MBB: Landmark Conference

ronk · February 14, 2009, 11:37:50 PM

With Moravian eliminated today, I believe Catholic has clinched the final playoff spot. If CUA & Juniata finish 7-7, CUA should win tiebreaker by having a better record vs. Scranton @ 1-1 than Juniata's 0-2.

tpm4286 · February 15, 2009, 09:15:22 AM

Joel Patch is, I believe, one game away from clinching Player of the Year. With a solid 18 and 9 performance last night he may have solidified himself as the guaranteed winner of the POY for the Landmark. Drew is the worst team in the league so expect patch to have big numbers again tonight, especially with it being the senior game. He may even break 1,000 points today.

The reason why he leads the race is because Banzhaf lost last night and couldn't propel his team to victory. His numbers were down just as I expected them to be. GUESS I WAS RIGHT, THANK GOD I BENCHED HIM ON MY FANTASY TEAM BECAUSE I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN WITH SCRANTON as I mentioned in an early blog. Goucher will get crushed today by Scranton, 2nd day, 4pm start, not enough rest, plus Scranton is undefeated at home this year in the Landmark.

POY 2009- Patch
POY 2010- Banzhaf (sit and wait till next year, he's only a sophmore and has the chance to post back to back POY runs his junior and senior year, wait his turn basically.)

NEPAFAN · February 15, 2009, 01:38:08 PM

I am not sure what happened with Banzhaf, but sounds like Paul Hawk and company played some good defense....nice write up in the Scranton Times for a change...

Persistent Royals to Much For Catholic

http://www.scrantontimes.com/articles/2009/02/15/sports/sc_times_trib.20090215.c.pg1.tt15column_s1.2306751_spo.txt

Matt Letourneau · February 15, 2009, 06:26:24 PM

May I ask, tpm, exactly who did you have on your fantasy bench that put up more than 12? You must have a pretty deep team.

I don't know what happened either---Reed's numbers were way up, so I suspect Catholic went to him more often. Take a look at Hawk's numbers last night--he did virtually nothing--so apparently Jason played some damned good D.

Of course, Patch had a similar game against Catholic earlier, so I would assume that's eliminated from consideration, right tpm?

NEPAFAN · February 15, 2009, 06:35:42 PM

Paul Hawk is only averging 6 points a game, so don't pat your boy on his back too much!

Matt Letourneau · February 15, 2009, 07:01:34 PM

I know--and I imagine he had a lot of help keeping Jason off the scoreboard.

I was just being a little tongue in cheek for my pal tpm who is being a little bit ridiculous. I think Jason's still clearly the POY, but even if you don't, it still has to be a close call, and its a little hard for me to take seriously the notion that its a slam dunk for somebody else.

tpm4286 · February 15, 2009, 07:10:40 PM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 15, 2009, 07:01:34 PM
I know--and I imagine he had a lot of help keeping Jason off the scoreboard.

I was just being a little tongue in cheek for my pal tpm who is being a little bit ridiculous. I think Jason's still clearly the POY, but even if you don't, it still has to be a close call, and its a little hard for me to take seriously the notion that its a slam dunk for somebody else.

matt you are BIASED, sorry about the loss today to Moravian haha don't blow another home loss to Trevino's sorry team again next weekend. I'm not hinting its a lock but I would say its clearly about 75% in Patchs hands. So again sorry to Catholic

ronk · February 15, 2009, 10:36:40 PM

Standings RS

Scranton 10 - 3 Scranton 4 - 0
Susque 10 - 3 Susque 3 - 0
MMA 9 - 4 MMA 4 - 1
Catholic 7 - 6 Catholic 3 - 2
Moravian 5 - 8 Juniata 3 - 4
Juniata 5 - 8 Moravian 1 - 3
Goucher 4 - 9 Goucher 2 - 5
Drew 2 - 11 Drew 0 - 5

MMA clinches 3rd seed;CUA 4th; Scranton - 1st under 3/4 outcomes for next weekend's games; only one where it's 2nd is Sus win and Scr loss.

BCannon · February 16, 2009, 12:24:21 AM

Had an opportunity to watch the 2nd half and OT of the JC v. Merch Marine game online. Very exciting finish. Samuel was extremely impressive. Basically he won the game along with some untimely turnovers by JC not least of which came in OT. With the game tied following two missed freethrows by Merch Marine JC came down and turned it over after crossing midcourt. They fouled, MM hit two freethrows, JC came down and either didn't get a shot off or it was blocked couldn't tell with how choppy it was online. Was impressed with how resilient Merch Marine was. Was a very well played game by both teams just MM made one more play in the end.

