MBB: City University of New York Athletic Conference

[Danny Weismuller]

Does anyone have a 1st round upset prediction?

I'm think NYC tech or Hunter probably have the best chance to upset.  I can't see BC or Baruch losing their first round game.

I also don't think their is a dark horse like last year who will come out of the bottom seeds to win the tourney, possibly NYC tech but they had a winning record in the conference so i don't know how much of surprise they would be.

Player of the Year: I think has to be Baptiste. I don't know if Baruch has one stand-out player who could be named POY.
Rookie of the Year:  I guess you could put Amil John, Jordan Young, James Abrams in the mix.
Coach of the Year: Also i don't know if their is a clear cut winner. Of course it would be one of the top 4 teams coach. I would probably give it to Rankis or Podias.

Anyone else have any thoughts? 

[Rhodes Scholar]

Rankis should be a lock for coach of the year simply because Baruch finished the regular season undefeated. I don't remember that ever happening before. Even when Hunter went to the Elite Eight in '98 they lost one game to York in the regular season.

Baptiste should win player of year with Ensonwune, Hall, Kunkel and Phillip not too far behind.

As far as Baruch goes, they are the team to beat. Kunkel is all-conference, Bader can be dominating, Farid is solid and Hilaire is much improved over last year. Plus the Bearcats have the best chemistry and a good mix of veterans and younger players.

I don't know if Brooklyn is stumbling a bit, but the Bridges needed OT to knock off CSI and then lost their last game to York. The Cardinals have won eight in a row, including wins over Lehman and Brooklyn.

Once again, the top four teams have lost only one game the entire year to the other six teams, so a first-round upset does not appear likely this year.

[Queens]

I agree with Rhodes, Rankis is coach of the year and Bastiste will be POY, but this being said I saw the Brooklyn vs York game yesterday and Ensonwune is extremely impressive he is like the D3 version of Tabeet (the 7'3 Center) on UConn.  He dominated the paint and is the best finisher/ dunker in the country.  No one dunks the ball like this kid he had about 4 alley opps that rock the rim and dunk off the rebound on the whole Brooklyn team.  If i had a Vote for POY i would give it to him because he i dominates on both sides of the floor.  Thats just my opinion, Baptiste is a great player as well and I have no problem with him winning the award...


Brooklyn looked disintrested at times yesterday especially Bastiste ( he still had 20) but i was waiting for him to take over the game at the end and lead Brooklyn to the win like i have seen him do before but it never happened.  They locked up the 2nd seed and the game was just for bragging rights had no effect on the standings so i wouldnt be too concerned.  The rematch will be very exciting( Brooklyn #2 and York #3).

[CunyPlayer03]

im not sure if the kid Amil from Brooklyn will win rookie of the year because the kid from Lehman who they have starting has been putting up a pretty good year compared to Amil John and Jordan Young

but for player of the year really would like to see Jamaal Hall win for the fact he leads the CUNY in PPG and Assist and he is also third in steals but then again Marcel from Yorkis third in scoring but leads in blocks and rebounds per game.....its going to be tough to pick player or the year

[bks-best]

danny lehmen/city should come down to the wire, i think they are evenly match and i wouldnt consider it an upset if city comes out on top....york/hunter i dont knw why you would think that hunter stand a chance in this 1....york is playing at a high level rite now. they won 8 straight all their players from the starters to the guys that dnt play,walk with a swagg...and dnt forget they have a chip on their shoulder from last year lost to john jay.....

[Danny Weismuller]

i agree with you guys.. i said i didn't think City winning would be considered an upset. Just a lower seed winning.
And I agree with you, York is running on all cylinders and I think they should run over Hunter... and hopefully play Brooklyn, which would be a great semi if it happens.

If anyone has some clarification with the strength of schedules, please elaborate because,

I was looking at the strength of schedules of some of the CUNY's. They probably have the lowest in the nation as a conference. But Baruch has like a 340 and Brooklyn is a 360 something. Now I think CCNY has a 214 which is probably the highest and I don't their schedule is so much tougher than say a Baruch.

So does CCNY get credit for a higher strength of schedule because teams like Brooklyn, Baruch, York are better than them in the same conference? And the better teams in the conference are almost penalized for having not so great teams in their conference?

Maybe that's just how it works and I'm trying to over analyze it?

