Empire 8

[bombersquadron]

Sorry for the long post, hate to be a typical bomber poster with the long post (Bamm), but i did research all during the UCONN game and typed my draft. Sorry if there are any mistakes with grammar but as a P.E. teacher i always struggled with that. I have known Bostic since his freshman year and knowing him and his personal life i would say they kid has a ton of heart and is a very level headed kid.

Anyways i was also working during the UCONN game on my conference team predictions at the midway point.

1st Team

Corey McAdam
Doug Herring
Sean Burton
Virgil Gray
Mark Carson (Has better #s than Bostic, but Bostic could take the spot down the stretch).

2nd Team

Joe Canori
CoCo
Jeff Bostic (Can be first team, he usually plays great down the stretch and was first team last year).
Kenny Gethers
Justin Biegel
Waleed Farid

Honorable Mention

Tim Williams
Sean Leahy
Baltz or Newman (Depends on how they and Fisher continue to play)
Passalqua (Was hurt, missed some games)
Ryan McAdam?? *Missed 6 Games, 3 Chase Tourney, 3 in Conference but has solid numbers overall and in conference.

Between Burton and C McAdam for player of the year, really depends on who plays better down the stretch and who wins the conference. In my opinion these are the most logical predictions. I am open to debate but i think this are as fair as can be.

[Duckman]

I heard a stat somewhere that out of the 300 some-odd d3 schools, stevens has the 5th worst free throw percentage.
That's pretty awful, yet it says a lot about how much talent they have if they're still ranked in the top 25.
By the way, I'm claiming dibs on 1st official Stevens student/fan on this thread (or has someone beat me to it?).

[magicman]

Duckman, You lose by about 2 months. 1st Stevens poster was one of your players trying to come on incognito back in Nov. I believe.  Check with Jose Q.  I think he outed him.

[JQV]

Check with Jose Q.  I think he outed him.

If memory serves it was Senior Tim Williams:




EDIT:

Almost.  Here is my post.

It is my experience that coaches in D3 do not get fired for losing.  I really can't think of an example where a coach got fired and the termination was not supported by some reason unrelated to success on the field/court.

Coach Hayne from Stevens was fired 2 years ago for not taking them to the NCAA's. Coach Lauffler is now te new head coach and Stevens made it to the Sweet 16, and look like they might make it to the championships this year

Well we have ourselves an official Stevens fan and he's certainly jumped in with a bang.  Wow.

Almost Caz.  Looks like we have ourselves an official Stevens player.  Nate Williams, Senior from Elmhurst NY.



Although, he might qualify as a fan as well since he is getting just 8.3 min more per game than I am.

Second Edit:  Nate is no longer listed on the roster despite the fact that he appeared in 11 games this season.  Que interesado.  I hope we didn't get him kicked off the team.  That might be a little harsh coach. 

Also, how classic to disguise yourself with the handle "randombballfan."

[Chief1101]

some quality posts about Stevens...


however just want to clarify something...coach hayne was not fired for not producing on the court or in the ncaas...he was fired because of non-basketball related issues...such as low team gpa, lowering standards of stevens student athletes, and losing to RPI..schools biggest rival..



some may say, no way, but those are the 3 reasons..



These are Coach Haynes players, Coach Loeffler can't even hang with Hayne in basketball IQ...hayne turned stevens around, loeffler was handed a good tteam..

[bamm]

bombersquadron -- I like your list, and to add a quick point to it -- I think the most difficult part this year for the coach's will be to decide what to do about Canori, Cocozziello, and Gray.

Both Canori and Cocozziello are upperclassmen, and both probably "deserve" first-team honors considering they are one and two in scoring in the E8.  And if Stevens does, in fact, win the league I would be surprised if they didn't get a first-teamer, and Gray seems like the choice -- although you could probably stick Farid in there. 

[jasper]

Passalacqua is either an ankle or foot injury.  People at the Elmira game said he had a little bit of a limp while running so that's my guess.

As for the whole Stevens v e8 convo, here's my 2 cents:

1)  I think Naz and Ithaca are the only teams in conference that can beat Stevens in Hoboken.  I know Ithaca lost but I think with Burton they would have won that game.  Naz is this weekend so we'll see.  I'll put money on Stevens because Naz doesn't travel well, but I think on any given night they can beat them.  Even though Fisher beat them at Fisher, I don't think it'll be much of a game in any rematch in Hoboken.

2)  I said it on here (after seeing them play and lookin over some good stats provided) that Williams is 2nd team all e8.  I do think he's much better than Bostic, because 1 on 1 there isn't a big in the conference who, without help, will stop Williams from scoring.  Williams' problem is that he fouls WAY too much, thus limiting his production.  That plus he is the Curtis Sumpter of a nova style offense from a few years back (Nardi, Foye, Ray, Lowry) so the guards dominate the ball. 


3) For starters, let me say that Stevens looked pathetic in both Elmira games and in no way am I defending their PLAY.  HOWEVER, for Jasper putting so much weight on Stevens playing Elmira close...what does that prove?  Basketball is as much a game of matchups as it is talent.  Stevens has one three point shooter against a team that plays a lot of zone against them.  Naturally that game is going to be close.  However, you cannot use the logic that "Oh, they didn't blow out Elmira" to mean that they are worse than the teams that do blowout Elmira.  That makes no sense...ex:  If you have one big and 4 kids who shoot the lights out of the ball but can't take anyone off the dribble, you will probably kill a team that plays all zone against you.  However, you will get killed by an old school Arkansas style in your face team that pressures.  Stevens matches up better with Naz and Ithaca, teams that will run with them and play man to man, because that's the style of play they prefer.  If you slow them down, you will give them trouble.  So, if you mean Stevens isn't better than Naz, Ithaca, or Fisher based on head to head matchups with each other, that's fine and a valid opinion, but using the Elmira game as a barometer is clueless.

