MBB: Centennial Conference

division3 · November 10, 2009, 12:19:35 AM

gabriel
all i said was that the cc doesn't seem that challenging to f&m last year and it might be the same again this year. their team seemed the deepest last year and does again this year. that is all i am saying. i never said they were great but i do think they are a pretty good d3 team and the clear favorites in centennial. i'm not hyping them, i just think they are good.

Gabriel · November 10, 2009, 07:14:17 AM

Quote from: division3 on November 10, 2009, 12:19:35 AM
gabriel
all i said was that the cc doesn't seem that challenging to f&m last year and it might be the same again this year. their team seemed the deepest last year and does again this year. that is all i am saying. i never said they were great but i do think they are a pretty good d3 team and the clear favorites in centennial. i'm not hyping them, i just think they are good.

division 3,

Your words "the cc doesn't (didn't) seem that challenging to f&m last year and it might be the same again this year" I don't agree with. They had four losses last year and I saw two very competitive games with Ursinus that F&M won. I agree that they will be good and should be considered the favorite but don't anoint them quite yet. If they run the table and/or win the conference they have bragging rights. Until then, let's play the games. I will be very surprised if they don't get competitive games from at least McDaniel, Ursinus, Muhlenberg and Gettysburg.

division3 · November 10, 2009, 09:16:53 AM

thanks gabriel. i don't feel like i am annointing f&m nor am i saying that they are unbeatable in the conference..merely that they were the best team last year and look like the best team this year. ..but as we know, anything can happen. i look forward to surprises this season...there always are some.

ddm1027 · November 10, 2009, 12:22:11 PM

I agree that many of the conference games that F&M has will be competitive. They really only blew out a few teams last year. That being said, F&M was the best team (winning the regular season title and obviously going to the Final Four) and lost the least among last year's playoff teams (and really among anyone in the league period). They also look to have a good crop of recruits. As a non F&M fan, I admit that I expect them to be better than 14-4 this year. I also don't think there will be any teams at the bottom with only a few wins, although Mucci will have his hands full at Haverford. Winning road games will likely be the key to making the playoffs.

BTEXPRESS · November 10, 2009, 05:05:53 PM

Do any F & M fans know what players had eligibilty left but chose not to return to the team this season?

division3 · November 10, 2009, 08:19:58 PM

ddm
i think swat, washington, dickinson, hopkins might be in as much or more trouble than haverford from what i can tell this season. swat lost their best player by far and hardly won at all last year.

Reserved Seat · November 10, 2009, 10:23:24 PM

Only 5 players from F&M's 08-09 team are no longer with the team.
Selig graduated.
Scovill was out of eligibility.
Whittington from Idaho didn't return to F&M.
Harris and Hoerner are still in college, but not on the team.

ddm1027 · November 11, 2009, 12:26:48 AM

Division 3, as I indicated before, I think Coach Mucci will likely be able to keep Haverford competitive but losing Rosnick in particular is going to hurt a lot in terms of W-L. They also lost Anderson and Nowacki among others. Outside of Sam Permutt, they don't have a single returning player who averaged more than 5 ppg last year.
Hopkins had a down year last year (their first losing season in more than a decade), but with Farber-Miller, O'Connell, Henrici and Weisenfeld back they will be very competitive and probably disappointed if they don't make the playoffs. Despite losing their best player, Washington should be pretty strong as well with their 2nd-6th leading scorers back. I do think you may be right about Dickinson; they lost a lot but you never know what will happen with a new coach and I have heard nothing about their roster, which is not even updated yet online. You could also be right about Swat. Swarthmore did lose its leading scorer but returns its entire roster, which was very young last year, and has what I have heard is their best recruiting class in recent memory. Additionally, after losing pretty badly for a lot of the year, Swat was tough late in the season and won 2 of their last 3 (including G-berg), so predicting how they will be is difficult.

division3 · November 11, 2009, 01:20:11 AM

rosnick is the big loss at haverford...anderson was good but replaceable, nowacki and the rest not big losses. they are young, small,not deep at all, but scrappy. they will have a tough year but they do come to pla and might steal a few games. they defend well.weisenfeld (who i never thought was very good) graduated hopkins. i just think their style is not covincing as winners. they always seem flat to me. swat has a good recruit in will gates but i think they have guard problems.sould be interesting.how does mcdaniel look?

BTEXPRESS · November 11, 2009, 10:04:52 AM

Quote from: Reserved Seat on November 10, 2009, 10:23:24 PM
Only 5 players from F&M's 08-09 team are no longer with the team.
Selig graduated.
Scovill was out of eligibility.
Whittington from Idaho didn't return to F&M.
Harris and Hoerner are still in college, but not on the team.

THANKS

ddm1027 · November 11, 2009, 01:05:52 PM

I've heard McDaniel is pretty excited about their team. Their inside game will be a major question. I don't think their scrimmage against Juniata went particularly well for them. We'll find out if they are ready quickly when they play a top 25 team to open up (St. Mary's).

D.B. Cooper · November 12, 2009, 11:50:51 AM

The CC Preseason poll is out:

http://godiplomats.prestosports.com/sports/m-baskbl/2009-10/news/ccpoll

I think the poll is pretty close to how I see team expectations at this point, except that Gettysburg should be below McDaniel. G-burg has one great player but lost so much else they could struggle to make the CC playoffs. At this point I would think Mules, Bears & Terror would be unclear co-favorites for second best hopefuls. It should be a fascinating season as other possibilities include the upstart Shoreman challenging to push ahead of the Bluejays & maybe approaching Gettysburg in the battle for the final playoff spot. I can't wait to see some actual scores or better yet games in person to get a better feel for how the CC shakes out this year.

Gabriel · November 12, 2009, 04:42:56 PM

Looks about right. Let the season begin so we can see how it turns out.

Swat Fan #1 · November 12, 2009, 08:46:09 PM

Oh man, Swarthmore at the bottom? Oh well, I can't wait for the season to start!

division3 · November 12, 2009, 10:33:24 PM

swat dad
the rankings have some truth but are not necessarily accurate...alot can happen. alot of players who didn't see alot of action are unknowns so the ratings are fairly speculative. enjoy the season...as you know, your kid is at a great school. the basketball is gravy. the team can only do better than what is expected. good luck.