MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

The new D3hoops Top 25 poll came out last night and Brockport State has moved back up the ladder jumping 5 spots to #11 with 333 points. Last week they were #16 with 199 points. The #11 spot is the highest that the team has been ranked all season.

Plattsburgh State who lost in the Championship game of the SUNYAC tournament to Brockport by a 57-56 score moved from #30 to #29 and received 35 points in the Others Receiving Votes category. Last week they were #30 and had 20 points.

Geneseo State lost all the love they had after losing in the YAC semifinals. Last week they had 17 points this week they were down to a single point.

The Massey Ratings were just updated after the weekend's playoff games.

Brockport checks in with a #7 ranking and a SOS of 45.

Plattsburgh is ranked in the #11 spot with a SOS of 32.

Geneseo is  listed at #31 with an SOS of  71.

Pretty good stuff for the 3 SUNYAC leaders.

[magicman]

The SUNYAC All Conference awards were announced 30 minutes ago and there were few surprises among those honored. I told a certain Bengals supporter the other day who would win the top honors and who would be on the first team. I managed to get them all correct. It's pretty sad that the SUNYAC press release can't spell Brandon Caruthers name correctly. I'll try and email them to correct it.

Congratulations to all the players and Coach Dunne on a great year.  There is at least another 15-20 players who didn't make this list who had outstanding seasons as well.

Here's the complete press release from the SUNYAC website:   


The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) is proud to announce this year's Men's Basketball Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, and All-Conference teams for the 2013-14 season. These awards were voted on by the men's basketball conference coaches.

John Ivy was named the Player of the Year for this season even though he was injured with two games left in the regular season.  John Ivy is a senior guard who helped the Brockport Eagles finish first in the Conference with a record of 24-3 overall and 16-2 in the conference. Up until the injury Ivy was the leading scorer of the SUNYAC conference averaging 22.2 points per game. Ivy also shot 46.6% from the field, and 87.8% from the free throw line. Ivy will be graduating in the spring with a degree in Sports Management.

SUNY Oneonta Red Dragon freshman Mikey McElroy was awarded Rookie of the Year after a great season. McElroy Played in 25 games and started all 25 as he averaged 16.3 points per game. He also had 24 steals, 131 rebounds, and 57 assists.  McElroy is studying Criminal Justice at Oneonta.

Greg Dunne of Brockport was awarded Coach of the Year for the 2013-14 season. He helped lead the Brockport Golden Eagles win the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament for the eighth time in the school's history. This is their first championship since the 2008-09 season as they made an unbelievable come from behind victory over SUNY Plattsburgh 57-56. The Golden Eagles came back from twelve points down with only 15:38 remaining in the second half. The win in the championship solidified an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament where Brockport will be able to host the first and second round of the tournament because of their success this season. Dunne is in his seventh season as Head Coach for Brockport and has made the SUNYAC Tournament all seven seasons. This is Dunne's second championship he has won with Brockport and will hope to continue that trend for years to come.


2013-14 Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams (PDF)


First Team       
Name School Position Year Height Weight Hometown
John Ivy Brockport G Sr. 6--1 185 Rochester, NY
Justin Mitchell Buffalo State F Sr. 6--5 200 Buffalo, NY
Kevin McMahon Cortland F/C Sr. 6--6 210 Hoosick Falls, NY
Gordon Lyons Geneseo F Jr. 6--5 205 Amherst, NY
Daniel Ross Oswego G/F Sr. 6--2 210 Syracuse, NY
       
Second Team       
Name School Position Year Height Weight Hometown
Brandon Caruthers Brockport G Sr. 5--9 165 Rochester, NY  *Edit...SUNYAC fixed the spelling after they got my Email. Yay!
Zach Mager Oneonta G Jr. 6--2 N/A New City, NY
Shavar Fields Plattsburgh F Sr. 6--6 205 Albany, NY
Chris Manning Plattsburgh G Sr. 6--0 185 Baldwin, NY
John Perez Plattsburgh G Sr. 6--3 190 Haverstraw, NY
       
Thrid Team       
Name School Position Year Height Weight Hometown
Tyrone Clark Fredonia  G/F Sr. 6--4 170 Elmira, NY
Connor Fedge Geneseo F Jr. 6--5 205 Amherst, NY
Mikey McElroy Oneonta F So. 6--3 N/A Saratoga Springs, NY
Brian Sortino Oswego  G Fr. 6--2 170 Fairport, NY
Shamoy McIntosh Plattsburgh G Jr. 6--2 180 Floral Park, NY
       
