MBB: MAC Freedom League

[mailsy]

I heard Beck is on campus sitting out, taking classes. A friend was at Del vals scrimmage at Abright (he is an alumni) and asked the coach about him- also said they were sloppy. Even with Beck who could have been maybe their best player, they don't have enough for the playoffs. Close to wilkes and Manhattanville IMO but behind them.

Really impressed with Easterns team on paper after seeing their roster. Well done! They'll challenge but CozenLaw is right, studs and riches at Mis. DeSales has two really good forwards and enough at PG to fill the 2 and 3. I easily see them and Mis in the finals again.

What's up at Kings?  Playoffs just a few short years ago and now a perennial last place team.  For a long time they were a very tough physical team with talent  on the roster.

So what do you think of Eastern's chances against Cabrini on opening night? They did beat the Cavs 2 years ago on their home court on a last second shot. All time Battle for Eagle Road(since Eastern left for the MAC) Cabrini leads 8-1.

[CCHoopster]

I like Cabrini but must admit not super familiar with the CSAC. Eastern lost athleticism and played very much uptempo last year. They lost three starters all of who were very talented for the Freedom (Turk POY, 6-6 Holley a shot making face 4 and their 3 year starting PG). I like the two post players (Pena, Perez), the fact the have two legit shooters (3 and 20 maybe) and certainly have a question mark at PG. Pena is a monster at the 5.

[CCHoopster]

Not from the roster. Looked up new players and nothing jumped out on high school highlight film or the IMAC transfer.

[NEPAFAN]

https://www.meridix.com/event/126659


This is a great listen with talk of all NEPA college basketball and some D1 talk. Of course the most in-depth talk was on Scranton and starts at the 16 minute mark. Some good nuggets for Royal fans.
Modify message

[jmcozenlaw]

I heard Beck is on campus sitting out, taking classes. A friend was at Del vals scrimmage at Abright (he is an alumni) and asked the coach about him- also said they were sloppy. Even with Beck who could have been maybe their best player, they don't have enough for the playoffs. Close to wilkes and Manhattanville IMO but behind them.

Really impressed with Easterns team on paper after seeing their roster. Well done! They'll challenge but CozenLaw is right, studs and riches at Mis. DeSales has two really good forwards and enough at PG to fill the 2 and 3. I easily see them and Mis in the finals again.

What's up at Kings?  Playoffs just a few short years ago and now a perennial last place team.  For a long time they were a very tough physical team with talent  on the roster.

I wasn't at the game last night, but I see that DelVal's two top scores (from the boxscore) were the freshman, Washington and Robinson. I've heard they are long and can jump out of the building but are skinny. I don't mean slight.........I mean skinny. From what I can see, there aren't any senior's of consequence getting big minutes and I guess if Beck is hanging around, he'll have a couple of years of eligibility left (and from a DeSales player who knows him, would be their best player and one of the best in the MAC) along with Russell and Britton. After last year's surprise of being picked 6th by the coaches and finishing first in the regular season.........and after losing the stud PG and the conference's best big, a fallback year can't be a surprise, especially when two very green freshmen will be counted on so heavily. From what I've been told, other than a few exceptions, the best players in the MAC this year are primarily juniors. Not a top to bottom great senior class and not a killer sophomore class. Who knows. I don't even know how my contacts know that level of detail about the rosters of eight teams before the first game is played. It's all conjecture.

One of my buddy's is good friends with a MAC assistant coach and a NEAC head coach and the MAC coach expects DelVal to be right back in the mix next year as they brought on an assistant coach (don't know who) who is very involved in the AAU circuit (lower level........not the D1 one-and-done types of course) and is networked everywhere and that the hire was good given his coaching experience, but will be excellent for recruiting. We'll see.

