MBB: Centennial Conference

[LustyLarryintheToilet]

LustyLarry's lines for this weekends games have been released.

Dickinson -3, o/u 118
F&M -12 o/u 132

[docmarc]

Lusty-  I like Dickinson and the over and also F&M and the over.  F&M will beat Haverford handily and Dickinson with its zone will give Powers and the Bullets some trouble.

My concern for the Dips is a CC final vs. Dickinson.  The Dips had trouble with the zone last week and the Red Devils have some outside shooting. 

See everyone at the games this weekend!   The regional rankings still do not favor F&M having a great seed if they make the tournament.  They will be on the road. 

[LustyLarryintheToilet]

Doc, good insight as always.  the zone will be interesting should Dickinson meet F&M in the finals.  That said, if its F&M vs Dickinson, i would instill F&M as an 8-9 point favorite (probably 10 vs GBurg). 

please remember though, regional rankings are not the main criteria for determining site selection.  It is supposed to be geographical proximity of the four teams that make the pod.  that said, which direction will the ncaa go with these brackets?  would the F&M region be MA/South and some atl/east thrown in like last years?  Or will there be more NE like in 2009?  Until we know that we cant really say. 

Losses by Ramapo and Kean put a monkey wrench into things.  Ramapo would be a natural host site, but if St Josephs wins the sky, its probably too far to have them host.  So you have the number one Atlantic team unable to host, and teams 2 and 4 possibly not even in the tournament.  You look at Ithaca, Rochester and Oswego, those teams might not even be in F&M's bracket, and again are long distances unless there are other Northeast teams.  We move to mid altantic:  La roche wont be in fandm's bracket.  That leaves st. marys, the Cabrini/GM winner and the Macc, macf, land winners.  Remember too, VA Wesleyan and RMC need to go somewhere (its possible neither are geo centric to host pods). 

Theres a lot to consider, you just cant say oh, fandm's regional ranking is too low to host.  My thought is, if they do win the CC, F&M will host a pod with LVC/Alvernia winner, Scranton and a tough VA school.  That said, if the committee does indeed merge the NE with the MA this year, you're talking long trips to upstate NY or CT.

[Pat Coleman]

St. Joe's on Long Island? It's not much further than Merchant Marine, well within the NCAA's 500-mile guideline.

[kate]

Sometimes it's not the distance exactly, especially for old fans like us who still drive to games, but the crazy traffic.  I'm talking specifically of schools like Manhattanville, Kean, and any of those schools around the metro New York City area.  Love em to pieces, but depending on times of games - look out!  That drive to Lebanon Valley College, 78 West to 501 (Amish Country) & 422 into Annville suits us fine    We attend DVC games with a gentleman who was talking to us about a league with just teams in the general area of the Delaware & Lehigh Counties.  DVC, Ursinus, GMC, Cedar Crest, Muhlenberg - you get the idea.  Yeh, like that ain't gonna happen  .  The way it looks, gas is only going to go higher.  BTW, this gentleman has Nothing to do with any of the colleges - just a fan

[LustyLarryintheToilet]

yeah see kate you are exactly right.  St Joe's is another 45 miles east of Kings point, and that's a HARD 45 miles (impossible on a friday).  I think in that case, geo proximity will trump regional ranking, depending of course on which three teams are put into that pod.

[Pat Coleman]

Agreed, but the NCAA guidelines only really care about number of miles. Sorry.

[r.w. mcnickels]

My concern for the Dips is a CC final vs. Dickinson.  The Dips had trouble with the zone last week and the Red Devils have some outside shooting. 

Doc, good insight as always.  the zone will be interesting should Dickinson meet F&M in the finals.

Are you guys discounting Haverford, a team that also plays zone? Robinson talked about Haverford's 1-3-1 zone in today's paper. I think the Fords will advance if the Dips don't shoot well, setting up a neutral-site final.

[LustyLarryintheToilet]

RW
i'm not discounting haverford, but its tough not to look at the results and understand that the Fords have struggled against F&M in recent years.  I'm only discussing the final now because Lusty Larry plans on being at the Casino/other not to be mentioned places after the game and thus wont be on the site! 

[r.w. mcnickels]

Fair enough, Larry. But I've seen some horrific shooting performances out of the Dips this year (although not against Haverford). Should the Dips be unable to hit the ocean from the beach, I think the Fords are good enough to advance. Whatever the case, I don't see F&M having an easy time tomorrow or Sunday, should they make it that far.

[7express]

From a neutral observer I like Gettysburg and F&M to meet for the Centennial conference championship.

[bball2020]

Everyone seems to be mentioning Dickinson's zone defense being a problem for Gettysburg.  But in their two games thus far, hardly any zone was played by Dickinson against Gburg. 
I look for Powers to have a breakout game against the Devils.  "Breakout" meaning against Dickinson.  He hasn't played well at all against them in both regular season meetings.  Kennedy carried them in their last meeting, scoring 18.  Should be a great weekend of basketball.  Best of luck to all teams.

[F@M]

Pat,

Is their a place anywhere on d3hoops that contains an ongoing list of teams, and by region, that have received the AQ? Also a list of regular season champions that have been knocked out and pushed to pool C?

[Pat Coleman]

http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/25/whos-in-the-mens-tournament-2/

That's the list of automatic bids clinched.

Posters on the Pool C board track the Pool C picture.

[diplomaniac1]

Folks -

I am just leaving now for Mayser Center and two basketball games.

My picks for today's games are as follows:

Gettysburg over Dickinson

F&M over Haverford.

Enjoy the games! Regards to all.

Eric