MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Back to the 18 games YAC schedule discussion. I favor trying to bring all the SUNY teams into an East-West divisional conference and having a playoff at the end. Why have SUNY schools in other conferences? Bring back Morrisville, IT, Purchase and any other school I missed. You could have a 15 game SUNY schedule and 10 non-conference schedule to play these so-called "D3 high level" conferences games. That would allow a Bport and Geneseo to continue their Rochester area Wendy's Tourney, and allow other SUNY schools to participate in their individual local tourneys. Any other suggestions or thoughts on this issue?

scooter,
I don't think Morrisville or SUNYIT wants to play in the SUNYAC again. It's not like we kicked them out. They chose to leave for life on the easier side of the tracks. They couldn't win enough, playing in the YAC, so they sought out softer conferences (which they found) in hopes of winning the automatic bid. (which they have) I'd be surprised if they ever came back no matter how the YAC was aligned.
One of the biggest jokes of the D3hoops Top 25 preseason poll was the inclusion of SUNY-Morrisville in the #20 spot. They are 6-6 overall and 3-3 in a conference that Massey Ratings has listed as the 3rd worst in the country.  They probably wouldn't finish any higher than 8th in our conference this year and possibly as low as 11th. (Since we would have 11 teams if they were in the YAC) 

[Bengalsrule]

Let me tell you something about Fredonia ( and you can quote me). Phil Seymour is putting something together that should pay great dividends in the future. That undermanned squad played tough from start to finish. A number of those players are playing more minutes than they could have imagined. Take for instance, Zwierlien. This kid hit 5 threes, scored 21 and played Christhompson tough all day. Before yesterday he, Zweirlein, had scored 30 points TOTAL on the season and had 4 treys TOTAL on the season ( 12 games).

I believe that those kids are learning a new system and as they continue to buy in ( some don't and probably quit), I believe that the Blue Devils are gonna be 1 devil of a team to beat!

Speaking of tough competition, Brockport is next for my beloved BENGALS! Nuff said!!

Go BENGALS!!

[magicman]

New Paltz 66 Potsdam 64

The Bears almost pulled off the upset in Hawk Center but a missed layup with 48 seconds left and failure to get a defensive rebound on the next possession, not once but three times (one was a block), enabled the Hawks to let out one big sigh of relief when the final buzzer sounded. Potsdam hung around for most of this game as they were only down by 8 points at the break. Too many times this year it's been a big number in the deficit department heading into the 2nd half.

The Bears couldn't cut into the halftime deficit and instead it slowly went in the other direction as the Hawks increased their advantage to double figures, then 12, and then their largest lead of 14 points with 11 minutes left in the game. The lead shifted from 8-12 points over the next 5 minutes and then, down by 7, the Bears got a pair of jumpers from Rob Duquette, a layup from Zac Adams, and another jump shot from Joe Estramonte. Suddenly the 14 point advantage was down to 2 and the game was up for grabs. A Taylor Sowah layup made it a 2 possession game again, but Estramonte hit a pair of free throws  and Sowah made it a 3 point lead when he canned 1 of 2 from the line. Adams got loose inside for another layup to cut it to a single point at 65-64 with 1:34 on the clock.
New Paltz then missed a 3 point attempt on their possession and Potsdam came down with plenty of time left, 69 seconds, to work for the go ahead score. That's when the missed layup I started this article with took place followed by the 3 offensive rebounds that the Hawks managed to corral. The Bears had to foul and they did so, but too much time had run off the clock and when the Hawks made 1 of 2 from the line the Bears grabbed the rebound and took a time out. With 2.7 seconds left the Bears raced down the court and fired up a 3 pointer that didn't go in.

Hawks were led by Nick Taldi with 15 points and 3 rebounds. Taylor Sowah had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Andrew Seniul had 11 points, 4 rebounds 2 assists and a block.