The boxscores from last night, unless I've got the names wrong (and can't trust my friends "in the know"), do show that the transfers that I pointed out in my last post (Eastern's transfer from Ithaca and Miser's transfer from I don't remember where) showed well last night. I mentioned last year, especially with the cost associated with four year private institutions (although some somehow "find" more money to give out than others), you will see more transfers in the years to come. Not at NESCAC schools where the average aid package is in the mid-$50's for all students and better for some athletes (Amherst as a real life example), but in many conferences. What goes on in wrestling is insane and it will never get near that level, but you will see more of it.

Here's hoping for a great and injury free season to all of the teams and players in all of our local conferences.

P.S. I can't add anything to the King's question but what I will say that given stagnant or shrinking financial aid budgets, adding a sport like hockey and it's inherent expenses certainly won't help in acquiring athletes hoping for a fat package. King's is up and running.........Wilkes delayed it a year and now go live for 2018-2019. The non-football and non-wrestling (and now hockey) D3 schools will always have an advantage over those who offer the full menu of sports, from a total aid standpoint. A former conference commissioner once told me that's why so many D3 schools don't have a football program and that most who do a feasibility study on the matter, decide against it (Alvernia went the other way..........but they offer neither wrestling nor hockey). The funds to start up the program are one thing..........it's an entirely different matter for ongoing annual operating expenses as well as financial aid. I've never done it, but I might just look at the totality of the  MAC, CSAC and local NEAC schools to see how many have football and wrestling programs. My senses tell me that there might be more who don't than do. 

[Reserved Seat]

Who was the stud recruit Misercordia brought in?  Did he play last night?

[CCHoopster]

Who was the stud recruit Misercordia brought in?  Did he play last night?

#2 Tyrell Mann. I don't know him nor have I seen him but I believe this is the player of topic. 9 pts on 4-7 and 4 rebounds. 3 fouls, 3 turnovers.

[CCHoopster]

I heard Beck is on campus sitting out, taking classes. A friend was at Del vals scrimmage at Abright (he is an alumni) and asked the coach about him- also said they were sloppy. Even with Beck who could have been maybe their best player, they don't have enough for the playoffs. Close to wilkes and Manhattanville IMO but behind them.

Really impressed with Easterns team on paper after seeing their roster. Well done! They'll challenge but CozenLaw is right, studs and riches at Mis. DeSales has two really good forwards and enough at PG to fill the 2 and 3. I easily see them and Mis in the finals again.

What's up at Kings?  Playoffs just a few short years ago and now a perennial last place team.  For a long time they were a very tough physical team with talent  on the roster.

I wasn't at the game last night, but I see that DelVal's two top scores (from the boxscore) were the freshman, Washington and Robinson. I've heard they are long and can jump out of the building but are skinny. I don't mean slight.........I mean skinny. From what I can see, there aren't any senior's of consequence getting big minutes and I guess if Beck is hanging around, he'll have a couple of years of eligibility left (and from a DeSales player who knows him, would be their best player and one of the best in the MAC) along with Russell and Britton. After last year's surprise of being picked 6th by the coaches and finishing first in the regular season.........and after losing the stud PG and the conference's best big, a fallback year can't be a surprise, especially when two very green freshmen will be counted on so heavily. From what I've been told, other than a few exceptions, the best players in the MAC this year are primarily juniors. Not a top to bottom great senior class and not a killer sophomore class. Who knows. I don't even know how my contacts know that level of detail about the rosters of eight teams before the first game is played. It's all conjecture.

One of my buddy's is good friends with a MAC assistant coach and a NEAC head coach and the MAC coach expects DelVal to be right back in the mix next year as they brought on an assistant coach (don't know who) who is very involved in the AAU circuit (lower level........not the D1 one-and-done types of course) and is networked everywhere and that the hire was good given his coaching experience, but will be excellent for recruiting. We'll see.

The boxscores from last night, unless I've got the names wrong (and can't trust my friends "in the know"), do show that the transfers that I pointed out in my last post (Eastern's transfer from Ithaca and Miser's transfer from I don't remember where) showed well last night. I mentioned last year, especially with the cost associated with four year private institutions (although some somehow "find" more money to give out than others), you will see more transfers in the years to come. Not at NESCAC schools where the average aid package is in the mid-$50's for all students and better for some athletes (Amherst as a real life example), but in many conferences. What goes on in wrestling is insane and it will never get near that level, but you will see more of it.

