MBB: MAC Freedom League

[d3hoopstories]

Games to watch in the MAC Freedom this week, Part 2 --

Arcadia (5-0) travels to York (2-2) for a 7:00pm tip-off

The unbeaten Knights, picked to win the MAC Freedom, leave the comfort of Alumni Gymnasium for the first time this season, traveling 100 miles west to face a Spartans team that has had 11 days to think about its double overtime loss to Gettysburg. York should finish in the top half of the Commonwealth, which is currently the 7th best league according to Matt Snyder's efficiency rankings.

Jalen Watkins averages 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead Arcadia, which also has a pair of double figure scorers in guards Justin Money and Nas Johnson. The two are shooting a combined 15-43 (35%) on 3-point attempts this season and have an assist/turnover ratio of 2 to 1. The other starters (Vazquez and Okocha) are decent defenders and know their roles on offense. The Knights' size and length might prove troublesome for the Spartans.

York has attempted 30 fewer free-throw attempts than its opponents through four games, in part because of their heavy reliance on long distance shooting (25 3-point attempts per game). The Spartans simply cannot allow Watkins to beat them up inside and get to the line. Cipalla must avoid foul trouble for York to have a chance. While the computers lean toward the Spartans, I think the Knights win a close one.

[d3hoopstories]

Games to watch in the MAC Freedom this week, Part 3 --

Stevens travels to Hood on Saturday. Tip-off is 2pm.

The Ducks have won five straight after opening the season with a narrow loss at nationally-ranked Catholic. Their grad transfer from Scranton, Stephen Braunstein, averages 19 points per game and has made 23 of 53 from long distance, including 9 of 12 last night. Junior Jack Spellman, last year's Defensive Player of the Year in the MACF, averages 12 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks per game. Veteran guards Goodall and Coffey are off to slow starts, shooting a combined 30% from the field including just 5 for 30 on 3's. The next three players in terms of minutes are freshmen (guard Maddison and forwards Singh and Chhabra) who have shown flashes of potential but also been prone to fouls and turnovers.

Hood brings a top 25 offense into the matchup. Stevens has a top 25 defense. The Ducks will be challenged to find Hood's shooters as six different Blazers have at least 5 3's already this season. The top 4 shooters have converted on 42 of 106 attempts (40%). Hood owns wins over Catholic and Cal Lutheran. The Blazers' only loss came to a Mary Washington team that received some votes in this week's top 25 poll.

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice work d3hoopstories +1k

[d3hoopstories]

Huge Saturday for MAC Freedom teams.

*First, it appears the tip-off time for Stevens @ Hood has been moved to 1:00pm (you can find a preview a couple of posts above)

Elsewhere:

DeSales (3-2) visits Alvernia (3-1) at 1:00pm

Expect a ton of free throws in this one! DeSales averages 25 FTs per game and Alvernia goes to the line 22 times per contest.

Alvernia's guard-oriented offense has four starters averaging in double figures. The defense has generally been good. However, in their only loss this season, they gave up 10 3's and allowed Wilkes to shoot 55% from the field, including 21-29 inside the arc. They were also outrebounded 35-29.

Gibbs and Eberly provide an inside presence for DeSales that might provide the difference but today might be a day for Boylan or Guldin to shine. Bulldogs are slight underdogs on the road. A win would be a boost for the conference.

Arcadia (5-1) at Widener (6-1)

Arcadia aims to avoid consecutive losses but has a huge hill to climb on the road at Widener, which appears to be a legitimate top 25 team. (They received strong consideration by voters this week but sit just outside the rankings.) The Pride built a strong early season schedule and earned wins over Roanoke, Wooster and DeSales. Their only loss is to Hampden-Sydney, which is likely to be #1 in next week's poll.

Arcadia had a narrow loss in a midweek game at York after racking up five straight wins at home to start the season. Jalen Watkins will need help from Justin Money if the Knights are to stay competitive in this one.

[d3hoopstories]

Finally, the only unbeaten team in the league, Misericordia, travels to Eastern. Tip-off is 3pm.

The Cougars have feasted on cupcakes to date. Opponents have a combined record of 10-23. Eastern was picked second to Widener in the preseason poll for the MAC Commonwealth and has faced a more difficult schedule. This game will provide an excellent barometer for both teams. Miz has a veteran roster that seems to exceed expectations. The home court advantage might be the difference here.

[jmcozenlaw]

I knew that Desales was a very experienced team but I didn't know how experienced until I looked at their stats to date. All 4 double digit scorers are seniors as are 6 of their top 8 scorers. Also, I hear through my network that all is not well with Ellis from an eligibility standpoint.........but Coval the coach will meet with Coval the A.D. and get that straightened out . A father of a player on the team said that there is a real "tension" around the "Ellis situation".........but would not go into any detail.

A majority of their rebounding stats (outside of the top rebounder, Gibbs, who is a 4th year junior) are from seniors as well.

If Desales is going to make any noise outside of winning the MAC (which is not guaranteed given that Watkins came back after looking around at D2 options), this would be the year!!

