Empire 8

[FisherDynasty]

Glad to see that there was a good crowd at the ithaca men's game and not just the women's, with a school that size and with football attendance being good, they should get crowds for bball too, the past has been a disspointment. 

Ithaca making a good case that they will be as good as predicted this year with the big win.  Huge win for Fisher getting a win against a descent (not as good as we thought) RIT team.  I had  a feeling Kevin Young for RIT was going to be good this year, he had a great build and skills for his size as a freshman last year. 

Stevens wins by 25 against a bad alfred team, still a tough measuring stick, nevertheless came through and did what was expected.  Im going to have to go with Stevens tomorrow at Home versus Fisher. 

[JQV]

Nice win boys.

It seems like every bombers fan was watching livestats and not the webcast on empire8tv.

Bomber games on tv?

[UCgrad45]

UC is really feeling not having their PF in the lineup. Whyte has turned into such a force inside that this looks like a tale of two teams from when he was playing (scrimmages) to when he was out. With him out, UC basically has small forwards playing the 4 and 5 every time McClendon leaves the game. Those were the times when Ithaca took advantage last night. It will be a big boost for UC when he is finally back. I feel bad for the guy because he worked so hard in the offseason, and you can tell just by looking at him.

The team is young, and they played hard despite a lot of guys playing out of position and a lot of the young guys getting their first significant minutes in a league game on the road against a decent team. I suspect you will see a totally different Utica team in the second half of the season. They grew last night and got a taste of what league play is like.

[gobombers15]

Nice win boys.

It seems like every bombers fan was watching livestats and not the webcast on empire8tv.

Bomber games on tv?

Yeah, last night's game was on ICTV so they had the Stretch Internet thing going on. I would have watched if I didn't have to study for finals. Instead, listened on the radio. The broadcasters were pretty good, save the minor slip-up in the first half where one of them said that Burton got "molested" on a play.

Also, this is the first year with Empire 8 TV. I don't know if last night's game was on Empire 8 TV, though. I pasted the link below for that. They show a lot of games for $2/each. Not a bad deal when you think about it. The Fisher/Stevens game is on tomorrow and Ithaca/Stevens will be broadcast next Sunday, too. I will probably purchase a couple games throughout the season. I mean, it's $2. Solid deal.

http://www.empire8.tv/

[FisherDynasty]

wow I didn't know that, that is great.  I'd love to check the Stevens team out.

UCgrad, I havn't seen Utica but from the sounds of it, I'd have to agree with you on that one.  They will be much improved come 2nd semester and with their full team.  However, everyteam will grow much more by then, we'll see if Utica grows enough to close the game to make it in the top 4. 

[gobombers15]

Ithaca routs previously undefeated Hartwick, 85-46. Burton with 23 to lead. This one was out of reach fairly early.

Combined score of the men's and women's games in Ithaca today:

Ithaca  186
Hartwick  85

Ouch.

[bombersquadron]

Ithaca played very well on both sides of the ball tonight, very fun to watch. First half was the greatest half of basketball i have seen Ithaca ever play. Dominated both sides of the ball and had control of the game the entire time, great job taking Hartwick's CoCo out of the game. He has to hate playing Ithaca they have always had someone glued to him the entire game and Ruffrage did another amazing job today with that. Also would liek to note for those who didn't see the game, one of Sean Burton's threes was from at least 30 feet out. Cant really single anyone out for a great game because they played as a team and really put Hartwick away early.

Bombers get the start they needed in league play. 2-0 in the league when they head down to play Stevens next weekend. Very interested to hear about the Fisher and Stevens game tomorrow. Very weird that the league will have Ithaca finish their season series with Utica and Hartwick on Jan. 5th before Ithaca has taken on anyone else with the exception of Stevens.

[Caz Bombers]

So, wait a sec, are we.....good?  At basketball?  Did Dane Fischer and Tyler Schulz sneak back onto campus?  I am both confused and pleased by this new development.

[FisherDynasty]

Utica 58
Elmira 56

what the hell, Utica may be much weaker then we think.

Sounds like Ithaca layed it on hartwick, 40 pt win.  Only good teams get wins like that, subpar oppenent or not.  I think Ithaca has taken a big step into making a case they could be an NCAA tourny team this year.

[bombersquadron]

Utica is much weaker than UCgrad implies. Having that one player Whyte would not have been a major difference in the Ithaca game. McClendon played better than normal anyways versus Ithaca. They lost a lot with Collier, Lighthall and Bryant and Utica will struggle all season no matter who plays the four.

When it is all set and done Burton and Bostic will be remembered for being just as good or better than Fischer and Schulz. I never saw Fischer play but heard many great things about him. I have seen Ty Schulz play. Bostic is very similar, both can hit a 17 footer, both can go inside and out. Bostic is more athletic than Schulz and thats not a knock on Schulz because he was very athletic just not freskishly athletic like Bostic.

