Empire 8

[Caz Bombers]

Good gravy.  If they had lost that game I would have found a way to possess Ken Kutler (GB15, you're in NoLA, you must have a line on some good voodoo stuff) and have him fire Mullins before he left the gym.

Llllllllllet's get rrrrrrrreeeaddddyyyy tooo........sleepwalk through the ECAC's again!!  Wheee.

[Pat Coleman]

the d3hoops rankings are a little weird. if you ever go check out the top25, click on some random teams  and you'll see there are plenty of teams ranked with some crappy losses to teams with losing records,   and just barely above .500 records but are ahead of teams with losses to very good teams and no 'bad losses' at all. the d3 rankings are all based on hearsay and who is 'typically' good. d3 isn't d1 ball where west coast teams play east coast teams so you can see how everyone across the nation matches up. it's basically a crap-shoot....

This isn't a D3hoops ranking, however. It's a power ranking developed by a fan. Just setting the record straight.

It's not at all based on hearsay, e8bballfan. Or if it is, it's really good hearsay because the NCAA Tournament stands up pretty well under our poll -- better than the regional rankings do.

[Cyclone0205]

e8 gets two teams in the first regional rankings


Stevens in at 4
Naz in at 5


Sucks to be Stevens.  Going from #1 in the Atlantic Region hands down to having to battle with Rochester, Plattsburgh, and Brockport.

[FisherDynasty]

I think the East region is the 3rd strongest region this year behind the west and midwest brackets.  Little bit better than previous years id say. You could also make an argument that it is the best, but not sure how well itd hold up.

[scooterman]

I agree with Magic--No way the e8 gets more than 2 teams in the NCAA's. If Naz or Stevens stumbles in the tourney probably Naz would be ECAC bound.

[FROMAFAR]

Hey, just back from Naples Florida, felt completely out of the action.. I can't see 3 teams getting in as well. If Rochester and Plattsburgh win their Tourney's, I think Stevens is in no matter what happens in E8 tourney. Naz has to get to finals for a shot, and they would hope against Stevens. The picture should be a little clearer by Sunday evening... A Stevens win and Fisher loss clinches first for Stevens. The Ducks seem to be getting more consistant at this point, and Walid Fareed is beginning to play like he did last year, offensively. Naz should win out.... but watch out for the Ithaca game on last day. It may not mean anything however. Fisher does have to win out, to put pressure on Stevens.       

[Jacketfan2011]

No conference tournament for the UAA/Rochester

[WICB Sports]

Radio coverage of the Bombers' weekend Empire 8 roadtrip begins Friday at 5:40 p.m. Eastern time with Bombers Shootaround before the women's contest at Alfred on 92 WICB (www.wicb.org).  At 6 p.m., Matt McLaughlin and David Portney have the call from Alfred.

At 7:40 p.m., coverage of the Bombers' men's game against Alfred begins with Bombers Shootaround on vicradio.org.  At 8 p.m., Josh Canu and Dan Armata have the call.

On Saturday, coverage of the Bombers' women's contest at St. John Fisher starts at 1:40 p.m. with Bombers Shootaround on vicradio.org.  Tip-off is at 2 p.m.; Nate March and Mike Hibbard have the call.

And at 3:40 p.m., Bombers Shootaround begins on 92 WICB (www.wicb.org) before the Bombers' men's game against Fisher.  At 4 p.m., Mike Polak and Mike Hibbard have the call from Pittsford, NY.

[Cyclone0205]

Talk about coming down to the wire.  A look at the games in just the next 3 days shows how up in the air things are in the e8.  How about this..the most influential team in the league right now is Utica, and they're on the outside looking in!


Friday Night
  Utica @ Nazareth


Saturday Night
  Ithaca @ St. John Fisher


Sunday Afternoon
  Stevens @ Utica



My gut feeling is that Utica finds a way to make things interesting at the end between them and Ithaca, which means they split between the 2 big games this weekend and Ithaca loses to Fisher.  Given Stevens troubles on the road, I think Utica loses the Naz game and beats Stevens on Sunday, which makes the top of the e8 a 3 way tie with Stevens/Fisher/Naz all with 3 losses, and Ithaca/Utica with just a game seperating them.  Talk about March Madness coming a week early.

[Cyclone0205]

Here's a question...I know we've basically annoited Burton or Corey McAdam for e8 player of the year, but what about Waleed Farid?  He's quietly turned his game around 2nd semester and currently ranks decently in conference only statistics:

15th in scoring
4th in rebounding
2nd in assists
2nd in steals
5th in minutes played


Now I know McAdam ranks ahead of him in all these except rebounding, but Farid is also on the team that at the moment is going to be the e8 regular season champion.  Gotta think that'll help get him some votes.

[gobombers15]

Friday Night
  Utica @ Nazareth


Saturday Night
  Ithaca @ St. John Fisher


Sunday Afternoon
  Stevens @ Utica



My gut feeling is that Utica finds a way to make things interesting at the end between them and Ithaca, which means they split between the 2 big games this weekend and Ithaca loses to Fisher.  Given Stevens troubles on the road, I think Utica loses the Naz game and beats Stevens on Sunday, which makes the top of the e8 a 3 way tie with Stevens/Fisher/Naz all with 3 losses, and Ithaca/Utica with just a game seperating them.  Talk about March Madness coming a week early.

