Empire 8

[UCgrad45]

Caught the second half of the RIT/Fisher game.  Huge plays from Rick Whitwood  and Colin Roy down the stretch to end a painful Fisher winning streak. 

Referees were not letting anything go, a lot of foul shots for both sides (both teams were pretty mediocre from the line, as well).

RIT down by 7 with about 12 minutes left when Barrett Zeinfeld hit 3 consecutive threes, the last two off the dribble and covered well to put RIT up 2.  They never trailed again.

Bacon has a great statistical game, 15 points, 14 rebounds... as long as you ignore his free throw shooting (5-14).  For the record, McSweeney had 9 points and 6 boards.

Tigers own the Cardinals on the boards, 49-36.

Do you or any rit guys know how the cheerleader that was injured in the Utica game is doing? She left in an ambulance.

[AUPepBand]

Caught the second half of the RIT/Fisher game.  Huge plays from Rick Whitwood  and Colin Roy down the stretch to end a painful Fisher winning streak. 

Referees were not letting anything go, a lot of foul shots for both sides (both teams were pretty mediocre from the line, as well).

RIT down by 7 with about 12 minutes left when Barrett Zeinfeld hit 3 consecutive threes, the last two off the dribble and covered well to put RIT up 2.  They never trailed again.

Bacon has a great statistical game, 15 points, 14 rebounds... as long as you ignore his free throw shooting (5-14).  For the record, McSweeney had 9 points and 6 boards.

Tigers own the Cardinals on the boards, 49-36.

What about RIT's free throw shooting? less than 50%? While the Tigers put AU away Friday night, AUPepBand was shocked to observe a total of THREE air balls from the free throw line by two different big Tigers in the second half...and without any intimidation or distraction from a relatively reserved crowd. When Pep went to get Pep Jr. from the pool locker room, Pep asked the Zebras there whether they'd ever seen that before. "We were just talking about that," one replied. Tigers no doubt will spend some time this week taking free throws.

[bamm]

UCGrad,

I haven't heard anything about the cheerleader.  This, hopefully, is a good thing.  I wasn't at the game that night, so I really know nothing about the incident.

Pep,

RIT, as a team, are shooting 60% from the line.  The biggest problem has been at the center position, where it seems like Bacon and Mark Carson have shot something like 8 for 200 (really 43% and 14%, respectively).  This is more interesting in Bacon's case, as I remember him being very good from the line last year (I couldn't find the stats quickly). 

Anyway, the win on Saturday was huge on a number of levels.  The conference race is really going to come down to the wire.

[JQV]

So the weekend really seems to have tossed the conference race up in the air.  At this point it seems to me that Fisher, Ithaca, Alfred and RIT are all in contention of being the odd man out of the E8 tournament at 6-3, 6-3, 5-4, 5-4 respectively.  I am too busy to amass each team's remaining schedule and try to figure out which teams have the inside track for the stretch run.  But I have a different question to pose for discussion.  Does the parity in the league help or hurt the E8's chances of getting a second team in the tournament? I can see it both ways.  On the one hand, you can see the entire league as being down on account of youth.  If you already thought that, you could see the parity as being further evidence of each team's general mediocrity.  Or, you could see the parity as proof that each of these teams are better than once expected giving an outside shot at a second NCAA participant.  Thoughts?

[AUPepBand]

Much as he hates to admit it, AUPepBand sees the Saxons going no better than 2-3 in their final five games, finishing at 7-7 in the conference. Ithaca and RIT should each finish 8-6, Fisher 10-4 at the worst 9-5, with Utica probably 12-2 or 13-1.

While AU will by no means roll over and play dead, Fisher will be up for the Saxons in the Cards' tiny gym after dropping a 51-50 verdict at McLane a couple weeks ago. And while the Saxons will give Utica a fight, it will take a Miracle at McLane to beat the Pioneers, and, while AU's motto is Fiat Lux or "Let There Be Light," when AU's founders adopted that creed, Pep doesn't think they had in mind the Saxons lighting up the Bulb in Ithaca.

Nevertheless, Pep declares, "On Saxon Warriors....o'er every adversity!"

[fisheralum91]

Hey Mr. Chair.
I think it hurts only because the overall lack of talent (sorry guys- its true) for the league is down, they will beat each other up and only one makes it to the tourney.

[John McGraw]

So the weekend really seems to have tossed the conference race up in the air.  At this point it seems to me that Fisher, Ithaca, Alfred and RIT are all in contention of being the odd man out of the E8 tournament at 6-3, 6-3, 5-4, 5-4 respectively.  I am too busy to amass each team's remaining schedule and try to figure out which teams have the inside track for the stretch run.  But I have a different question to pose for discussion.  Does the parity in the league help or hurt the E8's chances of getting a second team in the tournament? I can see it both ways.  On the one hand, you can see the entire league as being down on account of youth.  If you already thought that, you could see the parity as being further evidence of each team's general mediocrity.  Or, you could see the parity as proof that each of these teams are better than once expected giving an outside shot at a second NCAA participant.  Thoughts?

