MBB: City University of New York Athletic Conference

[Rhodes Scholar]

Hunter is just too strong and too old for the other CUNY's to compete with.

This is the first time in years that Hunter has some muscle. For years, they couldn't score or defend in the paint. Now Millien and DeLuca can both post up and are able to bang down low. That's been a big plus for Hunter this year. And I agree with you, that being a couple of years older is an advantage.

weismuller has gone from preseason player of the year to coming off the bench for brooklyn. he probably will not even make the all-star team and CSI has won 7 straight.

Since leaving CSI, Weismuller is averaging 10.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg in eight games for Brooklyn. Not horrible, but not what most people were expecting. And, needless to say, there's a lot more basketball to play.

[NYBB]

Like i said, and i'm glad you're agreeing, Hunter is BIG & OLD.  Tough to beat now that they're gelling as a group: remember, they're all back next year aside from Gerard.  This is going to be a really hard team to beat next season

[CityD3]

just lookin through the schedules, lehman has had a strong non-conference schedule and they beat some top teams from other conferences. They beat st joe's long island and maritime, who are two of the top 5 teams in the skyline( a better conference than the CUNY in the past) and they also beat clarkson university, a strong team from upstate (albeit their record is not as good as years past). With all that, they are barely going to make the CUNY playoffs. i haven't seen them play so Wat gives? did they lose players because of academics, are they just that inconsistent, or does this show that the CUNY league is stronger than usual?? If they do have a full team and they do make the playoffs, that is a scary team for some of the top seeds based on some of their impressive wins.

[BubbaChuck3]

I'm glad to see that some of you fanatics out there, are ever so pleased about old men playing college basketball. I'm sure everyone else is going to be at the Hunter-York game this week. That game is going to consist of players with a combined average age of about 24, which is really fair to the 18, 19 year old kids who work hard to play college basketball, only to sit behind a man who is 5 years out of high school, has a fulltime job and a family and is just a freshman in college, that is really fair. The probable rookie of the year is a 24 year old FRESHMAN, perhaps this is his 2nd go around, considering most graduate college at 22. On some of these teams you fans mention, you are more likely to find someone who has been in jail than someone with a legitimate high school diploma. So let us all hail the 25, 26 year old men who couldn't make it anywhere else, other than a CUNY school with no standards, because if you look around, you won't find any 25 year old freshman on a Baruch or a CSI, instead you'll find those 18-22 year old kids, who are doing things the right way.

This is just my opinion. This is not meant to offend anyone, there may be different stories behind each of those instances, but the fact of the matter is,  when people on this board are applauding teams for being OLD, there is a problem, because not once did they mention academic standing, there was no mention of hunter being a team full of SENIORS, they are "BIG" and "OLD", with all of their players returning next year, except our old buddy Gerard of course. 

[xalva66]

NYBB,

Where are you getting your information from about the ages of the Hunter players. Who are you referring to as 25, 26 year olds. Where are you getting these numbers from? Just because people look older, it does not mean anything.


Rhodes,
10 ppg and 5 rpg for someone who was pre-season player of the year?

[Rhodes Scholar]

just lookin through the schedules, lehman has had a strong non-conference schedule and they beat some top teams from other conferences. They beat st joe's long island and maritime, who are two of the top 5 teams in the skyline( a better conference than the CUNY in the past) and they also beat clarkson university, a strong team from upstate (albeit their record is not as good as years past). With all that, they are barely going to make the CUNY playoffs. i haven't seen them play so Wat gives? did they lose players because of academics, are they just that inconsistent, or does this show that the CUNY league is stronger than usual?? If they do have a full team and they do make the playoffs, that is a scary team for some of the top seeds based on some of their impressive wins.

I haven't seen Lehman play this year, so I have no first-hand observations. I don't think the CUNYAC is stronger this year than it usually is, but I do believe that the Skyline is weaker than it has been in recent years. I think the CUNYAC is probably a little better than the Skyline this year.

Rhodes,
10 ppg and 5 rpg for someone who was pre-season player of the year?

Like I said, those numbers aren't horrible, but they're also obviously disappointing for one of the top players in the conferrence. I haven't seen him play at Brooklyn, but I can imagine their nonstop defensive pressure and up-tempo offense might not be ideally suited for Weismuller. Nonetheless the Bridges are winning games and there's still plenty of games to go. Despite their loss to York, I still see them as one of the best teams in the conference and I don't think any team is a clear-cut favorite.

[Danny Weismuller]

Dam... I see a bunch of hate spewing on this board recently. I would like to throw my two sense in on a few topics.

Just an FYI, I played and graduated from Brooklyn College in 4 years with a great GPA. I was 17 years old my first day of classes and 21 when I graduated. (October birthday).

First, when mentioning high academic standards of CUNY schools, you should never leave out Brooklyn as one of the top if not the top academic school in the conference.

2. On the whole old and big thing.
CUNY schools are non-commuter schools in the biggest city in the world. This results in students either coming back home from other schools or enrollment of students who never went to college after high school. Some students waited a few years before enrolling in a local college, hence the large amount of older freshman and athletes in the school. 

3. As far as Weismuller's #'s... Xalva if you weren't so ignorant, you would realize that Brooklyn has two of the top three scorers and 4 of the top 20 scorers in the conference on their team. (Baptiste, Nesbitt, McFarlene, Guerin)... Adding some size and fitting in with 10 and 5 while not disrupting team chemistry is something any coach would take.

and lastly, I know DBLOCK doesn't want to hear it, but I'm not crowning York yet... There is still a lot of ball to play!

