MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[ycp]

With 2:39 to go

Salisbury 83-York 73

[bisonpride]

Goucher - 63
Catholic - 59
2nd half - 1:35 remaining

CUA missing free throws.. They only scored 8 points in last 12 minutes compare to 28 by Goucher.

[ycp]

A near final (1:04 left)

Salisbury 89-York 81

[unreallawns]

Thanks fpr the clarification Pat.

[ycp]

Final from SU....

Salisbury 93-York 81

First loss since the Final Four against Calvin that the Spartans have lost by more than two points in a game.

[bisonpride]

Gophers' comeback in 2nd half win over Cards at the DuFour Center!

Goucher - 68
Catholic - 62   -  FINAL -

I will let Matt L. or anybody else have the final comment of the game.

[Salem, VA]

York's thorn in there side has struck again.  3 of the last 4 York losses of come at the hand's of Salisbury.  In this conference it is tough to win on the road.  That being said how about Goucher going into Catholic and stealing a game.  After what Goucher went through last year its hard to believe they competed like they did to get one from Catolic.  I think the conference is between 4 squads, York, Salisbury, Catholic, and Mary Wash with Salisbury being the favorite.

The York Faithful look to support coach Gamber in getting coaching win number 400 on Wednesday against GAlly.  I'm sure the students will be happy to be back to cheer on there Spartans. 

Go Spartans

[Matt Letourneau]

Do I have to comment?  Ha...

Well, I'll hand to Goucher, but not to take anything away from them, they didn't win so much as Catholic just (literally) gave the game away.  I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it.  They had FIFTEEN turnovers in the second half alone.  The two #1 guards had 13 combined.   Two totally different teams out there (first and second halfs---well really, first 28 or so minutes).

Goucher just ramped up into a pressure defense that gave Catholic total fits.  Plus, the Cardinals went ice cold--open shots, easy shots, tough shots, whatever.  In the second half, they really didn't create much of anything and couldn't get the ball inside.  Goucher had gone small (well, really, that's all they can go) and they just blocked entry passes.  Catholic panicked, got flustered and frustrated. 

The best thing to happen in this game for Goucher was Pierre Jones getting in foul trouble and eventually fouling out.   I know he's got talent and is a decent player, but he was a serious ball hog and threw up all kinds of bad shots.  Once he was out of there, Goucher began to actaully work the clock, set up some nice screens and get some good shots.   Offense flowed much, much better.  You knew Russo was going to heat up, Stolz did a nice job on him for a while  but he's going to get his points.

Trevino's always been a bit of a controversial coach.  It seems like virtually every time he comes into DuFour he get's a T, and frankly he's lucky he was around for this entire game because he was damn close to getting two.  Today, it worked.  It fired his team up.   He barks on every single call.  Truly, there's not a call against Goucher than he thinks is legit.  Never mind that Goucher got a ton of calls in this game, didn't matter, he's going to bark.  But, I guess each crew has a different tolerance, and especially early in the season, his team responded.

We had talked a little bit on here about the third scoring option for Catholic.  Up until today, they've had at least one other player besides Dwyer and Fumai step up into double digits.  Today, didn't happen.  Papageorge was ice cold, Wasilenko couldn't get involved in the scoring.  And, there's no other way to say it, Fumai was just off.  1-11 from 3.  It happens.  He's a great shooter, everybody knows that, but today it just wouldn't fall for him.  Dwyer got his points--22 & 10 rebounds, but with Fumai having a bad game, there just wasn't enough.

Well, I'll tell you, Catholic goes to Marymount Wed and that's going to be tough.  Marymount gets way up to play CUA.  Based on what I've seen so far, I'm inclined to think that today was just one of those games--they were sort of due for one--but they're going to have to play well to beat the Saints in their gym. 

Goucher was really pumped up after this game (act like you been there before guys!) but I can understand that--they were way down and just about dead and pulled out a win, and a lot of those guys haven't done much winning lately.  So, we'll see them up at SRC, with revenge on the Cardinals mind. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Lincoln putting up 201; Goucher coming from 18 back to beat CUA at the SRC South; and UCLA upsetting USC... what a weekend .

I actually started to post another post... and accidently deleted (not sure I like the new IE 7 - debatable). Anyway, this won't be as well put together since I am not in the mood to try and retype everything.

I didn't see a boxscore from the CUA/GOU game, but did read the CUA release. Very interesting it came down to Goucher's defense (which has been better this year, but not good enough just yet) and CUA free-throw shooting. If someone told me that the game would come down to that before hand, I would have told you that CUA would win.

