MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Predictions on who wins the league this season?

1st let me welcome a first time visitor to, the SUNYAC boards.  Hope it's not your last.

2nd I think that it's too early to predict a Yac winner , since most teams haven't posted thier rosters ( so you don't know what potentially eligible players didn't return and which ones did return) .

Having said that I'm sure at least 1 SUNYAC regular will predict the Plattsburgh Cards as his pick to walk away with the Yac chip.  I'm sure his reasoning, and others,  will include the return of last years league MVP and all American Jon Patron.  And to be honest, there are probably others within  the Yac family who would also pick the Cards to win it all.  The Cards return most of last years team although most, outside Clinton county, wont shed tears knowing that the Cards #2 and #3 scorers from last year (Eli Bryant, Eric Mack)  along with Zack Coleman will no longer enter the game on the Memorial court floor.

But it's early.  I will say this.  As a BENGALS homer, I'm excited about what I've seen so far at 1300 Elmwood.  Stay tuned Riley056 and Law Firm.  Hopefully you both will be back and stay in touch.In the past we've seen some brief cameos from folks who disappear after thier favorite team fizzles. I know there's a "magical" guy from the north country who would like to get to know you, and your favorite Yac team ( if you have one) and chat it up about, arguably, the best d3 basketball conference in the East region, if not on the east coast!

Stay tuned my friend.  Stay tuned.

Go BENGALS !

Sounds like the "Master Charmer" has extended his warm welcome to Mr. Riley.

However I think Mr. Riley is a fan of the WIAC conference first and foremost but follows D3 around the country. I do hope you come back and visit from time to time. Always welcome here.   

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State's Jon Patron has been named to several preseason All-American teams.

On Wednesday Oct 24th Jon was named to the D3hoops.com preseason All American 2nd Team. He is the only player from the East Region to make the D3hoops preseason teams.

Here is a link to the complete list:  http://www.d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/preseason-2019

Last Wednesday on Oct. 17th Jon was named to the Street & Smith Basketball Magazine Preseason All-American First Team. Three other players from the East region made their honorable mention All American team. Colin Dougherty from Hobart, Edvinas Rupkus from Skidmore, and Tyler Stenglein from Nazareth.

Here is a link to the Street and Smith list:   https://gocardinalsports.com/documents/2018/10/17//HCmbb1819_Street_Smiths.pdf?id=4102

Jon ended last season also making several All American teams.

Jon enters the season with 1316 career points and is in good shape to establish a new all time high for total points in a Cardinal uniform. Former Plattsburgh State player, Anthony Williams, who was also a two time All American (2006-07 and 2007-08)  currently holds the Cardinal scoring record with 1734 points. Jon needs 419 points to break that record and last year scored 498 points while missing 8 games. I believe Jon gets the Cardinal record and will make a run at the 2000 point mark.

[Pat Coleman]

A link to your hard drive won't work, sorry.

[magicman]

Greetings all! Welcome back to another year of what should be some good hoops! Please forgive me I have been out of touch for a while, but fear not I am back and looking forward to the YAC'! Magic Man - can I have your take on who should be the team(s) to beat in the early portion of the year? Bengalsrule, how are the boys looking up there in Buffalo? And to all my other fellow friends with connections to their respective programs, can you provide some insights? Thanks all! Peace and Light

LF

Welcome back, The Law Firm. Hope you hang around for a while longer this year. Should be a very competitive conference as usual with Plattsburgh, Oneonta, Brockport, Cortland and Oswego bringing back a fair amount of talent, from teams that did well last year. That's 5 playoff spots accounted for, so that leaves very little room for the other 5 teams to see post season action in the YAC. One of the next five teams gets the only "Golden Ticket" left. 

Without full rosters posted yet I'll have to make some educated guesses but will do my final rankings as we get closer to opening day.

