MBB: Landmark Conference

[sunny]

Regarding weekday v. weekend attendance:

My experience has been that weekends often outdraw weekdays (students only in this discussion) if the weekend games are afternoon games exclusively or with the rare weekend night game thrown in. Students aren't going to commit to spending a number of Friday nights and Saturday nights in the gym - IMHO, I think Matt is right on that one. But Saturday afternoon? That absolutely outdraws, say, Wednesday night for students in my experience. Now, whether those same students come back Sunday afternoon is certainly up for debate ...

[gouchersid]

Fans will be able to watch both of the Scranton-Goucher basketball games on Saturday even if they can't be at the Decker Sports & Recreation Center as there will be live streaming video. The men's game begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by the women's game. As this is the first attempt at providing live streaming video at Goucher, we encourage fans to let us know how much they would like the opportunity to see more of Goucher's intercollegiate athletics events in this manner. Here is the link to watch the games: http://www.firstteambroadcasting.com/organizations/goucher-college.

The biggest problem we have at Goucher with the different starting times for games is whether or not our PA announcer will show up at the right time!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

WHAT?! WHAT?!

Yes... two WHATs for that... first because Goucher is providing live streaming video... and secondly because someone I thought was a friend just fired a shot at me... oh Mike... wait until I see you in about an hour!!!

[NEPAFAN]

Or, or, how 'bout this setup?
Bring in more "mind-like" schools and have a Landmark Conference North/South divisional setup like the old MAC?
Back then, schools of both divisions never met during the year or in the conference playoffs, unless they saw each other in the NCAA's. Of course both divisional champs had automatic bids.
Only difference now would be the two division champs would face each other for the overall title and the automatic bid and hope the loser would get an at-large.
Could be done and it would cut down on loads of travel.

Who would you add? Would 5 teams in each division be enough?

[saratoga]

A little over a year ago I had heard some talk of both Vassar & Skidmore showing some interest. Certainly not sure how accurate those reports are/were.
On the positive side of the current setup...many families do go away for the entire road weekend & even for the home weekends many families of the out of town kids stay overnight & have some nice get togethers.
That said, I think not having a least one non conference mid-week game after the holidays does impact on fan interest. I mean the way the setup is now, the kids can be back & there is an empty gym for two straight weeks. Not the best way to encourage student interest. We may well have the families at the games...just not many others.
Scranton may benefit by doing away with at least one of their not so well attended home tournaments and add a number of mid-week home games spread out over the second semester when the students are back. In a perfect world, if they could get some former traditional opponents mixed in on a home & home basis that wouldn't hurt. I think the AD's at some schools have thrown their little tantrum long enough & need to come to the conclusion that their behavior is hurting all parties. If it were purely an ethical decision, then they would not allow other sports to go head to head as they have.
I do like Dave's suggestion that the Landmark consider the UAA format of men late game first night, women late second night if the urge to provide some sort of gender equity in time persists at Landmark HQ. If this is purely a one year experiment...then please discontinue after this season...it's not working out.

[kate]

Good heavens, WHY am i in this site?  However, Skidmore in Saratoga Springs and Vassar, much closer in Poughkeepsie - seems like you're stretching the distance.  Saratoga, you're absolutely right, revive those MAC rivalries, they're much closer and i feel that students and fans come out for the excitement generated by that opposing team - it's up to all of you, of course - just totally  thankful the MAC has evolved the way it has after the five of you left.

[Matt Letourneau]

Scranton 78 Catholic 68.

Free throws:  Scranton 25-36  Catholic 6-15

That pretty much sums it up.   +21 from the free throw line is usually going to do it.  I didn't especially enjoy the way the game was being called inside--Banzhaf got no calls all night, and they kept calling defensive fouls on the Scranton end when the offensive player was clearly hooking.  But the way Catholic was shooting from the line, it wouldn't have mattered.  I really don't get it--they've been hot from the line ever since the game against Goucher.

Overall, all I can say is that if Scranton is the best team in this league--I'm depressed.  (Which makes me even more depressed that Catholic lost to them.) 

