Empire 8

[UCgrad45]

And for fun, some quotes that I was ripped on for last semester:


"If you look back over the last 4 or 5 seasons, UC seems to always only win by a few points AT Elmira, no matter how good the team is. They then blow them out at Utica. Elmira isn't scared of anybody, which may be the result of playing teams like Colgate last season. IIRC, they beat some teams late last season that nobody thought they could."

Since then, UC blew out Elmira at home, and Elmira nearly beat Stevens.

"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. "

Bobby Whyte playing more than 10 minutes, UC is 2-0 and winning by 17.5 ppg.

[Cyclone0205]

Stevens earns the split on their first e8 road trip with a thrilling 100-97 victory at Naz.  Too much of the 3 headed monster (Passalacqua, Gray, Farid).  They finished with 25, 25, and 20 points respectively.

Naz got an outstanding game out of Canori to the tune of 34 points.  As for mr. mcadam, his stats are deceptive tonight.  Good game (19 pts, 14 assists, 6 rebounds)....but he also had 11 turnovers which is very uncharacteristic.



So..we learned the gap between 1 and 2 in the e8 is more like a 1 and 1a..Stevens is definitely beatable after the performances this weekend.  However, they could prove dangerous if teams have to come down to Hoboken for the tournament.  I agree with the other posts...if the tournament is at Stevens, they'll probably win it...if it's up north, I would bet against them.  That trip is a killer.

[Cyclone0205]

As a side note...why isn't Gray being mentioned in the E8 player of the year race?  It seems like everyone has just assumed iots either Burton or McAdam.  I would say those two are clearly the frontrunners, but if Stevens wins the conference I gotta think Gray would get some votes.  Thoughts?

[FisherDynasty]

Agree with gray getting votes, if you scroll back to the posts about early predictions of first 2nd teamers i mentioned both gray and fadrid in the running.

[bball05]

UC Grad, its sad to say i do not have inferiority complex and the only thing i am sick of is your love for Munch's non-exist offensive game and his flops on defense. After this post i am done discussing Utica until 2008 when they face Ithaca again.

I want to bring to light the fact that everyone who moves on to play basketball in college was a scorer in H.S. They are typically their high schools top player, or within the top three as a senior and expected to score double digits in HS every night. So to say Munch could be a scorer in college because he scored 15-20 points a game in H.S. means nothing at the college level. I know guys on the Ithaca team who dropped 25 or more a night in H.S. In fact one player Louis Kail dropped 67 in a game back in high school but that doesn't mean he will be a scorer for Ithaca. He plays his role as does Munch, which is what happens in college when you have 12 -15 good players on a team. Munch's stats vs. Caz last night don't impress me either, Ithaca players such as Will Gaskins or Luke Robinson would come off the bench and have a field day with Caz.

GB15, i would take Ruff over Munch. I don't think that is being biased towards Ithaca either. Ruff may not be as renowned for his D (which is not based on flopping like Munch) but everyone on Ithaca loves him for the job he does. He might not be as good on the ball as Munch, but he is a great off the ball defender, as is Brendan Rogers and those two combine to hold people, like CoCo from Hartwick or Joe Canori of Naz to 10 points under their season average and change the game. Keeping the ball out of the other players best offensive guard or wing. Ruff also has improved his offensive ability and can knock the three down this year, something Munch cannot do EVER.

I don't think Munch would break the rotation in Ithaca, he comes off the bench already on a weaker team. UC Grad i know that i don't know Munch and his offensive prowess from his days at West Babylon H.S. but from watching him in his time in Utica, and watching Ithaca's team evolve into the team we have now, i don't see him taking anyone's spot for 10 minutes a game.

u still taking ruff over munch? come on
munch-4 pts 3 steals 5 assists 4 rebounds 0 turnovers nd munch won the battle

[UCgrad45]

UC Grad, its sad to say i do not have inferiority complex and the only thing i am sick of is your love for Munch's non-exist offensive game and his flops on defense. After this post i am done discussing Utica until 2008 when they face Ithaca again.

I want to bring to light the fact that everyone who moves on to play basketball in college was a scorer in H.S. They are typically their high schools top player, or within the top three as a senior and expected to score double digits in HS every night. So to say Munch could be a scorer in college because he scored 15-20 points a game in H.S. means nothing at the college level. I know guys on the Ithaca team who dropped 25 or more a night in H.S. In fact one player Louis Kail dropped 67 in a game back in high school but that doesn't mean he will be a scorer for Ithaca. He plays his role as does Munch, which is what happens in college when you have 12 -15 good players on a team. Munch's stats vs. Caz last night don't impress me either, Ithaca players such as Will Gaskins or Luke Robinson would come off the bench and have a field day with Caz.

GB15, i would take Ruff over Munch. I don't think that is being biased towards Ithaca either. Ruff may not be as renowned for his D (which is not based on flopping like Munch) but everyone on Ithaca loves him for the job he does. He might not be as good on the ball as Munch, but he is a great off the ball defender, as is Brendan Rogers and those two combine to hold people, like CoCo from Hartwick or Joe Canori of Naz to 10 points under their season average and change the game. Keeping the ball out of the other players best offensive guard or wing. Ruff also has improved his offensive ability and can knock the three down this year, something Munch cannot do EVER.

I don't think Munch would break the rotation in Ithaca, he comes off the bench already on a weaker team. UC Grad i know that i don't know Munch and his offensive prowess from his days at West Babylon H.S. but from watching him in his time in Utica, and watching Ithaca's team evolve into the team we have now, i don't see him taking anyone's spot for 10 minutes a game.

u still taking ruff over munch? come on
munch-4 pts 3 steals 5 assists 4 rebounds 0 turnovers nd munch won the battle

How sick was his steal when he dove from the FT line and took it while calling timeout?

