MBB: Landmark Conference

ronk · March 01, 2015, 12:10:10 AM

Catholic was taking it to the Royals offensively for the 1st 10 mins; their few misses were immediately put back follows. It wasn't til the Royals switched to a zone that we had any stops. 8-14 on 3s kept us in the game and gave us lead by the end of the 1st half.
Lot of intensity in the 2nd half and Marcus Thomas excellent defense of Fonville(after slowing Brandon Hedley on Wednesday) was a big factor. Marcus also in a few mins late in the game went 4-4 FTs, made a backdoor cut for a layup, and got 2 big rebounds/loose balls. Team victory-everyone laying it out; so nice to have a PG with no TOs.

NEPAFAN · March 01, 2015, 08:09:39 AM

Alvernia also won their conference after posts earlier this year stating they were nothing but a .500'team.

Can the scranton times send a reporter on the bus with the kids. Come on... Reporting seriously lacking this AM.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · March 01, 2015, 10:48:24 AM

To be honest NEPAFAN... I don't think Alvernia thought they would be in position to win their conference. They are playing six guys - just six guys - in games and have moved two of their starters into new roles this season. They got hot at the right time and came together nicely, but even they would tell you they weren't expecting this season.

saratoga · March 02, 2015, 11:10:26 AM

First off.....
Great job by Pat, Dave and a host of other folks to pull off last night's kickoff.
Obviously a ton of work went into the production & all of us that watched owe you a serious thank you.
In short time we'll know the answers.
Some will be obvious, some will seem a little out of the ordinary & still others will leave many wondering what they were thinking of.
Every year it seems the NCAA conveniently forgets at least one of their own rules & try as hard as you do, they (NCAA reps), never really answer your questions as to how they arrived at a particular decesion.
No argument regarding the teams you've picked...getting those last 2 in was difficult to say the least.
it will be very interesting to see how close the committee members viewed the same criteria you were looking at.
As for the Pods...just hope Scranton will be at Dickinson or Johns Hopkins...much easier trips.

Matt Letourneau · March 02, 2015, 01:18:26 PM

Glad to see Landmark get 2 bids and the Cardinals get in as an at large. They'll play Alvernia at home, and the winner will face RMC (gulp!).

I was of course disappointed they lost at home last weekend, but its been a somewhat unexpected season. Lots of credit to Scranton--they got big 3's every time they needed it. The game turned right before the half when Klingman hit the go-ahead 3. Quite frankly, it was bad shot selection and he shouldn't have taken it, but he took it and made it...that's the way it goes.

NEPAFAN · March 02, 2015, 03:31:21 PM

Congrats to Catholic for hosting a NCAA tourney game. Nevermind that Scranton has won the conference 6 times and never hosted.

In regard to Scranton's trip to Boston, curious to why Scranton is playing Baruch and why Babson doesn't play Baruch in the first game.

CardsFan · March 02, 2015, 03:34:28 PM

Quote from: NEPAFAN on March 02, 2015, 03:31:21 PM
Congrats to Catholic for hosting a NCAA tourney game. Nevermind that Scranton has won the conference 6 times and never hosted.

In regard to Scranton's trip to Boston, curious to why Scranton is playing Baruch and why Babson doesn't play Baruch in the first game.

Scranton women are killing the men's hosting chances. I agree they should be hosting, but the system says women get priority this year for first weekend.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · March 02, 2015, 04:24:54 PM

Quote from: NEPAFAN on March 02, 2015, 03:31:21 PM
Congrats to Catholic for hosting a NCAA tourney game. Nevermind that Scranton has won the conference 6 times and never hosted.

In regard to Scranton's trip to Boston, curious to why Scranton is playing Baruch and why Babson doesn't play Baruch in the first game.

Baruch - Scranton is a more evenly matched game (mid-ranked teams) and Babson - Westfield is more appropriate for the top ranked team in the Northeast.

NEPAFAN · March 02, 2015, 04:27:26 PM

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on March 02, 2015, 04:24:54 PM
Quote from: NEPAFAN on March 02, 2015, 03:31:21 PM
Congrats to Catholic for hosting a NCAA tourney game. Nevermind that Scranton has won the conference 6 times and never hosted.

In regard to Scranton's trip to Boston, curious to why Scranton is playing Baruch and why Babson doesn't play Baruch in the first game.

Baruch - Scranton is a more evenly matched game (mid-ranked teams) and Babson - Westfield is more appropriate for the top ranked team in the Northeast.

