MBB: City University of New York Athletic Conference

[knight_life]

So what your saying is that City Tech just came up a short against Baruch!

[Rhodes Scholar]

Yeah, I guess you could say they came up a bit short against Baruch.

Does your tag have anything to do with Queens College?

[CityD3]

brooklyn college drops a conference home gameagainst john jay?!?!?!?! With CUNY player of the year weismuller, these losses should not happen. brooklyn has to be the clear cut favorite to win the conference, on paper at least. Coach podias finally has the talent to do it, butthey continue to like the same old bridges. they got a big game comin up against the north division leader baruch on saturday.

[knight_life]

Rhodes, it does not have anything to do with Queens College, actually I have no CUNYAC affiliation, but this board has been hot lately so I decided to chime in.

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How is Brooklyn the clear cut winner on paper? Because they have Weismuller? You take someone who just transferred schools mid-season because he wasn't happy with his coach or the team's production and you think that an attitude like that is not going to affect Brooklyn and any sort of chemistry they already had going? This is the risk you run when adding a player mid season. Just like in the NBA, you trade for a guy in February, it usually hurts the team more than helps because there's no chemistry with that new player and the already existing ones. Especially since he played at one school less than a month ago.

I also enjoy people calling Baruch the North Division leader, they are only in first place at the moment because they have played more games than Hunter. I think the more important game at the moment for Brooklyn will be when they host City Tech on the 18th, if they lose again to the Yellow Jackets, they could be heading down a rough road, and let's face it, if they start losing, you might see Weismuller looking to transfer to York or City Tech down the road.

[Rhodes Scholar]

I don't think any team is a clear-cut favorite--on paper or otherwise. There's simply way too much parity this year. One night [fill in the blank] looks unbeatable and the next night they lose to a team that you were sure they'd beat.

[swingO]

 I agree with Rhodes because there is parity all over the Conference and John Jay added two good players in Desir and Garcia who played huge roles in John Jay's win at Brooklyn. It was Sean Weismuller's first game with Brooklyn and he fouled out in less than 20 minutes. It looks like Weismuller has a ways to go to fit into Coach Podias' all out defensive pressure system, because the Bridges seemed to drop back the pressure when he was in the game vs. John Jay. There may be a lot of truth to what knight says about incorporating new players in mid-stream no matter how good the chemistry is.

[knight_life]

Exactly, way too much parity. This is starting to look like the CUNYAC Men's Soccer season where pretty much any team could win on any night. Didn't know about John Jay's additions, but it seems a majority of the school's have made a couple of new additions for the second semester. We've seen their debut help John Jay to a win, we've seen Weismuller's debut end up in an early exit, all that is left now is the debut of Smith tonight when Hunter hosts Staten Island.

Hopefully in the end, we will all benefit from some competitive games and help bring some excitement to CUNYAC Basketball, not just aggravation for who is suiting for who.

[D3HOOPSCOOP]

can somebody tell me what the heck is going on here?

The Weismuller-less Dolphins take down the Hunter Hawks with the supposed savior Marlon Smith, the highly touted D1 transfer?

Are the Dolphins really better off without Weismuller? Is he perhaps the most overrated player in the region? Because let's face it folks, if your 6'8 265 pounds and are playing in the CUNY, a weak DIVISION III, school... you aren't THAT good, because if you were, you would be playing somewhere alot better than knicky knack schools such as CSI and now Brooklyn.

And are the Hunter Hawks now pretenders?

[Rhodes Scholar]

I watched CSI beat Hunter, 80-74, this evening. It was a competitive game between two evenly matched teams. The game was close from the start and featured a fair number of lead changes. It could have gone either way but the Dolphins were more focused done the stretch and managed to hit some big shots when they needed to.

Gari Blackett (18 pts) put in a very solid effort repeatedly scoring inside and rebounding well. Hunter tried numerous defenders against him (as well as a zone) but none managed to contain him. Robert Mesjasz (24 pts) also had a sterling performance and was virtually unstoppable in the second half.

Malcolm Kelly (18 pts) played very well for Hunter. He is extremely athletic and is scoring both in the open court and in the half court offense as well. Plus, his shot selection is improving, although he still occasionally forces the issue. Joe DeLuca (17 pts) also played well and was not hindered by foul trouble, which has plagued him in the past.