Your Bengals have many new faces with 4 freshman and what looks like 3 transfers on board. The team doesn't appear to have their big man back, 6'8" Junior Sir.Quintin Campbell. Sophomore forward, Bryan Harrel, who had a decent first year averaging 9 points a game is also missing. Couple that with 2 graduating seniors, both starters, All Conference forward Mike Henry and guard Malik Turner and the Bengals come up a bit short in the returning points category. Over 50 points of their 78 ppg average has left the building. It's not like the Bengals are coming off a great season either as they were down last year, so I think the coaching staff in the Queen City will have their work cut out for them this year in the conference. Coach Ansari has some good assistants, though and I'm sure they went out and found some excellent talent to pump new life into the Bengals. The question will be... how soon can this talent come together to try and grab one of the 6 playoff spots. Returning SUNYAC Rookie of the Year, guard Sheldon Adams, is a good beginning, but he will have to work with a new starting rotation to get the Bengals in the hunt.

Potsdam and New Paltz both showed improvement last year as their new coaches (Coach Bechtel, 2 years ago for Potsdam, and Coach Kenney, last year for New Paltz) began the process of turning these schools back into playoff contenders. I expect both teams to take another step up the ladder. It wouldn't surprise me to see one of these schools make the playoffs for the first time in a number of years.

Fredonia was at the bottom of the conference and they lost 4 of their top 5 scorers so I think they will be down near the bottom once again unless they found some great freshmen or latched onto a a number of solid transfers.

Geneseo was thrown a curve when their 2 All Conference underclassmen Junior Tommy Eastman and Senior Quinn Carey didn't return to the Knights this fall. I believe Cary has transferred to Oswego State, making Coach Leone a happy camper and Eastman is not in any school this year as far as I know. Geneseo will be hard pressed to return to the playoffs with the loss of these two underclassmen and the graduating seniors that ended their careers.
     
As I mentioned earlier, I'll give my complete rundown once all the schools have posted their rosters, but to keep Mr. Bengaslrule happy  I will let this bird out of the bag  (big bird...small bag)....The Plattsburgh State Cardinals are once again the team to beat. With a circle on their back as large as Target's logo, the Cardinals will have to bring it every night. With the added pressure of everyone getting pumped to give the Cards their best shot, it will be up to Plattsburgh's All-American, Jon Patron and his stellar cast of returning lettermen, to once again rise to the challenge. I'm betting they get it done, but they will have to overcome some very good YAC competition.

The Cardinals did get ranked in the D3hoops Top 25 preseason poll as they check in at #14 with 214 points. They are the only team from the East Region ranked in the Top 25.

In the Others Receiving Votes category, Rochester gets 67 points to put them in the #27 spot and Nazareth with 60 points is #28.

Here's the link to the complete Top 25 Poll:  http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2018-19/preseason

[magicman]

A link to your hard drive won't work, sorry.

Thanks Pat, I fixed it.

[Pat Coleman]

A link to your hard drive won't work, sorry.

Thanks Pat, I fixed it.

Thanks. Was curious to see how many people they included. I see it was 30 to our 25. Makes sense they'd have room for more people.

[Bengalsrule]

I must admit. After "sneaking" into Buff State Sports arena to watch my BENGALS scrimmage a good Hilbert squad (18-9 last season and  returns all but 3 players from last years squad), I'm impressed with what I saw. Yes ITS ONLY A SCRIMMAGE....(just in case someone else feels the need to interject that thought!!! ). But from what I saw Saturday, left me with a feeling that this is a unit that's deep and loves to play together. No Big I's or all about Me but all about team!  Didn't see that kind of TEAM love last year. I am so encouraged especially from the play of....and ... and the penetrating of.. and of.... and the especially the rebounding of.....and...and...! I purposely put "...." because as a BENGALS fan/observer I don't quite know these kids names yet. But I will soon. Trust me!!

Stay tuned

Go BENGALS

[All-Time]

Gentlemen,
It's been a while, hope everyone is well.
Magicman will enjoy another Great season by the Cardinals as Jon Patron will be unstoppable this season.
He deserves all the Pre-Season Accolades. That Dude can play.

I hope the Buffalo State Bengals can finally start to Make BengalsRule a Happy Man. He deserves a Good year as well.

My Oneonta Red Dragons came out of nowhere last year to make it to the Championship Game, and gave the Cardinals all they could handle. Looking for Coach Conover to get this group back and running smoothly for the 2018-19 season.

As always the SUNYAC is one of the toughest conference in the country and this season shouldn't disappoint.

Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Bengalsrule]

Gentlemen,
It's been a while, hope everyone is well.
Magicman will enjoy another Great season by the Cardinals as Jon Patron will be unstoppable this season.
He deserves all the Pre-Season Accolades. That Dude can play.