JB rebounded nicely today, but the team is limping to the finish here. Reminds me a lot of Moravian last season. Still like JB Matt so you aren't alone.

SU had a nice balanced game from everyone it looks like. On top of Patch being a great player, he is also a great student. Academic AA and All District I think with a 3.68 gpa. True student athlete.

Matt Letourneau · February 16, 2009, 12:54:49 AM

Yeah, Jason had 24 today and tried to carry his team back.

Really, it was one hell of an effort--never should have happened but CUA opened the game ice cold and were down 24-6 at one point and 45-22 at halftime. Ugly.

But you know--I'll give those guys credit. It would have been easy to quit and go through the motions, but they somehow got the game to 7 with a minute left. Shot 29% in the first half, 62% in the second.

They're just really young, and down the stretch its hurt them I guess. It wasn't like they got blown out at Scranton--in fact they had a narrow lead most of the second half. Couldn't quite finish. I'd watch out for them next year.

Even as a four seed---if they put it all together they could knock of Scranton and Susquehanna. Not saying they will, but its within the realm of possiblities. Problem is, Scranton is 10-0 at home this season. One hell of a home court advantage--at least statistically, they are a mediocre team on the road, and fantastic at home.

Kind of makes you wonder...awfully big free throw discrepancy home v. road. Just saying....

TheGrove · February 16, 2009, 11:42:04 AM

Quote from: bballfan10 on February 16, 2009, 12:24:21 AM
SU had a nice balanced game from everyone it looks like. On top of Patch being a great player, he is also a great student. Academic AA and All District I think with a 3.68 gpa. True student athlete.

Should have heard his "resume" during senior intros yesterday... probably took about 10 minutes! (j/k)

I was hoping to see him get to 1,000 points yesterday; he's 9 away. He registered his 13th double-double of the season. Cosgrove had a big game with 15/10. But overall, as bballfan10 mentioned, very balanced game. That's why I like this team's chances in the postseason.

NEPAFAN · February 16, 2009, 02:43:49 PM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on February 16, 2009, 12:54:49 AM
Kind of makes you wonder...awfully big free throw discrepancy home v. road. Just saying....

More tongue in cheek?

Matt Letourneau · February 16, 2009, 04:12:13 PM

Well the winking smiley face should probably give you a hint...

NEPAFAN · February 16, 2009, 05:34:37 PM

That is your winking smiley face?

saratoga · February 16, 2009, 07:14:34 PM

Two good wins over the weekend for the Royals...both games ending up probably closer than they needed to be. In typical Scranton fashion, seemed unprepaired for Catholic from the tip & found themselves down 10 early & had to regroup. Seemed as though they were taken by surprise with the Catholic intensity...not sure why since they are also fighting for a higher seed.
The Goucher game is the one that worries me. Scranton was up by generally 20 throughout the 1st. half & honestly there were at least two trips on the defensive end that only one kid from Goucher even attempted to get back in the last minute. They just stopped playing the last 2 possesions & let the half end with the Royals up 22 or 23. All Scranton had to do was come out like they were only up 1 in those first 5 minutes & it would have been over. Instead, sloppy passes, minimal D, crazy shots & the next thing you know it's now down to 15. The Royals then stop attacking at the 10 minute mark which leads to a few more turnovers & rushed shots & Goucher starts driving the lane & scoring which then sets up their kick outs which start falling & they cut it to 8 & then Scranton got a couple of stops & Goucher ran out of gas & time. If they (Goucher) decided to play in the 1st. half with the passion they did in the 2nd. who knows.
The big worry with the Royals is their general lack of interest in playing defense for 40 minutes. As was demonstrated yesterday, Scranton can get away with these break downs against certain teams however, try that against NCAA tournament teams & once again they'll be packing quicker than they can say Elms.
In an unrelated matter...what is up with the lack of student support for this team? If it were not for alunmni & those from the area they may have not had 150 students there. In fact, there had to be at least 200/300 MORE at the Lady Royal game that then left prior to the start of the mens game. Talk about some serious disconnect with the fan base. Seems like the AD & SID better come up with a marketing plan because this lack of internal support is very serious...actually it boarders on unacceptable. It wasn't that long ago that if you were not in the Long Center at least 1/2 hour before games around playoff time, you weren't getting in. Perhaps cases of Becks to the first 2,000 students will get things going.