Empire 8

[JQV]

Good recaps by all.  The Chase Tournament has to be one of the best things going in NY State right now.  How was the attendance?

[bamm]

Whether or not you consider the RIT/Naz battle a good game depends on how you define "good".  It was certainly exciting.  But beyond that there were a lot of bad decisions, a lack of defense, and questionable coaching decisions. 

Naz controlled most of the game.  RIT played almost exclusively man-to-man, and when Naz needed a bucket they would just spread the floor and let Canori take his man off the dribble.  Considering his success rate I'm surprised they didn't do this every trip down the court.  He was unstoppable for whoever was guarding him.

I will say this about McAdam as well -- if you are a front court player on Naz, you have to be ready to catch the ball at any time from any angle.  McAdam is as quick a decision maker as anyone I've seen, and when he penetrates and draws defenders he consistently finds the open man just at the right moment.

RIT got their offense from a variety of sources.  Carson struggled with fouls, but still put up 18/9.  Zeinfeld was 5/11 from behind the arc -- including the huge tying three with about 40 seconds left.  The guy is clutch, without a doubt.  But I was surprised at how he got it off.  A hard jab step that the defender inexplicably fell for -- when does Zeinfeld ever take the ball to the basket?

I was surprised that he was even in position to tie the game at that point though.  I generally don't question Coach McVean -- there's a reason RIT is in the E8 tourney every season and it starts with him -- but I almost fell over at what he did with about 2:30 to go in the game.

Shane Roe, Mark Carson, and Zeinfeld had scored 11 of the last 14 points for RIT.  Yet with Naz shooting free throws (up 3) he took all three players out of the game.  Again, Naz was shooting free throws so this was not an offense/defense substitution.  Just a weird decision that I still have trouble understanding.  Carson and Zeinfeld got back in the game about 1 minute and a couple of possessions later.

After that tying 3, Naz took the ball, spread the floor, and let Canori take his man off the dribble and hit a 16 footer that was as predictable as a Giuliani stump speech.

Then, as freshman tend to do, RIT's Nate Korinchak got rattled in the backcourt and lost the ball -- Naz got an easy layup and that was that.


If you're looking to keep Naz under 80 points -- a couple of thoughts:  You can shake McAdam.  He will turn the ball over with good defensive pressure.  RIT was able to surprise him a couple of times with a trap and got easy layups out of it. 

And you have to guard Canori with either someone who can put a hand in his face or a pest who constantly has their hands near the ball.  Zeinfeld, a shorter player who doesn't put a ton of pressure on the ball, had no shot most of the game.

[bamm]

Good recaps by all.  The Chase Tournament has to be one of the best things going in NY State right now.  How was the attendance?

The gym was almost completely full, and most were Naz fans.  They've got talent and a local star (McAdam), so I'm guessing they get a good draw anywhere in town.

[bombersquadron]

Very good attendance at voth games. Bamm, I agree that the Naz -RIT game was very sloppy. Both teams let up numerous baskets on in bounds plays underneath the basket, some weren't even plays just guys standing wide open. Carson had a quiet 18 with 8 coming from the line and shot very well from the line and didn't have any awful looking foul shots. The taller big who came in off the bench didn't impress me at all, very soft and let up a lot of offensive rebounds. I was surprised that he played so much and that Roy is coming off the bench.

[bamm]

Very good attendance at voth games. Bamm, I agree that the Naz -RIT game was very sloppy. Both teams let up numerous baskets on in bounds plays underneath the basket, some weren't even plays just guys standing wide open. Carson had a quiet 18 with 8 coming from the line and shot very well from the line and didn't have any awful looking foul shots. The taller big who came in off the bench didn't impress me at all, very soft and let up a lot of offensive rebounds. I was surprised that he played so much and that Roy is coming off the bench.

That was the other interesting part about removing Carson with 2:30 left -- he brought in Rizzo -- a freshman who has exactly 10 points this entire season.  This is an odd strategy considering you are down by three and about to get the ball.

Roy is in a tough spot.  A strong ball-handler and defender, but he doesn't have any kind of perimeter scoring ability and Korinchak is a better penetrator.  That being said, RIT will have to live with the freshman mistakes like what they saw at the end of last night's game.

[Jacketfan2011]

D&C reports following attendance

Brockport/Fisher - 720
Geneseo/RW - 550
Naz/RIT - 700
UR/Keuka - 240

[bamm]

D&C reports following attendance

Brockport/Fisher - 720
Geneseo/RW - 550
Naz/RIT - 700
UR/Keuka - 240

I said in my previous post that McAdam is a local kid, but I should point out that all three leading scorers for Naz last night are all Rochester kids -- McAdam (Fairport), Canori (Webster), and Higdon (Edison).