Potsdam's Rob Duquette grabbed scoring honors with 17 points and was also the leading rebounder in the game with 11. He also recorded a game high 4 blocked shots. Zac Adams had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3blocks, 2 assists and 2 steals. Brandon Williams had 9 points and 6 boards, while Rishawd Hendricks had 9 points as well.

The stats were fairly even in this game as the Bears shot 43% 19% and 64% from the field ,long range and from the stripe.

The Hawks shot 40% fg, 25% 3's, and 68 % ft. Both teams had 36 rebounds and the Bears had 12 turnovers while the Hawks had 13.

New Paltz picks up their 3rd win in the YAC and are alone in 8th place with a 3-4 record. The improve to 6-8 overall. Three playoff  contenders are in line to visit the Hawk Center starting with Oswego on Tuesday the 21st, followed by Geneseo and Brockport who come in on the weekend.

Potsdam falls to 2-11 and 0-6 in the conference. They travel to Plattsburgh on Tuesday, then west to Fredonia on Friday for the battle of the beatens,  then Buffalo State on Saturday.           

[magicman]

Let me tell you something about Fredonia ( and you can quote me). Phil Seymour is putting something together that should pay great dividends in the future. That undermanned squad played tough from start to finish. A number of those players are playing more minutes than they could have imagined. Take for instance, Zwierlien. This kid hit 5 threes, scored 21 and played Christhompson tough all day. Before yesterday he, Zweirlein, had scored 30 points TOTAL on the season and had 4 treys TOTAL on the season ( 12 games).

I believe that those kids are learning a new system and as they continue to buy in ( some don't and probably quit), I believe that the Blue Devils are gonna be 1 devil of a team to beat!

Speaking of tough competition, Brockport is next for my beloved BENGALS! Nuff said!!

Go BENGALS!!

What you are saying may be true but I watched them play Brockport on Tuesday and they were absolutely destroyed by the Golden Eagles who more than doubled the Blue Devils score. Fredonia only had (gulp!!) 13 points at halftime. They didn't look good, they shot terrible, 3x22 in the 1st half from the field (13.6%), 1x8 from distance (12.5%) and 6x13 from the line (46.2%). They turned the ball over 13 times and couldn't stop anyone if they were guarding them in an elevator. Eagles shot 63% from the field and 58% from distance. That tells me that if I'm wrong, and  Fredonia is as good as you're telling me they are,  then your Bengals are in for one heluva whooping by the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.

And who knows...you may be the first YAC team (other than Brockport) to play a Top 25 team this season, if the Golden Eagles, on the strength of another undefeated week, move into the Top 25. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen though.        

[bearnation]

The Bears played their Blank off yesterday down by 10 most of the second half.  Went on a run only to fall short on a couple of shots that rolled around the rim.  Maybe they aren't at the top but they still came to play and never gave up.  Almost 1981' heroics but the ball rimmed out.  Keep your heads high.  Go Bears

[amh63]

Magicman.....have you noticed on the hoop board that seeks teams for next season's tournies, etc.....that Hamilton of the NESCAC...present bottom tier BB member but up and coming team with a HBC from your ranks, I believe....are looking for teams to play.  Maybe, just maybe, your conference can get some notice by pounding on a "CAC" team.
Just a thought.

[magicman]

amh63,

I have spoken with Coach Stockwell on occasion and when he went to Hamilton several years ago I mentioned to him that we should get a home and home series started. Before Coach Stockwell was a coach at Oswego State, he was the coach at Clarkson College. Every year we would play Clarkson, one year going there and the next year they would come here. Then of course when Coach Stockwell moved on to Oswego we automatically traveled to each others' house as part of conference play. That's why when he took the Hamilton job and with all the non-conference games they need to fill out a schedule I thought it was the perfect scenario for both schools. Hamilton has always had a decent program even when they were in the Liberty League. The two coaches knew each other, so that was a positive. However, they were willing to play us down there, not so willing to travel up here the next year.    I keep hoping that might change.

