MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Bengalsrule]

Wow.  Plattsburgh up at the half at middlebury 29-22.  Thanks to Ed correa who has 15 PTs all from 3 pt range (5-8). They have also outrébounded Middlebury by 2. The video from Middlebury is excellent btw!

[Bengalsrule]

2 mins left and the Cards are up by 15.  Looks good for Plattsburgh and the YAC!

[Bengalsrule]

Its a final. Plattsburgh wins 63-47. Id do a report but something tells me that the Magic "happy"man may want to bang out his own report when he returns from Vermont.  I expect a report around 3am!

[Bengalsrule]

Yac goes 2-0 (Just like I expected), as Postdam beats Mahattanville 68-65! I'm gonna defer to thebear on the write up!

Damn good non conference season for the Yac!!!!!

[NYHOOPS8]

Great win for Plattsburgh!

[dcahill44]

Just posted in the E8 boards about the future come tournament time. I Honestly think the The top 6 in the SUNYAC is Plattsburgh, Brockport, Buffalo State, Oswego, Geneseo, Oneonta. I think this league has the POTENTIAL depending on the last month and half to be a 3 BID LEAGUE and definetly 2 bids. Honestly think Buff State, Oswego, Plattsburgh and Brockport are 4 of the best teams in the region. Maybe even put Geneseo in the discussion. I do think there is a chance the teams beat up on eachother to much in League play.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 63  Middlebury 47

Defense was the name of this game Tuesday night and the Cardinals had a little more of it than the Panthers. Usually when these two teams get together, points are a lot more plentiful, than they were last night in Pepin Gym. The 110 point total was the lowest output in recent memory, in a series that normally has scores in the 70's and 80's. The Cardinals' strong defensive effort not only kept Middlebury's offense in check, it held the Panthers to their lowest point total in almost 6 years. The last time they scored less points than Tuesday night was March 7th 2008 when they lost 56-43 to Rochester in an NCAA tournament game   

The Cardinals drew first blood when they opened up a 13-6 lead behind the hot hand of Eddie Correa, who, after missing his first three point attempt, proceeded to knock down three in a row, as he scored 9 straight points for Plattsburgh. After Middlebury's Joey Kizell scored to make it 14-10, the Cards' Ezra Hodgson hit a triple and then Correa hit his 4th one of the period to make it 20-12, Plattsburgh. The Panthers responded with a burst of their own led by Kizell and scored the next 8 points to knot the score at 20 apiece. Enter high flying Xavier Thomas for the Cardinals who got to the rim for back to back layups, followed by Correa's fifth three pointer and the Cards had built the lead back to 7 points. With 5:30 left in the half and the score 27-20, neither team would make a field goal for the remainder of the period as free throws would account for the final 5 points scored, leading up to the 29-23 break.

If you had told me that the top 2 point producers on the Cardinals roster, Shamoy McIntosh and Shavar Fields, would have a grand total of 2 points at the half I would have guessed that Plattsburgh would have been in a big hole. But Ed Correa's 15 points on 5 of 8 from long range accounted for more than half of the Cardinals' points and certainly had the crowd buzzing. McIntosh was hit with 2 early fouls and found a seat on the bench 4:30 into the game. Five minutes later, point guard Chris Manning picked up his 2nd foul and joined McIntosh for the remainder of the half. The X man, Thomas, had a great crowd pleasing block (if you were the Plattsburgh State crowd, comprised of the Cardinal Women's team and my group of 4) late in the period when Kizell stole the ball and flew down the court for a breakaway. Thomas raced down, positioned himself perfectly, flew high and swatted Kizel's shot away, but the referee chose to call a foul, stopping play. Coach Curle was visibly upset with the ref's decision to blow the whistle, making a comment that was something like, "this is what people come to see, a play like that and you just ruined it. Even the Middlebury faithful that were seated in front and back of us were amazed about that call.

