WBB: Middle Atlantic Conference board archive

[sp0rtsfan]

Saw Wilkes beat Lyco last night and was very impressed with the Lady Colonels'  size and how  they dominated the paint.  Unfortunately, although their  backcourt is scrappy, they seemed to lack the solid ball handling skills which will be necessary to beat  the better teams.  Lyco, on the other hand, demonstrated  once again  that they will live and die from beyond the arc. Only time will tell whether their program has really rebounded from the last two years.     

[kate]

It's great to read a ton of discussion on the Landmark Conference on the Men's Freedom MAC site.  A refrain runs through my mind - may they all dwell in cerebral obscurity forever - God bless em.  Are they doing a "farewell tour"?  Sorry, but i will still miss Drew.  On a lighter note, looking forward to tomorrow's Del Val game with Wilkes at Aggieland - GO DEL VAL!

[kate]

Sorry for the double here, but i wanted to explain last night's post a bit more - it's kind of like a family, good, bad, & ugly sometimes, but together always.  Then, a sister, brother or cousin suddenly says, "look, i'm outa here cause i just want to be with like-minded people".  You'd look at em & say "what the devil are you talking about".  i can see, especially in D3 changing leagues for distance or even size of school, but "like minded" in sports???  Just my opinion, people.

[kate]

Congratulations to Aggie Rachel Joyce on hitting the BIG 1,000 point mark today in an 86-66 win over Wilkes - way to go Rachel!!!

[roy_a]

Kate--Ya gotta let it go...About he farewell tour, yeah the Lady Royals will beat their Mac/Freedom opponents on their home courts....

[kate]

Just thought it was important enough, for me at least, to express those thoughts - Roy, if i were the Lady Royals, i'd honestly prepare for DeSales - not that i'm a huge fan or anything, but i believe they'll give you guys a good fight.  They did a number on King's this afternoon, & last week they forced DVC to play very poorly.  Somebody's gotta give your  team a run to get em ready for the final four !

[roy_a]

I sure hope Desales challenges Scranton. Not to prepare them but to enjoy the game. Kings played us tough for 15 minutes and it was like old times, perhaps next time they will keep it close throughout the entire game? My gut tells me that Desales will play the Lady Royals tough for 40 minutes. Coach Richter is one of the best and always has his team ready for Scranton. As for the rest of the Freedom???  Drew has some talent and another poster mentioned depth but I still see Kraft and Cunningham playing a lot of minutes..Marquis is certainly an exceptional athlete and can probably play 40 a game and still smile.  Kings will be a very tough team to handle later this year and look out next year...Fdu..about the same as last year, they do have some young big girls that will help them as the year goes. DelVal..I say the jury is still out..

Can't wait to see the Royals against Moravian on Wed.

[hoopster]

Drew hooked up with Moravian last night in an OT thriller! Moravian ultimately defended their home court but not before Drew gave them a real scare 84-82. Moravians bigs are a year bigger and better as Applegate, Hakelman and a frosh(#35) combined for 47 points and a ton of rebounds inside.

Drew was led by their outstanding guard trio of Kraft (21 pts), Cunningham (17 pts) and Marquis (17 pts, 8 assists). Drew also unveiled a Sophomore big (Methvin) who had a double/double (13 pts, 11 rebounds).

Both squads look like they will be a tough out for MAC conference opponents.

[saratoga]

The Lady Royals had better bring their "A" game tonight. I had concerns when they played at Rochester and Moravian certainly has the players and experience to give them problems. In a close one, Scranton:65/LadyHounds:60.

[roy_a]

If anyone is going to either the Desales --  Messiah or the Drew --  Nyu games today give us an update as they should be interesting games.  Saratoga--any chance you are going to the BigApple today to catch the LadyRoyals?

[roy_a]

Messiah beats Desales and NYU beats Drew handily. I suppose no real shocks there, however, can someone explain to me what happenned to Kings? Last year,okay,newcoach,lostsome talent...but this yearssquad has a great deal of talent...What'sthe story???

[saratoga]

Roy: I did not get to go out to the Big Apple to see the Lady Royals yesterday...had the shopping thing to do. I did get to the mens game though & saw a pretty good preview of things to come between 2 schools that are about to get to know each other pretty well. Mark went out...tried to hear him on the broadcast but couldn't. Kings is certainly in a slide right now arn't they? It looks like a tale of 2 seasons thus far, win 4 in a row, then lose 5 of your last 6. That said, I am still VERY concerned with the play of the Lady Royals. They are winning games against fairly inferrior talent & experience right now but, that will not be nearly enough come tournament time. I see the Lady Royals like a 80,000 dollar sports car...they have everything, looks, great engineering & an engine that needs the Autobahn. But, something just isn't right. It's not handling the turns real well, it's sputtering on the open road & I think a serious tuneup is needed for that great car to be what it can be. There is far too much experience on that team for players to be zagging when the pass has you zigging. I have seen far too few fast breaks executed when the outlet was there & far too many open shots have been passed up for the extra pass that then gets stolen. Taking care of the ball on each possesion was a Scranton trademark, now in most games turnovers greatly out-number assists. The hustle is there just not the execution. I would really hope actual and real sub patterns will be developed so that the top few players off the bench get to spend quality time playing with the starters. The line change may wear some teams down in the MAC but, it will have little effect against the Rochester's, Bowdoin's & Hope's of the world. When the NCAA's roll around it's "one & done"...so losing 20 point leads in a 3 or 4 minute span will not be real conducive to moving on to the next round. A very real test will come against Kean on the road in 10 days. Kean is having its best year in a very long time, the Lady Royals will be on the road, they'll be off for 10 days prior to that game & they'll be up against Jersey refs as well. Scranton can certainly get things fixed & in a matter of 2 or 3 games be back to firing on all cylenders & we wouldn't even know they've missed a beat. The funny thing is most coaches would give anything to be 6-1 right now...I just think with the overall talent on this team & so much experience that if they do put it together it will be obvious to all of us & Coach Strong will breath a big sigh of relief.

