MBB: Centennial Conference

[Corporal Hicks]

       Not sure I understand the intended "jokes" above so I will look past them.  Oh man what a year 05 was for the Cent!
Man I remember watching as many Brandon Smith F&M games as possible.  I believe he averaged around 15.3-15.5 points per contest and about 7 rebounds each time he laced em up and took the floor on the notoriously hard to play at "Dip Zone".  Speaking of places to play, what is everyones favorite gyms in the Cent and even maybe some common out of conference gyms that we may have traveled to?

      I look forward to reading the feedback
Corp. Out.

[HopkinsNest7]

Corp.

I'd have to say the hardwood in Havertown is the toughest place for a team to play. They have their fans do this odd ritual throughout the game where they don't actually look at the court, just their notes and lap tops. It feels like the twllight.

Ironically that is the only court George bugaranovic failed to shoot 42% from the field in. He reasoned that the atmosphere reminded him of a CYO gym and he was slightly over weight back in those days. You never know the affect a vacant gym can have on the superstars.

[Hank Mardukas]

I, too, love the traffic on this board of late. I'd love it even more if they were all different people, but alas, it seems like we're channeling 2005 on this board. One persona per person, please.

Couldn't agree more Pat, let's keep it to one account per person and stick more to the basketball aspect instead of social life!

[Corporal Hicks]

      WEE OOO WEE OOO Grammar Police here!  @HopkinsNest7, I believe in your second paragraph in the third sentence you meant to use the word "effect" instead of what you used: Affect.  Simple, but a quite frequent mistake made among those of us who are removed many years from Academia. 

    Anyway, not sure Ive picked up on that scheme made by the Fords faithful.  Then again,  I don't usually go out of my way to get down to the mainline for a Fords game.  Of the places I travel to for Cent games the most, Id have to give the slight edge to the arena located in Westminster, Maryland.  The green terror have been terrorizing visiting opponents there for years.  Not sure what it is about that arena and atmosphere, but for some reason the often less talented green terror continue to give Centennial Top Dogs problems when they roll into Westminster.  I heard through one of my guys that the officiating is often frowned upon of those Maryland Officials.  Not sure that has anything to do with it but not a bad thought.  If I had to rank the arenas as toughest to play at from observation, it would look something like this

1.Westminster, Md
2. Lancaster, Pa
2b. Havetown, Pa (giving a fellow blogger the benefit of the doubt may come back to bite me in the behind, but hey I was feeling nice today.  You're welcome @HopkinsNest7)
3.Chestertown Md
4.Baltimore, Md
5. Allentown, Pa (Did anyone else catch any games in Allentown this year? I caught a few.  Talk about rowdy.  There was this huge Student/ recent graduate(Not sure) at a few that I caught and he was just relentlessly heckling opposing players/ coaches.  Couldn't imagine playing against that.  Surprised the Mules didn't win a few more of those ones, but thats a whole other story.
6. Swarthmore, Pa
7.Carlisle, Pa
8. Collegeville, Pa
9. Gettysburg, Pa

Notice how all 3 Maryland schools are highly ranked.  Maybe the theory on Maryland Officiating could actually come into play here?  I will let all of you decide for yourselves....

Corp. Out.

[USee]

Regarding the JHU job, here was what was posted on Hoopdirt a few days ago:

I have heard that four on campus interviews have been scheduled so far at Johns Hopkins University. The names that I've heard are: Mike Blaine (Head Coach Medaille College – JHU alum),  Joe Burke (Head Coach Skidmore College), Dan Engelstad (Head Coach Southern Vermont College), and Josh Loeffler (Assistant Coach Loyola University Maryland). I have not heard a timeline of the interviews yet

Update today on Hoopdirt on the JHU job:

I've talked about the search at Johns Hopkins a bunch of times over the past month. I can now confirm that an administrative staffer from a Pac-12 school, and a Patriot League assistant have interviewed. They join the four guys that I mentioned back on 4/24 as the coaches to receive on-campus interviews.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I, too, love the traffic on this board of late. I'd love it even more if they were all different people, but alas, it seems like we're channeling 2005 on this board. One persona per person, please.

