MBB: Landmark Conference

SUhoops · March 03, 2009, 11:12:05 AM

a well-deserved clean-sweep for the Crusaders! congrats!

TheGrove · March 03, 2009, 11:15:35 AM

WOW!!!! I mean, just .... WOW!!!!

That is amazing, way to go SU!

NEPAFAN · March 03, 2009, 11:19:30 AM

Glad you guys don't have anything to complain about with regards to Conference Awards. (You have been doing too much of that lately)

I think Scranton and Catholic might have some gripes...

TheGrove · March 03, 2009, 11:22:55 AM

Quote from: NEPAFAN on March 03, 2009, 11:19:30 AM
Glad you guys don't have anything to complain about with regards to Conference Awards. (You have been doing too much of that lately)

Hey now, not all of us...

saratoga · March 03, 2009, 11:41:47 AM

WOW...Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year & Coach of the Year...kind of hard to believe this group is staying at home.
Great job all year by Zach, Ryan & Paul of Scranton to earn these honors and lead the Royals into the tournament.

SUhoops · March 03, 2009, 11:45:38 AM

A little down the road, first beat Brandeis!, but if scranton was to meet up with F and M, i like their chances. I was there to see SU almost pull off an upset over then undefeated F and M, and wasn't as impressed as i should have been with a top-15 team.

First of all, Paul Hawk vs. FandM's center is a gift for both---they have identical games. Therefore, that matchup should be irrelevant, they will make eachother nonfactors with their defense.

Biagoli vs. McNally is what worries me if im a scranton fan. McNally is a beast. Biagoli is tough on the block, but is not a true post player. I have a feeling mcnally is going to get his, maybe lots, on the block....but biagoli must counter and get HIS by driving by a much slower mcnally on offense.

Guard wise... there is NO way scrantons guards matchup with F and Ms---some of the quickest and strongest i may have seen play the Crusaders all year. SO, this means we should expect to see scranton's go-to matchup zone most of the game.

The matchup zone is a great call for two reasons---this will prevent FandM guards from having a field day driving against ash/fitz. More importantly, FandM does NOT like to shoot the 3. therefore, the matchup zone will cause their offensse to turn stagnant, make them shoot 3s...this could be the difference!

Im just trying to contribute POSITIVE input on this board, and seeing as how i am unfamiliar with Brandeis, here is F and M.
Over and out.

D.B. Cooper · March 03, 2009, 12:19:15 PM

Royal fans don't forget about Brandeis, for my money they are the favorite coming out of this Lancaster pod. They come out of the UAA have at least one great player (DeLuca). If you beat them you will get lots of respect around the D3 world. F&M is a team of mostly sophomores plus the freshman NCAA.com cover boy the very talented Milligan, they may make a FF run next year so they probably need more experience. You can hope for Wesley, I'm pretty sure you can take their small team run & gun attack.

NEPAFAN · March 03, 2009, 12:24:03 PM

I don't think anyone is overlooking Brandeis.

Deluca , is he anything like Patch or Banzhaf?

r.w. mcnickels · March 03, 2009, 12:44:19 PM

I think the winner of the Scranton-Brandeis game will go to the Sweet 16. Good breakdown of F&M by SUhoops, but I'd also look at Scranton's huge advantage at the free throw line in that potential matchup (76% to 67%). F&M's success this year has been a surprise to me, and I agree with D.B. that they might be a year away from making a deeper run.

Looking forward to seeing the Scranton-Brandeis game. I assume quite a few Scranton fans will make the trip, unless they stay home to watch the women's team. Should be a great atmosphere as it usually is this time if year!

