MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[thebear]

     I'm proud of the fact that Coach Ansari didn't schedule a bunch of cupcakes to fatten up the BENGALS non conference record.

Bengals, Coaches don't know most of the time when they [or the asst AD that] makes up the schedule, who the "cupcakes" are going to be. 

For example, my Bears have played and outscored two 0-9 teams, but last year Clarkson was 12-13 and were 8-10 in their conference, no one expected them to be 0-9 at the Break. 
Keystone the other 0-9 team was 11-15 last year, and 9-9 in their conference, so the 11-14 [2017-18] Bears actually scheduled two teams with better or equal records to their own.

The also agreed to play in the WPI tournament and WPI is currently 9-0 and currently ranked 27th in Massey, who is better at this point than anyone the Bengals have played.

In addition there is a tradition here, because of limited travel budgets and the fact that two tiny towns 11 miles apart have 4 [1% of the entire Division] Division 3 teams, that we play each other.  The Bears played and outscored all of their local rivals this year for the first time in a while.

[magicman]

Dec. 19    Two teams in action today hoping to enjoy the warm weather after winning a game...here's hoping!
   

Plattsburgh State  vs  Wesleyan        4:00 PM      HoopMia Holiday Slam at Miami, Fla.   

The Cardinals take on the Cardinals of Wesleyan University in an all Redbird matchup. I believe this will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.  I know the Cardinals will come out on top, hopefully it will be the northernmost Cardinals.

Wesleyan is 6-3 coming into this game with all 3 losses coming against quality teams. Two of them are ranked in the D3hoops Top 25 poll. They lost to #2 Williams 80-65 on December 1st and dropped a games to #16 Nichols, 85-66 on November 20th. Their other loss was to an 8-2 Eastern Connecticut team that is picked to win th Little East Conference. Austin Hutcherson and Jordan Bonner are high scoring guards that lead this team in nearly all categories. They both have good size with Hutcherson 6'6" and Bonner 6'4".  Hutcherson is averaging 17.5 ppg  and Bonner is dropping them in at  15.8 ppg. Hutcherson leads the team in assists with 3.1 pg and Bonner is the leading rebounder with 9.4. The Plattsburgh Cardinals will have their work cut out  for them keeping this pair under control.

Plattsburgh has the players to counter with as Jon Patron leads the way. Jon is  averaging a double-double of 24.1 ppg and 10.7 rpg. with 3.0 assists per game. Brandon Johnson is averaging 14.2 ppg and 4.4 assists per game.  Chris Middleton and Nick DeAngelis both average over 12 ppg and Ian Howard is grabbing 8.3 rebounds per game to go with his 5.8 ppg. Isaiah Hill is scoring 7.2 ppg and has 6.0 rpg.

This should be a good game and the oddsmakers have installed Plattsburgh as a 4 point favorite. Plattsburgh is looking to go 2-0 in the NESCAC conference as they got a win over #24 Middlebury 2 weeks ago.

I think the Plattsburgh Cardinals will get the win here by an 83-75 final score.   



Oneonta State  @  Chapman        9:00 PM     Orange, California

Oneonta goes to Southern Cal and gets back on the winning trail with a win over Chapman. The oddsmakers have them listed as a 6 point underdog and it's hard for an east coast team to make that trip and win (the Cardinals of Plattsburgh State couldn't do it back in 2007-08 when they were 27-3, losing a game out there to Occidental) but i think the Red Dragons can win this game. Final score...Oneonta 78 Chapman 73.

[magicman]

Plattsburgh trails Wesleyan 39-38 at the half.

SUNYAC Cardinals get 9 points each from Chris Middleton and Brandon Johnson. 8 points each from Jon Patron and Isaiah Hill. Patron is the game's leading rebounder with 6 but I think he has more than that.

Three point shooting hurting Plattsburgh as they are only 2 for 12 from deep.  Need to make a few more or work it inside. Wesleyan 4x14 from long range. Our Cards are 2x4 from the line. The other Cards are 5x10.   

