MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Bear Fan]

Nice to see two SUNYAC schools in the pre-season top 20!  Congrats to Oswego and Buff State...

[magicman]

Nice to see two SUNYAC schools in the pre-season top 20!  Congrats to Oswego and Buff State...

Yes it was!
Oswego State at #18 (168 points) and Buffalo State at #19 (161 points). My Cardinals have to take on #7 Rochester (374 points) the 2nd game of the season in Rochester on Nov. 18th. Will be a tough matchup for a young Plattsburgh State team. I can still dream of an upset though.

Hartwick College (42 points), Hobart (4 points) and SUNY Purchase (2 points) were the only other NY schools to receive any votes.

I was a little surprised that Keystone (PA) didn't get a single vote. The Giants return 4 starters, from a team that went 21-6 last year. Keystone had back to back victories at Oswego's  season opening tournament last year over Brockport State 67-61 and the next day took down the Lakers 76-72. The winner of the Rochester/Plattsburgh State game will face the winner of Keystone/Ursinus in the Rochester tournament on Nov. 19th. Wouldn't surprise me to see Keystone come away with the championship.

Here's the link to the D3hoops Top 25 Preseason Poll.    http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/preseason

[magicman]

Oswego, Brockport and Fredonia rosters are posted for 2011-12 season.

[Pat Coleman]

Probably because Keystone lost its coach and that league isn't very good. Many of the stronger programs went to the MAC and the league replaced them with NEAC teams.

[Bengalsrule]

Nice to see two SUNYAC schools in the pre-season top 20!  Congrats to Oswego and Buff State...

Yes it was!
Oswego State at #18 (168 points) and Buffalo State at #19 (161 points). My Cardinals have to take on #7 Rochester (374 points) the 2nd game of the season in Rochester on Nov. 18th. Will be a tough matchup for a young Plattsburgh State team. I can still dream of an upset though.

Im taking the winner of the U of R vs Plattsburgh game to win the Championship!

And I agree.... it is NICE to see 2 SUNYAC schools in the preseason top 20!

[magicman]

D III News came out with their preseason predictions on Monday and they had Oswego State #24. Buffalo State was listed in the others to watch list. Rochester was ranked #6 and Ithaca was the only other NY school mentioned as they were on the watch list as well.

They had the East region preseason All Americans as Chad Burridge from Oswego State, John DiBartolomeo from Rochester and Chris Ryder from Hartwick. New York players on their honorable mention list were Matt Pebole from Hobart, Pat Sullivan from Hamilton and Terry Harrison from Wells.

They do a preview of each conference and had Oswego as the top team in the YAC followed by Buff State and Plattsburgh. Burridge was their selection as Player of the Year.

They mentioned the Bengals with their all league backcourt of Jake Simmons and Chris Cartwright as the main challenger along with Plattsburgh. Don't think they know that the Cardinals entire starting 5 graduated. No mention of Brockport who returns just about everybody.

They picked Ithaca to win the Empire 8 league followed by Hartwick and Stevens. They pick Skidmore to win the Liberty League with Hobart in 2nd and RPI in 3rd.

They also mentioned Elms as the favorite to win the NECC conference because they return Brittain Purcelle and his 13.1 ppg. Oops!! Little do they know. D3's leading scorer last year, Lamont Thomas from Johnson & Wales, was only on their honorable mention list.

Here's the link to their complete preseason edition:  http://gallery.mailchimp.com/2bc1f77ef4bb7b83f8004e126/files/D3NOctober2011_FINAL.pdf

[thebear]

Oswego, Brockport and Fredonia rosters are posted for 2011-12 season.

Bears roster is up.  Key adds are 6-6 (F) JUCO Corey Ellis (Ulster CC) and
6-5 two time 1st Team Class B All State Player (G/F) Zach Adams from Potsdam Central.

12 players return, including 4 of 5 starters.

[Bengalsrule]

ThThey also mentioned Elms as the favorite to win the NECC conference because they return Brittain Purcelle and his 13.1 ppg. Oops!! Little do they know.

You are so right about that 1 magicman. If they are looking for Brittain Purcelle they need to look on ELMwood ave, in Buffalo NY (1300 Elmwood ave to be exact). Brittain is a full time student at Buffalo State. He's gonna sit out a year and watch his younger brother Paris (freshman), adapt to the college game!!

[magicman]

New Paltz State posted their 2011-12 roster and the good news is 6'6" Jayquan Anderson who was the Hawk's leading scorer (15.7 ppg) and rebounder (5.7 rpg) during the 2009-10 season is back after missing last year. New Paltz returns a veteran group of players led by last year's leading scorer, senior guard 6'0" Harris Wichard (SUNYAC All Conference 3rd team-14.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg). Also returning are 6'4" junior forward Matt Devine (13.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg) along with last years' starters 7'0" senior center Daniel Olsen (8.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and 5'10" senior guard Jermaine Wallace (3.7 ppg). Top reserves 6' 0" junior guard Nick Taldi (8.7 ppg) and 6'4" sophomore forward Taylor Sowah (3.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg) will provide depth off the bench.

