MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[mwcsid]

It helps gain interest when there's a home game to comment on... UMW has only had TWO so far this year, and the women have only had three. So, I suspect there will be a rise in interest, especially with some ideas we will implement in the home games this semester (can anyone say halfcourt shot for free tuition???)

[mwgoonie]

Is this offer retro active, cuz Sallie Mae is breathing down my neck about student loans.
Also, can i hire E. Rodriguez to shot for me?

[MuMu]

"MuMu's predictions are pretty awful" I must say have not been the best, hopefully they will get better Matt!

Mu with a win against a bible school, will take it! With Mr.Diamond back in the line up hopefully personal my predictions will get above 500.

CUA seems like they have to be a leader for winning the conf! You have to add they Mu will beat them the next game that is played. All you CUA fans in your mind are adding that L during the preseason.

MWG students have trouble getting up for class let alone post on d3hoops, come on, The sallie Mae post i understand you on that one

[Matt Letourneau]

Well, here we go, I sparked something, anyway.

Uhh, I don't think Marymount's beating  Catholic at CUA.  Let's just say I'd be REALLY surprised.  I don't know what L during the preseason you are referring to.

Good to see a Hood fan.  They ARE impressive.  Very impressive.   It will be very interesting to see if Catholic can beat them on the road.  They're doing a lot of things differently now than they were when they played Hood the first time.  I know Dickman is a good coach and they are a disciplined team. 

Well, I'm glad that we all agree that the main problem around here is that I'm simply not complaining about officiating enough.  That's something I can rectify.  Unfortunately, Catholic's got this crazy schedule over the next two weeks--at Salisbury, home against Gally, then at Mary Wash, at SMC and at Goucher all in one week! (Tues/Thurs/Sat).  So, I won't be seeing much of them.  And that takes us to my wife's due date....

I do want to get into the Fumai-McGown POY discussion though when I have  few minutes.  The long and short of it is that I think Scott deserves the award so far, and nothing I saw head to head changes my opinion.  McGowan's a great player--and I think he'll be a mortal lock for next year--but Scott is capable of killing you in ways that Chad can't.  When the shot clock is running down, and you have nothing, you can't kick the ball out to McGowan for a 3 with a hand in his face.  But that's what Fumai does to people.  Against York, he absolutely broke their back--the Spartans would play great defense for 33 seconds, then Catholic would get the ball to Scott for a long 3 with somebody in his face that he'd hit.  Same thing with pull up jumpers. 

When you look at his position, and the type of rebounding numbers he's putting up, I think it becomes an even more compelling case.  McGowan got outperformed by Stephen Wheeler, who is not even one of the top 2 players on CUA (Wheels 19-10, McGowan 14-3).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hey Matt... sorry for not posting. I assure you do read this post room and MANY others on a daily basis... but the television business has been very busy recently... been also busy debating/considering my career path... oh, and don't forgot that radio show I thought would be a good idea!!!

Anyway... this season has turned into one of the more "equal" seasons in terms of the conference from top to bottom... I have seen in years! As good as UMW is... Hood is up there competing. As inconsistent Salisbury has played... Catholic certainly hasn't been up to their usual toughness. This along with the big win by one team... followed by the same team losing in a big win for another team... and this year's season has certainly been a head scratcher.

Unfortunetly, this "coming together" of the conference is not a sign of better teams... unfortunetly, I would say while some of gotten better... the top teams over the last few seasons have come back to the middle.

Now... Hood is the very pleasent surprise of the season. I certainly thought they would do well... but didn't think they would finish better than sixth. However, they have the capability to finish first or second in their first season in the CAC. If anything... it sends a major warning sign to the rest of the conference when Goucher and Catholic leave... Hood could be leading the way for the CAC (and don't forget Villa Julie, they will be good as well).

As for the POY debate (which I loth!)... your forgetting two players that I think are worthy of entering this debate.
- Justin Baker of Mary Washington and Jesse Gutekunst and Ryan Junghans of Hood

First off, I am NOT a believer that the POY is awarded only to seniors... so that would allow the likes of the McGowans and the Gutekunsts to enter the fray.
Secondly, as well as Fumai and McGowan are playing... Gutekunst, Junghans, and Baker are leading their teams to the top of the conference.
Thirdly, I mention two Hood players because while Junghans is leading the team in points... Gutekunst is second in points and easily the leader in rebounds (2nd in the CAC).
Finally... as much as I think Ray Williams hurts his team with his style of play at times... he is the leading scorer in the conference and Salisbury is having a rather good season (though it should be MUCH better).

Other things to ponder:
- Hood leads the league in scoring offense (75.5) and is third in scoring defense (67.3)... while second (behind CUA) in scoring margin (+8.1)
- Hood is also #1 in offensive field goal percentage (.471)  and #1 in defensive field goal percentage (.384)
- Goucher has one of the most dangerous three-point shooters (Russo - most made per game)... but ranks the lowest 3 point percentage in the league (.307 - Russo ranks eighth overall in percentage at .426)
- Mary Washington is the only team averaging in double-figures for three-pointers made in a game (12.69)
- Catholic is leading the league in both offensive (39.5/game) and defensive rebounding average (33.5/game)
- St. Mary's is the best free throw shooting team (.682)... but is in the bottom three of scoring offense (70.5 points/game - St. Mary's is also second to last in scoring defense at 73.8 points/game).
- There are FIVE players in the CAC right now... averaging 20 points per game - while there is just one player averaging double-digits in rebounding.

