MBB: Landmark Conference

[NEPAFAN]

DMac....
Very much agree & I think I've been fairly clear on my less than enthusiastic appreciation of what the Scranton men have been able to do on the court the past 10/12 seasons.
One year resembles the next...win the games you should, lose the games you should, very few upsets on the win side, more than a few on the loss side.
Get to the NCAA's....lose first round.
If not for Matt's unbelievable heave at the buzzer 3 years ago, the Royals would still be looking for their first win in the tournament with a team recruited by the current coach.
I'm sure everyone works their tail off to make things right...just not happening beyond what turns out to be a pretty boring league.
To be perfectly honest, it was much more fun from a fans perspective when they played Friday/Sat. or Sat./Sunday back to backs.
There is zero visible investment under the current AD leadership that leads me to believe the Royals are ready to turn the corner.
No fans from the community until the end of the year, no students till the end of the year, no evening games, no pep band anymore,no coverage in the papers, just a very, very vanilla program.
I mean how many teams these days with hopes of regaining a degree of national prominence must do so with only 1 Asst. coach???
Most teams come into the Long Center with three, four and even five coaches...not the Royals...just 2 coaches.
What that says about commitment from the Administration comes through loud & clear.....just like the support from the community is coming through loud & clear...to the tune of 100 people in the stands for a moronic 5:00pm start for a Scranton women's game.
If I were the tournament sponsor...I'd want a refund.

It isn't the quantity of coaches but the quality.

[gordonmann]

Do D3 coaches get fired?

Dave's right. It happens and we have a section of the website that tracks a lot of those moves.

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/coaching-carousel

Scroll down to the stories that occurred in the early off season for those about coaches leaving a job.  You'll notice there aren't a lot of stories that use the word "fired."  But you'll find a few that say, "Coach X was dismissed," "Coach X stepped down," or use another euphemistic term, like this one:

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2014/05/matt-neil-out-as-hope-mens-coach

There are also a lot of stories that say, "Coach X left his/her position for another job and school Y will conduct a search for his replacement."  If a school sends us a release announcing that kind of change, I usually assume the coach left on relatively good terms.

[sunny]

D-Mac:

Somewhat related to your rant, I have a question about the status of coaches in D3. Do D3 coaches get fired? I know that some Men's coaches are also AD's at their respective Landmark school, so firing is probably out of the question. My point is what do you expect to change with these struggling Landmark teams?

Yep... often. Doesn't usually make the headlines, but LVC canned their women's coach this off-season (only one off the top of my head in this region). However, there isn't as much push to have successful teams in Division III when other priorities like enrollment come into play. I am not sure if any schools in this conference would get rid of coaches (or if any are on the hot seat) because they aren't winning or being competitive.

Yep. I'm startled by the assumption that I think some people make that the only reason a coach would get fired is lack of winning. I would wager that most dismissals (contract not renewed, faux resignations, etc., included) at this level come for reasons other than or in concert with a lack of winning. A coach may have little on-court success but bring a lot to the table in other ways (great academic/student behavior track record of players, keeps alumni intere$ted in the school/program, etc.). Likewise, a coach may have a very good or average record and get the boot for any of the same reasons any other college or university employee would.

I'm also startled by the inference in an earlier post that a coach who doubles as an AD couldn't be fired. Um, pretty sure that the AD still reports to someone ...

[NEPAFAN]

No fans from the community until the end of the year, no students till the end of the year, no evening games, no pep band anymore,no coverage in the papers, just a very, very vanilla program.

Scranton had a pep band?

[ronk]

No fans from the community until the end of the year, no students till the end of the year, no evening games, no pep band anymore,no coverage in the papers, just a very, very vanilla program.

Scranton had a pep band?

Well,it was really Manny, Moe, and Jack.

[kate]

Now you see why I miss you guys  - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[CardsFan]

Sorry ladies and gents, but this is a one-team league, and it really has been since it began. Aside from one good year from USMMA and one good year from CUA, it's the same story each season. To me, Scranton is clearly soooo much better than everyone else in the league. This season in particular, I have no idea who is going to finish between 2nd and 7th. I wouldn't be surprised if CUA finished anywhere in there.

The Cards are not a very good team right now (defensively atrocious) and probably won't improve a great deal from now until the end of the season.

To the Scranton followers here, I have seen your frustrations with the state of your program and you are clearly more involved in the day-to-day operations than the once/twice a year I see them. All I can say is that from the outside, I marvel at the level your program has maintained since the Landmark Conference began. I truly enjoy the kind of basketball those kids play. However, I can understand your frustrations at what you must see as underachieving in the NCAA tournament. My reply to that is that it could always be much worse. I would love for Catholic to be at the level of winning 20 games a season and going out early in the NCAAs.

