MBB: MAC Freedom League

[lefty2]

I can't speak for why Eastern chose to move the MAC, but I have a hunch that Chairman can.

I also don't know if/who anyone else was considered.

Remember, the decision to switch conferences is NOT limited to just men's/women's basketball.

[Pat Coleman]

I think lefty2 dropped a "not" from that last sentence.

[lefty2]

I think lefty2 dropped a "not" from that last sentence.

Thanks Pat - I've amended the post.

[MACfan08]

Okay I am glad to see Eastern gets so much talk on here but I feel like there are better issues to be talking about with the MAC Freedom right now. So I will list below some of my big questions about this season so far.

First I think the biggest question should be what is happening to the Wilkes University Men's Basketball team? They were picked to finish very high at the beginning of the season and many said this was their year with such a great SR. lead team. They are now 3 and 5 in the league and will be fighting for their lives now every night for the rest of the season. Another loss or two and they could very well pack it in a call it a year.

Second how does Desales keep getting all of these transfers? I see they got another one this year that is really helping them out? My only guess is the coach must stay in contact with players he recruits which decide not to go to Desales in the end. But when they realize they made a mistake or thought they were better then d3 ball and find out they will ride the bench at a d2 or small d1 school they see what life is really about and accept that they need to take a new route to their basketball career. Not saying this is a bad thing at all but just curious how he does it because more d3 coaches need to take note because these players have kept him up at the top for the past few years.

Finally for now what is going on at the north end of Main street in good old Wilkes-barre? This is a young decent team. The talent level is not what has been there before and the players are no where near what it takes to win a MAC championship but some how they are right there at the top in second place with a 6 and 2 record. Is this finally the year that Andrejko wins a coach of the year award because of his coaching and now just because of the talent he had under him to win him all of those games. I am happy to see they are not at the level they were last year because that was a shame but I did not see them having such a big turn around within one season. Where do we see this team going and is this team one year away from being a MAC powerhouse again with all of the young guys that are involved right now?

Well it has been a quick year and a busy one as well. I have not posted much but now that the season is coming down to the grind I figured I would throw some questions out there to see what people have to say and try to get off the topic of Eastern I have heard enough about them on this site. Lets talk other basketball and talk about other good headlines right now in the league.

[Wolfpac]

I can't speak for why Eastern chose to move the MAC, but I have a hunch that Chairman can.

I also don't know if/who anyone else was considered.

Remember, the decision to switch conferences is NOT limited to just men's/women's basketball.

Hey Lefty  How is Misericordia doing up there?  Used to be an easy win up there for the Cavs in the PAC but things certainly have changed.

[lefty2]

I can't speak for why Eastern chose to move the MAC, but I have a hunch that Chairman can.

I also don't know if/who anyone else was considered.

Remember, the decision to switch conferences is NOT limited to just men's/women's basketball.

Hey Lefty  How is Misericordia doing up there?  Used to be an easy win up there for the Cavs in the PAC but things certainly have changed.

We're in the playoff mix as we head down the stretch.  Depth is a problem and was probably the deciding factor in our first game with DeSales.

I don't know if I'd say the Cav's wins here were 'easy," but they were frequent.

I'm not sure if there is any truth to the rumor that when Coach Dzik won his 400th game that the first person he thanked was former Misericordia coach Dave Martin.

[Wolfpac]

I can't speak for why Eastern chose to move the MAC, but I have a hunch that Chairman can.

I also don't know if/who anyone else was considered.

Remember, the decision to switch conferences is NOT limited to just men's/women's basketball.

Hey Lefty  How is Misericordia doing up there?  Used to be an easy win up there for the Cavs in the PAC but things certainly have changed.

We're in the playoff mix as we head down the stretch.  Depth is a problem and was probably the deciding factor in our first game with DeSales.

I don't know if I'd say the Cav's wins here were 'easy," but they were frequent.

I'm not sure if there is any truth to the rumor that when Coach Dzik won his 400th game that the first person he thanked was former Misericordia coach Dave Martin.

If Dave was a short slender chap with dirty blonde hair who wore a wool knit blazer then it is probably true if my memory serves me correct..  Your team and staff always did have class with those blue and gold colors and Dzik respected you guys all the time.  I shall ask John when I see him.  Just felt like you were never going to get to the game when we went on the road to play there.  They were all tough wins but I meant to say it appeared easy on paper back in the early days of the PAC.   Loved it when you guys beat GMC during crunch time  when the Cavs needed some help. But that is not why I could see why John would thank him.

Just out of plain respect for competing in the conference when times were changing to d3 at the least and a good friend.

[lefty2]

Dave was the men's coach from 1990-2000 something and has been the AD since.

He was actually on the phone with coach Dzik this morning to congratulate him on his big win over the weekend.

