MBB: Centennial Conference

[Stretch4]

Swat does return their 3 leading scorers, but it is a bit misleading in my opinion.  Shafer and O'Dell were just so unselfish, made such good decisions and really had so much to do with putting these 3 in position to score.  I agree that you are looking at a different Swat team this season. Swat's five best returning players are all guards/wings.  So I would expect to see a 4 guard line up.  They do have a lot of big bodies, and several of them are very talented, but they lack experience for sure.  So I would expect them to play smaller (especially to start the season) and rely on a rotation of bigs to rebound, defend, screen and knock down open lay ups.  Maybe as the season progresses guys like Tucker and Caprise break out?  Or maybe one or two of their talented first year bigs steps up? Definitely a super talented team, with a great deal of success and experience, but it is interesting because there are a number of questions around this team ... Does Harkins return to his shooting level he had as a soph (with a now deeper 3 pt line)? Do Ingram or Shaw pick up the scoring loss from Shafer and O'Dell?  Or is that on Visconti and D'Angelo?  How significant of a role does really talented First Year guard Mulvey have this year?  Are D'Angelo and Visconti comfortable assuming the leadership role?  Does a more regional, less challenging non-conference schedule hurt them in preparation for NCAA's in March?  It is clearly Swat and JHU at the top of the CC, but I think it may take a little while this season before Swat settles in to their true identity as a team.

[McBuckets]

Great post.  The other aspect about Shafer and O'Dell is that they were also excellent defensive players and knew exactly when and where to help.  I would expect Swat put a tremendous amount of pressure on the ball defensively to try and avoid other teams for dumping it down low.  One of the things to look at will be Swat's rebounding if they go four guard.  Not only will the JHU matchups be great but throw in the Mules and you have 3 very competitive squads.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I've been told by several people to look out for Gettysburg, too.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The Swat team I saw yesterday is obviously not as good as they were in March 2020, but they were certainly good enough that i'd expect them to make the second weekend of the NCAAs.

It was a bit of a luxury having the two star big men, but I get the sense Landry is really trying to put together a program with 10-12 pretty interchangeable guys, and they do very much look like that.

[Stretch4]

Muhlenberg definitely has a starting 5 that can compete with JHU and Swat.  Experience, size, skill and toughness.  Plus Gaines may be the MVP of the conference.  Where I am less sure on Muhlenberg is their bench. A lot of unknowns there and depth could be an issue, especially against relentless, 40 minute teams like JHU and Swat.  I think we may get a good indication of where Muhlenberg sits early on, as they face a really tough PSU-Harrisburg team just a few games in to their schedule.

[McBuckets]

Pre-season poll out. Top 3 relatively predictable.

The remains teams are really hard to forecast given the roster changes.

Any surprises?

[Stretch4]

Pre-season poll has some minor surprises (IMO).  Top 3 are easy and will likely not be challenged by remaining 7 for their spots.  Also, like you said, tough to tell with so many new players on the rosters.  With that said, I think there are some minor surprises in 4-10.  I think F&M at 4 may be based more on historical success and tradition.  Zero starters returning, extremely guard heavy and really only one player with major playing time returning.  They have several very strong recruits in their FY and So class, so a lot will be put on them to earn this ranking.  Ursinus is probably where they should be at 5, but I believe there are questions. They have all conference performer Hughes (who will very likely lead conf in scoring again) and will likely be asking 2 seniors to step up from reserve roles to major minutes - which could present a challenge. After that you are really depending on a roster full of inexperienced players.  They also have several very strong recruits in their FY and So class, but Coach Smalls typically plays a rotation of 7 players, with 5 guys running at 30+ minutes every night - Outside of Hughes, who are those guys?

I think there are two lower ranked teams that have underachieved in recent years that have the potential to surprise a bit this year and challenge for the number 5 spot - Gettysburg and Dickinson.  Gettysburg has done very well in the recruiting front and have at least 5 really strong recruits in their last two classes.  A good mix of experienced and new players in the front court with a great deal of skill, size and length, but they lack experience in their guards. Will need some of their talented FY and So guards to step up.  Roster is all of Coach Dunne's guys now, so I think there is plenty to be optimistic about there.  Dickinson has faced so many challenges in the the last two seasons with injuries to key players, transfers, etc.  Coach Seretti was really forced to play a different line up almost every game. As such, they never developed any consistency or chemistry despite having a pretty talented roster.  They have 3 starters returning and several other experienced contributors back.  They have also added a few very talented recruits in their FY and SO classes, particularly at the guard spots. I think with some consistency in their line up, you will see them finish much higher than their pre-season rankings.