And of course let's not forget the D3 debut of Marlon Smith, the former All-City point guard out of Molloy. Smith played about 24 minutes and appeared to be in good shape. According to my unofficial stats, he shot 5-10 from the floor and finished with 13 points. He is a good ballhandler and made some good passes. His defense was pretty good as well. On offense he shot five three's and made two of them. He also hit a couple of pull-up jumpers as well. It's way too early to say how his addition will impact Hunter and the CUNYAC in general.

By the way, Smith is a senior. He played two years at Penn State and one year at Robert Morris-Chicago (NAIA 1).  

[knight_life]

The Hawks are far from pretenders. If you look at the box, Smith did not start the first and second halves, so it is obvious that Coach Plevritis was looking to keep his team chemistry together by not giving the new guy a ton of minutes. From what I have heard, Smith looked great, but the Hawks came out flat to open both halves and Dodd's shooting slump continues to plague the team along with some selfish play from their young point guards.

This could be the case of a team with everything to prove and nothing to lose taking out a team that just wasn't ready to play. No fault, but the player's for that loss. However, a reversal of roles, if you look at the women's scores, the 2-10 Hawks almost beat the unbeaten Dolphins. So when it comes down to it, you never know, but it was obvious the Hawks men's team was caught off guard tonight and CSI pulls out a big win. The South Division is all knotted up now, and I'm sure everyone will look at Baruch as pulling away in the North, but I wouldn't count Hunter out yet, if Smith can get on track with the rest of the team and if Dodd pulls out of this slump, they will be a very dangerous team to be messed with.

[Rhodes Scholar]

D3HOOPSCOOP: I wouldn't draw any conclusions regarding CSI, Hunter, Brooklyn, Weismuller, and Smith from one or two games. No one knows what kind of results will occur as a consequence of these roster changes. It may turn out that, in the end, things stay pretty much the same.

knight_life: You're right about Dodd being in a shooting slump. His stroke seems to have deserted him. He's been very inconsistent as has Millien. Some games Millien is a monster inside and other games (like tonight) he disappears.   

[knight_life]

I have noticed that with Millien, the games like tonight's where he seems nonexistent, he is in foul trouble early. Dodd has been struggling his last couple of games, it appears since the Lehman game, I guess it's just like with a baseball player and a hitting slump. No one really knows how it happened, but appears to be something that could take time to get out of.

I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's match up between Baruch and Brooklyn. Also, York made easy work of City Tech tonight, I guess City Tech's win over Brooklyn would be considered a fluke now, although Brooklyn did only play seven guys in that game. Talk about parity in the league.

Not to keep going back to Hunter, but I would think in an odd twist with their schedule, they won't play Baruch until the 25th, which could be an interesting match up if Baruch continues to excel and if Hunter gets back on track after their games against Medgar and Lehman, especially if Smith starts to really heat up and create opportunities for guys like Ciarleglio who put up one of his best performances since the departure of Mr. Bernard last season. The "Battle of Lexington" could be an interesting series this year.

[Rhodes Scholar]

Here are the CUNYAC standings:

Baruch 4-1
York 4-2
Brooklyn 3-2
CSI 3-2
Hunter 3-2
City Tech 3-3
John Jay 3-3
CCNY 2-3
Lehman 2-3
Medgar Evers 0-5

As knight_life mentioned the big game today is Baruch @ Brooklyn. It'll be interesting to see how Baruch handles Brooklyn's nonstop defensive pressure. Hillaire, Baruch's point guard, is one of the quickest players in the league, but he's only a freshman. Plus, Baruch's front line is not the quickest around. If need be, Rankis can always go to the bench for more quickness and athleticism, but he will sacrifice size in doing so. On the other hand, let's see how Weismuller fits in with Brooklyn's pressing defense. At 6' 8" and 260 lbs, this may be a major problem.

[Rhodes Scholar]

Results from 1/12

Brooklyn 96, Baruch 84
Lehman 77, CCNY 66

CUNYAC Standings

Baruch 4-2
Brooklyn 4-2
York 4-2
CSI 3-2
Hunter 3-2
Lehman 3-3
NYC Tech 3-3
John Jay 2-3
CCNY 2-4
Medgar Evers 0-5

[CityD3]

its true the CUNY is wide open. However, before Weismuller, brooklyn looked like the team to beat. Now that he transfers, he can only help them. They handled baruch pretty easily yesterday. Hunter will come out on top out of the north. Marlon Smith is too good. He was playing Michigan and Indiana two years ago. I don't think he will be intimidated of Baruch during the "Battle on Lexington."