Player of the Year John Ivy Brockport   
Rookie of the Year Mikey McElroy  Oneonta     
Coach of the Year Greg Dunne    Brockport

[magicman]

The final SUNYAC Player of the Week award was announced today and Brockport's Brandon Caruthers was the recipient of the honor. Brandon was the MVP of the SUNYAC tournament over the weekend so it's not a surprise that he grabbed the final POTW award. Not having his high school teammate, John Ivy, in the Brockport backcourt with him as he has for the past two years has put even more accountability on Brandon's shoulders. Congratulations to him for leading the team to the Championship. Here's the writup from the SUNYAC website. At least they spelled his name correctly in this release.



Brandon Caruthers, Brockport
Rochester, NY / East

Brandon Caruthers helped lead his team to an amazing 57-56 come from behind victory over Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC Championship game. Caruthers hit a free throw with two seconds remaining to give Brockport its first lead and the eventual win. He led the team with 16 points. On Friday, Caruthers was key in a second half run that helped the Golden Eagles break away from Oswego for a semi-final win. For his relentless hard work during the tournament, Caruthers was named the SUNYAC Tournament MVP.



 

[magicman]

It was nice to see 4 of my Plattsburgh State Cardinals recognized on the All Conference teams. When discussing these awards last week with Coach Curle we both agreed that none of the Cardinals would make the 1st team, even though we thought that some of them should. None of our players had the big scoring numbers that the  players on he 1st team had. Instead we had so much balance on the team that it was hard to pick our outstanding player. Nine different Cardinal players led the team in scoring, during a game, this season. That is an amazing statistic and one that you'll be hard pressed to find at any level of basketball. Many teams don't even have 9 guys hit the scoring column in a game.

So my Cardinals didn't get any on the first team but they had twice as many players as any other team on the All Conference list. Congratulations to John Perez, Chris Manning, Shamoy McIntosh and Shavar Fields for a great year. You were all First Teamers in my book. The enjoyment I received watching you four and all the Cardinal players this year helped get me through this long, cold, nasty winter. Hopefully there is a few more enjoyable days as the NCAA's bring my guys back home for at least one more game. Really happy for John Perez who missed last year's Big Dance with an injury. Now, in his  senior year, he will finally get to play in the NCAA tournament and do so in front of the home crowd. Great way to cap a career.  GO CARDS!!       

[NYHOOPS8]

I really like Plattsburgh's chances getting out of their pod and into the Sweet 16. Brockport should have a tougher 2nd rd matchup with Scranton looming but Brockport has really been playing well lately; even without the services of John Ivy.  Geneseo has a tough one against Dickinson in the first round. If they can get by them, Wooster should be waiting for them. Much taller task for Geneseo than their SUNYAC counterparts.

[Hugenerd]

Magic, how do you see the matchup with MIT? I admittedly don't know much about Plattsburgh, but a cursory review of stats reveals a heavy dependence on guard play.  In complete contrast, MIT only starts one player under 6'6" (starting lineup goes 5'11", 6'6", 6'8", 6'8", 6'8") and they have another 6'8" and two 6'10" guys who have seen regular action in the rotation recently (their other guard sub is 6'3").  That size has a lot to do with why MIT leads the country in scoring defense and is top 10 in rebounding margin.  They had some mid-season losses as the roster was a bit in flux, but the rotation seams to be locked down now and the team has been playing well recently.

Would you, or anyone else who watches D3 closely and has seen both teams (maybe one of the d3hoops guys), provide any insight?

[magicman]

Magic, how do you see the matchup with MIT? I admittedly don't know much about Plattsburgh, but a cursory review of stats reveals a heavy dependence on guard play.  In complete contrast, MIT only starts one player under 6'6" (starting lineup goes 5'11", 6'6", 6'8", 6'8", 6'8") and they have another 6'8" and two 6'10" guys who have seen regular action in the rotation recently (their other guard sub is 6'3").  That size has a lot to do with why MIT leads the country in scoring defense and is top 10 in rebounding margin.  They had some mid-season losses as the roster was a bit in flux, but the rotation seams to be locked down now and the team has been playing well recently.

