MBB: Landmark Conference

[ronk]

Should be another huge crowd at the Long Center Sunday to see the Royals play MMA...especially since finals end today & all the students will have left for home.
Not sure who does the Royals scheduling but NEPA is correct, it's horrible.
Any semblance of even a flicker of rivalry with Kings/Wilkes is obviously long gone as witnessed by the crowd of about 103 fans that watched those games held at Marywood when, you guessed it, all schools were on Thanksgiving break.
Then there are these wonderful start times of 3:00 & 5:00 for tournament games when the kids are on semester break.
Why are they not at 5 & 7 so people that work might be able to attend since the students aren't going to be there?
Also, whatever happened to 7:00 starts for Saturday games.
I think it should be pretty obvious to the Royal head coach that 2:00 start times draw about 1/3 of what they'd get for an evening game on the weekend.
if this is a Landmark conference policy, it's time to adjust.

Saratoga,
  This is an MMA scheduling-accommodation, not a Scranton choice. MMA needs to schedule travel games to minimize effects on classes and training so they're playing, for example, @ E-town & Scranton this weekend when nobody else in the Landmark is playing. This will disappear next season when they leave the Landmark.
  About the rest of your points - maybe Dave Martin will consider them for future scheduling.

[NEPAFAN]

Should be another huge crowd at the Long Center Sunday to see the Royals play MMA...especially since finals end today & all the students will have left for home.
Not sure who does the Royals scheduling but NEPA is correct, it's horrible.
Any semblance of even a flicker of rivalry with Kings/Wilkes is obviously long gone as witnessed by the crowd of about 103 fans that watched those games held at Marywood when, you guessed it, all schools were on Thanksgiving break.
Then there are these wonderful start times of 3:00 & 5:00 for tournament games when the kids are on semester break.
Why are they not at 5 & 7 so people that work might be able to attend since the students aren't going to be there?
Also, whatever happened to 7:00 starts for Saturday games.
I think it should be pretty obvious to the Royal head coach that 2:00 start times draw about 1/3 of what they'd get for an evening game on the weekend.
if this is a Landmark conference policy, it's time to adjust.

Saratoga,
  This is an MMA scheduling-accommodation, not a Scranton choice. MMA needs to schedule travel games to minimize effects on classes and training so they're playing, for example, @ E-town & Scranton this weekend when nobody else in the Landmark is playing. This will disappear next season when they leave the Landmark.
  About the rest of your points - maybe Dave Martin will consider them for future scheduling.

and too be fair, the cross-county challenge schedule is out of Scranton's hands. But this should be the premier event in NEPA and draw more than 150 fans on Thanksgiving weekend.

I saw that SU beat Trinity...they look like the early team to beat in the Landmark.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

CUA finished up their pre-holiday schedule last night with a wire-to-wire win at Dickinson 81-71. Big games from Fonville (28 pts.) and Stanford (20 pts.) led the way. CUA had to navigate some tough minutes in the 2nd half while Fonville sat with 4 fouls and Dickinson cut the lead to 6 with almost 12 minutes to play, but they were able to steady themselves and eventually go on a game-clinching 13-0 run.

Since the loss to Susquehanna, the increased effort on the defensive end has been noticeable. Far from perfect, but things are looking much brighter than they were a week ago.

When researching my Top 25 ballot last week, I made an amazing discovery: Going into the week, Catholic's defense was giving up more points per game than any team this century. They were averaging 76.1 ppg (now it's 75.6). I looked at the rest of just this century (the first break in the stats archives is the '98-'99 season) and found the closest the team came to that mark was '13-'14 when the defense average 72.3 ppg (interestingly a 14-12 season). No other season saw the defense give up points above 69.0. Over the course of the previous 16 seasons, Catholic defensively average giving up 65.0 ppg. So clearly... defense has not been stellar this season.

[CardsFan]

CUA finished up their pre-holiday schedule last night with a wire-to-wire win at Dickinson 81-71. Big games from Fonville (28 pts.) and Stanford (20 pts.) led the way. CUA had to navigate some tough minutes in the 2nd half while Fonville sat with 4 fouls and Dickinson cut the lead to 6 with almost 12 minutes to play, but they were able to steady themselves and eventually go on a game-clinching 13-0 run.