I had been meaning to message you... something seemed a bit ... off.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Regarding the JHU job, here was what was posted on Hoopdirt a few days ago:

I have heard that four on campus interviews have been scheduled so far at Johns Hopkins University. The names that I've heard are: Mike Blaine (Head Coach Medaille College – JHU alum),  Joe Burke (Head Coach Skidmore College), Dan Engelstad (Head Coach Southern Vermont College), and Josh Loeffler (Assistant Coach Loyola University Maryland). I have not heard a timeline of the interviews yet

Update today on Hoopdirt on the JHU job:

I've talked about the search at Johns Hopkins a bunch of times over the past month. I can now confirm that an administrative staffer from a Pac-12 school, and a Patriot League assistant have interviewed. They join the four guys that I mentioned back on 4/24 as the coaches to receive on-campus interviews.

Just an FYI... HoopDirt (who may be reading these boards) has been off and very late on this job search the entire way. I can tell you with plenty of information I have garnered that I am pretty sure those last two interviews were fall-backs in case things fell through.

I know the four main finalists... and I believe a decision will be made in the next 24-48 hours. I am quite sure the two front runners are from the group I am aware of... and that those two late interviews will have no affect. Wish I could say more, but having talked to a lot of people... I have promised to keep names quiet until the right time.

[Hank Mardukas]

In this post, I want to make note of which non-returning player that each time will miss the most:

Franklin and Marshall, Hunter Eggers: He was a prolific scorer and a great shooter. After suffering an injury last season he came off the bench similar to what Grayson Allen did this year at Duke. He looked comfortable in that position and had a great end to his even better career. 

Ursinus, Matt Knoles: Floor general for the team and always put them in the position to win. Team first type of player, also a great leader.

Muhlenberg: Mules will equally miss their leading scorer in Brandon Larose and John Hunter. Larose was the iso player that the mules relied on in late game situations and although Hunter struggled on the offensive side at times, his defense was never lacking. Look for the mules to struggle without the leadership of their 2 most relied on seniors.

Haverford, Matt Sherman: Fords are basically screwed without Sherman, although he has been injured at times this past season he had a great career for the Fords.

Swat, Chris Bourne: They have enough returning players that they are still the favorite to win, but hurts losing a class act like Bourne.

Hopkins, Ryan Curran: This kid can rebound, score, assist and defend the ball. All-around great player and team leader. My thoughts is that he was one of the most underated players in the league and whoever gets that coaching job, would sure love to have him as their leader.

Gettysburg, Cody Kiefer: Go-to guy for the past 2 seasons, expect the bullets to struggle puting the ball in the basket this season.

Washington/McDaniel/Dickinson
Nothing worth mentioning

[Red Onwuatuegwu]

Hank: Your picks are pretty spot on. Scary thing is that Dickinson was left off because they only had one senior last year who didn't play till the second half of the year and even then, he did not see much time on the court... This is a team that made it to the finals and competed hard with the champs twice on their home court. (first in regular season and second in finals) They will be looking to make another run at the chip this year after bringing everybody back and you know Seretti will get them playing their best ball late in the season as he always does. Look for them to have a solid year once again. @Corp, maybe their success from late last year can draw in bigger crowds this year for a tougher home court?

Dave: Thanks for the update. Understandable you can't release any insider information right now but please update us when you can on the Hopkins position. I know @HopkinsNest will be very excited to see who takes the lead in Baltimore.

*Quick side note... Hopkins can get some very good turnouts in their gym that can get quite rowdy, but what happened with the playoff game this year??? Seemed as if nobody was there from watching it online and were talking about a freakin playoff game!

