Empire 8

magicman · March 18, 2013, 07:43:41 PM

The NABC has released their All District Teams for Division III today.

Players from the Empire 8 League:

Sean Rossi of Ithaca and Sheldon Jones of Stevens were selected to the 1st Team.

Jason Norsen of St. John Fisher was chosen for the 2nd team.

Also:
John DiBartolomeo of Rochester was chosen as the East District Player of the Year.

Coach of the Year was Tom Spanbauer from Cortland State:

Congratulations to all.

Here's the complete East Region Teams:

EAST
First Team Second Team

*John DiBartolomeo, Rochester Richie Bonney, Hobart
Sheldon Jones, Stevens Institute of Technology Kevin Donohue, Union
Sean Rossi, Ithaca Jason Norsen, St. John Fisher
Stefan Thompson, Hobart Jake Simmons, Buffalo State
Hayden Ward, SUNY Oswego Carl Yaffe, NYU
Jesse Winter, SUNY Cortland
Coach of the Year: Tom Spanbauer, SUNY-Cortland
*District Player of the Year

Here's a link showing the complete NABC All District Teams from the entire country:

http://static.psbin.com/z/e/dtmf3oj4do2ttt/2013_NABC_Division_III_All-District_Teams_and_Coaches.pdf

bomber3 · March 18, 2013, 08:43:06 PM

Congrats to the Bombers on a great run. All the pieces clicked at the right time for this team. Great to see the program have some long overdue national postseason success. Go Bombers.

magicman · March 29, 2013, 05:43:01 AM

D3hoops All American Teams were released Thursday evening. The East Region had their share of award winners.

John DiBartolomeo of Rochester was named the D3hoops Player of the Year and a member of the 1st Team. Not really a surprise as he had a tremendous season. Was glad to see that his final game against Ithaca didn't cost him this award.

Hayden Ward from Oswego State was named to the 2nd Team.

Sean Rossi from Ithaca was also named to the 2nd Team.

Stefan Thompson from Hobart was named to the Honorable Mention list.

Congratulation to all four players who ended their college careers with outstanding years.

Too many good players and never enough spots to mention all the guys that had excellent seasons.

Here's the link to the complete list of D3hoops All Americans: http://d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/2013

magicman · June 22, 2013, 02:02:29 AM

I saw in the local paper today that St. John Fisher is getting a recruit from my area. Keegan Ryan is a 6'6" center from Beekmantown Central School, near Plattsburgh, N.Y. Keegan was highly recruited by a lot of the D3 schools across the state. He was recently named to the NYSSWA All State 4th team for Class B. He averaged 27 ppg his senior year and was held under 20 points just twice all year. He finished his varsity career with 1527 points. Should be a good addition for the Cardinals. Was hoping he'd play for my Cardinals at Plattsburgh State. They certainly wanted him to.

sjfcards · July 13, 2013, 08:19:34 PM

Quote from: magicman on June 22, 2013, 02:02:29 AM
I saw in the local paper today that St. John Fisher is getting a recruit from my area. Keegan Ryan is a 6'6" center from Beekmantown Central School, near Plattsburgh, N.Y. Keegan was highly recruited by a lot of the D3 schools across the state. He was recently named to the NYSSWA All State 4th team for Class B. He averaged 27 ppg his senior year and was held under 20 points just twice all year. He finished his varsity career with 1527 points. Should be a good addition for the Cardinals. Was hoping he'd play for my Cardinals at Plattsburgh State. They certainly wanted him to.

Wow...nice. Sounds like a great get for Coach Kornaker.

dcahill44 · October 20, 2013, 04:24:27 PM

Excited about the start of the D3 hoops season! here are my predictions for the Empire 8! I think the league is going to have a lot of good teams.

1. St John Fisher: My gut is telling me different but on paper the Cardinals look like a 1st or 2nd place caliber team. Fisher returns key starters including Chaz Lott, Optimystik Kinard, and Thad Wier but losing Jason Norsen a stud big man will hurt the Cards. Freshman center Keegan Ryan who was heavily recruited by many D3 schools in New York will replace Norsen in the Frontcourt. Prediction: 18-7 Overall and 13-5 conference
2. Hartwick: The Hawks I think are going to have a huge bounce back season. with returning starters like Kyle Bradley, Jared Suderley, Anthony Keene and Christian Laputka. The Hawks are capable of winning an E8 Title. They have 2 of the best Freshman guards in the state Joey Lufkin and Fernando Vasquez. they are both quick and Explosive Guards. Prediction 17-8 Overall and 13-5 Conference

3. Nazareth: Nazareth returns 4 starters including Maurice Mills, Brad Ford, Mitch Ford, and Scott Hayford. The only question for the Golden flyers is the PG Position can Jack Giles and Freshman PG get the job done? I think the answer is yes. the Golden Flyers are capable of winning an E8 Title as well. Naz has one of the best recruiting classes in the E8 and Region I believe. Prediction 17-8 Overall 12-6 Conference

4. Stevens: The Ducks are returning Kenny Gan, Matt Skrelja, and Patrick Sabatino. Losing Sheldon Jones and Russ Thompson will hurt the Ducks a lot. I think Stevens isn't at the level that the top 3 teams are at this year. Prediction 15-10 10-8 Conference

5. Ithaca: The Bombers Losing Guys like Travis Warech, Andrei Oztemel, and Especially Sean Rossi arguably a op 3 PG in the region last year. I think the Bombers have trouble this season in conference play especially. They will contend for a Playoff spot but I think they come up short. Coach Mullins will have his guys ready to play and compete for a spot in the top 4. Prediction 15-10 Overall 9-9 conference.

