Empire 8

[sjfcards]

Any guesses on the Wendys Classic seedings? Fisher has to be in the running for the 1 seed, but Rochester is there as well. I think it will look like this:

1) Fisher
2) Rochester
3)Brockport
4) Naz
5)Roberts
6)Keuka
7)RIT
8)Geneseo

I don't know anything about Roberts, or if Keuka is still in the tournament, but from what I know this is my best guess.

[bomber3]

IC played their worst game of the year and Fisher has the early edge for conference supremacy.  I said IC needed to hit their 3's (7-28 = 25%) and they needed to rebound (outrebounded 55-32).  So clearly they did neither and they got blown out as a result of it. 

Couple observations:

IC has no transition defense.  No one stopped the ball the entire game and I would say Fisher had 20+ points from transition layups resulting from players not getting back and no one stopping the ball.

IC isn't going to win many games with Marcus going 0-9 with 1 point.  He has been playing great this year and is in the top 15 in the country in scoring so my guess is just an off day combined with above-average defense.

The offense looked stagnant at times.  This is the first time I've seen Ithaca since the alumni scrimmage but the offense wasn''t fluid and there seemed to be alot of dribbling by Rossi 30 feet away. They also had no fastbreak game.

All of IC's 3's were contested and the majority were at least a foot or two behind the line.  Like I said earlier the offense had no continuity and many of the 3's were from about 25 feet and with a hand up.

That being said its only one game and I expect a different result on South Hill.  IC has always struggled at Fisher (even last year they won but didn't play great) and have been blown out by 20+ on more than one occassion over the past few years.  So with the toughest conference game out of the way they still sit in pretty good position moving forward.  Hopefully they turn it around on the road against a slumping Utica squad Tuesday before a 4 game homestand (Alfred, Stevens, RIT, and Fisher).

[bomber3]

Chase...err Wendy's Classic seedings announced:

1 Univ. of Rochester
8 Geneseo

4 Roberts Wesleyan
5 Brockport

3 Naz
6 RIT

2 Fisher
7 Keuka

[FROMAFAR]

I don't know if there are any Elmira fans on this board, but you guys deserve an attaboy for dismantling Clarkson.  Nice win and says something for the E-8. Maybe Clarkson was looking ahead ( I am a big believer in that effecting a team) to Cornell, but Elmira shows they can be dangerous. 

[sjfcards]

Can someone explain to me why u of r is the one seed over Fisher? I know. The records are the same but with fisher blowing out their last three opponents and beating RIT who beat u of r I am a little confused. I guess u of r gets the nod being who they are.

[sjfcards]

Upon further review I see u of r did beat Hobart, who beat fisher. So the RIT argument doesn't hold.

[e8bballfan]

How did Will Cornett get player of the week honors? No offense to him, but 5ppg, 3rpg, 4apg and 1spg do not deserve POW honors at all.

Chase Predictions :

UR over Geneseo
Brockport over RWC
Naz over RIT
Fisher of Keuka

Looks like Battle for East Ave will happen a little earlier than expected.

[with age came?]

Fromafar- Clarkson is an up and down team - who had been yo-yo ing that week both in scheduling and travel. They go to U of R and beat them in OT - then go home and beat Cortland (another solid win).  Get back on this bus to Elmira (probably a 5 hour trip) to play a 1-10 team that comes out and shoots something like 63% before looking to play in front of 4000 in what may be the most electric atmosphere of their careers vs Cornell (their 4th game in 8 days).  Kudos to Elmira though - that kind of shooting should scare anyone because Clarkson usually is a pretty decent team defensively.  It just goes to show that you have to play the games. But what do you or I know?

[Ethelred the Unready]

OK...I'll say it.  Nice win for Utica last night.

[FROMAFAR]

With Age, as I said the looking ahead theory is dangerous......... Elmira came to play and despite their record, theuy play hard day in and day night. They are dangerous...

Hey great win for Utica...... IC lives by the sword and dies by the sword... They got their 9 3's, but took 30 of them....... Horrible from the line as well. This game may mean something down the road..........

[FROMAFAR]

Sorry for the typos, between meetings and of course this is important, LOL

[bomber3]

With Age, as I said the looking ahead theory is dangerous......... Elmira came to play and despite their record, theuy play hard day in and day night. They are dangerous...

Hey great win for Utica...... IC lives by the sword and dies by the sword... They got their 9 3's, but took 30 of them....... Horrible from the line as well. This game may mean something down the road..........

Yes, bad from the line but so-so from 3-point range (30% isn't great but it didn't lose them the game).  They had an open 3 at the buzzer off a baseline out of bounds play and actually had two people WIDE OPEN.  Kudos to the coaching staff for drawing up a decent play but the shot just didn't fall.  Oztemel missed the shot but Jordan Marcus was wide open on the near side of the ball since his defender fell down.  Rossi didn't have his best game and only played about 20 minutes -- Maravich stepped up big down the stretch (depsite a bad shooting night) and hit a deep 3 with under 2 minutes left to cut into Utica's lead. 

17 turnovers is a concern despite the uptempo play.  They need to cut that to around 10-12 to be successful. IC struggles to rebound but props yesterday on the boards - outrebounded them by 8.  Kudos to Cruz for crashing the glass this year.  Averaging around 6 a game and with his jumping ability he should be there (had 12 last night). 

4 home games in a row (Alfred + Stevens this weekend) can get this team going again.  They need 2 wins this weekend to stay in contention for the regular season title.

[FROMAFAR]

Bomber, 30% from 3's is not good... look at it this way, they missed 21 three's.... If they were able to work a little harder for a higher % shot and made 2 of those, they win....They took 59 shots which means they took more 3's than 2's... they shot fairly well from 2, I think, Hey, I know that's not them, and they could have very easily have hit one of those, but that's why I say, live by the sword die by the sword. They have been successful so far, for the most part, so why change.... I agree... This weekend is important to them... Both Alfred and Stevens can be dangerous.........interesting games.......  

[bomber3]

Bomber, 30% from 3's is not good... look at it this way, they missed 21 three's.... If they were able to work a little harder for a higher % shot and made 2 of those, they win....They took 59 shots which means they took more 3's than 2's... they shot fairly well from 2, I think, Hey, I know that's not them, and they could have very easily have hit one of those, but that's why I say, live by the sword die by the sword. They have been successful so far, for the most part, so why change.... I agree... This weekend is important to them... Both Alfred and Stevens can be dangerous.........interesting games.......  

30% is certainly not good but it isn't terrible.  Their average on the season is 34% so its not too far off base.  I was just saying that's not where they lost the game.  They average 12 turnovers a game and shoot 73% from the line.  They had 17 turnovers and were 46% from the line.  I think we both have a legitimate point -- if they shot their 3 point % on the season they would have 3 more points and if they shot their ft % they would have 3 more points.  So we're both right!

[FROMAFAR]

Bomber your probably correct, it's six of one...... hopwever they did shoot I believe 65% from inside the 3, so they may have had a better chance taking a few more 2's, but what I am forgetting is how well Utica shot..... which has to count....