Under the scenario you just mentioned, with Utica splitting their games this weekend and Ithaca losing at Fisher, Ithaca would still enjoy a two-game lead over Utica. Ithaca, assuming they defeat Alfred tonight (safe assumption, I think) and lose to Fisher tomorrow, will be 9-5 and Utica, again assuming a split, will be 7-7. Utica would then have to win their last two games (vs Fisher, vs Alfred) while Ithaca loses their last two (vs Naz, vs Stevens). Certainly, Ithaca has a more difficult schedule that last weekend. However, Ithaca has dominated Naz in Ithaca and Stevens is a somewhat questionable road team, thus I don't really see IC getting swept at home that last weekend. If they did, and subsequently missed out on the E8 Tourney, that would be a Mets-esque collapse.

Unless Utica sweeps the weekend, I think we'll pretty much know the composition of the E8 Tourney by Sunday night. If the Pios do sweep, the last weekend could get very interesting.

Here's a question...I know we've basically annoited Burton or Corey McAdam for e8 player of the year, but what about Waleed Farid?  He's quietly turned his game around 2nd semester and currently ranks decently in conference only statistics:

15th in scoring
4th in rebounding
2nd in assists
2nd in steals
5th in minutes played


Now I know McAdam ranks ahead of him in all these except rebounding, but Farid is also on the team that at the moment is going to be the e8 regular season champion.  Gotta think that'll help get him some votes.

Have to take a practical approach to this. Stevens has two guys (Gray and Farid) that have legit POY arguments. That will hurt them both, as they will probably take votes from each other. Farid is obviously a good player. Does the dirty work and fills the stat line. But those players don't usually win the POY award. Burton and McAdam are THE guys on their respective teams, teams that have done well this year. Besides, as you said, McAdam's numbers are better almost across-the-board. Don't think you should punish an individual because his team couldn't hold on in the last minute of two games against Stevens. It's a team game, after all.

[jdboogs1]

As being a fan of Division 3 basketball and watching Stevens play for the last several years this team is getting too much attention. Look at their schedule this year. All of their non-conference games were against teams that are below 500 except for Middlebury.In their conference the top 3 teams are strong but the rest are weak, but yet they are ranked in the top 25. No way play somebody first!! Last year they didn't even win their conference and yet they got an at large bid. They also got to play in their own backyard in the NCAA tournament while Manhattanville who won the Skyline Championship  and beat Stevens was shipped off to Baltimore to play Guilford in the first round. Oh by the way Manhattanville has dominated Stevens the past several years. I'm not saying Stevens is'nt a good team I'm saying that are not a great team.

[FROMAFAR]

GOBOMBERS MAKE A GOOD POINT. Stevens has 5 very good starters, and that will make the numbers for Fareed, and Grey not as noticeable. Passalaqua keeps teams honest from the perimeter, Williams keeps them honest inside, and Greco never seems to fold under pressure, makes pressing Stevens impossible, almost welcomed. The two NAZ games really came down to Passalaqua in game 2 from the free throw line, and Greco in game 1 making an incredible last second reverse layup against NAZ bigs to put it into O.T... They seem to get what they need from anyone of those 5. So the point is the POY will probably come from a less dimensional team. Actually without looking, Burton is really Ithaca, a little bit of Leahy but not much... Not sure what his stats are though, haven't looked in awhile. I think McAdams may get it if NAZ holds on to 2nd. My look at the remainder of the season is this. Stevens and NAZ are at the top and have good overall records.  That's for a reason. As GOBOMBERS said Fareed is coming back to form and they basically did it with him belwo par. They could be scarry as they seem to be picking up speed. NAZ should run the table. If they lose to Ithaca, the Grey or Waleed have a shot. This weekend should set up the last weekend one way or another.  

[FROMAFAR]

JDBOGS there is a common flaw with your reasoning. If a team has an easy schedule, and lose then you may have a point. It looks like Stevens has not lost. I believe they are 43-10 since the beginning of last year, not sure. Hey you could be right, BUT it's hard to tell based on beating teams they are supposed to beat. They did go to the sweet 16 last year and supposedly beat good teams, I'm not sure. Hey has anyone seen Stevens play, is the first place team in the E-8 overrated? I've seen them 3 times on Internet. Any NAZ guys out there?    

[Cyclone0205]

jd sounds like a disgruntled Manhattanville fan upset his team couldn't get out of the first round last year. 


But more importantly, no one on this board has ever said Stevens was a great team.  Actually, to the contrary, all of the fair minded and objective people have said they're a good team with serious flaws (awful on road..awful shooting free throws).


As for getting too much attention...from who?  Nationally they got attention because they were cinderella last year in the tournament, beating #18 WPI and NJAC champ Ramapo before bowing out to Amherst, who won the whole thing.  Other than that, no one gives them any more attention than any other team.  When you're 43-10 in the last 2 years, regardless of who you play, you're going to get some attention.