After what Goucher went through last year its hard to believe they competed like they did to get one from Catolic.  I think the conference is between 4 squads, York, Salisbury, Catholic, and Mary Wash with Salisbury being the favorite.

Ah... don't look at Goucher's season last year and use it to compare to this year. This is team does not even come close to fitting the mold of a 3-and whatever team still struggling this year. They are not going to be 20-8 or anything, but they are not going to be at the bottom of the CAC pile this year. They are very deep this year and the return of Pierre Jones and Cameron Brown certainly help. Not to mention the fact that while they have a lot of freshmen (6), one is a red-shirt and some of the others are not really phased by the game (though they will make their young mistakes). Goucher is going to maybe battle for a home-court game... but will most likely travel in the first round again this year.

I think the conference is between 4 squads, York, Salisbury, Catholic, and Mary Wash with Salisbury being the favorite.

Just because Salisbury beat York doesn't mean they win the conference this year. I have seen Salisbury play two games so far this year (at the Maryland tournament) - researched the rest - and will soon see them in a fourth. If they play as a team (like they seemed to have today), they are one of the toughest teams in the conference/region. But if they get individualistic (i.e. Ray Williams), they will go no where. Ray is a good player, but he tends to take too many shots, especially when he is cold, and seems to forget he has four other teammates on the floor. In five of seven games this young season, Williams has shot .600 or worse (4 of 7 below .500). In those seven, most were games they should have won (thus their record). York and JHU would probably be the two games I would argue they were the underdog going in (1-1 in those). In the game against JHU, Williams shot 10-28 after shooting horribly the night before against McDaniel (2-11). He wouldn't stop shooting. So, if any team out there is smart... let him shoot! He misses everything from threes to layups. Make him beat you by hitting everything he puts up. Right now, that isn't a bad idea... in five of seven games... he hasn't hurt another team. So... let him shoot... and shut everyone else down. Salisbury maybe is in the top-four... but my early favorite to win the CAC... UMW!

I have planned to write up my usually early season thoughts on the conference... but keep getting delayed. I will try and get to it next week... but conference action has already shown what I thought was going to happen this year. Wide open with no clear favorite. Here are my other quick thoughts on each team (in alphabetical order):
- Catholic is truely going to get tested this year - first true idea how Coach Howes will do at CUA. A poster said the five seniors were ready to step up. Well, they all should have stepped up last year... this year is for them to play as a unit... I think they will struggle
- Gallaudet has lost too much and will finish last
- Goucher is better with plenty of play makers, but probably a just above .500 conference season
- Hope will make waves, but finish near the bottom
- Marymount, who knows... we would know a lot more if their SID office paid attention to the men's team as much as the women's team. However, the men's team will struggle since I just don't think that program has found the talent to bring it to the top.
- Mary Washington is going to quietly lead the CAC this year - have plenty of talent and leadership and is just going to get the job done
- Salisbury is once again a tough team, but will lose plenty of games by not playing as a team
- St. Mary's is a very inconsistent team - will go only as far as their maturity and thier coach's patience
- York is going to deal with growing pains, but will battle for a top spot because of McGowan, Kelley, Yeck, and Zerfing

Just some quick thoughts!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Matt - a couple of thoughts that you made that I had to reply to because they were either very interesting... or funny.

Catholic panicked, got flustered and frustrated. 

Very interesting... and could be the Cardinals achilles (sp?) heal all season.

The best thing to happen in this game for Goucher was Pierre Jones getting in foul trouble and eventually fouling out.   I know he's got talent and is a decent player, but he was a serious ball hog and threw up all kinds of bad shots.  Once he was out of there, Goucher began to actaully work the clock, set up some nice screens and get some good shots.   Offense flowed much, much better.  You knew Russo was going to heat up, Stolz did a nice job on him for a while  but he's going to get his points.

This is a first for this season. I have seen plenty of Goucher basketball this year and have seen them struggle when Jones is on the bench. He may "hog" a bit, but when teams double-down he will find the open player. Jones didn't start against York and Goucher got off to a rough start. When Jones got into the game, Goucher actually got back into the game (York proved to be too much in the end). As for Russo - glad to see he had a hot night. He has been on the verge of having a hot night and it usually leads to a run of a couple of games - we shall see how long it will last this time .