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 73  Wesleyan (Ct.)  84

I had the Cardinals winning 83-75 so I was pretty close except it was the wrong Cardinals on the right end of the score. The teams put on a good game but the Plattsburgh Redbirds got a little sloppy on a few occasions and it came back to bite them as the deep hole they dug earlier was too much to overcome. The first half was a tight affair with numerous lead changes and Wesleyan managed to go up by a single point, 39-38 at the break.

The 2nd half started out well as a basket by Ian Howard gave Plattsburgh the lead 40-39, but it was the last time those Cardinals would be ahead. Wesleyan used a 10-2 spurt fueled by 7 points from Austin Hutcherson to go in front 49 to 42. Still up by a 51-46 score, Wesleyan used another 13-0 run, capped by back to back steals, to push the lead to the largest of the game at 18 points with 11:28 remaining.

Plattsburgh was on life support but got a lifeline when Jon Patron hit back to back 3's on two trips down the court. After both teams came up empty, Plattsburgh on a heat check by Patron and Wesleyan also on a missed long ball, Plattsburgh's Nick DeAngelis hit a 3 pointer and the 18 point lead had been cut in half with 8:51 still left. Plattsburgh hung with Wesleyan with more back and forth play as the lead shifted from 7 to 11 points. With 3:47 to play Plattsburgh got a pair of free throws from Isaiah Hill to cut it to 7 and then Brandon Johnson got a steal and a jumper to narrow the lead to 5. The Cards Coach Curle called a time out and now, only down 2 possessions, the possibility of coming all the way back was a viable option. Wesleyan was fouled and went to the line, making both to lead by 7, but Patron came down and buried another 3 to get within 4 points. With 2:36 left to play and needing a stop Plattsburgh got a turnover with a steal by Hill. We gave it back to them 5 seconds later when they got a steal and Hill fouled the Wesleyan player to prevent the easy basket. He made both freebies in what was a momentum changer. Still the Plattsburgh guys hung tough as Hill was fouled and he made them both to keep the lead at 4 points. Now we really needed a stop but Wesleyan's go to guy, Hutcherson, scored inside on a short jumper and on the ensuing Plattsburgh possession Hutcherson got a steal and a dunk to put an exclamation point on the game. Down 8 points at 78-70 with 1:16 left we had to hope the 3's would fall and their free throws wouldn't. They went 6 for 6 from the line, while we got a freebie and a 2 point jumper.

Wesleyan is a solid team and should make the NESCAC playoffs but we played far from our best game. Like our other loss to Brockport, we didn't shoot well from behind the arc, only making 6 of 27. We were only 9 of 15 from the line but that didn't really matter. Our game went south for one stretch that enabled Wesleyan to grab a substantial lead and that proved to be the difference. Hopefully we can comeback tomorrow against another team from a DIII power conference, Case Western Reserve University, from the University Athletic Association. Should be another good game.

Jon Patron led the Plattsburgh Cardinals with an other double-double of 19 points and a game high 13 rebounds. I swear he had 20 rebounds. The announcers doing the game said the same thing over and over. They thought he had a dozen at halftime when he was only credited with 6. They were amazed that a guy of Jon's height was, time and again, getting the boards despite being shorter than most of the guys under the hoop.

Brandon Johnson had 15 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and a steal.

Isaiah Hill had 14 points, 5 rebounds and a steal.

Chris Middleton had 13 points, 3 rebounds and a steal in 12 minutes.

Plattsburgh had a slim lead with 40 rebounds to 38 and Wesleyan had just 10 turnovers to 12 for the SUNYAC team.

Wesleyan outshot Plattsburgh in all 3 categories with the free throw line the major difference. We were 9x15 they were 17x25, but 6 of those made freebies were at the end of the game.

Plattsburgh falls to 8-2 (3-1 YAC) and will be back on the court  later today against Case Western Reserve at 2:00 PM, for their final game in the  HoopMia Holiday Slam at Miami Florida.             

[magicman]

In the run up to the Cardinals midweek holiday games in Florida,  I didn't even notice that D3hoops had a new Top 25 poll out. I saw the headlines showing the Women 's new poll but when I clicked on it there was no Men's Poll there and no rotating story showing a headline about a new Men's Poll appearing on the front page of D3hoops.. I thought the next one would come out after the New Year but....there was a new poll released on Monday night....I just missed it. 

