MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Pretty sure Kevin McMahon who led Cortland to a 3-0 week and scored his 1000th point on Saturday night against Fredonia will be the SUNYAC Player of the Week when they make the announcement today or tomorrow.

Kevin, with a monster game against Buffalo State on Friday, had 35 points and 11 rebounds. He also added 4 assists and 3 steals. For the 3 game week Kevin had 63 points and 31 rebounds with 8 assists, 6 steals and a block. He shot 20x38 from the field (52.6%) 1x3 from long distance (33.3%) and 20x28 from the line (71.4%).

He's been an important part of the Red Dragons since his freshman season when he started 10 of the 20 games he played in. To date he has now started in 63 of the 90 games he's been a part of and has started every game since the beginning of last season. He has not only scored 1003 points but has amassed almost 600 rebounds (588 to be exact) and will surpass that milestone in the next game or two.


John Ivy would have to be 1st runnerup for POTW. His 32 point, 8 rebound game on Saturday against Plattsburgh along with his 26 point output on Friday at Potsdam normally would merit the weekly honor. Doing it in a week that McMahon reached such an important milestone will probably mean he will have to do it again another week. I fully well expect him to do so, just not against my Cardinals if you don't mind.     

[magicman]

A new D3hoops Top 25 poll was released early Tuesday morning and once again there is no East Region team in the Top 25. Brockport State, the most likely candidate and holding down a Top Ten ranking from Ken Massey's computer ratings (where they are ranked #7 in the nation) comes up short again as they pick up a measly 9 extra votes from last week. The total of 40 points for the Golden Eagles moved them from the 31st position into the 28th position. I emailed Coach Dunne on Monday afternoon to say that I didn't think it would happen this week but if they went 3-0 in their games tonight and over the weekend, that they would probably crack the top 25 next week. The voters continue to put teams with 3 and 4 losses who have been in and out of the top 25 ahead of Brockport. I have the Eagles at #8 in my poll.

NYU returned to the Others Receiving Votes category with 10 points and the #37 spot. Several voters had Oswego in 25th place or 1 voter had them in 24th place as the Lakers get a mention with 2 points.  No other East Region team was the recipient of any votes.   

[magicman]

As expected the SUNYAC's latest entrant into the 1000 point club, Kevin McMahon has been selected as  the SUNYAC's Player of the Week. We gave Kevin plenty of ink yesterday so here's the quote from the YAC website.

"McMahon averaged 21 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and two steals per game during a 3-0 week for the Red Dragons. He scored a career-high 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists in a 102-91 win over Buffalo State Friday. On Saturday, he reached the career 1,000-point plateau during a 15-point, 11-rebound effort in a 76-54 win versus Fredonia."

[Bengalsrule]

Congrats to Kevin. A well deserved honor!

[Pat Coleman]

A new D3hoops Top 25 poll was released early Tuesday morning and once again there is no East Region team in the Top 25. Brockport State, the most likely candidate and holding down a Top Ten ranking from Ken Massey's computer ratings (where they are ranked #7 in the nation) comes up short again as they pick up a measly 9 extra votes from last week. The total of 40 points for the Golden Eagles moved them from the 31st position into the 28th position. I emailed Coach Dunne on Monday afternoon to say that I didn't think it would happen this week but if they went 3-0 in their games tonight and over the weekend, that they would probably crack the top 25 next week. The voters continue to put teams with 3 and 4 losses who have been in and out of the top 25 ahead of Brockport. I have the Eagles at #8 in my poll.

NYU returned to the Others Receiving Votes category with 10 points and the #37 spot. Several voters had Oswego in 25th place or 1 voter had them in 24th place as the Lakers get a mention with 2 points.  No other East Region team was the recipient of any votes.   

When reading your posts last week I looked at Brockport and while they don't have any bad losses, I wasn't sure which of their wins would make them worthy of consideration.

[Bear Fan]

I guess that, based on Pat's rationale of not having any/many wins worthy of consideration, we should get used to not seeing Brockport getting much recognition as only NYU and Oswego seem to be in the worthy category in the East.  I know Magic will provide a more rational argument on this but it just seems strange to me, as I have been quietly lurking for a while, how the Yac is winning games out of conference and building up the strength of schedule and even showing great strides in Massey but still not cracking the rankings.  No disrespect meant with this question Pat as I would like an appraisal of how the SUNYAC can go about becoming more worthy on the national scene?  I admit I do not understand the politics of this and would like to know and, who knows, it might spark further discourse. 

As an aside, Brockport was fun to watch and I think this team rivals other Port teams that have gone far in past tournaments!   

