MBB: Centennial Conference

[Gabriel]

Gabriel...
i don't think i would call the league balanced. f&m, muhlenberg and ursinus are still up at the top and feel dominant along with gettysburg, despte a couple of upsets. i also wouldn't say that it's a runaway, as F&M and Ursinus are under achieving a bit. F&M still has the most talent. We'll see what they do with it in the second half. at this point, the league feels split in half with a top and bottom. top is F&M, mules, ursinus, gettysburg and mcdaniel and the bottom the other five. hopkins is winning a bit but do not look very good to me in terms of personnel. the other 4 teams also lack personnel and experience.and you...what do you think Gabriel?

division 3,

I agree with you.  It is tough for a team like F&M to duplicate last year.  Ursinus is definitely under achieving.  Much of that has to do with the lack of trust the veterans have in the freshmen.  What baffles me is the lack of consistency among the top tier teams you mention.  They all seem to play a good game followed by a dud.  However, I would suggest that the league is about as well balanced as any ten team league.  There are no "gimmes" except for perhaps Dickinson.

[Reserved Seat]

First of all, thank you Washington.

F&M's game was much different than the one earlier in the year at McDaniel.
F&M had much better ball movement making it harder for McDaniel to defend the ball.
McDaniel had only one man in double figures(Dyson/12), while holding Jarboe to 6 and Jones to 5 by taking away the three.  F&M forced 17 turnovers and controlled the boards with Gyokchoyn having his biggest game with 14 rebounds.  McNally had numerous rebounds, and Brooks contributed several key boards when he soared above the other ones on the floor.
McNally lead the scoring with 18, followed by Milligan(16) and Tolliver(13).
Since most the threes were well contested the shooting percentages were low. McDaniel(6-19) and F&M(3-20)
McDaniel struggled on the line(3/10), while F&M(18-22) was much better than Thursday.
Total fouls McDaniel(20) F&M(18)
Henry struggled picking up 4 fouls in limited playing time.

[division3]

gabriel
i agree about the no gimmes...the conference is exciting because upsets are possible given the way the first half of the season has gone. i am sure there will be more surprises as teams learn to play together throughout the season. despite their record, dickinson will probably upset someone this season as well. it is hard to go without a win all year. swat and haverford battle despite their records and usually playing against more gifted teams.

[docmarc]

Pat Coleman-  what are thoughts about the F&M wins vs. Mules and Western MD?

Losing to Washington in OT this past Thursday was a tough loss.  I hope F&M is able to gain momentum to get that top spot in the CC. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

docmarc -  good thing they beat McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland)... because they lost to the Green Terror earlier this season. And F&M should be beating the rest of the CC to be considered as good as their Final Four appearance led many, including me, to believe. Four losses, two in the CC at this point in the season is a bit disappointing, in my opinion.

[diplomaniac1]

Folks -

It was a busy end of the week and weekend! So much so that I am just now getting around to posting the pickems results from Thursday evenings games along with the cumulative standings. They are as follows:

SECOND HALF
   01/14   TO DATE   PERCENTAGE
DIPLOMANIAC1   2 – 3   16 – 4   .800
GABRIEL   0 – 0   11 – 4   .733
GODIPS04   3 – 2   14 – 6   .700
OLD MAN TERROR   0 – 0   7 – 3   .700
RESERVED SEAT   2 – 3   10 – 5   .667
BTEXPRESS   1 – 4   13 – 7   .650
DIVISION3   1 – 4   13 – 7   .650
R. W. MCNICKLES   1 – 4   12 – 8   .600
BRCE4   1 – 4   11 – 9   .550
D. B. COOPER   1 – 4   10 – 10   .500
OLD ENDS   0 – 0   0 – 0   .000
         
As you can see, we all got hammered with our picks. Everyone's crystal balls must have been non-functional! Check and make sure I didn't make any mistakes. I did see F&M's loss at home to Washington. Plain and simple, they were indeed out-hustled by the scrappy Shoremen.

Regards to all.

Eric

[Reserved Seat]

d-mac,

docmarc -  good thing they beat McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland)... because they lost to the Green Terror earlier this season. And F&M should be beating the rest of the CC to be considered as good as their Final Four appearance led many, including me, to believe. Four losses, two in the CC at this point in the season is a bit disappointing, in my opinion.

Please, don't make it worse than it is.  Only 3 losses, but still disappointing.

