MBB: Landmark Conference

[saratoga]

Amen!
First time I've seen him drive the lane with authority in a long, long time.
Looked like the RD we've come to know...drive hard, if the opportunity is there, right to the hoop.
If not, kick it back out or dish to a cutter when the D collapses on him or stop for his little 8' jumper.
All in all, good to see him playing with all his options like he'll need to down the stretch.
Boken is simply Mr. Consistent.....double/double's basically every game.
Another steady game from Brian Farrell while he was in.
One game at a time.

[NEPAFAN]

Amen!
First time I've seen him drive the lane with authority in a long, long time.
Looked like the RD we've come to know...drive hard, if the opportunity is there, right to the hoop.
If not, kick it back out or dish to a cutter when the D collapses on him or stop for his little 8' jumper.
All in all, good to see him playing with all his options like he'll need to down the stretch.
Boken is simply Mr. Consistent.....double/double's basically every game.
Another steady game from Brian Farrell while he was in.
One game at a time.

Sign of the Apocalypse.

Semi-postive post from Saratoga and an actual article on the Royals in the Scranton Times.

[saratoga]

NEPA:
Let's not get carried away. 
A decent game at home against a second tier team does not have me making reservations through the Salem Visitors Bureau.
Still much work to do.

[CardsFan]

Not much good to report from CUA-Elizabethown tonight. CUA was down by as many as 12 in the first half, but eventually clawed back to be down just 1 at halftime. The second half was a giant sequence of two steps forward, one step back as CUA tightened the defense but the offense was just not sharp at all. It was a real struggle and CUA was lucky to escape 68-65 after splitting 2 of 4 free throws in the final seconds that could have ended it.

Special attention should be paid to the laughable quality of officiating in this game. Some times down the floor both teams could get away with anything and other times players couldn't be within 5 feet of a player without being whistled for a foul. There were numerous sequences where none of the officials were in position to see who the ball went out off of. Late in the 2nd half, one ref whistled Fonville for a foul even though he was nowhere near the action at all. It took a timeout and another several minutes of all the officials huddling to realize not one of them could tell Fonville wasn't the right player and just kept the foul on him. They robbed the game of any flow or rhythm.

Also, unfortunately for Elizabethtown, with about 15 minutes left in the 2nd half their senior big man Lee Eckert went down with what appeared to be a serious lower-leg injury and left the gym on crutches.

[ronk]

Not much good to report from CUA-Elizabethown tonight. CUA was down by as many as 12 in the first half, but eventually clawed back to be down just 1 at halftime. The second half was a giant sequence of two steps forward, one step back as CUA tightened the defense but the offense was just not sharp at all. It was a real struggle and CUA was lucky to escape 68-65 after splitting 2 of 4 free throws in the final seconds that could have ended it.

Special attention should be paid to the laughable quality of officiating in this game. Some times down the floor both teams could get away with anything and other times players couldn't be within 5 feet of a player without being whistled for a foul. There were numerous sequences where none of the officials were in position to see who the ball went out off of. Late in the 2nd half, one ref whistled Fonville for a foul even though he was nowhere near the action at all. It took a timeout and another several minutes of all the officials huddling to realize not one of them could tell Fonville wasn't the right player and just kept the foul on him. They robbed the game of any flow or rhythm.

Also, unfortunately for Elizabethtown, with about 15 minutes left in the 2nd half their senior big man Lee Eckert went down with what appeared to be a serious lower-leg injury and left the gym on crutches.

Eckert is a difference-maker for E-town and his absence will impair their playoff chances.

[NEPAFAN]

Not much good to report from CUA-Elizabethown tonight. CUA was down by as many as 12 in the first half, but eventually clawed back to be down just 1 at halftime. The second half was a giant sequence of two steps forward, one step back as CUA tightened the defense but the offense was just not sharp at all. It was a real struggle and CUA was lucky to escape 68-65 after splitting 2 of 4 free throws in the final seconds that could have ended it.

Special attention should be paid to the laughable quality of officiating in this game. Some times down the floor both teams could get away with anything and other times players couldn't be within 5 feet of a player without being whistled for a foul. There were numerous sequences where none of the officials were in position to see who the ball went out off of. Late in the 2nd half, one ref whistled Fonville for a foul even though he was nowhere near the action at all. It took a timeout and another several minutes of all the officials huddling to realize not one of them could tell Fonville wasn't the right player and just kept the foul on him. They robbed the game of any flow or rhythm.

Also, unfortunately for Elizabethtown, with about 15 minutes left in the 2nd half their senior big man Lee Eckert went down with what appeared to be a serious lower-leg injury and left the gym on crutches.

Eckert is a difference-maker for E-town and his absence will impair their playoff chances.

Would have been nice if the Blue Jays could have squeezed that one out.

