MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[jdex]

    Cortland 72, Oneonta 68

[jdex]

   Cortland rides to 39-35 lead at half, sees Oneonta take 47-45 lead and game even with 10' left before Corts on 7-0 spree. Guests' 5x6ft in final 1:47 dooms OSt. CSt 26x45fg, 8x13 3s to Oneonta 28x61fg. Corts C. Niehoff strikes for all of his 16 pts(4x5 3s) in 1st half. M. Jankiewicz picks up slack second straight night from absent W. Coston. Sr. Jankiewicz 14 pts(5x8fg, 4x5 3s). M. Lewis 15 pts(6x10fg), 8 rebs; P. Oliver 14 pts(6x9fg); M. Schaller 7 assts. One gets 25 pts (9x19fg) from R. Fisk. M. Grimes 15 pts(7x14fg); E. Arrington 6 assts.

   Brockport scores game's first 12 points, zooms to 44-31 lead at half and coasts. Port 28x54fg. B. Williams 23 pts(9x14fg), 9 rebs; soph J. Johnson with lift of 14 pts(6x11fg), 10 pts in first half; Sherod Harris 10 pts, 7 rebs, 6 assts. Lakers 20x55fg, 1x9 3s. N. Perioli 16 pts(5x11fg), 3 assts; M. Jabbi 15 pts; T. Downing 10 pts(3x11fg)

   Geneseo has 38-29 charge of Morrisville by half. Visiting Gens 24x49fg. S. Morton 24 pts(8x15fg), 5 assts; J. Howe 13 pts(5x12fg), 6 assts; T. Kitson 11 pts(4x6fg). Mville 23x56fg. T. Foster 21 pts(9x15fg); K. Buell 13 pts(5x10fg); A. Olasokan 12 pts

    SUNYIT involved in 34-33 halftime fight at New Paltz. IT 27x58fg, 50-35 board advantage. D. Hahn 17 pts; A. Edwards 15 pts, 6 assts; D. Moore 14 pts, 11 rebs; D. Golembiowski 14 pts, 12 rebs. NP has last lead with 5:34 left. Shoots 25x67fg. J. Sugrue 21 pts(7x20fg, 6x16 3s); K. Nelson 20 pts(8x14fg); B. Kuar 10 pts(5x10fg)

    Buffalo State over Fredonia 66-61 at Freds place. Hosts by 34-30 at half. Buffs in finishing 28-10 kick. BS 20x43fg, 24x32ft, outreb 38-28. J. Gray 16 pts(5x11fg); J. Tyndal 15 pts(4x7fg); G. Carr 14 pts(5x6fg). Devils 23x65fg (9x31 2nd half), 2x19 3s), 13x21ft. R. Buckmon 19 pts(8x16fg, 2x7 3s); B. Cooper 5 assts

[Cards7580]

the Cards of Plattsburgh  87 
Da Bears of Potsdam   78

The only SUNYAC home team to win today.   
12-0 in conference.

[magicman]

Just back from the Plattsburgh-Potsdam game played before a packed house at Memorial Hall in Pburgh. Back and forth first half with largest lead by either team only 6 pts. Bears with a push near the end to grab a 31-29 edge.  More of the same for the first 8 mins. of the 2nd period when Cards begin to assert themselves. Open up a 4 pt lead and extend it to 8 at 56-48 with 8:30 remaining. A.Williams and C. Ruiz fuel the Cards and extend lead to 12 with 5 mins and then by 15 with 3:45 left to play. Potsdam started the foul parade with the score 68-53. 44 points scored in last 3 1/2 mins for the final of 87-78. Williams with only 2 pts at the half hit for 24 in the 2nd to end up with 26pts. 3assists and 2 steals. Travis Gorham with another huge night off the boards finished with 19 pts. and 14 rebounds. Khylan Hunt grabbed 15 rebounds to go with 9 pts. Chris Ruiz hit for 11 pts off the bench and Errol Daniyan had 8 pts. and 8 rebounds also off the bench. Potsdam was led by Damon Brown with 20 pts. 7 boards and 5 assists, followed by Alvin Dike with 19 pts. and 8 boards. Brandon Siskavich returning to his hometown area chipped in with 13 pts. and 9 rebounds off the bench.

