Empire 8

[UCgrad45]

UC just got completely screwed tonight. Lost by two, free throw attempts were 33 to 8.

One ref called nearly every foul, with some blatantly terrible ones late in the game. In the first half, naz scored 14 points in the last 8 minutes, 12 were from the charity stripe. In the second half, every time naz missed a shot in the last 6 minutes he put them on the line with a bail out. Naz looks terrible. Decent officials and they lose by at least 15. Almost half of their 66 points came from the line in a 2 point win.

UC would score, play tough D, force a bad shot, and then naz would shoot 2 free throws.

There were some D1 refs there evaluating tonights officials. Getting to talk for a few minutes with one afterwards was interesting. Don't be surprised if disciplinary action is taken against one of the officials of tonights contes... errr silver platter.

[d3lifer]

Sounds like some interesting matchups and outcomes this evening in the empire 8, Hartwick 84 RIT 80, Hartwick trailed by 25 points with about 15:00 minutes to go in the game.  (Coco with 42 pts, 10 rebs)

Can't sleep on Utica or Fisher despite some early struggles both are well coached teams who understand how to win. Should be an exciting year. Ithaca seems to be a well balanced team to this point in the year.

Steven's will pose some interesting matchups, they appear to be built just a bit differently as a team than most other Empire 8 teams.

[gobombers15]

UC just got completely screwed tonight. Lost by two, free throw attempts were 33 to 8.

One ref called nearly every foul, with some blatantly terrible ones late in the game. In the first half, naz scored 14 points in the last 8 minutes, 12 were from the charity stripe. In the second half, every time naz missed a shot in the last 6 minutes he put them on the line with a bail out. Naz looks terrible. Decent officials and they lose by at least 15. Almost half of their 66 points came from the line in a 2 point win.

UC would score, play tough D, force a bad shot, and then naz would shoot 2 free throws.

There were some D1 refs there evaluating tonights officials. Getting to talk for a few minutes with one afterwards was interesting. Don't be surprised if disciplinary action is taken against one of the officials of tonights contes... errr silver platter.

1) Wahmbulance.

2) A Utica loss and UCgrad complaining about the officiating. Yep, we must be close to Christmas.

3) That post was about as predictable as the sun rising in the east today.

4) I bet the refs slammed home Corey McAdam's winning fadeaway jumper, too. You know, they saw it wasn't going in so they swooped in and slammed it home.

5) I guess there goes your theory theory that only the Rochester refs have it in for Utica.

6) If a "D1 official" was there scouting/supervising, and he gave you feedback to the extent that one of the officials is going to be disciplined, he is one of the most unprofessional people I have ever heard of. Referees tend not to throw other refs under the bus. How is he going to be disciplined? For sucking at being a ref? A lot of D3 refs would be on the chopping block if that were the case.

7) Maybe Utica isn't all that good?

8) Nice lockdown defense by Coulda-played-D1-Dennis (Munch) on Corey McAdam. Good defense to the tune of 18pts and 8assts. Let me guess, he guarded Canori? In that case, glad to see your lockdown defender is guarding a team's 3rd best player.

My favorite Ithaca uniforms was the year or two when the women dressed in the Syracuse '03 style.  I think I just got GB15 teary-eyed mentioning Syracuse 2003.

It did get a tad dusty in here. Whenever I drive by the Superdome, I salute.

[e8bballfan]

haha gobombers..

A couple questions:

UCgrad - how did UC get screwed?? Foul shots in favor of naz would maybe indicate so, but if you look at 3pt shots (UC 23, Naz 9) that would indicate that UC was settling for outside shots while naz was taking it to the hole and maybe getting fouled more.

How did naz look terrible?

What did these refs say after the game?

More importantly -

How does RIT allow that comeback by Jan Coco & co?! How can 'wick score 50 pts in the last 12 minutes!?! I'm sure Bob McVean isn't very happy as his team blew that game and has dug themselves quite the whole early in the conference schedule.

And, any word on what happened between Stevens-Elmira? As in, how was that a 3pt game as the team that everyone thinks should win the conference (stevens ducks) beats EC by only 3 pts.

[gobombers15]

And, any word on what happened between Stevens-Elmira? As in, how was that a 3pt game as the team that everyone thinks should win the conference (stevens ducks) beats EC by only 3 pts.

"Well, Stevens shot 30 FT's and Elmira only 7. It must have been the refs' fault!!! Kill the refereeeeee!!!"

And apparently there's a rumor that Dick Bavetta and Joey Crawford were present at the game. Yeah, true story. After each missed call, they'd go down to the floor and demonstrate to the entire crowd why the call was incorrect. Afterwards, they both made a call to the E8 Commish and advocated for harsh sanctions against the officials. Yeah, I'm not kidding. And just to drive the point home, they made this call over the PA system so that all the fans would know exactly how bad the officials were and so that they could embarrass one of their own.