[bziadie]

King's has had a  few things factor into their play of late.  The team has had several injuries that have impacted the team. The holiday break could not have come at a better time for this team.

Starting power forward Brittany Atzert missed the last three games with injuries and only played a few minutes in the two previous games because she was hurting and could not play extended minutes.  Backup power forward Kaitlyn Malshefski has also been injured and missed one game and has played lesser minutes than normal in a few others.  Also, Andrea Hochsuhl has been hurt the last few games and has played her heart out, but could only play a few minutes in the loss to Cabrini in the second half because she was hurting so bad.

With the lack of depth inside, Coach D has been forced to often go to a four-guard offense and the team's rebounding has not been what it was earlier. In King's last game versus Cabrini, the Lady Monarchs outshot Cabrini and had fewer turnovers, but allowed 24 offensive rebounds and those second chance opportunities came back to haunt the team.

With the interior offense hurting right now, it has allowed teams to focus their defensive efforts on King's shooters and the looks have not been there.  Combined with the fact that the team has had a lot of turnovers, they have clearly struggled, but they certainly can fix many of the things that have been a problem.

King's has lost five of their last six games.  The second half has been the team's Achilles heel. The Scranton loss was the only loss in which King's trailed at halftime.  King's led DeSales, Neumann, and Cabrini at halftime. They were tied at half with Gwynedd.  It has been in the second half where things have come apart.  Hard to put an exact reason on it. Is the team being worn down with several post players being hurt? Are the guards trying to do too much knowing that the post game has been affected?  Whatever the reasons, I think there has been a cause-and-affect because of the post injuries.  If you can be very competitive in the first half, you shoud be able to carry that over to the second half but that has not happened the past two or so weeks.

Another thing has been that the team has committed too many fouls.  Over the last six games, teams have shot an average of 21 foul shots per-game against King's. That is a lot of foul shots.

As I said earlier, I think the break will help the team a lot, but there is still a big need for all the players to step up their game because you can never put it all on injuries. Mental mistakes result in physical ones and the team has made too many of them over the past two weeks.

King's hasn't exactly played a weak schedule thus far either. The three wins at Marymount were against three 2006 NCAA tournament teams.  King's beat a Montclair team which it lost to by 13 last year and gave Scranton a run for most of their game at the Rochester tourney..  Gwynedd was a 2006 NCAA tourney team. Although Neumann has not been looked at as a strong program in the past, they are 8-1 and own wins over MAC teams Widener, FDU, and King's, so you have to give them some credit. King's five losses are to teams that are a combined 29-8 this season.

I don't think anyone should look past King's when the second semester starts because I believe they will be a better team than the last few weeks.  I am certainly not making any predictions, but I think they will be a much more competitive squad.

[kate]

And, speaking of injuries, i'm hoping against hope that the Aggies can stay healthy through the game at McDaniel, and the games at the Surf City Classic with St. Lawrence & Rensselaer.  Have a great time in California, team - can't wait til they get back - first game on Jan. 4 with Lebanon Valley.  Hope everyone at the post has a safe & happy holiday!

[saratoga]

I find the fact that Kean College is not yet ranked at 7-0 a little hard to believe. They are winning by an average of 30 points per game and seem to be playing about 9 kids per game with quality minutes. They host the Lady Royals on Tues. and this game may go a long way in defining the rest of the season for both teams. Kean has had a game as recent as Thurs. whereas the Lady Royals have been idle since last Sat. and just went through finals. I think it's also pretty safe to say that Scranton has looked a little confused at times and certainly not very sharp up to this point so with 10 days off coming into this game it may be a very serious test. About the only link between the two teams goes through Kings. Gwenned-Mercy knocked off the Monarchs by 15 at Kings and Scranton defeated Kings down there by 19...however, Kean blasted Gwenned-Mercy by about 30 at Kean so the Lady Royals appear as though they will be seeing a vastly improved team from the one they blew out by 30 or so last season at Scranton. Good luck Lady Royals and hopefully Kean hasn't played anyone yet that plays D as hard as you do.