Empire 8

[FROMAFAR]

For what it's worth I think the All Conference, POY, ROY are right on the money as is Coach of the year. I would have to think Chris Connolly should have been close second........

What players and coaches underachieved (disappointed) this year in our opinion?

[FROMAFAR]

OK gang, 26 days to mid-night madness, let's get the juices flowing.  remember as I always say "what do I know ..  I apologize up front if I forget someone, or offend an alumn, I am too old to be yelled at... Here's the way the saeson looks FROMAFAR.

My order of finish...

1...ITHACA....  Burton repeats as POY.. needs to get others involved and help Bostic become a factor early in the season. Leahy streaky and needs to bulk up. Brown should be one year smarter in the post.

2... UTICA... Only lose Munch, not a big deal. Too slow at the point may have cost them over the long run. I think Connoly will be a huge asset, and get Herring to be less COCOESQUE, and get McClendon and Maxwell more involved.

3. STEVENS TECH... My second favorite team. ( work in the city and have Stevens Alumn friends who follow team.) They will miss Williams inside play, but the loss of Farid ( did I spell that right ) may not be a problem. They seemed to be too methodical at times last year, New Coach Hurley may let them go. it appears Grey and Greco are at their best when improvising. ( Those two destroyed Fisher, Ithaca ..without Burton.. at home, and Nazareth home and away.) GRECO MAY BE SMARTEST PLAYER IN LEAGUE, Passalaqua can shoot from anywhere...Those 3 need to stay out of foul trouble and remain on the court for 30+ minutes each. Baker is physical and should replace Farids rebounds,,, Be careful of this team, they may sneak up on everyone.

4. Nazareth...  it all comes down to Daley. he needs to give some of the starters rest.. late game collapses due to TOO MANY MINUTES. C. Mc ADAM giveth and taketh.. can be one of the best when he cuts down on turn overs. Look for Miranda and Dehimer to step up, life after Canori should be interesting.

5. RIT... AH MY FAVORITE TEAM... WE PLAYED EVERYONE TOUGH LAST YEAR AND CAME CLOSE TO THE TOP TEAMS. THIS MAY HAVE BUILT OUR CHARACTER. LOOK FOR CARSON TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD..WILL PUSH FOR POY... MAYBE.. HOPEFULLY...  , NATE KORNICHAK, AND RICK WHITWOOD ARE KEYS, THEY NEED TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN THEIR GAMES, WE COULD MAKE PLAYOFFS......

6. FISHER... I know I will take heat on picking them 5, rememebr RIT is with my heart. Fisher could make playoffs if Kornaker has some immediate help from recruits, and knowing him he does...Ozelle Franklin may break out this year, and Newman and Coyne are veterans, however the loss of Beigel, McKeever, and Beardan is an issue...

7. ALFRED... New coach.. Wellman, and return of veterans.. Embury, Patt, Smthgall, and Walsh, give him a start at this school.. could surprise one of top 3 along the way.

8. ELMIRA.. Coach Torgelsk ( did I spell that correct).. will ahve a tough start here, I have no idea how he goes, not much there.

9. HARTWICK.. COCO, COCO, COCO.... did Culpo straighten out the house??   Who do they have coming in.... They need help....

1st TEAM ALL CONFERENCE        2ND TEAM

CARSON...    RIT                          K. MCADAM      NAZ
BURTON...     ITHACA                   GRECO            STEVENS
C. MCADAM...NAZ                        BOSTIC            ITHACA
GREY...          STEVENS                COCO              HARTWICK
HERRING....   UTICA                     PASSALAQUA  STEVENS

PLAYERS TO WATCH...

McClendon..... Utica
Newman.........Fisher
Leahy....         Ithaca


AGAIN, MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE PLAYERS I MISSED, THOSE ALUMNI I OFFENDED...... BUT MEANT TO GET THE BANTER GOING...........











       


   


 


   

[FROMAFAR]

HEY Not bad, I sent this in September....... Throw Stevens out of the mix, and I wasn't too bad....... All conference not bad either.  What DID I know

OK gang, 26 days to mid-night madness, let's get the juices flowing.  remember as I always say "what do I know ..  I apologize up front if I forget someone, or offend an alumn, I am too old to be yelled at... Here's the way the saeson looks FROMAFAR.

My order of finish...

1...ITHACA....  Burton repeats as POY.. needs to get others involved and help Bostic become a factor early in the season. Leahy streaky and needs to bulk up. Brown should be one year smarter in the post.

2... UTICA... Only lose Munch, not a big deal. Too slow at the point may have cost them over the long run. I think Connoly will be a huge asset, and get Herring to be less COCOESQUE, and get McClendon and Maxwell more involved.

