MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[unreallawns]

Salisbury should be very tough this year.  They will probably have the most talented and experienced backcourt and they have added some size this year as well.

[kitchenrat]

I have to admit, I am surprised York got any votes in the preseason Top 25. I know it was only 31 votes, but I didn't think they would get any not to mention the most of any CAC team.

[bisonpride]

Here's the recap and boxscore of Marymount-George Mason pre-season exhibition game last night.

http://gomason.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/110106aaa.html

George Mason Patriots led 45-19 by half time on way to 84-48 victory over Marymount Saints.

[ycp]

Just a little link of interest for one of this board's favorite whipping boys.....

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/aztecs/20061101-9999-1s1aztecs.html


By the way, welcome back to all. Let's get the hoops started!!

[muchacho]

Just a little link of interest for one of this board's favorite whipping boys.....

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/aztecs/20061101-9999-1s1aztecs.html


By the way, welcome back to all. Let's get the hoops started!!

Wasting your own talent is such an awful thing to do to yourself.

[Matt Letourneau]

What a shock.

He's actually very lucky that the reporter out there either didn't do his homework, or chose not to print, Habel's history. 

It is a shame to waste talent.  Habel's to blame, but he's hardly alone.  There have been far too many enablers along the way that made him who he is.  Its a shame that an institution in this conference was one of them.

Well, on a cheerier note, Catholic heads up to Baltimore tonight to play D1 Loyola.  Loyola's coming off a much improved (winning) season and should provide great competition for the Cardinals.  The Greyhounds are coached by CUA alum Jimmy Patsos, who was an assistant to Gary Williams at Maryland before taking the Loyola job.

[Matt Letourneau]

Catholic held its own against D1 Loyola in Baltimore, losing 85-67.  Cards kept the deficit under 20 virtually the entire game. 

I liked what I saw from Fumai and Dwyer tonight.  They played like they knew they were the leaders of the team and it was up to them to make something happen.  Fumai had 15, and Dwyer had 22--and in an even better sign, was 10-12 from the FT line.  CUA got some nice minutes from their freshman.  I was particularly impressed wtih guard Brendon Hager, who played some really nice defense, scored 8 points and made some nice passes under pressure.   Loyola ran a trap on Catholic most of the second half which was great practice.  They  handled it well---Catholic was +7 in turnovers.  Got outrebounded -11, but that's just a D3/D1 issue more than anything else. They were aggressive about taking the ball to the basket and shot more foul shots than Loyola.

Loyola's a decent D1 team and they had a hot transfer from Providence that was on fire--scored 29 points. This kid actually played at PC too--averaged 7.1 ppg.  There wasn't much Catholic could do to stop him, and that was pretty much the game.  However, there's really no talent like that in D3...let alone the CAC...so I'm pretty encouraged by what I saw tonight.

I should note that the SID situation at Catholic is so vastly improved that there's already a game story up:
http://www.cuacardinals.com/sports/mbkb/2006-07/news/11306_exhibition

[muchacho]

Matt...the new SID is doing a great job. Its unbelievable that Catholic couldn't find anybody to do a decent job with that for the last 3 or 4 years.

Couldn't make it to Loyola for the exhibition, so thanks for the rundown. From the boxscore, it was interesting to note that Wheeler did not start but came off the bench. That left Catholic with just one post player(Dwyer) in the starting lineup. I take that as a sign that the freshman big guys aren't ready.

I think Fumai and Dwyer are locks as starters. There will probably be a lot of lineup experimenting going on this year with all of the young guys fighting to establish themselves.

[Matt Letourneau]

Yeah, I didn't get there for the beginning so I didn't see it.  They did play small for a while, and Loyola was much bigger.  Interestingly, the defense was still pretty decent because they were forcing turnovers.  I think Quinn will probably see the most playing time from the post freshman--he didn't really show up in the box score but he looked pretty good out there. Catholic was -12 in the paint but Loyola barely got over a third of their points there. 

Dwyer was extremely aggressive.  Unusually so.  Lots of drives, etc.  I hope that continues. 

I'm sure they will be playing around with who is getting time.  Its wide open--guys that work hard in practice are going to earn playing time at this point.  I think they realize it and I've heard lots of positive things about how its been going.

[Pat Coleman]

Matt...the new SID is doing a great job. Its unbelievable that Catholic couldn't find anybody to do a decent job with that for the last 3 or 4 years.

Perhaps new management brings new priorities.

[muchacho]

Perhaps new management brings new priorities.

Is that a swipe at Bob Talbot? I like Mike Allen. Having some new blood in the system definitely helps to get change going. After working at a DI program, I'm sure he has high expectations. Bob Talbot is a life-long Catholic U. guy. Its great to keep people on who are loyal to the program, but it leads to complacency sometimes.

[alum]

New management gets new money.  It was not lack of effort that prevented CUA getting the right fit for the SID job;  it was the lack of budget.  It took Mike Allen a year to get it, and it is only because other senior members of the Athletic Dept. staff have departed that $$$$ became available to hire an SID w/updated skills. 

It is ALWAYS about funding, not priorities at Catholic.  Remember, the people who work there have to afford living in the Washington D.C. area:  not Salisbury, not York, PA, not even Stafford County.  If CUA had the $$$, Clark and Favret would still be coaching football there! 

As to Bob Talbot -- please, don't even think about cheap shots on this board.  Without Talbot, Lonergan would never have been around long enough to bring home the National Championship.  Bob Talbot was the McGyver of D3 sports . . . .using a ball of string, 3 rubber bands and a mirror to create an athletic department that makes CUA competitive in lots of sports.  He also got the $$$ that paid for the new multi-purpose field that is new this year. 

I am pretty sure that one of Bob Talbot's biggest fans is Mike Allen.  Without that field, all of CUA's fall teams would have been recruiting good "mudders".

[Pat Coleman]

Don't get me wrong, I worked for the old management. The old management admitted me to the school and gave me my first full-time (overtime, really) job after graduation. I'm just pointing out that there's new management and things have changed.

[bbsquared]

Mary Washington's posted a roster with 17 players

http://athletics.umw.edu/mb07roster.htm

6 are freshmen

I noticed last night that the UMW roster is down to 14. Will any of the attrition affect their strength? I'm not even sure who dropped off the roster.

[Matt Letourneau]

It shouldn't be a surprised to any of us who watched him coach, but what a performance by former CUA coach Mike Lonergan last night.  His Vermont team crushed #14 Boston College 77-63.  Just a harbinger of things to come in his D1 career.