MBB: Landmark Conference

[saratoga]

Ronk:

Just glancing at your "revised" projections and essentially you're saying Drew has already won their "two" games & they are on their way to losing all their remaining ones?

Just me... but I don't see Drew losing their next 10 games.

Baldwin can be a tough place to play at times.

Years ago the Royals had an 18 point halftime lead & walked out of there in a state of disbelief.

Not so sure E-town will reach 5 conference wins.

Hope your top picks pan out although Susquehanna getting 5 losses may be wishful thinking.

Should be an interesting final month.

[ronk]

Ronk:

Just glancing at your "revised" projections and essentially you're saying Drew has already won their "two" games & they are on their way to losing all their remaining ones?

Just me... but I don't see Drew losing their next 10 games.

Baldwin can be a tough place to play at times.

Years ago the Royals had an 18 point halftime lead & walked out of there in a state of disbelief.

Not so sure E-town will reach 5 conference wins.

Hope your top picks pan out although Susquehanna getting 5 losses may be wishful thinking.

Should be an interesting final month.

Yes, Drew could upset my projections; they are the team that I've seen the least, recently; mostly, going with the graduation of their fine G Mike ? for reducing expectations this season.

[NEPAFAN]

Tonight on Hoopsville, Dave McHugh talked briefly about yesterday's 1st victory ever for Goucher over Scranton in Landmark competition and noted that in the postgame handshake between the teams, Coach Danzig made an extended congratulatory exchange with each member of the Goucher coaching staff and team. I had noticed the same thing but I want to commend Dave for mentioning it publicly as a positive statement of good sportsmanship.

I also saw a story on the Susquehanna coach's battle with Throat Cancer. He has fully recovered and I wish him all the best. He referenced a call that he got from Carl as well.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Tonight on Hoopsville, Dave McHugh talked briefly about yesterday's 1st victory ever for Goucher over Scranton in Landmark competition and noted that in the postgame handshake between the teams, Coach Danzig made an extended congratulatory exchange with each member of the Goucher coaching staff and team. I had noticed the same thing but I want to commend Dave for mentioning it publicly as a positive statement of good sportsmanship.

I also saw a story on the Susquehanna coach's battle with Throat Cancer. He has fully recovered and I wish him all the best. He referenced a call that he got from Carl as well.

I will say this publicly as well (as I can't remember if I mentioned it on Hoopsville), but I emailed Carl to express my thoughts. I really don't do that kind of thing for a variety of reasons, but being I have been at Goucher for 22 seasons now and know how much this program has struggled this century, I wanted to make a point of telling Carl how much I thought of the moment. As many know, I am a huge proponent of sportsmanship. What Carl did was spectacular, if not that big a deal. I wanted to make sure he knew that someone noticed, especially considering I am not sure if the players could appreciate that moment... in that moment.

Classy move to be sure.

[augie]

Thanks Pat for fixing the problem.Appreciate it

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton loses another one. Danzig as emphatic on the sideline as the announcers have ever seen. Gets Tee'd up and ejected with about 2 or 3 minutes left.

Good win for Moravian. This board should be good the next few days....collecting my thoughts at the moment..

[augie]

Nepafan:I was down with the women in Bethlehem.They won by 21.So I don't know what happened but just by the recap I can say one thing 12-16 3 pointers thats on fire but if you don't play defense me Saratoga and you can be that hot.I noticed something about Danzigs team they do not defend the 3 ball.No leadership on this team.I noticed one other thing at Gouche.Scranton can not play (Athletic teams).Carl's offense is set up to play slow down basketball pass pass pass shoot,they don't drive the lanes to create and that is on him.Guards never drive the lanes.Never Bucknell you need a coach.

[NEPAFAN]

Nepafan:I was down with the women in Bethlehem.They won by 21.So I don't know what happened but just by the recap I can say one thing 12-16 3 pointers thats on fire but if you don't play defense me Saratoga and you can be that hot.I noticed something about Danzigs team they do not defend the 3 ball.No leadership on this team.I noticed one other thing at Gouche.Scranton can not play (Athletic teams).Carl's offense is set up to play slow down basketball pass pass pass shoot,they don't drive the lanes to create and that is on him.Guards never drive the lanes.Never Bucknell you need a coach.