Anyway Amh63, as you yourself so kindly pointed out the other day, the SUNYAC did some pounding on the NESCAC this year. Hamilton played 3 teams in the SUNYAC this year and won 1 and lost 2. Plus Middlebury lost to Plattsburgh. We were 3-1 against the NESCAC. 3-0 against the CCIW, 1-0 against the WIAC, 2-0 against the SCIAC, 1-0 against the NWC and 1-0 against UAA just to name a few.      

[7express]

scooter,
I don't think Morrisville or SUNYIT wants to play in the SUNYAC again. It's not like we kicked them out. They chose to leave for life on the easier side of the tracks. They couldn't win enough, playing in the YAC, so they sought out softer conferences (which they found) in hopes of winning the automatic bid. (which they have) I'd be surprised if they ever came back no matter how the YAC was aligned.
One of the biggest jokes of the D3hoops Top 25 preseason poll was the inclusion of SUNY-Morrisville in the #20 spot. They are 6-6 overall and 3-3 in a conference that Massey Ratings has listed as the 3rd worst in the country.  They probably wouldn't finish any higher than 8th in our conference this year and possibly as low as 11th. (Since we would have 11 teams if they were in the YAC)

Yup, all because of their sweet 16 appearance last season.  Beating Ramapo was good, but the NJAC seems to always exit early (Patterson vs. Albertus a few years earlier comes to mind), and than beating Rhode Island College in Providence was good as well................except RIC was an awful team offensively last year.  Sure, they were great on defense, but they were equally as bad if not worse on the offensive end, so them winning that game isn't that surprising either.

[magicman]

scooter,
I don't think Morrisville or SUNYIT wants to play in the SUNYAC again. It's not like we kicked them out. They chose to leave for life on the easier side of the tracks. They couldn't win enough, playing in the YAC, so they sought out softer conferences (which they found) in hopes of winning the automatic bid. (which they have) I'd be surprised if they ever came back no matter how the YAC was aligned.
One of the biggest jokes of the D3hoops Top 25 preseason poll was the inclusion of SUNY-Morrisville in the #20 spot. They are 6-6 overall and 3-3 in a conference that Massey Ratings has listed as the 3rd worst in the country.  They probably wouldn't finish any higher than 8th in our conference this year and possibly as low as 11th. (Since we would have 11 teams if they were in the YAC)

Yup, all because of their sweet 16 appearance last season.  Beating Ramapo was good, but the NJAC seems to always exit early (Patterson vs. Albertus a few years earlier comes to mind), and than beating Rhode Island College in Providence was good as well................except RIC was an awful team offensively last year.  Sure, they were great on defense, but they were equally as bad if not worse on the offensive end, so them winning that game isn't that surprising either.

In fact the NJAC has been represented by Ramapo (2), Willie Paterson (2), Richard Stockton, New Jersey City, and Rutgers-Newark (2)  in the past 4 years. All resulting in 1st round exits.

In 2009-10 William Paterson lost to Albertus Magnus 57-55 in the 1st round

In 2010-11 Ramapo lost to Johnson and Wales (RI) 114-106 in the 1st round

IN 2010-11 New Jersey City lost to Cabrini 85-76 in the 1st round

In 2010-11 Richard Stockton lost to Virginia Wesleyan 85-82 in the 1st round

In 2010-11 Rutgers-Newark lost to Rhode Island College 72-60 in the 1st round

In 2011-12 William Paterson lost to Becker 69-53 in the 1st round

In 2012-13 Ramapo lost to Morrisville State 86-78 in the 1st round.

In 2012-13 Rutgers-Newark lost to Christopher Newport in the 1st round

Prior to those four years

In 2008-09 Richard Stockton made it to the Final Four and lost in the National Championship game to Washington U. 61-52

In 2007-08 Richard Stockton lost in the Sweet 16 to Amherst 85-77 in Plattsburgh. I saw that game and the potential that was there for the run to the finals the next year.