saratoga · March 03, 2009, 01:19:37 PM

Scranton had better not be looking past Brandeis...they certainly have no reason to. Last season I do think they looked past Elms & ended up being run out of the gym. One would hope this 3rd. visit to the NCAA's with Coach Danzig's own recruits will be the charm.
The one area that scares me is the fact the Judges are the # 1 three point shooting team in DIII and although Scranton can fire away with the best of them, they (Scranton) have also been known to get lazy with their perimeter D and if they do, it may be lights out early & not in a good way. There have been far too many games over the past few seasons where the Royals just wanted to outscore the opposition and rarely turn up the heat defensively. The exceptions are Paul Hawk & Paul Biagioli who play as tough as they can underneath. However, if Scranton's guards do not get around screens quickly or are slow on switches the Brandeis kids will have many open looks & it certainly appears they've had success from the outside.
Another area to watch for is how the game is called. Scranton has rarely gone more than 8 deep except for the last 2 minutes of blowouts so quick fouls on either Hawk or Biagioli could spell trouble. Hawk is one of the nations shot blockers & usually does a great job of avoiding the body contact...just hope the refs don't anticipate fouls & blow the whistle before seeing the play through.
If Scranton gets serious about their perimeter defense they can certainly win this game. If they want to fall into old habits of matching basket for basket...they may not get the last shot as they have in the past few games & the rumble you hear in the background may be more than the bus starting up.

susiddad · March 03, 2009, 05:17:38 PM

Congrats to all those awardwinners. It was a nice sweep. I think the program is in a better place than most people think. A lot of talent on the bench this year that can be major contributors next year.

Mcdevitt was a great player for SU and so was Patch but the team returns an awful lot and I am excited to see what they can do next year.

The coaching staff did a great job this year after losing kevin and josh arguably the two best players in the league last year.

I heard Banzhaf is going to the F + M game and he might be going there next year. Any truth Matt?

tpm4286 · March 03, 2009, 05:52:15 PM

Steve De Luca and Terrell Hollins remember those two names on Brandeis who may have big games against Scranton. They are solid players with talent and have produced all year with Steve being an All-American. So the bigs better be ready to play some Defense against these two.

BCannon · March 03, 2009, 06:50:33 PM

Glad the awards are up now and all of our questions are answered. The clean sweep by SU surprises me, but it's hard to argue with the selections. Thought Hawk deserved DPOY especially with his last 2 performances holding the two best players in the league to 2-15 and 7-21 shooting...thought JB was going to be POY but like tpm has said he will probably get it the next two years so hard to feel bad for the guy...surprised by Izzo on 1st team over Samuel and Heuber but all were deserving (3 all conf guys returning for MM next year gonna make it tough for them not to be picked as the favorite)...looking forward to seeing how Scranton and Catholic do in the post season tournaments... wish Susq participated in the ECAC...obviously hard to argue with the coaching staff award with all the hard work that SU's staff puts in (in particular Ferko)...congrats to all the award winners who read this

Matt Letourneau · March 03, 2009, 08:46:29 PM

So did Susquehanna completely dominate this conference and I somehow missed it?

EVERY award? Really?

Obviously, you all know my feelings on Patch vs. Banzhaf. I figured Patch would win because he was a senior. If Banzhaf was a senior, too, I think he would have won. I disagree with that approach--its political. So be it--congrats to Patch. Great career, obviously an outstanding student. Good for him.

I can't argue with Spenser Spencer--very deserving. But Hawk had a very strong case for DPOY--and the coaching award puzzles me a little bit. Not to say the Sus. staff is not deserving--I'm sure they do work hard. But Catholic had the biggest turnaround year to year, and usually that merits some consideration, and Scranton did win the league (regular season). So...little bit out of left field for me.

Sorry, susdad--Jason has some games to play still. If Catholic takes care of business tomorrow night, he'll be occupied next weekend.

saratoga · March 03, 2009, 09:59:22 PM

I've got no real problem with any of the awards handed out except Defensive POY. I'm sure the young man that won it did some real nice things & hounded the heck out of certain players this season. However, regardless of how good his D was, where did it get the Crusaders?
On the other hand, Paul Hawk got everyones toughest assignment & where did his total shut down D get the Royals? Well, at least to Lancaster & the first round of the NCAA tournament. No doubt about it, his D on Banzoff & all the others before him are the reason the Royals may be headed for a showdown with the Fighting Amish...provided they get by the black robes first.