Coach was on the team almost immediately for their intensity I assume. You are right about the athleticism Moravian pressed the whole entire game. There wasn't bad call or play that preceded the T I think he was obviously frustrated or trying to send.a message.

[Hooper42]

Important W for SU on the road in Huntindgon tonight. First of 4 on the road for the Hawks including at CUA and at Moravian next week...Juniata at 1-4 is a bit of a surprise, having some very tough road games remaining doesn't leave much room for error, although their D should travel well CUA undefeated in conference with two of the toughest conference games of the season on deck... This may be premature to say, as im rooting for Juniata to make things interesting, but it looks to be shaping up to be a very competitive 4 team race.

[augie]

Nepafan missed you at Goucher maybe catch you at Catholic.I'm revising my prediction for the Royals I said 18-7to you a couple months ago losing at home to a divison opponent in Moravian I thought we would win at home and at Goucher so I say they will end up all around 16-9 they will lose Catholic twice,at Juniata and at Drew hope I'm wrong but this team is not good to lazy on defense and to slow as a team.

[CardsFan]

I didn't make it to Goucher last night, but looks like it was the prototypical 2016-17 CUA performance. Let the opponent shoot a decent percentage (52% for the Gophers), force a bunch of TOs (24), and dramatically outscore the opponent from the FT line (17-27 for CUA, 5-8 for the Gophers).

CUA has now attempted 54 more FTs than the next closest team in Landmark play and made 29 more FTs than the next closest team. This has been hugely important because 3-point shooting has been spotty all season.

The major test now awaits with a road game against Scranton on Saturday followed by a home game with Susquehanna. I'd happily take a split from those games. This is where we'll find out if the Cards are for real or not, but they're in a much better position now than I thought they would be before the season.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I didn't make it to Goucher last night, but looks like it was the prototypical 2016-17 CUA performance. Let the opponent shoot a decent percentage (52% for the Gophers), force a bunch of TOs (24), and dramatically outscore the opponent from the FT line (17-27 for CUA, 5-8 for the Gophers).

CUA has now attempted 54 more FTs than the next closest team in Landmark play and made 29 more FTs than the next closest team. This has been hugely important because 3-point shooting has been spotty all season.

The major test now awaits with a road game against Scranton on Saturday followed by a home game with Susquehanna. I'd happily take a split from those games. This is where we'll find out if the Cards are for real or not, but they're in a much better position now than I thought they would be before the season.

Biggest different in the FTs was defensive mentality last night. Goucher is aggressive in a man-to-man for the most part... while Catholic tried to attack it. Catholic played a little bit more zone which Goucher didn't attack... and when CUA was in man, Goucher has gone to a different offense which brings their big man (Outing) out of the paint to open up the baseline and box to slashing guards... which means less attacking and forcing the defense into fouls.

CUA just worked their way through the game. Had flashes of moments where they showed some really nice things, but otherwise didn't have to blow anyone away in style. Honestly, there wasn't much in the second half that kept my attention.

[gordonmann]

Around the Nation focuses on D3 alums playing professionally, including Bryson Fonville of Catholic:

http://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-nation/2016-17/going-pro-from-division-3

[NEPAFAN]

so my question to the Royal Faithful is this:

Is it better to miss the playoffs this year with the understanding that the rest of the conference is getting better ( See Moravian) while Scranton continues to tread water, or make the playoffs have a puncher's chance and maybe be competitive in an NCAA playoff game?

I think my biggest frustration has been that we continue to see the same results year after year. I have faith in the new Athletic leadership in place in the Hill Section.

Hell if an NFL team can rebuild, why not a D3 basketball program

[sp0rtsfan]

Heading to the Electric City tomorrow for the game against Catholic. Despite the academic intersession break, I hope there's decent fan support for the Royals.