MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[mwgoonie]

Fans are fan. All schools in the CAC has over zealous fans who cross the line, so forget the few and remember the many!

And quite frankly, I'd take the Gally fans over the CUA fans who wear those awful red blazers. Yipes!

[Matt Letourneau]

Wait...so somebody DID remove the sign? Well that explains why we didn't see it, doesn't it?  That changes things--that means the University acted appropriately to remove an inappropriate sign.  So other than whoever had it being an idiot, that resolves that issue.  

Unless you were one of the 4 Gallaudet fans, excluding babies, sitting directly in front of me, then NO, you weren't there.  It would be impossible for anybody else to have heard anything.  You had to have been across the aisle.

Ok, enough of this.   Let's focus on the teams still playing.

So, to that end, Regional Rankings are up:

Mid-Atlantic
1 York (Pennsylvania) 21-2 23-2
2 Lincoln (Pennsylvania) 12-4 20-4
3 Alvernia 19-3 21-4
4 Widener 19-4 20-4
5 Ursinus 18-5 19-6
6 Catholic 16-5 18-6
7 Scranton 17-6 19-6
8 Albright 14-7 16-8


Catholic moves up as Johns Hopkins moves out...

[The DUB]

Yeah, Andre, you still owe Andy Dickman for hitting those two 3's in warm-ups. So pay up!

Goonie are you implying that Andy Dickman was betting on college athletics.  I hope it was a Tim Duncan style bet of a cheeseburger and not money.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Or showing up two hours early to an away game to avoid paying and jeering the other team as they shoot around...

Wow Clint!!! Just reminds me that both of us have been around this league a LONG time!!!

And I am sorry but Garritt and Russo are not POY, they do not share the ball and just jack up 3's.  If anything Russo is the better player.

You must not have watched other games between YCP and GOU. If you had, you would remember the game where Garritt was hitting everything in any of the YCP defender's face's. It wasn't that they couldn't defend him, it was the Garritt simply couldn't miss.

Russo is a good player, but imagine where the Gophers would have been without Garritt. Yes, maybe without a win (which is the difference of three). But, I would argue that they wouldn't even be close in most of their games this year. There wouldn't have been the opportunity to to beat UMW, SAL, CUA, SMC, or MMT this year. If Russo doesn't have the threat of Garritt shotting well... he certainly doesn't get a chance to shoot at all. The two of them together are better than Russo by himself. Garritt has proven a few times this year he can take on the load of the team when Russon is cold.

As for Russo was going for a personal milestone... if your shooting had been has hot as Russo's had been since the CUA game... you would be shooting the lights out, too. He hit .381 from the beyond the arc this year. That's isn't shabby. And he and Garritt both averaged over 20 points a game this season... that isn't easy.

Let's look at the averages/stats this season:
Garritt - 20.1 ppg / shot->.416 (field) .353 (3pt) .767 (FT) / 6.2 rpg / 81 assists (3.4 apg)
Russo - 20.9 ppg / shot->.397 (field) .415 (3pt) .802 (FT) / 5.9 rpg / 25 assists (1.04 apg)
Garritt & Russo were 1st & 2nd on the team in shooting (2nd & 3rd in conference).
Garritt & Russo were 1st & 2nd on the team in rebounding (7th & 9th in conference).
Garritt & Russo were 1st & 2nd on the team in FT% (4th & 5th in conference).
Russo was #1 in conference in most 3-pointers made per game (4.04).
Garritt was #1 in confernece in defensive rebounds per game (5.35)... Russo was 7th (4.48).
Russo was 6th in conference in steals.
Garritt was 8th in conference in assists.
(all conference standings might change)

So... I ask... why don't they deserve at least the recognition. Ask every coach in this league. When they played Goucher... they had to take these two into account and guard them the best they could. If that doesn't mean they don't deserve All-Conference nods... then I don't know what does.

As for the regional rankings... man this region is WEAK!!!

[mwgoonie]

But of course!

The DUB?!

[The DUB]

yeah goonie. . . The DUB.

You know how Miami is called "The U"

I'm trying to get M Dubs called "The Dub"  I think it'll catch on.

[kitchenrat]

I would expect to see Garritt on the first team but it may be asking a lot to put two players in the top 10 over all when the team has 3 wins. All of those points are great, and all of the shooting percentages are wonderful but the fact is they didn't add up to wins. If we are going to start handing out awards to guys because they kept a dreadfully bad team from being awful then where were the votes for Bret Favre for MVP last year in the NFL. 1St and 2ND team all Conference nods are supposed to go to the players who made a difference in their teams win total, not it's point differential. If we want to talk about putting together a CAC all start team, sure you throw both Garritt and Russo on there, but that's not what it is.