6. Utica: The Pioneers return guys like Aaron Nevins , Connor Maisch and Chris Jeffers. I think they will also contend for a Playoff spot. I think the Pioneers struggle in league play. This team will beat teams at the top of the conference and score a lot of Points. Prediction 13-12 and 8-10 in league play.

7.Elmira: I think Elmira has another down year. This team will surprise some teams as usual. Chris Cassidy is an All League caliber big man. I think Elmira is up and coming though. Prediction 10-15 overall 6-12 Conference.

8. Alfred: A team similar to Elmira. still trying to figure things out. Coach Wellman is a good coach and has the program slowly getting better each year. I predict the Saxons to finish 9-16 overall and 6-12 conference.

9. Houghton: This team has lost almost all there starters from last years team. I think the Highlanders improve the record a little. Prediction 5-20 Overall 3-15 conference.

NYHOOPS8 · October 22, 2013, 10:17:14 AM

The Empire 8 should be up for grabs this year. Ithaca, SJF and Stevens all had major graduation losses. Based on returning players, Hartwick and Nazareth should be your favorites to win the league.

sjfcards · October 24, 2013, 02:54:37 PM

Very excited to hear that Bob Ward is rejoining the SJF basketball coaching staff in some capacity. It was announced during half time of the football game this past weekend. I think he will give Fisher is boost in recruiting. Kornaker, as good a coach as he is, has not had the talent that some of the Bob Ward teams had. Even Kornaker's best teams were mainly recruited by Ward as well.

magicman · November 01, 2013, 05:29:09 AM

Former Ithaca assistant coach Nevada Smith who left the Bombers several years ago to take over the head coaching position at Keystone College has left Keystone to take over the head coaching job of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The Vipers are the Development League affiliate of the NBA's Houston Rockets and won the D-League championship last season.

Here's a link to the complete story from the D3hoops front page article:

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2013/10/keystone-coach-headed-to-d-league

sjfcards · November 06, 2013, 10:03:45 AM

Fisher has put up their updated roster for the coming year. I don't know much about any of the recruits, but this Keegan Ryan kid is supposed to be the real deal. Chaz Lott is back as well so Fisher may be building the type of inside/outside tandem they had a few years back with Dan McSweeney and Dan Mueller.

My guess at a rotation looks like this:

1. Chaz Lott
2. Matt Cooney/Adam Ambielli
3. Optimystik Kinard
4. Jackson Burke
5. Keegan Ryan

I am not sure how accurate this is, but that is my first guess. I expect Fisher to be good this year, but not great. I am not sure what the issue is, but they don't seem to have the talent that they had when Kornaker first took over the program, although I am excited about Chaz Lott and Keegan Ryan being a sophomore and a freshman. Kinard and Ambielli are Juniors, and Burke is a sophomore. Only two seniors on the team, and I expect only one to play significant minutes, so Fisher is still young.

magicman · November 08, 2013, 04:46:44 PM

D3hoops preseason All America team was released today. here are the players from the East Region that were honored:

Jared Suderley 2nd Team Senior forward from Hartwick

John Ivy 3rd Team Senior guard from Brockport State

Richie Bonney 4th Team Senior forward from Hobart

Here's the link to the complete list of All Americans: http://d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/preseason-2014

dcahill44 · November 10, 2013, 02:24:59 PM

Preseason All Conference, Coach of the year/ Player of the year and Rookie of the year
Player of the Year: Jared Suderley- Hartwick
Rookie of the Year: Keegan Ryan- St John Fisher
Coach of the Year: Todd McGuinness- Hartwick
Preseason 1st Team:
Guard: Chaz Lott- St John Fisher
Forward: Connor Maisch- Utica
Forward: Jared Suderley- Hartwick
Forward: Brad Ford- Nazareth
Center: Patrick Sabatino- Stevens

Preseason 2nd Team:
Guard: Aaron Nevins- Utica
Guard: Christian Laputka- Hartwick
Forward: Scott Hayford- Nazareth
Forward: Tom Sweeney- Ithaca
Forward: Frank Mitchell- Ithaca

dcahill44 · November 14, 2013, 02:23:10 PM

The official Preseason ranking from Empire8.com standing have came out
1. St John Fisher 40 Votes (3 first place votes)
2. Hartwick College 39 Votes (2 first place votes)
3. Ithaca College 38 votes ( 2 first place votes)
4. Stevens 38 votes( 1 first place vote)
5. Nazareth 27 Votes (Surprising) they will be first or second at end of year
6. Elmira 18 votes. Chris Cassidy isnt playing this year
7. Utica 16 votes
8. Alfred 8 votes

Bengalsrule · November 14, 2013, 04:53:49 PM

Speaking about SJ Fisher.... They have a 6'10 kid from St Vincents-St Marys (Lebron James old high school) named jacob Baker. He is listed as a junior. Did he just sitout the past 2 seasons? There is no record of him anywhere since high school.

sjfcards · November 16, 2013, 07:34:33 AM

Quote from: Bengalsrule on November 14, 2013, 04:53:49 PM
Speaking about SJ Fisher.... They have a 6'10 kid from St Vincents-St Marys (Lebron James old high school) named jacob Baker. He is listed as a junior. Did he just sitout the past 2 seasons? There is no record of him anywhere since high school.

Not sure where it came from, but let's hope he has some of Lebron's talent!