MBB: Landmark Conference

[saratoga]

NEPA: Certainly not trying to answer for Gordon.
However,after seeing the Royals 4 times this season & countless times through the years, my take is this is the same team they had last year which was the same team they had the year before that which was the same team....etc. etc. etc.
The Royals have some very nice parts to a pretty good squad however, their weakness is very obvious & its been glaring for a really long time.
The lack of a floor general cost them dearly over the past several years in key games & was especially exploited during their past 2 NCAA first round games.
Until all the pieces to the puzzle can be found & meshed together, Scranton will continue to win most of the games they should win & very few of the games where the talent level is equal to or greater than their own.

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton was down 13 with 9 to play but came back to beat North Central by 2 in Daytona.

Nice win after the back to back losses.


Saratoga, thanks for the insight but I think I am already aware of your view of the Royals. 

Westfield State tonight at 6pm.

[gordonmann]

I was out on Saturday Night (a rarity) but what was your take on the Royals?

This is the first time I've seen Scranton in a couple years so take this with whatever size grain of salt is appropriate.

I was impressed by Morgan and Danzig, who are very nice players. They both have size and enough quicknes to be a tough matchup for opponents. At one point one of those two (Danzig?) posted up Cabrini's All-American Lemons on the right block, caught the ball and spun around for an easy shot over the top of the shorter Lemons. Morgan was making a living by backing up near midcourt, drawing the slower defender out and then dribbling past him to the rim for an open look. Danzig and Morgan aren't prototypical floor generals (like for Lemons for example), but they are really nice pieces. Hawk is a grinder. Tough kid. Love to have him on my team. 

I don't want to make too much of Farrell's performance, which was apparently his lowest scoring total of the year. He looks like a similar player offensively to Morgan, but I could be wrong.

The Royals didn't get much from the forwards. Shamback seemed out of place. He spent a lot of time near the three point line, facing the rim, where he didn't seem like much of a threat. Bevilacqua had foul trouble. I thought that, more than the lack of a point guard, was the biggest weakness because Cabrini's interior defense struggled.

If I had to pick one thing that would make Scranton better -- and this is only based on one game -- I'd say they need another post player to contribute at or close to Hawk's level.  He's a tough guy, but he needs help. 

Scranton also lost to a good team. Cabrini's coach has really done a great job building a solid roster around Lemons, who is an excellent player. Rafferty is a great shooter. Knowles could be All-Region. Dulac and Boyd are nice pieces (though both struggled Saturday). There's good depth off the bench with Rogers and Miller. Who knows where Cabrini will finish the season, but this squad is comparable in talent to the best teams to come out of this region the past few years, even if the CSAC isn't a deep conference. So losing to Cabrini on their floor isn't a bad loss, even if it's a frustrating one.

[NEPAFAN]

Thanks for the insights Gordon!


Scranton vs Wilkes on Monday 2 Jan at 6pm at the Cross County Challenge. A match up seven years in the making , any truth to the rumors that the game will be on ESPN3?

[CCHoopster]

Crusaders were down the whole game and never had a chance other than trading buckets early for some minutes. A local sdgk from Penn State Harrisburg had 39 points.

[ronk]

  Royals is renewing hostilities with long-time rivals Wilkes(Mon) and Kings(Tues) in Cross-County Challenge after 4-yr hiatus(since Scranton left MAC-Freedom to join the Landmark).
   Some background for the newcomers: Scranton-Kings was one of THE rivalries in D3 hoops(and before D3 existed). Scranton's venue in the home-and home was the CYC(capacity,4400) and it was filled when I was in school, despite being larger than the combined enrollments of the 2 schools. We did have some attendance from our sister schools, Marywood and Misericordia, then all women. A number(30?) of Kings' students hiked the 18 miles between the schools for the game each year in the dead of winter.
  The highlight game was the 1964 game in Scranton won by the Royals 117-112(3OT). The 2 All-Americans in the game had 42 and 45 points for their respective teams. It was preceded by an oncourt melee among those from both sides. The CYC director threatened to send everyone home without a game if there was a recurrence.
  Scranton-Wilkes never had the same attraction even though they were longer time conference rivals, going back through the original MAC, before the Freedom and Commonwealth divisions. Not even current Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, when he played for the Colonels, brought much interest. In the MAC-Freedom days, Wilkes did win the majority of the games. The hilite, I'm told, was Coach Bessoir breaking out a purple tux for one of the encounters.
  Unfortunately, with the schools on intersession, I don't anticipate the interest that the renewals would have enjoyed in February. One sidelight: current Kings' coach Andrejko is a former Royals All-American.
  Finally, I'd like to thank host Marywood for allowing the Scranton-Kings game to be the feature on Tuesday so that it can be televised in prime time and giving me enough time to get back from watching the Lady Royals in the afternoon.