[saratoga]

The Royals just missed getting help from Susquehanna & MMA as well.
It appears Scranton finally has the inside/outside game going.
Looks like everyone played well last evening.
M. Thomas has certainly improved his long range shooting.
Another tough place to play on Sat. at Juniata.
Eckert is certainly a huge (no pun intended),part of the E-town offense...any time away will certainly hurt their chances.
Scranton simply can not look ahead to Catholic coming to town for the season final.....literally, one game at a time.

[NEPAFAN]

http://www.bennettrank.com/collegebasketball/d3-mens-basketball-scranton-catholic-charging-toward-season-ending-showdown/#

Speculates on whether the league is a two bid league. Obviously Scranton-Catholic to close out the regular season at the Long Center is huge.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Let's not get into how many thinks that site gets wrong about this division on a normal day... but this is a two-bid league if Catholic and Scranton can hold it together to the conference championship (assuming just one more loss for both teams).

Catholic is in trouble with an SOS right now about .471 - that isn't as good as it should be (Purchase and Gwyned Mercy should have been better this year). They can't play games with losses. Lose two more games and they could be in some real trouble getting into the tournament.

Scranton certainly has a better SOS, but last year also proved to be hard getting out of the Mid-Atlantic region as an at-large team. I don't think they can gamble with two more losses, either.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Regional Rankings are out: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2015/02/11/first-regional-rankings-released-today/

[saratoga]

Great job tonight by the Royals.
No sooner do they get a little respect in the Region & in typical fashion, they make a mad dash for the exit door.
So much for that big game with Catholic in 10 days.
In all honesty, if 2 points is all they can get from their All American candidate in a big home game, let's not kid ourselves.
Their entire backcourt combined for a staggering 4 points...pretty impressive.
Here's another stat I noticed about the Royals...there are something like 440 D-III teams & our Royals are 439th in offensive rebounding.
They are one away from absolute dead last in hitting the boards.
No put backs, no second or God forbid, third chance shots.
Nope...they just fire away & then try & get back on D.
Great job by Coach M. getting his kids ready & wanting it.
Biggest question for the Royals right now, will they wilt & go meekly away or somehow regroup & get it done.
This loss just absolutely cost them an at large...they need to win out for any chance of getting into the dance.
Talent is there on paper...just have to transfer some passion to the game played on the court.

[NEPAFAN]

Great job tonight by the Royals.
No sooner do they get a little respect in the Region & in typical fashion, they make a mad dash for the exit door.
So much for that big game with Catholic in 10 days.
In all honesty, if 2 points is all they can get from their All American candidate in a big home game, let's not kid ourselves.
Their entire backcourt combined for a staggering 4 points...pretty impressive.
Here's another stat I noticed about the Royals...there are something like 440 D-III teams & our Royals are 439th in offensive rebounding.
They are one away from absolute dead last in hitting the boards.
No put backs, no second or God forbid, third chance shots.
Nope...they just fire away & then try & get back on D.
Great job by Coach M. getting his kids ready & wanting it.
Biggest question for the Royals right now, will they wilt & go meekly away or somehow regroup & get it done.
This loss just absolutely cost them an at large...they need to win out for any chance of getting into the dance.
Talent is there on paper...just have to transfer some passion to the game played on the court.

Yup, i had to look it up. If it wasn't for Vitkus they would be dead last. Why you throwing a dig at the assistant coach?

[saratoga]

A dig at the Assistant Coach?
I didn't say anything about the "coaching" at Scranton.
What i did say was essentially a great job by Coach M....as in Frank Marciniak of Susquehanna.
His kids were well prepared & came ready to play.

[NEPAFAN]

A dig at the Assistant Coach?
I didn't say anything about the "coaching" at Scranton.
What i did say was essentially a great job by Coach M....as in Frank Marciniak of Susquehanna.
His kids were well prepared & came ready to play.

My apologies, in my salty mood read that as sarcasm and a reference to  Scranton assistant Coach "M". Only saving grace was no video for some reason tonight.

[CardsFan]

Must have been something in the air tonight. Scranton drops one and CUA was in real danger for most of the first half tonight against a Goucher squad that was clearly ready to play tonight. CUA was down by as many as 13 late in the half. This was a game marked by long periods of neither team interested in playing any defense at all as both teams went streaking up and down the floor time and time again. Goucher fully deserved their half-time lead.

Kyle Phanord put in a real captain's performance tonight with what must be a career-high 28 points, going 8-14 from 3-pt. Bryon Fonville overcame a quiet first-half scoring to finish with 13 points and 15 assists.

Pleased the team overcame a poor first-half to fight back and claim a relatively "comfortable" win, but performances will have to improve over the next 2 weeks if this team wants to be rewarded.