[FisherDynasty]

If brockport is playing in a game its almost always going to be sloppy thats how they play and force the other teams to play.  It is to their advantage. Smalt is better in a halfcourt set type a game versus up and down, did  he did not play a lot of minutes, single digits i think due to foul trouble, 2 early in first half and a quick one in the 2nd. Either way not a bad showing for Fisher, bport has been strugglin but has very good talent. 


bombersquadron in your opininon, who do you think is better out of rit, naz, and fisher although its probably tough to compare as fisher played a crazy bport team.

[bombersquadron]

bombersquadron in your opininon, who do you think is better out of rit, naz, and fisher although its probably tough to compare as fisher played a crazy bport team.

Very good question. I was thinking about this last night. With the way the teams all played last night i woul dhave to say Naz. Their outside players all played well (Canori, McAdam, Higdon). They played without Ryan who i saw play this summer at the ESG and played very well and their posts (Smith and Dehiemer) didn't play great games in my opinion. So if they can get McAdam back at 100% and those guys playing i take them.

With RIT i do think Carson has improved and i also like Gethers and Whitwood. Have some solid players but like Bamm said they will live and die by the freshman if McVean keeps playing them in important minutes down the stretch. I think they well have some up and down games, really depends on Carson getting foul calls and Zienfield hitting shots.

Fisher had a tough opponent to judge them against, I think Newman played well in his match-up versus Harris who is so much better than him, Harris had a quiet 23 and Newman played well on offense and got them going to start the game. Baltz can shoot it if given a inch of space but can't play any D.  Ilike the freshman Franklin, played tough in the first half but lost the poise in the second half and was useless. It really depends on the frontcourt of Breaden, Biegel and Smalt. If the two bigs are always in foul trouble which i expect to be the case against almost every team in the conference they will struggle.

So to answer the question I take Naz, I want to see how they far versus unbeaten Geneseo as a third big test for them (losing to U of R and Stevens). Somehow Naz is getting more votes in the top 25 than Genseio is at this point. I'm not counting out Fisher or RIT though as i think both teams can put it together and wn a bunch of Empire 8 games in a row if they get hot.

[gobombers15]

Seems to be a big difference in opinion as to how good Naz is. UCgrad says they're trash. Everyone else seems to think they're good. Interesting.

[Jacketfan2011]

I have seen RIT and Naz play UR this year.  Naz sort of imploded in the second half and the game devolved into a series of one-on-one exhibitions.  They lost by 17-18.  RIT had a terrible first half-trailing by 16 at the break I think.  Came out in the second half playing much better and lost by 10.  Based on what I saw, I'd take RIT.

[Razor]

Based on last night's results, who does everyone think will end up advancing on and winning the Chase?  I'm going to stick with my original picks of U of R and Geneseo in the finals and U of R winning.  I think Geneseo matches up well with Naz on the perimeter with Morton and Kling vs. McCaddam and Canori.  Both are long, lanky defenders who will give them trouble and Howe should have the advantage inside.  Too bad that both teams couldn't be at full stength with Kitson out for 'Seo and Ryan out for Naz.  In the other match up, I think U of R is going to absolutely destroy Brockport.  They just have no weaknesses.  They have horses inside and great shooters outside in Chiemelowic and Dominiak and are just too disciplined to let Bport's style of play rattle them!

[Jacketfan2011]

Have to say it was nice to see Chmielowiec in the lineup last night.  Sort of a pick your poison with he and Dominiak.  I think they are very fortunate to have 2 PG's in Kaplan and Juron that seem to enjoy dishing more than scoring.  I believe Kaplan is #2 nationally in asst/to ratio.

[gobombers15]

Didn't someone say (maybe Bamm) that UR struggled a bit with pressure in the 2nd half of the RIT/UR game? If that was the case, wouldn't Brockport's press give them trouble? That said, I could see UR pulling away at the end for a 10-point win.

I'm going to guess that the final will be Naz/UR if for no other reason than the fact that the top two seeded teams almost never meet in the final of that tournament. Then I'll predict a B'port victory over Geneseo in the 3rd place game. I'm intrigued by the Roberts/RIT game after Roberts took Geneseo to OT on Geneseo's home court. I'd love to see RIT play Fisher in the 5th place game.

[bball05]

utica is down 31-27 at half to cortland