MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[thebear]

Finally back in the 'dam after an interesting weather weekend in Central NY & the Finger Lakes.

Didn't know if anyone noticed that in the Bears' win at Fredonia, the winning basket was by freshman Tony Efese, who sank a three from beyond half court at the buzzer for the victory.  Brings back memories of another freshman, two time D-III player of the year, Leroy Witherspoon, who sunk a 40 footer at the buzzer against Augustana on their court to tie in regulation in the national championship game in '81.  Bears went on to win their first title in OT.

Much rather have drawn the Lakers and a three hour bus ride, than the Bengals and a six hour trip through the snow belt.

Last game vs. Oswego in Potsdam was competitive, Bears had a chance to tie under a minute, but mishandled for a breakaway layup.

Beating a team three times in a season is always a tough order.  Not a lot of secrets.

That's why they play the games.  I see that Rochester has already clinched an AQ.  Still think the Lakers will host a pod if they win out in the SUNYAC tournament.

[Pat Coleman]

Video?

Does Potsdam have any information sitting around on the 1981 team? We're working on pumping up our annual NCAA Tournament archive pages.

http://www.d3hoops.com/archives/men/1981

[thebear]

I have a bunch.  I'll check around. 

I think we had game film reduced to video tape a few years back. 

I can probably get one of our techies to copy the tape to a digital format.

I have quite a bit of the archived stories from the local papers etc.

There's also a ton of stuff on the '85-87 streak etc.

I'll try to feed it to you as I dig it out.

[Ethelred the Unready]

I have a bunch.  I'll check around. 

I think we had game film reduced to video tape a few years back. 

I can probably get one of our techies to copy the tape to a digital format.

I have quite a bit of the archived stories from the local papers etc.

There's also a ton of stuff on the '85-87 streak etc.

I'll try to feed it to you as I dig it out.

I have a friend who has a copy he keeps threatening to show me, in case you need it

[bearnation]

Its 25 years since the undefeated 86 team and 30 years since the 81 team won in OT.  I wish that I had a copy of either of those games.  I would pay the asking price especially the 86 game in Grand Rapids.  You would think that the college would have done something but it never happened.  Hopefully this years team can make some new memories tomorrow night against Oswego.  They are young but talented.  If they stay together they will be at the top of conference the next couple of years.

[thebear]

Looking at Massey (I know not exactly what the committee looks at, but many of the same criteria)

The East Looks Like this:

Rochester (UAA) - 25th in D-III
Ithaca (E8) 41 in D-III
Oswego (SUNYAC) 53 in D-III
Stevens (E8) 70 in D-III
Hobart (LL) 71 in D-III
RPI (LL) 74 in D-III
Buff State (SUNYAC) 112 in D-III
Skidmore (LL) 120 in D-III

My Take:

AQ - Rochester
Ithaca In
Oswego In
Stevens In (AD on Selection Committee)
Hobart LL Winner In, other team on Bubble
RPI LL Winner In, other team on Bubble

AMCC - Medaille is in 3rd, but PS-Behrend is just over the border, could easily be moved into the East.
NEAC - SUNYIT is the 2 seed, but much better at home than on the road

I think Buff State is a bubble team.  Will need to at least make the SUNYAC finals to get a pool C bid, and that may be a push with the strength of Western New England teams & Keystone & PS-Behrend (close PA teams) in the mix as well. 

Any upset in the conference tournament, some team getting the AQ other than Ithaca/Stevens, Hobart/RPI or Oswego/Buff State further hurts the Bengals chances.

The way the SOS calc works, road losses to sub 500 teams, really kill your SOS rating, and Buff State dropped games to sub .500 Oneonta & New Paltz back in January. 

SUNYAC tourney starts tonight.  GO BEARS

[magicman]

I mentioned on this board weeks ago when "with age" was wondering why Oswego wasn't getting any love in the Top 25 polls that timing is everything. Unfortunately the Lakers were the recipient of bad timing and a schedule that lagged behind a number of other teams. I said if they keep winning they may crack the Top 25 right around the last week of the regular season. And yesterday the new poll came out and look who's sitting in the #24 spot. Way to go Lakers. They jumped over 7 teams as their point total went from 20 to 63. Currently Oswego has the 7th best D3 won-loss record in the country at 22-3 and the Lakers now own the nations longest winning streak that stands at 15 straight. (Salem State in the MASCAC conference has also won 15 straight but with a 19-6 record they only received 1 point in the recent poll.)

Rochester has moved up to #14 in the latest poll and Ithaca has re-entered the poll as they recieved 8 points in the others receiving votes category. No other team from the East region was mentioned.       
   