3. STEVENS TECH... My second favorite team. ( work in the city and have Stevens Alumn friends who follow team.) They will miss Williams inside play, but the loss of Farid ( did I spell that right ) may not be a problem. They seemed to be too methodical at times last year, New Coach Hurley may let them go. it appears Grey and Greco are at their best when improvising. ( Those two destroyed Fisher, Ithaca ..without Burton.. at home, and Nazareth home and away.) GRECO MAY BE SMARTEST PLAYER IN LEAGUE, Passalaqua can shoot from anywhere...Those 3 need to stay out of foul trouble and remain on the court for 30+ minutes each. Baker is physical and should replace Farids rebounds,,, Be careful of this team, they may sneak up on everyone.

4. Nazareth...  it all comes down to Daley. he needs to give some of the starters rest.. late game collapses due to TOO MANY MINUTES. C. Mc ADAM giveth and taketh.. can be one of the best when he cuts down on turn overs. Look for Miranda and Dehimer to step up, life after Canori should be interesting.

5. RIT... AH MY FAVORITE TEAM... WE PLAYED EVERYONE TOUGH LAST YEAR AND CAME CLOSE TO THE TOP TEAMS. THIS MAY HAVE BUILT OUR CHARACTER. LOOK FOR CARSON TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD..WILL PUSH FOR POY... MAYBE.. HOPEFULLY...  , NATE KORNICHAK, AND RICK WHITWOOD ARE KEYS, THEY NEED TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN THEIR GAMES, WE COULD MAKE PLAYOFFS......

6. FISHER... I know I will take heat on picking them 5, rememebr RIT is with my heart. Fisher could make playoffs if Kornaker has some immediate help from recruits, and knowing him he does...Ozelle Franklin may break out this year, and Newman and Coyne are veterans, however the loss of Beigel, McKeever, and Beardan is an issue...

7. ALFRED... New coach.. Wellman, and return of veterans.. Embury, Patt, Smthgall, and Walsh, give him a start at this school.. could surprise one of top 3 along the way.

8. ELMIRA.. Coach Torgelsk ( did I spell that correct).. will ahve a tough start here, I have no idea how he goes, not much there.

9. HARTWICK.. COCO, COCO, COCO.... did Culpo straighten out the house??   Who do they have coming in.... They need help....

1st TEAM ALL CONFERENCE        2ND TEAM

CARSON...    RIT                          K. MCADAM      NAZ
BURTON...     ITHACA                   GRECO            STEVENS
C. MCADAM...NAZ                        BOSTIC            ITHACA
GREY...          STEVENS                COCO              HARTWICK
HERRING....   UTICA                     PASSALAQUA  STEVENS

PLAYERS TO WATCH...

McClendon..... Utica
Newman.........Fisher
Leahy....         Ithaca


AGAIN, MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE PLAYERS I MISSED, THOSE ALUMNI I OFFENDED...... BUT MEANT TO GET THE BANTER GOING...........











       


   


 


   

[FROMAFAR]

Too much time on my hands........ What teams will be available for ECAC, which will go??

[gobombers15]

Wow, had to catch up on about four pages just now. A few things:

1) You guys wore out that Cruz Technical issue. Would I have called that in a game? Not sure. Would I have overturned the suspension? Absolutely not. Then again, my lawyerly standards for reversal of a decision are apparently much higher than the E8's. I would defer to the factfinder (the ref) in this instance.

2) Bombers798891, Justice Stewart made the statement "I know it when I see it" in a 1964 case, after he punted the responsibility of defining what "obscenity" is. Just picking nits. However, if you're looking for a Clarence Thomas quote, "I hate plaintiffs" would be an acceptable one. He never said that, but, come on.

3) FromAfar, I understand your affinity for Dudek, but best D3 PG you've ever seen? Expand your horizons, my friend. Dudek has some nice numbers, don't get me wrong. But best you've ever seen? And that statement is inaccurate if you consider IC's Steph Cleary a point guard. Cleary is the best women's player in E8 history. I will not debate this point with you.

4) Coco on the E8 1st Team? Can you say "Career Achievement Award?" There's one every year.

5) Sean Leahy doesn't even get Honorable Mention? Joke.

6) Ithaca is the only team in the Empire 8 to play in EVERY men's E8 Tourney. That means nothing, of course, because they've never won an E8 Tourney game.

7) Predictions for this weekend:

FRIDAY (Women's)

#4 St. John Fisher (62) @ #1 Ithaca (56)

Tough break for the Bombers (13-3 in conference) to have to play a team that handed them two of their three conference losses, both by double-digits. I hope the IC fans come out for this one and give a boost to the Bombers.

