MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

So the ECAC released their All-Star teams in the  4 Division III Regions today.

Here is the Upstate Region:

Player of the Year John DiBartolomeo   Sr. G University of Rochester

Rookie of the Year Aldin Medunjanin Fr. G Skidmore College

First Team*

John DiBartolomeo Sr. G University of Rochester

Stefan Thompson Sr. G Hobart College

Richie Bonney Jr. G Hobart College

Hayden Ward Sr. F Oswego State

Jason Norsen Sr. C St. John Fisher College

Keven Donohue Sr. C Union College


Second Team*

Jesse Winter Sr. G SUNY Cortland

Sheldon Jones Sr. G Stevens Institute of Technology

Matt Devine Sr. F SUNY New Paltz

Rhamel Williams Sr. F Morrisville State

Connor Maisch Jr. F Utica College

* = tie in voting

Kind of hard to believe that Jake Simmons who led the SUNYAC conference in scoring with a 21.4 ppg average, scored over 2000 points in his career including 514 this year in 24 games isn't somewhere on this list.   Nobody, I repeat, nobody on this list comes close to his career statistics. A few players might equal Jake's total if they could play a 5th year and have those points count. Hobart gets 2 players on the list and Buffalo State, who came in 7th place in the SUNYAC went to Hobart and beat them 80-74.

In the Northeast Region not a single player from Middlebury was chosen for any team.

In the Metro Region Ramapo College gets 3 players chosen.  That's the same Ramapo College that got beat by Morrisville State in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament. I'm surprised they didn't choose the other two starter from Ramapo as well.

Here's the link to the complete ECAC list: http://www.ecacsports.com/sports/winter/mbkb/AllStars/2012-13/2013MBBallstars 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Let's keep something in mind... does a school belong to the ECAC and more importantly, did they feel the need to nominate any of their players to the ECAC.

[magicman]

Let's keep something in mind... does a school belong to the ECAC and more importantly, did they feel the need to nominate any of their players to the ECAC.

Dave,
In the last couple of years Jake Simmons has been the ECAC Upstate Player of the Week a number of times most recently on Jan 23rd, 2013  so I would say the answer to your questions is yes. I think the same applies to Middlebury.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Maybe they missed the deadline? Just throwing out the possibilities.

[magicman]

Here are the times of todays games involving teams from the East Region:

#7 Middlebury at #23 Cortland State  3:00 PM

The Panthers and the Red Dragons are so similar it's almost like they are playing against themselves. Both rely heavily on their guard play. Both have an abundance of good long range shooters and both have an outstanding big man that can score and rebound. I'm going with Cortland because they have been so dominant at home this year. The pointspread favors Cortland by 8 points but I think that's too many. I expect this game to go down to the wire with Cortland up 76-73. Middlebury comes down and tries to tie it with a three ball that doesn't go down. Cortland rebounds, is fouled and hits 2 free throws for a final score of 78-73.

Plattsburgh State at #2 Amherst  4:00 PM

On paper this is probably regarded as one of the 2 biggest mismatches in this round. The Cardinals have been unranked all year and never even received a single vote in the D3hoops ranking. #2 Amherst has been ranked all year and has slowly but steadily rose up through the rankings to enter the tournament as one of the favorites to go home with the Walnut and Bronze. Amherst has been listed as a 10 point favorite to win this game and the Lord Jeffs are looking to win their 20th game in a row. In order for the Cardinals to have any chance to pull off the upset they will have to shoot the ball extremely well to negate the size advantage that Amherst will have on the boards. Defensively they will have to slow down a juggernaut that's been averaging almost 84 ppg. Plattsburgh will have to limit the number of turnovers they commit and utilize their depth and speed to force Amherst into more miscues than they are accustomed to. The M&M&M boys Moody, McIntosh and Manning will need to get to the rim and hopefully get to the line. The 3 point attempts will need to be good looks rather than forced and hurried attempts. The Cardinals can win this game but they need a total team effort and will need a big game from Reggie Williams. The big man needs to be a force on the offensive boards, and stay out of foul trouble in his matchup against Amherst big 6'9" Pete Kaasila. Solid pressure defense is needed with a fresh set of subs every 5 minutes to constantly attack and wear down the Amherst 8 man rotation. Our 12 man rotation will give us an edge that we need to exploit.  I expect Amerst will win this game but that won't make it fun for me to watch if I pick them to do so. Plattsburgh can win this game but we need that "perfect storm" to set things in motion for the upset. I'm taking my Cardinals to pull off the upset of the tournament here and walk out of Lefrak Gym with a well earned 77-75 victory.


