MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[formerDIfan]

I have always been a loyal DI guy and never paid much attention to DIII until a couple of years ago. Since then it has just snowballed. People don't realize what great entertainment DIII and particular the CAC is, especially this year....and its cheap! It's great to see so many people take an interest by posting on this board. I look forward continuing to watch the action and posting well into the tourney......

but for my first post I must say something worth mentioning. I looked at the box score and saw a couple of technicals called throughout the league. In particular 2 against Goucher. In a four point game that's tough....what happened there?

[ycp]

First, what a great college basketball game in York.

The key to the Spartan win was when York went without a field goal for over nine and a half minutes, Catholic wasn't able to put York away. The Spartans led 49-41 with 12:01 left. The Spartans next field goal came when Brad Zerfing drilled a huge three with 2:46 left. Catholic did outscore York 16-3 during the drought but the Spartan defense buckled down and didn't allow the Cardinals to run away and hide.

Catholic is a very good team and showed why they are still one of the teams to beat. I have listened to Matt talk about their young talent but tonight the four senior starters were outstanding and Olivero was the only underclassmen who did anything. He hit a pair of cold-blooded threes in the final minute that kept the contest in doubt until Zerfing hit a free throw with two seconds left. I will be very interested to see how Catholic fares without any of Lonergan's players. Matt, before you jump on me for this, I have seen you team play just one time and tonight, they got nothing (0 points) from the bench. I am sure there are good players on that bench but tonight was not a night where they played very much. I guess we will find out the answer to that question next year.

I know that everyone is getting to the point of talking about player of the year. It's great and certainly I would be very happy if Chad got it. That being said, his progression as a player has been a joy to watch. He took the game over after the Zerfing three and scored seven points in a little over a minute and a half stretch that turned a two-point Spartan deficit into a five point lead. He has continued to grow as a player and continued time after time this year to make big plays for York. His value to the Spartans can not be overstated. Obviously, I am biased and think he should win but stranger things have happend in this league.

As for Catholic, I think Dwyer is one of the more underrated players in the league. I think he is Catholic's best player with Wheeler a close second. They are so athletic and strong that it is very hard to match up with them. Dwyer is a good passer from the high post and Wheeler is one of those rare players that truly does what he is good at without trying to do things he can't. We left him wide open on the perimeter but he didn't fall into the trap of wanting to shoot it. He reversed the ball and dove to the post to receive an entry pass. Fumai is also a good player but he had to really work for his points tonight (6-for-18) and Nate Lankford and Brad Zerfing made him work for everything.

As for the foul shooting discrepency, Matt, it really could have been much worse for you guys. Wheeler and Dwyer are very physical and the number of illegal screens (not called) tonight was staggering. If if was called tighter, the disparity would have been much more pronounced. An eight free throw margin isn't that much and five of those free throws came in the final minute and a half. Overall, the officiating was pretty consistent and equitable. (and yes, I would still feel that way even if we lost).

Another huge aspect of tonight's game was York's work on the glass. They out-rebounded the bigger Catholic squad 45-39 including 21-18 in the second half. At first glance, Pat Kelley's offensive stats don't stand out but his seven boards and work on Dwyer were huge for York.

Anyway, it doesn't get any easier for the team that hasn't had their bye yet as they head to Marymount on Saturday. I really hope the conference can eliminate the three-game weeks late in the season. The student-athletes are run down and more prone to injury when you are playing three games in the span of five days (or four in eight). I understand the need to have two three game weeks since we decided to add the ninth team but there has to be a better way to do it. Just another reason to have just eight teams instead of nine.

I have a feeling the Spartans and Cardinals could be meeting again down the road.

[Pat Coleman]

I have always been a loyal DI guy and never paid much attention to DIII until a couple of years ago. Since then it has just snowballed. People don't realize what great entertainment DIII and particular the CAC is, especially this year....and its cheap! It's great to see so many people take an interest by posting on this board. I look forward continuing to watch the action and posting well into the tourney......

Welcome aboard -- good to see someone come over from the dark side.

[CACsportsnut]

What a game in the Grumbacher tonight

First I want to say that it was my first time ever there, and WOW! what a facility York has at there disposal. Very impressed. Fans were great, was a good bit of Catholic fans there also, just a game that you want to see if your a college basketball fan.

