MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Bengalsrule]

It was however, a highly infectious case of turnoveritis, as the Lakers after being exposed to the disease promptly coughed up the ball 12 times in the second half themselves and finished with 19 in all. Hard to say whose FMOH (forty minutes of hell) was hotter. (Sorry BR,  I couldn't resist.)

Nice 1 magicman...Nice 1!!!   (Dont know how/when I'll get you back but BEWARE )

[magicman]

It was however, a highly infectious case of turnoveritis, as the Lakers after being exposed to the disease promptly coughed up the ball 12 times in the second half themselves and finished with 19 in all. Hard to say whose FMOH (forty minutes of hell) was hotter. (Sorry BR,  I couldn't resist.)

Nice 1 magicman...Nice 1!!!   (Dont know how/when I'll get you back but BEWARE )

I thought you'd appreciate it! All in good fun.   But I'll be watching my back! ( Which you were supposed to be covering, so I guess that's off the table now. )

[thebear]

At the Semester break - here's my one liners

School Conf Overall
Oswego 5-0 8-1 – The Leader at the Quarter Pole, has won 22 of last 23 conference games
Cortland 4-1 7-2 – A force to be reckoned with
Buffalo State 3-1 6-1 – Oswego loss forces Bengals to regroup
New Paltz 2-2 4-5 - Devine the breakout individual so far
Plattsburgh 2-3 4-5 – Home loss to Geneseo hurts
Potsdam 2-3 4-5 – Two losses to early leaders
Brockport 1-2 2-7 – Green injury has conference-wide implications
Geneseo 1-2 2-7 – Snatched a road win at Plattsburgh
Fredonia 1-3 6-4 – Back to reality after fast non-conference start
Oneonta 0-4 1-8 – A work in progress

[bearnation]

When the top 25 is released it will interesting to see if both Oswego and Buffalo State are in the poll. OR?

[magicman]

When the top 25 is released it will interesting to see if both Oswego and Buffalo State are in the poll. OR?

I think #14 Buffalo St. will slide down a few spots, but don't think #31 Oswego will climb more than 2 or 3 positions and will still be in the Others Receiving Votes category.  They may only move up 1 spot. Not enough teams ranked ahead of them lost last week. They'll climb over Hobart but the other team closest to them that lost was #26 Rhode Island College. RIC beat Oswego last year in the NCAA's to advance to the Sweet 16. Don't think the voters will drop RIC so far that Oswego will leapfrog over them. RIC's loss was only their 1st and earlier in the week they beat #15 WPI. Lakers will win their next game (against Cazenovia on Friday night) to go to 9-1 but are then off for 18 days and then face DI Texas-Pan-American in Texas, which will probably result in a loss. If they should somehow get lucky and beat the DI school they would certainly move into the Top 25 at the end of that week. Since no D3 school has beaten a DI school in all 18 attempts so far this year, Oswego's chances aren't too good. A number of my fellow pick 'em players do feel, however, that the best chance any D3 school has this year of beating a DI school is the Oswego vs Texas-Pan American match-up.  It took the Lakers with a 22-3 record until week #12 last year to crack the Top 25, coming in at #24. They then lost in the YAC tournament and promptly fell back to the #28 spot the following week. If Oswego can win their next 3 or 4 games against D3 competiton they may get into the Top 25 around week #9 which would come with games through January 22nd. Of course it could be sooner if there is some huge carnage among teams in the lower part of the Top 25 and the Lakers keep winning. But another D3 loss by Oswego and they will be lucky to make it by the end of the year. I'd love nothing better than to see both the Bengals and Lakers continue to pile up the wins. At least until January 20th for the Bengals and January 27th for the Lakers.

[thebear]

Magic - I disagree.  I think Oswego's thumping of Buff State at Buff State will knock the Bengals out of the top 25.  Bengals have one quality wins, most of their record was built against weak sisters, losing to the first top team they played (Sorry dex) will not impress the voters.

Agree that Oswego may not crack the top 25, but will move up into the next 5.  Of course Buff State and Oswego could swap places given that the Bengals failed to protect the house in their first test of the year.