Would you, or anyone else who watches D3 closely and has seen both teams (maybe one of the d3hoops guys), provide any insight?

Hugenerd,

Welcome to my world,
I missed you on the boards this year. I read some of your recent posts on other boards and see that you've moved, I believe, and have some young one(s)? now, that take up much of the time you used to spend on D3. Understandable... the kids have to come first. Are you still doing research work ?

The MIT-Plattsburgh matchup should be the size of MIT against the speed and athleticism of Plattsburgh. The Cardinals have been at a height disadvantage for a good many of their games this year but that hasn't stopped them from winning the rebounding battle or at least not losing it by much. They have players that can get to the rim and also have an abundance of 3 point shooters. Nine different players have led the team in scoring so it's hard to concentrate on any particular player or players. The team is comprised of unselfish guys who don't care who scores and they work hard getting the ball to the guy who's hot that night. Plattsburgh can score inside and has done so effectively. One of our guards is really a forward and usually jumps center. Another forward/guard only 6'2" can leap out of the building and I guarantee you he will out jump the big guys on MIT.  

The All Conference team was released today for the SUNYAC and of the 15 players on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams the Cardinals had 4 players grab year end honors. No one from Plattsburgh made the 1st team because we didn't have a 20 ppg scorer Instead we had a bunch of 10 to 15 ppg scorers.  3 players made the 2nd team and 1 player made the 3rd team. The guy that made the 3rd team was the leading scorer on the team for most of the season until a knee injury slowed him down a bit over the past 6 games. No other SUNYAC team had more than 2 players make the All Conference selections.       

MIT seems to be heating up at the right time and their run through the NEWMAC playoffs was impressive. There was no way this team was going to the Dance unless they got the automatic bid and they obviously were up to the challenge.

I'm expecting a great game between two programs that have excelled in the past 8 years or so. It will be webcast with very good quality so you can watch it online from West Virginia and you won't miss much. The announcers will be professionals, not students, and the picture is as good as any I've seen. They've even had instant replay on occasion. If there is no link to the game on D3hoops front page or scoreboard, go to the Plattsburgh website using this link:

http://www.gocardinalsports.com/index.aspx?tab=basketball&path=mbball

The video link and live stats link will be right there on the page that comes up. It's already up there as I type this.  Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

[bearnation]

No Bears on any of the all conference teams.  I guess 5 win season are the norm for the once mighty.  I thought about a decade ago when we returned to NCAA that great things would return to Maxcy Hall,  Oh how wrong I was.  We have won 32% of our games since the last run in the NCAA tournament.  With no season over 500 in any of those years.  We can't even find a player good enough to make an all conference team.  So So sad for the once mighty.  May our ship one day sail again until then I wish the rest of the SUNYAC much luck.

[Hugenerd]

Hugenerd,

Welcome to my world,
I missed you on the boards this year. I read some of your recent posts on other boards and see that you've moved, I believe, and have some young one(s)? now, that take up much of the time you used to spend on D3. Understandable... the kids have to come first. Are you still doing research work ?

I actually moved about 2.5 years back and have had the young ones for a while (3 and 7), but the main thing that has changed is work load.  A lot more flexibility as a grad student and post doc at MIT. I work in R&D at a pharma company and am leading a group now, in addition to doing research myself, so it takes up a good deal of time.

The MIT-Plattsburgh matchup should be the size of MIT against the speed and athleticism of Plattsburgh. The Cardinals have been at a height disadvantage for a good many of their games this year but that hasn't stopped them from winning the rebounding battle or at least not losing it by much. They have players that can get to the rim and also have an abundance of 3 point shooters. Nine different players have led the team in scoring so it's hard to concentrate on any particular player or players. The team is comprised of unselfish guys who don't care who scores and they work hard getting the ball to the guy who's hot that night. Plattsburgh can score inside and has done so effectively. One of our guards is really a forward and usually jumps center. Another forward/guard only 6'2" can leap out of the building and I guarantee you he will out jump the big guys on MIT.

Without seeing anyone on Plattsburgh play, I would agree with you on everyone except for Matt Redfield. He is averaging about a dunk a game, inlcuding a couple pretty emphatic dunks in the NEWMAC championship game. He may not look like it, but he can jump out of the gym, is 6'8" with long arms (he is also around the top 25 in the country in blocks).

