MBB: Centennial Conference

[Gabriel]

Ursinus at JHU---- a close contest and Bears managed to hold on for a 66-64 win.  Road wins are always welcome no matter how ugly.
Both teams struggled offensively but defenses were solid.  The Ursinus bench came through scoring 38 of the 66 points.  Bruce Edwards  and Remi Janicot looked good for Ursinus. Quattro and Eric Williams were well contained.  JHU is a solid well coached team and will be a tough match-up during the season.

[BeRightOn]

Swat vs Gettysburg was a similarly defensive battle with Swat prevailing 68-61. Atypically, Gettysburg beat Swat on the boards (27-25) and also in field goal % (45 to 40) and Assists (14-12). Swat won from the line going 18 for 21 vs Gettysburg's 7-8.

[noonhooper]

Quattro and Williams are very skilled players but both pretty one-dimensional. A good scouting report can stop both of them. Hopkins seems up and down this year, probably a product of a group of players who haven't had to be the centerpiece of an offense before. Gburg's low free throw numbers are pretty typical of a Princeton offense. Great stuff. I know its a big three-game week for the conference. Usually separates the top from the bottom a little more by next Monday.

[commish]

We hope that you can join us on Sunday for "Centennial at the Palestra," celebrating Division III basketball at one of the sport's cherished venues. Five games are on tap, including three men's tilts - Gettysburg-Ursinus (1:30), Dickinson-Washington College (5:30) and McDaniel-Muhlenberg (7:30). Tickets are available for $15 in advance or $20 on game day. For more information, go to www.centennial.org/palestra. D3hoops will be there! Stop by and say hi.

[Hank Mardukas]

Any news on the German-born big man for the Mules, Erik Werheim? I see he has missed many games this season and when he has played he had not played many minutes.

[noonhooper]

Special Tuesday Game Edition! Slow morning in the office today so I have some time to really waste thinking about all these games.

Predictions (spreads from Massey)

JHU@Dickinson- They say Hop is favored by 1.5 but I say it is tough to play in Carlisle when the Devils have it rolling and this could be Dickinson's annual hot streak. Pick: Dickinson

Fords@Gburg- Toughest game to pick I think. Gburg always gets better as the season progresses but they also play up or down to their opponents. The line is Gburg -5.5 so I think I will take the Fords to make it close or possibly even win.

F&M@Mules- The evil empire comes to the barn for what could be a rough game for the home team. I like what Coach Hopkins is doing but they are too young/not enough horses to keep up. Even with the 10.5 spread the Dips get another rare (as in they never leave home) road win and cover.

Swat@McDaniel- Man, the Green Terror aren't too terrifying these days but they always play great at home, have a crowd that walks that border between passionate and over-the-line with their cheers, and the team has always played with a chip on their shoulder in the past (havent seen them so don't know if thats true this year). I think Swat wins this one but 21.5 is a huge spread and every team is bringing all the fire for the Garnet so maybe 12-15 margin?

#GooseNation@Ursinus- If this game was at Washington I pick them for my big upset of the night. I still think the game is closer than the 12.5 spread because Ursinus doesn't have a great home crowd and Wash is just crazy enough they could do anything. I'm taking the points but the Bears get the W

But what the heck do I know?!

[Swat Fan #1]

Man, what has happened to McDaniel? As I write this, it is 50-21 and not even that close. Swat didn't even start their usual starting five. Pretty shocking to me.

*80-41 Final. Swat played bench most of second half.

[CCD3Basketball]

Special Tuesday Game Edition! Slow morning in the office today so I have some time to really waste thinking about all these games.

Predictions (spreads from Massey)

JHU@Dickinson- They say Hop is favored by 1.5 but I say it is tough to play in Carlisle when the Devils have it rolling and this could be Dickinson's annual hot streak. Pick: Dickinson

Fords@Gburg- Toughest game to pick I think. Gburg always gets better as the season progresses but they also play up or down to their opponents. The line is Gburg -5.5 so I think I will take the Fords to make it close or possibly even win.

F&M@Mules- The evil empire comes to the barn for what could be a rough game for the home team. I like what Coach Hopkins is doing but they are too young/not enough horses to keep up. Even with the 10.5 spread the Dips get another rare (as in they never leave home) road win and cover.

Swat@McDaniel- Man, the Green Terror aren't too terrifying these days but they always play great at home, have a crowd that walks that border between passionate and over-the-line with their cheers, and the team has always played with a chip on their shoulder in the past (havent seen them so don't know if thats true this year). I think Swat wins this one but 21.5 is a huge spread and every team is bringing all the fire for the Garnet so maybe 12-15 margin?