The bad news for the Hawks is their other All Conference performer (3rd team) Shareef Taylor is not listed on the 2011-12 roster. Taylor would have been a senior this year and the 6'2" guard who was a 3 year starter for New Paltz had career averages of 14.9 ppg (951 pts in 64 games) and 5.8 rpg. He will be missed as the Hawks could very well have given Oswego and Buff State a battle for the SUNYAC crown. And they still may even without Taylor, but the Hawks will miss his ability to drive the lane, crash the boards or hit the three. He also led the team in assists last year as well. New Paltz roster also shows four freshmen with some size from 6'3" to 6'7". Also returning for the Hawks is 5'7" junior guard Shalik Jenkins, who averaged 6.8 ppg as a freshman in 2008-09 but didn't play the past 2 years.

Will be tough going into the Hawk Center and coming away with a win this year. While the big 3 of Oswego, Buff State and Brockport may be the favorites for the top 3 spots in the YAC, New Paltz may be the dark horse in the race that will sneak up on everyone.       

[Bengalsrule]

Will be tough going into the Hawk Center and coming away with a win this year. While the big 3 of Oswego, Buff State and Brockport may be the favorites for the top 3 spots in the YAC, New Paltz may be the dark horse in the race that will sneak up on everyone.     

12/3 BENGALS at New Paltz 4 p.m. that should be a good 1! Maybe you make the ride for that 1 magicman?

[magicman]

Will be tough going into the Hawk Center and coming away with a win this year. While the big 3 of Oswego, Buff State and Brockport may be the favorites for the top 3 spots in the YAC, New Paltz may be the dark horse in the race that will sneak up on everyone.     

12/3 BENGALS at New Paltz 4 p.m. that should be a good 1! Maybe you make the ride for that 1 magicman?

If I'm going to spend 12 hours on a road trip (down and back) my Cardinals would have to be playing. Anyway, on December 3rd at 4 PM I'll be sitting in my office watching a live webcast of Plattsburgh taking on Oswego at Max Zeil gym in Laker Hall. I will, however, have the live stats up on my computer of the Bengals/Hawks game. New Paltz travels north on Dec. 6th to take on the Cardinals, as we finish off a stretch of 3 conference games in 5 days. (Cortland, Oswego, and New Paltz) We close out the 1st semester when Geneseo and Brockport come to town on the 9th and 10th. Young Cardinals will have their work cut out for them with that 5 game stretch. Will be happy if we go 3-2.   

[Bear Fan]

Finally... Potsdam vs. Algonquin tonight @ 7:30pm... a timely exhibition game that the players are excited about the opportunity to play in real game conditions.  I'm sure The Bear will give a full report on the happenings upon completion of the game.  That said, let's get this season started and make it as unbearable as possible for those who dare enter the confines of Jerry Welsh gymnasium.  To borrow a quote from Andy Williams... "It's the most wonderful time of the year."

[thebear]

Finally... Potsdam vs. Algonquin tonight @ 7:30pm...   I'm sure The Bear will give a full report on the happenings upon completion of the game. 

With that kind of intro, how can I not respond.  Bears were unbearable in the first half, managed only 21 points in a real stinker of a half, stanza ended with Algonquin Thunder up 36-21.  Did not look like an auspicious beginning to the new year.  Algonquin as usual had both size and athleticism, and gave the Bears fits in the first half with dribble drive and dishes to the arc.

Bears stepped it up in the second half, behind 17 pts from Curtis Pierce, and double figures from Tony Efese and Brad Drysdale.
Efese made a 3ptr with 4 seconds left in regulation to knot the game at 61. 

Bears took command in the overtime en route to a 70-62 final.

Breaks a two year losing streak to the Thunder who are one of the better college division teams in Ontario.


Regular season opens next Monday at Utica College.

[magicman]

Hopefully the Bears can gain a measure of revenge in their opener against Utica College. Utica won a close one last year and the Bears are on a 4 game losing streak against the Pioneers. This would appear to be the year that the streak comes to an end as Utica lost 4 starters and 7 of their top 9 players off last years team. Potsdam State travels to the Williams Invitational after the Utica College game and while the Bears don't have to face off against host Williams they will have their hands full against a tough Salem State team who returns quite a bit from last year's regular season champion team. It will be interesting to see how they do against the Vikings and their do everything big man Brian Clark. Clark was the MASCAC player of the year last year averaging 19.3 ppg and made the D3hoops Northeast Regional 1st team. Southern Vermont  should be the easier of the 2 games the Bears play that weekend as they lost 4 of their top 5 scorers from last year. Would be nice to start out 3-0 on the road, but that's probably too much to ask.

[jdex]

Cortland with all hands (11) returning including all-conference and top scorer J. Winter and backcourt runningmate, No. 2 pointman J. Smith, along with frontcourt crew of J. Connolly, K. McMahon (6.2 reb), M. Kearney, 6-9 D. Sternkopf. All underclassmen. Winter a captain along with N. Sutedjo, one of two seniors. The other is 6-3, 205 guard B. Manning who saw considerable play two seasons ago but wasn't a RDragon in '10-11. Among additions 6-4, 215 jr L. Kirkland from NYC; 6-8, 285 fr M. Brown from Fairport; 6-7, 220 fr M. McGowan from Lake George. CState has Elmira at home on Tuesday and following weekend at Widener tourney opener vs. Del Valley