[scooterman]

I agree with Bear. How can the SUNYAC do so well out of conference and still get no respect from the East, unless it is a good win; which includes only NYU and Oswego(I guess). It doesn't make much sense to me but would be nice to have an explanation. Thanks--Keep winning Bport

[bports]

Any win away from home is a good win and Brockport has more of those than anyone. I would also consider there win at Plattsburgh a very good win. Has any team in the top 25 not played a home game yet ? Doubt it !!  Plattburgh would probably beat a third of the top 25 in Plattsburgh !! Sunyac is a very good conference this year!! 

[Pat Coleman]

Coaching cliches aside, yeah, lost of wins away from home, but it's not like they're winning at any Top 25 teams. They lost to the only Top 25 team they played.

Yes, considering most of the Top 25 would have to get in a plane and then on a bus to get to Plattsburgh, I suspect some of them might indeed lose there. Not really a relevant measure. True road games: at St. Lawrence (4-6), Medaille (5-8), Potsdam (2-9) and one impressive win at Plattsburgh which is probably why they have 40 points in the first place. And if voters knew more about who Roberts Wesleyan was, maybe that would help, too. But it's not like they're completely being ignored -- 28th out of 400 teams is a pretty high number.

[magicman]

Forgot there were games on tap tonight as I've been busy writing another post

Time for some quick picks


New Paltz State   at  Oswego State   8:00 PM

Lakers will win this one 74-65


Buffalo State at   Geneseo State  8:00 PM

Scared of the Bengals on the road. Hope I'm wrong but I think the Knights take this one 89-85



Oneonta State  at  Cortland State    8:00 PM

Red Dragons vs Red Dragons Hmmm I'll take the home variety. Cortland in a close one 73-70


Fredonia State  at  Brockport State   8:00 PM

Brockport wins big 90-60

[magicman]

Coaching cliches aside, yeah, lots of wins away from home, but it's not like they're winning at any Top 25 teams. They lost to the only Top 25 team they played.

Yes, considering most of the Top 25 would have to get in a plane and then on a bus to get to Plattsburgh, I suspect some of them might indeed lose there. Not really a relevant measure. True road games: at St. Lawrence (4-6), Medaille (5-8), Potsdam (2-9) and one impressive win at Plattsburgh which is probably why they have 40 points in the first place. And if voters knew more about who Roberts Wesleyan was, maybe that would help, too. But it's not like they're completely being ignored -- 28th out of 400 teams is a pretty high number.

Pat,
I understand where you're coming from and I'm glad you feel the win at Plattsburgh was impressive because it was. And yes, Brockport doesn't have any wins against a Top 25 team. However, it's not like we can play several teams in our conference that are consistently ranked in the Top 25 like the CCIW, WIAC UAA, ODAC, and NESCAC teams can do. Every year those conferences or most of them have multiple teams in the Top 25. That makes it quite easy to play a ranked team at least twice a year if only one team is ranked but in these conferences with 3 or even 4 teams ranked you can play a host of games against Top 25 teams. Just this year for instance in week #1, which was several weeks after the preseason poll came out, the CCIW had 4 teams ranked and the NESCAC had 3 teams. I realize conference play hadn't started at that point but still these teams get national recognition that continues to carry over among the voters and now 6 weeks later when the teams are in the thick of conference play, the CCIW still has 3 teams in the Top 25 and so does the NESCAC. Easy to face Top 25 teams when you have 3 in your backyard.

Let's look at this from the standpoint of 2 teams. Brockport State and Bowdoin. The SUNYAC team is 8-1 and hasn't played a home game yet. 5 road games and 4 on a neutral court. Resume strong points for the Golden Eagles... a double overtime loss at #17 SUNY-Purchase (only the 2nd game of the season for Port, the 5th game for Purchase). A win at then 8-2 Plattsburgh ranked fairly high by Massey (#18) but unranked, along with every team in the East region in the D3hoops poll. Massey ranks Brockport at #7 in the country with a SOS that is the 45th toughest schedule in all of D3. 5 of Brockport's 9 games were against teams with winning records.

Bowdoin from the NESCAC conference is 12-0. The Polar Bears have been a pleasant surprise in the NESCAC and, for the time being, have supplanted Middlebury in the top 3 of that conference. They have 7 home wins, 4 road  wins, and 1 on a neutral court. Resume strong points... 66-54  home win over a Babson team that was 4-0 at the time. Babson wasn't ranked at the time and isn't ranked now but their brief inclusion in the Top 25 helps Bowdoin's image. None of the other 11 games they have played give any indication that they merit inclusion into the Top 25 any more than Brockport, but yet, they are there and have moved up from their previous postion by beating 3 mediocre teams in the past week. Of Bowdoins 12 wins, only 5 have come against teams with a winning record. Massey ranks Bowdoin at #18 with a SOS of #251, quite a bit easier that Brockport's.


