MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Three games on the schedule tonight:

Potsdam State  at DeSales   6 PM

Bears with a decent effort yesterday against Alvernia but fell behind by 16 midway through the 2nd half and their rally came up just short. Hard to come back from that big a deficit against a decent team. Don't think DeSales is as good as Alvernia and I'm hoping they're disappointed that they were upset yesterday and didn't make their own tournament final. Potsdam listed as a 5 point underdog but I think the Bears can win this game. Bears over the Bulldogs 66-63. Hopefully the video feed will be there tonight. tip off in 8 minutes. More picks later.

Just found out that Potsdam's leading scorer Curtis Pierce is not playing in tonight's game. That will change the outcome of this game quite a bit in my opinion. I believe DeSales will now win this game 67-59. Wish it wasn't so and hope I'm wrong. 

[magicman]

Nazareth College at Cortland State 7 PM

Cortland and Nazareth both back in action after 17 day layoff . Which Nazareth will show up? The one that beat nationally ranked Rochester twice this year or the team that couldn't beat 4-11 Roberts Wesleyan in the Wendy's Classic. Red Dragons are favored by 3 points. Cortland perfect at home this year, Golden Flyers 0-3 on the road. I like both these streaks to comtinue so I'll take Cortland to win this one 68-63.


Buffalo State at University of Buffalo  7 PM

I posted this earlier in the week and nothing has changed that would make me think differently.

"Buffalo State will be in for a long night against the Bulls. This will be the third time in the past 12 years the two teams have met. The last time was December of '09 and UB won 93-65. The time before that was November of '05 and the Bulls won 96-61. I think this one coming up on January 4th will be more of the same and the Bulls will win 94-63." I will be rooting for the Bengals to keep this one close. In light of Oswego's effort last night, a solid effort here by Buff State would help both teams in the rankings I believe. I don't think the Bengals will be penalized in the rankings, even if they get blown out, but a respectable effort can be a positive for them and the Lakers.

Was all set to watch the video feed of this game but unfortunately they want 8 bucks to view it. I have plenty of other choices for free.
 

[magicman]

Potsdam State trails DeSales 37-20 at the break. Not looking good for the Bears. Curtis Pierce missed on both ends of the floor.

[magicman]

Just pulled up live stats of the Cortland-Nazareth game. Hard to believe what I was looking at. Showed a halftime score of 58-21 in favor of Nazareth. I thought I was looking at some old game that hadn't been deleted. Couldn't believe the half was already over as it was only 7:30 PM when I pulled it up. Must have played the game in running time. Cortland's basket must have a lid on it as Red Dragons are 10x29 fg, 0x8 3's, 1x4 ft. Naz has 3 players in double figs at the break (16,14,13) They are shooting lights out. 22x34 fg, 10x13 3's, 4x4 ft. Their basket must be twice as wide as regulation size. This game is over. No way Corts are coming back from 37 down. Shocking, simply shocking!!.

Potsdam took a whooping as well losing to DeSales 74-52.

Buffalo State losing to UB  49-23 with a minute to go in the half. No live stats as they still have a UB-Youngstown State game up on that link. Listening to an audio feed. 

YAC taking it on the chin tonight.

[magicman]

Bulls lead the Bengals 51-27 at the half. Not looking too respectable. UB, hopefully will call off the dogs when they get up by 35 or so.

[magicman]

Cortland loses to Nazareth 87-56. Not much good to say about this one.

[magicman]

Final in Buffalo.    University of Buffalo 111   Buffalo State 59

[magicman]

Potsdam 52 Desales 74

Bears were up against it the minute Curtis Pierce was a no go. They've had a hard enough time on the offensive end with their leading scorer. Take him out of the equation and winning this game went out the window. Potsdam never gained a lead and only had one tie at 4-4 early on. DeSales went on a 19 -8  spurt and led 23-12 at the 9:47 mark. Bears closed to within 6, but another Bulldogs 12-0 run made it 36-18 with 1:33 left and for all practical purposes ths game was over. Desales was up 37-20 at halftime and opened the 2nd period with another 12-5 burst to go up by 25. Bears never got closer than 20 after that. Freshman Zac Adams was the only Bear player to hit double figures with 11 pts. Brad Drysdale and Tony Efese  both added 9 points. Bears were 19x43 fg. 2x12 3's, 12x15 ft. They outrebounded the Bulldogs 29 to 23 but had trouble taking care of the rock as they committed 21 turnovers to only 9 for DeSales.

Bears fall to 4-7 and travel to New Paltz on Tuesday Jan 10th for a 6 PM start.

