MBB: Landmark Conference

[CardsFan]

I think Khouri came off the bench on two separate occasions against Goucher and immediately picked up a foul. Same thing happened to Kevin Phanord. That doesn't breed confidence in a coaching staff.

Kevin Phanord 4 fouls in 12 minutes, Louis Khouri 2 fouls in 17 minutes. The coaches seem to give Kevin much more leeway in terms of staying on the floor through foul trouble since he has provided an emotional boost on numerous occasions when he makes a steal or forces an offensive foul. It can be a vicious cycle, a player commits a turnover or a foul and that doesn't breed confidence in the coach, so the player comes right back to the bench. Of course, maybe the player is a little off because he doesn't have a ton of game action to fall back on. There is no right answer to this, but maybe you live with a turnover or foul to get the positives the player can bring.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not saying they aren't living by it... I am just saying when you come in and almost instantly get tacked with a foul... when it comes time to pull that trigger in a big game coaches might get gun shy.

Kevin and Khouri have to play... the question then becomes when and at what times in games will they play.

[CardsFan]

Not saying they aren't living by it... I am just saying when you come in and almost instantly get tacked with a foul... when it comes time to pull that trigger in a big game coaches might get gun shy.

Kevin and Khouri have to play... the question then becomes when and at what times in games will they play.

Agree 100% again. You and I have pretty much agreed on all of this since last Wednesday. Unfortunately, what I'm almost 100% sure of is that nothing will really change in a meaningful way and I'll be left to keep saying "man this kid shows potential, wonder why he doesn't play more?"

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

For the record... the world must be coming to an end soon because everyone knows a Goucher grad and a Catholic fan shouldn't be getting along LOL

[cugrad]

Remember, CU is playing without Limberiou and Prince who did not return for their final year. With those two, they are a legit final four team. Bottom line, they have been spectacular throughout this season. I thought they might win 14 or 15 games this year. They have far surpassed my predictions. I hope the cards are preparing for the final three or four games with the mind-set that they are playing for an at-large bid. A conference championship would be icing on the cake!!! How about MMA? Of late, they are playing to their potential.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not sure I would say final four caliber team. That is a reach for a lot of schools. I think the talent on the '13 team was better than this one, to be honest.

As for MMA... they always peak late as they finally get to play and practice more consistently as a team. Makes them dangerous, always.

[cugrad]

I totally agree with that the 2013 team was much better than this year's team. Having a 6' 8'' All American along with solid guards helps. 

[NEPAFAN]

Remember, CU is playing without Limberiou and Prince who did not return for their final year. With those two, they are a legit final four team. Bottom line, they have been spectacular throughout this season. I thought they might win 14 or 15 games this year. They have far surpassed my predictions. I hope the cards are preparing for the final three or four games with the mind-set that they are playing for an at-large bid. A conference championship would be icing on the cake!!! How about MMA? Of late, they are playing to their potential.

Wow, just realized that about Limberiou. What happened?

Yeah Scranton goes into MMA tomorrow, MMA will have played 2 games in 3 days I believe.

[ronk]

Remember, CU is playing without Limberiou and Prince who did not return for their final year. With those two, they are a legit final four team. Bottom line, they have been spectacular throughout this season. I thought they might win 14 or 15 games this year. They have far surpassed my predictions. I hope the cards are preparing for the final three or four games with the mind-set that they are playing for an at-large bid. A conference championship would be icing on the cake!!! How about MMA? Of late, they are playing to their potential.

Wow, just realized that about Limberiou. What happened?

Yeah Scranton goes into MMA tomorrow, MMA will have played 2 games in 3 days I believe.

He had a health issue that short-circuited his season last year and didn't come back 4 bball this season.

[CardsFan]

Remember, CU is playing without Limberiou and Prince who did not return for their final year. With those two, they are a legit final four team. Bottom line, they have been spectacular throughout this season. I thought they might win 14 or 15 games this year. They have far surpassed my predictions. I hope the cards are preparing for the final three or four games with the mind-set that they are playing for an at-large bid. A conference championship would be icing on the cake!!! How about MMA? Of late, they are playing to their potential.

There's no way to appropriately put into words how much better this year's CUA team has been than what I figured they would be. I figured around .500 would be the goal for the season, considering there were 10 players from last years team who are not on this season's roster (some like Limberiou could have played but chose not to, others I believe were kindly asked to take their talents elsewhere).

The big factor is that there was no way to know a freshman like Jay Howard was coming in. The physical presence that kid brings cannot be overstated and is the best athlete the school has had in over a decade. As he continues to adjust to college play, his ceiling is enormous.

The other factor is that this years group seems much more on the same page than last year. The end of last season was so atrocious and it was apparent many players were not invested in the team and played that way. I give Coach Howes a ton of credit for weeding out so many players and pushing the reset button going into this year.

[NEPAFAN]

Susquehanna beat  Goucher, 122-76,

[CardsFan]

Susquehanna has really had a good season and been playing very well lately, winning 9 of their last 11 I believe. Should be a great game next week between them and Scranton in the conference tournament.

Pretty straightforward for the Cards tonight as they led for almost the entire game. Cards gave up nearly 20 offensive rebounds but canceled that out by shooting 60% for the game.

Seems like Drew has moved into solid position for the final playoff spot with their big win over E-Town tonight. I guess that injury to Eckert was a huge blow for the Blue Jays as they have lost their last 6 and based off tonight's evidence I wouldn't put money on them beating Susquehanna Saturday.

[ronk]

 In the conference playoffs, the Royals will host Susquehanna and Catholic will host Drew unless E-town beats Susquehanna on Saturday in which case CUA will host E-town on a tie-breaker over Drew.

[NEPAFAN]

Can someone with a better basketball mind than me explain why the Royals are likely last in Offensive Rebounds conceded.

MMA has a boat load of Offensive Rebounds last night..

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Week 2's regional rankings made an early appearance today: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/?p=2630