MBB: Landmark Conference

[NEPAFAN]

So how do the Royals match up against Lynchburg?


I know they score a lot and lost to CNU. The only common opponent with the Royals..

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

So how do the Royals match up against Lynchburg?


I know they score a lot and lost to CNU. The only common opponent with the Royals..

It'll come down to whichever team can dictate pace.  Lynchburg doesn't have the size to handle Boken and Victus inside, but Scranton really cannot run with Lynchburg.  I think it'll be a really fascinating matchup.  It's one of my top three first round matchups.

[NEPAFAN]

Thanks for being bullish on the Royals in your preview Pat.

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for being bullish on the Royals in your preview Pat.

I'm saying there's a chance.

Folks, just five more hours to enter the men's D-III bracket challenge before tonight's tipoff!
https://d3challenge.com/login/register.php

[NEPAFAN]

So how do the Royals match up against Lynchburg?


I know they score a lot and lost to CNU. The only common opponent with the Royals..

Sorry didn't realize Lynchburg beat Goucher as well.

[ronk]

So how do the Royals match up against Lynchburg?


I know they score a lot and lost to CNU. The only common opponent with the Royals..

Sorry didn't realize Lynchburg beat Goucher as well.

Some Tweet/pics from OWU where Royals are practicing now; one pic is of OWU's NCAA championship banner when they beat Scranton in the final.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Why don't they use the #d3h hashtag so we can all see them easier?! SMH

[ronk]

Why don't they use the #d3h hashtag so we can all see them easier?! SMH

I'll tweet them your suggestion.

[Matt Letourneau]

Great piece to get Cardinal fans in the mood, from WTOP, Washington's #1 radio station.

http://wtop.com/ncaa-basketball/2016/03/catholic-university-returns-to-ncaa-tournament-hosts-games-this-weekend/

WASHINGTON — Next week, American, Georgetown, George Washington, and Howard Universities will all take aim at their respective conference tournament championships and the accompanying spot in the NCAA Tournament. But one Washington team has already qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and will host a game on campus in D.C. this weekend or, if all goes well, two of them.

Catholic University ensured itself a place in the Division III Tournament by winning the Landmark Conference Championship last Sunday with a thrilling 83-80 victory over Susquehanna. The Cardinals (22-5) may have been in line for an at-large berth regardless, but head coach Steve Howes was happy it didn't come to that.

"It means that my stomach had a free Sunday to relax," said Howes in an interview in his office this week. "I was able to sleep Saturday night."

(continued)

[saratoga]

Pathetic.

Reassign Danzig!

[CardsFan]

Brutal end to the season for the Cards, losing their 1st home game of the season to Endicott 84-76. I don't know whether the team was too tight or nervous, but it was one of the worst shooting nights of the year. Cards built a 9-point lead early in the second half, but then gave up a 17-2 run over the next 4 minutes and were never able to recover. Very tightly officiated game and it never allowed either team to get in a real rhythm.

It speaks to what a special player Bryson Fonville is that in his final college game he almost has a triple-double (10 pts, 7 reb, 9 assists) but has one of his poorer overall games in a CUA uniform. He shot just 4-15 from the floor and was guilty of trying to make too much happen on several occasions. Still, he's an all-time great and a genuinely irreplaceable player. It was a real pleasure to watch him for 4 years.

Only appropriate to mention Kyle and Kevin Phanord together. The two best captains in well over a decade and their leadership will be sorely missed for a long time. Kyle leaves as one of the great 3pt percentage shooters the school has had and Kevin leaves as a great individual defender and instant energy-changer. I got to know both of them over their 4 years and am sorry to see them go.

On to next season.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Catholic didn't play the kind of defense they needed to play and Endicott played just enough.  I thought both teams executed pretty well on offense.  EC hit 7-11 from three in the second half - tough to catch a team like that.

The real travesty is that Catholic would've likely gotten to host the second weekend if they'd made it through.  Missed opportunity.


Kudos to Catholic and the staff there, though.  This is my fifth NCAA tournament and they were, by far, the best hosts I've seen.  Not that everyone else was bad (although some were), but just a first class event all the way through.  I really appreciated it.

[NEPAFAN]

Congrats to Boken on becoming the all time leading scorer in Universtiy of Scranton history. The only thing good to come out of last night, besides Catholic losing

[Matt Letourneau]

Well, its been a really lousy tournament for the Mid-Atlantic, and Landmark went 1-3.  Disappointing all the way around.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, Catholic's loss was one of the most disappointing in the program's recent history.  I was actually quite surprised that Endicott nearly beat Wooster today, so maybe I didn't give them enough credit, but I came away thinking that CUA had a lot more talent, just didn't execute.

Yes, there was some defensive problems, but actually it was just one of those games where the ball wouldn't go in.  Their 3 point shooting had been consistently good this year, yesterday it wasn't.  It didn't help that their best 3 point shooter picked up 2 early fouls and never got into any kind of rhythm.   

It really, really pained me to see Bryson Fonville go out that way--what a great player, fantastic career and certainly not defined by one bad game.  But, truthfully, he had a really rough game--and CUA is just not deep enough to survive a 4-15 night from their best player. 

I was also really disappointed to see one of our seniors lose composure at the end of the game and get a well-deserved T when it was still a 5 point game.  That cannot happen and there's no excuses for it.  It put the game out of reach once and for all.

Now look, I didn't like the way the game was officiated- and I was saying so when Catholic was up at halftime.  It ended up being wildly inconsistent--in the first half, everything was called, both teams were in the bonus really early and the game had no flow.  That does generally benefit the weaker team, and indeed there were a few occasions where Catholic seemed poised to open up a healthy lead only to get called for some uber ticky tack foul.  But okay, that's the way the game is going to be called, you have to adjust.  But my problem is down the stretch it wasn't how the game was called at all, and suddenly nothing was a foul inside which was the only place Catholic was having any success.  I'm not blaming the officiating for the loss, it wasn't their fault, but it was still a lousy job.  I don't get to as many games anymore but it has looked to me like things have improved in that department, I was expecting better in a tournament game.

And on Endicott's side, as was pointed out--they went 7-11 from 3 in the 2nd half, and a bunch of those were well contested and/or really deep.  They just got really hot and hit a lot of shots.

On the plus side, Jay Howard had another great game, a lot of toughness.  I'm excited about what he can do over the next two years--he will threaten scoring records at Catholic.  It will be a much different team next year, but there's still some good talent, so it should be pretty competitive. 

On to next season!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Endicott was the most impressive team in the pod.  Wooster buckled down when they needed to, but if EC hits one more FT it's over in regulation.  They return pretty much the whole team.