[Cyclone0205]

I can venture two easy guesses from looking at the stats and when the game was played.



1)  Stevens shot 3-21 from behind the arc.  At home.  Bad shooting nights make for close games.  Particularly because it looks like the guys that we missing are both relatively good 3 point shooters (Passalcqua 1-6?  Didn't he shoot like 40% from the arc last year?)


2)  Look at what happened to Brandeis when they were looking ahead to Amherst.  Stevens probably wrote off the Elmira game and was looking forward to the big matchup with Ithaca.


If I had to guess, those are the two most logical reasons I'm going with.

[Caz Bombers]

I guess everyone's started their Saturday night festivities early.

RIT beat Utica 64-61 behind Barrett Zeinfeld's 19 points.  Mark Carson had 14 and 10.  Doug Herring led Utica with 15 points.  UC shot just 3 free throws in their own gym.  Zeinfeld hits a 3 with 1:10 left to break a tie and Herring missed a three to tie with 18 seconds left.

Fisher went on the road and slaughtered winless Alfred 78-43.  The coaches were right, AU has absolutely nothing in the tank.  Baltz leads a balanced attack with 15 points.  James Simmermeyer had 10, the only Saxon in double figures.  Alfred 29% from the floor and 2-16 from distance.  Brutal.

EDIT: With 9:55 left in the 1st half and Fisher already up 17-5, Justin Beigel and AU's Ellis Walsh got hit with the ol' double technical.  44 total fouls and 47 total free throws seems a bit much for such a blowout, musta been a real chippy game.

[bamm]

I think we should all just come to expect the unexpected from RIT and Hartwick this season.  Hartwick can score, and if any of the teams in the league don't bring energy on the defensive end, they will find themselves in trouble.  RIT has talent but like last year, they don't appear to come out consistently on the defensive end every game.

After blowing a 25 point lead last night (59-34 with 12+ minutes to go) in what must have been a demoralizing loss, the Tigers find a way to get a win in Utica.

Utica, clearly, is not very good.

Mark Carson went for 14 points and 10 rebounds against Utica.
He had 18 points and 16 rebounds in the Friday Night game at Hartwick.

Foul trouble finally slows down Kenny Gethers this weekend.

[gobombers15]

All disdain for Utica aside, they are in trouble. Getting swept at home hurts bad. They still have Fisher, Ithaca, and Stevens coming to town. They still have to play at Stevens, at Fisher, at RIT, etc. They just don't get to the line. I mean, three FT's in one game? Sounds like they're settling for jumpers. That's more than refs. You can back into 10 FT's a game without trying too hard.

[maxpower]

You know, I think the refs are the reason UC's football team has had a couple down years recently.

[buck1053]

Fisher went on the road and slaughtered winless Alfred 78-43.  The coaches were right, AU has absolutely nothing in the tank.  Baltz leads a balanced attack with 15 points.  James Simmermeyer had 10, the only Saxon in double figures.  Alfred 29% from the floor and 2-16 from distance.  Brutal.

Can Alfred get any win this year? Pep, you're the inside man on this, is there anyone on the Lady Saxons schedule they can beat?

Note: Lady is correct. Actually, the real Lady Saxons could probably beat the "men."

[Caz Bombers]

42-38 IC at halftime over Stevens.  Leahy with 14, surprisingly Bostic has 0.

[JQV]

Just tuned in to watch.  Brendan Rogers has about 6 TO in the last 8 Bomber possessions while IC has pissed away a lead.  Not sure why Burton isn't playing.

[gobombers15]

Ithaca falls to Stevens, 83-74. Sean Leahy leads the Bombers with 21. Passalacqua and Gray pace the Ducks with 19 each, Williams goes for 13 and 7, and Matt Higgins chips in 10 off the bench. Sean Burton scores 4 pts in 6 mins of play. Not sure what happend to him, but he didn't play beyond the 14 minute mark of the 1st half. If it's an injury, hopefully not too serious for the Bomber PG who is on the short list for E8 POY right now.

[JQV]

Sean Burton scores 4 pts in 6 mins of play. Not sure what happend to him, but he didn't play beyond the 14 minute mark of the 1st half. If it's an injury, hopefully not too serious for the Bomber PG who is on the short list for E8 POY right now.

Also, IC does not appear to have any competent replacement.  Based solely on the 13 minutes or so that I watched today, Rogers isn't answer at PG. 

Stevens didn't wow me, which is scary.  They are just a solid team that does everything well but nothing extraordinary.  Fun to watch.  Glad to know the rematch will also be on TV.