MBB: MAC Freedom League

[BJ - DSU SID]

kcxc09 - Be careful what you write on here, you don't want your name showing up on a bulletin board at an opposing gym this week.

Enjoy the doubleheader in Scandlon on Wednesday.

[lefty2]

I think I saw former King's coach Jim Casciano on ESPN over the weekend - NJIT finished the worst winless season in D-I history at 0-29.

[naismith]

Hard to beleive the regualr season is over.......

First, I want to congratualte Arcadia.
Would have been quite an achievement for the Knights to have swept Wilkes, DeSales and Manhattanville on the road.
Surely the Knights would have deserved that 4th Freedom slot.

Today, they had a double digit lead in the 2nd half against the Valiants but came up short.
Still, a huge effort ..Congrats again.

As to the playoffs, I'll have to agree with Leo....it looks like Kings.  
The matchup with Manhattanville presents a  pair of senior laden teams with contrasting styles of play.
Manhattanville has a very explosive squad that can score in bunches and disrupt tempo.  If Kings has a weakness, it is pressure. They are prone to turn the ball over   and, when rushed, don't execute their offense as well.


For the Monarchs, controlling tempos is the primary key.    
The Monarchs have the size and firepower.  Kofi, Welsh, Scalzo and Nensteil can light it up. Sobo, Scalzo, Conway and Cousart can post up as needed..
The poise and discipline of this squad sets them apart.

Kings should advance.
Line: Kings (-13)

DeSales took down Bloom today. I'm not sure what that means (maybe Bllom would anchor the Freedom...who knows?) but I would think they will be more than ready for the Colonels.
Wilkes has played inconsistently the past month. They have not adequately controlled tempos as they did in the early part of the Freedom schedule. Desicionmaking has been troublesome as the guard play can be brilliant at times and a Dumb, dumber and dumbest redux at other times.
Matt G is going to have to reign in his emotions and play smart and savvy if Wilkes has any chance against DeSales. The bigs must avoid foul trouble and concentrate on the game itself rather than the officiating etc etc.
Lapinsky & Stricker present a very very challenging  matchup inside with the Colonle bigs. The Bulldogs bench always seems to play well and Braswell's athleticism is a problem.
With Eddie O playing the point, it is hard to see a road upset here.

Line: Deslaes (-8.5).

I will give my thougts on the finals matchup while enjoying my dinner at Pazzos's compiments of Colonel John.
I am officially inviting Cold Case as my guest.

Who is CJ bringing???

[cold_case]

I am officially inviting Cold Case as my guest.
Who is CJ bringing???

Nais, my main man, I see you stopped over to the Landmark board and set Letourneau straight. I followed up your post with one of my own. Check it out, critque it.
I'll go to DeSales with you, providing it's not Wednesday night at 7? If it is, let's make plans afterward to dine.

[naismith]

CC,

Did check out your post and in agreement.

I'm not sure where I am going Wed.
Wilkes is at DeSales and Kings at home.
Depends on my work schedule, weather etc.

C John lost dimnner for 4 at Pazzo's. Owned by the Agolino family, it is a high class Italian restauant on 315 just south of Pittston.

The Colonel has been noticeably silent since the Monarchs covered by 11 point spread by 2 last Wednesday.

Vegas has Kings even money, DeSales at 2-1, Manhattanville 5-1 and Wilkes 10-1.
Sounds about right to me.

I think the Royals were 1-9 to land the landmark trophy. Everyone else was 99-1....lol
Who are you taking???

Naismith.

[BJ - DSU SID]

DeSales/Wilkes will be at 8 pm on Wednesday.

DeSales women also play at home that night and will be at 6, prior to the men.

BJ

[ColonelJohn4Life]

C John lost dinner for 4 at Pazzo's. Owned by the Agolino family, it is a high class Italian restauant on 315 just south of Pittston.

The Colonel has been noticeably silent since the Monarchs covered by 11 point spread by 2 last Wednesday.

Vegas has Kings even money, DeSales at 2-1, Manhattanville 5-1 and Wilkes 10-1.
Sounds about right to me.

I think the Royals were 1-9 to land the landmark trophy. Everyone else was 99-1....lol
Who are you taking???

Naismith.

Nais,

I'm still here.  Don't worry.  Just been busy with work.  A few things:

1.  (Most important) Does Pazzo's have pizza?  If so, is it really good pizza?  If so, let's declare Pizza Summit IV.  All the Hall of Famers come out for a good Pizza Summit.

2.  BJ - my apologies, but I'm out for Wednesday.  Still can't get out of work.  Killin' me.  Lemme know if there are ghosts or curses... or any angry Colonel fans, about 30 years old, with glasses and a new baby.  If so, give Greg my best.  Otherwise, enjoy the game.