Here's hoping for a great and injury free season to all of the teams and players in all of our local conferences.

P.S. I can't add anything to the King's question but what I will say that given stagnant or shrinking financial aid budgets, adding a sport like hockey and it's inherent expenses certainly won't help in acquiring athletes hoping for a fat package. King's is up and running.........Wilkes delayed it a year and now go live for 2018-2019. The non-football and non-wrestling (and now hockey) D3 schools will always have an advantage over those who offer the full menu of sports, from a total aid standpoint. A former conference commissioner once told me that's why so many D3 schools don't have a football program and that most who do a feasibility study on the matter, decide against it (Alvernia went the other way..........but they offer neither wrestling nor hockey). The funds to start up the program are one thing..........it's an entirely different matter for ongoing annual operating expenses as well as financial aid. I've never done it, but I might just look at the totality of the  MAC, CSAC and local NEAC schools to see how many have football and wrestling programs. My senses tell me that there might be more who don't than do.

Was this the assistant that was let go/left PSU Abington? I think the head coach at DVU can recruit- Beck, Britton, Washington and Robinson aren't a bad four to add for a first recruiting class as a head coach- after one game of course. Obviously losing Beck for the year to injury hurts that.

Although assistant coaches are valuable, as a part time D3 assistant, your impact is capped from a recruiting standpoint somewhat I would imagine. To me it seems like an assistant trying to jump on with a program that has won to get another chance at being a HC. Certainly nothing wrong with that. And a young head coach being confident enough to surround themselves with people with ego's (Just kidding, all coaches have small ego's  ) - I do however think it says something about the coach to have 4 former head coaches on staff- probably how they went from 6 to 1 last year along with the two seniors. The coach pulled a rabbit out of his hat in year one, after an awful loss last night, he may need to hope there is another rabbit down there somewhere- because here comes Wilkes and Manhattanville for the #4 seed. I'll pull a JMCOZENLAW line from early last year- If Del Val sniffs the playoffs, he will get another plaque in the office for COY. But as of now, I can not see them competing with Eastern, Mis, DeSales. No size, shooting and minimum experience. Although Del Val seems like the place where if they can get a few athletes to start to play together, then can be a real tough out. Either way, fall back year seems beyond fair/generous.

I agree with you on the league. The Juniors are the best and it's not close. Look at the back court of Del Val (Ciuculli, Matsinye, Butler), Wilkes with Evans and Robinson, Eastern with Pena and one of the Austin's (two kids named Austin, one a junior I think), Kenny and Mann at Mis..... Seniors are D3 role players, limited sophomores outside of Cobb, big kid from DeSalles and Harding from Mis.

[jmcozenlaw]

Who was the stud recruit Misercordia brought in?  Did he play last night?

Tyerell Mann (JUCO transfer) - Shooting guard with the best handle on the team so sharing point with Kenny. Closer to 6'4" than 6'3", long arms, athletic as hell, can leap out of the building. Last night @ Muhlenberg in the championship of the Scotty Wood Tournament, his line was:

26 points (in 32 minutes) on 11-14 shooting, 6 rebounds and 2 of Miser's 4 steals. He's is just getting acclimated to his teammates and I was told that he deferred to them quite a bit in the first two games and was told last night to "play his game".

If last night is "his game" and you add him to Kenny, Rivera, Fields, Rodway and McCreary, if they stay healthy, Misericordia might run the table in the MAC during the regular season and in the playoffs as well.

On two other JUCO transfer notes.....................JUCO transfer PG Calil Moultrie had 24 points and 26 points in two of Alvernia's games so far and Lancaster Bible College's best player has also been a JUCO transfer (Christo Majok), 6'7" (arms down to his knees), another out of the gym leaper, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds in LBC's first three games against non-NEAC teams.