I hope the Buffalo State Bengals can finally start to Make BengalsRule a Happy Man. He deserves a Good year as well.

My Oneonta Red Dragons came out of nowhere last year to make it to the Championship Game, and gave the Cardinals all they could handle. Looking for Coach Conover to get this group back and running smoothly for the 2018-19 season.

As always the SUNYAC is one of the toughest conference in the country and this season shouldn't disappoint.

Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

All Time. My favorite Oneonta guy!  It's been a while .  Your Red Dragons have had quite a good run in their first two years under Cam.  2 championships, 2 years in a row is a hard act to follow .  I just hope my Bengals can get there this year.   Looking forward to enjoying this Yac season.  Something tells me it's gonna be a wild one.   Hope to cross paths again one day.

I agree.  Yac is top tier hoops and shouldn't disappoint!

Yac is back

Go BENGALS!

[magicman]

It's time to play ball!!

The Brockport Golden Eagles are the lid lifters for the 2018-19 SUNYAC season. They will take on the Medaille Mavericks at 7:00 PM this evening in Brockport.

Brockport has played Medaille 3 times in the past 8 years with the Golden Eagles winning 2 of those games, most recently last year at Medaille where Port won 90-75. Port also won on the last day of 2013 by a score of 66-52. Medaille won 71-68 in the semifinals of the ECAC tournament in 2011. The oddsmakers have listed Brockport as a 10 point favorite in this game.

Medaille and Brockport both return 8 players from last season. They both lost 3 starters. I think the Golden Eagles will win this game but the Mavericks won't be a pushover. I see Brockport winning the YAC's first non-conference game of the season by a final score of 80-73.

Go Brockport!!   

[magicman]

Brockport defeats Medaille 98-91

I had the Golden Eagles winning this one 80-73 thinking the first game of the season might find the shooting percentages on the low side. That wasn't the case as both teams shot well....Medaille- 44.8% fg, 35.3% 3's, and 73.5% ft....Brockport-48.5% fg, 57.1% 3's, 71% ft.  I did hit the 7 point margin of victory right on the money, though.   

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 9-0 lead and managed to stay ahead of the Mavericks by a double digit margin for most of the first half. Medaille wouldn't cave in though and after being down 24-12, came back to make it a single possession game at 33-31 with 5:33 left in the period. A 3 pointer by Montgomery Stromen followed by a pair of treys from Tyler Collins restored the double digit lead as Port kept knocking down their shots from long distance. They were 10x14 in the first half from behind the arc, led by Collins who was 5x5, and breezed into the locker room up 60-47 at the break.

The 2nd period started out much like the first one ended, as Brockport extended the lead to 16 points on several occasions. The Golden Eagles held a double digit lead for more than 11 minutes of the half, but again Medaille wouldn't let Brockport put them away. They cut the lead to 79-72 with 8:39 to play and finally got it down to one possession, trailing 92-89 with 1:31 left in the game, after hitting a pair of free throws. The Mavericks actually had a chance for the tie as Brockport missed on their end but Medaille also came up empty on their possession. Justin Summers grabbed the rebound for the Golden Eagles, was fouled and made both free throws to extend the lead to 5 points. A Medaille miss followed by a turnover sealed their fate as Port hit a few more from the line for the final 7 point margin of victory.

Tyler Collins led all scorers with 31 points (12x19 fg, 5x6 3's, 2x3 ft)and filled up the stat sheet that will have him in the conversation for Player of the Week. Tyler had 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and a pair of blocks in his 35 minutes of court time.

Josh Nelson had 13 points (5x10 fg, 3x6 3's) 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Justin Summers only played 15 minutes due to foul trouble but still had 13 points (3x7 fg, 1x1 3's, 6x6 ft) 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Davonte Jones added 10 points (2x4 fg, 0x1 3's, 6x6 ft), 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 22 minutes off the bench.

Newcomers to the Brockport team, sophomore, Devante Hagins and freshman Danny Ashley, both contributed 8 points. Hagins also had a team high 8 rebounds and added 3 assists. Ashley dished out 3 assists and had 2 steals.

