MBB: Landmark Conference

tpm4286 · February 10, 2009, 11:28:13 AM

This is a huge weekend for the Player of the Year Race. If Banzhaf can go to Scranton and post a big game and get a W then he may move slightly ahead of Patch for the moment. My prediction is that Scranton will Win the game, Cathlic will then go to Moravian and beat them to split the weekend. Banzhaf I believe will struggle at Scranton as it is a tough place to play so don't expect big numbers from him that night. If he was on my fantasy team I would bench him that night because after a huge weekend Scranton will pay particular close attention to him at all times.

Patch on the other hand has 2 home games. MMA is big and if he has a big night against them he could go back to back games producing solid numbers, the 2nd game is against Drew and since Goucher and Drew are the two worst teams in the conference as we came to agreement

. I expect the same numbers against Drew as Patch produced against the Gophers.

Scranton over Catholic; Scranton over Goucher
Catholic over Moravian; Moravian over Goucher
Susquehanna over MMA; Susquehanna crushing Drew
Juniata over MMA; Juniata over Drew

Matt Letourneau · February 10, 2009, 11:55:33 AM

Give me your top 5 then, coldcase. Obviously I meant through his sophomore year. I watched Morley, Hilleary, Maloney--none of them were this polished until they were upperclassmen. There were obviously several guys long before that that you'd have to consider.

All this POY talk is great, but we should be focused more on the games at this point since things are still in flux. If there was fantasy basketball Landmark Conference, though, I'd never bench Banzhaf. For one thing, I wouldn't have anybody even close to him on my bench!

TheGrove · February 10, 2009, 12:04:12 PM

tpm, Sunday (Drew) is also Susquehanna's Senior Day, so hopefully Patch has some extra oomph to shine in his home *regular season* finale.

Matt, you're right, the race is too tight to be worrying about POY talk - although I am enjoying that discussion. There's a three-way tie for first right now and home-court advantage is going to be huge for the playoffs, I'm thinking.

Pat Coleman · February 10, 2009, 12:06:45 PM

Quote from: ronk on February 09, 2009, 08:13:38 PM
That's the way Juniata and Muhlenberg do their videocasts. Too bad D3hoops didn't mention that the video was available on their home page.

Landmark schools, since their league is a PrestoSports member, especially should be loading all audio, video and live stats links into the Presto system. That puts them on the conference's Web site as well as ours.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 10, 2009, 01:22:57 PM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 10, 2009, 11:55:33 AM

Give me your top 5 then, coldcase. Obviously I meant through his sophomore year. I watched Morley, Hilleary, Maloney--none of them were this polished until they were upperclassmen. There were obviously several guys long before that that you'd have to consider.

All this POY talk is great, but we should be focused more on the games at this point since things are still in flux. If there was fantasy basketball Landmark Conference, though, I'd never bench Banzhaf. For one thing, I wouldn't have anybody even close to him on my bench!

Matt - I would argue that Dwyer was better now than Banzhaf (though, I think Dwyer didn't continue to get better through his senior year - more like just plateaued out) and I think Hilleary might have been better now. The difference is, Banzhaf HAS to produce now since they don't have a lot of other weapons. The other three had other options around them so they didn't have to shoulder the entire load. Sure, Banzhaf has certainly done well with that load, but to say he was better then teams that didn't need a sophomore to step-up might be a stretch of a comparison.

cold_case · February 10, 2009, 03:26:00 PM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 10, 2009, 11:55:33 AM

Give me your top 5 then, coldcase. Obviously I meant through his sophomore year. I watched Morley, Hilleary, Maloney--none of them were this polished until they were upperclassmen. There were obviously several guys long before that that you'd have to consider.

All this POY talk is great, but we should be focused more on the games at this point since things are still in flux. If there was fantasy basketball Landmark Conference, though, I'd never bench Banzhaf. For one thing, I wouldn't have anybody even close to him on my bench!

First of all, Banzah wouldn't even make the roster of some Catholic teams of the past. You forget CU was D-I until the school de-emphasized it's athletic programs after the 1980-81 season.
With that being said, the best player in school history was Bobby Adrion, bar none. This kid was one of the best in the country (there were no D-II or III schools) and if freshmen were eligible when he played, God knows how many more points he would have had.
They also a kid named Glenn Kolonicks, who I saw play in Scranton's Holiday Tourney one year. He can play with anyone as well.
Heck, Billy Dankos, who had ties up this way, was an outstanding player and he scored over a 1,000 points with nobody playing alongside him. And yes, that was in D-I.
Banzhaf may be a good D-III player, but don't compare him to what CU once had. That's an insult.

Pat Coleman · February 10, 2009, 04:23:24 PM

Oh, relax cold_case -- I don't think anyone meant to compare him to a D-I player. Untwist those knickers.

NEPAFAN · February 10, 2009, 04:25:33 PM

Matt,

I am having deja vu. Wasn't last year your campaign for Banzhaf to be Rookie of the Year?