Morrisville State at #13 Rhode Island College   7:00 PM

The Mustangs' matchup against Rhode Island is the other big mismatch that I was referring to in the Plattsburgh summary. The oddsmakers have made Morrisville an 8 point underdog but I'll be surprised if the Mustangs can stay that close to the Anchormen. Rhode Island is one of the best defensive teams in the country and they only give up an average of 55.8 ppg. The Mustangs had their moment of glory when they beat Ramapo in the 1st round and this time they come up on the short end of a 72-59 score. 


Ithaca at Rochester  7:00 PM

The Bombers are playing their best ball of the season and have finally gotten everyone healthy. They cruised through the E8 playoffs and handled a decent Springfield team that gave Amherst one of its 2 losses. Rochester came into the NCAA tournament losing 4 of their last 7 games after opening up 18-0. And several of those 4 losses were ugly. They also had their hands full against Fitchburg State which was one of the weakest teams in the field as they barely beat the 16-10 Falcons, 91-86. This team was 5-7 in the MASCAC conference and only made the field by pulling off 2 upsets in their tournament to get the automatic bid. The Bombers have more scoring options than Rochester and if they can keep DiBartolomeo under some semblance of control I think they will pull off the upset. The point spread has the Yellowjackets favored by 9 points but I think Ithaca will pull off the upset here 74-71.     

[Bengalsrule]

Maybe they missed the deadline? Just throwing out the possibilities.

One word... "SHAME". "SHAME" on the ECAC for completely ignoring Jake if he was nominated by his school or "SHAME" on Buffalo State if they missed a deadline for  nominating Jake. One way or another (and I gotta believe that Buffalo State nominated a kid who may be the most decorated 4 year basketball player in Buffalo State history). SHAME on who ever is responsible for this slight!

Nuff Said.


I Love NY !!!!!

[magicman]

Apparently Cortland having problems with the video broadcast as it hasn't been loading. Live stats are up and running and audio with Bobby Comstock on the microphone is coming in clear.

Back and forth game in the early going Cortland leads 13- 12 with 12:33 left in the 1st half.

[magicman]

Cortland falls victim to Middlebury's long range shooters as the Panthers hit 3 from long range along with a pair of free throws to open up a 36-27 lead after the score was tied at 25 with only 3:46 left to play.

Kevin McMahon leads the Red Dragons with 10 points. Jesse Winter has 6.

Joey Kizel leads Middlebury with 11 points. James Jensen has 9.

[magicman]

Middlebury leads Cortland 62-60 with 1:12 left to play.

[magicman]

Middlebury leads Cortland 65-63 with 14 seconds left. Middlebury has taken 2 timeouts trying to inbound the ball under the Cortland basket.  Cortland fouls with 12 seconds left. Lynch goes to the line for the Panthers. He hits the first one and Cortland calls a time out. Lynch hits the second one to make it a 2 possession game. Red Dragons in big trouble now. Herron misses a layup and Cortland fouls again with only 4 seconds left. Lynch misses both free throws and Cortland misses a last second 3 point attempt. Final score is 67-63 Middlebury.

[magicman]

Amherst with a big 44 to 18 lead over Plattsburgh with 5 minutes left in the first half but the cardinals fight back and outscore the Lord Jeffs 19-6 from that point to close the deficit to 50-37 at the break. Plattsburgh's Kalik Parker hit a big three pointer at the buzzer to give the cards a little momentum heading into the locker room. Amherst looking like a Final Four team as they were firing on all cylinders in the first 15 minutes of the half. Allen Williamson with 12 points and Aaron Toomey with 11 lead the Lord Jeffs.

Credit the Cardinals for not folding as they have cut the lead in half and  are still in this game despite a double digit deficit at the break.
Jordan Moody and Shavar Fields lead Plattsburgh with 9 points each.

