Empire 8

[gobombers15]

Thanks, I'm leaving tomorrow and driving to Tennessee(prob Knoxville) then onto Mississippi on Wednesday. Should probably get back to NoLa on Thursday. Once I'm back in class on Monday, I'll be posting again.

[fisheralum91]

Long drive!
We'll need you on here to keep us sane!

[tigerfan2]

Long drive GB15, It's a 1000 miles to Memphis alone.
Heading thru Knoxville? Are you heading down the East coast and then across TN?
Then again that may be the smart move, I would want nothing to do with I-71 thru Ohio either

Good luck with the drive.

[gobombers15]

TF2, long drive indeed. I'm leaving from the woman's house here in Bethlehem, PA(45 mins north of Philly) or else I would have taken the Ohio route. When I went down in August I did the Rochester/Cleveland/Columbus/Cincy/Louisville/Nashville/Memphis/Jackson/New Orleans route.

This time, being more eastern, I have to head down through Harrisburg, to Maryland, all the way through VA then on to Knoxvegas. Next day should be through the rest of eastern Tennessee and through all of Alabama, onto Mississippi where we'll stop. Then to New Orleans.

Some non-conference E8 games over the next few days:

Jan 3-
RIT at UR

Utica at Clarkson

Jan 4-
Cazenovia at Fisher

Cortland at Hartwick

This weekend's conference games:

Friday
Nazareth at Elmira
RIT at Ithaca
Alfred at Hartwick
Fisher at Utica

Saturday
RIT at Elmira
Nazareth at Ithaca
Fisher at Hartwick
Alfred at Utica

Game of the Weekend: Fisher at Utica, Friday, 8pm

Intriguing weekend because I could see Ithaca going 2-0 or 0-2, which probably means they'll go 1-1. If they could go 2-0 against Naz/RIT, they'd be in great shape--even though it's early--to make the E8 tourney.

Also, as much as it may upset the Utica fans, I could see them being 0-2 at weekend's end, as well. It probably won't happen because Utica is such a good home team and Alfred isn't too hot on the road, but Alfred is an experienced team that now has their full team healthy and intact. I also see Utica at 1-1 after Saturday, though 2-0 is a possibility however slim it is.

Good luck to all the E8 teams, this is where the fun starts...

[bamm]

Yep, now the real season begins.  The most interesting mid-week game should be the annual RIT/UR matchup, tomorrow night.  They split last season -- UR won convincingly at home (one of RIT's 9 losses on the season, 4 others coming to Fisher) in the regularly scheduled game, and RIT won in equally impressive fashion in front of the home crowd in the Chase.  Both teams have lost a number of players -- four starters in RIT's case. 

[gobombers15]

Yep, now the real season begins.  The most interesting mid-week game should be the annual RIT/UR matchup, tomorrow night. 

What about Hartwick v. Cortland? That could be the matchup of the SUNYAC and E8 conference champions...






...in 2056

[Caz Bombers]

Whoo, okay, January is upon us and so is conference season and I'm back and focused for the 14-game posting schedule, followed by the conference tourney and the NCAAs.  It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Two midweek non-league tilts tomorrow: Utica names its own final score against Clarkson and UR sadly proves too much for RIT.  Then the big game on Wednesday when Cortland beats Hartwick by 25 or so.

Mad About the Respect the Hawks or whatever you're calling yourself these days: in the words of the great William Shakespeare, "a Hartwick by any other name would still suck as bad."

All joking aside, scores would seem to indicate the Hawks have improved from the last year or two, but given how bad they've been, how could they not at least get a little better?  I'd say 2 to 3 league wins isnt out of the question.  Unfavorable schedule though, opening with five home games during winter break in front of next to nobody at Binder Gym leaves 'Wick on the road most of the rest of the way.

Safe travels, GB15, find yourself a TV somewhere for Sunday afternoon for the G-MEN playoff game (damn it feels good to type that after three long years.)

[fisheralum91]

Release the hounds!
Now we can finally have something substatnial to talk about!

[bamm]

Here's the projected starting lineups for tonight's RIT/UR matchup.  I'd list the ppg, but at this point it's pretty meaningless considering the Tigers play about 15 guys a game before Christmas.  ( RIT has 10 guys averaging between 5.2 and 2.5 ppg, and only three guys averaging more than that, including leading scorer Barret Zeinfeld, who doesn't start).