[magicman]

Tonight's Games

Potsdam State  @    Oswego State      7:00 PM
Laker's fresh off their Top 25 ranking will be too much for the young Bears. Oswego should take this game 75-63. Hope I'm wrong on this one. Sorry Mr. & Mrs. Burridge. I'm rooting against you here.
 
Oneonta State   @   Brockport State      7:00 PM
I expect this game to be close but Golden Eagles will squeak out the win 74-69. 
   
Cortland State  @    Buffalo State      7:00 PM
Unless the Red Dragons shoot like they did against my Cardinals they'll be on the short end of this score. Bengals on a misson and they can't count on a Pool C bid. Buffalo State wins 77-70   
   
New Paltz State  @    Plattsburgh State      7:00 PM
Cardinals would like to give their fans a last hurrah at home. Eight Cardinal Seniors have never lost a SUNYAC tournament game. They won't want this one to be their first. Plattsburgh over the Hawks 82-73. 
   

[jdex]

Buffalo State much the superior tonight in spilling Cortland 75-56. This one virtually over early -- as in 12-0 Bengals liftoff. Go on to 32-16 domination by the half and in charge by 23 early in second period. Buffs controlled inside play with 49-32 rebounding margin. Neither made a trey in first half and Corts finished 6x28.....live by the three, die by ...... J. Simmons 22 pts(10x18fg), 6 rebs; J. Mitchell 15 pts(5x10fg), 7 rebs. Bengals play final portion of second half minus G. Carr and N. Simmons, both dq'd for leaving bench during court disturbance. Carr with 9 pts, 7 rebs. Dragons have J. Winter 18 pts(8x19fg), 4 assts; J. Smith 12 pts; H. Hefele 10 pts

[thebear]

Top Seeds all won at Home.  Friday Night pairings are Plattsburgh vs. Buff State in the opener, 'port squares off against the Lakers in the Battle for Lake Ontario.  Should be a thrilla.  Hopefully snowstorms will hold off until Sunday.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State defeats New Paltz 72-57. Details to follow.

[magicman]

Oswego State over Potsdam 64-50

Brockport over Oneonta 84-75

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State started 5 senior's tonight in their game against New Paltz and midway through the 1st half it was beginning to look like a repeat of Senior Day when Cortland spoiled the party by beating the Cardinals 83-69. The Cardinals grabbed the early lead and held it for the first 7 minutes but the Hawks caught them and went ahead 16-14 with 13:51 to play and they never trailed the rest of the period. Led by Harris Wichard's 16 points and Shareef Taylor's 10 points New Paltz managed to forge a 6 point lead with 4:35 remaining in the 1st half. Wichard hit from long distance and followed that with a 2 point jumper to make the score 31-25 and a drive by Taylor with seconds remaining sent them into the locker room with a 41-34 advantage. Steve Thomas, who was questionable before the game with a toe injury, got the start and led the Cardinals with 12 first half points. New Paltz controlled the boards decisively in the 1st period as they had 25 rebounds to Plattsburgh's 15. Probably the most telling statistic of the 1st half was at the free throw line. New Paltz went 10 of 14 from the stripe while Plattsburgh made one trip to the line and was 0 for 1.
Fortunately in basketball there are two halves, and the Cardinals came out on fire as they opened the period with a 13-2 run and took the lead 47-43 with 14:11 to play in the game. After the Hawks Taylor hit a basket to cut the lead to 2, the Cards went on another 13-2 spurt and with 8:47 remaining had opened up a 60-47 advantage. Chris Ruiz was the player who stepped up to lead the Cardinals as he scored 14 of the teams 26 points in those 2 runs and Reggie Williams had back to back offensive rebounds with putbacks to give the Cardinals their first double digit lead of the night. Steve Thomas followed with back to back acrobatic drives after New Paltz had cut the lead to 8 to pretty much end any hope the Hawks had for a comeback. The Cardinals defense shut down the Hawks so completely in the 2nd half that they could only manage 16 points in the period and 2 of those came at the final buzzer, that the refs allowed, but looked to be too late. Their 2 main scoring threats, Wichard and Taylor only scored 7 points between them in the period and Wichard's basket was the questionable one at the end of the game.
Wichard led the Hawks with 18 points (6x13 fg, 3x6 3's, 3x5 ft) along with a team high 8 rebounds in 35 minutes. Shareef Taylor had 15 points  (4x9 fg, 0x2 3's, 7x10 ft) in 37 minutes.

