps this actually helps them in the future being down these guys and holding their own in a deep conference.

I think in the playoffs fatigue will be an issue as you state if they have to run and get pressed.

[lefty2]

Thx sir. I was hoping the Cavs could move to the MAC as well but they would rather try to win conference titles in the waterd-down CSAC I guess instead of trying get to a regional power. I love the Cavs obviously but I think they are going to get exposed by teams that would be considered weak in the MAC down low.   Have a good day.

Wolf,

Change in conference affilliation is typically by invitation only.

It may or may not have been Cabrini's choice to move to the MAC.

With that, winning conference titles gets you to the NCAA's whether its the CSAC or the Freedom.

[Wolfpac]

Lefty, I guess an automatic bid is an automatic bid.  Why did EU go so quickly to the MAC..... would they not have a better shot at winning a title in the CSAC?

If EU turned down their invitation would Cabrini go then?  I understand this is hypothetical or it could have been reality I do not know. I thought EU was up and coming in the PAC and Coach N. had them going the right direction.  I understand with the other schools and the geography concerns in different conferences but EU would be closer to many CSAC schools as well.  Thx for trying to make sense of things for me.