[magicman]

Bengals losing big was no surprise. I was not expecting a 111-59, 52 point MOV monkey stomp. Also didn't want the Bulls to break 100 points. Didn't get either wish. Only Bengal in double figure was Jake Simmons with 13 points. Justin Mitchell had 9 points. Only stats I got were from the radio guys. Bengals shot 22x68 from the field (32%), 4x19 from the arc (21%) and 11x15 from the line (73%)
Radio guys said the game didn't count in Buff State's record and was only an exhibition for them. I think he needs to check his facts. Bengals fall to 10-2 and will next host Fredonia on January 9th at 8 PM.

[magicman]

Cortland's loss to Nazareth, that 87-56 debacle, was actually a worse monkey stomping than Buffalo State's. The Bengals have an excuse. The Red Dragons have none. This game was so bad I'm not even going to write anything about it. I don't think jdex wants to write anything about it either.  

Speaking of jdex, where are you? No sign of the dean of scribes in several weeks now. We miss your voice. Please come back. Hope all is well. 

[magicman]

Magicman .....Do any of these games factor into A-the respective teams Regional rankings and B- Our Conference strength?? Also what positives effects do wins like these, and other out of regional wins, have on the "yac???

Answer to A: Yes, all these were regional games but New Paltz, Brockport, and Potsdam won't ever make an appearance in this year's regional rankings. All 3 teams already with too many losses to be ranked when the NCAA releases the first set of rankings. Probably Oswego and Buffalo State will be the only SUNYAC teams to be ranked. Cortlland has a chance but tonight's loss to Nazareth definitely hurt them and helped Naz. Right now if I had to guess, the regional rankings would probably look something like this:

1.  Hartwick
2.  NYU
3.  Oswego St.
4.  Rochester
5.  Nazareth
6.  Hamilton
7.  Buffalo St.
8.  Hobart
9.  Medaille

Buffalo State is where they are primarily due to their strength of schedule which is lower than all those on the list except for probably Medaille. Your 2 wins in DC didn't help you much because neither one was an in region game. This list will probably have some major changes by the time the real rankings make their 1st appearance in February. I don't expect NYU to stay where they are once conference play starts. Hamilton will fall to a lower position, as will Nazareth. I expect Hobart to rise and Skidmore may make an appearance. The Thoroughbreds have a 6-2 record but all their games are in region. Their 2 losses have come against #1 Middlebury and #29 William Paterson. The jury is out on Hartwick. They don't have a strong SOS either but as long as they keep winning they'll stay where they are. Union also may merit consideration. They have a 6-1 in region record with their only loss coming at the hands of Hartwick 62-61. They gave Hamilton their 2nd loss the other night 69-54. Oswego and Buffalo St. need to keep winning. An upset loss or 2 could hurt big time. Of course 4 of the ranked teams could win their conference's Pool A bid which would move everybody up the list for Pool C consideration. But if a dark horse, say like Brockport, wins the YAC tournament then either the Lakers or the Bengals wo't be dancing. No way the Yac will get 3 teams in. The same would apply to the other conferences. As it gets closer to crunch time, the Pool C contenders will hope they can win their conference tournament and get the automatic bid. If that fails then they will want the regular season champion, (usually a high slotted team in the regional rankings) to get the automatic bid. 

Answer to B: Yes, in regards to Brockport and New Paltz wins. Our overall conference strength is helped when you play and beat teams with respectable records that were built by beating other decent teams.

Also what positives effects do wins like these, and other out of regional wins, have on the "yac???

Wins like Brockport's and New Paltz's help our winning percentage. And wins like these help our SOS. The Oswego game against Texas-Pan American doesn't count. Out of region wins aren't a big help either. 

[thebear]

Magic & Bengals

Stats are up on UB athletics web site

http://www.buffalobulls.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/files/game11.htm

Sure looks like they are counting this game in their stats & W-L

Bulls power forward Javon McCrea only played 9 minutes, hopefully not hurt, as the Bulls need him for their D-I MAC schedule.

Bad night for the 'yac.  Since Pennsylvania is in the same administrative region as NY, our games count as regional.

Without Curtis Pierce, we have some challenges as he makes every he plays with else better, very unselfish player & one of the hardest workers and toughest competitors you will find.

[Bengalsrule]

Thanks bear....

And OUCH!!!!

[magicman]

Thanks bear....

What am I, chopped liver?  That's it no more answers for you!! He gives you a copy and paste while I type my fingers to the bone answering a myriad number of your questions. OH THE HUMANITY!!

[FranElia]

Appears that the game counts for UB, but is an exhibition for Buffalo State:

http://www.buffalostateathletics.com/news/2012/1/4/MBB_0104120837.aspx