What I noticed:

McGowan solidified his spot as the CAC Player of the Year as he literally grabbed his other teammates and coaches, hitched them to his back, and carried them to the finish line. What a game by this young man. Secondly, Brad Zerfing should be looked at for a All-CAC team. He gave Fumai fits (Along with Nate Lankford) but he also nailed the biggest shot of the game in that three-pointer "ycp" was talking about. He then nailed 3 gritty foul shots to seal the game. This kid is extremely underrated. Thirdly, York has evolved into this team that seems to have more grit and grind then any other team in the CAC. Two games ago, McGowan goes down early in the second half and is gone for the game, and they make a big run to come from behind and defeat Mary Washington at home. That is impressive. Then tonight they lose senior PG Joe Yeck for the whole second half due to injury I guess And come from behind again and win another big game. Nick Brady did a good job of stepping in for the starting role in the second half and taking Yeck's place ( ycp, did you see his one pass in the first half to McGowan?? You have to be licking your lips with having him for another 3 years) Fourthly York plays three freshman, one being Brady, Jeremy Keefer another and I do not know the name of the other... they could be good for years to come with those 3 young'ins, Pat Kelley coming back, Lankford coming back and of course Chad.

For Catholic I think Wheeler solidified himself as an All-CAC pick. He was incredible inside, he has transformed and improved immensly in every game that goes by. Dwyer Has solidfied himself as the catalyst and most important player for Catholic. As he goes, Catholic goes, when he woke up, Catholic went on a tear. Thirdly, Catholic needs to find a spark plug off of the bench...0 points from your bench? OUCH!! Fourthly, did we maybe overate Fumai a little bit earlier in the year, he is not as consistant anymore.

I have a feeling these two might meet again, and the outcome of the game...might depend on where it is played...or it could depend on the stars for each team, the bench for each them, and the momentum and grit of each team...either way, what a third game it would be.

[MuMu]

York fnas relax a bit with the POY, you also have Baker at MWash did you se his GPA! Thee kid seems polished on and of the court

[Matt Letourneau]

Well the interesting thing is that the bench only took two shots!

Just from looking at the boxscore (you all know I wasn't there), I would guess that the real key for Catholic was not getting anything from their guards.   Looks like Waslienko struggled.  He's developed a nice jump shot that he has a habit of hitting in big spot.  Obviously not last night!

The other thing was 3's!!!! Nobody has mentioned it, but you can't go 3-19 and win the game.  I didn't realize until I looked this morning it was that bad.  So if you don't shoot 3's, you don't get to the line (for whatever reason), and you get outrebounded, well, you are fortunate to have a chance to win in the last minute, aren't you?

[mwgoonie]

The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team shot 59.6% from the floor, and junior Jon Pierce scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Eagles to a 73-62 win over Gallaudet University on Thursday in Washington, DC. The Eagles improve to 14-7 overall and 8-5 in CAC play, and remain one game back in the loss column in the league standings.
The Eagles led, 39-33, at halftime, but Gallaudet started the half with a 10-2 run to take a 43-41 lead in the opening three minutes of the second half. Matt Hale's three pointer regained the lead for UMW, and although the Bison would tie the score three times, and led 55-52 with 7:10 remaining, but the Eagles would respond with a final run to take the eleven point win. Pierce hit a three with 6:46 left to give UMW the lead for good, and Lee scored five points and Baker six in the capping run.
Lee scored 11 points and added 10 rebounds and six assists. Baker added 15 points, going 7-7 from the floor, and adding six rebounds for UMW. The Eagles will host Goucher College at 2 pm on Saturday in another key CAC game.


Wow- some nice stats from Lee and Baker going 7-7 from the floor. Niiiiiiccee.

Let's make it 3 in a row with a win over GOU at goolrick this saturday.
As for who was projected to win the CAC pre-season: I though it was a toss up with my bias landing with MW winning the title. However, YCP  and CUA were just as easily a top pic as well. No one thought Hood would do this. And echoing other's sentiments, without McGowan, YCP would be struggling. That being said:

COY: Dickman, HOOD
POY: McGowan, YCP

As the season is nearing the end, these teams and players have really firmed their grasp on these awards.