[d3hoopstories]

Recap of MAC Freedom games from Saturday. Both DeSales and Stevens picked up important wins...

DeSales gets key road win

DeSales grabbed 18 offensive rebounds (Alvernia had just 17 defensive rebounds) and the Bulldogs reached their season average of 25 free throw attempts, making 19 of them in a 68-63 win on the road.

DeSales held Alvernia to just 38% from the field, including 6 of 28 from long distance. The Bulldogs used a 13-3 run with 8:39 to go, keyed by baskets from Barnes, Bowen and Boylan, to break open a tight game and hang on for a crucial victory. The players we spotlighted in our preview, Guldin and Boylan, combined for 20 points and 12 rebounds in 41 minutes.

Stevens shocks Hood

The Ducks placed five players in double figures in a dominant 85-66 win on the road over Hood College. In our preview, we mentioned that veteran guards Coffey and Goodall had been off to slow starts. They woke up today, combining for 28 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Beyond that, their defense kept Hood's shooters off balance and limited Hood to 8 for 37 from behind the arc.

For the Ducks, Braunstein hit five more 3's, keeping up his hot shooting, and Matt Leming hit key shots off the bench. With the Ducks down 2 with 4:10 to go first half, Leming came back into the game and the Ducks went on a 15-2 run with their four veteran guards in the game. They finished 16 for 30 from behind the arc.

Misery for Misericordia

Kevin Lazdowsky's 29 points were not enough as the Cougars lost for the first time this season, 67-66, on the road at Eastern. Misericordia had its chances but scored just 4 points in the final 3:30, missing the front end of 1-and-1 tries on three different occasions during that stretch.

Agony for Arcadia

The Knights fell behind 36-20 after 15 minutes and never recovered, getting crushed by a Widener team that looks like a postseason contender.

Del Val goes down

Delaware Valley fell to York in a game that was closer than the final score of 84-72. The Rams were down just 3 with 4:28 remaining but York closed on a 14-5 run, hitting six of their last seven shots as DelVal failed to get stops.

[d3hoopstories]

Projected Standings
(Based on Massey Ratings of December 3):

11-3 DeSales
10-4 Stevens
  8-6 Arcadia
  8-6 Misericordia
  6-8 Delaware Valley
  6-8 Lebanon Valley
  4-10 King's
  3-11 FDU Florham

Player of the Year Candidates:

1. Watkins (Arcadia) - 18.6 ppg, 12.1 reb
2. Spellman (Stevens) - 12 ppg, 10.3 reb, 5 blocks per game, 61% FG Pct
3. Eberly (DeSales) - 14.3 ppg, 6.2 reb, 65% FG Pct
4. Lazdowsky (Misericordia) - 18.7 ppg, 4.8 reb, 4.4 assists
5. Braunstein (Stevens) - 19 ppg, 28-65 on 3's

[d3hoopstories]

An Up and Down Season for Arcadia

Arcadia has lost four straight games after opening the season with five consecutive home wins. The largest issue seems to be rebounding. This weekend's home game against a Scranton team that is on an 8-game losing streak might come at just the right time.

In the recent losing streak, top scorer Jalen Watkins has battled foul trouble, perhaps owing to the fact that he has had to shoulder so much of the workload on this year's team. While his rebounding stats are inflated a bit because of weaker competition to start the season, you can count on him to deliver 17 to 19 points and 8 to 10 rebounds every night. He battles and will be a first-team all-conference selection.

Justin Money, on the other hand, has struggled to find his groove during this four-game stretch, making just 1 of 17 from behind the arc and 14 of 44 overall from the field. Across all of last season, Money made 45% from distance, including a remarkable 21 of 30 3-pointers over the Knights' last eight games. This suggests improvement is coming. Look for him to break out before the calendar turns to January. Arcadia will need him to be consistent if they are to finish in the upper half of the MAC Freedom.

Nas Johnson is a dynamic guard who showed last year that he is capable of being another scoring threat. He loves to drive when his shot is not falling, but he has already hit 16 3's this year, including 8-20 over the last four games. His quickness will cause trouble in man-to-man situations during conference play. Like Money, we expect he will be a key contributor when conference play begins.

Okocha is a bit of an enigma. He has taken as many from outside the arc as he has inside the arc. Given that he is generally the second tallest guy on the floor for the Knights (at 6'5"), they need him to occasionally establish a presence in the post and to defend strong forwards on opposing teams. The potential back-ups, Norman and Attivo, look to be a year or so away from contributing. The weakness at this position is the primary factor preventing the Knights from competing at the top of the league.

Sophomore guard Darius Isaac has been prone to fouls and turnovers. He gave good minutes in the Widener game, although much of that was against the second team in a blowout loss. His occasional running mate, Dominic Vazquez, hit a slump at the same time as Justin Money. The junior from Philadelphia is just 3-20 from the field over the last four games. If they want to get to the postseason tournament, the Knights will need him to return to last year's form, when he averaged 10 points and 3 assists in more than 30 minutes per game.

[d3hoopstories]

Knights get a needed win over a subpar Scranton squad after struggling with turnovers during the first half. Starters played all but 24 minutes.