As for the Gally debacle I would echo mwgoonie's sentiments that each and every school has its bad apples. When you get all high and mighty about how bad another schools fans/students act, you have to remember you are just one game away from having to defend your school like the Gally folks are right now. Sure the acts we all find offensive can be mitigated by better security, or direction from a school official toward the students but that is a matter for the league to direct to the AD. There is no correlation between the prestige of the school and the actions of it's students. My father went to Harvard and one of my friends is the play by play announcer at Penn so I go to the game between them each year, and I have heard some of the most vile crap thrown at players, refs and opposing fans at those games. It goes to show you that it only takes a few people to ruin it for everyone.

PS If I did my math correctly, Thursday's game will be Brandon Bushy's 109th which is the most ever by a YCP player. Congratulations to #30. 

[Matt Letourneau]

D-Mac's points are valid, but you've simply got to weight those performances against players on better teams.  I don't think criticism of Garritt and Russo 'taking too many shots' is valid, because frankly there wasn't really any other way for Goucher to get offense.  But at the same time, nobody else in the league is going to be allowed, let alone encouraged, to take that many shots because there's no need for it.  So I think you can acknowledge them as good players, give at least one of them consideration for an all CAC-team, but also realize that had certain other players been on Goucher this year, they would have put up just as many points. 

Can you imagine if Brandon Bushey or Shane Sowden had been on Goucher instead of Garritt or Russo? There is no question their scoring averages would have been considerably higher because they would be the 'go-to' guys. 

Its true nobody should get high and mighty about fans, but at the same time its a unique circumstance to have a ref get hurt at a game.  Its no secret what I think of the officials in this league, but that can't happen.

[basketballguru]

2005-2006 CAC Awards

1st Team
Tyson Lesense 22.3 ppg 4.0 rpg 3.5 apg 2 spg
Chad MCGowan 18.5 ppg 6.6 rpg 1.2 bpg 50% fg
Justin Baker 19.2 ppg 7.3 ppg 3.6 apg 1.1 spg
Robert Haney Jr. 18.7 ppg 8.0 rpg 2.7 apg 2 spg
Shane Sowden 12.4 ppg 5.9 rpg 1.7 bpg 58% fg

2nd Team
Jonathen Garritt 21.2 ppg 6.3 rpg 3.3 apg 2 spg
Brandon Bushy 13.3 ppg 3.5 rpg 2 apg 44% 3pt.
Mike Lee 15.3 ppg 5.3 rpg 3.6 apg 1.8 spg
Segun Odumeru 17.0 ppg 3.5 rpg 1.5 apg
Patrick Dwyer 12.0 6.3 rpg 50% fg

Player of the Year

Chad McGowan (Soph.) York College

Coach of the Year

Jeff Gamber York College

Freshman of the Year

Jon Mowl Gallaudet Univeristy

[andre james smith]

Interesting selections... not sure I see Sowden as a first-teamer.  I think Garritt might have fit better there, but there is whole argument of how many minutes and shots players get, etc.
Also, can anyone shed some light on this WISH Act of 2006 proposed last Friday?

[Matt Letourneau]

Are those the real awards or just your picks?

[BisonFan]

HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumble was on the campus of Gallaudet University  working on a special to be aired Tuesday March 7th, 2006 10:00 pm on HBO. The special will focus on the men's basketball team and will include interviews(, game footage, and footage from around Gallaudet's campus. WE are excited about the wonderful opportunity to showcase our student-athletes

[mwgoonie]

Yeah, are those real? Will they be posted on cacsports.com?

Looking forward to the game tonight!

[The DUB]

Looking forward to what should be a great game tonight at DuFour.  It is always a tough place to play and Catholic always steps up their game for the tournament.  I'm definitely excited to see A.J. Fitzgerald back on the floor for The Dub and the leadership and stability he brings at the point.  I spoke with him at while he was in street clothes at the last Wash @ Catholic game and he was very anxious to get back out on the floor.  Hopefully he can carry that momentum from Tuesday night over to tonights game.

[Matt Letourneau]

In all likelihood, tonight will be the final home game for Catholic's senior class.   Shane Sowden, Pat Satalin, Matt Spirenberg and Aaron Kelly had a run that most division 3 basketball players never get to experience.  To date, they posted a career record of 87-27 (.763%), tops in the CAC.  They've had 2 NCAA tournament appearances, won a CAC tournament, and finished first in the regular season CAC standings twice.

Shane's been a force inside.  He's got some of the best moves I've seen in a big man, and he gets up and down the court very well.  His monster slams have energized the DuFour crowd and put exclamation marks on victories.

Satalin's one of the best free throw shooters in the country (91% this year), and has hit some big shots in his career--his 3 point with 3 seconds left against GMC to force overtime in Mike Lonergan's last game comes to mind. 

Matt Spirenberg has never been the most gifted athlete, but is a brilliant guy and gives 100% every time out.  I think fans have really enjoyed his hustle and the steps he's taken to try to improve himself.

Aaron Kelly was hampered by injuries but is a scrappy, excellent defender who sets up teammates and always plays unselfish.  I think his teammates look to him for leadership and he sets a good example.

So we'll miss the group at Catholic, and wish them well in their future endeavors.  But their time is not over--a win tonight sets them up for one last chance to do something really special, either by beating York or perhaps even getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.