Dweyer has always been good and we knew he'd be good for all four years. It took Wheeler more time to develop. Fumai has seemed to drop off as of late.

[kitchenrat]

York fnas relax a bit with the POY, you also have Baker at MWash did you se his GPA! Thee kid seems polished on and of the court

Oh GPA is factored in? Then we better go back and give the last 4 to Brandon Bushey who's working his way to being Dr. Bushey.

POY should be all about what you do on the court. It's not the Baseball Hall of Fame where they take character in to account.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

So, just to recap---all alone, in FIRST place in the CAC....your Catholic University Cardinals.

Well Matt, CUA's stay at the top was short lived, but that's the CAC. The race is still on for Hood, CUA UMW and York to finish on top. This has been a crazy year.

Despite Matt's wishful thinking and creative definition of a tie (), CUA was NEVER in first place. They were a 1/2 game back going into last night's games. They are now a 1 1/2 games back in a tie for third with UMW.

but for my first post I must say something worth mentioning. I looked at the box score and saw a couple of technicals called throughout the league. In particular 2 against Goucher. In a four point game that’s tough….what happened there?

One of the techs was for too many players on the court. Goucher tried to sub before a free-throw attempt... and one of the players on the court decided at the last minute he wasn't the player being subbed for. And just before he tried to step off the court, the ref caught him.
The second was against Coach Trevino. One of the refs we had last night is hands down the worst in the region. The problem, Goucher has had him at least four times this season and he is infamous for changing calls, making calls from 40 feet away, seeing a different game then every other person in the building, and for always saying he either didn't see something or missed the call (he needs to learn to shut up). So... it started working under both Trevino's and Dickman's skin... Leonard just happened to be the one to say too much (I guess). However, the ref in question did not T him up... he was pretty much the reason for some of the frustrations.

Another quick note on this ref... every game I have seen him work at Goucher this season, he has been the head ref on the crew... which is really too bad. This is the same guy who was going to call Gallaudet for a T for too many men on the court... but then changed his mind after ten minutes. He is horrible and really takes away from the games and the players. I honestly believe he needs to be removed!

It's really too bad, because the other two refs last night are 10-times better than this guy and they were just the crew... under this other refs "leadership". I think the other two got stuck in a game where they were trying to ref it fair and square, but had another guy pulling them into a ticky-tack called game.

As for the poster that asked about the tie-breaker... as we do every year... here is a quick description of what happens:
In the event of a tie, no matter the teams, the first criteria is head-to-head match-up.

If a tie still remains, then the results compared to rest of the conference are compared. This starts AT THE TOP of the conference. So, in the event of a tie on top, and since head-to-head is already used, this would skip to the third, fourth, or fifth placed team... and work it's way DOWN the rankings until the tie-breaker is broken.

If a tie STILL remains... I believe it then goes to a coin-flip (the old number-drawn tie-breaker was done away with years ago).

It is WAY to early to even start guessing how a tie-breaker would be worked out with UMW, CUA, YCP, and Hood because these teams haven't even finished facing each other twice.

Hope that helps!

[Matt Letourneau]

Dave--right---I believe i acknowledged that I had erred as soon as it was pointed out.  I just simply didn't do the math on the winning percentage.

Catholic's got three games left--we'll see how they all end up.  They've got Salisbury at home, Gallaudet on the road, and Mary Washington at home.  Three very tough games.  CUA beat Salisbury on the road, but they are a good team and everybody knows what they can do when they want to.  Gallaudet was a House of Horrors last year for Catholic.  I'm praying for a decent crew--out of any game this season and last season, that's the only one I think the officiating directly changed the result on.  Water under the bridge now.  Perhaps the only thing that might help Catholic going in is that they already lost to the Bison.  (Statistically speaking, according to Massey, the biggest upset in all of college basketball this year).  I think the guys might have a little extra motivation.

And then, of course, Mary Wash next weekend.  A lot could be on the line with that game in terms of seeding.  There's even an outside chance, I believe, that they game could be for the top seed.  That should be a great atmosphere. 

I'm hoping Little Patrick is ready for some outings.  If we get the go ahead from the doctor today, we may try to venture out to DuFour tomorrow.  God knows the little guy seems pretty bored around here.  Too bored to sleep, anyway.