3. Has anyone looked at recent games between Wilkes and DeSales?  Ignoring the obvious 1 vs. 4, and the obvious 20-5 vs. 13-11 comparisons, just look at the last 5 games between Wilkes and DeSales.  It reads as follows:

DeSales by 10
DeSales by 10
DeSales by 24
DeSales by 10
DeSales by 11

Gotta go back to 2005 to find a Wilkes win over DeSales.  But in 2005 you also find a 4th seeded Wilkes team that lost at a 1st seeded DeSales team in the Freedom Semi's.

I want to believe.  I'd love to see King's play one more home game this season - March 1st.    Is my only hope the "Any Given Sunday" logic?  Regardless, I'm tuning in to the live stats courtesy of the good people of D3hoops.com and the DeSales sports info department.

[BJ - DSU SID]

CJ4Life,

Send me that work number...I'll give them a call make up some story that we need extra security guards in Billera Hall that night and hire you to handle the Wilkes faithful.  If that doesn't work, I'll just pose as a family member Wednesday morning and call you out sick.  You can't miss a playoff game, you gotta think of something.

In all seriousness, I'll keep my eyes and ears on the lookout for ghosts/curses during the game and if I see any, I'll get some of my student workers to keep them occupied till after the game is over so they don't affect the outcome.

I plan on writing my playoff preview tomorrow morning, so I am not totally up to speed on the history between the Colonels and Bulldogs.  You are correct that we have won 5 in a row, but I don't recall us ever beating them by 24 (maybe a typo).  I'll get that playoff preview written tomorrow morning while the heater guy does his annual maintenance thing between the hours of 8-Noon (gotta love service people giving you a four-hour window to get something fixed).

Do you think I have time to sit at home and wait for you to fit me in your morning schedule.  ARGH!!!!

Anyways, I don't know as if you can hold much stock in that recent success DeSales has had.  This is the playoffs and anything can happen.  Every team is 0-0 at this point and every team is more than able and talented enough to take home that automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.  The team that comes to play the hardest and executes the best will win two games this week.  Past history has very little to do with anything at this point.

FYI - We will, as always, have the LIVE stats up and running and I am 99% sure that D3hoops staff member (Gordon Mann) is going to be broadcasting the game live (audio only) on the internet.  Once I hear from him that is a 100% go, I'll send both those links.

BJ

[ColonelJohn4Life]

BJ - January 27th, 2007: DeSales 75, Wilkes 51.  At your place.  I even got a reference:
http://www.d3hoops.com/school/WILK/mens/2007

As far as other history, it is pretty limited, at least compared to say Wilkes - Kings.  Allentown / DeSales has been in the Freedom for, what, 11 years now?  There was that team with Watermasysk back in like 00-01 that was, for my money, DSU's best team. One problem.  At that point Scranton had Reno and Callejas, King's had Corey Dickerson and company, and Wilkes had Dave Jannuzzi.

Playoff history between our schools, pretty sure it's just MAC-F Semis games in '04 and '05, both at your place.

That guy couldn't wait another, oh, week or so to fix the heater??

[ColonelJohn4Life]

BJ - an addendum.  I called in a few favors, and should now be able to make it to Allentown for 8 PM tomorrow.  Game on!!  I'll be on my best behavior.    You just make sure there's a ticket for me...

Also, mad props on Leigh Ann Burke getting the nod for a Jostens finalist spot.  Huge honor.  That gives you one day to put together a presentation for her.   

[BJ - DSU SID]

CJ4Life - Good call on the DeSales/Wilkes score from '07...I applaud your research.

Great to hear you should be able to make the game tonight.  I'll expect nothing but your best behavior,  .  Sorry I can't leave you a ticket at the door...its the playoffs so comp tickets aren't as plentiful as in the regular season.

Thanks for the congrats note on our women's player Burke.  Its a well deserved honor for her, especially as just a junior.

See ya tonight!

[adamburdett]

And finally, another of the Wilkes faithful returns to the board just in time for the playoffs. 
Tough year for me as I only saw the Colonels once.  Since they lost that game (51-50 to Miseri, ugh), I figured it be best that I stay home for this one. 
The Curse of Greg Riley will not be a factor tonight.  Incidentally, that night was the last time the Colonels won at Billera, to correct a past post by Colonel John.  I'd like to see the Colonels do the same tonight, but it may be a tall order.  Regardless, for my first prediction since last seasons upset of King's on the night of the Valentine's Day blizzard, I think the Colonels will lose a close one tonight, less than 5 points.  But I will say, the longer Wilkes is in the game, the more the Bulldogs may begin to think about some of the past flops of late in the playoffs.
On a side note, baby Riley (Lia Marie) is doing fine.  If Wilkes can get to Saturday and play at Kings, I will do anything in my power to get the old team back together.  I just cant sit behind the Colonel bench.  Last time I did that, me and John's Dad may have inadvertantly got Coach thrown out.

