MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[thebear]

Unbearable

Since you & I are arguably two of the most loyal Potsdam fans in history, Even I wouldn't have done that this year. 

Lose 6 Seniors, including 4 All Conference players, + 2 yr starting point guard opted to concentrate on Academics

Reload with 8 frosh, a 5-7 JUCO, and a top draft pick from the Intramural League.

Play two games in Hawaii against Top 10 D-II team with a 6-10 and a 7 footer, and against a top 10 NAIA D-II team with several athletic 6-8's.

Catch a draw where they have to play Brockport on the road, only.

That's why even loyal old me didn't pick the Bears in the pool.

Clarkson is tall,  playing a lot of people and there doesn't seem to be any continuity or rhythm.  They will get handled regularly by any team with athletic inside players with decent size.  Barton ate them alive in the first three minutes of the second half.

[jdex]

Friday's tests pit:
Buff St. (3-1,1-0) at One (1-2, 0-1)
Freds (2-2, 0-1) at Corts (3-1, 0-1)
Gens (1-2, 0-1) at Oswe (3-0, 0-0)
Bports (1-2, 0-1) at Platts (2-1, 0-1)

Saturday goes:
Buff St. at IT (2-1, 1-0)l
NPaltz (3-2, 1-0) at Pots (4-0, 1-0)
Bport at Osweg
Freds at One
Gens at Platts
Corts at Alfred, nl

[jdex]

Cortland takes down visiting Fredonia 65-48.

Red Dragons 4-1. Fast start and comfortable lead gets a bit hairy later. Freds, trailing 37-26 at half, within 44-39 and keep Cortlands in sight thereafter. F. Ranier keeps afloat home side, which struggles from the field in second half.  Late free throws allow Cortland to pull away. Dragons 15x32fg (4 3s) in first half and finish 22x49. Ranieri 15 pts. (6x10fg), 4 reb; D. Maggiacomo 14 pts (4x8 3s) off bench; R. Headley 13 pts (4x7fg), 6 reb; S. Taggart 6 reb, S. Skrelja 8 reb, 3 assts. Just 5 Cort TOvers. Spunky Freds led by T. Alassari 10 pts. (7x17fg), 8 rebs, 4 assts. Lone Fred in double figures. Fredonia loses big man K. Gordon early (8') to leg injury. Anderson 6 pts. (2x7fg), 3 reb. in 36'

[jdex]

Oswego 67, Geneseo 60
Host Lakers out to 34-24 lead at half, forge 18 pt. lead in second period before Gens within 49-45. S. Sciera 19 pts. (7x8fg), T. Kitson 13 pts, 7 rebs; S. McDonnell 12 pts. in loss

Buffalo St. 88, Oneonta 72
James Williams 33 pts. (12x18 fg, 9x12ft, 9 rebs, 4 assts, 2 blks, 1 stl) paces Bengals.  Those numbers in 30' as 15 BSers take court. Buff St. 48-32 halftime command on 22x32fg shooting (finishes 33x62). D. Mozelle 14 pts. (6x7fg) only other Bengal in double figures. Has 5 rebs, 3 stls. Oneonta's J. Murphy 21 pts. (9x15fg). M. Reardon 4 assts. One 28x63fg (12x32 1st half)

[jdex]

Brockport 85, Plattsburgh 79

Fredonia's Alassari 20 pts. stead of 10 in loss to Cortland. Kept 'em in the game with 3x8 3s and slashes

[ILOVEBALL]

gibbs smith goes down in the first minute of the game with a rolled ankle coming down from a jumpshot tried to come back and play but was hurt and could not move after he came out it was a good back and forth game brockport came out on top

[bports]

Good win on the road for Bport last night. Bport races out to a 12 pt 1st half lead and lead by 5 at the half. Bport got the lead back to 7 before platts went up by 2. Bport lead almost the entire game and had 9 guys suited up gor this game. The port is still missing 3 starters so we will see how fresh they are tonight at oswego? Amparo belluci and cheeves all had 20 pts or more for the eagles. If bport could come away from oswego with a W tonight it would be huge. I was worried they may start 0-3 in sunyacs with there  first three games being against all top tier sunyac competition. Especially with 2 on the road and missing some stud players. So far for the port the best surprise is the frosh pg filling in for harris. The kid looks like he is a very smart heads up player, who looks to get every player involved. He is from webster, but i am drawing a blank on his name  josh wenzel??