Putting so much weight?? All i'm saying is Stevens isn't as great as chief is advertising. They have just as much chance of winning the league as Naz, Ithaca or Fisher. They have done nothing to impress me and i don't see why they are still ranked so high in the top 25 and Naz doesn't even receive a vote. Hey maybe im wrong maybe im not but at this point Stevens is not better than the teams metioned above.

[FisherDynasty]

I'm really not trying to be biased on Fisher, I've said more negative things about them this year then probably any other poster, however, previous post said they are not a serious contender? how so? 


there conf. record is 5-2, with games versus elmira and alfred (two auto wins). 

They will be having a huge home game against nazareth with a 7-2 record.  Nazareth's record at the time will likely be 7-3 with a loss at Stevens.  As such, Fisher will be ahead of Naz in the conf. going into the game and tied or 1 game back from Ithaca or stevens (depending on Naz outcome, could be ahead of them by this pt if naz wins).  Following that, will be a huge game at Ithaca, if they win there (which they havnt lost like a LONG time) then they will be sitting at first looking very good considering the remainder of their schedule.  I don't think its too much of  along shot to think they will beat naz at home and Ithaca.   They are playing better than anyone in my opinion right  now, finally getting the chemistry needed and Smalt is getting back into it.  However, still a little too early to know for sure.


This post was derived from conversations 1 week and half ago comparing Fishers 3-2 record (with 4 straight upcoming easy conf games) versus naz, stevens, and ithaca's 7-2 records. 

[Cyclone0205]

Jasper, they are ranked that high for a number of reasons


a)  They went to the sweet 16 last year.  Because of that, and having 3 of 5 starters back, they were a pre-season top 25 team.  So you'd have to be able to justify moving them out of the top 25 based on 15-2 record.  Gonna be pretty hard to do.


b)  They beat Naz head up.  Close game, yes, but that's why they get the votes and Naz doesn't. 

c)  As for the nothing to impress, etc etc, I'll give you a couple things that would impress a non-biased fan

1)  Win over Middlebury in the 2nd game of the year.  Same Middlebury that has only has 2 or 3 losses on the year.

2)  Beating Fisher by 15 at home (in a game they led by as much as 28) in the 1st matchup of newcomer vs. team thats dominated the e8..regardless of what just happened, at the time, everyone on this board will admittedly say that was "impressive"

3)  Beating Naz, @ Naz, in a double OT game, AFTER losing their first game of the season to RIT, on their first road trip.  If you don't think that's impressive, that means you don't think Naz is very good.  And before we use the McAdam excuse, every team has one of those.  Stevens has quite a few for that game as well.  Take it for what it was..an impressive bounce back victory

4)  Beating BOTH Ithaca and Utica, period.  They are both good teams.  How many other teams in the league have done that so far?  I think it's just Stevens.

I understand you say they haven't looked impressive and I agree, but sometimes just getting the W is as impressive as how you do it.  I'm not going to say that they are head and shoulders above Naz, Ithaca, Fisher, or even Utica, but at this point, given what they've done, you can't objectively say they are behind them either.  I'm not willing to annoit any of these teams champs yet, but to say you don't understand why Stevens is still ranked high in the top 25 means you don't understand how college basketball works.

[Cyclone0205]

As for FisherDynasty, I've said it before..Fisher is still the team to beat in this conference.  I don't really care about records and stuff because it's real simple...who else has won the empire 8?  They had to deal with the Smalt injury and seem to be coming together at the right time.  Talent wise I think they are behind Stevens, Ithaca, Naz, and maybe even Utica, but as far as a basketball team goes they can play with all of them and they are still the reigning 100000-time defending champion.....slight exagerration but you get my point.

[FisherDynasty]

I have to agree with you Cyclone, I think Stevens should definatly getting top 25 votes, they are the only team deserving in the E8 this year.  Also the points made are valid, close games versus elmira or not, a win is a win.  Sometimes playing crap teams like those are hard to get up for.

Idk if they are behind Utica in talent, they beat them by 26 easily and maybe same talent as Ithaca over all but I agree are a little behind Stevens and Naz as far as talent goes. 

[Chief1101]

agreed...


  I agree that until someone knocks Fisher off, they are the team to beat...However, my points have been that i believe stevens will host and win...

[gobombers15]

Each time Jasper posts, the same line from Chappelle's Show rings out in my head: "And Jasper said...if anyone's gonna be havin' ___ with my sister, it's gonna be ME!" One of the best five skits of the entire show. I'm getting whistful over here. Just thought I'd put that out there.

[NYBB]

lol i love that chappele episode

[bombersquadron]

Hey Chief, I had to do some research and make sure you weren't UCGrad in disguise, since you have such a hatred for Ithaca and Stevens.  But the 'Chief' is actually Kevin "Bobble Head" Riley, a former Hobart player, whose career numbers were 4.2 ppg and 3.5 rpg in four years at Hobart. So "Bobble Head"... I don't think you should come on here and call out Bostic, Ithaca College, or any coaches with your career 43 games played and 181 points. In his freshman and sophomore years the "soft and overrated" Bostic has tripled your CAREER numbers. I don't know why your calling out coaches either, find something better to do with your free time like coach a 4th grade girls CYO team.