[diplomaniac1]

Fellow Prognosticators -

Those of us who remembered to submit their picks had a better weekend than they did on Thursday night.  Here are results from Saturday and the to-date standings:

SECOND HALF
   01/16   TO DATE   PERCENTAGE
DIPLOMANIAC1   0 – 0   16 – 4   .800
GABRIEL   0 – 0   11 – 4   .733
GODIPS04   0 – 0   14 – 6   .700
OLD MAN TERROR   0 – 0   7 – 3   .700
RESERVED SEAT   4 – 1   14 – 6   .700
BTEXPRESS   4 – 1   17 – 8   .680
DIVISION3   4 – 1   17 – 8   .680
R. W. MCNICKLES   4 – 1   16 – 9   .640
BRCE4   4 – 1   15 – 10   .600
D. B. COOPER   4 – 1   14 – 11   .560
OLD ENDS   0 – 0   0 – 0   .000
         
Please doublecheck to make sure that no errors have been made. Next picks due by tip-off time on Wednesday. Good Luck! Regards to all.

Eric

[d3hoopsfan]

Reserved Seat,

I agree with you that F & M played a better game then they did down at McDaniel earlier this season.  However, keep this in mind, McDaniel was without one of the top players, Sarris-Grau(who may have suffered a season ending injury) in addition to one of their key reserves(McClain) who was out with injury as well.  The first half was evenly matched, but F&M definitely moved the ball better in the second half, knocked down open looks, and turned up the defensive intensity.  My only criticism of F&M is why does the coach have Milligan in and continue to full court press up 18 with 30 seconds left when the opposing team has all subs in the game?  Kind of classless don't you think?

[Gabriel]

Picks for Tuesday 1/12/10

Washington (rare road win)
F&M  (need this one to stake a claim to 1st place but it won't be easy)
Ursinus (close game but Bears seem to be improving)
McDaniel (tough to beat at home)
JHU (again, advantage to the home team)

Thursday 1/14/10

Swat (Garnet win battle for 9th place)
F&M (better team and home court)
Gettysburg (probably the game of the day vs the Mules)
Haverford (probably a slow paced game, Fords have home court)
McDaniel (want to pick the Bears, but McD too tough at home)

Saturday 1/16/10

JHU (Dickinson will not win on the road this season)
F&M (revenge)
Gettysburg (too tough for the Fords at home)
Muhlenberg (could be an upset but Mules have too much size)
Ursinus (revenge)

diplomaniac1,

Think you missed this posting, not much help for me, but it fills in the gaps.

Gabriel

[fritzdis]

My only criticism of F&M is why does the coach have Milligan in and continue to full court press up 18 with 30 seconds left when the opposing team has all subs in the game?  Kind of classless don't you think?

Maybe he was trying to make a point to his team, as F&M hasn't seemed to maintain a consistent level of play this season.

[Reserved Seat]

Was Barnes injured or sick on Saturday for Muhlenberg?  His name wasn't in the box score.

[diplomaniac1]

Folks -

Well, Gabriel was right. Somehow, I missed including his picks from 1/14 and 1/16 in the to-date standings. Here are the corrected standings:

SECOND HALF
   01/16   TO DATE   PERCENTAGE
DIPLOMANIAC1   0 – 0   16 – 4   .800
GODIPS04   0 – 0   14 – 6   .700
OLD MAN TERROR   0 – 0   7 – 3   .700
RESERVED SEAT   4 – 1   14 – 6   .700
BTEXPRESS   4 – 1   17 – 8   .680
DIVISION3   4 – 1   17 – 8   .680
GABRIEL   4 – 1   16 – 9   .640
R. W. MCNICKLES   4 – 1   16 – 9   .640
BRCE4   4 – 1   15 – 10   .600
D. B. COOPER   4 – 1   14 – 11   .560
OLD ENDS   0 – 0   0 – 0   .000
         
Thanks for catching my omissions. Sorry, those games actually moved Gabriel down the list. Regards to all.

Eric

[BTEXPRESS]

My picks for Wed 1/20 games

F&M over Dickinson( A breather game for the Dips)
Gettysburg over McDaniel (Going with the home team)
Haverford over Swarthmore( Will be the most entertaining game of the night)
Washington over Hopkins( Tossed a coin on this one)
Ursinus over Muhlenberg( Should go with the home team, but I have a feeling about the Bears)

[Gabriel]

Picks for the week:

Wednesday, 1/20/10

F&M (Dickinson probably won't win a game this year)
Gettysburg (home court but McDaniel will play tough)
Haverford (advantage to the home team in a close game)
Washington (another home team edge)
Ursinus (we'll see if Ward and Janowski are ready for Barnes & Liddic)

Saturday, 1/23/10

F&M (too much fire power for the Fords)
Ursinus (should beat Dickinson at home)
Swat (my Saturday upset over Gettysburg)
Muhlenberg (Mules too tough in the dungeon)
McDaniel (a squeaker over Washington)