MBB: Colonial States Athletic Conference

[chizwiz]

Today's picks:

Macs @ Miseri - Miseri by 4
Neumann @ the Vern - Crusaders by 9 (they're rolling now)
Marywood @ Cabrini - the hot dog guy only sells 2 dogs with stale buns - listen, even the player's mom's don't care about this game - but I'll pick Dzik's old team by 5
Arcadia @ Wesley - this one is the toughest for me today - Wesley by 4

Coach C, you and I really missed the Immaculata/Miseri game on Saturday; I was a little surprised by your pick of the Vern by 17; the .Cabrini big win was a surprise; Wesley was close for both of us, butI hit it right on the button.

[Jon]

Miseri @ Scarywood - the Wood by 2 (in a buzzer beater that should have buzzed much earlier)

Wow...we pulled this parenthetical input from the "Can't Let It Go" file, right behind the cheating scorekeeper.

The matrix is finally updated online. http://athletics.alvernia.edu/Pdfs/mbball/2007/1/29/0607%20PAC%20MB%20Matrix.pdf

Tonight's GMC @ The Vern game will have two online options.
Gamecast - http://athletics.alvernia.edu/live/mbball/
Live Audio - http://athletics.alvernia.edu/games.asx

[Coach C]

Cavs @ The Castle - Beavs by a dozen - Cabrini done winning for the year
GMC @ The Vern - The House is rocking for a 6 point Alvernia win
Wesley @ the Mighty Macs - Macs by 2
Miseri@ Da Wood - Miseri by 3
Rut-Cam @Eastern - The eagles by 10

C

[chizwiz]

Cavs @ The Castle - Beavs by a dozen - Cabrini done winning for the year
GMC @ The Vern - The House is rocking for a 6 point Alvernia win
Wesley @ the Mighty Macs - Macs by 2
Miseri@ Da Wood - Miseri by 3
Rut-Cam @Eastern - The eagles by 10

C

Thanks for the support against Rut-Cam.  The Scarlet Raptors have a horrible record at 5-16, but they recently beat Rutgers-Newark, a top NJAC team.  But my EU boys are peaking right now.

[chizwiz]

My picks for tonight:

Cabrini @ Arcadia - Arcadia by 6
Gwynedd @ Alvernia - Vern by 10 (I've got a good feeling about this)
Wesley @ Immaculata - Wesley by 5
Miseri @ Scarywood - the Wood by 2 (in a buzzer beater that should have buzzed much earlier)

Gwynedd came close!  Things are obviously a lot tighter at the top of the conference than I thought.

Here's how I see the PAC playoffs working out.  I have one major change to my previous predictions, too.  Alvernia gets the 1 spot.  I don't see them losing 3 of 4 games.  Easy pick.

Gwynedd gets the 2 spot.  They might lose 1 more, which would put them in a tie with EU (that's if EU wins out against Cabrini, Immaculata, AND Alvernia - very tough, obviously).  Even with a tie with EU, Gwynedd gets the nod for 2 because they beat Immaculata twice and EU has already lost to the Macs.  Immaculata being the next best team.

EU get the 3 spot.  The smart man would have EU beating Immaculata and Cabrini, and losing to Alvernia.  Although I would like to see a win against all three.  Let's say they do get all three - automatic 3 spot (no worse), even if Immaculata won the others, including against Alvernia.  With 7 losses total, EU still gets the tie-breaker by beating the Gwynedd once, as Immaculata lost to Gwynedd twice.

Immaculata - 4 spot.

Neumann - 5 spot.  Will probably not lose more than 2 games.  Gwynedd and maybe Immaculata.  However, the interesting thing is that if Neumann finishes with one more loss, at 11-7, they would only take the 4 spot if their loss was not to Immaculata at the last game (since Neumann already beat Alvernia).

Arcadia - 6 spot.  At the time of this posting, no score against Cabrini (Arcadia needs to get a better SID).  Assuming they win, they are one game in front of Miseri and Wesley, with these two teams having the tougher schedules.

Lots of speculation with 3-4 games left for each team.