Is Luke Hawk eligble for Rookie of the Year this year?

ronk · February 10, 2009, 04:26:08 PM

[quote author=Matt Letourneau link=topic=5121.msg1029463#msg1029463 Regardless of how good Jason is--and at this point I'm pretty much ready to say that he's the best player I've ever seen wear a Catholic uniform at ANY point--certainly in the top 3--he's going to need help if Catholic is to be competitive in Scranton.

Since Matt's only a few years out of CU, he hasn't seen any of the guys CC mentions; that's why he limited it to the recent years. Bob Adrion was a very good one, though.

saratoga · February 10, 2009, 04:37:37 PM

NEPAFAN: Great point...wonder what the actual answer is? As those familiar with the Royals are aware, Luke is a soph. with freshman eligability due to last seasons knee injury just prior to the start of school.
If he is allowed to be in the running, I haven't seen too many other freshmen that are any better. I say he's certainly in the mix for the Banzhoff Award.

TheGrove · February 10, 2009, 05:34:09 PM

Quote from: saratoga on February 10, 2009, 04:37:37 PM
I say he's certainly in the mix for the Banzhoff Award.

If Spenser Spencer wins it this year, can we call it the Casanova Award?

Matt Letourneau · February 10, 2009, 06:06:22 PM

Quote from: ronk on February 10, 2009, 04:26:08 PM
[quote author=Matt Letourneau link=topic=5121.msg1029463#msg1029463 Regardless of how good Jason is--and at this point I'm pretty much ready to say that he's the best player I've ever seen wear a Catholic uniform at ANY point--certainly in the top 3--he's going to need help if Catholic is to be competitive in Scranton.

Since Matt's only a few years out of CU, he hasn't seen any of the guys CC mentions; that's why he limited it to the recent years. Bob Adrion was a very good one, though.

Ha..more than a few, sadly--put it this way--more than a Senate term!

No, obviously I'm not comparing him to D1 players! But there is absolutely, positively, no way that Pat Dwyer was better than Banzhaf as a sophomore. I like Pat Dwyer plenty, but...forget it. Not even close. For one thing, Pat was like Shaq at the line, which was a huge liability for a big man. And he wasn't really that big--he wasn't a bruiser inside, and he wasn't a good enough shooter to play outside. He was decent at both, and he had very good intangibles. But...no.

Part of this as you say D-Mac is what you see---the only Catholic big man I've seen that was so fluid underneath was Morley, but Morley didn't develop range until he was an upperclassman. Nobody was a bigger fan of those players than me, but...it is what it is. I'm not the only one who follows Catholic bball closely to have that opinion, either. I know, I've talked about it with others.

tpm4286 · February 10, 2009, 06:39:19 PM

Its quite obvious that this player of the year race is a 2 man sprint to see who puts in work and produces not only for himself but for his team...its key that the POY should make others around him better and raise the levels his supporting cast.

Honestly though, not taking away from Banzhaf of Patch because I believe they are good ball players. But in the CAC conference, from which Goucher and Catholic came from, these guys would be role players on some teams within that conference. I don't believe that these guys would be in the same categorie as a Chad McGowan or Garret Smith. Really I wouldn't even put them that close to a Tyson Leseme from St. Marys, Ray Williams from Salisbury or Robert Haney Jr. from Galluadet. They would be maybe 2nd team picks, MAYBE

Matt Letourneau · February 11, 2009, 01:58:39 AM

I don't agree, tpm. I watched CAC basketball for a long time and I don't see any drop off in the Landmark. In fact, actually, I think top to bottom this conference could be better.

I saw every player you named. They were all good players to varying degrees, but they weren't any better than the best in the Landmark. Several of those guys like Williams and Haney were the Alan Iversons of the CAC--they got their points, but only because they took a ton of shots and shot for a very low percentage. Garrett Smith never lived up to his potential, and McGowan was certainly a very good player, but better than Banzhaf--when he was a sophomore? Hardly.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 11, 2009, 07:45:19 AM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 11, 2009, 01:58:39 AM
I don't agree, tpm. I watched CAC basketball for a long time and I don't see any drop off in the Landmark. In fact, actually, I think top to bottom this conference could be better.

I saw every player you named. They were all good players to varying degrees, but they weren't any better than the best in the Landmark. Several of those guys like Williams and Haney were the Alan Iversons of the CAC--they got their points, but only because they took a ton of shots and shot for a very low percentage. Garrett Smith never lived up to his potential, and McGowan was certainly a very good player, but better than Banzhaf--when he was a sophomore? Hardly.

I think TPM has a point... though it is tough to compare. I think some of CAC players he mentioned would still be leading their teams if they played in the Landmark and if they played with Banzhaf and Patch, those two would be more like "Scottie Pippens" in comparison. Still good players, but more of a second choice to compliment the others.

As for your thought about McGowan compared to Banzhaf... again I remind you, Matt, that making that comparison isn't exactly fair to either player. Banzhaf has to be the man on this team; there aren't many other options. McGowan was on a team with plenty of other options both inside and outside, so he didn't have to be "the man" during his sophomore year. That being said, he still contributed. Sure, he doesn't come close to having the same numbers - again, because he wasn't an option the team needed - but he was still pretty darn good. I would say at least equal to Banzhaf, if not a bit better.