Trevino's always been a bit of a controversial coach.  It seems like virtually every time he comes into DuFour he get's a T, and frankly he's lucky he was around for this entire game because he was damn close to getting two.  Today, it worked.  It fired his team up.   He barks on every single call.  Truly, there's not a call against Goucher than he thinks is legit.  Never mind that Goucher got a ton of calls in this game, didn't matter, he's going to bark.  But, I guess each crew has a different tolerance, and especially early in the season, his team responded.

Matt - this sounds like every CUA fan ( ) and a former CUA coach that I once knew well. Barking at refs on every call, thinking a team isn't getting the calls the team deserves, etc. that has been CUA in a nutshell over the year  . The funnier thing... I heard the same from several Salisbury and York fans recently as well (quick comment, why in the world did York fans want hand-checking fouls to be called with less than 30 seconds in the game when the team was up 15-plus against Goucher? You had to know no ref in the world is going to stop the game when the game is over).

Goucher was really pumped up after this game (act like you been there before guys!) but I can understand that--they were way down and just about dead and pulled out a win, and a lot of those guys haven't done much winning lately.  So, we'll see them up at SRC, with revenge on the Cardinals mind. 

At least you understand where this team has come from. They haven't had that kind of game in years and some really haven't been there before . We welcome you to the DuFour Center North in January... should be interesting .

[Matt Letourneau]

Dave--

Appreciate your sharing your thoughts, as always.   Catholic getting flustered surprised me a little bit today, actually, because so far this season they've been absolutely clutch.  I'm not sure how much you've followed the Cardinals, but this is a team that was down 11 with under 8 to go at Albright.  This is a team that blew a big lead against Scranton at Scranton then pulled away for a 10 point win.  This is a team that was down for 38 minutes against St Marys and won.  These guys have shown a ton of poise so far.  Today, they got hit with a level of pressure they weren't used to and got away from their offense.

I think Howes proved himself plenty last year...he had a lot to deal with.  Lets just say that last year's seniors were in a different place than this year's group.  Last year, they were dangerously close to tanking and having a very "un-Catholic" like season, he turned it around and got them a CAC title.  Now, the lack of a junior class makes things interesting--he's got 5 seniors and then pretty much all "green" players.  But he's using the freshman extensively, and they're a very talented group. 

Jones took some absolutely horrible shots today, early in the shot clock too.  He's obviously got good talent, but he shouldn't be taking defended turn around jumpers with 20 seconds on the shot clock. 

Coach wise--hey, it worked for him today.  But he was worse than Lonergan on Mike's worst day.  I think its a lousy strategy because when you do have a legitimate beef, nobody will listen.   I think you expect a coach to work the refs, but...some calls just shouldn't be argued. 

There is a decent shot that I won't be making the trip this year---the game is scheduled for two days before our baby's due date!  I'm trying to get in as many games as I can now, because I will have to take a sabbatical later in the year!

Right now, if I had to sort of rank the CAC, I'd put MW, Salisbury and CUA at the top, put York as sort of a solid fourth by themselves, Goucher, SMC and Hood fight for 5-7, and Gally solidly in last.  I can't judge within those groups--Goucher's got some big size problems, SMC should be better than they're playing, for no other reason than Alex Irmer is a big talent in this league, and Hood I just don't know well enough.

[unreallawns]

Please let Ray Williams shoot and good luck shutting down his counter parts.  Salisbury will be competing for the number one spot this year.  He didn't have a great tourney at Goucher.  Alot of the misses Ray had against JHU was when they got down and had to press to get back in the game.  He definitly has spurts where he presses to score but hopefully those spurts will dwindle as the season goes on.  When you are one of the two top options and run the type of offense SU does, you are going to get alot of shots.  SU will be just fine.

[mwgoonie]

Comment on the CAC POY debate, just 2 conference games into the season, I agree that Baker from MW will most likely end up being short handed in POY voting come the end of the season due to the "balanced team" aspect like other boardies have said. Which would bring up our yearly debate of: best player (regardless of team standing) or best player from the best team (or top two, etc.). Oh well too early to tell but I must rather hang a CAC banner in Goolrick than have a trophy for Baker.

[manofgor24]

Salisbury will be the team to beat imo.  They have 2 4 year gaurds, 2 fresh faces who have been contributing, and the most improved player in the league in ozi menakaya.  With decent bench play, they will be hard to beat on any given night.  The only way they should lose a game in conference this year is if they lose it themselves.  Hands down best team in the league.  4th year with the creighton offense and it is finally paying off. 8)

[njlincolnlion]

Congratulations Seagulls on the win aganist York.