BB: General NY Region Talk

[John McGraw]

Well, tomorrow's the big day for the first regional rankings. I don't think we'll have any surprises. Here's my guess.

1. Ithaca
2. RPI
3. cortland
4. Old Westbury
5. Rochester
6. St. Joseph's (L.I.)

I think overall that Rochester is better head-to-head than Old Westbury but the Panthers have a better regional record right now.

[John McGraw]

Well, tomorrow's the big day for the first regional rankings. I don't think we'll have any surprises. Here's my guess.

1. Ithaca
2. RPI
3. cortland
4. Old Westbury
5. Rochester
6. St. Joseph's (L.I.)

I think overall that Rochester is better head-to-head than Old Westbury but the Panthers have a better regional record right now.

Well, I hit on five of six teams but my order wasn't exactly perfect.

1. RPI
2. cortland
3. Ithaca
4. Old Westbury
5. Fredonia State
6. Rochester

IMO that's a tough cookie for the Yellow Jackets. Though, after the top three, Westbury, Fredonia and Rochester go in order of winning percentage. At least it looks like now that Rochester has its' work cut out if it wants to leap Fredonia and make the tournament as a possible at-large.

I'm not surprised cortland's ahead of Ithaca. The Red Dragons, despite a lower regional winning percentage, have played a much tougher schedule. Keystone being number two in the Mid-Atlantic doesn't hurt them.

[Smithers]

looks like Ithaca may have been shafted with these rankings...still won't matter they are going to get their bid anyway

[Ralph Turner]

Well, tomorrow's the big day for the first regional rankings. I don't think we'll have any surprises. Here's my guess.

1. Ithaca
2. RPI
3. cortland
4. Old Westbury
5. Rochester
6. St. Joseph's (L.I.)

I think overall that Rochester is better head-to-head than Old Westbury but the Panthers have a better regional record right now.

Well, I hit on five of six teams but my order wasn't exactly perfect.

1. RPI
2. cortland
3. Ithaca
4. Old Westbury
5. Fredonia State
6. Rochester

IMO that's a tough cookie for the Yellow Jackets. Though, after the top three, Westbury, Fredonia and Rochester go in order of winning percentage. At least it looks like now that Rochester has its' work cut out if it wants to leap Fredonia and make the tournament as a possible at-large.

I'm not surprised cortland's ahead of Ithaca. The Red Dragons, despite a lower regional winning percentage, have played a much tougher schedule. Keystone being number two in the Mid-Atlantic doesn't hurt them.

Thanks, John!

Keystone is an in-region game for teams in New York and Pennsylvania!

[John McGraw]

looks like Ithaca may have been shafted with these rankings...still won't matter they are going to get their bid anyway

Eh, I don't think so. I think RPI and cortland have played tougher schedules. Ithaca's regional record is better, though the Bombers had a tough time today against a poor Oswego State team.

[AlleyCat]

John,
I think you hit it right on again. Cortland and RPI appear to have played a much better schedule and based on the ranking, everyone else thinks so too.

[BoomerIL]

John.....

This is just a question based upon "Smithers" comment......."though the Bombers had a tough time today against a poor Oswego State team".....were you by chance at the Ithaca vs. Rochester game Thursday?  If not, its o.k.  I just wanted to see if the win against Rochester was just as tough, not counting the pitching misques. 

I know that Rochester has had their share of many good games, coming from behind to win games maybe they shouldn't have, but also being ahead in games against some very good teams only to lose.  At this point in the season I'm just trying to see if the team is as good as I thought it was.  The frustraion factor is high from the parents, but much higher from the players and Coach.

I've read your posts/comments for a few years, and you have a handle on the New York Region as well as the East Coast teams, whats your opinion of the UR team this year?

[John McGraw]

John.....

This is just a question based upon "Smithers" comment......."though the Bombers had a tough time today against a poor Oswego State team".....were you by chance at the Ithaca vs. Rochester game Thursday?  If not, its o.k.  I just wanted to see if the win against Rochester was just as tough, not counting the pitching misques. 

I know that Rochester has had their share of many good games, coming from behind to win games maybe they shouldn't have, but also being ahead in games against some very good teams only to lose.  At this point in the season I'm just trying to see if the team is as good as I thought it was.  The frustraion factor is high from the parents, but much higher from the players and Coach.

I've read your posts/comments for a few years, and you have a handle on the New York Region as well as the East Coast teams, whats your opinion of the UR team this year?

I had a response typed out to this the other day but I lost it when my Firefox crashed. Good times.