[KING]

solid win by cortland last night over fred.  don't let the 4-1 record fool you though, they are not THAT good.  i hope this team like many other span coached teams in the past get better as they go, esp. if they think they can contend in the tourney.  Two huge points of the game.... 1) Cortland needs a go to scorer.  not all game long, but when they go dry for mins on end and need a big bucket.  they can get away with it against a team like fred. but late in the year that wont fly against top conference comp.  2) fred. might not win a conference game!  with no size and very little skill, they are going to have to face a bad team on a bad night it looks like.  pt gaurd was the only stand out or even player worth watching on the roster.

[jdex]

A few numbers from Bport win at Pburgh .....

K. Amparo's 24 points (17 1st half), 4 assts, 4 stls led the Eagles, who had 45-40 advantage at half, trailed 51-49, then led forever after at 11:14 on J. Cheves' trey. Cheves and D. Maldonado points keyed 66-57 breakaway by 9:30. Burghers close to 69-67 at 6' prior to Bport death spurt. B. Bellucci 18 pts, 4 assts; Cheves 19 pts, 9 rebs; J. Zenkel 6 assts, I. Mack 7 assts. -- team 24 assts in 30(x52) hoops!! Hit 9x17 3s. Pburgh 39-29 reb. edge. Cards' M. Deitz 23 pts (9x13fg, 5x7 3s); T. Gorham 17 pts. (6x9fg), 10 rebs. Ankle-weary K. Gibbs-Smith 23' and 1x5fg, 7 rebs.  definitely a factor for better (Bport) or worse (Burgh).
Bports only played seven, so at least a pair fresh for Oswegos. Really question why young men of this age can't play (hoops) well into the night, let alone back to back. Don't buy the tired bit.

As for Cortland (obviously our rooting interest), it's true TSpan hasn't yet found the combination. Has many, many options (even without The King), and is tinkering. Should actually be 5-0 (barring that dreaded 4-pointer vs. good Trinity). Dragons last night in second half fell in love with 3-point onslaught after lighting it up earlier. Point slot still a ??, though several able candidates. Transfer E. Nalls steady and currently starts. D. Fish okay but doesn't offer much offensively. Don't know M. Schaller's status. Played fb and was supposed to bolster backcourt when eligible.

As per Fredonia, yes in what appears a pretty balanced SUNYAC the BDevils could be pressed for wins. Still, mighty pesky. Alassari all-star but has to carry too big a load. He's a delight to watch. Freds hurt last night when K. Gordon (6-5 soph) went down after running the floor for layup in first half. Also, 6-6 frosh David Mack gave 'em plenty of good minutes (20). 

[bearseh]

jdex - Why young men can't play into the night...

The SUNYAC is a conference where a premium is placed on tough, physical defense. JC transfers to the league consistently report that the most difficult transition is to accomodate to the speed of the game and the mental pressure of playing tough, every-possession defense at this level. For incoming frosh, particularly for those coming out of Class B or lower programs, the leap is enormous.

Last year's Potsdam team was classic SUNYAC. Their leading scorer averaged 11.0 - hardly impressive for an Elite 8 team. However, they only gave up 62.9 ppg by running in waves of fresh, focused defenders.

If you need a blow, you either get it on the offensive end or on the bench - and if you take it on the defensive end, you'll soon be on the bench in any case.

No question these young men have the physical stamina for lots of minutes. Staying mentally focused on every defensive possession is draining and takes time and experience to handle.

[jdex]

Well stated, Bearseh. We could buy into that, mental toughness and all.  Teams in the same boat playing back to back for the most part. Of course, the exception is the bye team in the odd-numbered SUNYAC. And then there's the depth factor, and degree of difficulty from first night to second. No doubt, Bport numbers (and its annual early road show sked) could be costly at the moment. And we said in the same boat?

[bj5485]

Potsdam overcomes ten point first half deficit to beat New Paltz 84-60. Bears go to 5-0.

[jdex]

SUNYIT 95, Buffalo St. 90
Oneonta 67, Fredonia 54, ot
Plattsburgh 71, Geneseo 54

[bearseh]

If you have info on Brockport @ Oswego, please post.

[thebear]

That's scheduled as an 8:00 game.  Nice road trip, Brockport to Plattsburgh, then back to Oswego (through a blizzard) then on to Brockport (through more blizzards)!!!

SUNYIT upsetting Buff State is a shocker.  Looks like the Murph is showing his longevity stripes already.  Game didn't look like a whole lot of defense was played, but they sure lit up the scoreboard!!