Empire 8

[FROMAFAR]

Bomber3, thanks for taking the time to answer... good analysis on all. You were also pretty much on the button from a fans point of view.  The Stvens point your senior year was a guy named Baker... Played out of position, strong kid and tried hard to run the show, but that team under-achieved that year... Story was Greco worked at an intern-ship during the year, which eventually landed him a good job at graduation...He was able to play the following year once he locked the job up............  that's what I heard.  Hartwick loss gives RIT a small opening, similar to last year... Naz could have really been in good shape had they held on against Ducks.... 

hey Old Duck...... Stevens only called for 9 fouls .. I was there... Some home cooking for a change.. Maybe ref's read my post about eliminating them if Ducks host...LOL
I was there, I questioned some no calls, but overall, we weren't beating them anyway.....

[Old Duck]

There was a little home cooking. One of the few times that I have seen it at Stevens. There were a lot of no calls but not like Friday night against Naz, 19 fouls total in a physical game. Big games for everyone involved this week but as far as hosting the tournament I think it will come down to Saturday against Ithaca vs Stevens. I hope I can avoid another trip through Binghamton this year where I will have to branch off North, East or West.

[FROMAFAR]

Old Duck, the home court is in your hands...... A Hartwicks win by you guys puts you in the drivers seat as they and IC and Hartwick must exert all they have in their matchup. IC then has to put RIT away, which shouldn't be a problem, but they have to play to win, where the Ducks get a breather playing Elmira... sorry Elmira, just the way it is... They may be able to rest some people the night before IC game.  So the Hartwick-Ducks game is huge for all 3 teams. I have to say I am surprised by Stevens record this year... They lost a lot from last year..... Jones has made up for Greco's points, not his defense, but Higgans and Masone not big offensively but good defenders. However Smith has stepped it up and they still play good D. The league is obviously down this year... Fischer and Naz have fallen quite a bit....RIT underachieves once again...put that all together and you guys can steal this thing....As I have said for the last 5 years, IF RIT can't win it, I'm pulling for the Ducks. 

[Bombers798891]

Bombers with arguably one of their best performances of the season, blowing RIT out of the gym 93-61. Ithaca hits 14 three pointers, dominates RIT on the boards, and so thoroughly frustrates the Tigers their coach spent 45 seconds yelling at an official after Korinchak fouled out. It was an out and out joke that he wasn't given a technical.

Refs called 26 fouls in the second half.

Marcus leads Ithaca with 21. Barera has 13 and 16. Oztemel has 13 and 12.

RIT shot horridly, especially in the second half. Their coach can work the officials all he wants, but if you think you can beat Ithaca shooting 7-of-32 in the second half you have no one to blame but yourself.

Stevens tops the Wick 72-57. Wick is eliminated from the conference title hunt. They have five losses, and either Ithaca or Stevens will get to 12.

Considering that Stevens' second game is against Elmira, we're going to have a winner take all game on Sunday. Ithaca would win the conference if they win and both teams are 12-4 based on the H2H.

Looking forward to Sunday!

[Old Duck]

The game is Saturday 4:00 PM. Should be exciting.

[Bombers798891]

The game is Saturday 4:00 PM. Should be exciting.

K+ for the save! Good luck Saturday!

[Bombers798891]

Just for fun, and to change up the poll

[FROMAFAR]

Tigers have thrown in the towel, I am not surprised. Hey I give coach some credit for getting involved, with REF's-- someone had to show some interest. Be a little careful.. IC has Hartwick at Hartwick.... They have a lot of answers for a porous defense.. It should be a real shootout, and Hartwick has a reason to scratch until the end. IF Hartwick can pull it off, and IC beats Stevens, which I will get to in a bit...who gets the tie breaker???
Here's my thoughts...  IC plays Friday night at Hartwick ... should be exhausting, Stevens has Elmira Friday night, should be a night of bench players spelling a rest for the starters with time left on the clock.... So Stevens should be rested, and they are home and they are on a roll......IF ALL THAT MATTERS, Ducks should win conference. But as we know in this league anything can happen.

I am picking DUCKS to win the E-8..Hey OLD DUCK.and CYCLONE who I may say told me before the season "don't count out the Ducks" which I did...how can someone be wrong as much as me? BUT WHAT DO I KNOW  

[Bombers798891]

IF Hartwick can pull it off, and IC beats Stevens, which I will get to in a bit...who gets the tie breaker???

