MBB: Landmark Conference

[Augie2020]

Hey Ronk-Good game tomorrow at Hopkins!Are you planning on attending?

[ronk]

Augie,
 No, but I'll watch the videostream. Should be a tossup. Thanks for looking ahead.

[saratoga]

Let's see...Stevens is scoring inside & out yet our leaders game plan is just fire away.
It would be one thing if you're attempting to bring their bigs out to run some backdoor cuts, but that never happens...just keep shooting.
Hitting 21% from behind the arc & getting out-rebounded by 16 is not a recipe for success, yet that's what we get year in & year out.
I mean Stevens is a good team but they did lose to Catholic (who lost their top 2 players to D1 transfer), yet we get blasted by 34.
Now that's preparation & game plan 101 at its finest.
We are somewhere between 50/60 points behind the top tier D3 programs right now.
Might be time for multiple games with Medgar Evers, Pratt, Sarah Lawrence, Bard & York (NYC).
This type of play is brutal to watch.

[ronk]

Augie,
 No, but I'll watch the videostream. Should be a tossup. Thanks for looking ahead.

 Turns out the game wasn't @ Hopkins but NC Wesleyan, the championship of a tourney there. The videostream  was run by FLO so I couldn't watch it. Had a weird 1st half, Hopkins winning the 1st quarter by 16 and CNU the 2nd by 18, then a struggle in the 2nd half.

[Great Day to be a Royal]

I often feel like I am a defender of the program, and the state of the program. I get frustrated too with where it is, from where it was. For a while they looked like they were satisfied with being a regional team. Then it has shifted to winning the conference is the goal, anything beyond is icing. I get it. 400 programs across the country would want to have that model year in, year out. We sit and compare to yesteryear. That will likely never be a thing again.

With all of that being said, after last season, I don't see anything wrong with opening the season with two easy wins. Marywood did hang around for a good chunk of the game. Point is, getting smoked by two good teams opening weekend would not have prepared them any better for a quality opponent like Stevens. They aren't there yet. or again. whatever. They will be a middle of the road team in the Landmark, which will be competitive. They will win a game or two they shouldn't, and undoubtedly lose a few, too.

[saratoga]

I get it as I felt like you about 12 years ago.
The only problem is, the program never got stronger, the teams never went deeper, classes came in & graduated without as much as a whimper and the losses to less talented teams kept happening.
We've all lowered our expectations of this program in the hope that we somehow catch a magical moment or lightening in a bottle one of these years.
If women's basketball can be in the Top 20 year in & year out & always in the hunt for a deep run in the tournament playoffs & win the Landmark something like 9 straight years, then the men better pick up their game.
This act has become old & there are too many young coaches out there with the right basketball IQ & energy to recruit the right kids to bring this basketball team back to relevance.
If something doesn't change soon, we'll be having this conversation again in a few years.

[NEPAFAN]

I think my hot take after Stevens was the same type of game as last year. Getting run out of the gym, no rebounding, one and done shots, etc.

Plenty of games left this year, but I haven't seen anything yet to say we can turn the page on last year.

[Great Day to be a Royal]

I get it as I felt like you about 12 years ago.
The only problem is, the program never got stronger, the teams never went deeper, classes came in & graduated without as much as a whimper and the losses to less talented teams kept happening.
We've all lowered our expectations of this program in the hope that we somehow catch a magical moment or lightening in a bottle one of these years.
If women's basketball can be in the Top 20 year in & year out & always in the hunt for a deep run in the tournament playoffs & win the Landmark something like 9 straight years, then the men better pick up their game.
This act has become old & there are too many young coaches out there with the right basketball IQ & energy to recruit the right kids to bring this basketball team back to relevance.
If something doesn't change soon, we'll be having this conversation again in a few years.

Hard to argue with anything you stated. And when you sit back and look, the men's hoops team has fallen to the bottom of on campus programs.

Women's hoops and soccer are national powers. Field hockey and volleyball regional forces. Softball is solid yearly. Men's soccer is usually quite competitive, and baseball has turned the corner into a regional contender yearly now.

[NEPAFAN]

I get it as I felt like you about 12 years ago.
The only problem is, the program never got stronger, the teams never went deeper, classes came in & graduated without as much as a whimper and the losses to less talented teams kept happening.
We've all lowered our expectations of this program in the hope that we somehow catch a magical moment or lightening in a bottle one of these years.
If women's basketball can be in the Top 20 year in & year out & always in the hunt for a deep run in the tournament playoffs & win the Landmark something like 9 straight years, then the men better pick up their game.
This act has become old & there are too many young coaches out there with the right basketball IQ & energy to recruit the right kids to bring this basketball team back to relevance.
If something doesn't change soon, we'll be having this conversation again in a few years.

Hard to argue with anything you stated. And when you sit back and look, the men's hoops team has fallen to the bottom of on campus programs.

Women's hoops and soccer are national powers. Field hockey and volleyball regional forces. Softball is solid yearly. Men's soccer is usually quite competitive, and baseball has turned the corner into a regional contender yearly now.

You can add Mens Lacrosse to that list as well... long stretch of mediocracy, stability and success now.

[Augie2020]

Dave Martin it is time.This guy has brought this program down to  its bottom.Amazing walking out after the women's game something we never did and seeing more Wilkes fans coming in and more Scranton fans leaving is a truly disgrace to what Bessior built the U of S mens program to be a National powerhouse.For 22 years this guy maybe won the Freedom or the Landmark but Bessior built this program to be elite .Another words top 4 in the country no matter what way you looked at it.Seriously Martin needs to look at the greats that gave it their all on the court and in that trophy case and guess what not one thing was brought by Carl Danzing to that case(Meaning the Trophies).22 years that has brought this program down and how dare you use that greatness of Bessior teams to make it look like Danzing did it.Shame on you!

[NEPAFAN]

Second Chance Points

Wilkes 18-Scranton-0

2nd Half Points

Wilkes 34 Scranton 19

[Great Day to be a Royal]

Second Chance Points

Wilkes 18-Scranton-0

2nd Half Points

Wilkes 34 Scranton 19

It is amazing the last few seasons how the Royals continuously get out played in the 2nd half.

[saratoga]

Those Royal second half adjustments have always been a thing of beauty. 
Also when you shoot 37% from the field there are lots of missed shots...7 offensive boards is not going to keep you in games vs. good or even average teams.
Medgar Evers...yes.
Wash U, Trinity, John Carroll... not a chance.
Merrily we roll along.

[ronk]

 Re the doubleheader last night instead of single games at each school: Dean said it was a mutual decision between the schools. It seems to negate whatever reason the Landmark had in scheduling this way for the past few years.

[NEPAFAN]

16 first points for Scranton at Drew.