Plattsburgh State moved up 1 spot and is now #13 with 285 points. We did lose a few points as we had 297 last week.

Rochester dropped from #13 to #17. They had 305 points last week and got 197 this week.

Oswego State gained some ground in the "Others Receiving Votes" category and is now at #30 with 28 points. Last week they were 31st with 23 points. They continue to inch their way up.

Here's the link to the complete poll:   https://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2018-19/week4

[magicman]

Oneonta 82 Chapman 69

I thought the score would be a bit closer but I guess if you are a fire breathing, frequent flying dragon, these cross country trips don't affect you with jet lag like it does normal people. I had Oneonta winning this game by a 78-73 final score. Now I don't need to be a nuclear physicist to see that both those sets of numbers add up to 151. So I got the total right on the money (we get lucky once in a while).

Oneonta pretty much led this game from start to finish except for the opening  minute. Chapman scored 2 free throws when Ian Schultz was called for a foul 23 seconds after the opening tip and the Panther player made them both to go up 2-0. 22 seconds later Sean Nolan scored to tie the game at 2-2 and 19 seconds later Harrison Deegan laid one in to give the Red Dragons the lead. The Panthers would only get to within 2 points on 1 other occasion in the game. Oneonta went up 11-2 then 21-11 and 29-15 forcing the Panthers to play catch up and they never could. Chapman did close the gap to 40-32 at the half.

The Red Dragons weren't able to put the Panthers away and the lead shifted from 5 to 8 points for the first 4 minutes of the 2nd period. Then Chapman, down 7,  hit a layup and buried a three to pull within a deuce, at 46-44, with about 16 minutes left to play. Oneonta's Kevin Mackin swished a long ball and Ian Schultz who was scoreless in the first half scored inside and was fouled. The lead was back to 8 points and Oneonta had their comfort zone back and never lost it. With 9:43 to go the lead was 10 points at 60-50 and with 5 minutes to go it was 71-62. Oneonta really put the hurt on with a 9-1 run that made it 80-63 with 2:31 to go.  It didn't matter then what the final score would end up.

Kevin Mackin led all scorers with 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Harrison Deegan had 15 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, a steal and a block.

Ian Schultz scored 11 points all in the 2nd half.

Emmanuel Oyakhilome just missed a double-double with 9 points and a game high 11 rebounds.

Dylan Trombly had 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds a steal and a block in 19 minutes off the bench.

Andres Rivera had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

AC Kirkwood had 9 rebounds 5 points an assist and a block.

Oneonta stops the bleeding and gets a win following a 4 game losing streak. The are now 4-4 overall and 0-3 in the YAC. They return to action later today against La Verne another team from the SCIAC conference that Chapman is in. Game time is 5:00 PM     

[magicman]

Dec. 20   Same two YAC teams as yesterday, up again, to finish their business in the sun.

   
Plattsburgh State  vs  Case Western Reserve        2:00 PM 2018 HoopMia Holiday Slam @ Miami, Fla. (Barry Univ.)

I was hoping the Cardinals went to visit the Magic Kingdom last night but it's probably too far from where they are staying. They need some magic and I'm 1500 miles from where they are. Was hoping Walt and the magic makers would sprinkle a little of that dust that Tinkerbell carried around. It certainly couldn't hurt as the Cardinals could lose their 2nd game in a row for the first time in over a year.

Case Western Reserve played yesterday and defeated Widener University 80-70. They have a 7-2 record and play in the same conference as Rochester and NYU. Once again we are playing a team we have never met before. The oddsmakers have made Plattsburgh an 8 point favorite in this game. I hope the other team knows that and plays accordingly. The Spartans, like another team we've faced over the last 5 years, Skidmore, have a player on their team from Lithuania, Ignas Masiulionis. Ignas is a 6'2" sophomore guard, who leads the team in scoring with a 12.1 ppg.  Antonio Ionadi, another 6'2" sophomore guard is close behind with 11.9 ppg. Michael Hollis is their big guy who averages just shy of a double-double with 9.4 ppg and 9.6 rpg. He is a 6'6" junior forward.