Ithaca because both teams would be 12-4 in conference and the Bombers will have swept the season series. The Ithaca-Hartwick game is irrelevant. Ithaca could play whoever it wanted and rest the starters just like Stevens

[FROMAFAR]

Bomber hold on  IF IC loses the "meanless" game to Hartwick, and then loses to Stevens, and Hartwick wins their last game and Stevens beats Elmira, wouldn't Hartwick be tied with IC? and if that's the case, Hartwick get the 2 seed over IC, based on head to head.  Yet I suppose finishing 2nd or 3 rd means nothing....so maybe you are right. If they lose to Hartwick and beat Stevens, the tie breaker is again head to head which IC would get. So once again you are correct.

Now who do you think finishes first and why?

Anyone can jump in on this....



Who wins the tourney?


I think whoever wins the game between Stevens and IC Saturday loses in the conference tourney rematch... if there is one? I don't think Fischer has a chance in a very week league after 1 and 2. NO HOME COOKING..I think Hartwick may be able to sneak in, and win the tourney but must play perfect basketball in Tourney.

[Bombers798891]

Bomber hold on  IF IC loses the "meanless" game to Hartwick, and then loses to Stevens, and Hartwick wins their last game and Stevens beats Elmira, wouldn't Hartwick be tied with IC? and if that's the case, Hartwick get the 2 seed over IC, based on head to head.  Yet I suppose finishing 2nd or 3 rd means nothing....so maybe you are right. If they lose to Hartwick and beat Stevens, the tie breaker is again head to head which IC would get. So once again you are correct.

Now who do you think finishes first and why?

Anyone can jump in on this....



Who wins the tourney?


I think whoever wins the game between Stevens and IC Saturday loses in the conference tourney rematch... if there is one? I don't think Fischer has a chance in a very week league after 1 and 2. NO HOME COOKING..I think Hartwick may be able to sneak in, and win the tourney but must play perfect basketball in Tourney.

It's tough to know. The thing with the first game is that Ithaca controlled play for the first 30 minutes, leading 62-46 with 10:35 left before going cold and letting Stevens back into the game. If you're going to beat Ithaca, you have to control the pace. Most teams (with the exception of Utica for some reason) can't hang with the Bombers into the 80's and beyond.

As far as the 2-3 spots, they'll be very important. Ithaca can't host them, but I've heard that additionally, the E8 has a cost-cutting measure in place where, if in a four-team tournament with one host, if the host seed is far away, and the 2-3 seeds are "geographically compatible", instead of sending the team to the #1 seed, the #2 seed would host.

So hypothetically, if Stevens is the #1 seed and IC/Wick are 2/3, rather than send those two teams to Hoboken, they would play in the #2's gym. This is still apparently something that needs to be confirmed by the powers that be, so take it with a grain of salt, but from how I understand it, in this scenario, regardless of who wins the conference, IC or Stevens, the #2 seed will host the #3 seed in the other semi.

Obviously, a loss by Ithaca to the Wick could cost IC the #2 seed and home court in that matchup, but the Wick has already won at IC this year, so it's not clear it will be a huge advantage.

I have heard however, that contrary to what I was told earlier, that games at Ithaca would in fact be at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., not the noon/2 p.m. I was earlier told

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 3 Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/16/ncaa-2011-regional-rankings-week-3/

[FROMAFAR]

Bomber 987%^&  I had no idea about the #2 possibly hosting it's opening game. Thanks for the INFO.... I truly believe the loser of the Stevens IC game Saturday wins the rematch,  if there is one. Especially if IC wins Saturday. I wish I could get to that game... about 1% chance, but you never know........

[Bombers798891]

Bomber 987%^&  I had no idea about the #2 possibly hosting it's opening game. Thanks for the INFO.... I truly believe the loser of the Stevens IC game Saturday wins the rematch,  if there is one. Especially if IC wins Saturday. I wish I could get to that game... about 1% chance, but you never know........

It's going to be huge, since Stevens is currently #3 in the East and Ithaca is the #4. Seems odd to me, since (I think) Ithaca's got more wins over teams that are regionally ranked (3 to 1) and the H2H victory. But hey, maybe they know something I don't

[7express]

I agree with Fromafar, I think Stevens wins on Saturday, but Ithaca beats Stevens in the E8 tournament if they play each other.