Empire 8

[fisheralum91]

That was one road trip that i didnt make. Listened to it on the net.
Offense couldnt capitalize on key opportunities and MUC was just a better team.
Great season though- great group of seniors and great group of seniors parents!
Had a LOT of fun watching this season.
Hope it continues!

[AUPepBand]

Fisheralum,  Its a combination of injuries, lack of depth, lack of leadership and lack of chemistry. The rest of the league has gotten older and better with the addition of Stevens. Fisher took a while to get it together last year as well.  I think they will come together and peak at the right time, as long as everyones healthy they will be in good shape to win the e8 tourny. 

Fisher, literally and perhaps figuratively, peaked when they played at McLane Center, a 78-43 win over the Saxons. When teams visit McLane Center, they play at the highest elevation anywhere on New York State's college campuses. Alfred's got ups.

[fisheralum91]

Alfred does have the elevation, but you couldnt pay me to go to Hartwick and climb those hills to go to class everyday- let alone walk down to the local nightlife and then climb your way back...

[JQV]

let alone walk down to the local nightlife and then climb your way back...

Q's freshman year at IC, they closed the hill due to snow while I was downtown at the bars. 

It was like the third time I had seen snow in my whole life.

Talk about reality.

[AUPepBand]

Alfred does have the elevation, but you couldnt pay me to go to Hartwick and climb those hills to go to class everyday- let alone walk down to the local nightlife and then climb your way back...

After his first visit to the Hartwick campus for a football game, Pep wondered why the former "Warriors" hadn't been renamed the "Mountain Goats." But then, Hawks can fly around campus, Pep surmises.

[gobombers15]

Quick note from last night, visiting Geneseo knocked off Elmira, 71-59. I know there are no moral victories but that's another decent showing by Elmira. The Soaring Eagles were slow out of the gate and that contributed to a 16 point halftime deficit. However, Elmira outscored Geneseo by a score of 35-31 in the second half, doing so with Geneseo's starters in there most of the time. Looks like Elmira may not be the laughingstock of this league after all.

[Tags]

Yeah we'll see, definatly a lot more to do than in years past.  I know this is off topic but, did you see the Fisher vs. Mount U. game? Did Fisher not finish or get any breaks or was Mount that much better?

MUC was that much better.

[gobombers15]

Predictions for this weekend's scores. I have a feeling that I'm going to hit one on the head this weekend:

FRIDAY

UTICA over Elmira, 70-61. Though early, a "must win" for the Pios.
Ithaca rips HARTWICK, 86-66. IC can stop Coco--not enough elsewhere for 'Wick.
NAZARETH trounces Alfred, 83-57. Alfred's terrible and Naz is good.
Stevens nips RIT, 73-69. RIT has made a habit of losing these close ones in the E8.

SATURDAY

HARTWICK over Elmira, 68-53. Hartwick shows up for this one--too much Coco.
NAZARETH upsets Stevens, 77-72. Game of the weekend. Too much McAdam bros.
Ithaca in a close one over UTICA, 73-67. Game worries me. A lot on the line for UC.

[FisherDynasty]

Predictions for this weekend's scores.

FRIDAY

Utica over Elmira 70-61 agreed with gobombers
Ithaca over Hartwick 68-63 in a very tight game, hartwick plays well at home but will let up at the end.
NAZARETH trounces Alfred, 83-57. Alfred's terrible and Naz is good. couldnt have said it better
Stevens nips RIT, 73-69. RIT has made a habit of losing these close ones in the E8. agreed as well

SATURDAY

HARTWICK over Elmira, 68-60.
NAZARETH beats Stevens, 77-72. Game of the weekend. Not necessarily an upset in my eyes.
Utica over Ithaca, 75-70 athletic team that plays very good at home, will give ithaca problems.

[bamm]

At the half --
Stevens 37
RIT 36

Kenny Gethers took a nasty tumble around the 12 minute mark and has not returned.

Game got kind of ugly towards the end of the half, a lot of clumsy fouls and a technical on McVean.

[bamm]

RIT knocks off Stevens, 91-85.

If you want a beautiful example of how to extend a game by fouling, watch the tape on this one.  Stevens began fouling with a little under two minutes left -- and without getting a chance to look at the box score -- I'd guess they sent RIT to the line at least 10 times in that span.  And this was in a game that already featured a good number of whistles.  Nothing pretty out there tonight.

Perhaps the most impressive part of RIT's victory was they did it largely without Kenny Gethers, who was injured leaping over a defender and falling on his head.  Didn't look terribly serious, as he remained on the bench, so I wouldn't expect him to be out for long.

A Zeinfeld hot streak was the turning point in the game, several minutes into the second half. 

Stevens did not look sharp.  That's a long bus ride.


Update:  After looking at the play-by-play and box score, here are the numbers in all their glory. 

Each team shot 37 free throws.  Stevens made 24, RIT made 25. 

Stevens fouled 9 times in the final 3 minutes of the game.

Carson had 23 and 14.
Freshman Shane Foster had 17 in 18 minutes.
Zeinfeld had 15 points, 9 of which came in a 1:20 span that saw RIT go from down 2 to up 5.  They never trailed again.

Despite the sloppiness, I was impressed the bigs of Stevens.  Virgil Gray went for 22.

[Caz Bombers]

Congrats Bamm, attaboy RIT...show the Jersey boys this ain't their usual Skyline cakewalk.

Ithaca rolls past Hartwick 91-76.  IC shoots nearly 60 percent, 6 in double figures.  Bostic 20, Burton 16, Brown 15 (6-6 from the field).  Cocoapuffs had 22.

Utica cruised over Elmira 69-46 as Herring scores 15.  Elmira still blows.  Nothing to see here.

[with age comes?]

Bamm -  I'm in total shock....   not because RIT beat Stevens....  wasn't ready to annoint Stevens quite yet after a "hard fought victory" at home over Elmira...  BUT because McVean got a T on his home floor!!!!   I've probably seen close to 40 RIT games in the past 5-6 years and I don't ever remember McVean getting a TECH let alone one on his home floor!!!  What was up?  Dish the dirt!   Always thought this freshman class was special, and if Gethers was hurt Foster must have stepped up big time.  Again I'll say that Carson has improved more than anyone I've seen in a long time from one season to the next!  Great win for the Tigers!!


By the way AU Pep,  I pray that the Saxons split with Elmira and you go to both games because if they don't, you may have missed the only Saxon victory of the season (which I did predict)....  wouldn't miss NC though...  sounds like you enjoyed that too!!!

[bamm]

Bamm -  I'm in total shock....   not because RIT beat Stevens....  wasn't ready to annoint Stevens quite yet after a "hard fought victory" at home over Elmira...  BUT because McVean got a T on his home floor!!!!   I've probably seen close to 40 RIT games in the past 5-6 years and I don't ever remember McVean getting a TECH let alone one on his home floor!!!  What was up?  Dish the dirt!

Well, since my lady friend was having car trouble -- I gave her mine and was left without a way to the game.  I watched it on Empire8 TV, and thus (sadly) have no real idea what McVean (or anyone else on the bench) did to get the attention of the zebras. 

Freshman Nate Korinchak on the front page of d3hoops.com

Nice.

I'm going to try and make it to the Naz/Stevens game today.  The Redskins/Seahawks battle just doesn't excite me a whole lot.

[JQV]

Stevens did not look sharp.  That's a long bus ride.

This is what makes the 1 seed in the E8 tourney especially important this year.  IC looked relatively flat when they were at Stevens on a Sunday afternoon too.