[USee]

Regarding the JHU job, here was what was posted on Hoopdirt a few days ago:

I have heard that four on campus interviews have been scheduled so far at Johns Hopkins University. The names that I've heard are: Mike Blaine (Head Coach Medaille College – JHU alum),  Joe Burke (Head Coach Skidmore College), Dan Engelstad (Head Coach Southern Vermont College), and Josh Loeffler (Assistant Coach Loyola University Maryland). I have not heard a timeline of the interviews yet

Update today on Hoopdirt on the JHU job:

I've talked about the search at Johns Hopkins a bunch of times over the past month. I can now confirm that an administrative staffer from a Pac-12 school, and a Patriot League assistant have interviewed. They join the four guys that I mentioned back on 4/24 as the coaches to receive on-campus interviews.

Just an FYI... HoopDirt (who may be reading these boards) has been off and very late on this job search the entire way. I can tell you with plenty of information I have garnered that I am pretty sure those last two interviews were fall-backs in case things fell through.

I know the four main finalists... and I believe a decision will be made in the next 24-48 hours. I am quite sure the two front runners are from the group I am aware of... and that those two late interviews will have no affect. Wish I could say more, but having talked to a lot of people... I have promised to keep names quiet until the right time.

I don't see how they are off or late. Just because you have inside information doesn't mean their information is off. All Hoopdirt said was that those last two received on campus interviews. You just confirmed that. How is that off?

This board has had no insights into the search and I haven't seen any other information anywhere so Hoopdirt is the only source I, as a complete outsider, am aware of.

[Hank Mardukas]

Jule Brown:

I've been very intrigued since I heard the rumor that Jule Brown is transferring to NYU so I decided to do some investigating myself. I had my Nephew explain and show me how to use the complicated website called "The Facebook.com" I don't know how familiar you bloggers are with this website but it allows you to contact people without having their email address so simply their name. Jule has not responded yet but once he confirms or denies this rumor I will share the response with the rest of the blog.

[HopkinsNest7]

Well men it's Tuesday so you know it's time for the weekly injury run down.

To everyone's disappointment I haven't picked up on any rumors swirling around the Cent. I've been playing quite a lot of basketball at the YMCA and think I have come down with what the players call a "rolled ankle"

So for a change of pace, I am today's injury report. A lot of the Hopkins grads stay around in the area and play pick up a few nights a week. Unfortunately I mishandled a pass from Matt Griffin (class of 2007) and aimlessly bounded into a bench out of bounds. The joints just ain't workin like they used to.

I feel old but not as old as Mardukas for just discovering Facebook.

[Gabriel]

Jule Brown

Try Twitter.  Jule Brown to NYU.  His body language last season suggested that he was not happy at Dickinson.  Not a surprise that he is leaving Carlisle.

[Corporal Hicks]

        Gabriel the Tech Wizard to the rescue!!!! Thanks Gabe.  The Cent is on fire now!  Jule Brown on the move as I suspected.  Looked disinterested last year as many players made him look replaceable on the court.  I wonder what dickinson does lineup wise going into next season Im thinking with the current roster they go 1. Hinkley 2. Wright 3/4.  Romaki and Stenger 5. Melton.  Intriguing small ball lineup.  Id like to compare them to the 04-05 suns team.  Hinkley running the show as Nash.  High praise but Corp has a feeling about this young fella.  Wright as Joe Johnson.  Tough guard and good shot maker can come in clutch and make big shot potential.  Romaki as the Matrix sean marion.  Athletic wing who can defend multiple position cant shoot worth a lick but get to the rim with the best of em.  Stenger as Quentin Richardson.  Shooter to surround good playmakers with.  Melton as Stoudamire.  Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration but hey everyone can have an imagination right?  As far as the Hopkins job stands.... dont be surprised when Corp's info is right. 


Corp. Out

[HopkinsNest7]

Jule Brown has announced he will attend NYU next year

It's all fun and games until my inside info is correct 9 days in advanced.
BRING IN VAN GUNDY. GO JAYS!!!!!!!