Coaching is important.................but championships are won in the recruiting season (Nick Saban would not beat Alabama with Kent State's roster............Coach K and Calipari would not beat Duke and Kentucky with the rosters of Penn State and Vanderbilt. The greatest coaches can "beat yours with mine........and beat mine with yours")

The transfer game is alive and well.................and growing!!

[jmcozenlaw]

I heard Beck is on campus sitting out, taking classes. A friend was at Del vals scrimmage at Abright (he is an alumni) and asked the coach about him- also said they were sloppy. Even with Beck who could have been maybe their best player, they don't have enough for the playoffs. Close to wilkes and Manhattanville IMO but behind them.

Really impressed with Easterns team on paper after seeing their roster. Well done! They'll challenge but CozenLaw is right, studs and riches at Mis. DeSales has two really good forwards and enough at PG to fill the 2 and 3. I easily see them and Mis in the finals again.

What's up at Kings?  Playoffs just a few short years ago and now a perennial last place team.  For a long time they were a very tough physical team with talent  on the roster.

I wasn't at the game last night, but I see that DelVal's two top scores (from the boxscore) were the freshman, Washington and Robinson. I've heard they are long and can jump out of the building but are skinny. I don't mean slight.........I mean skinny. From what I can see, there aren't any senior's of consequence getting big minutes and I guess if Beck is hanging around, he'll have a couple of years of eligibility left (and from a DeSales player who knows him, would be their best player and one of the best in the MAC) along with Russell and Britton. After last year's surprise of being picked 6th by the coaches and finishing first in the regular season.........and after losing the stud PG and the conference's best big, a fallback year can't be a surprise, especially when two very green freshmen will be counted on so heavily. From what I've been told, other than a few exceptions, the best players in the MAC this year are primarily juniors. Not a top to bottom great senior class and not a killer sophomore class. Who knows. I don't even know how my contacts know that level of detail about the rosters of eight teams before the first game is played. It's all conjecture.

One of my buddy's is good friends with a MAC assistant coach and a NEAC head coach and the MAC coach expects DelVal to be right back in the mix next year as they brought on an assistant coach (don't know who) who is very involved in the AAU circuit (lower level........not the D1 one-and-done types of course) and is networked everywhere and that the hire was good given his coaching experience, but will be excellent for recruiting. We'll see.

The boxscores from last night, unless I've got the names wrong (and can't trust my friends "in the know"), do show that the transfers that I pointed out in my last post (Eastern's transfer from Ithaca and Miser's transfer from I don't remember where) showed well last night. I mentioned last year, especially with the cost associated with four year private institutions (although some somehow "find" more money to give out than others), you will see more transfers in the years to come. Not at NESCAC schools where the average aid package is in the mid-$50's for all students and better for some athletes (Amherst as a real life example), but in many conferences. What goes on in wrestling is insane and it will never get near that level, but you will see more of it.

Here's hoping for a great and injury free season to all of the teams and players in all of our local conferences.

P.S. I can't add anything to the King's question but what I will say that given stagnant or shrinking financial aid budgets, adding a sport like hockey and it's inherent expenses certainly won't help in acquiring athletes hoping for a fat package. King's is up and running.........Wilkes delayed it a year and now go live for 2018-2019. The non-football and non-wrestling (and now hockey) D3 schools will always have an advantage over those who offer the full menu of sports, from a total aid standpoint. A former conference commissioner once told me that's why so many D3 schools don't have a football program and that most who do a feasibility study on the matter, decide against it (Alvernia went the other way..........but they offer neither wrestling nor hockey). The funds to start up the program are one thing..........it's an entirely different matter for ongoing annual operating expenses as well as financial aid. I've never done it, but I might just look at the totality of the  MAC, CSAC and local NEAC schools to see how many have football and wrestling programs. My senses tell me that there might be more who don't than do.

Was this the assistant that was let go/left PSU Abington? I think the head coach at DVU can recruit- Beck, Britton, Washington and Robinson aren't a bad four to add for a first recruiting class as a head coach- after one game of course. Obviously losing Beck for the year to injury hurts that.

