Empire 8

[UCgrad45]

Smalt has been close to getting double doubles on his two games back, scoring about 12 and rebounding 10.  His presence and leadership are more important that his statistics.  Ozell will be in the starting line-up within a few more games, he needs to be on the court more, especialy if bearden keeps up with his non-productive role.  I think Beigal and Smalt as the two down loans are are tough combo, along with shooting guard baltz, newman and ozell at the guards with bearden and mckeever giving good bench rotation.  I think they will come together and get the 2 spot.  As far as the schedule the rest of the way, they have the chase tourny which they will get atleast 1 other loss, before jumping back into conf. play.

I agree on Utica having if they get in, getting the 3 or 4 not the two.  Naz may not get in, especially now that they dont have ryan mcadam, but when he comes back if they are still in good shape to get in, i think with him they can come out of the e8 tourny on top.  They played stevens close without him.  Naz doenst play defense, they are awfully coached, and dont take full advantage of their threats, so they could possibly not get in.

Thanks for the information, and excellent analysis on Naz.

[FisherDynasty]

no problem, also on your comment on goodemote, he is an excellent coach and great guy. You can count on his team getting better each week.

[UCgrad45]

no problem, also on your comment on goodemote, he is an excellent coach and great guy. You can count on his team getting better each week.

He sure is. I didn't even play for him and he treated me better than than my lacrosse coach did.

When are the chase seeding announced? That seems like it is a tough tourny for Fisher every year. They get all those local rivalry teams in a short period of time and who knows what can happen.

Fisher still has a ton of talent, and as far as I am concerned, are the team to beat until they lose their crown.

[bamm]

Wow, lots of discussion today.  I think we can all agree that there are essentially six teams vying for four spots.  We could include Hartwick to make it seven, but I don't think any of us think they can win on the road.

Stevens seems assured of a spot.  They won an important game yesterday and I consider them the best team in the conference.

Naz is in good shape, despite the comments here.  They have important ROAD wins already over contenders RIT and Utica.   Despite consistent underachieving in past years, I believe their won't be a collapse this season.

That leaves Fisher, Ithaca, Utica, and RIT fighting for the last two spots in my mind. 

I like Ithaca.  They've still got all the important teams at home -- Stevens, Fisher, RIT, Naz, Utica.  They have always been tough at home for the Rochester squads, even when they haven't had the talented squad they have this year.

I'd be willing to bet that the top three seeds are Stevens, Ithaca, and Naz.  The second two could be in any order.

That leaves Fisher, Utica, and RIT fighting for that last spot.  This could play out in any number of ways, but I would bet against Utica.  They've still got two against Stevens, and they have all the Rochester schools AND Ithaca on the road.  I just don't see it happening.  They really couldn't afford to get swept by Naz and RIT at home.

Fisher is vulnerable and RIT is inconsistent and young.  It should be exciting.

One thing I think we can count on -- Fisher will not be hosting the E8 tourney this season.  I hope I don't have to eat those words.

[bamm]

Chase seedings should be released tonight.

[e8bballfan]

WOW!! That's all I can say from these recent posts. Some people think UC will beat Naz by 20+ next time they meet? Some people think Naz won't make the e8 tourney and that UC will be in before them? Wow...

I agree with Bamm's previous comment, that Naz is in good shape despite the comments here. FisherDynasty, you said Ryan McAdam is out, what's the deal? What happened? And if they lost to Stevens in double OT without possibly their most important player, how can everyone say they aren't any good and give them crap for letting up 100 pts in a double OT game? (IMportant sidenote- i just looked at the box score play-by-play for that Stevens-Naz game and some big calls were made late in the game, anyone there that knows if they were legit calls or BS? Looks like key to stevens win was hitting big shots and more importantly, free throws in OT as they were 10-13 from the stripe and Naz was 7-13. )

Yeah, UC is capable of doing somethings, but I don't get how some people are all high on them. Bamm is the person making the most sense on this board by far.

Should be a deep, interesting, Chase Tourney this year, too.

[FisherDynasty]

Bamm, respectable comments.  It should be interesting.  Fisher having only played 3 league games is sort of the wild card, hard to tell how they are going to fair against the other teams in the conf.

I guess he broke his hand and is out 3-4 weeks minimum.  Meaning he will miss a good portion of the season, I think Naz will drop bc of this and will be fighting to get into the tourny.  They should get him back late in the season so if they get in they will be very dangerous. Without him, I see them not winning enough games on the road to guarantee a spot.  Naz is still good without him and could still win the league without him but due to how they dont play good enough defense they can be beat by anyone (excluding alfred).  I think they will get in the tourny regardless.

[UCgrad45]

WOW!! That's all I can say from these recent posts. Some people think UC will beat Naz by 20+ next time they meet? Some people think Naz won't make the e8 tourney and that UC will be in before them? Wow...

I agree with Bamm's previous comment, that Naz is in good shape despite the comments here. FisherDynasty, you said Ryan McAdam is out, what's the deal? What happened? And if they lost to Stevens in double OT without possibly their most important player, how can everyone say they aren't any good and give them crap for letting up 100 pts in a double OT game? (IMportant sidenote- i just looked at the box score play-by-play for that Stevens-Naz game and some big calls were made late in the game, anyone there that knows if they were legit calls or BS? Looks like key to stevens win was hitting big shots and more importantly, free throws in OT as they were 10-13 from the stripe and Naz was 7-13. )

Yeah, UC is capable of doing somethings, but I don't get how some people are all high on them. Bamm is the person making the most sense on this board by far.