Interesting, given my rudimentary research it appeared that Baruch was the weakest of the group.

saratoga · March 02, 2015, 04:54:17 PM

NEPA:
I hope by around 7:30 next Friday evening, that assumption still holds true.

The reality is if your pre-season All-American candidate shoots 1-10 from the field, inclusive of 1-4 from the line & 0-7 from behind the arc & you still win by 11 on the road against a serious conference foe....then you've got to believe things can't stay that bad & your chances just got better for the next game.

I mean if the Royals pulled a homeless person off the streets in DC before the game & inserted him as the 2...he couldn't have shot much worse.
Probably would have turned the ball over 50 times but my point is when you can survive that cold of a night from a guy you're counting on...you know you've dodged a serious bullet & you have to like your chances going forward.

Taking care of the ball & second chance shots have been huge for the Royals down the stretch....keep it going.

Charles · March 02, 2015, 07:40:47 PM

Quote from: saratoga on March 02, 2015, 04:54:17 PM
NEPA:
I hope by around 7:30 next Friday evening, that assumption still holds true.

The reality is if your pre-season All-American candidate shoots 1-10 from the field, inclusive of 1-4 from the line & 0-7 from behind the arc & you still win by 11 on the road against a serious conference foe....then you've got to believe things can't stay that bad & your chances just got better for the next game.

I mean if the Royals pulled a homeless person off the streets in DC before the game & inserted him as the 2...he couldn't have shot much worse.
Probably would have turned the ball over 50 times but my point is when you can survive that cold of a night from a guy you're counting on...you know you've dodged a serious bullet & you have to like your chances going forward.

Taking care of the ball & second chance shots have been huge for the Royals down the stretch....keep it going.

According to Coach Danzig, the kid broke his foot early in the season and his wrist around Christmas, I think that he is still playing is just toughness.

NEPAFAN · March 02, 2015, 08:13:26 PM

Quote from: saratoga on March 02, 2015, 04:54:17 PM
NEPA:
I hope by around 7:30 next Friday evening, that assumption still holds true.

The reality is if your pre-season All-American candidate shoots 1-10 from the field, inclusive of 1-4 from the line & 0-7 from behind the arc & you still win by 11 on the road against a serious conference foe....then you've got to believe things can't stay that bad & your chances just got better for the next game.

I mean if the Royals pulled a homeless person off the streets in DC before the game & inserted him as the 2...he couldn't have shot much worse.
Probably would have turned the ball over 50 times but my point is when you can survive that cold of a night from a guy you're counting on...you know you've dodged a serious bullet & you have to like your chances going forward.

Taking care of the ball & second chance shots have been huge for the Royals down the stretch....keep it going.

Right given the Royals recent performance in the NCAA's I am not looking past anyone, just sharing my observations from checking out the competition. Didn't know he hurt his wrist, hadn't heard about that injury.

CardsFan · March 02, 2015, 09:36:13 PM

Gotta give congratulations to CUA's players as this tournament appearance is down to their hard work and determination throughout the season. After the debacle of last season, they came back determined to play better and more as a team and they accomplished that.

I have to say I was not confident CUA would get in, and I really hope their at-large birth does not confirm to the coaching staff that how they scheduled this year was good enough, as that would be a dangerous precedent to set. Also, just a curious question in case anyone knows, does the NCAA consider the games played on Thursday as "play-in" games per se? What I mean is does the NCAA look at CUA and say "you're one of the last teams in the tournament and so you get to play the #1 team in the country if you win." DO NOT take this as a complaint, as I have no problem with the draw as CUA was probably team 18 or 19 selected, I'm really just curious how the NCAA sees the teams for the Thursday games.

Pat Coleman · March 02, 2015, 10:37:00 PM

CardsFan -- you can think of the Thursday games as basically 8/9 games in a traditional tournament field. Those are the teams that play to face the top seed. There just isn't a 16 seed in that bracket.

CardsFan · March 02, 2015, 10:45:04 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 02, 2015, 10:37:00 PM
CardsFan -- you can think of the Thursday games as basically 8/9 games in a traditional tournament field. Those are the teams that play to face the top seed. There just isn't a 16 seed in that bracket.

Thanks Pat. That's actually better than I thought. I thought it would be the equivalent in D1 to the "First Four" games in Dayton. I know it's no real treat to get the top seed, but as I knew with CUA's SOS they would not be afforded any cushy draws.