So Bowdoin still hasn't beaten a team in the Top 25 just like Brockport, but they did beat a team, on their home court, that later was in the Top 25, briefly. Brockport lost to a Top 25 team on the road in double OT, and that result makes me think that if SUNY Purchase traveled up to Brockport, that Port would probably win that game by 6 to 10 points. The lack of a home and home with Purchase prevents that of course. And with no team in the SUNYAC ranked, they won't face another Top 25 opponent for the rest of the year. Sounds like Catch 22. Unranked because you don't have a Top 25 win. Can't get a Top 25 win because it's impossible to play anyone in the Top 25.

Bowdoin, playing in a conference with 3 ranked schools, has several chances to play Top 25 teams. The first chance will be their very next game as they travel to Williams on Jan. 17th and  then Amherst a bit later on. The other conferences I mentioned with multiple ranked teams have it even better than a team like Bowdoin, as those conferences play double round robins and face the ranked teams twice. An unranked team like North Central or Carthage in the CCIW, can and probably will, play a game against 6 Top 25 teams and if they have a nice run make it into the rankings even with 4 losses this early.

I guess I'm a bit of a believer of the, spread the wealth philosophy. I'd rather see some teams that rarely get mentioned but are having that one nice season that comes around every so often, get their moment in the sun. It normally doesn't take long to weed out those teams that are undeserving.  I understand where the voters are coming from with the same teams in the polls year after year, but when some of those teams falter a bit, and don't appear as strong as usual then give someone else with a decent resume a shot.

I also in no way was attempting to belittle Bowdoin. They just happened to be a team that fit the bill for the comparison I wanted to make. Do I think they belong in the Top 25?   Absolutely! In fact in my Posters' Poll, that I turned in to the Head Pollster, before the new Top 25 D3 poll came out, I had Bowdoin ranked in 19th place. The same position as the D3 poll.

The difference was I had Brockport ranked as well and I put them a spot below where Mr. Massey has them, in the 8th position.

As I stated last week and as Bear Fan and scooterman posted today the SUNYAC has done very well out of conference this year. Our record in the non-con portion of our schedule, which is complete,  is 44-26 (.629) and includes a winning record over all the power conferences we played. Only 6 other conferences in D3 have a higher winning percentage than we do and our SOS was rated as the 16th best out of the 40+ conferences.

bports posted that Plattsburgh would probably beat a third of the Top 25 in Plattsburgh. I have to disagreee with him. I think we'd beat at least half of the Top 25 in Plattsburgh.

A coach I know mentioned to me today that our non-con schedule not only was very good this year but that of our 70 OOC games we had to play 47 of them on the road. That was a stat that I wasn't aware of as I had never looked it up. He further brought up the fact that there probably wasn't a conference in the country that had that disparity along with a winning percentage as high as ours. Teams in our conference struggle to get teams to come to our gyms. Everyone wants us to come to their tournament but when we ask them to reciprocate they won't do it. One coach has told me no one wants to come to his house and he can almost never have more home games than road games. Another coach pointed out that Rochester had 18 home games last year and that was more than he gets in 2 years.
   

[magicman]

Halftime scores in the YAC

Geneseo 40 Buffalo State 34
Gordon Lyons with 16, Devon Anderson with 8 and Connor Fedge with 6 for the Knights.
Jordan Glover with 13 and Justin Mitchell with 10 for the Bengals. No Rod Epps for Buffalo State in the first half?



Brockport 49 Fredonia 13
John Ivy with a ton,,, Fredonia with none.... to speak of



New Paltz 31 Oswego 28
Taylor Sowah and Nick Taldi leading the Hawks.  Kyle Covley and Rashawn Powell top the Lakers.



Cortland  33 Oneonta 32
Kevin McMahon high for Cortland's Dragons and Mikey McElroy leading the Oneonta variety

[magicman]

Some interesting finishes coming up.

Cortland and Oswego both trailing at home

[magicman]

Crunch time at Cortland

65-65

37 seconds left Cortland with the ball coming out of a time out.

Home Red Dragons turn it over with 18 seconds to go and Oneonta misses a 3 pointer at the buzzer by Dan Lee.

Bonus Basketball in Cortland coming up

[magicman]

Oneonta in 3 possessions has two 3 pointers.

Cortland has yet to score and down 71-65.

Cortland is going to lose to the invading Red dragons from Oneonta  as they trail 73-66 with 55 seconds to go. That's a big upset.