I think the Cardinals are not happy that they lost on Wednesday and the next few days of their Florida vacation along with the flight back home will be much more fun if the last thing they did on the court today was walk off a winner. I'll take Plattsburgh to win this one by a final score of 88-81.   


   
Oneonta State  @  La Verne        5:00 PM

The Red Dragons got their trip off to a good start and today they would like start a winning streak. La Verne is the 2nd team they get to play from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Chapman was also from the SCIAC and I think Chapman was the better of the two teams that Oneonta will play. The oddsmakers had them favored by 6 over Chapman yesterday and today they have them favored by 7 over La Verne. The Panthers are only 1-6 coming into this game and and that 1 win was over a 2-9 team. I'm taking Oneonta to win by more than the 7 point spread. Red Dragons crunch the Leopards 87-72.

[All-Time]

Magicman
The only one that can get Plattsburgh back on track today is YOU. You are their MAGIC KINGDOM.
Get that MAGIC WAND out and Click your heels 3 times and repeat after me, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals.

Let's go Cardinals, LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[The Law Firm]

You know guys it feels great to be back on the D3 Hoops blog. I mean the blog made The Law Firm a legend. But you know something, something happened. And then The Magic Man turned his back on me. The Magic Man drove me out of the blog. I'm the reason all you people are here. I'm the one who put the blog on the map. I'm the one who made the blog as big as it is today. There's nobody in this business that's a bigger icon than I am. I'm the biggest star past or present in the D3 Hoops world today. And they'll never ever be a bigger star than "Hollywood" Law Firm!!!

MAGIC MAN! I have had enough. It is no secret I am a supporter of a certain team in the SUNYAC. I can no longer take you bashing my team, and not holding your team to the same standard. How dare you sir. How dare you put our name in the same breath as Fredonia (no disrespect). Play by the rules, when Plattsburgh looses, the fans want a write up, and a legit one not "I swear he had 20 rebounds. The announcers doing the game said the same thing over and over. They thought he had a dozen at halftime when he was only credited with 6. They were amazed that a guy of Jon's height was, time and again, getting the boards despite being shorter than most of the guys under the hoop." I, hell WE won't stand for it anymore! You throw my team under the bus and are very quick to dismiss and undermine us, but go into hiding and make excuses when the cards loose. You bet your ass a floppy slice is coming your way after a loss this year!!

Happy holidays gentlemen, peace and love. Law Firm out

LF

[magicman]

Magicman
The only one that can get Plattsburgh back on track today is YOU. You are their MAGIC KINGDOM.
Get that MAGIC WAND out and Click your heels 3 times and repeat after me, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals.

Let's go Cardinals, LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

All-Time,
I been clicking those Ruby Reds all morning long. Even brought them to my doctor's visit early today to make sure they weren't ill and were still full of grace. They weren't and they are. I think we might have our mojo back.... in the Cardinal's nest where it belongs. Go Plattsburgh!!!   

[Bengalsrule]

Magicman
The only one that can get Plattsburgh back on track today is YOU. You are their MAGIC KINGDOM.
Get that MAGIC WAND out and Click your heels 3 times and repeat after me, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals, There's no BETTER team than my Plattsburgh Cardinals.

Let's go Cardinals, LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Damn All Time. For a minute there I thought that you were switching teams and leaving your Red Dragons!

[magicman]

Plattsburgh leads Case Western Reserve 39-25 at the half .

Chris Middleton with 9 points, Nick DeAngelis with 9 points Jon Patron with 8 points and Brandon Johnson with 7 points,

[magicman]

Law Firm,

Sorry you seem so out of sorts. Not sure if you're really ticked off or trying to pull my leg. Anyway I don't think you'v been following these boards all that long, cause if you were you'd know that I'm a pretty big Buffalo State fan. The other Buffalo State fan that frequents this board can attest to that fact. And I go back to the days when Randy Smith played for Buffalo State and can say that I saw him play, live and in person, when he was wearing the Orange and Black. And of course was amazed at his talent. Not many guys on D3hoops can say they saw...arguably the greatest SUNYAC player of them all, play when he was in college. That was in the late 60's. I was a couple of years ahead of him. Were you more than a gleam in your Dad's eye at that time?