Should be a deep, interesting, Chase Tourney this year, too.

Naz is horrible. Without the refs literally handing them the game against UC (UC was also missing a top player and naz was full strength) they lose to UC by at least 20.

UC outscored them by almost 30 from the field.

[UCgrad45]

Wow, lots of discussion today.  I think we can all agree that there are essentially six teams vying for four spots.  We could include Hartwick to make it seven, but I don't think any of us think they can win on the road.

Stevens seems assured of a spot.  They won an important game yesterday and I consider them the best team in the conference.

Naz is in good shape, despite the comments here.  They have important ROAD wins already over contenders RIT and Utica.   Despite consistent underachieving in past years, I believe their won't be a collapse this season.

That leaves Fisher, Ithaca, Utica, and RIT fighting for the last two spots in my mind. 

I like Ithaca.  They've still got all the important teams at home -- Stevens, Fisher, RIT, Naz, Utica.  They have always been tough at home for the Rochester squads, even when they haven't had the talented squad they have this year.

I'd be willing to bet that the top three seeds are Stevens, Ithaca, and Naz.  The second two could be in any order.

That leaves Fisher, Utica, and RIT fighting for that last spot.  This could play out in any number of ways, but I would bet against Utica.  They've still got two against Stevens, and they have all the Rochester schools AND Ithaca on the road.  I just don't see it happening.  They really couldn't afford to get swept by Naz and RIT at home.

Fisher is vulnerable and RIT is inconsistent and young.  It should be exciting.

One thing I think we can count on -- Fisher will not be hosting the E8 tourney this season.  I hope I don't have to eat those words.

UC already played IC at home.

IC has those same teams as UC left, and UC showed yesterday that when both teams are full strength, they are far superior. Common opponents has UC winning by a larger margin as well. 

[bamm]

UC already played IC at home.

IC has those same teams as UC left, and UC showed yesterday that when both teams are full strength, they are far superior. Common opponents has UC winning by a larger margin as well. 

Yep, I missed that.  Apologies.

I think you're being a touch obnoxious here, though.  You can't make the argument that Utica is the better team "at full strength" when Ithaca beat them soundly when Bostic was barely off the football field and not starting.  In fact, the Utica game was his first game he played in at all.

Utica may very well make a run and get in the tourney, but they have no doubt made it difficult for themselves. 

[UCgrad45]

UC already played IC at home.

IC has those same teams as UC left, and UC showed yesterday that when both teams are full strength, they are far superior. Common opponents has UC winning by a larger margin as well. 

Yep, I missed that.  Apologies.

I think you're being a touch obnoxious here, though.  You can't make the argument that Utica is the better team "at full strength" when Ithaca beat them soundly when Bostic was barely off the football field and not starting.  In fact, the Utica game was his first game he played in at all.

Utica may very well make a run and get in the tourney, but they have no doubt made it difficult for themselves. 

Last night was basically Whyte's (who was matched up with bostic) first game back as well. Difference is, he was injured and barely able to walk. A little harder to come back from.

[e8bballfan]

Wow, UCGrad a little bitter about that Naz loss at home. I wish there were posters like ICGrad, NazGrad, WickGrad, ElmiraGrad, RITGrad, StevensGrad, FisherGrad, AlfredGrad, who whined and complained after their team lost home games and blamed them all on the refs. Even a month after it happened.

[UCgrad45]

Wow, UCGrad a little bitter about that Naz loss at home. I wish there were posters like ICGrad, NazGrad, WickGrad, ElmiraGrad, RITGrad, StevensGrad, FisherGrad, AlfredGrad, who whined and complained after their team lost home games and blamed them all on the refs. Even a month after it happened.

37-8 Free throw attempt difference in a 2 point game? You tell me you wouldn't be pissed about that when that is all that separates you from 5th to 2nd at the current time.

Every time Naz missed a shot in the last 6 minutes, they went to the line. Every foul was called by the same official. The same one that ass raped UC last year against Clarkson.

UC destroyed naz in EVERY aspect of the game. Naz looked pathetic.

[e8bballfan]

Ever thought that maybe UC isn't that disciplined and maybe actually did foul a lot?? Ever think of that?? Maybe they made the refs actually have to make those calls?

Every time Naz missed a shot in the last 6 minutes, they went to the line. Every foul was called by the same official. The same one that ass raped UC last year against Clarkson.

UC destroyed naz in EVERY aspect of the game. Naz looked pathetic.

Citing the Clarkson game a year ago, like I said, bitter.

UC destroyed Naz in every aspect of the game except for one important stat...total points

[UCgrad45]

Ever thought that maybe UC isn't that disciplined and maybe actually did foul a lot?? Ever think of that?? Maybe they made the refs actually have to make those calls?

Every time Naz missed a shot in the last 6 minutes, they went to the line. Every foul was called by the same official. The same one that ass raped UC last year against Clarkson.

UC destroyed naz in EVERY aspect of the game. Naz looked pathetic.

Citing the Clarkson game a year ago, like I said, bitter.

UC destroyed Naz in every aspect of the game except for one important stat...total points

Well, when someone from the naz team approached me after the game and said "you guys got screwed", not really.

That and since I have seen nearly every game from the team since 1999, I know that isn't the case.

But since you weren't there, why don't you tell us how it really went?