[magicman]

Amherst defeats Plattsburgh State 89-72. Plattsburgh fought back from a 26 point deficit to get it to 13 at the break and actually got to within 10 early in the 2nd half, but the Lord Jeffs were just too strong as they made shot after shot every time the Cardinals would try and make a move. Amerst shot 50% from downtown, 13x26 and I needed the Cardinals to be putting up those kinds of numbers. Amherst also absolutely killed us on the boards as they had 49 rebounds to our 28. On numerous posessions they got one offensive rebound after another until they scored. Amherst was 32x65 from the field overall and 12x16 from the line.

The Cards did get them to turn the ball over considerably more than they normally do as Amherst had 19 TO's to 12 for Plattsburgh.

Amherst was led by Aaron Toomey with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Allen Williamson had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. David Kalema had 15 points 4 rebounds and 3 assists and Willy Workman added 11 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Plattsburgh placed 5 players in double figures led by 14 points from Ezra Hodgson who was 4x8 from downtown. Ed Corea and Shavar Fields both came off the bench to score 13 points each. Jordan Moody had 11 points and 4 steals, while Reggie Williams added 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Cardinals end their season with a 20-9 record with their 5th trip to the NCAA tournament in the past 8 years. I feel confident that this team with everybody returning next year will find their way back to the big dance and perhaps make a little more noise than they did this year.

Congratulation to the Cardinals and the Red Dragons who lost a heartbreaker today on fine seasons. 

[jdex]

Cortland saw Middlebury finish both halves with more verve, and that closing punch meant curtains for one heckuva RDragons campaign. Down by nine at the half after an all but even opening 17 minutes, Corts quickly made noise in the second period but still trailed by eight with 14:27 left. Rising to over 50 percent shooting from the field, the hosts tied matters at the 10 minute mark and with 8:53 left took a 55-48 lead on K. McMahon's inside 3-point play. Cortland would score just eight points the rest of the way. J. Wolfin struck from beyond the arc on the heels of McMahon, and though the Panthers were certainly no ball of fire themselves coming down the stretch, grabbed the lead on J. Kizel's bucket at 3:28. Thirty-seconds later and reliable Dragon B. Manning connected for three and a 60-58 CSt advantage. Kizel free throws knotted it at 2:31. P. Lynch's inside deuce at 1:42 produced a lead the Midds never relinquished. The margin grew to five at 0:27. L. Herron's triple cut it to two at 0:17. Lynch free throws were the clincher.

Kizel was the brightest of lights in the win with 22 pts(7x12fg, 3x6 3s, 5x6fts. J. Jensen off the bench landed 13 pts(7x7fts), 11 rebs, and Lynch had 10 pts. McMahon posted the game of his career with 24 pts(11x15fg), 11 rebs, 3 assts. J. Winter had 12 pts(5x12fg) and didn't attempt a three. J. Smith experienced tough times in a five point outing (2x12fg, 1x8 3s). Manning posted nine points (3x6fg -- all treys)

Yes, the difference wound up at the FT line -- Midds 17x21, Corts 4x7. Didn't see the contest, but we don't question the contrast. Bigger physically, Panthers probably earned 'em. Otherwise, CSt 26x56fg, Midds 22x51fg. Panthers 34-29 reb edge but near even till late. Few turnovers, Midds 11, Corts 10.

A salute to both ......

(We stand corrected .....grats)

[FranElia]

A couple of quick items:

1) Our apologies for the video not working today for the Cortland-Middlebury game. Go figure, we tried it for the first time last week and everything was great. Today, nothing would work. We're not sure what happened, but we apologize for the technical problems.

2) First-team all-league players are the only ones considered by the ECAC for their all-star teams. The All-SUNYAC first-teamers (including Simmons) were forwarded by the league to the ECAC. Simmons was on the ballot.

Fran

[thebear]

Maybe they missed the deadline? Just throwing out the possibilities.

One word... "SHAME". "SHAME" on the ECAC for completely ignoring Jake if he was nominated by his school or "SHAME" on Buffalo State if they missed a deadline for  nominating Jake. One way or another (and I gotta believe that Buffalo State nominated a kid who may be the decorated 4 year basketball player in Buffalo State history). SHAME on who ever is responsible for this slight!

Nuff Said.

As much as I respect Jake, I saw Randy Smith Play and Jake is no Randy Smith!


I Love NY !!!!!