The 2nd half opened with two baskets by the Panthers to close within two points. McIntosh would finally get on the scoreboard via two trips to the charity stripe from drives to the hoop, making 3 of 4. A rare Chris Manning 3 pointer, followed by a putback from McIntosh off an offensive rebound, and a jumper by Shavar Fields found the Cards with their first double digit lead, at 39-29 with 14:18 left to play. Still down by 10, at 41-31, the Panthers got scoring from 4 different players to claw back into contention with the next 8 points to make it 41-39 with just under 10 minutes left in the game. I don't think anyone expected to see what happened next as the Cardinals put this game away with a 17-2 run that made it 58-41 with 3 minutes remaining. Ezra Hodgson kick started the run with another 3 pointer, followed by a Shavar Fields layup and on the Cardinals' next possession McIntosh buried another 3.  From the 8:22 mark, when Midd's James Jensen scored to make it 44-41, the Panthers would miss their next 11 shots, commit 6 fouls, have 2 turnovers and go scoreless until Hunter Merryman hit a triple to cut the now, 17 point Cardinal lead back to 14 with 2:47 remaining. At that point  Coach Brown subbed in some of his players that don't get a lot of playing time and Coach Curle instructed his players to use the clock and only shoot when necessary. It was somehow fitting that as the clock wound down on Plattsburgh's final possession, Eddie Correa threw up a shot from downtown and it was nothing but net.

Correa led the Cardinals with 22 points, which is a new career high for him. The sophomore guard was 0x3 inside the arc, but hit 6 of 10 behind the arc. (Quit throwing up those bunnies Ed) He was 4x6 from the line. Shamoy McIntosh, after a scoreless 1st half, due to foul trouble, led everybody with 11 2nd half points. He also had 8 rebounds with 6 of those coming is the 2nd period. Shavar Fields scored 8 points, with 4 boards and played some solid defense on the Panthers pair of 6'8" big men. 6'3" senior John Perez played a great all around game with 11 rebounds  constantly fighting off the much taller Panther front line. He was the game's leading rebounder and scored 6 points, with 2 assists, 2 steals and also had a great block, that the refs missed the call on. (John, like Xavier, was whistled for a foul). Point guard Chris Manning, with limited minutes, had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Xavier Thomas added 4 points and 7 boards in 13 minutes on the floor with both his baskets coming after the Panthers had caught the Cardinals which prevented Middlebury from grabbing the lead and gaining momentum. Ezra Hodgson had a pair of 3 pointers with one in each half and no basket was bigger than his triple, with 9:04 left to play, after the Panthers had just closed the gap from 41-31, down to 41-39. That bomb restored a 2 possession advantage and was the impetus for the 17-2 run that broke this game wide open. Mike Mitchell gave us 17 valuable minutes running the point when Manning got into foul trouble and finished with 3 assists, And Alan Siergiej (I've almost got the spelling of his last name down after nearly 2 years, i before e, g before j) is doing just fine in his expanded role of giving our front line players some valuable minutes to catch a needed break.

The Cardinals outshot the Panthers from the field 37% (20x54) to 28.3% (17x60), and from behind the arc 47.6% (10x21) to 17.6% (3x17). The Panthers were 71.4% (10x14) from the line while Plattsburgh was 54.2% (13x24). Surprisingly with the height disadvantage the Cardinals outrebounded the Panthers 46-39 and had a slight edge on the offensive glass 9-8. Middlebury did win the turnover battle as they had 11, while the Cards committed 15. The Panthers were credited with 5 blocks and the Cards were credited with zero blocks, but the fans that saw this contest will certainly count the 2 by Thomas and Perez as clean blocks even though the stats don't. Plattsburgh had assists on 11 of their 20 field goals and the Panthers had 8 assists on their 17. Although the final score shows a 16 point margin of victory this game was in doubt right up until the 3:30 minute mark when the Cardinals lead grew to 14 at 55-41. That's when I knew that we had broken the streak and exorcised a few demons that were haunting me from those close losses in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013.

