Empire 8

[WNYHoops]

D'Youville played very well and had the game if not for a couple turnovers down the stretch. Spartans led by 6 at the break and it was back and forth most of the second half. Lead changed hands 4 times in the last few minutes. With Fisher up 3, DYC had the ball and missed two 3's in the closing seconds which would have sent the game to OT.

I don't see Fisher play too often, but they had some physically strong guards. Their inside game was non-existant. D'Youville is small but very athletic on the wings. I believe Fisher will do fine in the league once they settle into their roles. I did see Baltz's name in the program but he did not play in the game. D'Youville will beat a lot of people in their league ... which is poor overall. I believe they could also compete with the middle and lower teams in the Empire 8 this season.

[TheNextLevel]

I, along with over 3,000 other fans watched Hartwick  beat Oneonta State 70-59 in the O-State gym.   Always a great cross-town rivilalry, regardless of the teams records.     Hartwick's freshman point guard, Mark Blazek is a player.   He led all scorers with 23 pts on 8/13 shooting, (3/5 from 3pt range), while playing as a true point guard.   Gives Wick a legit complement  to Cocco.   He could help bring Hartwick up a couple of spots in the E8.

[FisherDynasty]

Fisher is going to have a hard time ending the season above 500 in my opinion.  They are way to young and do not have ANY size at all.  There is no way they are going to be able to compete with Naz or Ithaca.  When they get some more confidence and their rotation comes finalized in the 2nd semester they may be able to pull off some upsets with matchup problems but can't see them winning against better teams on a consistent basis.  Hopefully this will be a good learning season for the underclassmen and they can get a transfer or two for the next year as freshmen bigs for 2009-10 will not be able to get them over the hump completely.   

I do like their top 3 freshmen recruits all seem to be players and will be a good base going forward.  Baltz and newman are going to need to step it up much more in order for Fisher to be competitive against the middle tier of the league.  I think they may finish 6-9 this year.

[buck1053]

Saw a bit of the IC-Hobart second half, coming out of the break, and the Bombers looked damn impressive. Didn't see any of the first half, when they apparently struggled, but caught the 29-4 (or something like that) run they went on after halftime. Hobart was absolutely no match for them at all.

As for the ICTV guys, I have to agree with Jose, they kept using slang terms the entire time I was watching. I'm not necessarily opposed to mixing it up a little bit, but it would have been nice to hear something regular once in a while. It was almost like they got a 5 minute tutorial on terminology from Stuart Scott prior to the game for their only exposure to basketball.

[NaztyNate]

Chris Baltz is no longer listed on the SJF website.....any news as to whats going on with him?

[d3hero]

It has been a long, long time since Hartwick even made an Empire 8 playoff appearance but beating O-State should show that maybe this might be their year.

However, i think the Empire 8 is stronger than it's been in a long time and Hartwick is still on the outside looking in. 

We'll see how they do against a very athletic and tall York College team.

[NaztyNate]

Baltz? Anyone? Did he quit??

[bombersquadron]

Just saw the questions about Baltz and I contacted some sources. I heard he quit the team, did not get any details.

Big game for the Bombers tomorrow. Hate this one pm start time. Hopefully I will be able to catch the end after the school day ends. Trinity looks down from recent years, plus they have a longer trip. Bombers will travel a lot of family and friends to teh game, so they will at least have some fans. I saw the Bombers but up big numbers once again.

Go Bombers.

[FisherDynasty]

Baltz quit.  Not too bad considering he is not very athletic and isnt much of a leader anyways for an upperclassmen.  Gives more time to hungry freshmen that will play harder.

[bombersquadron]

Ithaca rallies to beat Trinity 80-75. 19 from Brendan Rogers and 16 a piece for Bostic and Burton. Did get to follow the game as I was at work but it says Burton and Rogers lead the second half rally, Ithaca was down 7 at the intermission. Maybe a reason for such a tight game was Bombers shot 2-19 from the 3 point arc. Maybe it was the early start (1 PM) or a combination of that and the line moving back that had the first poor night from behind the arc. Always good to see the can pull out a W, despite the poor game shooting percentage wise. Ithaca hit 16-20 free throws but they were out rebounded 41-36. I will try and get some more insight but I am guessing that Trinty's 19 turnovers and lack of experience compared to the veteran Bomber squad helped them over come a poor performance.  Big game tomorrow night as the Bombers can start 4-0 for the first time in 22 years.

[Caz Bombers]

You may want to sit down for this bit of news because it will be a great shock, but....Hartwick is for serious.  68-62 win over York PA, 33 for Cocopuffs.  They'll play Purchase, who slipped by host New Paltz 81-78.

Naz lost by 15 to St. Mary's (Md.) in their opener - DeHimer with 25 and 6; McAdam 20 and 9 dimes.
Naz got a tech for a player wearing an incorrect jersey, huh?

RIT looks bad in 21-point loss to St. Joseph's of Long Island.

Elmira gets drubbed by Keuka - and for the 584th year in a row, Elmira sucks at basketball.  Good to know.

Alfred beat Juniata 71-65, Saxons looking surprisingly good early on.  19 for Bobby Barry, 15 each for Carl Embury and Jared Patt.

Utica shakes off 1-10 night from Herring to beat Lehman 65-58 at home; Patrick Goodman steps up with 21 points and Robert Whyte posts 15/11 double-double.

[d3hero]

Hartwick will have their hands full tomorrow against Purchase.

[jdex]

Caz,
Don't want to diminish Wick's win, but it came to the lesser of the Yorks ......as in NYers, not PAers .....

[Caz Bombers]

Caz,
Don't want to diminish Wick's win, but it came to the lesser of the Yorks ......as in NYers, not PAers .....

WHOOPS for me then.  I read Hartwick's release on their site and I coulda sworn the original draft said York PA.  It says York NY this morning.  Still, Wick actually beating anybody is a start.

[gobombers15]

BTW, nobody mentioned it the other night but Cortland State downed Utica, 68-62. Nice road win for the Red Dragons. Winning in Utica is often a difficult thing to do. With the drubbing Ithaca dealt Cortland, followed by this result, the pecking order seems clear heading into the E8 season.