Although assistant coaches are valuable, as a part time D3 assistant, your impact is capped from a recruiting standpoint somewhat I would imagine. To me it seems like an assistant trying to jump on with a program that has won to get another chance at being a HC. Certainly nothing wrong with that. And a young head coach being confident enough to surround themselves with people with ego's (Just kidding, all coaches have small ego's  ) - I do however think it says something about the coach to have 4 former head coaches on staff- probably how they went from 6 to 1 last year along with the two seniors. The coach pulled a rabbit out of his hat in year one, after an awful loss last night, he may need to hope there is another rabbit down there somewhere- because here comes Wilkes and Manhattanville for the #4 seed. I'll pull a JMCOZENLAW line from early last year- If Del Val sniffs the playoffs, he will get another plaque in the office for COY. But as of now, I can not see them competing with Eastern, Mis, DeSales. No size, shooting and minimum experience. Although Del Val seems like the place where if they can get a few athletes to start to play together, then can be a real tough out. Either way, fall back year seems beyond fair/generous.

I agree with you on the league. The Juniors are the best and it's not close. Look at the back court of Del Val (Ciuculli, Matsinye, Butler), Wilkes with Evans and Robinson, Eastern with Pena and one of the Austin's (two kids named Austin, one a junior I think), Kenny and Mann at Mis..... Seniors are D3 role players, limited sophomores outside of Cobb, big kid from DeSalles and Harding from Mis.

I'm not sure where the assistant coach is from and neither was my contact. I agree with you on his first recruiting class as a head coach (Beck, Britton, Robinson and Washington) but after losing yesterday to a Wilson College team that was picked 11th (behind teams like Bryn Athyn, Keuke, St. Elizabeth) out of 14 teams in a pretty dreadful NEAC..........and not seeing Ciuculli's name in the boxscore on Friday or Saturday..........they might be lucky to win 5 games this year as the non-MAC schedule is brutal after Tuesday and my DeSales buddy doesn't see more than 2 or 3 MAC wins for them, especially if Ciuculli is out for a while or for the season.

This year should be about developing the kids (and making sure they don't get down in what will be a non-DelVal year over the last decade or so), improving as the season goes on and bringing in four impact freshmen/young transfers (at least 2, if not 3 years left) like the sophomore from Ithaca that Eastern brought in and the juniors that Misericordia, Alvernia and Lancaster Bible just brought in. Add a player or two with size AND bulk, a player or two at the guard spots and add them to Butler, Matsenyee, Ciuculli, Beck, Britton, Russell, Washington and Robinson and they are fighting for a playoff spot in 2018-2019. I don't know the coach at all........but I wouldn't put it past him.

[gordonmann]

Ciuculli broke his foot in the opener against Immaculata.

I'm afraid it's going to be one of those years for the DVU men.

[CCHoopster]

Week two started off with a King's win moving them to 2-1. Not sure many had King's over Susquehanna.

Tonight (Manhattanville and Kings off):

FDU v Stevens- Stevens 81 FDU 68

PSU Wilkes v Wilkes- Wilkes 77 PSUW 60

PSU Berks v Del Val- Del Val 71 PSUB 70

DeSales vs Moravian- Moravian 93 DeSalles 77

Rosemont v Misericordia- Mis 101 Rosemont 85

Eastern v Albright- Albright 74 Eastern 72

[jmcozenlaw]

Who was the stud recruit Misercordia brought in?  Did he play last night?

Tyerell Mann (JUCO transfer) - Shooting guard with the best handle on the team so sharing point with Kenny. Closer to 6'4" than 6'3", long arms, athletic as hell, can leap out of the building. Last night @ Muhlenberg in the championship of the Scotty Wood Tournament, his line was:

26 points (in 32 minutes) on 11-14 shooting, 6 rebounds and 2 of Miser's 4 steals. He's is just getting acclimated to his teammates and I was told that he deferred to them quite a bit in the first two games and was told last night to "play his game".