[chizwiz]

Jon, you guys were down by 1 with 33 seconds left?  What did Gwynedd run then?  Did they call timeout halfway into it?  Where was Smith?

[Jon]

chiz, King's 3 at :33 sent us from down two to up one...GMC called two timeouts in the next possession...Johnson missed a corner jumper, Shawell rebounded, and was fouled with five to go, then Johnson missed from about 30 feet.

Smith was not in uniform tonight.

[chairman]

I had heard that he had a badly sprained ankle, and was doubtful. That's a pretty game effort for a shorthanded Gwynedd side. That being said, it is a little shocking that a team with as much top-end talent as Alvernia needed the late heroics... (On a related note, King just sewed up rookie of the year with that shot) Looking at the box, it looked like Etzel and DelBrocco were going at it in a missing match. Very unusual to see those two misfiring on the same night. Were they matched up, or were there cross-matches or zones?

Chiz...you really missed the M'wood Miseri game badly. You had to know that no amount of home cooking could lift a Marywood team to the level where they were going to be able to deliver the knockout blow to Miseri. I suspect the Cougars will be very tough to beat until they lose there next one. They are in the corner, and I don't think they can win out, but I'm glad EU doesn't have to see them.

I looked out on the floor at the Rutgers Camden squad tonight and could not believe that there is a college team that doesn't start a guy over six feet. They listed one of the guys at 6'2, but he is 6'2 in the same way that Mike Johnson is 6-5... (hair teased and platform shoes) it looked like a soccer team. To make matters worse, they couldn't dribble. EU jumped out quickly, got DiMaria his 1000th point, a great accomplishment for a great kid, and then promptly slogged around for the last 26 minutes. Johnson was uninspired ( a couple nice passes and three blocks, but no real commitment to owning the game) Volpe was invisible, Malloy had seven good minutes in the second half, and Ty Coleman just defended and grabbed a seat. He scored 25 Saturday and didn't shoot on Monday.

All that to say that the Eagles had their worst performance in a week in a game where they could afford to do it. They need to bring more to the Cabrini game or an upset minded group could sneak one out in the rivalry game. I tend to think that we are more likely to see the team that pounded Neumann than the one that showed up tonight.

I'll be very interested to see the Arcadia score, but I am not holding out too much hope for the Cavs in that one. Congrats to Immac on a really big win. Coach of the Year picture remains fuzzy.

Over

[Jon]

The Griffins seemed to take turns stepping up for one another Monday night.  Talley gave us a few fits off the bench in the first half.  DelBrocco missed some decent looks in the first half with Finger doing a pretty good defensive job on other attempts.  He (DelBrocco) hit a few long 3s in the second half.  Santiago was as good as I've ever seen him for most of the night hitting an assortment of floaters and jumpers.  12-7-4 is a pretty good line for a point guard. 

Etzel was 3-for-8 in both halves, but hit a bit baseline jumper late.  Shawell threw up a few no-chance free throws in the second half, but also hit two when he needed to.  King looked like he was headed for a career night after the first five minutes, but needed the late 3 to reach double figures.

[Jon]

The matrix is up to date and posted...
http://athletics.alvernia.edu/Pdfs/mbball/2007/1/29/0607%20PAC%20MB%20Matrix.pdf

Had to hit the Cabrini site for the final score...not good when the score is more readily available from the visiting school which doesn't currently employ an SID.

[Coach C]

Arcadia 77-61

I'll take th 5 spot tonight.

C

[chizwiz]

Well, it seems that either the Cabrini SID or the Arcadia SID (or both) have little interest in doing their jobs, as the score is currently not posted on this site.  I guess they have both been fired?  Maybe their AD's should have somebody else do it.

[Coach C]

I believe the Cabrini women's coach is acting SID there.

C

[Jon]

chiz, this site is unfortunately not always a priority for schools.  The score was available last night on the Cabrini site by 11:00.  Sometimes you have to get a bit resourceful.

[Coach C]

plus she just got the job and maybe didnt have the login credentials to report a score yet.

C