MBB: Landmark Conference

TheGrove · February 03, 2009, 11:41:59 AM

Quote from: Innerloop on February 03, 2009, 10:00:34 AM
Yes my screen name has something to do with the beltway---DUH! Just moved back to DC and hate the traffic.

I hate the traffic too, that's why I moved *out* of DC.

Susquehanna's not caught up in their own hype this year (aka Josh Robinson), so I don't think anyone will sneak up on them in the playoffs like Juniata did last year. Right now I'll take a Susquehanna-Catholic final as well, though I reserve the right to change my mind. And I hope I didn't just jinx the Crusaders. But I like a Patch-Banzhof matchup in the final, because I think those are the two best players in the conference right now.

tpm4286 · February 03, 2009, 11:42:59 AM

Juniata can be a spoiler and I am looking forward to see how they can possibly mix things up. A little question for the board...which is the worst team in the league Goucher or Drew?

NEPAFAN · February 03, 2009, 12:16:11 PM

Quote from: saratoga on February 03, 2009, 10:13:44 AM
NEPAFAN: Great idea! I think we might also be able to convince Latrell Sprewell to come on board as our strength & conditioning coach since it appears he's clearly out of options in the NBA & obviously he & P.J. have a very "close" relationship.
I think we may be able to convince a few of the Trustees to take another look at the AD position as well if we're able to provide some good leads.
By the way, I see Coach Knight seems to be itching to get back...who knows, with the right incentive package (Mannings ice cream for life, Scranton/WB Yankee tickets, Pens tickets, Old Forge pizza & Coney Island weiners), our beloved Royals may just be in the right place at the right time.

Worst Team? Drew.....never seen anyone affiliated with Drew University post on this board or the old MAC Freedom board.

Okay, how about JP Andreko returning from Kings back to the Long Center with Bess volunteering as Associate Head Coach?

ronk · February 03, 2009, 05:22:41 PM

Upcoming weekend

Saturday: top 4 play bottom 4

Most likely to upset : Goucher over Susque

Sunday: 1st division contests Scranton/MMA Susque/CUA

Matt Letourneau · February 03, 2009, 05:54:30 PM

Quote from: tpm4286 on February 03, 2009, 11:42:59 AM
Juniata can be a spoiler and I am looking forward to see how they can possibly mix things up. A little question for the board...which is the worst team in the league Goucher or Drew?

Oh deftinitely Drew! Goucher's gotten a lot better...frankly, I'm not really looking forward to Catholic playing them. The game is at home, but Goucher's been playing--and playing well in that building--for years.

This weekend--well, Sunday-- will go a long way to figuring out who is playing where come playoff time.

Statistically, anyway, the only category that Patch can even touch Banzhaf in is rebounds! Jason's up to 21.0 ppg.

BCannon · February 04, 2009, 01:45:35 PM

Quote from: tpm4286 on February 03, 2009, 11:42:59 AM
Juniata can be a spoiler and I am looking forward to see how they can possibly mix things up. A little question for the board...which is the worst team in the league Goucher or Drew?

Drew

Grove- SU just doesn't get better as the season progesses typically imo. Looks like this year may be different with other guys such as Cosgrove, McDevitt, and Spencer stepping up as the season goes on. But lets be honest, JC didnt sneak up on them in the playoffs last year...they were fortunate to win the last game of the season before the playoffs then they just got embarassed 1st round.

tpm4286 · February 04, 2009, 03:15:21 PM

Quote from: ronk on February 03, 2009, 05:22:41 PM
Upcoming weekend

Saturday: top 4 play bottom 4

Most likely to upset : Goucher over Susque

Sunday: 1st division contests Scranton/MMA Susque/CUA

The Goucher vs. Susquehanna game may not be an upset. Last game Goucher was owned on the boards and inside by the Crusaders. I look to see a better game by Patch and the lack of depth inside of Goucher be exposed. Might be a night to take the kids to watch a few dunks as well, Patch has a tendency to throw down at Goucher.

saratoga · February 04, 2009, 03:16:09 PM

Well, now that there is consensus that Drew has been the overall worst team...they'll pull the upset special & provide the kiss of death to the Royals.
This current group of Scranton seniors should remember only too well that fatefull afternoon in Madison, New Jersey on Jan. 28, 2007 when they were freshmen & that group of Royals blew an 18 point halftime lead & ended up losing to Drew 53/51. What made that loss even worse was that just 5 weeks earlier the Royals hammered the Rangers 72/38.
The following year in the Royals swan song in the MAC, they handled Desales easily at home in Dec. However, in the last regular season game with Scranton needing a win to secure the # 1 seed they faced off with Desales in Center Valley. In what has become a rather disturbing trend, the Royals bolted to a 17 point halftime lead only to blow that one as well & ended up losing the game 75/70 as well as the top seed and any potential playoff momentum. Four days later these teams met again at the Long Center in a first round MAC Freedom contest & after falling behind by 15 early, the Royals made a great attempted comeback...only to lose 62/60.
Bottom line...Scranton had better not even consider looking past Drew Sat. or their game on Sun. at MMA means nothing. The only question now is whether Scranton can prove they can finally win some big games on the road...they've certainly mastered the loss part recently.

tpm4286 · February 04, 2009, 03:31:51 PM

I think we all can come to agreement that Drew and Goucher are tied for worst teams in the league. Even though Goucher may have some talent, there lack of coaching skills and knowledge automatically sends them to the bottom of the board (trevino needs a set offense). Remember they did split there games this year, both beat the other on there home court.

