Empire 8

[Cyclone0205]

Tarheel--I am with you --I thought he would be the man at Utica, seeing how he is Utica boy. Can he still shoot it with the best of them? Maybe he didn't apply? Best coach I have ever seen--

....I think you probably were being a little enthusiastic..but umm, Coach Burton is not even close to the best coach you've ever seen.  Unless that is you don't watch any other basketball games at any level.

[FisherDynasty]

I don't have much info on fishers incoming question, however, I do think they are going to have to go to a guard oriented offense as they do  not have any true bigs on the entire team.  the only two bigs they  have are not 5 men they are more of a 4.  I don't think there guards are good enough, strong enough, or big enough to be able to take the conference by playing small as in prior years.  Could be a tough season for Fisher, I think they will have a hard time getting into the conf. tourny. 

I think Ithaca and Naz have enough talent to swing in and out of the top 25 this year, however, both of those teams from looking at the past, tend to lose games they should win and are not very good on the road.  That being said if they do get into the top 25 at some point I don't think it will last long.

[GPT]

fisher has posted the 2008-2009 roster on there website. That new web site empire sports has said they are trying to put together some sort of review to find out what freshman will get some playing time and what type of rotation each team will use.  Should be interesting to see what coach will actually give up that info especially Fisher. But my source said he hopes to have it done before the first game Nov 1

[FROMAFAR]

The problem the E-8 teams have getting into the top 25 is they beat one another. ( I know we all know that). Ithaca and Naz can both lose to Fisher no matter what they put on the court, as well as RIT and Stevens, and Utica.   Don't count out an upset from the other 3....Alfred, Elmira and Hartwick along the way............  I think top team has at least 4 loses in conference. But what do I know

[GPT]

Something everybody seems to forget E8 teams will not be able to recruit with the midwest schools. I will give you one example the year UofR, Potsdam and Fisher went to Amherst and U of R went the the final four. The team Rochester lost to was one of those Wisconsin teams. Their starting five all scored over 2000 points in High School and that was quote from Neer at the Final Four in St. Louis.
As long as other leagues and teams recruit players of that caliber consistantley. They get the benefit of the doubt in the top 25

I don't know in what Neer said was true, you know how all head coaches love to stretch the truth but even if he was telling 80% of the the truth. I can't see any E8 team ever getting more then one player who scored more then 2000 points in HS unless they cheat and I know quite a few people and if these schools were to cheat it wouldn't be for basketball.

[FROMAFAR]

GPT I don't agree fully with you. I don't put all that much stock in HS. scoring, since I don't know who they are playing against, albeit 2000 points is alot even if your playing against no one. I think it all comes down to recruiting as well as academics. The E-8 has some pretty tough schools when it comes to academics. I know about RIT (my school) and Stevens (work associates) engineers.....  not an easy 4 years. Look at Naz, Fisher, and most of the rest... When you recruit at these schools you not only need a player but someone dedicated to school, with a track record in HS academics..  These coaches, as well as NESCAC have a tough job.... hey Amherst, Williams, and Trinity are all great programs academically and have produced top 25 teams consistantly...So I just feel it all comes down to the recruiting. I think many of the D3 athletes are smart enough to realize they are not going to the NBA. Let me have some fun playing the game and getting the best education I can.           

[GPT]

I agree about the academic part, especially schools in Western NY, I am going to look into it but I believe some of those mid west schools have a recruiting advantage i believe it to be financially.I will let you know.
Alot of those kids that go to those mid west schools are D1 players but chose to go to D3 programs.
If I had to guess why, it would big fish in small pond,academics and financially are the top 3 reasonsthey go D3.

I won't mention the school locally but they had a player offered a full ride to BC for football but chose to play D3 Basketball. It makes you think

[GPT]

From a personal poit my kids aren't at that age yet but I would have no problem if they picked any of the schools in the E8 or anywhere else in NY. Including NYC. Im biased I grew up in NYC

[Ethelred the Unready]

GPT I don't agree fully with you. I don't put all that much stock in HS. scoring, since I don't know who they are playing against, albeit 2000 points is alot even if your playing against no one. I think it all comes down to recruiting as well as academics. The E-8 has some pretty tough schools when it comes to academics. I know about RIT (my school) and Stevens (work associates) engineers.....  not an easy 4 years. Look at Naz, Fisher, and most of the rest... When you recruit at these schools you not only need a player but someone dedicated to school, with a track record in HS academics..  These coaches, as well as NESCAC have a tough job.... hey Amherst, Williams, and Trinity are all great programs academically and have produced top 25 teams consistantly...So I just feel it all comes down to the recruiting. I think many of the D3 athletes are smart enough to realize they are not going to the NBA. Let me have some fun playing the game and getting the best education I can.           

It may be a matter of where they recruit and tha tmay be dependant on budgets, I suppose.  In looking at SJF's roster, they have one kid from outside NY.  UR has 4 FROM NY.  The others are from Mich, Ky, Chicago, PA, NJ, NC & Fla.   There are some excellant regional schools in the E-8, but the UAA/NESCAC schools have a broader talent pool to recruit from.  No disrespect intended, but I imagine there are comparable schools to Fisher/Alfred/Hartwick etc located in the Midwest so a kid is less likely to move to upstate NY for 4 years.

[GPT]

I couldn't agree more. I know alot of the local U of R haters are going to hate this. But the U of R ins considered one of the top academic schools in the country if not the world and rumor has it the biggest endowment in the states (over a billion) is that true I dont know. But that said if some senior is offered an academic schloarship to say Ithaca (great location,sports history and academics) or U of R and you want to major in medicine or engineering its a no brainer. I am not a big U of R fan. Fisher is the the team I follow the most. but the U of R is the biggest employer in the Rochester area and they have 250 million dollar construction project on the books.

Thats why they are able to recruit from all over

PS I am not kidding about that endowment

[Ethelred the Unready]

I couldn't agree more. I know alot of the local U of R haters are going to hate this. But the U of R ins considered one of the top academic schools in the country if not the world and rumor has it the biggest endowment in the states (over a billion) is that true I dont know. But that said if some senior is offered an academic schloarship to say Ithaca (great location,sports history and academics) or U of R and you want to major in medicine or engineering its a no brainer. I am not a big U of R fan. Fisher is the the team I follow the most. but the U of R is the biggest employer in the Rochester area and they have 250 million dollar construction project on the books.

Thats why they are able to recruit from all over

PS I am not kidding about that endowment

School of engineering just got 30 mil donation last week from the Chairman of the Board of Trustee's.    So the endowment just went up....

[GPT]

And that money is to be put a side for engineering scholarships only

[GPT]

I wonder if they could put.5% into my endowment

[Ethelred the Unready]

And that money is to be put a side for engineering scholarships only

There was also something about a 3 mil donation to the school of medicine that was the start of a fund that would cover tuition  for those students.

[GPT]

I feel the only way the SJF's of the world will get a borderline D1 prospect to come to those schools is #1 if the kid doesn't want to be away from home and wants to major in one of the that schools top programs(for ex. SJF Educ. Pharmacy etc.) or thier parents are alums and they want to follow thier parents footsteps
I can't see it any otherway,unless you cheat and that is higley unlikely