MBB: USA South Conference

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

nova-

I really think your Guilford team is a very underated team.  At least you can continue to hope for that as the season gets rolling for you in the ODAC.  When does VA Wesleyan come to town.  I might have to wander over there for that game.

haha Narch-
I can tell you now without re-computing the numbers GC is ahead of CNU just like they were last week. (I did yeasterdays game and GC moved ahead)  We will see what it looks like next tuesday.  (I am not going to wait until the night before crunch the numbers.)  What impresses me more is GC hadn't played a game for quite a while leading up to this weekend.

Of note #2 Amherst is better then #1 Wooster by .2 points when both teams were 8-0.

my picks tonight: SU did lose like I predicted.  Ohio Wesylean had a potential game tying 3 rim out with :03 seconds left.  I think that one got away from me.  I really thought OW was going to win.  I bet Wilmington had a good shooting night.

[hasanova]

nova-

I really think your Guilford team is a very underated team.  At least you can continue to hope for that as the season gets rolling for you in the ODAC.  When does VA Wesleyan come to town.  I might have to wander over there for that game.

haha Narch-
I can tell you know without re-computing the numbers GC is ahead of CNU just like they were last week. (I did yeasterdays game and GC moved ahead)  We will see what it looks like next tuesday.  (I am not going to wait until the night before crunch the numbers.)  What impresses me more is GC hadn't played a game for quite a while leading up to this weekend.

Of note #2 Amherst is better then #1 Wooster by .2 points when both teams were 8-0.

Some of the comparative scores are starting to look good, but you have to prove it on the court.  Tough four game road stretch coming for the Quakers, including VWC on Jan. 7.  The Marlins make a return trip to Guilford at 2 pm on Jan. 28.

[narch]

just saw the fisky's got the best of cnu by 1 tonight...doh

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Some of the comparative scores are starting to look good, but you have to prove it on the court.  Tough four game road stretch coming for the Quakers, including VWC on Jan. 7.  The Marlins make a return trip to Guilford at 2 pm on Jan. 28.

Late in the season back at Guilford.  I really hope that game has some type of contention behind it.

[Rikki_Tikki_Tavi]

Listened to a lot of the CNU game tonight, narch. The capts were out of sync again (JC did a great job of that Wed. too.). I dont know what the deal is. Sounds like they arent getting the best of their talent. I know Korey Lewis didnt play Wed and he wasnt the difference, that's for sure. Would he have grabbed a few boards as to not allow them to get that many second and third chance opportunities, maybe, but not enough to cover the difference. Davon sounded like he was off. I went back to the box and noticed he only played seven minutes in the second half and wasnt on the floor at the end. Oh well, hopefully it will be a wake up call since they have Fisk again in their very next game next Friday. GC takes on Osweego at 500 and Fisk plays CNU at 730. Then its GC vs. Fisk on Saturday at 330 and CNU vs. Osweego at 6.
If I dont get back on here before then, I hope everyone has a safe, fun and exciting Holiday!!

[wilburt]

I am sooo surprised at Fisk's win versus CNU because this year's Fisk team is not as talented as last year's team.  I am sure CNU will seek revenge in a few days at their place...

[scottiedoug]

Wilburt:

Congratulations and I am glad to hear from you.  Historically, at least under Dr. Glover, Fisk has played hard and aggressively and had big and quick players.  Is that still the style? 

 

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Listened to a lot of the CNU game tonight, narch. The capts were out of sync again (JC did a great job of that Wed. too.). I dont know what the deal is. Sounds like they arent getting the best of their talent. I know Korey Lewis didnt play Wed and he wasnt the difference, that's for sure. Would he have grabbed a few boards as to not allow them to get that many second and third chance opportunities, maybe, but not enough to cover the difference. Davon sounded like he was off. I went back to the box and noticed he only played seven minutes in the second half and wasnt on the floor at the end. Oh well, hopefully it will be a wake up call since they have Fisk again in their very next game next Friday. GC takes on Osweego at 500 and Fisk plays CNU at 730. Then its GC vs. Fisk on Saturday at 330 and CNU vs. Osweego at 6.
If I dont get back on here before then, I hope everyone has a safe, fun and exciting Holiday!!

RikkI-Tikki...Anyone!
Tell me if I'm smoking crack here but this is my take on the CNU state of affairs.
I see a very talented bunch of kids who lack motivation...  I see it every time they are introduced at a home game and the lethargic manner in which they come out.  I've seen the most talented fighter pilots in the world perform poorly in missions they were not mentally prepared/motivated to perform.  Someone/something needs to motivate these fellas to come out on fire every game.  CNU returned 5 of the 1st 6 players in last years rotation, and 4/5 starters.  It's definately not an issue of talent.  Thoughts?

One word for it...COMPLACENCY...Maybe the results of games knocks them out of it.

[wilburt]

Wilburt:

Congratulations and I am glad to hear from you.  Historically, at least under Dr. Glover, Fisk has played hard and aggressively and had big and quick players.  Is that still the style? 

HI Doug and Narch.  Fisk's new Coach is Robert Moore '72 (Glover's top assistant last year).  I saw the Bulldogs play twice this season and we are no where near the talent level of last year's team.  With that said, this year's team seems to have better chemistry than last year's Fisk team.  I provided a link below to the recap of the game against D1 Lipscomb.  Fisk led at halftime and half of the second period before we just ran out of gas at the end.  Otherwise, we may have defeated a D1 team for the 3rd time in 5 years!  But a .500 record is what I would expect from this Fisk team at the end of the year despite defeating the 25th ranked team in the nation on a neutral court! 

http://lipscombsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/112506aaa.html

[old_lion]

Congrats, Wilburt.  Nice win over CNU.

