Empire 8

[formerbant10]

Onyiruka was in foul trouble for a good part of the 2nd half.  There was no doubt that he was the best player on the floor.  Way too strong and athletic for RIT's bigs.  Ndubizu played a decent game, #34 (UofR) off the bench played much better than anticipated.  RIT's bigs didn't play as well as they did against Fisher.

RIT ran sets very well, opened up the game and 2nd half with the same play going for a 3.  Their guards did a very good job pressing and trapping...that seemed to give UofR some trouble, especially in the 2nd half as Bamm pointed out.  Foster also did a very good job penetrating, he's going to be a pretty good player by the end of the year.

RIT will be in every game even if they are overmatched talent-wise.  They play tough defense, mixed up hard man and a good 1-2-2 press.  Ran most of their sets well, struggled a little bit on a few where UofR scouted well.  But overall a very good job by RIT. 

However, if UofR shoots better from the line (haven't seen a box score, but had to be near 50%), the game wouldn't have been close.

[e8bballfan]

how bad does UR beat Fisher on friday night?

[Jacketfan2011]

What I saw tonight was a UofR team that hadn't played since last Wed and looked rusty.  The entire team was in foul trouble it seemed.  I looked up at the clock and UofR had 9 fouls with 9:45 left in the second half.   RIT fouled a lot in the last 4 minutes or so, and rightly so, as UofR was terrible at the line.  That may be their Achilles this year.  JO played well offensively.  Uche was off a little but seemed to rebounded well.  And Millbrand (#34) has played far better in previous games.  He rarely misses that little jump hook but was off tonight.  I think the layoff was most telling on D, where RIT continually got to the rim off the dribble.  That surprised me.  Overall, gotta give credit to RIT for hanging tough, especially in light of the Hartwick debacle.  Down 16 at the half and they could have folded but they played tough. 

[with age comes?]

Bamm- your impressions are the exact same as mine when I saw RIT against Clarkson.  Korinchak and Foster are tough freshman and Carson was vastly improved.  I haven't seen U of R but Plattsburgh (rated about 14th now and dropping) gave me the same impression.  I could not believe that they were that highly rated.  Maybe I'm expecting too much but the Hauben teams at UR of a few years ago were far better than Plattsburg to me.  Albeit my judgement of Plattsburgh lies in one game, whereas I saw Uof R multiple times. The surprising thing  is that I've heard that the guy that was heavily recruited by RIT was Dan Kelly and Korinchak was an added bonus.  I don't know what is up with Kelly, I haven't seen him mentionned...perhaps an injury?  While Korinchak is getting significant productive minutes as a freshman PG which I've always found McVean reluctant to do.

[gobombers15]

UofR shot a better FT% than RIT tonight. Enough with the "we would have won by more if we could just make our FT's."

Shane Foster should drop the "e" in his first name a la the All-American at Vanderbilt, Shan (pronounced "Shane") Foster.

[slickyquick]

Plattsburgh has the same nucleus (basically) for the third season in a row with Williams, Gorham, and Miller. They took away Gibbs-Smith and inserted Hunt. They are very good. Haven't seen UofR play this year but I'm sure it would be a heck of a game. UofR always gives SUNYAC teams trouble. Not sure if UofR can match Plattsburgh's quickness, but again I haven't seen UofR play this year to know for sure.

[JQV]

Delaney has a good story up about Burton's injury.  Sounds pretty scary.

http://theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/SPORTS/712120327/1006

[formerbant10]

UofR shot a better FT% than RIT tonight. Enough with the "we would have won by more if we could just make our FT's."

Free throws were virtually the same percentage.  One would expect the top-ranked team to shoot slightly better than 17-29.  That was the point I was making. 

[gobombers15]

UofR shot a better FT% than RIT tonight. Enough with the "we would have won by more if we could just make our FT's."

Free throws were virtually the same percentage.  One would expect the top-ranked team to shoot slightly better than 17-29.  That was the point I was making. 

Understand your point, but that's not always the case. Look at how bad Memphis is at the charity stripe, yet the #2 team in the country.

[bombersquadron]

Delaney has a good story up about Burton's injury.  Sounds pretty scary.

http://theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071212/SPORTS/712120327/1006

Article is very true, in talking to people who have seen the tape he could have been seriously injured, they said the footage is very scary. Kneecap to the temple knocked him out cold before he hit the floor. He is very lucky to be in good health right now, could have been a much worse freak injury. I saw him yesterday on campus and doesn't look seriously injured at all.  He had a band-aid over the stitches on his noses. Surprisingly, no black eye on either eye.  Doesn't look like he even has a broken nose. Talked to him and seems to have no ill effects from the fall so he is a very lucky young man. Knowing Burton he wants to get back out there as soon as he can, the kid is ultra-competitive and i don't think he could stand sitting out. Hopefully for the Bombers he gets the mask and adjusts to it for Friday night's game.

[Caz Bombers]

Great to hear Burton should be OK.  Knocked cold while still airborne?  Who hit him, Reggie Nelson?

[Jacketfan2011]

Slicky - if I remember the game last year correctly, Pburgh did seem any quicker than UofR.  And while Pburgh returns their nucleus, so does UofR.  They lost a starting guard in Brackney and Snyder, a post off the bench.  Chmielowiec's and Juron's injuries have allowed other guards, including a freshman, to get great experience.  So I don't think quickness will be an issue if the two teams play again.  Rather, Onyiriuka making a better percentage of shots (6-15 last year, mostly on 4 foot bunnies), better handling of pressure and defending that half-court buzzer beater this time would be a good idea.  

[JQV]

Reggie Nelson?

+k for the Predator reference:

[maxpower]

As long as we're doing movie pictures, what will Burton look like when he comes back?

This:




Or This:




?

[Jacketfan2011]

I have a question that maybe someone here can answer.  How are officials assigned at the DIII level?  Are there "league" officials?  In other words,  is there a pool of Empire 8, or Liberty League officials that do just those games?  Or is it just a pool of officials that get assigned to games regardless of league?  Just curious...