Plattsburgh 's Chris Ruiz was the game's high scorer with 23 points (7x21 fg, 2x7 3's, 7x10 ft) and managed a double-double  as he was the leading rebounder in the game as well with 10 boards. Ruiz also logged the most playing time as he was on the floor nearly the entire game playing 39 minutes.  Fellow senior Steve Thomas was close behind Ruiz with 21 points (8x15 fg, 2x3 3's, 3x5 ft) in 35 minutes. Senior Errol Daniyan just missed another double-double as he had 13 points (6x15 fg, 1x3 ft) and 9 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Plattsburgh trailing in rebounds by 10 at the break came back to win that battle finishing with 44 to 42 for the Hawks. The Cardinals had, I believe a season low in turnovers with only 7 while New Paltz committed 13.

Next up for Plattsburgh is the rubber match with Buffalo State as they will take on the Bengals Friday night at 6 PM on Oswego's court. With each team winning on their home floor this neutral court matchup will certainly be interesting. Over the past 5 years these teams have met 10 times and Plattsburgh holds a slight 6-4 advantage. However in the last 2 years both teams have held serve on their home court with Plattsburgh winning 2 close games in the Burgh 80-76 this year and 88-86 last year. Buffalo State has won both times in the big city and both games have went to overtime as the Bengals prevailed 81-80 this year and 90-87 last year.       
   

[with age came?]

You know I just may mosey on over to Oswego and root for my "new old coach's" team.  Don't worry Magic I'll root for Plattsburgh to get to the finals too!!  Know you'll know this - I assume the final is held on Saturday at Oswego no matter who the contestants are?!  Am really glad to see some SUNYAC representation on the d-3 top five poll.  Didn't check the pollsters poll yet.  Be interested to see in "some love" is shown over there too from anyone other than the Magicman!

[magicman]

Looking at Massey (I know not exactly what the committee looks at, but many of the same criteria)

The East Looks Like this:

Rochester (UAA) - 25th in D-III
Ithaca (E8) 41 in D-III
Oswego (SUNYAC) 53 in D-III
Stevens (E8) 70 in D-III
Hobart (LL) 71 in D-III
RPI (LL) 74 in D-III
Buff State (SUNYAC) 112 in D-III
Skidmore (LL) 120 in D-III

My Take:

AQ - Rochester
Ithaca In
Oswego In
Stevens In (AD on Selection Committee)
Hobart LL Winner In, other team on Bubble
RPI LL Winner In, other team on Bubble

AMCC - Medaille is in 3rd, but PS-Behrend is just over the border, could easily be moved into the East.
NEAC - SUNYIT is the 2 seed, but much better at home than on the road

I think Buff State is a bubble team.  Will need to at least make the SUNYAC finals to get a pool C bid, and that may be a push with the strength of Western New England teams & Keystone & PS-Behrend (close PA teams) in the mix as well. 

Any upset in the conference tournament, some team getting the AQ other than Ithaca/Stevens, Hobart/RPI or Oswego/Buff State further hurts the Bengals chances.

The way the SOS calc works, road losses to sub 500 teams, really kill your SOS rating, and Buff State dropped games to sub .500 Oneonta & New Paltz back in January. 

SUNYAC tourney starts tonight.  GO BEARS

Bear,
When the new regional rankings come out on Wednesday afternoon I think they might look like this:

1. Oswego State
2. Rochester
3. Ithaca
4. Stevens
5. Hobart
6. Buffalo State

I don't know if Buffalo State can get a Pool C bid  or not. I think it would need to be an almost perfect combination of occurrences for that to happen. Rochester already has a Pool A bid as we know and if Buffalo State is hoping for a Pool C then we have to assume Oswego won the SUNYAC. The Bengals have to hope that Hobart wins the Liberty League bid and not RPI. They would also need Ithaca to win the E8 bid and hope Stevens loses in the semis and doesn't make the championship game. Buffalo State has to beat Plattsburgh on Friday night and a loss to Oswego on Saturday would give them a 17-7 regional record. A first round loss on Friday by Stevens would leave them with an 18-7 regional record, 1 game better than the Bengals but the 1st round loss by Stevens might give the edge to the Bengals. I doubt it will but you never know. Hamilton was looking good for a Pool C a couple of years ago, then lost in the semifinals of the LL tournament and got bypassed by the selection committee. If there are 2 teams selected from the East and all of the above teams get the Pool A bid then Stevens and Buffalo State might both get in. The bigger problem is that all the other Pool A bids need to go to a whole bunch of favorites because if teams like  Augustana, Becker, Ramapo, Concordia(Wis), St. Norbert, Franklin & Marshall, and Ferrum, just to mention a few, get upset in their tournaments they'll eat up a lot of those 18 Pool C bids and the East might only get 1 team with an at large selection. Most of those teams I just mentioned are from conferences that, like the SUNYAC, will most likely only get 1 bid. But if the favorites get upset then two teams will make it but those upset favorites will take a lot of Pool C bids away from teams that are looking to get one, like the Bengals. Personally I hope my Cardinals beat the Bengals on Friday and then none of what I said will matter.