Nationally ranked at # 13 in the D3hoops top 25 poll Plattsburgh wins it's 12th game in a row and remains undefeated in SUNYAC play with a 12-0 record. They up their overall record to 19-2 and should move up a  notch or two as the 13th ranked team Puget Sound suffered their 4th defeat on Fri. eve.

[scooterman]

Magic--How many can the Burg facility accomodate? I heard 1000 spectators-- is that correct? If it is they should move the SUNYAC playoffs to a larger facility. There should be a minimum to host--That's my thoughts--Not Utica as in past because too big for amount of spectators. Another SUNY campus. Closer to the Burg seeing how they are the NO1 seed.

[Cards7580]

Excuse me, but Tuttle Gym in Brockport is said to seat 2000 people and there is NO WAY it was 1/2 full for last year's final. Even with the 100+ Plattsburgh fans who came from many miles away to watch the victorious Cardinals REPEAT as SUNYAC champions.    If Potsdam and/or Oswego get to the SUNYAC Final four there may be a shortage of seats, but I doubt that Brockport and Cortland fans are going to make the trip. 

IF any place deserves to host that tournament it is the #1 seed, the #1 team in the league and the two time champions.  And if the seating in Memorial hall is only listed as 1000, than the seating at St John Fisher is less than that.  However St John Fisher lists their gym as having a capacity of 1200.   I think Memorial hall has somewhere closer to 1200 or 1500 S.R.O. 

[magicman]

Magic--How many can the Burg facility accomodate? I heard 1000 spectators-- is that correct? If it is they should move the SUNYAC playoffs to a larger facility. There should be a minimum to host--That's my thoughts--Not Utica as in past because too big for amount of spectators. Another SUNY campus. Closer to the Burg seeing how they are the NO1 seed.

scooterman,

Memorial hall is listed on the D3hoops Plattsburgh page as holding 1000 and that's probably pretty close. It was packed on Sat. night against Potsdam and they were turning people away. I tried to guess while I was there what the actual capacity was and I think it's probably closer to 1100, give or take a few.

Cards, they didn't allow any standing room at the game on Sat. so I don't think that's an option. Believe me one of the coaches left tickets for his brother and he had to fight to get in even though I had saved him some seats.

But back to the gym size. Stevens is probably going to host the Empire 8 tournament and their gym is listed on the D3hoops page as only holding 1000. Fisher's gym which hosted the E8 finals and the NCAA's last year, including the round of 16 on the 2nd weekend of the tournament also has a listed capacity of 1000. These teams won't and didn't switch to a larger venue.

There is absolutely no way a team that has played on their home court all year and earned the top seed is going to change sites just to accomodate a larger crowd. After all your home court wouldn't be your home court if you switched buildings. Part of the game is knowing the background of your building, your rims, your floor, your backboards. All of these factors make the home court advantage what it is. And believe me in no other sport, in my opinion, is the home advantage as large as that in basketball. Why would we want to give that up? There has been talk on these boards of moving the games to our much larger field house. But we don't play or practice there, so basically we would be giving up what we worked so hard to attain. Can you at least follow me on this?
And they tried holding the tournament in a central location and we all saw how that worked out. It sucked. That's why they went back to the top seed's place. Cards7580 is right. There won't be that many fans making the long trip up here to see the semis and finals. So if you're coming up arrive 35 minutes before game time and you'll be fine.

One last note. Moving the playoff site is probably never going to work because it would have to be a neutral site if you are not going to reward the top seed. And if the site where the games are played doesn't have a local team(and it wouldn't be a neutral site if it did) you won't draw the crowds to come and watch the games. That was part of the problem at Utica. It wasn't a neutral site but the home team was rarely in the final 4 and consequently the place was empty.

[thebear]

Saturday night, the Plattsburgh paper listed 912 as the attendance for the Potsdam-Plattsburgh game, as described it as a sold-out gym.  SRO, I would say they can hold (not seat) 1,000.