But it looks like it almost doesn't matter how tough your non-conference schedule is if you play in a weak conference since they use opponents win % and OOW%.


My next question is... Does anyone think Baruch gets a bid to the tourney if they don't win the CUNY championship? I know it happened a few years ago when they were regional ranked similar to where they are now.

[JWill]

Looking at this year schedules I would think Baruch had the tougher schedules from CUNY. I also think that if Baruch was to lose in the championship game that they would still get a bid because of strength of schedule along with the non-conference wins.
Ray Rankis should be hands down coach of the year he was the coach of the best team this year.
Anyone has the match ups for the tournment? Any predictions for the championship game?

[Danny Weismuller]

that's my point.. According to D3hoops, Baruch's strength of schedule is 340, which is pretty bad, unless the committee looks more at their non-conference schedule separately?

And i would like to see a Baruch/Brooklyn championship, although York has been heating up.

[Pat Coleman]

CCNY certainly benefits from not having to play CCNY once or twice. CCNY also played William Paterson and Williams, as well as a handful of above-.500 teams in mid-level and higher conferences (Merchant Marine, RPI, Rutgers-Newark).

Remember, also, that this only counts regional games, like the NCAA does.

[Rhodes Scholar]

CUNYAC Quarterfinal Matchups

#8 CSI (3-10) @ #1 Baruch (13-0)
Staten Island's three wins were against Medgar Evers (twice) and CCNY. Baruch won the regular season meeting 84-56 at Baruch. Needless to say the Bearcats are a huge favorite.

#7 John Jay (4-9) @ #2 Brooklyn (11-2)
The Bridges won the regular season contest 98-76 at John Jay. Last year Brooklyn was upset in the first round by City Tech, while John Jay was the cinderella team winning the conference tourney as the #7 seed. It doesn't look history will repeat itself, but then again you never know.

#6 Hunter (6-7) @ #3 York (10-3)
Hunter has won one tournament game in the last ten years. York has an eight-game winning streak. The Cardinals won the regular season game 75-73 at York.

#5 City Tech (7-6) @ #4 Lehman (9-4)
This looks like the only game where the lower seed has a decent shot at winning. Lehman won the regular season contest 66-57 in the Bronx. The Yellow Jackets feature two first-team All-CUNYAC performers in Hall and Phillip while Lehman has Rhoden and Redzic.

[Danny Weismuller]

So the CUNY championship actually has the two top seeds.
I think this is a great match up.

Congrats to both Baruch and Brooklyn for getting into the finals. I wasn't at the games but the Baptiste seemed to have a great game, lead the way, and put an end to York's hot streak. Kudos to coach P who gets to his first championship game.

The Lehman and Baruch game seemed to go down to the wire as well. Anyone at these games?

Friday's match up should be a great game if it's a repeat of their regular season match-up.

I think Baruch would probabaly be favored by a point or two.

Predictions?

I'll take Brooklyn winning the championship behind 30 plus points from Baptiste.

[Coach AG]

Yes congrats to Coach Podias, great man who deserves to be in the championship finally. Keep up the good work and good luck.

Off the topic this is a great article that was in the paper recently about CSI. Just wondering do other schools in CUNY face most of these problems?
The first time the College of Staten Island played CUNY Conference kingpin Baruch, things went well for the first 13 minutes.
Then the floodgates opened, and a 24-13 first-half lead evaporated under a 71-32 Baruch blitz over the final 27 minutes as the Bearcats cruised to a 84-56 rout.


"Once they got going, they were like a sprinter," said CSI coach Tony Petosa. "They just raced past us. They have five guys who can put the ball in the basket."

Welcome to the Dolphins' world, which surely appears upside-down to long-time observers these days.

Devoid of the talent that propelled CSI to 11 conference championships, the once-proud NCAA Division III program slipped to 6-18 overall -- the worst showing in the 30-year history as a four-year school.

Petosa points to stringent new academic standards that seriously endanger freshman eligibility for incoming candidates; the fact that, despite past official proclamations, there are no immediate plans to construct dormitories at the Willowbrook campus; and the traditionally tough sell to Staten Island high schoolers who have options of playing at out-of-town colleges with on-campus housing.

"We have a tough time getting kids into the building," said Petosa, a familiar refrain around the Sports and Recreation Center athletic offices.

