Empire 8

[e8bballfan]

Congratulations to Naz on their championship and automatic bid! Who went to the game? What's the story??

[scooterman]

Rumor has it Coach Burton to UC--He is the man!!!

[thebear]

"St. Lawrence may have appeal in terms of the program, but the intangibles suck. You can't even go out because inevitably you will end up in the same establishments as your players. It is hundreds of miles before getting into any talent worth recruiting. It's either pay double the amount for groceries as the rest of the state, or drive to Syracuse to stock up. It's -40 out in the winter. "

Actually, it hasn't been 40 below in a few years, you can thank global warming.  The North Country has it's advantages, lots of room, good schools (professors demand good schools, and have time to be on school boards), several of the coaches I know either live on the water or have camps on water.  

You do learn to shop when you go to civilization, but there is a food coop that has high quality at decent prices.  Housing prices are some of the lowest in the country, so a $60K coach can live in a pretty nice place.  Catalog shopping is also a necessity, but we will soon have a Wal mart & a Lowes, so that will temper prices a bit.

If you have kids & stay long enough, the SLU [& Clarkson] jobs have an incredible benefit, free tuition, worth about $200K over 4 years.  It also has a fantastic alumni network with deep pockets and a willingness to provide internships & jobs to SLU students and recent grads.

SLU was a pretty nice stepping stone for Paulsen.

In general, the quality of students in the surrounding area isn't all that important for college coaches, as many kids don't like to stay home.

Utica has a few nice areas (New Hartford/Clinton) but the city is considered one of the most depressed in the country, and as someone pointed out, the snow (when the wind is bowing from the Northwest) is even worse than in Potsdam.

[scooterman]

Bear--Thanks for the viewpoint--I wasnt aware of some points you made.I appreciate it.

[buck1053]

UC,

I'm wondering when you graduated, because Utica doesn't have any sort of tradition close to any of the other schools in the E8 or LL, except for maybe Vassar. In addition, I don't see any coach in the E8 leaving their post to take another job in the same league.

You are correct in the fact the college has improved by leaps and bounds, and athletics is improving. That is all true, but that does not mean Utica is a more desirable job than the ones currently held by the coaches you mentioned.

As far as Murphy goes, he's got it good as a DI assistant at Northeastern, and I don't expect to see him back on the sidelines as head coach, especially not at the D3 level.

I think the more likely scenario is to see one of the assistants mentioned -- Gorski was my first thought, since he assisted Goodemote before moving on, but Driscoll is intriguing possibility as well. If not an assistant, maybe a head coach from a worse league, but I don't see anyone from E8, LL or SUNYAC taking the Utica job.

Buck, you know me.

Were you aware UC was D1 and had an NBA hall of famer as coach? Were you also aware of the UC/Hamilton days where it was standing room only and assistant coacges actually got in fistfights on the court?

UC had about a decade prior to Goodie after coming back from being D1 where they were down. However they went back a long way with some quality ball against real good teams.

St. Lawrence may have appeal in terms of the program, but the intangibles suck. You can't even go out because inevitably you will end up in the same establishments as your players. It is hundreds of miles before getting into any talent worth recruiting. It's either pay double the amount for groceries as the rest of the state, or drive to Syracuse to stock up. It's -40 out in the winter.

I wasn't aware I knew you, nor was I up on UC's tradition, thanks for the enlightenment on the latter, still puzzling over the former.

[superman57]

Academic wise, housing, St. Larwence wins...  I mean I don't think we are arguing what the better school is... but... bear you said it...quality of life is rough....I mean I grew up outside of the Capital district and people in my town overly relyed on wal mart... so you have to make a decision about what is important to you in life...in my opinion UC goes with a quality assistant from an E8 school

[gobombers15]

Seems like that despite Naz's best efforts to give Fisher that game, the Cards just would not take Naz up on their offer. The Golden Flyers lead 62-59 with 4:17 left then, in typical Naz fashion, manage only two more points for the rest of the game yet still somehow win the game. Unbelievable.

He had a good season, but I have a feeling Baltz is going to have trouble sleeping for awhile after going 0-for-9 and putting up a goose-egg in a one-point loss to your arch-rivals in a game that would have sent you to the NCAA's. That one will sit there for awhile.

[FisherDynasty]

i wouldnt say naz best efforts to give fisher the game.  Seeing how baltz was 0-9 and the rest of fishers guards were about 20% Fisher even being in the game would be the typical naz letting a team stay in the game. Too bad they couldnt have scored in the last 4 possessions to win the game but like i said before i naz is ready and is older therefore knows what it takes.  Ryan mcadam is way under appreciated in the league he is in my opinoin top 5 in talent easy as i said from day 1.   I think he is better than his brother as well. Anyways, great game to fisher who gave up the conf title for the first time since the conf tourny existance only by a point.  unfortunately they wont be getting an at large and will have to go to the ECAC's will they will probably get beat in the first round as they will have no motivation. Hopefully the younger guys on the team who played an extremely big part in the tourny will learn from this, understand what they have to work on and get better for next year.  As far as that goes next year is Fishers reallll down year having lost biegel and smalt.  There guards are solid but having there 2 back up bigs quit early in the year is gonig to kill them next year.  I think next year fisher will be 4th seed at most.