Amherst also lost, so that will knock them down a few notches.  Of course the single best win for the 'yac would be if your Cards were to triumph over Middlebury on 1/24, that would throw the rankings into tilt for sure.  I'm sure you are already working on that one.

[magicman]

Magic - I disagree.  I think Oswego's thumping of Buff State at Buff State will knock the Bengals out of the top 25.  Bengals have one quality wins, most of their record was built against weak sisters, losing to the first top team they played (Sorry dex) will not impress the voters.

Agree that Oswego may not crack the top 25, but will move up into the next 5.  Of course Buff State and Oswego could swap places given that the Bengals failed to protect the house in their first test of the year.

Amherst also lost, so that will knock them down a few notches.  Of course the single best win for the 'yac would be if your Cards were to triumph over Middlebury on 1/24, that would throw the rankings into tilt for sure.  I'm sure you are already working on that one.

Bear,
I'm trying to stay positive with the Bengals. Usually a team that is ranked that far up won't fall out with just 1 loss. But you're right it could happen. Thing that could hurt the Bengals is that there are still a lot of undefeated teams across the country that haven't gotten a taste of the Top 25 and the voters may move a few of them up there to replace the teams that have lost. My thought processes were that the Bengals being a Sweet 16 team from a year ago might command a little more respect than say a Willie Patterson, Wheaton or WPI, all teams ranked below Buffalo State that also lost last week. Two of those teams didn't even dance last year and WPI won a 1st round game before exiting. There are currently 23 undefeated teams left in D3. Ten of those teams are ranked in the Top 25. 7 more are in the ORV category. That leaves 6 teams that are undefeated that haven't received a mention yet. If all 7 in the ORV category move into the Top 25 then Buffalo St might drop out but I think only C-M-S and Transy move up that high.

I wish the Cards could do the entire YAC a favor and knock off the Panthers but it will take a tremendous effort to do so. Plus we're over there this year. Middlebury's All American Ryan Sharry is the real deal. I've seen him play in person the last 3 years, and after watching him as a sophomore, went on the NESCAC board and proclaimed that he would become an AA. He was injured for their first 5 games this year and returned against J&W on December 6th, with 16 pts in 17 minutes. His 2nd game back on Friday over at Skidmore he had 24 pts, 14 boards, 4 steals, and 4 blocks in 33 minutes. Great inside game and good shooter, even from the arc. They have 3 outstanding guards and Jeff Brown is a fine coach. We would need a perfect storm to win that game. I've already made plans to attend that one. We've played them tough for the last 4 years but are only 1-3 in those games. But as you said, on any given night. Hope I'm wrong and the voters reward Oswego for their big road win. Also hope Burridge gets Team of the Week, but I think you have to play for the Hawks to get that.

[magicman]

New Top 25  teams is out and SUNYAC once again has 2 teams in the rankings. Buffalo St. as expected took a tumble but only fell to the 21st spot as the point total dropped from 241 down to 85. Oswego St. moved up into the 24th spot as their point total grew from 29 to 75

I was right .on with my assessment of the Bengals as Willie Patterson and Wheaton were dropped from the polls while Stevens Point stayed below the Bengals in the 25th spot. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps  moved into the ranking as I expected at #22 but undefeated Translyvania didn't gain any more votes than they had last week.

The Lakers jumping back into the poll was a pleasant surprise. I love it when I'm wrong about things like that. Oswego jumped over 7 teams to get to their #24 spot including Rhode Island College, Stevens Point and an undefeated Edgewood team.

Rochester also remained in the Top 25 moving up 1 spot from #24 to # 23 even though their point total dropped by 21, from 103 down to 82.

Hobart and Hartwick were the only other East region schools to garner any votes as the Statesmen fell from 34 points down to 5 and the Hawks actually lost points, going from 4 down to 1 despite remaining undefeated. 

Here's the link to the poll:   http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2011-12/week3 

[Bengalsrule]

Bear,
I'm trying to stay positive with the Bengals.

Thanks for the "Positive" VOTE of confidence Magicman! I may have to send you something nice around...Feb 2nd!