Middlebury was led by their preseason 1st Team All-American Joey Kizell with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. James Jensen was next with 8 points and 5 rebounds, followed by a trio of players with 6 points. Hunter Merryman had 6 points with 7 boards, Jack Roberts had 6 points 6 rebounds along with 3 blocks and Matt Daley had 6 points with 5 rebounds.

Middlebury drops to 6-4 and will return to action this Friday when they open NESCAC conference play by hosting the Bates Bobcats at 8:00 PM followed by a Sunday game when the Tufts Jumbos visit Pepin Gym at 4:00 PM.

The Cardinals improve to 7-2 on the season, with a non-conference record of 6-1. They will put their 1-1 conference record on the line on Friday night when 6-1 Geneseo will come to town for a visit to Memorial Hall. The Blue Knights have yet to play a conference game this year.

Brockport State will follow Geneseo into town on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM. Brockport sports a 6-1 record as well and last night the Golden Eagles were scheduled to play their travel partners, Geneseo, but the heavy snowstorms sweeping through the western and central part of the state made a casualty of that game and it was postponed. Brockport will play their first conference game in Potsdam on Friday night when they take on the Bears. The Golden Eagles are ranked #31 in the D3hoops Top 25 Poll. The Massey Ratings have Brockport ranked at #9 in the country.

The Cardinals woke up this morning and discovered that after last night's  win over Middlebury the Massey Ratings have moved the Cards from 39th up to their highest placement of the season at #19 in the nation. Good stuff there!!!      
                                       

[Bengalsrule]

Just posted in the E8 boards about the future come tournament time. I Honestly think the The top 6 in the SUNYAC is Plattsburgh, Brockport, Buffalo State, Oswego, Geneseo, Oneonta. I think this league has the POTENTIAL depending on the last month and half to be a 3 BID LEAGUE and definetly 2 bids. Honestly think Buff State, Oswego, Plattsburgh and Brockport are 4 of the best teams in the region. Maybe even put Geneseo in the discussion. I do think there is a chance the teams beat up on eachother to much in League play.

I like this Cahill fella!!!!

[NYHOOPS8]

Just posted in the E8 boards about the future come tournament time. I Honestly think the The top 6 in the SUNYAC is Plattsburgh, Brockport, Buffalo State, Oswego, Geneseo, Oneonta. I think this league has the POTENTIAL depending on the last month and half to be a 3 BID LEAGUE and definetly 2 bids. Honestly think Buff State, Oswego, Plattsburgh and Brockport are 4 of the best teams in the region. Maybe even put Geneseo in the discussion. I do think there is a chance the teams beat up on eachother to much in League play.

Way too early to tell but Plattsburgh, Brockport, Oswego and Buffalo St all have better resumes than any team in the E8 besides maybe Stevens. Best chance for the SUNYAC to get 3 bids is for those four to split their games amongst each other, go chalk the rest of the way in conference, and Stevens take home the E8 crown.

[Bengalsrule]

Just posted in the E8 boards about the future come tournament time. I Honestly think the The top 6 in the SUNYAC is Plattsburgh, Brockport, Buffalo State, Oswego, Geneseo, Oneonta. I think this league has the POTENTIAL depending on the last month and half to be a 3 BID LEAGUE and definetly 2 bids. Honestly think Buff State, Oswego, Plattsburgh and Brockport are 4 of the best teams in the region. Maybe even put Geneseo in the discussion. I do think there is a chance the teams beat up on eachother to much in League play.

Way too early to tell but Plattsburgh, Brockport, Oswego and Buffalo St all have better resumes than any team in the E8 besides maybe Stevens. Best chance for the SUNYAC to get 3 bids is for those four to split their games amongst each other, go chalk the rest of the way in conference, and Stevens take home the E8 crown.

Hoops, I'm with u on about 90% of the postseason logic (although its so early it's really hard to get excited). Having said that... I strongly feel that the Yac is a 3 bid conference no matter what's happens in the E8. And i belieeve that Massey would tend to agree.