#GooseNation@Ursinus- If this game was at Washington I pick them for my big upset of the night. I still think the game is closer than the 12.5 spread because Ursinus doesn't have a great home crowd and Wash is just crazy enough they could do anything. I'm taking the points but the Bears get the W

But what the heck do I know?!

0/5 picking against the spread! Maybe don't give up the day job 

F&M being ahead by 18 and blowing that one is a shocking loss. Congrats to the Mules on picking up a huge win.

Everything else went about as expected, McDaniel has really fallen off the map and Swat took it to them hard.

WAC is just too undersized to compete with teams that have a good inside game and Ursinus showed that tonight.

And Haverford is still probably a year away from making a couple teams nervous, but a good win for the Bullets nonetheless.

[noonhooper]

When in doubt, always go against my picks. I should just retire in disgrace now, but at least this board is back to talking about basketball!

[r.w. mcnickels]

Very nice comeback win for the Mules when it looked like they were dead in the water.

The Dips are still searching for answers in the post. Groll looked like a potential star early in the season but is struggling now. McGrath seems to be their best option in the paint.

Federici tried to do too much last night when the game got close. When he gets into that mindset, there's no rhythm to the offense.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Man, what has happened to McDaniel? As I write this, it is 50-21 and not even that close. Swat didn't even start their usual starting five. Pretty shocking to me.

*80-41 Final. Swat played bench most of second half.

McDaniel has had a lot of turnover and lost a lot of talent from last year's squad. They are very young and trying to figure things out. Not the best season, but most of us kind of expected it.

As for Swat... they play most of their bench most of every game. Four guys who hardly play got in in the final couple of minutes, but otherwise starters and the second unit which plays most minutes of all games played until about 3:30 left in the game.

[Hank Mardukas]

The Mules win over the overrated, overappreciated, and underperforming Diplomats should only come as a surprise to the uneducated. Coach Jake Brown made some great half-time adjustments which put the mighty Mules in a great position to win. I'm sick and tired of people saying that Federici and Tate are the best back-court in the Cent. It is obvious the emphatic point guard Matt Gnias and the methodical Nick Rindock are the best. Gnias is a scoring point guard who reminds me a former mules great, the magnificent Matty German. Both leaders not only have the ability to see the floor but also put that orange spherical ball into the basket. Rindock, should be a candidate for player of the year. His mid-range game is uncanny and has improved his defensive game astronomically. As for coach of the year, you got to give it to Mules Assitant Jake Brown. Mark my words, he will be the first assistant coach to win coach of the year. Mules winning the chip, I'm calling it now!!!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It was only a matter of when... not a matter of if...

Way to completely knock down the efforts of the players on the floor... for both teams. SMH

It is like the "over-rated" chat at sporting events when the underdog beats the higher-considered team. If they are overrated, what does that make you for beating them?

Stop it. Going out of your way to demean the Muhlenberg program is pretty sad for an alum (or whatever close connection you have the Muhl). Why not try and be supportive. More people would give you the benefit of the doubt if you were overly supportive. Being so negative and mean just makes you ... mean and dare I say a bully.

[Swat Fan #1]

Man, what has happened to McDaniel? As I write this, it is 50-21 and not even that close. Swat didn't even start their usual starting five. Pretty shocking to me.

*80-41 Final. Swat played bench most of second half.

McDaniel has had a lot of turnover and lost a lot of talent from last year's squad. They are very young and trying to figure things out. Not the best season, but most of us kind of expected it.

As for Swat... they play most of their bench most of every game. Four guys who hardly play got in in the final couple of minutes, but otherwise starters and the second unit which plays most minutes of all games played until about 3:30 left in the game.

You are kind of correct, but not totally. They didn't start usual starters last night and played several combinations I had not seen together. Their two best players (Yonda and Wiley) were not on the court a lot together last night (both only played 21 minutes). It was a good game to try new combinations, but shocking you can do this in a conference game and at this time of the year. The one good thing is that they appear to be 100% healthy. As a fan of Swat, I would have to give Yonda the POY right now as he playing incredibly well. Maybe they will go with Co-POY.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI - I am fully aware of what they were doing last night... I called the game for McDaniel's webstream (I am their broadcaster for about 3/4s of the games this season). I know they didn't start the usual starters, but I am not at liberty to say as to why. They may have been trying new things, but it was the right opportunity to do it and make other teams start wondering what is going on. Also, with two more big games this week, giving guys a bit more rest if possible (if possible) isn't the worst idea.

I also know they can go deep on their bench and the talent doesn't necessarily die off. I also know that McDaniel didn't present any challenges in the post outside of Young, so they could afford to roll other guys on the floor. I just was trying to say that they ran ten to twelve guys for most of that game including the first half and didn't really "call the dogs off" until 3:30 left when they finally stopped pressing (one could question why they were pressing leading by 30 with 10 minutes to play) and brought in the last four guys on the bench.