I am really stunned at what has become acceptable with the CUA program over the last 10 seasons. It has gone from a program that won 20-24 games a season and won conference titles to one that now seems to measure success by the quality of Divison-1 opponent it can schedule for an exhibition. The most depressing thing has been to watch any semblance of mental toughness leave the teams. This is now a program that hopes for 15-18 wins and hopefully make the Landmark conference title game. It's pretty bad hoping for an ECAC bid at the end of the season. All I'm saying is that coming from someone who has followed a program when it was on top, it's shocking how it can be taken for granted.

I'm sorry if this seems long-winded and/or harsh towards the team I follow, especially since I'm relatively new to the boards. It's just something that I've been thinking about for a long time and seems appropriate on this day of rants.

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton goes 1-1 in Vegas, lost to Husson who went 2-0, also beating Hampden Sydney. Thanks to the D3hoops crew for providing the Hi Def video and commentary.

We have come a long way from checking the box scores after games in the newspapers.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Shhhhh... it wasn't high-def

[saratoga]

Scranton pulls out two close contests this weekend.
On the plus side, a win is a win.
On the other side, Scranton is clearly the more talented team vs. Kings & Wilkes...they just refuse to play perimeter defense, don't box out, get very few second chance shots & just want to break down the court.
Thank God for Justin Klingman & Brenden Boken...clearly the two MVP's of the season thus far.

[ronk]

Scranton pulls out two close contests this weekend.
On the plus side, a win is a win.
On the other side, Scranton is clearly the more talented team vs. Kings & Wilkes...they just refuse to play perimeter defense, don't box out, get very few second chance shots & just want to break down the court.
Thank God for Justin Klingman & Brenden Boken...clearly the two MVP's of the season thus far.

  As evidenced by the 10-1 offensive rebound deficit against Hanover-I didn't see today's game(off watching the Lady Royals,instead) or half of last nite's game(video problems); the little things do make much difference in the NCAA tourney when the usual is your oft-cited 1 and out.

[CardsFan]

Exciting finish in Washington, DC tonight at CUA beat USMMA 65-64 on a Bryson Fonville jumper with 3.2 seconds left and USMMA was unable to get a good look at the basket on the final possession. I could focus on the negative that CUA's defense ranged from nonexistent to poor on the night, but I'm going to focus on the positive that CUA played most of the 2nd half without Fonville (foul trouble) and was able to take and keep a slight lead without him.

Random thought: this was CUA's 2nd straight Landmark game that was a real foul-plagued game. It wasn't dirty and there were a lot of ticky-tac fouls that lead to the game being a foul-shooting contest. I'm wondering if other games around the league have been similar?

Also, while I wouldn't call USMMA a good team, on the evidence of tonight they are certainly better than their 2-9 recond would indicate.

[ronk]

Exciting finish in Washington, DC tonight at CUA beat USMMA 65-64 on a Bryson Fonville jumper with 3.2 seconds left and USMMA was unable to get a good look at the basket on the final possession. I could focus on the negative that CUA's defense ranged from nonexistent to poor on the night, but I'm going to focus on the positive that CUA played most of the 2nd half without Fonville (foul trouble) and was able to take and keep a slight lead without him.

Random thought: this was CUA's 2nd straight Landmark game that was a real foul-plagued game. It wasn't dirty and there were a lot of ticky-tac fouls that lead to the game being a foul-shooting contest. I'm wondering if other games around the league have been similar?

Also, while I wouldn't call USMMA a good team, on the evidence of tonight they are certainly better than their 2-9 recond would indicate.

I don't think there's going to be much difference between teams 2 through 9 this season.

[NEPAFAN]

Saratoga

Did you know Scranton is 8-0 at the Cross County Challenge?

DMAC

You saw scranton and Amherst in the past 10 days, who impressed you more and why?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Amherst impressed me more. Scranton is a good team, but Amherst, while young, seems to be on the same page more. Scranton still has guys who try and do individual things while Amherst knows they have to rely on everyone.

It just seems Scranton isn't always sure on the court what they want to do on offense. Where as Amherst knows they have presence inside to consider and can play an inside-outside game and get open looks. Amherst is also the better passing team of the two and plays a bit better on the defensive side of things.

And before it comes up later, it wouldn't be surprising if Scranton blew the doors off Goucher while Amherst needed a three to force OT and win the game. Goucher was amped up for Amherst. I have never seen Trevino more passionate about coaching the games during the game than in this game ... because it was Amherst. If the Gophers can take what they learned and saw how they played against the Lord Jeffs, then they are going to be a different team the rest of the way. But it is also hard to play with that kind of intensity and go-get-them every single game when it might not be in your nature.

Back to Scranton and Amherst... I will probably leave both in my Top 15, but not sure either are Top 10.