Memorial Hall is a 1960's SUNY facility, very similar to the "old gyms" at many of the campuses.

Plattsburgh had Stafford built in the early 70's, same time as Maxcy.  They were already starting hockey and made the financial decision to build a larger arena, but make their large BB facility the field house at Stafford, with moveable bleachers and a rubber floor (still there 35 years later, and not safe for big fast athletes of any sex to play a game on)

In 75-76, when they were SUNYAC Champs and made it to the final four, they moved their home games back to Memorial, since they rarely drew huge crowds except for Potsdam and Albany (traditional rivals).

The remaining top seeds in the SUNYAC, Brockport, Oswego, & Cortland all have gyms two to three times the size of Plattsburgh, but if Plattsburgh has an undefeated regular season, they have earned the right to host.

You are right about Eddie Jachim walking every inch of the floor dribbling a basketball at Memorial to locate the dead spots.  What is it John Wooden always said, "failing to prepare is preparing to fail".

That's why Eddie's team won a national championship in overtime on the other team's home floor.

[slickyquick]

Playing on your own floor is a huge advantage for the playoffs. Plattsburgh's gym might seem like a high school gym but at the same time it makes for a great atmosphere, that many other gyms can't do. Ask any of the players, would they prefer a dead and empty Utica Aud or Memorial Gym at Plattsburgh. The clear answer would be Plattsburgh even though they wouldn't want to drive there.

It is pretty sad that the SUNYAC thought the Utica Aud, which hadn't made a renovation since the movie Slapshot, was hosting their tournament. Even SUNYIT's gym was a better atmosphere.

[Cards7580]

Potsdam fans of old would have been proud.

I caught the first half of Wagner vs Quinnipiac on TV tonight.
The Q band was playing during a missed Wagner foul shot and Mike Deane was
screaming at the officials through the 2nd MADE foul shot and before the ball was
in play.    Then during the next Quinippiac foul shot that was missed you could
hear Mike yell "Where's the band now"  or something to that affect.   

The announcers even talked about the seat belted chair he was using earlier
in the season.  They were cracking up while Mike was "being Mike".   

Gotta love his passion.

[thebear]

Yeah - I'm busting a gut watching him, gotta love him, even if he is certifiable.

[scooterman]

I like Oxybob's rating system--if the season were to end today it looks like the Burg and Bport would both get in. Hopefully they both win out and play in the championship for the SUNY's--That would be a great game even in the Hall. Both would represent the East well.

[magicman]

I like Oxybob's rating system--if the season were to end today it looks like the Burg and Bport would both get in. Hopefully they both win out and play in the championship for the SUNY's--That would be a great game even in the Hall. Both would represent the East well.

I think you mean pabegg's rating system, don't you. He's the poster who put up the Pool C rankings on the Multi-Regional board. He's got Plattsburgh at #3 and Brockport at #31. I hope he's right. He said the real rankings will be out on Wednesday. He sure put a lot of time and effort into his rankings. And it will be a great game, most likely a replay of Jan. 26th. I hope!

[magicman]

Wagner win's in OT over Quinnipiac 82-70. Deane's team now 10-2 in the conference  plays at 11-2 Sacred Heart on Thursday for a share of 1st place. Robert Morris also 10-2 needs to lose to Central Connecticut Thurs. and Mike's team will be in 1st all by themselves. Crunch time for the top seed will most likely be determined on Feb. 23rd when Wagner travels to Robert Morris for the only meeting between these two schools. Sure would like to see Mike take a 4th school to the Big Dance. He'd be in pretty elite company if he does. 

[thebear]

It was great to see the old Potsdam out of bounds play still works down the stretch.  You'd a thunk that after nearly 40 years (I first saw it run in 71-72) that someone would remember to defend the center.

The other four coaches who have taken four teams to the D-I Big Dance are:

Eddie Sutton
Lefty Dreisell
Jim Harrick
Rick Pitino

Unfortunately the first three crashed & burned in spectacular fashion.