Vazquez was great (12 points and 12 assists, just two turnovers in 39 minutes) and the dynamic duo came through big time as Arcadia dominated inside. Watkins had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Money had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Nas Johnson did not play. Was that him with his arm in a sling on the bench?

[d3hoopstories]

A very efficient Nate Ellis (17 points in 17 minutes) led DeSales to an easy road win at Muhlenberg. As has been the case all season, the Bulldogs spread out the scoring with seven players contributing between 5 and 9 points each. Caleb Gibbs, last week's MACF player of the week, had nine points and eight rebounds. Mason Barnes had eight points and nine assists.

[Stretch4]

An under the radar game yesterday between Misericordia and Willamette in Salem OR just happened to be one of the most entertaining games I have seen all year. An overtime thriller with tremendous action throughout that saw Northwest Conference Willamette prevail on the strength of an offensive explosion from one of their guards in OT who absolutely caught fire after being held in check the entire game. Misericordia got really good games from 5th year seniors Hornung, Kreitzer and Smith, while their main man Lazdowsky had a near triple double and filled up a lot of statistics. Unfortunately for Lazdowsky some of the statistics he filled up included 5 fouls, 6 turnovers and 14 missed shots. Sad to say the difference in regulation may have been the technical foul on Coach Chandler in first half when he just would not stop berating an official over what he believed was a missed foul call. 

Adding to the game was the outstanding broadcast production of Willamette. One of the top D3 broadcasts I have ever seen that included an outstanding job by their long time broadcaster and a very professional camera operation with multiple views, replays, zoom in/out, etc. Great stuff.

[d3hoopstories]

Fantastic report, Stretch. Thank you!

[d3hoopstories]

DeSales Dominates
The hot hand of Mason Barnes (24 points on 10-13 FG/4-7 3PT) allowed DeSales to advance to the MACF Championship. The Bulldogs looked every bit of a top 20 team in dominating Misericordia in the semifinal. Barnes does so much for this team but his scoring breakout was unusual. He had averaged just 8 points a game in his previous 8 outings. However, his 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season is indicative of the role he can play on a team with so many shooters.

Five players hit multiple 3's last night. On the season, nine players average between 6 and 12 points a game. They are so hard to guard because of the multitude of scoring options they can employ. In their own gym, they play a physical style and rotate bench guys in to stay fresh. They ought to be a heavy favorite on Saturday and will be a very tough out in March.


Ducks Escape
Down by 11 with 13:30 to go, Stevens turned up the energy on D, got some big 3's and hung on to beat Arcadia. Jack Spellman finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks. Stephen Braunstein had 14 points and 3 assists. The comeback was sparked by a huge 3 from Matt Leming, who had not played in the first 26 minutes of the game. Just 16 seconds after entering, the sophomore buried a deep shot to cut the lead to 8. Just four minutes later, the game was tied. Tommy Scholl, who had made a couple of careless turnovers in the second half, redeemed himself by hitting a 3 with 25 seconds left to provide the winning margin.

Arcadia's all-conference player Jalen Watkins battled foul trouble throughout the game. He had to sit for seven minutes after picking up his 4th foul with a little over 11 minutes remaining. His absence allowed the Ducks to extend their run.

As they head into the conference final, the Ducks must be concerned about the lack of production from their frontcourt reserves. Freshman Harmehar Chhabra had a +/- rating of -12 last night and has had little impact of late. In his last 9 games, he has just 5 field goals while committing 9 turnovers and 13 fouls. If he enters on Saturday, look for DeSales to take advantage.

[jmcozenlaw]

I knew that Desales was a very experienced team but I didn't know how experienced until I looked at their stats to date. All 4 double digit scorers are seniors as are 6 of their top 8 scorers. Also, I hear through my network that all is not well with Ellis from an eligibility standpoint.........but Coval the coach will meet with Coval the A.D. and get that straightened out . A father of a player on the team said that there is a real "tension" around the "Ellis situation".........but would not go into any detail.

A majority of their rebounding stats (outside of the top rebounder, Gibbs, who is a 4th year junior) are from seniors as well.

If Desales is going to make any noise outside of winning the MAC (which is not guaranteed given that Watkins came back after looking around at D2 options), this would be the year!!

My message from December 2 looks like it aged very well. Desales is a very, very veteran team. Their stud junior is even a Covid Senior. The comment about Ellis was spot on as well as my insider told me that Coval bent over backwards for him a dozen times.......but eventually couldn't anymore. Coval the A.D. had a long talk with Coval the basketball coach.......and Coval the A.D. finally won out!

This season will be a huge disappointment if this very veteran Desales men's team does not at least get to the Sweet 16........and just as much of a disappointment if the women's team does not make the Elite Eight. This is what veteran teams are built for.

I am stunned that Arcadia, who basically brought back their entire MAC Championship team from last season, looked so average (forget the conference the record). Watkins didn't want to be there and was stunned that no D2 team (PSAC) took a shot at him. The big guy is also a disappointment. The guards are steady but this team was off all year. They padded their record against the also-rans of the MAC.

This is the year for both Desales teams. Will they show up? I think they will.