#3 Stevens (67) vs #2 Utica (65)

Ditto for Utica, who also went 13-3 but were swept by Stevens. I expect a tight one with the conference's two top players facing off.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON (Men's)

#3 Utica (73) vs #2 RIT (69)

Two teams passing in the night, one going in the wrong direction. Guess which? January 2nd seems long ago for both teams. On that night, RIT dominated the Pioneers in a 74-59 thrashing. A lot has changed since then. RIT held Utica to 57 pts/game in their two matchups, but the RIT defense has been generous of late, allowing 89 ppg over their final three contests, all losses. I expect a better effort from RIT, though, having a had a humbling week following the beatdown at Ben Light last weekend. If this game were in Vegas, I think the line would be around Utica -2. I'd take Utica.

#4 Nazareth (87) vs #1 Ithaca (99)

The peasants rejoice as the Ithaca men win their first E8 Tourney game and Naz finally holds the Bombers under the century mark. I expect Ithaca to come out a little tight in this one (see stat about never winning an E8 Tourney game) before putting a big run on Naz in the 2nd half. Naz rallies late to make the score looker closer than it was as the Bombers rest key players for Sunday's final.

SATURDAY NIGHT (Women's Final)

#4 St. John Fisher (63) vs #3 Stevens (72)

You'll be able to hear a pin drop in Ben Light on Saturday evening if this is the Final. I'll take Stevens whose four conference losses are by a combined five points (OUCH!).

#3 Utica (71) @ #1 Ithaca (80)

I think this one will be tight for a good portion. Utica has to crash the boards with Goodman, McClendon and Herring in order to take advantage of Bostic's absence. I don't think they game-planned for an Ithaca team without Bostic the last time around. Utica can't settle for early jumpers. They need to work the clock and make Ithaca play defense for 25-30 seconds on every possession. Utica's transition defense will be a key, too. That said, I like Ithaca. I think we'll see a monster game from Cruz or Leahy in this one. I just get an inkling that Burton won't be the Tourney MVP.

[hoopking]

I have been reading this board for quite some time, but have never posted anything prior to now. Let me begin by clarifying the whole Chris Cruz technical/ejection/overturning thing. Hanging on the rim is called a "class B" technical foul. The second incident (throwing the ball at an opponent) was a "class A" unsporting technical foul. To be ejected from a game at the college level, one of the following combinations MUST occur: 2 class A's, 1 class A and 2 class B's, or 3 class B's. Therefore, Cruz should not have even been ejected from the contest - leaving the league no choice but to let him play. The officials on the game screwed up

[TheNextLevel]

My predictions for E8 playoffs

Women

Ithaca over Fisher
Utica tops Stevens

Utica wins the Womens title!
------------------
Mens

RIT tops UC

Ithaca beats Naz

Ithaca rolls RIT to win the mens title.
----------
I expect all the games will be close except the mens final.

[buck1053]

Based on what I saw out of RIT last weekend and through the last few weeks, I would be surprised to see them advance to the men's final. They had no heart whatsoever (Carson, excluded).

I think Ithaca will advance to the championship game, and beat Utica by around 10 points to win the E8.

Of course, if IC wins the tournament, it will be tough for the E8 to get more than one team into the NCAAs, because RIT has absolutely tanked and I don't think Utica will have improved its standing enough by just reaching the conference title game.

[FROMAFAR]

Missed you Gobombers.........Imagine an engineer trying to debate a lawyer, engineers are too smart for that. Besides I can't even debate the mens side issues let alone the womans side, because, what do I know....... 
Hoopking if you are correct about the classes of Tech's, then as I said earlier, the rules are the rules and you have to live with them... In this case assuming you are correct, the reversal really wasn't a reversal it was a correction..........I'm sounding like a lawyer.........

[UCgrad45]

UC is playing 8 on 5 and keeping it close. A different set of rules for each team in this game. Kudos to the Ithaca broadcast guys pointing out that they are calling everything inside one way and not at all the other.

[UCgrad45]

This is ridiculous. RIT goes over tha back and has fouled on nearly every rebound attempt with no call immediately followed by a BS call against UC, usually a hand check.

[UCgrad45]

RIT takes the lead on a shot after the buzzer on shot clock with only a minute plus left. Refs have done everything they can do to take this game away from UC. That was pathetic.

[UCgrad45]

RIT now gets the rebound with less than 30 seconds left after a huge moving pick not called allowed them to get it. This is bad. UC has outplayed RIT and been the better team all day and is probably going to have this game taken away from them. This is messed up. I feel bad for the seniors and UC as a whole.

[UCgrad45]

Less than 10 seconds left. UC down by 2. The difference in the game is the shot after the buzzer at this point.

[UCgrad45]

UC ball, down 3 with 9.2 seconds left.