[Bengalsrule]

Catholic U. definitly has the goods to go far from what I saw today! Everyone at Dufour Center got theirs moneysworth this afternoon in the Championship game between Buffalo State and CUA.

BENGALS 8 hour ride home should be enjoyable after capturing the Championship trophy!

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton beats Wilkes....I've waited 5 years to say that. Somewhere ColonelJohn is crying!

[cold_case]

I heard Scranton was missing a whole bunch of folks for that game.

[saratoga]

Certainly a nice win for the Royals. Let's hope they can once again string 2 good games back to back & do what they need to do to take care of that other school tonight.
As far as missing personnel:
Luke Hawk still with a hand injury...may play tonight.
Tim Lavelle...sick.
One of the highly touted freshmen...may not be seen again this season due to unacceptable GPA.
Two other players from Scranton Prep have decided to pursue other interests.

[NEPAFAN]

Certainly a nice win for the Royals. Let's hope they can once again string 2 good games back to back & do what they need to do to take care of that other school tonight.
As far as missing personnel:
Luke Hawk still with a hand injury...may play tonight.
Tim Lavelle...sick.
One of the highly touted freshmen...may not be seen again this season due to unacceptable GPA.
Two other players from Scranton Prep have decided to pursue other interests.

Toga,

What is up the highly touted freshman? May not be seen? Paper said he was held out for undisclosed reasons. Seems like a final decision hasn't been made?

[cold_case]

Nepa, don't be a tool. I told you about the kid three weeks ago. I am against putting a youngsters name in print that suffers academically. Unlike Nogasara......

[saratoga]

Case of cold ones: Not sure what you're reading but...I've not mentioned that kids "name" nor the names of those now playing intermural ball.
In addition, this information was stated last night via the "voice of the Royals". Anyone that was listening to the pregame as I was heading to the game heard this mentioned live.
Who knows, he may miss the entire second semester or...he may take a class during intersession & be back in early Feb.

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton beats JP and Kings after cruising out to a big lead and holding on. Kind of depressing how beating Wilkes and Kings generates no buzz.


Scranton will be live streaming their home games moving forward via Ustream which I think Goucher has employed rather successfully. Should be interesting.


Dave, sounds like Goucher has some talented Freshman and can get after the basketball on the glass. Upset Alert???

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

NEPA - it is interesting at Goucher... I think they do have some young talent that is showing just how good they are. Alex Noble single-handly made a close game against Rutgers-Camden a blow-out in a matter of minutes with a huge run of 3-pointers (RC wouldn't come out of a sagged-in 2-3 zone and Noble just kept hitting). He ended up with the a Goucher and SRC record 40 points... I think he was 6-11 from beyond the arc - most in the second half.

But, I take each game one and a time with the Gophers. While they have talent that is young and showing tons of potential... and veterans like Marcus Cotton are playing far better than in years past... others like Trae Lindsay continue to disappoint.

Lindsay has been a fearsome shot blocker and has potential of being a very difficult threat in the interior... but he just won't show up. I have seen ONE game that was worth talking about this year. He remains timid in the post, won't make a quick decision with the ball, and on defense doesn't seem to be as big a factor as in the past (though, there has been a major change in defensive-thinking with this team - don't want to ruin it for your viewing pleasure).

Right now, I don't think they have a real threat inside and that is a problem. If Lindsay would get more physical (not in a negative way) and take over inside... Goucher could make the rest of the season interesting. The Gophers could still make things interesting with young players gaining confidence, but my expectations remain low until they prove me wrong.