Brockport will return to action when they host the Morrisville State Mustangs on Tuesday November 13th at 7:30 PM.         

[magicman]

Two games on tap today


Nov. 10

Cortland        Elmira

This one should be a win for the Red Dragons but Elmira surprised some YAC teams last year so Cortland better bring their A game. Cortland is favored by 13 points in this one but I think it will be closer than that. Cortland wins 94-89.



Keystone        SUNY Oneonta

Oneonta is a young team that came on strong at the end of last season.  They beat Keystone last year 97-85 and are favored to win this game by a 9 point margin. I think they win it by a baker's dozen...Oneonta 97 Keystone 84.   

[magicman]

Cortland 102   Elmira 94

I said the Red Dragons needed to bring their A game to this matchup and they waited nearly all of the first half before showing they had one. They fell behind by double figures at 18-8, 6 minutes into the game, but started to get things going and cut the margin to 24-22 on a jumper by Nicky Bonura. They inched closer when Zach Lydon made a free throw to trail 30-29, but the Soaring Eagles went on an 18-3 run over the next 5 minutes to go in front 48-32 with 3:36 left in the half. That got the Red Dragons' attention and they responded with a 9-0 spurt to end the half, trailing 48-41.

Cortland wasted little time closing the gap once play resumed as Justin Cooper hit a 3 pointer and Kenny Charles made a layup on the next trip down.Over the next 5 minutes the teams traded baskets until Ryan Schmadel  hit a 3, to put the Red Dragons in front 60-59, for the first time since it was 2-0. Cortland then fell behind 64-60 but outscored Elmira 10-2 to go back in front with 10 minutes left to play. Only two more lead changes would take place as the teams traded baskets. Elmira hit a 3 pointer with 7 minutes to play to go in front 74-73, however it was short lived as Cortland's Mike Arias hit a jumper on their next trip down to regain the lead. The Red Dragons managed to go up by 5 points at 82-77 but Elmira fought back to tie the score with 3:44 remaining. Nicky Bonura then hit a jumper and after Elmira missed their next shot, Bonura buried a 3 pointer to build the lead back to five at 87-82. Elmira missed again, and fouled Zach Lydon, who made both free throws. The lead was 7 and Elmira was running out of time. They needed points but instead turned the ball over to Cortland and Bonura made them pay with another 3 ball, which came off an offensive rebound by Justin Cooper. Cooper had a game high 14 boards, which matched his career best. Now down 10 points, 92-82, with just 1:24 left, meant the foul parade was about to begin. Cortland went 10 for 10 from the line to end the game. I imagine that last 84 seconds must have taken quite a long time. 22 points were scored in the last 69 seconds. That may be the highest point total we'll see in the shortest amount of time, all year!

Both teams shot lights out from the field, from behind the arc and from the line.
Cortland was 35x63 (55.6%) from the field and 16x19 from the line (84.2%) Elmira was 35x69 from the field (50.7%) and 9x9 (100%) from the line

Cortland and Elmira combined to make 31 3 pointers in the game...16x35 for Cortland (45.7%) 15x27 for Elmira (55.6%)                   

Cortland won the rebounding battle 36 to 26 but had 12 turnovers to only 7 for Elmira.

Nicky Bonura took scoring honors for the night with 31 points (11x17 fg, 5x10 3's, 4x5 ft). He added 4 assists and 2 rebounds.

Justin Cooper also had a big night with 23 points (6x10 fg, 2x4 3's, 9x10 ft) and 14 rebounds to get his double-double.

Both Nicky and Justin should be in the mix for the Player of the Week award.

Three other players had double figures for the Red Dragons. Ryan Schmadel had 14 points (5x7 fg, 4x5 3's) with 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Ben Walters came off the bench and scored 12 points in 26 minutes of court time. He took 10 shots, all from downtown and made 4 of them, while dishing out a pair of assists. Zach Lydon had 10 points (3x5 fg, 1x2 3's, 3x4 ft) an assist, a steal and a rebound.

Cortland will be back in action on Tuesday, November 13th when they travel to Staten Island to take on Division I opponent, Wagner College.                     

[Greek Tragedy]

Nice write-ups, magic. I just have to keep reminding myself to come back!

[magicman]

Thanks Greek. Here's one more I was late on getting up.