[bball05]

ruff did some flopping of his own and i think theres a few people that hate him even if hes not good enough to hate... that steal at the end of the game look like it was a message being sent to your posters

nd uc grad that diving steal nd timeout call was pretty sick i take munch over ruff anyday

[buck1053]

After the blip on the life support machine, Alfred got back to its losing ways this weekend. Also, Hartwick apparently has come back to earth with a pair of losses this weekend, IC and Elmira. Ouch!

[gobombers15]

Geez, where were these UC fans when things weren't going your way? Way to come out of the woodwork, guys! Your return after today's game was about as surprising as the sun rising in the east this morning.

With the exception of BomberSquadron, I don't think anyone said that Munch was a bad player. What most had a beef with was the statement that "Munch could get some burn on some D1 teams." Are you kidding me? Munch wouldn't be allowed to hold the jocks at schools like Niagara or even Bonaventure. Even you UC kool-aid drinkers have to admit that was an absurd statement.

You UC guys can say what you want, but the Bombers are still ahead of you in the standings AND have six home games left to UC's four. If you think UC is finishing ahead of IC in the conference standings this year, you're nuts. If you honestly think that, give me an amount you're willing to lose and I'll take that bet every day of the week.

[UCgrad45]

Geez, where were these UC fans when things weren't going your way? Way to come out of the woodwork, guys! Your return after today's game was about as surprising as the sun rising in the east this morning.

With the exception of BomberSquadron, I don't think anyone said that Munch was a bad player. What most had a beef with was the statement that "Munch could get some burn on some D1 teams." Are you kidding me? Munch wouldn't be allowed to hold the jocks at schools like Niagara or even Bonaventure. Even you UC kool-aid drinkers have to admit that was an absurd statement.

You UC guys can say what you want, but the Bombers are still ahead of you in the standings AND have six home games left to UC's four. If you think UC is finishing ahead of IC in the conference standings this year, you're nuts. If you honestly think that, give me an amount you're willing to lose and I'll take that bet every day of the week.

Um, if you look, I am rarely on this board when games aren't being played. So to see me "return" when games are back on shouldn't be a surprise there skip.

Thats great that IC is up by one game (and now loses one tie breaker to UC with points scored against each other). They would be behind them if not for UC getting royally screwed against a pathetic naz team.

If you havn't noticed, UC has a better record on the road this year. These were hardly "home" games as the students aren't even back on campus yet. It was almost a neutral site. They have also allowed the fewest points of any E8 team. They are also healthy for the first time, and Whyte still isn't 100%.

As for your "off" night. Thats crap. IC just isn't that good, as I said after the first game when they played a depleted UC team. When both teams are healthy, UC is stronger by far top to bottom. This can be seen in the 28-9 point difference from the benches. In addition, UC has blown out common opponents that IC barely held off. IC has a good starting 5 and not much else. When UC isn't starting their 11th man because of injuries, the whole team is stronger. Over a season when you have no bench, it wears on your starters. UC is starting to not have to worry about that as they are getting healthy and young players are maturing and finding their roles.

Some other numbers to chew on: Points off turnovers UC 20-10, Points in the paint UC 36-14 (Yeah, Whyte makes no difference down low since last time this number was a 2 point difference), Second chance points UC 13-7, Fast Break points UC 10-4, lead changes none, UC never trailed.

I wish they had 4 more games against Ithaca. They could improve on there 8-4 series advantage in the last 4 years.

You honestly think a team that lost by 2 when depleted and a 37-8 FTA difference was in play and a team that lost by 3 while missing one of it's best players can't make up 1 game over a team they are clearly better than?

I think you were just drunk when you made this post at almost 3 am. Not a good way to drown your sorrows.

[UCgrad45]

ruff did some flopping of his own and i think theres a few people that hate him even if hes not good enough to hate... that steal at the end of the game look like it was a message being sent to your posters

nd uc grad that diving steal nd timeout call was pretty sick i take munch over ruff anyday

Ruff would have a hard time even making the UC roster.

[FisherDynasty]

Im not taking sides, but Ithaca is still a year away from being an NCAA tournament team in my eyes.

[Cyclone0205]

might be a little early but my buddy brought this up in another board.  Does anyone see the e8 getting 2 teams in the tournament this year?  I think no, but i could see a scenario where Stevens loses 1 or 2 more regular season so they are around 21-3 or something heading into the tourney and then they get upset.  Maybe then they get an at-large?  I dunno.  It'd be nice to have 2 teams in.

[UCgrad45]

might be a little early but my buddy brought this up in another board.  Does anyone see the e8 getting 2 teams in the tournament this year?  I think no, but i could see a scenario where Stevens loses 1 or 2 more regular season so they are around 21-3 or something heading into the tourney and then they get upset.  Maybe then they get an at-large?  I dunno.  It'd be nice to have 2 teams in.

They could. It's tough to say if the entire conference is fairly strong, or if Stevens is overrated. Just two seasons ago the conference had two sweet 16 teams. There are 3 teams in the conference that still have players with NCAA tournament experience (Sweet 16 experience as well).

This season looks like the conference will beat each other up, making it difficult to get two teams in. If one team dominates wire to wire and loses in conference finals, then two are likely.

While the conference beating each other makes records look not great, the strength of schedule that it creates could lead to at large bids.

At this point, is way too early to speculate. There is a lot of basketball to be played by everyone. Injuries happen and teams go on hot or cold streaks. Should be a fun year all around.

[UCgrad45]

Im not taking sides, but Ithaca is still a year away from being an NCAA tournament team in my eyes.

I say a year away and depth away. Won't be helped by losing Burton after this season either.