[BJ - DSU SID]

MACfan08

Great post, its always nice to talk about more than one thing in this room.  I don't mind the Eastern people going back and forth with the Miseri guy but no reason we can't also talk a little DeSales and little Wilkes-Barre at the same time.

I can't really speak for what is going on at Wilkes and/or King's.  Wilkes certainly has the talent to beat anyone on any given night (IE their win over Carthage, who was ranked at the time).  Although we beat them by 14 at our place we really had to grind that win out after they got within two points in the second half of that game.  Even last year when King's had a rough year they beat us once, so I never go into a game vs. the Monarchs thinking its going to be easy.  They always play us tough.  I am not at all surprised by their first half success.

In regards to your "DeSales getting all these transfers" comment.  I am kind of confused.  We don't have any transfers on the team this year that weren't also on the team last year.  The only players on our roster that are transfers at one time or another are senior Matt Zwetolitz (he transferred to DeSales after one year at Penn State University where he did not play basketball), junior Brian Hunter (he transferred to DeSales after one year at Lehigh where he played sparingly...we heavily recruited him out of high school and we kind of got lucky that things didn't work out for him at Lehigh and he's really helped our team both last year and this year), the other transfer is sophomore Jamey Bercier (he came to us mid-season last year from Chestnut Hill College...I don't really know any specifics on this one other than we also recruited him out of HS, he went to CHC, didn't play much on a team that struggled and I guess was unhappy, left CHC over Christmas Break and wanted to come to DeSales).  He's started every game for us this season averaging just over 3 points and 3 rebounds per game in 15+ minutes.

We don't have anyone on our team this year that is a first-year transfer, so I am not sure who you were referring to in your post.

Meanwhile, here is an updated matrix for all entering this week's games.

Enjoy!

http://athletics.desales.edu/custompages/gen/2009-10/MHoopsMatrix.pdf

[chairman]

Glad to see the room catch fire. Still no Chiz Wiz or Uncle Sam, but that's alright.
Wolf- the decision to move to the MAC happened at the Presidential level, and competitiveness in a specific sport was probably a very small part of the overall decision process. I can't speak to what Cabrini administrators would have done or were considering.

I am quite curious to see the new King's team play. I saw the Eastern game at King's earlier in the year, and King's really struggled. In looking at stats since then, it seems that Mike Wagner has emerged asa  perimeter threat, and that has to help Conroy have more room to operate. I'll be curious to see what the other changes are.

Thanks for the Matrix.

[Wolfpac]

Misericordia by 9 pts. over Wilkes.

[chairman]

The home team has won 20 of the 32 league match-ups so far this year. Of the twelve losses by home teams, FDU has 4, and Del Val has 3 (Del Val is 2-3 at home-- King's and DelVal are the only two schools who have played five home games).

Wilkes has dropped home games to Misericordia and Eastern. As random as your prediction for a Misericordia win on Wednesday might have been, it follows that they will hold serve at home against a team they beat on the road.

Remaining game (home, away) DSU (3,3) Kings (2, 4) Eastern (4, 2) M'ville (3,3) Misericordia (4, 2) Wilkes (3,3) DelVal (2, 4) FDU (3,3).

[hoopzwiz]

Misericordia by 9 pts. over Wilkes.

I'll take Wilkes and the points.  Nearly a must-win for the colonels with road games left at DV and Eastern.  Not to mention Manhattanville and DeSales at home, both of which have already beaten Rickroads bunch.

Plus....It's Misericordia.  They rarely beat Wilkes, let alone twice in the same season.

[lefty2]

This is just the third time in at least the last 20 years that Misericordia/Wilkes have played twice and only the 12th meeting overall in that same span.

Wilkes won two last year and in 1998-99.

Willie Chandler makes his first-ever appearance against the Colonels - too bad he'll have a tie on as an assistant coach.

[jumpball]

I echo BJ, and am glad to see MACfan back in biz.  nice to talk about basketball again!  BJ - thanx for the matrix.  I think Desales is still the class of the league but not by as much as last season.  and that was not a 14 point game against kings last week i know you'll agree.  foul shots and forced 3's at the end blew open a game that was 3-4 points nearly the whole time until the very end; and kings held the lead late in that game.  Braswell is the difference and not by much, although he's a terrific player.  kings is coming on - they're still young but they are improving and you overlook them at your own risk.  JP is doing a terrific coaching job but don't underestimate that team's talent, they have added some good young freshmen who contribute and are not as 1-dimensional as last season, -Conroy still strong, but he has help .  Wagner is a terrific outside shooter and they take good care of the ball.  Chair; Eastern will be much more of a dogfight than it was earlier in the year - same players but different team than played that game.  It'll be a good one as both teams are playing well.  Next few weeks are going to be fun - every team (including FDU) can beat any other.