[Matt Letourneau]

I was just messing, D-Mac.  I figured you still are keeping track of things.

I was more lamenting the lack of discussion on here--something which has changed in the last couple of days.  So that's a good thing.

I do want to respond to your comments...lots of good points. 

I wouldn't agree that Catholic hasn't been up to their usual toughness though---I think 11-2 is right on track.  Sure, they had a bad loss to Goucher, but...what do you want? They just blew out three quality teams in a row...their Massey rating is now 36.  Most Catholic "watchers' would tell you that right now, this team is better than last year's which won the CAC....

Anyway, I agree 100% about Hood...

[mwcsid]

Dave, what do you think of the rest of the region? It looks like Alvernia and Hopkins have 0 and 1 loss in region, but everyone else in the entire region has two or more, including CUA and UMW, so it seems like more parity across the board, not just in the CAC.

PS - Won't see me tomorrow, I'll be manning the laptop from home. 8)

[Pat Coleman]

Goonie: You're just over halfway there. You gotta make more than 60 posts a year, man.

[MuMu]

 York with out McGowan is at the bottom of the CAC. No predictions here, but that would be my pick.

Hopefully Mu will give me something to write about tonight after a day at the DMV and Megans Bay Beach

[mwgoonie]

Pat, I'll have to start making it to more games but thats a fair enough challenge.

Dave, I would agree. POY discussions usually dominate this board toward the end of the regular season. I guess I'm more out of the loop than normal as MW has a more balanced attack. Baker is phenomenal.

Matt, good luck with a baby on the way. Are we going to seeing more posts about your wife's "officiating" in the coming months?

[ycp]

Live Stats for tonight's York - MU game

http://faculty.ycp.edu/~sguise/mbb/xlive.htm

Stats should go live about five minutes prior to tip.

[hoodfan]

 I know I'm new in following the CAC, but I believe Junghans and Gutekunst from Hood will get some consideration for player of the year honors if they continue as they have been. Gutekunst hurts teams in a lot of ways, but maybe his best asset is his ability to pass the ball, especially if he's double teamed. Junghans benefits from that a lot, but Ryan is a very good shooter, and he can also put the ball on the floor and get layups and medium range jump shots. I'll get to see York and Hood on Sat. I'm anxious to see McGowan play against them. I think the league is pretty balanced from what I've seen so far, but I have not seen everybody. Sometimes it comes down to how individual teams match up.

[cugrad]

Catholic is playing much better of late compared to their efforts prior to Christmas break. Both Waz and Stoltz have been much more productive at the guard position. Dwyer and Fumai have been consistently good. Popageorge has also contributed at both ends of the court in recent games. Olivero has been solid off the bench. Additionally, the Cards have done a great job protecting the ball. However, with the emergence of Wheeler as a dominate big man, the Cards have lifted their game to a much higher level. They are definitely not the same team they were prior to break. Unfortunately, with home losses to Goucher and Hood, they have dug themselves in a bit of a hole. With the balance that appears to exist, the Cards are going to have a very difficult time climbing to the top of the league. They will have to win some tough road matches - beginning with tonight's game in Salisbury.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

mwcsid - going to miss you tonight... was looking forward to seeing you (since there won't be any fans - no students!).

As for the region... yeah... there is certainly more parity all over... but I don't think its a sign of conferences getting better. To be honest... I think the Mid-Atlantic has taken a step backwards as a region. There are certainly some top teams that will probably represent well in the tourney... but nobody stands out as a terrific team. JHU has two losses this season... one was a thumping by Mississippi College and the other was a bad and strange loss to Haverford. Alvernia certainly looks good with their 10-2 record... but I don't see any great wins on that schedule. They have an easy win over F&M... but F&M is no where near as good as they have been in the past. And Alvernia's two losses this season, while out of conference and out of region, are not exactly against very quality programs.

Sadly, the Mid-Atlantic is just not that great a region these days. I would rank it sixth of seventh out of the eight regions - from top to bottom. Heck, JHU is the only team ranked in the Top 25 from the Mid-Atlantic region and Catholic is the only other team to receive votes (one to be exact). Makes you wonder why UMW couldn't get some votes... but also shows you where this region truely ranks!

One other thought about Hood... does anyone remember Junghans was on St. Mary's (I believe) roster last year... yet was buried on the bench?! Things that make you go... hmm!

Finally... I will once again be providing score updates throughout the game via the Scoreboard. You can also listen to the game thanks to Goucher College Radio.

[bbsquared]

UMW is now up 21 with 4 1/2 minutes to go at Goucher.. It is now 83-55 with 16 3 pointers for the Eagles thus far. The Gophers were hurt badly by a technical called on their coach for arguing a foul call with a minute left in the first half and the Eagles hit all four FT that ensued.