Edit:  Added 4 more teams using Gordon Mann's Guidebook that Pat recommended. A valuable resource, indeed, and one that I have in my favorites file, but keep forgetting that I do. Thanks for the reminder Pat.   

[Pat Coleman]

You're actually missing other first-round exits by NJAC teams in that time frame -- it's worse than that!

Gordon Mann's Guidebook is the ideal resource for this:

http://www.d3hoops.com/guidebook/index

NJAC starts on page 79.

[Bengalsrule]

Let me tell you something about Fredonia ( and you can quote me). Phil Seymour is putting something together that should pay great dividends in the future. That undermanned squad played tough from start to finish. A number of those players are playing more minutes than they could have imagined. Take for instance, Zwierlien. This kid hit 5 threes, scored 21 and played Christhompson tough all day. Before yesterday he, Zweirlein, had scored 30 points TOTAL on the season and had 4 treys TOTAL on the season ( 12 games).

I believe that those kids are learning a new system and as they continue to buy in ( some don't and probably quit), I believe that the Blue Devils are gonna be 1 devil of a team to beat!

Speaking of tough competition, Brockport is next for my beloved BENGALS! Nuff said!!

Go BENGALS!!

What you are saying may be true but I watched them play Brockport on Tuesday and they were absolutely destroyed by the Golden Eagles who more than doubled the Blue Devils score. Fredonia only had (gulp!!) 13 points at halftime. They didn't look good, they shot terrible, 3x22 in the 1st half from the field (13.6%), 1x8 from distance (12.5%) and 6x13 from the line (46.2%). They turned the ball over 13 times and couldn't stop anyone if they were guarding them in an elevator. Eagles shot 63% from the field and 58% from distance. That tells me that if I'm wrong, and  Fredonia is as good as you're telling me they are,  then your Bengals are in for one heluva whooping by the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.

And who knows...you may be the first YAC team (other than Brockport) to play a Top 25 team this season, if the Golden Eagles, on the strength of another undefeated week, move into the Top 25. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen though.        

Whoa there ponder!!  Please don't take my compliments of a "tough and hard playing" Fredonia team to mean anything other than that. For a squad that has more players on the floor than they do on the bench, from what I saw Saturday, they still haven't quit playing hard. Im not sure who has done well against Brockport, other than the Cards and Purchase. I imagine that there have been other teams besides Fredonia that have had a rough go at it when playing Brockport. Do I expect the BENGALS to be in for "one hell of a whooping" tomorrow? ABSOLUTLY NOT! . I expect the BENGALS to win tomorrow (as I expect them to win every game that they play in). What's even better...they, the BENGALS, expect to win too! If there is a BENGAL that doesn't expect to win then I am sure Coach Ansari will tell that player to stay at home and don't bother making the trip!

I do expect them the BENGALS to bring their  "A game" tomorrow and then let the chips fall where they may! 

Go BENGALS!!

PS I can't wait to see your a-- in Feb!!!!   

[magicman]

I expect the Bengals to bring their "A" game tomorrow as well.  I hope they have to do it against a Top 25 team.

I started to write this post around 1 PM today and got sidetracked for the rest of the day.

I had typed that I thought Colorado Colllege and Wheaton would drop out of the Top 25 poll and that Brockport would be one of the teams that would move into the rankings. I did send an email to Brockport's Coach Dunne late yesterday afternoon telling him I wanted to be the first to congratulate him on Brockport's entry into the Top 25. I said I thought they would be ranked 24th or 25th. I knew St Mary's would tumble just wasn't sure how far. They fell far enough to boost Brockport into the 23rd spot.  Now the Golden Eagles have to prove they have some staying power.