If last night is "his game" and you add him to Kenny, Rivera, Fields, Rodway and McCreary, if they stay healthy, Misericordia might run the table in the MAC during the regular season and in the playoffs as well.

On two other JUCO transfer notes.....................JUCO transfer PG Calil Moultrie had 24 points and 26 points in two of Alvernia's games so far and Lancaster Bible College's best player has also been a JUCO transfer (Christo Majok), 6'7" (arms down to his knees), another out of the gym leaper, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds in LBC's first three games against non-NEAC teams.

Coaching is important.................but championships are won in the recruiting season (Nick Saban would not beat Alabama with Kent State's roster............Coach K and Calipari would not beat Duke and Kentucky with the rosters of Penn State and Vanderbilt. The greatest coaches can "beat yours with mine........and beat mine with yours")

The transfer game is alive and well.................and growing!!

CCHoopster - Did you see Mann's (Miser's JUCO transfer) boxscore (above) from Saturday's game? Have you seen him play?

[CCHoopster]

Who was the stud recruit Misercordia brought in?  Did he play last night?

Tyerell Mann (JUCO transfer) - Shooting guard with the best handle on the team so sharing point with Kenny. Closer to 6'4" than 6'3", long arms, athletic as hell, can leap out of the building. Last night @ Muhlenberg in the championship of the Scotty Wood Tournament, his line was:

26 points (in 32 minutes) on 11-14 shooting, 6 rebounds and 2 of Miser's 4 steals. He's is just getting acclimated to his teammates and I was told that he deferred to them quite a bit in the first two games and was told last night to "play his game".

If last night is "his game" and you add him to Kenny, Rivera, Fields, Rodway and McCreary, if they stay healthy, Misericordia might run the table in the MAC during the regular season and in the playoffs as well.

On two other JUCO transfer notes.....................JUCO transfer PG Calil Moultrie had 24 points and 26 points in two of Alvernia's games so far and Lancaster Bible College's best player has also been a JUCO transfer (Christo Majok), 6'7" (arms down to his knees), another out of the gym leaper, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds in LBC's first three games against non-NEAC teams.

Coaching is important.................but championships are won in the recruiting season (Nick Saban would not beat Alabama with Kent State's roster............Coach K and Calipari would not beat Duke and Kentucky with the rosters of Penn State and Vanderbilt. The greatest coaches can "beat yours with mine........and beat mine with yours")

The transfer game is alive and well.................and growing!!

CCHoopster - Did you see Mann's (Miser's JUCO transfer) boxscore (above) from Saturday's game? Have you seen him play?

I did see the line, have not seen him play. Looks like a talent!

[CCHoopster]

Interesting week in the Freedom.

DeSales over Moravian- did not see that happening.

Eastern followed up 2 tough non conference losses with a great win at Commonwealth playoff hopeful Albright. Big win for Eastern on the rode without their forward transfer.

Kings followed up a 1-1 opening week with a
1-1 week two. A win vs Clarks Summitt followed up by a 6 point loss to scranton is a good week for kings.

Del Val is losing in a hurry- people and games. 9 healthy guys (per article) last 2-3 games. No Ciuculli, Britton, Robinson in box scores now for two games. 4 game misses for Ciuculli. Talents not there on the court.

Manhattanville with a quietly good start. Have not beaten anyone of note but a strong start. Could be a wildcard.

FDU with a loss today. Seems to be much of the same from them. I can't see how they turn it around this year in conference. But Kings beat Susquehanna so who knows!!

Wilkes is 3-1 with two wins vs non D3 teams. I noticed their starter at PG from last year has not been in the lineup. Several teams missing key pieces this week.

Misericordia... shocked they lost to Rosemont fully healthy. Could have just been one of those days. I can't see them scoring under 70 very often either. They showed they are beatable in conference with this loss- I only see a few of those though. This is the easy favorite still through 2 weeks.

Updated picks

Misericordia
Eastern
DeSaes
Manhattanville
Wilkes
Kings
Del Val
FDU

Saturday nights at work always better during the season!