Probably a little bit of both. Two teams got into the NCAA tournament last year and they both fared very well. So, right off the bat, that's going to help the reputation of the league. And that may happen again if someone other than Utica wins the Empire 8 tournament. The large NCAA tournament field helps too. SUNYAC had two conference teams make the NCAAs last year too. They didn't do as well, Cortland losing in the 2nd round, Platty in the first, so that will hurt them. And since the league, aside from Brockport (good idea to transfer Jon Rother), is having a pretty poor season, expect only one bid for that league, and possibly the LL/UCAA.

On the downside, everyone's beating each other up and if that trend continues, no one's resume is going to stand out as really really good, aside from Utica. I haven't really followed much Empire 8 basketball since I've been busy covering the Big South, but non-conference wins for each team are key too. Whichever team has good non-conference wins will add to their resume.

I think the best bet though for two Empire 8 teams would be if someone not named Utica wins the conference tournament. Then that team and Utica more than likely get in. Jeez, when I first started working for D3hoops.com, I never thought I'd say Utica and playoffs for basketball in the same sentence. That program's come a long way in the last four-to-five years.

[jdex]

As much as J. Rother would've been lost in this mix of Bport talent, he hasn't fared much better at Willy P. Team's 13-8 (5-5 NJAC) after blown out by R. Stockton. Ex-Cortland, ex-Bport Rother averaging 17' and not a lot of numbers. Has played in 13 games (now starting) because of injuries that have generally got in the way of what was expected to be another big WP season

[gobombers15]

I'm interested to know who the Utica and Fisher fans would prefer seeing their team play against in the E8 Semis. I have a feeling that most Utica fans would prefer to see RIT while most Fisher fans will want to see Ithaca. Just wanna see if that's the case.

(This is assuming that Alfred doesn't make it)

[FisherDynasty]

it's tough to tell.  I'd like to see how fisher does again against ithaca before making the decision.  Fisher has played RIT 3 times, it is always tough to beat a team 3 times.  Since they got the loss out, I would not be too dissapointed if Fisher was matched up with them come tourny time.  I don't think they would loose, where as if Fisher plays Ithaca for the 2nd time and it is close, the 3rd time would be that much harder and I would rather have Fisher play RIT. But if its another blow out then yeah i'd take Ithaca.

[John McGraw]

As much as J. Rother would've been lost in this mix of Bport talent, he hasn't fared much better at Willy P. Team's 13-8 (5-5 NJAC) after blown out by R. Stockton. Ex-Cortland, ex-Bport Rother averaging 17' and not a lot of numbers. Has played in 13 games (now starting) because of injuries that have generally got in the way of what was expected to be another big WP season

Didn't he attend MCC for a while too?

[jdex]

Yes, Johnnie Mac, believe he did between time he got the boot from Corts and decision on next destination -- Bport. Couldn't have played at Monroe, which is why he's performing for WP (?)

[Adam the Bull]

I'm interested to know who the Utica and Fisher fans would prefer seeing their team play against in the E8 Semis. I have a feeling that most Utica fans would prefer to see RIT while most Fisher fans will want to see Ithaca. Just wanna see if that's the case.

(This is assuming that Alfred doesn't make it)

Despite their loss to Ithaca I think the Pioneers would have no preference between the Bobmers and RIT. I believe when Utica is playing their best basketball which they have for many games this season, they cant be beat by any team in this league. When they struggle to score they are beatable. I think RIT and Ithaca are very even.

[Adam the Bull]

UCGrad,

I haven't heard anything about the cheerleader.  This, hopefully, is a good thing.  I wasn't at the game that night, so I really know nothing about the incident.

Pep,

RIT, as a team, are shooting 60% from the line.  The biggest problem has been at the center position, where it seems like Bacon and Mark Carson have shot something like 8 for 200 (really 43% and 14%, respectively).  This is more interesting in Bacon's case, as I remember him being very good from the line last year (I couldn't find the stats quickly). 

Anyway, the win on Saturday was huge on a number of levels.  The conference race is really going to come down to the wire.

I was in the arena for the Cheerleader incident...it was ugly...I hope she is OK, but have not heard anything.

[gobombers15]

I'm interested to know who the Utica and Fisher fans would prefer seeing their team play against in the E8 Semis. I have a feeling that most Utica fans would prefer to see RIT while most Fisher fans will want to see Ithaca. Just wanna see if that's the case.

(This is assuming that Alfred doesn't make it)

Despite their loss to Ithaca I think the Pioneers would have no preference between the Bobmers and RIT. I believe when Utica is playing their best basketball which they have for many games this season, they cant be beat by any team in this league. When they struggle to score they are beatable. I think RIT and Ithaca are very even.

Adam, you were there. What was the biggest difference between the first meeting and second meeting between IC/UC? Was Utica just way off? Was Ithaca just hitting everything? I'm interested to hear why you think this game went the other way when Utica had a 30+ pt lead on Ithaca at Ithaca earlier in the year.