MBB: Landmark Conference

[ronk]

Recent Royals' PG Brian Monaghan now in grad school @ William Paterson and will play his extra year there.

Brian scores 24 including 6-7 3-pters in his debut with Willy Pat tonight.

[saratoga]

Yet Danzig rarely played him. 
Gave the starting job last year to a complete unknown transfer that lasted all of one semester.
Good for Brian.
Is there any wonder why he's lost at least 5 players over the past two seasons who could have played another year.
When you can't even win the Landmark title with Mancuso, DeVerna, his son & Logan not to mention Brian & the other kids, then there really isn't much hope for any deep adventures into NCAA tournament waters.

[NEPAFAN]

anyone got anything on the Scranton scrimmage over the weekend?

Yeah, they blew out Marywood in their first scrimmage and also blew out Montclair State a few days later. Don't have much on the specifics of who did well, just know that both games were wins, and neither was close.

Thank you!

[ronk]

Royals videostream has no crowd noise; it appears that play-by-play Dean is "zoom" ing from home; no explanation from Dean so far.

[KCHOOPSFAN]

I was just at the Scranton vs Centenary game. It was insane how much energy Scranton came out with. That was the biggest energy mismatch I've seen at a college basketball game I've ever gone to. Scranton was incredibly high energy and Centenary was totally flat. That was my first Scranton game, and it was as much fun as I've had watching a college basketball game.

[ronk]

 Let's hope that energy carries over thru tomorrow. Defensive rebounding continues as a problem, allowing 14 offensive rebounds. Good mix of driving layups and open 3s on offense.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I mean, I feel like you Scranton fans will actually have to give some credit today.  That Centenary team isn't a pushover and they looked downright bad against the Royals.  Obviously, you'll want to wait to see how things go with Swarthmore, but there's perhaps some optimism on the horizon for Scranton this season.  Who would've guessed, right?

[NEPAFAN]

I mean, I feel like you Scranton fans will actually have to give some credit today.  That Centenary team isn't a pushover and they looked downright bad against the Royals.  Obviously, you'll want to wait to see how things go with Swarthmore, but there's perhaps some optimism on the horizon for Scranton this season.  Who would've guessed, right?

Did you see any of the game? Didn't know that Centenary wasn't a pushover...

[ronk]

 Somebody gave Centenary a #25 vote in the preseason poll. Their guard(Chris Labelle) had a good reputation.

[KCHOOPSFAN]

Somebody gave Centenary a #25 vote in the preseason poll. Their guard(Chris Labelle) had a good reputation.

Right. Centenary was favored to win that game. They can put up 100 and I'm sure you'll see them do that this year. Their point guard (Labelle) was supposed to be the best player on the floor. The guy averaged over 22 points per game last year, and had multiple 40 point outbursts. And they had a lot of other top performers returning. Who knows what will happen with Swarthmore, but personally I am thrilled by the way they put away centenary with authority. Certainly room for improvement as it's the first game, but as first games go, I felt that was a great one!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I mean, I feel like you Scranton fans will actually have to give some credit today.  That Centenary team isn't a pushover and they looked downright bad against the Royals.  Obviously, you'll want to wait to see how things go with Swarthmore, but there's perhaps some optimism on the horizon for Scranton this season.  Who would've guessed, right?

Did you see any of the game? Didn't know that Centenary wasn't a pushover...

I tuned in for a few minutes, because I wanted to see how Centenary was playing, but I didn't stick around long when it was clear they were not at their best.  It's not a great league, but they should be challenging for the conference title in the AEC.  At least that was the expectation coming in.

[ronk]

 Good effort by the Royals against Swarthmore, thought to be one of the top teams in the nation. many of their close-in shots didn't fall but Swarthmore's defense had much to do with that. Royals had trouble defending Vinny DeAngelo, especially after losing their best defender Taj Parland to an injury early in the game.
Frosh McLoughlin looks like he'll be a factor as he gains playing time.
Couple of strategy critiques:
   Swarthmore effectively pressed the Royals on inbounding under Swarthmore's basket and caused 3 or 4 turnovers before the Royals switched to an inbounding play; the 4 turnovers arguably was the difference in the game.
   Secondly, down 3 with the ball and 15 secs to go in the game, the Royals called  timeout to set up a play instead of going on the fly with the defense all spread out and trusting their players to get off a 3-pt shot. The timeout just allows the defense to decide what they want to do ahead of time instead of having to react on the fly. Coach Kosmalski probably(and this would be known in the scouting report of Swarthmore) is of the foul vs defend school for the situation and wouldn't have allowed the Royals to try a 3-pter without fouling before.
  Bunch of MAC opponents coming next: Wilkes, DeSales, Arcadia, Eastern before the 1st conference clash @ Catholic. Optimism for the season reigns after these 1st 2 games.

[NEPAFAN]

Good effort by the Royals against Swarthmore, thought to be one of the top teams in the nation. many of their close-in shots didn't fall but Swarthmore's defense had much to do with that. Royals had trouble defending Vinny DeAngelo, especially after losing their best defender Taj Parland to an injury early in the game.
Frosh McLoughlin looks like he'll be a factor as he gains playing time.
Couple of strategy critiques:
   Swarthmore effectively pressed the Royals on inbounding under Swarthmore's basket and caused 3 or 4 turnovers before the Royals switched to an inbounding play; the 4 turnovers arguably was the difference in the game.
   Secondly, down 3 with the ball and 15 secs to go in the game, the Royals called  timeout to set up a play instead of going on the fly with the defense all spread out and trusting their players to get off a 3-pt shot. The timeout just allows the defense to decide what they want to do ahead of time instead of having to react on the fly. Coach Kosmalski probably(and this would be known in the scouting report of Swarthmore) is of the foul vs defend school for the situation and wouldn't have allowed the Royals to try a 3-pter without fouling before.
  Bunch of MAC opponents coming next: Wilkes, DeSales, Arcadia, Eastern before the 1st conference clash @ Catholic. Optimism for the season reigns after these 1st 2 games.

Agree, they appear deeper than they have been in a few years...

[Great Day to be a Royal]

Yet Danzig rarely played him. 
Gave the starting job last year to a complete unknown transfer that lasted all of one semester.
Good for Brian.
Is there any wonder why he's lost at least 5 players over the past two seasons who could have played another year.
When you can't even win the Landmark title with Mancuso, DeVerna, his son & Logan not to mention Brian & the other kids, then there really isn't much hope for any deep adventures into NCAA tournament waters.

I think after seeing this team play back to back games, I have to wonder if it is not more of the five kids who left the program were kids who did not fit the plan, right for the program, and knew they did not have a role in the program. This team, even two games in, is fun to watch. They are young and athletic. They play hard. Sure some areas to work on, but I am excited to see more.

[jmcozenlaw]

Somebody gave Centenary a #25 vote in the preseason poll. Their guard(Chris Labelle) had a good reputation.

Right. Centenary was favored to win that game. They can put up 100 and I'm sure you'll see them do that this year. Their point guard (Labelle) was supposed to be the best player on the floor. The guy averaged over 22 points per game last year, and had multiple 40 point outbursts. And they had a lot of other top performers returning. Who knows what will happen with Swarthmore, but personally I am thrilled by the way they put away centenary with authority. Certainly room for improvement as it's the first game, but as first games go, I felt that was a great one!

You've got to let me know where I can find some lines to bet on some D3 Hoops action ("Centenary was favored to beat Scranton"). I've never found any formal point spreads or places that would take the action.