[xalva66]

Ignorant? Mr Weismuller, I stated an opinion. Someone posted a couple of weeks ago that Sean  has had more of an impact at Brooklyn than Marlon Smith has had at Hunter. Thats an opinion. Regardless of how he fits into the role of the team concept, his 10 ppg and 5 rpg is not a bigger impact on a team than Mr Smith's 19 ppg, 5 apg, 4 rpg. Thats my point. I understand he is your brother and all, but numbers do not lie. This is not hate spewing that everyone is throwing out, its called criticism. Hate-spewing is a very harsh statement.

I seemed to have turned into the Devil's Advocate on this board hence my karma of (-1). I havent seen this much posting ever on this board.

Danny,
Regarding your comment about Brooklyn. The biggest mis-conception that High School students have is that they believe that they get into Brooklyn easily. That is completely inaccurate. Brooklyn along with Baruch and Hunter are some of the toughest academic CUNY schools to get into. Other teams in the conference have open enrollment in which anyone can get accepted.

[Knightstalker]

Many time older players and older students in general at colleges, especially public schools are either veterans who are in the Guard or Reserve and are paying for school that way.  They could also be students who did not go to college initially out of high school and decided later to go to school.  CUNY is not the only conference that has older players in it, the NJAC has several.  I am sure that many other conferences have this issue.  It shouldn't matter if a player is 60, if they can play and are academically eligible they have the right to play.  Many coaches welcome these types of players, they are usually more mature, have real life experience and especially if they came out of the military they usually have some leadership skills.

[xalva66]

Knight Stalker,

That is the best comment I have heard regarding this issue. CUNY is notorious for having older students.

[Danny Weismuller]

Ignorant? Mr Weismuller, I stated an opinion. Someone posted a couple of weeks ago that Sean  has had more of an impact at Brooklyn than Marlon Smith has had at Hunter. Thats an opinion. Thats my point. I understand he is your brother and all, but numbers do not lie.

Agreed, i didn't agree with that original statement about impacts either, based on the fact that a point guard usually has a bigger impact than a forward and BC was having a great season before he came.
Law of diminishing returns in basketball terms.... A good player can only make your team so much better if the team is already playing well.

[NYBB]

I never said i was FOR or AGAINST Hunter having old players.  The fact of the matter is they do and i think they're better and bigger than other players in the CUNY because of this.  But, if they're so much older and bigger, how come they're not winning as much outside?  Continue...

I also agree that schools should build their teams from freshman to senior year and i applaud Coach Rankis at Baruch and the coach at CSI for doing so (even though Baruch does take it's fair share of transfers as well...Louis Karis, Robi Davidson, Carl Emengo & Anwar Baptiste were all transfers that helped them win the CUNY and get to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament in 05'06).

However, I think it's uniquely special that older players can have a chance to play at the D3 level (D1 or D2 if never attended prior).  Some people have different agendas and plans in life and they shouldn't be punished for that. 

Seriously though: if you wanted to see what's going on, you could just open your eyes : The CUNYs aren't going ANYWHERE in terms of national championships.  All academic schools like WILLIAMS & AMHERST, schools that 99 % of CUNY students could A) never get into and B) never afford are the ones taking down the D3 crown every year.  Obviously those schools, schools building their teams from freshman to senior year are doing better than the ones taking in globs of transfers (Hunters' whole starting team is comprised of junior transfers aside from Gerard) and will continue to do so. 

Team chemistry is a big deal (you all know this, i dont need to tell you) and guys who spend four years together doing EVERYTHING with one another certainly build that chemistry better than guys who go home to families and work after practice.

CUNY, along with the NJAC, are very special cases in D3 (basketball especially) and i think talking about it as we are makes for a very good conversation.

[xalva66]

One of the biggest problems is that almost every HS kid believes that they are destined to a D1 scholarship. It takes a lot of maturity for a HS kid to come to the realization that only a small percentage of players get scholarships.

[knight_life]

It's comical to hear someone say Maritime is a tough non-conference competitor. One good season in 20 years does not make them tough, they just got lucky when they beat Brooklyn, look at how they can't hang with the top teams in the Skyline, namely Farmingdale.

As for the clout of the Skyline they are now and will be for a long time, weaker than the CUNYAC. Now that Stevens, Merchant Marine and Manhattanville are not long a part of it, and their replacements were Poly, Purchase and Bard, the Skyline is nowhere near the CUNYAC in regards to level of competition.

Also, when did CSI and Baruch become Harvard and Yale??? I understand that apparently everyone loves Baruch because they always follow the rules apparently, which is a crock for anyone in the know and CSI which has a beautiful campus, but is still basically no better academically then it's prior 2-year college status. Regardless, a college degree is just that, because unless your going to become a lawyer or doctor, no one will really care where you graduated from. And as I always say, I don't care how old these kids are, as long as they earn a degree, they will be ten times better off they were before they got to CUNY. If it means using basketball as a draw to get them into a college and finish, then so be it. 

I just love all the heat Hunter gets on here, kind of reminds me of a place that myself and knight_stalker call home.

[NYBB]

where do you call home? the place where the devil lives?