Beyond the top 3, a lot of where teams fall in the 4-10 slots will depend on which teams gel the quickest with all of the new faces.  Will be interesting to see how it shakes out and will be interesting to see if anyone can challenge the big boys.

[Gabriel]

Stretch4----Good take on the CC season. Lots of adjustments with essentially two freshman classes adjusting to a D3 pace. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[Gabriel]

Entertaining game last night between Ursinus and Susquehanna. Final score 117-111---no overtime---a nail biter. It was tied 47-47 at halftime and Sus led 114-111 with seconds to play. The young Bears were faced with relentless full court pressure for the entire game and handled it, for the most part, quite well. They were careless several times inbounding the ball under the SUS basket and gave up at least 10 offensive rebounds. Both teams shot extremely well---- SUS 57.5% overall, 52.4% from 3 and 81.5 % FT---URS 61.9% overall, 56% from 3 and 76% FT.  Overall a great game to watch. SUS is a very good and relentless team----and very well coached.  URS is very young, but much more athletic than 2 years ago and also very well coached.  Ryan Hughes is the only returning starter and an outstanding one at that.  They start two true freshmen in Grubbs and Neylon, a 1st year soph (Wall) and a junior transfer (Mauer) along with Hughes.  Bears can score but, obviously, have some defensive issues. Word of caution----do not underestimate them in CC play as they will improve during the season and come to play every game.

[Stretch4]

Fast paced and entertaining game for sure last night. I think you have to be pleased and pleasantly surprised a bit with Ursinus so far this year.  There is a lot to be optimistic about.  Definitely have no issues scoring the basketball, shoot the ball extremely well and have played well in tight games (despite the loss last night).  Lots of talent on the roster and a bit more depth than recent years - should give some flexibility to Coach Smalls to expand the rotation a bit and not have to place too high of a burden on his starting five.  Have to be really happy with the play of newcomers Wall, Grubbs and Neylon.  Obvious concern is defense.  Allow too many easy looks (back door lay ups and wide open threes from their opponents way too often), and there needs to be an improved effort in rebounding as a team.  At this point, there seems to be no reason why they can't be the number three team in CC.  I still believe there is a lot of parity across the conference (minus Hopkins and Swat), and with Muhlenberg significantly under-achieving up to this point, the race for the 3-5 spots will be fun to watch.

[Gabriel]

Stretch 4 Totally agree with your observations. Have a great holiday season.

[D.B. Cooper]

Been seeing F&M mostly online, except for nearby scranton ot loss which I saw in person. I was surprised they nearly had that game featuring tons of 1st year players.
I was also not expecting them to beat Alfred who came in with a 6-1 record.
Now they are playing highly ranked Wesleyan who has been destroying most of their opponents,  unless they make free throws and trifectas they likely won't be competative. Also seems like they have trouble in road games. Don't see them making playoffs this year, too inexperienced, but I imagine I'll go with the obvious that JHU & SWAT should run away with league honors.

[Stretch4]

Swat / Hopkins round one goes to Swat.  If you are a Swat fan, you had to really like their execution on both offense and defense down the stretch last night closing out last 4 minutes with a 17-5 run with zero turnovers, excellent foul shooting and strong rebounding.  Hopkins (in my opinion) had too much reliance on Delaney to carry them down the stretch.  They needed another player to step up in the last 4 minutes of the game and I didn't see anyone who took that challenge.  Granted their was way too much dribbling and trying to create by Delaney off screens, rather than moving the ball and possibly giving another player the opportunity to step up.  I would imagine the Hopkins coaches will have a different approach in the re-match.  Two really good, well rounded teams who will battle it out for Centennial Conference supremacy and NCAA seeding.  Nice games from Swat bigs Godfrey and Caprise. 

[McBuckets]

Agree with Stretch.  Game was well played and Swat just continued to hammer away and get good shots.  The emergence of their big men has certainly added another element to their play.  I have to wonder if wearing a mask hampered Quarry's play.  As it relates to CC, the Mules need to be able to play some games so we can see what might shake out from 3-5.  I don't know what the potential scheduling options might be but February might be awfully busy.

[Swat Fan #1]

Just wondering if anyone on here knows why Vinny DeAngelo (Swat's leading scorer) hasn't played the last two games. This board has been unusually quiet this year. Cheers and hope everyone is well!