Now about the Susquehanna vs. Goucher game this weekend. Last game the Crusaders outrebounded the Gophers 48-35 so the inside is open for them to dominate. Don't bet on an upset here. Again that was Micah Perry's 30-point game and since then he has been a non-factor so basically it was a breakout one time deal to score that many points, especially 7-10 from beyond the arc, no way that he will shoot 70% from 3-point land as Gouchers shooting the ball 30% from beyond the arc on the year. Won't cut it. Look for Patch to explode as there have been rumors floating around that Goucher has the key to stopping him. But then again Player of the Year Candidates always show what they got when it counts. Spencer Spencer will continue streaking.

Prediction Susquehanna- 77 Goucher-53

NEPAFAN · February 04, 2009, 03:36:37 PM

I would like to know what has gotten into this kid Cosgrove.....he has come from nowhere the past few games..

TheGrove · February 04, 2009, 05:22:25 PM

Quote from: tpm4286 on February 04, 2009, 03:31:51 PM
Again that was Micah Perry's 30-point game and since then he has been a non-factor so basically it was a breakout one time deal to score that many points, especially 7-10 from beyond the arc, no way that he will shoot 70% from 3-point land as Gouchers shooting the ball 30% from beyond the arc on the year. Won't cut it. Look for Patch to explode as there have been rumors floating around that Goucher has the key to stopping him. But then again Player of the Year Candidates always show what they got when it counts.

Perry wasn't on the Crusaders' radar the first time around. You're right, don't expect a similar performance this time around.

What is the key Goucher allegedly has to stopping Patch? Kryptonite?

Hey NEPAFAN, I think (hope) it's a case of Cosgrove finally coming into his own. Crusader fans have seen the potential in him since last year, hopefully he's putting the pieces together. Man, that was sports-clichey.

ronk · February 04, 2009, 11:37:39 PM

We're going to fire up Dmac with all this discussion of the Goucher-Susque matchup. Not looking for Perry to go 7-10 3-ptrs but Boswell is capable of that. Also, not looking for the upset; just saying this is the most likely of the Saturday games to be one.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 04, 2009, 11:45:24 PM

Hell... not going to fire me up at all!

By the way, no reason to have Perry on the Crusaders' radar this time around either. 31 points was like North Korea saying they would give up their nuclear weapon ambitions... a one time occurance. I am not convinced Perry has figured out how to be the best player on the court and for his team. That being said, there are several other guys starting to really come together for the Gophers who are usually in every game. So while not many people expect Susquehanna to get upset, anything is possible - especially on what is actually Senior Night at the SRC (no, Sunday's game will not be Senior Day!).

Finally, too bad Susquehanna and CUA have to play each other this weekend. They are both on the verge of completely eliminating themselves from getting a Pool B or Pool C bid. Just too many in-region losses. Speaking of which, many people are talking about MMA being a really good team. Just an initial thought - I am not that impressed. Though, to be honest, I am not that impressed with any team in this conference this season. CUA may be the one team that I have walked away from the game thinking - they are good or they showed me something.

Matt Letourneau · February 05, 2009, 10:08:32 AM

D-Mac,
Maybe this actually proves your point, but I think some of these teams still have not adjusted to the back to back weekend games. Merchant Marine clearly played a lot better at Catholic than they did at Goucher the following day--to the point that when I saw the stat sheet, I figured you might question my assertion that they were the best team I had seen in the conference over the last two years.

Nevertheless---part of being a good team is winning even when you don't play really well, so I guess they should get credit for that. But its proving to be very, very difficult to judge what is going to happen on these weekends--and its usually the second game.

I have a hard time believing the team that wins this conference won't get a Pool B--even with a bunch of in-region losses. Last year nobody expected this conference to gets two bids, but it seems that the selection committee is showing some respect to this conference and is perhaps showing some understanding that these teams are playing much harder "league" schedules than many of the Pool B candidates simply because they are in a competitive league structure with arguably only one really lousy team.

Ralph Turner · February 05, 2009, 10:55:45 AM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 05, 2009, 10:08:32 AM
D-Mac,
Maybe this actually proves your point, but I think some of these teams still have not adjusted to the back to back weekend games. Merchant Marine clearly played a lot better at Catholic than they did at Goucher the following day--to the point that when I saw the stat sheet, I figured you might question my assertion that they were the best team I had seen in the conference over the last two years.

Nevertheless---part of being a good team is winning even when you don't play really well, so I guess they should get credit for that. But its proving to be very, very difficult to judge what is going to happen on these weekends--and its usually the second game.

I have a hard time believing the team that wins this conference won't get a Pool B--even with a bunch of in-region losses. Last year nobody expected this conference to gets two bids, but it seems that the selection committee is showing some respect to this conference and is perhaps showing some understanding that these teams are playing much harder "league" schedules than many of the Pool B candidates simply because they are in a competitive league structure with arguably only one really lousy team.

The "harder 'league' schedules" should be reflected in OWP/OOWP.

Other differences in 2009 versus 2008 are:

-- that the weaker NATHC is now Pool A, and took that 4th bid with them. The Landmark might have the 4th best Pool B this year.

--the Landmark Conference "busted" in the post-season play in 2008.

Post 1258 and following

Elms is having another "blow-out" season. Elms, as a Pool A bid last year, blew out Scranton. Elms will get a Pool B this year in its new conference.

The Moravian loss (hosting John Jay) was ugly in 2008.

Respectfully, as an outsider looking at this conference, I wonder if the Landmark is not in a prolonged drought.

Northwestern MN will have to prove itself if it gets a Pool B bid, but the B's look prone to being "bumbly", this year.