UR			RIT
Jeff Juron	6'1"	So	Tyler Springer	5'11"	Sr
Joe Canty	6'4"	Sr	Drew Martin	6'4"	Sr
Mike Goia	6'4"	Sr	Rob Hampton	6'2"	Jr
Uche Ndubizu	6'6"	So	Fran Snyder	6'4"	Sr
Jon Onyiriuka	6'7"	So	Tim Bacon	6'6"	Jr

[hawks1323]

Interesting Analysis

Booyah Folks! The following is a list of all the starting players of the Empire8. These starters are based on the box score of everyone's previous game. Experience is everything in college athletics and this analysis supports the statement. While Hartwick has the fewest experience this year, they are positioned well for the future. Fielding Juniors and Seniors is huge advantage when playing against sophmores and freshmen.

The Bench Analysis, will come out tomorrow!

Alfred
Hallett, Ryan      (SR)
Todd Dersham    (SR)
Dillon Stein    (JR)
Chris LeMasters (SR)
Ryan Clemenson  (JR)


Elmira
Nick Molak      (SO)
James Brown     (SR)
Joe Prunier     (JR)
Micah Owens     (SR)
Matt Keating    (JR)

Fisher
Raymie Auman    (SR)
Justin Beigel   (SO)
Sean O'Brien    (SR)
Mike McGee      (SR)
Dan McSweeney   (JR)

Hartwick
RYAN, Kevin        (FR)
LANFEAR, Alex      (JR)
COCOZZIELLO, Jan   (FR)
DUNNIGAN, Pat      (JR)
BROWN, Anthony     (FR)

Ithaca
Jim BELLIS      (SR)
Brian ANDRUSKIEWICZ    (SR)
Jonathan WHETSTONE   (SR)
Sean BURTON            (FR)
Brian JOE              (SO)

Nazareth
Joe Canori      (SO)
Caswell Smith      (SR)
Kyle Nelson      (SO)
Ryan McAdam      (SO)
Tyler Smith      (SO)

RIT
Tyler Springer      (SR)
Drew Martin      (SR)
Rob Hampton      (JR)
Fran Snyder      (SR)
Tim Bacon      (JR)


Utica
Ray Bryant      (JR)
Doug Herring      (FR)
Jack Lighthall      (JR)
Shawn Brown      (SR)
Justin Cichon      (SR)

[tigerfan2]

My guess is that you can probably pencil Nick Bennett into the starting lineup for SJF.
I'm assuming Beigel would be the one coming off the bench now.

[lileyes]

And Quintin Bryant for Alfred...

[gobombers15]

611 miles later, here's just a sampling of some of the things running through GB15's head during his travels today:

-In order, what are the top ten Billy Joel songs of all-time?

-Considering all his hits, why isn't Bob Seger considered one of the better musicians in history?

-Could we send a package deal of West Virginia, cash and future considerations to Mexico for Tijuana?

-Wouldn't it be a good idea for the girl making my sub at Quizno's to learn a small bit of English? I'm not even asking for fluency here, just words like "lettuce" and "no mushrooms."

-Would I be more disappointed if my son was a toll-booth attendant or "that guy" from Real World/Road Rules that still does things like "The Gauntlet" or "Inferno" six years after his specific reality show ended?

-Was Chris Rix an even worse sideline reporter(Cotton Bowl) than Jill Arrington?

-Wow, I had four more teeth than all three of those ladies combined at that gas station in Bristol, Tennessee.
_______________________________________________________

Anyways, I'm glad to see Mad Hawk is finally seeing the light. You finally realize what I have been saying all along: Hartwick may have some decent players, but the E8 has so many teams with good, veteran players that it will be hard for Hartwick to compete. It's tough to win when you're throwing 18 and 19 year-olds against teams where all their players are between 21 and 23. When you're 22, you're a lot stronger/faster/experienced than you were when you were an 18 year-old freshman. With the exception of Naz, every E8 team starts AT LEAST three upperclassmen. We'll see how it plays out.

[gobombers15]

Utica beats Clarkson, 78-52. No surprise there.

[bamm]

UR - 87
RIT - 45

There's not much to break down.  RIT must have shot about 3% for the game. 

I'm pretty sure they didn't enter the paint more than 5 times in the first half.  I would have a guess on the second half, but I couldn't bare to watch anymore and left.

Jon Onyurika is very big and very good.  If he doesn't average a double-double this year I'll eat one of my shoes.  Their guards hit every open shot.  RIT didn't hit a single open shot. 

A lot of Fisher players were at the game, and I'm sure they know they have their work cut out for them in Chase.  The best basketball team in Rochester doesn't play on the East Side.