Empire 8

[Nosyor]

That was incredible. Bombersquadron I still have the shock factor myself. 

The crowd was not as big as last year but it was still a fun atmosphere.  You couldn't ask for anything more out of a basketball game.  It had all the elements needed to keep you on the edge of you seat.  Two buzzer beater shots to end both halves.  Nice runs by both teams throughout the first and second halves.  Lots of star power and lots of effort plays.  My hat goes off to both of these teams.

RIT had five players in double figures (18, 16, 13, 13, 10).  This is the balanced attack we haven't seen much of from this squad yet this year.  Ithaca wasn't far behind with four players in double figures (28, 18, 11, 10).

Ithaca's game plan was to smoother Carson and leave the RIT's points open for jump shots.  They did a very good job of limiting Carson's touches all together.  He only took 8 shots...8 shots!!!  Before Carson got the ball IC sagged way in to make the entry pass near impossible.  When Carson did get the ball, IC did their homework and swarmed him low.  He has a tendency to immediately put the ball on the floor and go left.  Most of the time it works b/c he is so much quicker then the other big men he plays.  If you can get to him quickly you have a chance to get some steals.  In terms of the PGs for RIT, I'd say they did their part.  Korinchak and Lowe combined for 31 pts on 10 of 22 shooting, 8 boards, 7 assists and 5 TOs in 45 min of play.  Those numbers are very comparable to Burton's on the night.  I would take that out of my point guards every single game (who wouldn't?)

This is the first I have seen IC and they are an extremely dangerous team.  I think they could make a very good run in the NCAA tournament this year.  They score so many points b/c they shoot the ball quickly.  If one of their guards has a good look it's going up. That means they are never out of any single game.  Even if they get down by 15 points they have the ability to string together 3 or 4 threes in a matter of a minute.  If you want to beat this team you absolutely must be winning the game going into the last minute because they will not miss foul shots.  I don't see many teams coming from behind at the end of games. 

Maybe Bostic just had a down game (7 points and 12 boards) offensively or maybe i'm over critical, but I was not impressed.  He is strictly a jump shooter.  I can only recall him driving at Carson once.  Te was anticipating contact, didn't get it, and blew the finish.  He only had 4 free throws while playing 36 minutes.  That is a sign that your star big man is not aggressive.  He doesn't attack the hoop like I think he has the ability to.

Now on to the talk of the boards from the last week.  Carson or Burton?  My answer...?? I realize Burton had a triple double, he played a very good game.  He did have 7 TOs however, which led to several gimmie buckets for RIT.  7 turnovers are too many for a player of his skill.  Burton's shot is pure.  He elevates effortlessly and can hit shots over anyone at any time from anywhere.  He's a scorer and a very good one.

Carson ended the game with 15 points and 23 rebounds.  It is incredible the presence he commands in the paint.  I wish I kept track of how many times just him being around the hoop and contesting shots made the IC players alter their shot and miss. 
On the boards is where he was most impressive.  Bostic was trying his best to push him out of the paint, he just wouldn't budge.  It has gotten to the point that when a shot is taken by the opposing team, all four other RIT players can immediately start their transition offense because they know Carson will come down with the rebound.  It's automatic, I've honestly never seen anything like it.

So in my opinion.  There's no winning this debate.  It will probably go to the player who's team wins the league and I think I'd be ok with that.

[Ethelred the Unready]

Elmira 70 - Fisher 58.  What's going on in Pittsford in the New Year?

[lileyes]

Here is the video clip for the shot by RIT. I don't feel it should have counted but that shouldn't take away from the great game both teams played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ7kTTxuYk

[gobombers15]

A few things:

1) Re: Bostic-- I've said it on multiple occasions now, Ithaca's style of play has marginalized him. Royson, you said, "as soon as the guards have a shot, it goes up," and that's part of it. It's amazing that a two-time 1st-Team Empire 8 player has attempted the FOURTH most amount of shots on his OWN team. Think about that. Cruz and Leahy are attempting 2.5 more shots per game. His numbers are down because he's not utilized properly. The games I've seen, I don't see much of a two-man game with him and Burton. They should be doing that much more than they do.

2) You saw how clutch Burton is today. With 2:58 remaining, Burton stepped to the line for two shots, his team trailing 77-67. He scored 11 of Ithaca's last 17 points. The other six points were 3-pointers that Burton assisted. He had a hand in ALL 17 of IC's points in the last three minutes and rallied them from a 10-point deficit. In the words of Bill Raftery, "onions!"

3) Burton scored 28 and his assists led directly to 25 points. That's an incredible 63% of Ithaca's points coming from Burton, and it's likely more because that doesn't account for the passes directly leading to FT's for other players. Incredible.