[ycp]

Matt,

It seemed like a large percentage of Catholic's threes came late in the shot clock and usually on the move. I don't think Fumai had more than two of his six three attempts where he had a really clean look at it. I would guess that at least four of his attempts were on the move, coming off a screen or having to relocate after a pass. I thought Brad Zerfing and Nate Lankford really made him work all night long.

As I was thinking on the way home, I was surprised that the Catholic guards didn't attack the basket more. Maybe because you have two really good post players, they haven't been doing that this year. As I said before, this is the only time I have seen you guys play this year. Wasilenko had some good looks and did nail a three when the Spartans collapsed on Wheeler in the first half. Dwyer's two shots from threes were good, open shots that just didn't fall. Fazzini had a really good look to tie the game but just couldn't hit it. That's really hard to come of the bench for defensive purposes (I would guess since he subbed in when we had the ball) and then get a chance to tie the game after sitting for most of the game.  Other than Wheeler and Dwyer, there were not too many chances in the lane for CUA. I don't think Fumai had more than two or three shots inside the paint which surprised me a little.

Well, there is some great games left on the schedule so let's buckle up for a wild finish.

[Salem, VA]

can someone explain a tie breaker for home court with a 3 way tie or a possible 4 or 5 team tie you never know this year in CAC's.  You gotta think the Hood vs York game next week could be for home court, if York takes care of business on Saturday which is no easy task. 

Good Luck to all down the strecth

[hoodfan]

former D1fan, I started watching d3 basketball when Coach Dickman started coaching at Hood 4 seasons ago, and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed watching this level of basketball. To me it seems that the players are more in tune to the fundamentals of the game, and I also think the coaching at this level is very solid. I am a Hood fan, but I enjoy watching a lot of the teams that they play against as well. Last season I went to the D3 final four in Salem Va, and I saw some of the best played basketball I've ever seen in my life. Four games (they still play the consolation game at the d3 level) the biggest margin of victory in any game was 4 points. What a great weekend!
Those T's in the Hood-Goucher game were huge, Goucher was leading by 7-9 points and they enabled Hood to cut into the lead and keep the game close at the time.
As far as officiating goes, I'll reference back to an interview I read with  Kevin McHale a few years back. He stated that he thought 3 man officiating was ruining the NBA. In watching a lot of the Hood games this year I am starting to agree that 3 man officiating is overrated. To me you see a lot more ticky tack calls being made that could be let go because there's no clear advantage or disadvantage. Officials proclaim that 3man gives you better coverage of the floor which I don't dispute, I just don't agree that you have to call so much when it has no bearing on the play.
Also I've noticed that there are a lot of calls that get made from far away when another official is standing closer to the play. I don't think any schools in the CAC teams have a home court advantage because of the officials, I would just like to see the players get the opportunity to play a little more, and not see so many games turned into Free throw shooting contests.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

can someone explain a tie breaker for home court with a 3 way tie or a possible 4 or 5 team tie

Salem - going to reinsert my comments on this... someone (and I will try later) is going to have to break this down... but with over a week left of basketball there are SO MANY variables... this could be impossible to try and cover them all.

As for the poster that asked about the tie-breaker... as we do every year... here is a quick description of what happens:
In the event of a tie, no matter the teams, the first criteria is head-to-head match-up.

If a tie still remains, then the results compared to rest of the conference are compared. This starts AT THE TOP of the conference. So, in the event of a tie on top, and since head-to-head is already used, this would skip to the third, fourth, or fifth placed team... and work it's way DOWN the rankings until the tie-breaker is broken.

If a tie STILL remains... I believe it then goes to a coin-flip (the old number-drawn tie-breaker was done away with years ago).

It is WAY to early to even start guessing how a tie-breaker would be worked out with UMW, CUA, YCP, and Hood because these teams haven't even finished facing each other twice.

And Matt... I wasn't making my comments to you... but to the poster who quoted you and apparently thought himself that CUA was in first. Don't worry, I know you apologized... thus my "".

[bbsquared]

I was quite aware of the standings, so sorry for poking fun at one of our posters. Thank you for keeping us all straight.