MBB: Landmark Conference

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton won the Radisson Invitational over the weekend. Travis Farrell was Tournament MVP and Luke Hawk made the All Tournament Team.

Hard to get a sense of what Scranton's rotation will be as the games we not close. Scranton host's Misercordia tomorrow night. Miseri always seems to give the Royals fits.


I know it is early , but what else is going on around the league?

[ronk]

MMA 2-1 with a clobbering of Maritime, similar to the Royals.
Moravian with a 1-pt loss to Centennial favorite Muhlenberg;
CUA 2-0 winning @ Dickinson despite being 10 down with 6 1/2 to go; however, prominent frosh Dan Eliot missed the weekend games after starting against Florida.
Juniata 3-0
Drew 1-2 OT loss @ Gettysburg and a clobbering by Hood; 6-11 Dylan Bulger not on this year's roster
Susque 0-2 close games, including D1 St.Francis(PA)
Goucher 0-3 in Pride of Md tourney

[NEPAFAN]

Miseri continues to give Scranton fits, everyone else in the conference wins.
Get the impression Danzig is still tinkering with his rotation.

[ronk]

  Unofficial word on the broadcast last nite is that the Landmark will be shifting to a Wed/Sat sched next year from the current Fri/Sat.

[cold_case]

  Unofficial word on the broadcast last nite is that the Landmark will be shifting to a Wed/Sat sched next year from the current Fri/Sat.

Would be less taxing the players in the league.
BTW, I am shocked at Lefty. No Colts references? WOW 

[mailsy]

Happy Thanksgiving Landmark posters! 

[TheGrove]

  Unofficial word on the broadcast last nite is that the Landmark will be shifting to a Wed/Sat sched next year from the current Fri/Sat.

I heard that from a coach, too.

[saratoga]

Just spent the last 9 months wandering the Berkshire's trying to forget the Royal's total meltdown vs. the fabulous Becker Boys in the first round of the 2011 NCAA tournament.
All that time spent trying to erase the memory of blowing a 14 point lead with 10 minutes left, the nightmares of bouncing Becker's crashing the boards for putback after putback. The empty feeling of watching the Royal's launch 3 pointer after demented 3 pointer while absolutely failing to get the ball into any part of the paint...where they just so happened to score 1/2 their first half points but not a single one in the second half. Just when I thought it was safe to put the teaching of Thoreau to good use & make my way from Walden Pond back to Royalville...what happens???
My beloved Royal's, the bullies of SUNY Maritime & New Paltz go into another regional game within the friendly confines of the Long Center and...blow it big time vs. Misericordia??? I mean no offense to the Cougers but, do teams that think they are really good allow teams of really no better talent come into their house & beat them this soundly?
When was the last time Duke was defeated at home by Wake Forrest? Not that the Royals have dominated the DIII scene in recent memory the way Duke has but, do you get the analogy?
To be perfectly honest, this is a huge hit for Scranton as far as the region goes...a very bad loss. Not in the sense that they lost to an inferrior team (they didn't) as the Cougars are very well coached but, in the sense that with some of the teams Miseri will beat, they could have given themselves a very nice cushion.
However, some things simply don't change. Still no true point guard which was seriously exploited by the pressing Becker's & most certainly still no dominate inside presence which was absolutely dominated by the leaping Becker's.
Now it's off to face a similar type team at Ramapo.
Was this fools gold by watching the Royal's dismantel two pretty weak teams? Are our hopes exceeding the true talent level?
Are the Royal's even good enough to win the Landmark & if so, is it simply a foregone conclusion that it will be yet another...one & done playoff appearance?
Tonight should be a pretty good indicator...the team either bounces back & starts doing some things it will need to do to be successful in the post season or the smoke & mirrors get's blown away by the really good teams that will exploit your every weakness.
I certainly hope a very 1 dimensional team finds it can play with the new kids on the block. 30 point wins vs. New Paltz are nice, 1 point wins on the road against quality teams are better.
Good luck Royal's, let's see how you stack up against the pre-season pick of the NJAC. A win like this on the road may allow forgivness from the Regional ranking God's. Then again, don't bet on it.

[ronk]

Saratoga,
  Just back from a homily by a Franciscan friar some of which was Thoreau, Walden Pond, and living "deep"; one can only think it's an affirmation of your thoughts. Allow Coach Danzig to use it in his pregame talk. Ramapo could be a lightning rod for the season.

[lefty2]

BTW, I am shocked at Lefty. No Colts references? WOW 

CC,

I never kick a man when he (or his team) is down.

Lefty

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I have also heard they will be switching the women's and men's game times on a seasonal basis. In other words, I think next season they will have the women play second... the following season the men will play second, etc.

Don't agree with that... I think there are better options (that even other conferences employ)... but there is a STRONG push that the women's teams are not getting a fair shake in the conference.

[ronk]

  Landmark wins the challenge tonite with the CentenniaL 2-1 as all the home teams won(Catholic, Moravian, and Dickinson).
  Moravian(Royals' conference opener opponent Saturday) somewhat improved from last year from a few minutes watching their game with Ursinus tonite.

[NEPAFAN]

Saratoga, Welcome Back ! ( I think),


If we go by your logic the Royals are in for a long season. 4 point overtime loss at Ramapo w/o Luke Hawk. 40 points by Freshman, but the Royals lost in Overtime to the NJAC pre-season favorite. These are dark times amongst Royal Nation. Season is over.


Now back to reality where the Royals played a NCAA tourny team tough in their gym w/o their leading scorer. Danzig has gone away from scheduling the PSU Hazletons of the world, they have some impressive freshman, and Conference play begins Saturday. Should be nothing but excitement from the faithful.

[cold_case]

Don't agree with that... I think there are better options (that even other conferences employ)... but there is a STRONG push that the women's teams are not getting a fair shake in the conference.

Unless the women can draw more that 40 fans at most places, I'd say they're being dealt with fairly.

Lefthander, you do realize we've been tanking the entire season, right?

[saratoga]

NEPA: I certainly was not trying to apply any logic that even suggests their (Royals) season is over.
What I did state, and correct me if I'm missing the players, is that Scranton did not bring anyone in that can contribute right away who can address their two primary needs of the past 4 years...post play & point guard.
Let's not forget, the Royals gave up 37 second & third & fourth chance shots to Becker! We couldn't box out Barbie. In all sincerity, those numbers are obscene. Let's not forget Becker's press in the 2nd. half which although not a thing of precision & beauty was nevertheless, very effective in preventing the Royals from getting any flow or order to the game when they needed to.
Each regional loss is a killer, whether by 4 points or without one of your starters...the NCAA could give a damn, they just add em up & send you 1,000 miles away, never to be heard from again until mid October.
Scranton will be a very nice team by the time the playoffs roll around.
I just wish that someday a few of these tight games on the road can be won & the Royals can be rewarded with a host site.
Until then, I know some really nice places to stay in Massachusettes.