Anyways, I haven't seen Ithaca since the beginning of the month against Stevens and nor have I seen Rochester since then. As a third regionally-ranked team, Ithaca should handle Oswego State with ease. That's not to say that they should blow them out, but the Bombers shouldn't need an eighth inning rally to defeat a team with Oswego's record. That being said, it's baseball and baseball is a funny game.

As for Rochester, I'm not sure. I think the biggest problem is consistency. When UR's on, they're a good team that's hitting the ball throughout the line-up and is getting quality relief pitching. Against Ithaca, obviously there was no quality relief pitching and that's why the Bombers ended up coming back. In previous wins, like the cortland win, the bullpen was great. In losses to Brockport and RPI, the bullpen, along the defense, has not been able to seal the deal. And unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

Do I think UR is a good team? Yeah, I think so. They've had a very good season though again this year, the Jackets have not been able to get over the RPI hump. However, if UR had turned some of its' losses into wins, the losses to RPI wouldn't matter as much because a Pool c bid would be in sight. Now, especially with the national Pool c craziness, I'd say UR needs to win the conference tournament.

And that's one of the problems in a Pool A conference. It's not a bad problem, though a problem for UR because it can't seem to get past RPI - whether it be this regular season or last year's tournament in Rochester. I'll use an analogy to football. cortland had some real good football teams in the early part of the decade. But, they were in a conference with national powerhouse Rowan. In a weaker conference, cortland more than likely rolls and goes to the national playoffs But, the Dragons couldn't beat Rowan and the season would almost become about what happens against Rowan and if you don't win then the season is lost (aside from the Ithaca game). In this season, Rochester's having the problem of being in the RPI shadow.

Sorry for the longwindedness.

[BoomerIL]

John.....

Thanks for the good feedback!  Your analysis is pretty much what I figured as well, but not being objective because of my tie to Rochester, I wanted an unbiased opinion.  Thanks.

+1

[AlleyCat]

I still think Rochester is an NCAA team! If they can beat St John Fsher they'll have a 29-11 record heading into the LL playoffs. I think the last 2 years the LL tourney has hurt its best 2 teams. 2007 RPI was 29-10 and didn't get a bid and last year Rochester was definitely a tourney team at 28-13. If they don't have a tourney the LL probably gets 2 bids the last 2 years. With the tourney they only get one. This year as long as Rochester and RPI play for the title they both should get in! Both of those teams has played a tough non conference schedule.

[John McGraw]

I still think Rochester is an NCAA team! If they can beat St John Fsher they'll have a 29-11 record heading into the LL playoffs. I think the last 2 years the LL tourney has hurt its best 2 teams. 2007 RPI was 29-10 and didn't get a bid and last year Rochester was definitely a tourney team at 28-13. If they don't have a tourney the LL probably gets 2 bids the last 2 years. With the tourney they only get one. This year as long as Rochester and RPI play for the title they both should get in! Both of those teams has played a tough non conference schedule.

I disagree. Rochester needs to win the tournament title to get in. There's far too many Pool c teams nationally with better resumes. Nothing against Rochester but as I've said, it's not a good year to be a Pool c team as teams like Millsaps and Wheaton (Mass.) go down in their conference tournaments.

[AlleyCat]

Just wondering, what makes Wheaton so special if they can't even win 2 games in their conference tourney? Is their out of conference schedule that tough?

[John McGraw]

Just wondering, what makes Wheaton so special if they can't even win 2 games in their conference tourney? Is their out of conference schedule that tough?

If Rochester losses two games in the Liberty League tournament even if they go to the title game, what gets them in?

[AlleyCat]

I'm not sure if Rochester will get in. I was just asking why everyone is so high on Wheaton? I guess I'm questioning how good they are if they go 1-2 ski doo in their tourney. Maybe they just had a bad couple of days.

[John McGraw]

I'm not sure if Rochester will get in. I was just asking why everyone is so high on Wheaton? I guess I'm questioning how good they are if they go 1-2 ski doo in their tourney. Maybe they just had a bad couple of days.

Eh, you could ask the same about Millsaps. As for Wheat-thin, the Lyons had several strong wins to start the season over New Jersey, Johns Hopkins and William Paterson and then steamrolled  through their conference for the most part though there was a bit of a swoon in April after such a great start.

Traditionally, Wheaton's had very strong teams that have gone on to the New England regional and advanced to Wisconsin. I don't see this year as being any different. I see them more than likely getting into the playoffs and could be one of several New England teams sent to Farmingdale.