Merry Xmas.

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Here are the Week 5 power rankings.  Ferrum makes a big jump this week. No it doesn't have anything to do with them being on the Today Show. (Which ever it was.)

Week 5 Power Rankings

Averett
Greensboro
CNU
Ferrum
NC Wesleyan
Methodist
Shenadoah

CNU lost two games in Greensboro no way they maintain that #2 spot.  Ferrum did win 2 games last week, the 2 wins doesn't push 6-4 Ferrum above 5-4 CNU. More games this week should shuffle the rankings.

[narch]

Here are the Week 5 power rankings.  Ferrum makes a big jump this week. No it doesn't have anything to do with them being on the Today Show. (Which ever it was.)

Week 5 Power Rankings

Averett
Greensboro
CNU
Ferrum
NC Wesleyan
Methodist
Shenadoah

CNU lost two games in Greensboro no way they maintain that #2 spot.  Ferrum did win 2 games last week, the 2 wins doesn't push 6-4 Ferrum above 5-4 CNU. More games this week should shuffle the rankings.

so ferrum wins 2 games against 1-8 teams and jumps over mu, who also went 2-0 (against a 5-4 randy mac and a 2-7 gettysburg) AND idle ncwc?

your rankings are either seriously flawed or you are letting personal bias enter into the equation

here are your week 4 rankings, to recap

Week 4 Power Rankings
Averett
CNU
Greensboro
NC Wesleyan
Methodist
Ferrum
Shenadoah

[cnufella]

Observations from the CNU debacle this past week.  I was in attendance for both games.  While Korey Lewis' absence was not the main reason we lost that game it was a huge contributor.   The Captains were up most of the first half, but when Blasingame picked up his second foul with over 9 minutes to go in the half he went to the bench for the remainder of the half.  It would have been nice to have had Lewis' big body under the basket.  That's pretty much when the rebounding went south and we never recovered.  It was painful to watch JC get rebound after rebound....sometimes a third or fourth chance.  Read the play by play at the end of the first half....we simply were NOT blocking out!   Second half was ugly and disappointing.  I'm not sure why we did not go inside more when our guards were building a brick house of monumental proportions!  Mark – especially Mark and Ed never seemed to get into the flow.   Lastly, you could tell CJ was frustrated from the point not getting the team into the offense....seemed to be somewhat of a theme both days—to much freelancing! 

Fisk, again frustrating.  The big guys up front played fairly well and for periods of time we took advantage of our height.  Guard play again was substandard to what CNU fans expect and I know from conversations much was made over Davon's sitting.  Davon just didn't seem to have his mojo this past week and Theo for the first time looked like a freshman.  No doubt both kids will bounce back this week—they are both to good not to.  We went down by 11 in the second half and then started to comeback, it was nice to see the bounce in our kid's steps for the first time.  For a while it looked like we might bust it open, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers.  And our defense was not especially good in stretches.  However, as bad as we played over the two days it was the striped fellow who snatched potential victory away from the Captains.  If you were listening to the radio Mr. Tomasino probably went nuts on the missed foul call on Donta.   I've seen some bad calls but this was probably worse.  Kid got swatted in the eye and dropped to the floor—no call—uncontested Fisk lay-up to put Fisk up by one.  Ok, I hear you.  One play does not lose a game, but this was simply a horrible, horrible no call.   Then we had two bad turnovers to end the game.  Personal opinion, ball should have been inbounded to one of the big three under the basket.   Fisk players were standing behind both big guys.  Hindsight is truly 20/20. 

I disagree with a lot of things said about this team.  The difference in this year and last is now they are the hunted.  I think they surprised a lot of folks last year; the expectations were much lower—this year MUCH higher.  If anything I think they are having a bit of identity crisis and have to realize they must bring their "A" game every night, because it's a huge knotch in the opposition's belt when they knock off the Captains.  While I think the CNU guards are very good, I believe our real strength is our inside three.  It seems we work outside in—very seldom inside out.  From what I've seen our post players are pretty darn smart about kicking it back out.  Anyway, the next few games will be an indicator of where this team is going.  Personally I think they will go up, much like last year.  Good luck guys, this CNU fan believes in you. 

[PrideFan1986]

This is just to see how people are viewing the season so far, and to see who the mid season favorite is?

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

Narch-

Personal bias has nothing to do with it.  I was just pointing out some of the things that happened last week that caused a big jump.  Believe me if I put any personal bias into it I would have MU much higher.  These rankings are based on those statistics as pointed out earlier.  The problem is though MU has only played 6 games.  Again it is early in the season and I know MU will fall in the spot they need to be. The floor precetange for MU is second best in the conference, which will help them in the long run.  FC floor % is worst in the conference which should hurt them in the long run.

Johns Hopkins was or still is 9-0.  d3hoops had them ranked right behind AU.  IMO I think JH is overrated. (That was using game statistics)  they of course have played at the time 3 teams with winning records out of 9 games.  Based on your opinion then you would agree JH is overrated because they haven't played anybody either.

Narch it will balance out over the long run and MU will be right where we both think they should be.