4) Whether I agree with it or not, I also think whoever's team wins the conference will take the POY award. For reasons already stated in this post, and elsewhere, you know who I think should win the award, regardless. This will be like last year's NBA MVP race between CP3 and Kobe where everyone implicitly recognizes that the award will go to the person on the better team (incredibly flawed on multiple levels).

[gobombers15]

Here is the video clip for the shot by RIT. I don't feel it should have counted but that shouldn't take away from the great game both teams played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ7kTTxuYk

How in all of God's goodness did all of that take place in 3.9 seconds?

[lileyes]

Using a stop-watch the buzzer did sound right at 3.9 seconds....it's just the shot came after the buzzer.

[GPT]

Fisher beat Elmira

[magicman]

I would guess from looking at the sparse crowd on the one side of the gym that this video shows us, that RIT's President didn't have to dye his hair orange, as he promised to do if the place was full. Hard to believe they couldn't fiil the place with this matchup and 1st place on the line.

"From Afar" will probably be celebrating all night long.

[gobombers15]

I would guess from looking at the sparse crowd on the one side of the gym that this video shows us, that RIT's President didn't have to dye his hair orange, as he promised to do if the place was full. Hard to believe they couldn't fiil the place with this matchup and 1st place on the line.

"From Afar" will probably be celebrating all night long.

I'm sure the football games didn't help attendance. Plus, it's always tougher for college students to motivate themselves on Sunday afternoons since they're usually preceded by Saturday evening shenanigans.

[magicman]

Elmira 70 - Fisher 58.  What's going on in Pittsford in the New Year?

Fisher beat Elmira

Ethelred,

D3 Hoops has the score posted backwards on the Scoreboard. Write up from SJF web site:

The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team improved to 9-2 on the year with a 70-58 win at Elmira College on Sunday.  The Cardinals went on a 9-1 run over the closing moments of the first half to take a 34-24 lead into the locker room and never gave up the lead.

[bombersquadron]

At first with the shock of the buzzer beater and the fact that the opposite happened last year I thought for sure that the clock didn't start on time and all of that was more than 3.9 seconds. However thanks to youtube, I was able to get an answer. It did take more than 3.9 seconds for all of that to happen, the clock was right, however the shot was 100% after the buzzer went off. After watching it about ten times I would say he is bring the ball up around his waist when the buzzer sounds.

[AUPepBand]

Here is the video clip for the shot by RIT. I don't feel it should have counted but that shouldn't take away from the great game both teams played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ7kTTxuYk

Watching this clip, Pep says one can hear the buzzer as the RIT player has the ball at his waistline, bringing it up for the shot. But can see how refs could have called it either way...a tough call to make.

(And now as Pep is about to post this, he's reading bombersquadron's take....sorry for the redundancy.)

[gobombers15]

At first with the shock of the buzzer beater and the fact that the opposite happened last year I thought for sure that the clock didn't start on time and all of that was more than 3.9 seconds. However thanks to youtube, I was able to get an answer. It did take more than 3.9 seconds for all of that to happen, the clock was right, however the shot was 100% after the buzzer went off. After watching it about ten times I would say he is bring the ball up around his waist when the buzzer sounds.

Agreed. It's a bang-bang play, but that wasn't all that difficult of a call. Negligence by the referees. Their only job is to watch where the ball is when the the buzzer sounds. If there's any silver lining, it was that the teams still would've had to play OT, so RIT may have won, anyways. That would have been an even tougher pill to swallow if Ithaca was winning before that shot.

[AUPepBand]

I would guess from looking at the sparse crowd on the one side of the gym that this video shows us, that RIT's President didn't have to dye his hair orange, as he promised to do if the place was full. Hard to believe they couldn't fiil the place with this matchup and 1st place on the line.

"From Afar" will probably be celebrating all night long.

I'm sure the football games didn't help attendance. Plus, it's always tougher for college students to motivate themselves on Sunday afternoons since they're usually preceded by Saturday evening shenanigans.

Are RIT students even on campus? AU classes resume on Jan. 20, making it even more difficult for Pep to muster the musicians for a Jan. 16 home game.

[Ethelred the Unready]

I would guess from looking at the sparse crowd on the one side of the gym that this video shows us, that RIT's President didn't have to dye his hair orange, as he promised to do if the place was full. Hard to believe they couldn't fiil the place with this matchup and 1st place on the line.

"From Afar" will probably be celebrating all night long.

I'm sure the football games didn't help attendance. Plus, it's always tougher for college students to motivate themselves on Sunday afternoons since they're usually preceded by Saturday evening shenanigans.

Are RIT students even on campus? AU classes resume on Jan. 20, making it even more difficult for Pep to muster the musicians for a Jan. 16 home game.

They went back last Sunday/Monday I think