Tomorrow's game against Buffalo State could be a tough one for the Eagles. Buffalo State has struggled recently in conference play but they can hang with anybody. Their 2 wins down in Florida over Carthage and North Central were decent wins against 2 teams that have shown an ability to be competitive against anybody. Carthage has defeated 3 ranked teams already this year and North Central played top ranked Stevens Point right down to the final buzzer. Carthage got some points in this week's poll, the first time they've got a mention all year I believe.  The Bengals have 5 straight losses to Brockport and revenge will be a huge motive.  They got back on the winning path over the weekend and now would like to make a statement. Brockport, now a ranked team, gives them the opportunity to do so.

Geneseo was the only other team from the East Region to receive any mention this week and a mention is all it was, as the Knights got a single point.

Here's the link to the complete poll

http://d3hoops.com/top25/men/2013-14/week7

       

[magicman]

In looking over the statistics of last week's games there were a number of fine performances by a number of different players. The three players that stood out the most were John Perez of Plattsburgh, John Ivy of Brockport and Gordon Lyons of Geneseo.

Both Ivy and Lyons had a 3 game week, while Perez only had 2 games. All 3 teams were undefeated last week as well.

Ivy had 2 excellent games on Tuesday and Friday, but ran into foul problems early against Cortland on Saturday. 2:36 after the start of the game John found himself on the bench with 2 fouls and didn't return until the 2nd half. His 1st half stat line consisted of 2 turnovers
and 2 fouls. He only scored 11 points in the game with 1 rebound but they all came in the 2nd period. He had a 2nd half that most players would take for full game totals.


Gordon Lyons had 2 outstanding games as well with 28 points and 9 boards in a win over Buffalo State. He followed that up with a 14 point, 7 rebound game against Cortland and closed out the week with a 25 point, 13 rebound game against Oswego.

John Perez opened with a career high of 28 points (9x15 fg, 10x13 ft) against New Paltz and added 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a block. The next day he continued to have a hot hand as he went 9x13 from the field to score 22 pts with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. For the week John shot 18x28 from the field (64.2%) and 14x19 from the line (73,6%) He had a total of 50 points for a 25 ppg average and had 14 rebounds for a 7.0 rpg average. He also had 7 assists.

By a slim margin John Perez gets my vote as the Player of the Week, and of course I am slightly biased as John plays for my Cardinals. Both of the other candidates could get the award when it's released later today and I wouldn't have a problem with that but I'm voting for John because of the outstanding week that he had and for all the things he does that don't show up on the stat sheet. Nobody plays harder than JP.   

I think both of the other players had a game that was not up to their typical standards, (and Ivy's was because of the foul problems and his lack of floor time, not because he played badly). I think John Ivy's POTW will be after the games that he plays this week, as I see him putting together 3 huge games. 

Lyons only scoring 14 points is a victory for the defense by the other team. I'd gladly pencil him in for 14 if I knew that would be his total for the night. It's usually 10 to 15 points higher than that. Plus Lyons was the POTW back in December, so it's spread the wealth time.

Hopefully I can come back on this board later today and congratulate one of these players but I've got my fingers crossed that it's John Perez.

       

[bearnation]

Brockport finally gets some love.  Great job finally getting into the top 25.  I have learned something from these post.  The performance of a school is based on the performance of a conference in past tournaments not on the merits of the team in a new year.  Last time I checked each individual is only given 4 years to play unless a situation arises that is unique to the individual so then why are we judging on past performances.  I was told not to live in the 80's when Potsdam was sent on the road during their last run to the sweet 16.  Why should Brockport be punished because of what other school teams in the conference have done in the past.  I guess we should just play the games and see what happens.  Brockport bring it home and prove the naysayers wrong.

[NYHOOPS8]

Interested to see tonight's Buff State- Brockport matchup. Buff St is reaching the crossroads of their season with their back to back matchups against the (IMO) the two best teams in the conference while being right at the border of the playoff standings. Will Brockport rest on the laurels after finally reaching the top 25? Should be a good one tonight.