[UCgrad45]

Utica is much weaker than UCgrad implies. Having that one player Whyte would not have been a major difference in the Ithaca game. McClendon played better than normal anyways versus Ithaca. They lost a lot with Collier, Lighthall and Bryant and Utica will struggle all season no matter who plays the four.

When it is all set and done Burton and Bostic will be remembered for being just as good or better than Fischer and Schulz. I never saw Fischer play but heard many great things about him. I have seen Ty Schulz play. Bostic is very similar, both can hit a 17 footer, both can go inside and out. Bostic is more athletic than Schulz and thats not a knock on Schulz because he was very athletic just not freskishly athletic like Bostic.

Yes, the guy who has never seen the team play with Whyte has given his amazing analysis.

The biggest body on the court (6'7 230), teams best rebounder, and one of its toughest defenders would not have made a difference in a game where Ithaca needed 30 FT attempts, mostly off rebounds, to beat a short handed UC team that was missing one if it's best players. McClendon played better than normal? Based on what? He played well, but didn't even get to his season averages. Please know what you are talking about before posting wishful thinking as fact.


For reference, Potsdam beat Ithaca, and UC smacked Potsdam in their scrimmage.

[gobombers15]

For reference, Potsdam beat Ithaca, and UC smacked Potsdam in their scrimmage.

Not trying to start anything, but not sure how representative of anything that IC/Potsdam game was. Goes without saying Ithaca is a completely different team with Bostic playing and he wasn't playing. I feel fairly confident that the result would be different if they played again and Ithaca had its full arsenal of players.

Utica just has to keep its head above water while their young players develop and get chemistry playing with each other. It's always a rollercoaster when you have young players. I'm not going to pass judgment on Whyte because I've never seen him, nor have I seen his numbers against D3 competition.

I tuned in for a bit of today's game. Who knew how hi-tech ICTV would get. They had cameras in the backboard!! A campus TV station! I can't stop using exclamations!

[reelentless]

Utica is much weaker than UCgrad implies. Having that one player Whyte would not have been a major difference in the Ithaca game.

Not trying to start anything, but not sure how representative of anything that IC/Potsdam game was. Goes without saying Ithaca is a completely different team with Bostic playing and he wasn't playing.

Sorry Bomber, just couldn't pass up the obvious contradiction.  To be fair, Bostic is a proven impact player.  Whyte isn't proven.   He'll be back playing soon and we'll see what happens.  An athletic big is always helpful, but the challenge for UC is building a team out of a group of talented individuals.  As Bomber says - chemistry.

[gobombers15]

Utica is much weaker than UCgrad implies. Having that one player Whyte would not have been a major difference in the Ithaca game.

Not trying to start anything, but not sure how representative of anything that IC/Potsdam game was. Goes without saying Ithaca is a completely different team with Bostic playing and he wasn't playing.

Sorry Bomber, just couldn't pass up the obvious contradiction.  To be fair, Bostic is a proven impact player.  Whyte isn't proven.   He'll be back playing soon and we'll see what happens.  An athletic big is always helpful, but the challenge for UC is building a team out of a group of talented individuals.  As Bomber says - chemistry.

Understandable. But I'm not so sure I contradicted bombersquadron. I was simply saying that the absence of Bostic hurt Ithaca against Potsdam. I think most would agree that it did. BS was saying that the absence of Whyte didn't make a difference in the IC/UC game. Again, I refuse to pass judgment on that because I know zero about Whyte. However, I think most of us can agree that sometimes the absent player will have a huge impact on the game, sometimes a minimal impact, or even no impact at all. Just depends on the player, I guess.

More than any other team, I think the early-season conference play is going to hurt Utica. Of the competitors, they're the team that needs time to find themselves the most. They probably would have been better off under the usual conference schedule. With that said, they should still be right in the mix for an E8 Tourney spot. I must admit, though, I am a little bit surprised by how close today's game vs Elmira was. The Pios still had Herring, Goodman, Patterson, McClendon playing and that should be more than enough against anemic Elmira.

[thebear]

UC Grad

I was at the Potsdam-UC Scrimmage.  Smacked is a bit strong.  When the regulars played, UC won the first 1/2, by about 12, but it was tied with 4 mins to go, then Potsdam started to foul to for UC to make free throws.

After Whyte got hurt, Potsdam did win the second 20 minute session amongst the regulars by 4.

The smacking took place in the two 10 minute sessions with the rooks.  Potsdam was missing a couple of players for the usual reasons, and had to play some people out of position.

I would say Ithaca, with Bostic, will challenge for the e8 title this year.