[ColonelJohn4Life]

DeSales 69, Wilkes 53.

Adam has spoken, so let it be written.  No curse of Greg, and Wilkes loses a close one.  Don't let the 16 point final fool ya.  A good portion of the 2nd half was spent with DeSales only up by 4 or 6.  Wilkes just needed precisely one more basket at about a dozen key points, and couldn't.  DeSales got up 12-3 after about 6 minutes (could have been worse, actually), and that's a 9 point deficit from which Wilkes never fully recovered. Wilkes made a run to get up 20-18.  DeSales then puts together a 9-0 run.  Wilkes never saw the lead again.  Got really close a bunch of times, never took the lead.

That said, with the King's win, the preview for the MAC Freedom Championship writes itself.  Both teams are senior heavy.  DeSales with Phil Stricker and Eddie Ohlson, King's with damn near the whole roster.  Scalzo, Sobo, Dwebeng, Cousart, Nenstiel.  Over their 4 years, these squads will have played against each other in 3 MAC-F Title games.  (Note the use of the future perfect tense!)  '05 at DeSales, '07 at King's, and King's won them both.  Does this squad of King's players call it a dynasty and win a 3rd in 4 years (and the first repeat winner since '99 Wilkes), or does DeSales finally get that monkey off their collective back and win Freedom Title #1?  Honestly, DeSales, those banners looked lonely at Billera tonight.  ("Look, Son, there's the 1991 ECAC Championship banner!")

Looking at this matchup, Kings vs DeSales III, somewhere I'm sure Bob Bessoir is turning over in his... bed.  It was 10 years ago this week that Bess broke out the legendary Purple Tux in the MAC title game at the Marts Center.  Scranton / Wilkes in the late 90s - THAT was a rivalry.  King's and DeSales just seem like teams that happen to play each other in the title game.

As a Wilkes fan, at a time like this, I have an observation.  Wilkes had a great run.  The glory days of '95 to '01, where in 7 years, Wilkes won 6 MAC or Freedom titles.  An epic 7 years, including 2 Sweet 16s, 2 Elite 8s, and a Final Four.  And it's been exactly 7 years since that last MAC/F title.  Mark it down, right now.  Wilkes wins the 2009 Freedom League Title.  You wanna start a countdown?  Fine.  We're past midnight, so, it's now 366 days until Jerry the General cuts down a net.

Congrats to King's, Congrats to DeSales.  Enjoy the Championship game.  To the winner - Represent us well in The Dance.  Until next season, I'm out.

[BJ - DSU SID]

CJ4Life - Let me start by saying it was nice to meet you at tonight's game.  I often wonder who the man is behind the curtain (or the post in this case) and I had a nice 5-7 minute conversation with you tonight.  Looking forward to future meetings.

Now I must say I am bit disappointed in your post-game post.  I mean you just killed DeSales and its lack of banners in the gym and its lack of being able to be in rivalry.

It seems a little fair weather that you diss the King's/DeSales rivalry over the past few years as a secondary rivalry.  I know you folks above the tunnel don't seem to think there is life south of the tunnel but we do exist and I think over the past few years DeSales has made some noise.  Granted we haven't cut a conference championship net down up to this point, but our success certainly can't just be thrown under the mat and treated as secondary.

This King's team we will play on Saturday is a very, very, very good one.  They have eight seniors if I am not mistaken and this group has certainly proven they are a special group.  We are fortunate enough to get one more crack at them before they all go out into the real world.  I am not taking the court (good thing for DeSales) but I am looking forward to the third meeting in the Freedom Conference championship game between the two.  It should be a fun day and a great game.

By the way, don't think I didn't notice the prediction of Wilkes as champions in '09...I can understand your excitement seeing us lose three seniors, King's lose eight seniors and MVille lose five seniors (I think).  I'd temper my predictions however till after you see the recruiting classes and you see the other new teams come into the league next year.  I'll tell you right now...Alvernia is gonna be a pretty good team next year, they have no seniors and a player named Terence Shawell who is gonna be a tough match-up for every team in the league next year.  Don't count your chickens just yet.

In the meantime, I am gonna enjoy the rest of this season...seeing as if we are still playing, 

BJ

[ColonelJohn4Life]

CJ4Life -  I mean you just killed DeSales and its lack of banners in the gym and its lack of being able to be in rivalry.

BJ

BJ - Yeah, maybe I spoke too quickly in disappointment /anger.  Though, in all fairness, I kill everyone's team.  The last King's / Wilkes game, I was the guy holding a "King's = 1-2 vs. Baptist Bible" sign.  And all that pales to the shots I gave Scranton back in the day.  At least you're a likable enough guy that I'd apologize to.  Purple was the paragon of all that is evil.

Where were we?  Oh yeah, light of new day has come.  Best to the 2 remaining teams.  BJ, get some sleep, man.  And I'm standing by that '09 thing.