If I criticize a team from time to time it's generally because they deserve it and I haven't always spared the Cardinals. I have interacted with lots of players, their parents and their coaches from many of the SUNYAC teams over the years. Even the ones that came to our house and kicked our butt. A Bengal named Jake Simmons did exactly that a few years ago and remains one of my favorite Buffalo State players. Jake put up 37 against us with nine 3 pointers and it was a pretty special night for him and the romp they had in Memorial Hall.  Justin Mitchell was another one who was a big time Bengal player and one of my favorites. I interacted with these guys whenever they came to town and truly missed it when they graduated and I could no longer visit with them. My attempts at humor aren't meant to be hurtful...I want every team in the SUNYAC to be good or to be better than a 1 or 2 win team. This year and last year it's Fredonia (and I sincerely hope they win some games this year) but recently I was saying the same things about New Paltz and Potsdam State (and Potsdam State is my alma mater). Both those teams have started to turn around their programs bit by bit. I hope Fredonia is the next team to do that. My comparison of the Bengals to the Blue Devils was  mainly to spoof my Bengal friend and I'm sure I'll pick Buff State to beat other teams they will be up against, even though I said I wouldn't. Fredonia will have to wait though, until next year. They are a young team and who knows where they could be in the next few years. The Bengals are another young team but have the talent to be better than they are...right now! They will improve... if not sooner then it will be down the road. When teams consistently have one poor season after another it hurts all the other teams in the YAC and that's something I'd rather not have happening.

The things I stated that the announcers said about Jon Patron weren't made up if you listened to the broadcast you would have heard just what I wrote.

I never go into hiding...sometimes I just go to sleep. At my age sleep is getting to be more of something I got less of for years. Other times I make out a post and after spending a good amount of time with all the stats my computer plays games and starts updates when I'm in the middle of posting. That very thing happened at 3:30 this morning (Thursday morning early AM) when I typed up the results of the Oneonta game. I was about a sentence from completing my post when my computer decide to shut down and install updates. I lost the entire post and had to do it over again and it was finally posted at 4:30 AM. Many times that happens (I'm an old fart and not real computer literate) and many times I am too tired to do it over again. I've got a wicked crick in my neck from falling asleep at my computer, sometimes several nights in a row. 3 visits to the backcracker this week haven't helped me all that much yet. I also don't always come on and post results when my Cardinals win. It really depends on what's on my plate and how much sleep I've had. Check out my posts and you'll see that the majority of them are done when most everyone else is sound asleep.

I've never been one of those johnny-come-lately types. When my Cardinals were 27-3 in 07-08 I was on the boards a lot. The next year when they were 8-16 and missed the YAC playoffs I was on this board just as much. Same goes for the years when they were 8-18 and...whoops I've run out of those bad years. Seems like we've only had 2 in the past 15 or so seasons. That's what happens when you build a winning program.

As I said, if you were yanking my chain, you got me but if you were truly upset then I can only offer you my apology. I mentioned once before, when you implied I didn't like Buffalo State, that you were mistaken...I believe it was the beginning of this season. I wear my Bengals T-shirt and sweatshirt that was bestowed upon me by the team with pride and never hesitate to help them out when they come to "my neck of the woods" as Oswego grad Al Roker says about 5 times every morning on the Today show.

Happy Holiday Law Firm and keep the faith because I think your team will be looking good for the next few years.   

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 88  Case Western Reserve 69

I had the Cards number right on the money with their 88 points. Thought  the Spartans would put up a few more than 69. They were four 3 pointers short of my 81 point prognostication. That was the result of their poor performance from behind the arc...only 11x36.
Cardinasls feeling a little better than they did last night and will make the rest of the week feel fine.

I hope to write up the game later but I have a high school game to go to as my girl friend's son was the MVP of his league last year as a junior and is averaging around 25 pts per game this year.  But I didn't get much sleep last night and just may come home and crash.

[All-Time]

Magicman   All the stars are aligned as the Cardinals and the Oneonta Red Dragons finish off 2018 on a winning note.

Hoping the Buffalo State Bengals can get it going in 2019.

Wishing you guys a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Enjoy