Within the Yac you have at least 5 teams who currently have a higher rating than Stevens. When you add strength of a schedule then the task is more daunting for the E8 to get any extra bids regardless of who earns thier conference bid.  Starting with Brockport who is rated #10 with a strength of a schedule rating of 63, then Plattsburgh who is rated 20 th and thier SOS at 32 ( and had wisc-Stout defeated #1 wisc - Stevens point last night instead of losing by 1 then their rating and strength of schedule may have gone into single digits), Buff State rated 59th SOS 44 and Geneseo rated 49 and SOS at 236 all out rate Stevens who is rated 92 SOS 176!

True the conference play will hurt those who are rated high but even the top tier Yac beating each other should not knock them too far down. I e if Plattsburgh defeats Brockport this weekend then they should move up a few not he's and Brockport down spaces, but nothing drastic good versus good should leave good standing. Hopefully in late feb the committee will also take into consideration the fact that the Yac went 42-26 in non conference play (62.9 win %). Thats a very good record , IMHO , not to mention a 3-0 record vs the #1 conference in the nation CCIW amongst other kudos

The Yac has more than held its own up til now. Now the process of weeding out the eak from the strong with our ranks will begin.  I have no doubt that when the smoke clears there will be multiethnic teams in the Yac that are worthy of postseason consideration. Many Yac teams could have scheduled cupcake after cucake. But they didn't and after the wars are over I'm hoping for the best in the YAC

Btw hoops ... do u plan on attending any games this weekend in the Yac?

You can see firsthand why folks say that the........

YAC is Back!!!!!!!

[magicman]

Four games on tap for today. Nothing but conference games left to play for everyone. Geneseo and Brockport will get their first taste of conference action this weekend due to the postponement of their Tuesday night encounter that was supposed to take place at Geneseo.
That game has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11th.

The SUNYAC finished with a non-conference record of 44-26 for a winning percentage of .629 which is the 7th best conference record in the nation. The Massey Ratings has the YAC in 11th place out of 45 conferences. The NCAA will recognize our non-conference record as 40-26 as 4 of our wins were against non-D3 teams. That's still a healthy .606 winning percentage.

Plattsburgh, Oswego. Brockport and Geneseo were all 6-1 in non-conference play, with Plattsburgh playing the toughest schedule.  Plattsburgh had wins against the #1 (CCIW), #3 (WIAC), and #7 (NESCAC) ranked conferences.

Buffalo State was 4-3 in non-conference play but they had 2 of their wins against the top ranked CCIW and ended up with the 2nd toughest schedule among YAC teams.

Brockport had a nice run at the Wendy's tournament, plus has wins over Hamilton, SLU and Medaille. They had the 3rd strongest OOC schedule.

Cortland ended up 5-2 in conference play with a nice pair of wins at the end to help offset the 2 Utica games they should have won.

Geneseo had a nice west coast win and a victory over Hobart to help offset the loss to St. John Fisher.

Oneonta helped with the opening win over Rochester from the #2 ranked UAA conference. The win over Fisher and the road win down south were also a plus for the YAC.

Oswego was 6-1 but the bad news is they played a really soft schedule. Only Fredonia had a weaker non-con slate than Oswego. If they were to get upset by one of the weak teams they play it would really hurt the entire conference. Their strength of schedule is #303, compared to #32 for Plattsburgh, #44 for Buffalo State, and #63 for Brockport. That's why Massey now has  Geneseo and Buffalo State with worse records ranked ahead of Oswego (who is still showing an 8-1 record instead of their actual 8-2 log). When he factors in the Lakers' loss to Oneonta they will fall a little further down in the ratings.

New Paltz started out well with 2 wins over SCIAC teams out in California. That helped us, as did the win over Hamilton. Potsdam had 2 wins but their 1st one doesn't count. The last one did though the win over Manhattanville, and it helped. Fredonia has 3 wins but only 2 count (barely). The  two that count were against Union (3-5) and D'Youville 0-12).

