MBB: Landmark Conference

[saratoga]

The Royal's 2019-20 roster is posted.

Probably the deepest they've had in many years.

[NEPAFAN]

Scranton scrimmaged D-2 Molloy College on Long Island. Both school's social media tight lipped on results.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Scranton scrimmaged D-2 Molloy College on Long Island. Both school's social media tight lipped on results.

Not that uncommon. Scrimmages I don't believe are allowed any publicity in the DIII ranks (exhibitions have different rules). I also know many coaches who also close the doors to scrimmages. There are so many different "rules" and circumstances for these things that they are hard to read into in the first place (like three "halves" of basketball LOL).

[Rofrog]

!Notice d3hoops has there preseason top 25 out nice job Royals stay under the radar even though you didnt lose a player-player!This team will improve on that 6 losses last year and they are very young Deverna,Mancuso Seniors will guide the ship! They have the youngsters like Danzing,Bosland,Brockett,Bailey then the surrounding cast plus the studs of freshman!So this will be a very exciting year for the Royals.See you the 9th

[NEPAFAN]

The season starts in two days, does the conference want to release a pre-season poll?

[Tim the Enchanter]

The season starts in two days, does the conference want to release a pre-season poll?

Ask, and ye shall receive:  https://www.landmarkconference.org/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/11062019-mbb-preseason-poll

[NEPAFAN]

The season starts in two days, does the conference want to release a pre-season poll?

Ask, and ye shall receive:  https://www.landmarkconference.org/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/11062019-mbb-preseason-poll

When is Scranton going to go undefeated and be Ranked #1 in the nation? 

[saratoga]

Man, that's one heck of a writeup by the powers to be of the Landmark.

Really goes in depth as to players coming back, updates from the coaches & overview of how the freshmen have looked so far.

Quite the expose' for sure.

Nice, personal & it says so much.

[Pat Coleman]

Man, that's one heck of a writeup by the powers to be of the Landmark.

Really goes in depth as to players coming back, updates from the coaches & overview of how the freshmen have looked so far.

Quite the expose' for sure.

Nice, personal & it says so much.

Your sarcasm is evident and it's really a cheap shot. This time of year, conference offices are dealing with fall championships on top of the beginning of the basketball season, and an in-depth "exposé" of men's basketball would mean the conference is putting itself on the hook for doing the same thing for the other NINETEEN sports the Landmark Conference sponsors.

That isn't realistic. The schools can publicize themselves in that regard if they so choose, rather than spend what I estimate would be more than a week's worth of someone's time over the course of a year compiling, vetting and writing and editing that information which you demand.

[saratoga]

Sorry Pat but I completely disagree.

It's about time the Landmark starts establishing itself as a conference ahead of the curve.

There is absolutely no reason they can't establish a process to provide a quality in-depth overview of the various mens & women's teams.

If there is no one at the home office capable of pulling this off, then they should have each team's assigned SID take it over on rotational yearly basis.

If the other sports want the same PR, let the coaches each submit an overview of their teams before the completely lacking "top picks" are voted on.

Time for the Landmark to start marketing itself far more than they have and start thinking out of the box a little more.

[Warriors]

I had exactly the same reaction when I saw the pre season rankings...I kept scrolling down for the prose about the upcoming year.  The pre season polls/analysis are intended to get you interested in the upcoming year and potential players.  It left me wondering why they do it at all. 

[NEPAFAN]

It is about an hour or two of work...

Scranton...Return everyone, a few lines on their starting 5
Drew....Return their stud guard, all American candidate, etc
Moravian...New Coach...
Catholic...New Coach, transfer from Siena


Etc,etc...

I really don't see it as a cheap shot...

[Pat Coleman]

I definitely invite you guys to contact the conference office, then, with your feedback. Posting it here is just griping.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Considering many facts, including the one that basketball season now starts a week earlier - smack in the middle of fall championships, I think it is a bit crazy to expect a full press release on a preseason poll ... this week.

Maybe the conference needs to examine the timing of things moving forward. I noticed that the Centennial and ODAC both released their polls with press releases last week and the prior week (respectively). That gives their conference office time to get that stuff done in a timely manner before being buried with fall championships (again, which have moved; past schedule would have been easier).

But, the Landmark releases the info this week for whatever reason. That means the voting took place probably in the last week. That puts the release right in the middle of arguably the busiest week(s) of the entire academic year. Maybe the better idea moving forward is to shift the preseason ballot a week earlier. That probably gives the conference office a better chance to get more info put together.

There are a couple of other things to consider:

- The Landmark office has gone through a lot of changes in the last year including a brand new commissioner hired in July. There is probably an element of still trying to get up to speed on many things. I am also told the office is still split between two different geographic locations - 6-7 hours apart depending on your driving abilities. I have no idea how long that will continue, though in this day-in-age it isn't nearly as big a deal as it used to be. However, that could be at play. I'm giving the office a little bit of latitude as a result.

- Many of you can bang out a few notes on a few teams, but no one here can say they can get a full breakdown of every team here worthy of publication without spending quite a few hours on it over a few days. Let's just be realistic. Even with my experience and knowledge it would take me quite a bit of time. At least to put together a release to the standard some of you are apparently looking to read.

- Not every conference has publicized their releases. The scuttlebutt in the conference predictions board is that the UAA has released the info, but they have nothing on their website about it. I think we all would contend the UAA is one of the top conferences and they certainly have the resources, but they haven't even gotten a release out (the Landmark at least has a release). In other words: it isn't the end of the world.

- Do we really need a conference poll? I am starting to wonder if they are necessary. I have found them helpful when in the middle of a season I see trends going in a different direction, but do we really care? Especially a poll where you can't vote for your program. Let me remind you of the one a few years ago (Tom Rose's first season) where CUA felt it necessary to vote for Goucher(!) as their number one vote. I asked about it and the vote was considered legit, but I always have felt it was a smoke-screen because CUA didn't want to vote for Scranton. When coaches vote, more times than not it becomes political. So who really cares about these and why should they exist. FYI - there are conferences that don't do them. SUNYAC is one off the top of my head (though apparently only in the basketball sports).

I was also reading about another conference that has coaches and SIDs voting and the results were somewhat surprising. The idea being, some wondered if something was amiss or their own thinking of the conference didn't have all the info. These things get convoluted a lot of the time.

- Ultimately, it is the school's that will do the best publicizing of these anyway. How many of us really go to the conference websites to read their release about the conference poll? I barely do. I just don't expect the conference to really give me that kind of breakdown. I am happy to visit school sites to get their spin if I really need it. I don't think it's necessary to bash the conference which does have a hundred other things to spend their time on. I applaud the ODAC and others who do bang-up work (JJ Nekeloff is one of the best in the business at any level), but I also wonder if he could save himself the hassle.

[jmcozenlaw]

Sorry Pat but I completely disagree.

It's about time the Landmark starts establishing itself as a conference ahead of the curve.

There is absolutely no reason they can't establish a process to provide a quality in-depth overview of the various mens & women's teams.

If there is no one at the home office capable of pulling this off, then they should have each team's assigned SID take it over on rotational yearly basis.

If the other sports want the same PR, let the coaches each submit an overview of their teams before the completely lacking "top picks" are voted on.

Time for the Landmark to start marketing itself far more than they have and start thinking out of the box a little more.

Ahhhhhh yes...................first world problems for sure