Since the loss to Susquehanna, the increased effort on the defensive end has been noticeable. Far from perfect, but things are looking much brighter than they were a week ago.

When researching my Top 25 ballot last week, I made an amazing discovery: Going into the week, Catholic's defense was giving up more points per game than any team this century. They were averaging 76.1 ppg (now it's 75.6). I looked at the rest of just this century (the first break in the stats archives is the '98-'99 season) and found the closest the team came to that mark was '13-'14 when the defense average 72.3 ppg (interestingly a 14-12 season). No other season saw the defense give up points above 69.0. Over the course of the previous 16 seasons, Catholic defensively average giving up 65.0 ppg. So clearly... defense has not been stellar this season.

I did see your note on that in your ballot last week. I figured the team had turned a corner defensively last season. Last season wasn't "great" defensively, but was such an upgrade over '13-'14. The '13-'14 team was awful defensively from start to finish. Part of my theory would be that the distinct lack of height over the past 3 seasons has allowed teams to not have to worry about their shots being altered or blocked. 2pt FG defense hasn't been great any of those seasons.

[San Juan]

I see Marcus didn't get the start but Ethan Danzig 35 minutes 3 points still starts!!Unreal

[NEPAFAN]

I see Marcus didn't get the start but Ethan Danzig 35 minutes 3 points still starts!!Unreal

Meanwhile Woodruff has the women 8-0....

[saratoga]

NEPA:
Trevor is doing this with a few good players, a lot of smoke & mirrors & some serious & quality coaching.
There is no way this team would be undefeated under the previous regime.
They'll have some losses along the way but the difference in how this group is playing as a team from their first game to where there are right now is astounding.
Give him a few years to recruit & they will be making many deep runs into the tourney.

[lefty2]

Trevor is smarter than he looks.

[ronk]

  The Royals start a brutal stretch of 6 games in 11 days after a 7 1/2 hr bus trip with Stevenson today in the Christopher Newport holiday tourney, including 2 other trips to Drew and Goucher(3 1/2 hours). They will be playing ranked Susque in that stretch and, possibly CNU, tomorrow. Hoping they'll go 5-1.

[NEPAFAN]

  The Royals start a brutal stretch of 6 games in 11 days after a 7 1/2 hr bus trip with Stevenson today in the Christopher Newport holiday tourney, including 2 other trips to Drew and Goucher(3 1/2 hours). They will be playing ranked Susque in that stretch and, possibly CNU, tomorrow. Hoping they'll go 5-1.

Hey Ronk:

Did you see they have a layover at the University of Maryland and practiced on Terps court?

I'd sign up for 5-1 too.

[ronk]

  The Royals start a brutal stretch of 6 games in 11 days after a 7 1/2 hr bus trip with Stevenson today in the Christopher Newport holiday tourney, including 2 other trips to Drew and Goucher(3 1/2 hours). They will be playing ranked Susque in that stretch and, possibly CNU, tomorrow. Hoping they'll go 5-1.

Hey Ronk:

Did you see they have a layover at the University of Maryland and practiced on Terps court?

I'd sign up for 5-1 too.

  I didn't see that- I have a bball friend who covers the Terps for the Balt Sun and talked with him yesterday morn at our pickup games but he didn't mention that the Royals were coming that day.

[saratoga]

If 5-1 has even a slight chance of happening, then the Royals need to start getting some production from their backcourt & wings.
With the exception of their post players (Boken & Co.), & shooting guard forced to play point KD, they are way too predictable & for the most part, one dimensional.
Other starters need to improve their games or give the opportunity to someone else.

[NEPAFAN]

It was on the Basketball twitter account , with a picture Ronk. Begging , pleading for someone to step up Saratoga. I think they key players force it sometimes and could really use some instant offense off the bench.

[ronk]

 Neither team is playing defense; only turnovers kept both teams from a 50-point half.

[ronk]

 Well, game 1 is in the bag, once they defended Erik Fisher and made some 3s. Championship tomorrow will be much tougher.