So there you have the wrap up of the non-conference portion of our schedule. Hopefully we can take it easy on each other in conference play and somehow wrangle 3 bids for the dance this year. That would be 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Jan. 10 

Geneseo State      Plattsburgh State      8:00 PM   
   
   
Fredonia State      Oswego State      8:00 PM 
   
   
Buffalo State      Cortland State      8:00 PM   
   
 
Brockport State      Potsdam State      8:00 PM

[Bengalsrule]

No predictions?  Or are you just making us wait?

[magicman]

No predictions?  Or are you just making us wait?

Have to do some work for a change. Don't I do enough for you 


Predictions will follow at some point in the next hour or two. Just hold your horses.

By the way I'm still waiting for that phone call from Wed. night. You know the old "I'll call you right back line you always give me"

Edit 2:50 PM:    And now you've gone and done again. "I'll call you right back magic, I forgot something at home." I still waiting!

[magicman]

Massey Ratings Updates today:

The movement up or down is since I last posted the Rankings back on December 31st.

Brockport State is now ranked #10 in the country up 3 spots

Plattsburgh is now ranked #18 in the country up 21 spots       If Brockport or Plattsburgh go 2-0 this weekend they have a good chance
                                                                                          to crack the D3hoops Top 25 next Monday.

Geneseo is ranked #49 up 4 spots

Buffalo State is ranked #59  up 18 spots

Oswego is now #106   down  45 spots                                   The loss to Oneonta and the poor SOS has dragged them down.

Cortland is ranked #114 up 9 spots                                       Rebounding after falling all the way down to #140 at one point.
                                                                                          The DC wins helped them quite a bit

Oneonta is ranked #180 down 31 spots                                 They were on a a 3 game winning streak but lost the game in Carolina
                                                                                           to a  3-9 team they should have beat.

New Paltz is ranked #228  up 31 spots                                  The win over Hamilton helped and the tough loss to Cortland didn't hurt.

Potsdam is ranked #347  up 13 spots                                     Finally a 2nd win this one over Manhattanville, a team that counts.

Fredonia is ranked #362 down 1 spot                                     Well, someone has to be on the bottom. Blue Devils probably won't go   
                                                                                            much higher than this all year.



Here's how Massey has a few other East Region teams ranked. The SUNYAC is still head and shoulders above the other NY conferences at this point with 4 teams in the Top 60.


NYU           #45         Violets overrated. 9-1 record and have only played 1 above average team, Stevens, and they lost to them

Skidmore   #64          Thoroughbreds could be the class of the Liberty League. I'd have them, Stevens, and Hobart ahead of NYU

Vassar      #81          Much improved. Still not convinced they are better than Hobart. Big game tonight at Skidmore will tell a lot.

Hobart     #86            Much better SOS which is #80 than Vassar at #291. They also play Skidmore this weekend on Sat. Huge       
                                weekend in the LL. Think the League champs will be Skidmore or Hobart with Vassar 3rd.

Strevens #89            Highest ranked Empire 8 team.  Ducks early conference leaders, but this weekend will be telling. Big games
                                tonight against Nazareth, tomorrow against Fisher. Will sort thimgs out a bit...or muddle them up.

Nazareth  #96           Don't think the Golden Flyers will be this high after the loss to Alfred gets factored into their record. A win tonight
                                against the Ducks and tomorrow against Hartwick could offset the upset by the Saxons though.

St John Fisher   #104    The Cardinals are higher than I think they should be. I don't think they are as good as Oswego State and if 
                                   Chaz Lott is out for any length of time they will struggle. Big weekend with games against Hartwick tonight 
                                    then Stevens tomorrow.

Rochester  #125         Yellowjackets not used to such lowly depths. Will need to step it up in conference play, not sure if they can, but
                                   maybe, as the UAA doesn't appear to be as strong as usual.

Clarkson  #152           Golden Knights will a weak schedule (2 wins against Canton... what!! one game against them wasn't enough?)
                                 Will duke it out with several others for the 4th seed in the LL.