Good luck to Naz in the tourny i think they have a shot at gettiing to the sweet 16, elite 8 at most.  hopefully stevens will get in but having seen them lose a lot in the past few games i dont think they will.  Even if they do they wont do much damange in the tourny.. I think Naz, the team who won it, has the best chance of doing damage in the NCAA's.

[UCgrad45]

"St. Lawrence may have appeal in terms of the program, but the intangibles suck. You can't even go out because inevitably you will end up in the same establishments as your players. It is hundreds of miles before getting into any talent worth recruiting. It's either pay double the amount for groceries as the rest of the state, or drive to Syracuse to stock up. It's -40 out in the winter. "

Actually, it hasn't been 40 below in a few years, you can thank global warming.  The North Country has it's advantages, lots of room, good schools (professors demand good schools, and have time to be on school boards), several of the coaches I know either live on the water or have camps on water.  

You do learn to shop when you go to civilization, but there is a food coop that has high quality at decent prices.  Housing prices are some of the lowest in the country, so a $60K coach can live in a pretty nice place.  Catalog shopping is also a necessity, but we will soon have a Wal mart & a Lowes, so that will temper prices a bit.

If you have kids & stay long enough, the SLU [& Clarkson] jobs have an incredible benefit, free tuition, worth about $200K over 4 years.  It also has a fantastic alumni network with deep pockets and a willingness to provide internships & jobs to SLU students and recent grads.

SLU was a pretty nice stepping stone for Paulsen.

In general, the quality of students in the surrounding area isn't all that important for college coaches, as many kids don't like to stay home.

Utica has a few nice areas (New Hartford/Clinton) but the city is considered one of the most depressed in the country, and as someone pointed out, the snow (when the wind is bowing from the Northwest) is even worse than in Potsdam.

Oh it does have some advantages no doubt. I still have a place on the water.

However, it was -40 in the Burg (go hit up donut king when you are there) just a few years ago!

[UCgrad45]

i wouldnt say naz best efforts to give fisher the game.  Seeing how baltz was 0-9 and the rest of fishers guards were about 20% Fisher even being in the game would be the typical naz letting a team stay in the game. Too bad they couldnt have scored in the last 4 possessions to win the game but like i said before i naz is ready and is older therefore knows what it takes.  Ryan mcadam is way under appreciated in the league he is in my opinoin top 5 in talent easy as i said from day 1.   I think he is better than his brother as well. Anyways, great game to fisher who gave up the conf title for the first time since the conf tourny existance only by a point.  unfortunately they wont be getting an at large and will have to go to the ECAC's will they will probably get beat in the first round as they will have no motivation. Hopefully the younger guys on the team who played an extremely big part in the tourny will learn from this, understand what they have to work on and get better for next year.  As far as that goes next year is Fishers reallll down year having lost biegel and smalt.  There guards are solid but having there 2 back up bigs quit early in the year is gonig to kill them next year.  I think next year fisher will be 4th seed at most.


Good luck to Naz in the tourny i think they have a shot at gettiing to the sweet 16, elite 8 at most.  hopefully stevens will get in but having seen them lose a lot in the past few games i dont think they will.  Even if they do they wont do much damange in the tourny.. I think Naz, the team who won it, has the best chance of doing damage in the NCAA's.

I think Naz will get blown out in the first round. They shouldn't even had made the conference tourney and aren't very good.

The late season losses hurt Stevens, but with the top 5 in the E8 being so closely paired, it may help their SOS. Combined with 20 wins, they have a good shot.

[UCgrad45]

Academic wise, housing, St. Larwence wins...  I mean I don't think we are arguing what the better school is... but... bear you said it...quality of life is rough....I mean I grew up outside of the Capital district and people in my town overly relyed on wal mart... so you have to make a decision about what is important to you in life...in my opinion UC goes with a quality assistant from an E8 school

Which town were you in?

[FROMAFAR]

Congrats NAZ, make us proud in the tourney.........

[sjfcards]

I can see Naz winning a game in the tourny. Maybe an outside shot at winning two. They have some shooters, and if they get hot they can beat some teams. I have said all season that I think Naz is the best team in the conference, and they probably deserved to win.

I was excited to see that Fisher's young players did such a good job in the E8 tourny. Good signs for next year. I think the quality of team that Fisher will put on the court next year will be all about who Kornaker can get on the recruiting trail. They have a lot of good young guards, and if he can go out and get a real quality big man, then Fisher can get back to where Fisher fans are used to seeing them. In my mind that should be where Kornaker focus his recruiting efforts.

[sjfcards]

Does anyone know when the ECAC pairings come out? I am guessing soon after the NCAA pairings?

I will be interested to see how Fisher plays in the ECAC's. I don't know how much motivation they will have, but it could be a great chance to get some younger players more experience, and to get the seniors a win in their last game. Could be a nice way for them to go out.

[superman57]

Academic wise, housing, St. Larwence wins...  I mean I don't think we are arguing what the better school is... but... bear you said it...quality of life is rough....I mean I grew up outside of the Capital district and people in my town overly relyed on wal mart... so you have to make a decision about what is important to you in life...in my opinion UC goes with a quality assistant from an E8 school

Which town were you in?

I grew up in Amsterdam....not the north country but basicly reliant on the great and Holy Wal Mart