The All Conference team was released today for the SUNYAC and of the 15 players on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams the Cardinals had 4 players grab year end honors. No one from Plattsburgh made the 1st team because we didn't have a 20 ppg scorer Instead we had a bunch of 10 to 15 ppg scorers.  3 players made the 2nd team and 1 player made the 3rd team. The guy that made the 3rd team was the leading scorer on the team for most of the season until a knee injury slowed him down a bit over the past 6 games. No other SUNYAC team had more than 2 players make the All Conference selections.       

MIT seems to be heating up at the right time and their run through the NEWMAC playoffs was impressive. There was no way this team was going to the Dance unless they got the automatic bid and they obviously were up to the challenge.

I'm expecting a great game between two programs that have excelled in the past 8 years or so. It will be webcast with very good quality so you can watch it online from West Virginia and you won't miss much. The announcers will be professionals, not students, and the picture is as good as any I've seen. They've even had instant replay on occasion. If there is no link to the game on D3hoops front page or scoreboard, go to the Plattsburgh website using this link:

http://www.gocardinalsports.com/index.aspx?tab=basketball&path=mbball

The video link and live stats link will be right there on the page that comes up. It's already up there as I type this.  Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thanks for the information, looking forward to (hopefully) watching the game.

[Bengalsrule]

I am glad to see that 3 YAC squads made it and that 2 are hosting. I agree with prediction that Bport and Pburg will advance. Everybody is 0-0 and I hope some YAC team, preferably my Golden Eagles, can get to 6-0 and bring a Championship home and some REAL respect for the conference. Good luck to all!!!

With all due respect, I would suggest that the SUNYAC which is probably 1 of 6, or less  conferences,  with at least 3 teams in the NCAA's (47 conferences nation wide), has gotten some real respect from those around the country who know this business inside and out. Many of us early on, who keep up with this stuff,  felt that the 'Yac was worthy of 3 or more bids, and the NCAA has just confirmed that. I would suggest that any 'Yac team that advances in the tourney affords the SUNYAC more respect as the tourney goes on. To have anyone of the 3 win it all would definitly add to our reputation. But I sincerely feel that, with 3 bids, we already have earned some REAL RESPECT!

oh and yes...

The YAC is BACK!!

[magicman]

Went up to the college early today as the NCAA tickets went on sale for Friday's and Saturday's games. Waltzed into the college center and asked for tickets for Friday's game. Asked when I could buy tickets for Saturday's game since the Plattsburgh website said they weren't  going to go on sale until Saturday. (I don't always believe what I read) They asked me if I wanted tickets for both days. I said I do indeed, can I buy them for both days right now. They said yes I could, but there are no refunds. I said why would I want a refund? They said well your team might not win on Friday and then they won't be in the game on Saturday, so you may not want to go watch two other teams play. I said I'll take the chance my Cardinals will win and even if they don't I'm still going to watch the game on Saturday.

So I got my tickets. Apparently everyone else was waiting for the magicman to walk through the door and get his tickets. There are 1200 tickets on sale for each day and they are, of course, numbered. The number on my tickets for each day...#1.    

[thebear]

Do feel Bad for Potsdam Senior Rob Duquette.  Came back from two serious injuries to finish 12th in scoring 6th in rebounding, 4th in FG%, Top 20 in FT% playing on a bum leg all year.

8 of ten teams get reps, no love for Bears or NP Hawks.

Good Luck to all three SUNYAC teams this weekend.  Hopefully one of them will bring home the hardware, that was last won by the '85-86 Bears!

[Bengalsrule]

There are 1200 tickets on sale for each day and they are, of course, numbered. The number on my tickets for each day...#1.    

Ladies and gents. Please, by a show of hands, how many are surprised by this?

Ill venture to say that the " happy as a pea in a pod" Magicman was the first person NATIONWIDE to purchase tickets for both days!

[Bengalsrule]

Ps. I'm happy for you dude! You deserve it!

Oh and yea.....

The YAC is BACK!!

[NYHOOPS8]

Ps. I'm happy for you dude! You deserve it!

Oh and yea.....

The YAC is BACK!!

The first aspect of the conference being "back" is set with getting 2 at-large bids. Now, the SUNYAC has to win a few games to earn the respect it should be getting. I think if Brockport can do well even without the services of John Ivy, that can really speak volumes to the level of play in the conference. Im expecting Plattsburgh to get to the sweet 16.