Scranton's offense consists of some nice, open 3's run off of well executed set plays, wildly charging toward the basket and getting fouled, and jacking up ridiculously long 3's that mostly didn't go in.

Catholic couldn't get the ball inside in the second half, Scranton just played a crushing zone defense and somehow outrebounded Catholic even though they have no height.

I really don't know...frustrating.

[cold_case]

Scranton 78 Catholic 68.
Free throws:  Scranton 25-36  Catholic 6-15
I really don't know...frustrating.

Status quo ...

I guess the boards prognosticator will be changing his 8-6 league finish?

[NEPAFAN]

I watched the first half online. Scranton took it to the rim and got fouled, what is the problem with that? Matt Swaback had some big defensive rebounds as well.

Onto Goucher.

[Matt Letourneau]

Nothing.  I just wasn't that impressed.  Of course, I was even less impressed with my own team.

[ronk]

So much for defending the home court as all 4 home teams lost.
   As for foul line disparity, all of Catholic's 1st 6 fouls in 1st half were in the act of shooting, resulting in 2 shots each, while 2 of Scranton's five were not and one of the others was on a made basket by JB resulting in only 1 shot. In the last 1 1/2 min, there was a disparity of 12 shots as Catholic fouled in attempts to steal the ball.
  JB and RJ didn't get much help from the rest of the squad. The Royals actually looked quick tonite; glad it was the 1st game of the weekend; I remember a Catholic game a couple of years ago when the last second loss by the Royals was affected by being their 3rd game in four days after a Wednesday makeup game.
  Anticipating a more physical game tomorrow @ Goucher.   

[NEPAFAN]

Nothing.  I just wasn't that impressed.  Of course, I was even less impressed with my own team.

It has to be frustrating to have the preseason favorite languishing near the bottom of the standings.

[cold_case]

Nothing.  I just wasn't that impressed.  Of course, I was even less impressed with my own team.

It has to be frustrating to have the preseason favorite languishing near the bottom of the standings.

It's amazing how a Scranton team has practically new starting lineups on the floor each year of the Landmark without a true No. 4 or 5 player, yet contend or win the title. Despite some teams having a solid nucleus returning the past three seasons.

[Matt Letourneau]

Nothing.  I just wasn't that impressed.  Of course, I was even less impressed with my own team.

It has to be frustrating to have the preseason favorite languishing near the bottom of the standings.

Indeed.  But the season isn't over yet...hopefully they'll rebound.  They've played 5 road games plus the best team in the league.   I would have hoped for a better record, but they've got to take care of business against everybody else at home and steal some road games.

[Matt Letourneau]

Yeah, so Catholic losing to Scranton apparently was bad news for Moravian.  CUA beats them 105 (!)-58.  They emptied the bench, too.  I think there was some pent up frustration there--with backs against the wall.  

I've been thinking about what you wrote, ColdCase, about Scranton.  Because you're right, it is remarkable.  I'm going to catch all kinds of hell for saying it, but I honestly believe that Catholic has a more talented roster, for instance.  But I think with Scranton, what impresses me year in, year out, is that they know what they can do, and they know what they can't do, and they always stick to the game plan and play very smart basketball.  I was actually shocked when I looked at the box score for the Catholic game and saw that they had 20 turnovers (vs. Catholic's 17--neither team was too sharp), because my perception was that Scranton really didn't make too many mistakes (other than shot selection, which is mostly just an Ashworth problem--I don't care how good he thinks his range is, he needs to stop jacking up those kinds of shots early in the shot clock, they can get better looks.)   Now, there was a point in that game  when Scranton went cold, and Catholic had ample opportunites to make up a 5-point deficit--they just kept squandering them offensively.

If Scranton is to be beaten, that's what's going to happen--they're just going to get cold because they are so reliant on outside shooting, and somebody's going to be able to take advantage of that.  But overall, the distinguishing characteristic of Scranton seems to be consistenly smart plays and playing to their strength.  Which is to their credit.