[Bengalsrule]

Welcome Back dex.  Dragons certainly have beefed up the front line, I do want to see film of any contest between 6-8 285 Max Brown and Bengals 6-8 285 Seth Runge, Hopefully the floor won't buckle under the pressure.

Seth Runge going over Max Brown last Friday in the BENGALS vs. Cortland contest. I'm happy to report that the floor held up however if you closely at the picture it appears to be a "slight" depression in the floor underneath the 2 behemoths!

http://buffalostatebengalhoopfans.shutterfly.com/pictures/554#534

This is the closest that I can get any "film" to you bear!

[thebear]

Still waiting on permission to view the Shutterfly site, but, the Offensive Line coaches at both schools should be drooling.

[magicman]

Still waiting on permission to view the Shutterfly site, but, the Offensive Line coaches at both schools should be drooling.

And I as well. Left a message on the Shutterfly site that said: I haven't asked anyone for permission in 46 years, not even my wife.

[thebear]

Magic - got your wish, two top 25 teams, and Burridge on team of the week. 

Buff State needs to stop scheduling early season cupcakes and play UAA teams like Rochester, NYU , Case Western, & Carnegie Mellon (all In-region), instead of the D'youville's, Pitt Bradford's & Keuka's of the world.  Although I will admit Bengals knocking off Wesleyan (9-1)and Catholic (9-0) in the New Years tourney would be a nice double play, and I will be rooting hard for my dad's Alma Mater (BSC '50).

In fact most of SUNYAC needs to up the pressure and win some games against better competition in the pre-conference season if we are to get appropriate respect during the conference season, where invariably anyone can beat anyone on a given night.

[magicman]

Magic - got your wish, two top 25 teams, and Burridge on team of the week. 

Buff State needs to stop scheduling early season cupcakes and play UAA teams like Rochester, NYU , Case Western, & Carnegie Mellon (all In-region), instead of the D'youville's, Pitt Bradford's & Keuka's of the world.  Although I will admit Bengals knocking off Wesleyan (9-1)and Catholic (9-0) in the New Years tourney would be a nice double play, and I will be rooting hard for my dad's Alma Mater (BSC '50).

In fact most of SUNYAC needs to up the pressure and win some games against better competition in the pre-conference season if we are to get appropriate respect during the conference season, where invariably anyone can beat anyone on a given night.

Chad Burridge making the D3hoops Team of the Week was icing on the cake after both YAC teams stayed and made the Top 25. Hard to find a more deserving player. His work week was awesome, especially the Brockport game. He almost had a double double in each half. Won't see that too often this year by anyone. And Brockport was at full strength for that game as AC performer Green played in that contest. (10 pts, 9 rebounds) Nice to see a YAC player on the Team of the Week for the last 3 weeks. Our streak will probably end this week due to the light schedule.

Agree that there are a few cupcakes on the Bengals schedule. Not sure they'll ever schedule NYU (400 mile trip) or Carnegie Mellon (4 hour trip). Case Western is doable (3 hr ) as is RIT, Naz, Fisher, Medaille, even Hamilton (3 hrs).

Oswego also with a couple of gimme's as they have Cazenovia and 0-10 Cobleskill (who lost to Keuka by 20).

If I had to rank the teams by strength of schedule for their non-conference opponents it would look like this:

1.   Plattsburgh
2.   Brockport
3.   Oneonta
4.   New Paltz
5.   Potsdam
6.   Cortland
7.   Geneseo
8.   Fredonia
9.   Oswego
10  Buffalo St.

Overall though I think the conference has less cupcakes in non-conference play than a good many of the other conferences in D3. We both know of certain schools that load up on cupcakes year after year to get those 20 wins. Hard to do in the YAC with our double round robin. But agree we need to up the pressure and win more of those OOC games. 

[magicman]

Chad Burridge completed a triple crown week as he was named as the SUNYAC Player of the Week. In addition to this award Chad made the D3hoops Team of the week at the F/C position. His final weekly award was the ECAC Upstate Player of the Week. Congratulations to Chad.