CONSTANT FLUX

CSI has also had a tough time keeping athletic directors -- there have been seven since 1996 and there's a current search while interim AD Dave Pizzuto runs the department.

While the Dolphins continue their downward slide -- they are 64-68 over the past five seasons and haven't won the CUNY tourney in seven years -- programs at Baruch and Brooklyn College appear to be improving.

"Take a look at Baruch (since the ARC Arena at the school's new campus was opened prior to the 2002-03 season)," said Petosa. "They have the most successful athletic program in the conference. They increased funding and made athletics an obvious priority. You can feel the electricity when you walk into the building.

"And the proof is in the pudding."

The top-seeded Bearcats take a perfect 13-0 record into Sunday's 1 p.m. CUNY quarterfinal against eighth-seeded CSI, which owns a 3-10 conference mark.

A recent Advance sports column indicated that CSI's administration is eager to support a national-class athletics program. Petosa could well argue that a decade ago he had such a program -- one that qualified for the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament three times between 1996 and 2002.

In recent years, the Dolphins have watched a handful of key players quit during the course of a season.

FREQUENT DEFECTIONS

Two players who had earned CUNY All-Star status actually transferred to rival conference schools and competed against their former teammates.

A decade ago, such defections were unheard of.

"The word we use all the time is continuity ... and we don't have it anymore," said Petosa. "I'm working hard to get it, but it's difficult to do in the present environment.

"We've taken a step back."

Petosa points out that he predicted five years ago that CSI's athletic programs were headed downward because of new academic standards. To be accepted into the school's baccalaureate program, an incoming freshman must carry approximately an 80 core average from high school and score 900 in the SATs.

If prospective students are accepted into the two-year associate program (a prelude to the baccalaureate program) but fall short of those standards, they must sit out at least one semester while building their academic credentials.

"We have to tell kids when we're recruiting them that they might not be eligible right away," said Petosa. "That's not the best way to convince kids who might be interested that they should play basketball at CSI."

Complicating matters, CSI's athletic teams are affected by three governing bodies: the NCAA, the CUNY and CSI itself.

"The situation (of athletic eligibility) was caused by interpretation of NCAA rules," said Petosa. "Sometimes, I think our set of rules interpretation are more stringent than the other two (NCAA and CUNY)."

As for the proposed on-campus dormitories, construction has been pushed back indefinitely. The building project orginally was scheduled to be completed in 2009, then the school announced that the dorms would open in 2010.

TOUGH MATCHUP

Despite a whopping 42-14 lead in the all-time series against Baruch, the Dolphins have dropped six of the last eight meetings.

It will be uncharted territory for CSI, which has never entered the postseason tourney as the No. 8 seed. Then again, an upset would be of gigantic proportions. And last year, third-seeded CSI was knocked off at home in the first round by eventual CUNY champion John Jay, seeded sixth.

"We didn't do ourselves any favors by finishing eighth," insisted Petosa of Sunday's matchup. "They manhandled us the first time we played. We played much better against (No. 2) Brooklyn (a 80-77 overtime loss) and (No. 3) York (a 66-63 loss)."

Petosa is winding down his 19th season at the coaching helm -- following a record-setting playing career and short apprenticeship as an assistant coach at his alma mater.

He says the challenge has never been greater.

"I take losing very hard ... very personal," said Petosa, who has a 295-219 career record and three CUNY crowns. "I've put all I have into this program, and so have my assistants over the years. My reputation at one time was pretty solid, but the bottom line is that people look at wins and losses, nothing else.

"We were successful in the past with 'program kids,' student-athletes who signed up for four years and stuck with it. We're getting fewer of those kids now."

[Queens]

Baruch also has very high academic standards, higher than CSI and seem to be doing pretty well.  Both Men and Womans team going for the CUNYAC Championship and neither have lost a CUNY game all season. 

CSI has a very nice gym and athletic complex, one of the nicest in the conference. I think Coach Petosa might want to look in the mirror when trying to figure out whats gone wrong with the program instead of looking for excuses.

[Coach AG]

Queens do know exactly what the academic standards are at Baruch? For example what does a incoming freshman have to have in order to be elgible?

[Queens]

Not sure exactly what it is but its definatley higher than CSI...ill put money on that fact...Baruch is one of the best business schools in the country. Sorry i cant say what the exact standards are i just know its an elite school and academically is the best school in CUNY....