Hartwick  #155           Lost to the above Golden Knights but this team has a lot of tough losses. Their 5 losses have been by a total of
                                  20 points. Still haven't beaten anyone with a winning record. They should make the E8 playoffs...and then who
                                  knows what can happen. Huge weekend for them as well.

Hilbert    #200            Here because they may win their conference. Have already lost to Medaille and is 1 of 5 teams tied atop the
                                  AMCC conference with a 3-1 record. Best wins....Utica College, Alfred, and Keystone.

Medaille  #202             See above team. Best 4-7 team in the region. Also 3-1 in the AMCC.  0-4 in the SUNYAC but played everyone
                                  tough. (And they were all YAC teams that I think will make the playoffs)

If you don't see your team on this list then it doesn't matter, it's a rebuilding year. But hey we all have to suffer through a few of those. My Cardinals were 8-18 two years ago, I still went to every home game (and a few on the road) and made just as many posts on this board and others. Last year (20-9) and hopefully this year were worth the suffering.      

[magicman]

Today's Games:     Time for some predictions:   
   
   
Fredonia State      Oswego State      8:00 PM

Not hard to pick this game. The total is what's tough. Oswego has won the last 6 games in this series and 10 of the last 12. The point spread favors the Lakers by 20 points and they should cover that and more.  I see this one ending up 88-62 Lakers.
   
   
Buffalo State      Cortland State      8:00 PM

The 2nd best game of the day has the Bengals heading into the Dragon's Den. Buffalo State has lost the last 3 games in this series but holds an 8-7 edge over the last 7 years. And they have beaten the Red Dragons in Cortland on several occasions during that span. Both teams are streaking...Bengals have won 4 in a row while Cortland has won 3 in a row. Point spread has the Bengals a slight road favorite of 1 point in this game. I think the Bengals have more scoring options than Cortland does. The Justin Mitchell vs Kevin McMahon and Rod Epps vs Lamard Herron matchups will make for some excellent viewing. They may be fairly even, but I think Chris Thompson and Brad Doyley might prove to be the difference makers for the Bengals. I'll take my chances with the visitors tonight and pick the Bengals to win this one 76-71.

Brockport State      Potsdam State      8:00 PM

Golden Eagles finally get their feet wet in the SUNYAC 10 days into the new year. They look like they've picked a good spot. The Bears are struggling mightily this year and the Boys from Brockport won't make it any easier. Port will press and the Bears, last time I looked, didn't handle a press very well. I see way too many turnovers by Potsdam to keep this game competitive. The Eagles are looking to move into the D3hoops Top 25 with a pair of wins this weekend and I think they will (If they get those 2 wins). Mr. Massey's computer thinks they're Top 10 right now. The point spread has the Eagles winning by 25. I hope the Bears can keep it closer, but unless Brockport has trouble putting the ball in the hoop this game could get ugly. I'm hoping they can't hit the proverbial broad side. I need the Bears to wear out the Golden Eagles so they will feel like my Cards will after they battle Geneseo tonight. The Eagles have won 5 in a row over the Bears but I remember a night  3 years ago on Jan 7th, 2011, when a much stronger Port team rolled into the Dam and got knocked off by a 74-60 score. I don't think that happens tonight, though, but Brockport will win by a score of 88-72.   


Geneseo State      Plattsburgh State      8:00 PM

The top rated game of the night as the 6-1 Blue Knights, ranked #49 by Massey, takes on the #18 ranked Cardinals with a 7-2 record. Geneseo also playing their inaugural SUNYAC game after the postponement of their game with Brockport on Tuesday night. Both teams also riding  hot streaks as they each have won their last four games. The teams split last year's contests with each winning at home. The Blue Knights have won 3 of the past 4 meetings but the Cardinals have an 8 to 6 edge over the last 7 seasons. The oddsmakers have made the Cardinals an 8 point favorite. I think that's pretty close. I'll take the Cardinals by an 81-74 margin.