MBB: Skyline Conference

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 01:48:28 PM

Only my second post, but I feel the need to ask you where you get your stats on Justin White??

No problem- sorry for the confusion. The numbers refer to [HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED]'s final week, during [PROGRAM THAT CASTS ENORMOUS SHADOW OVER ALL OF DIVISION III COLLEGE BASKETBALL]'s final four games.

mid-range j · February 23, 2009, 02:25:44 PM

this is some funny stuff tho, i think everyone fails to realize that raptormania is just trying to get under peoples skin on the message boards...and hes doing a pretty good job..i mean its prob because hes trying to back up the worst team in college basketball on any level but hey least he has some pride and loyalty for his college..

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 02:51:49 PM

Well done, mid-range- though you did use raptormania, it is correctly spelled Raptormania!.
I will take issue with your statement- even the Massey Ratings, which carry a well-known bias against liberal arts schools, had Bard ahead of ME Presque Isle-and that was PRIOR to the win over Yeshiva.
Just happy to see a team that went through so much and worked so hard get a tangible reward.

mid-range j · February 23, 2009, 03:14:03 PM

hahahaha this is comical! you are too much Raptormania!

skylinestar · February 23, 2009, 03:30:40 PM

Listen up, bard hasn't been respectable as a mens basketball program since....well ever. But they did have a decent run a couple years back with star quality players Adam Turner and Drew McCormack. I believe Turner is the schools all time leading scorer, correct me if im wrong? But justin white is highly overrated, playing with kids who look as if they should be on a chess team rather than a college basketball squad.....

Lets get to real powerhouse program talk here, I think St joes is gonna win the conference tournament saturday night in farmingdale's own gym..should be a great game.

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 03:41:00 PM

Adam Turner won't soon be forgotten. But do keep in mind that last season, Bard challenged for a Skyline playoff spot in its first season with the conference. What you say is partially true- Bard doesn't have a basketball tradition- the team is making history with every step forward. But I've seen plenty of teams that lose a ton to injury, and the star gets keyed on defensively. Generally, that leads to more turnovers and low shooting percentage. But not with Justin White.

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 04:27:56 PM

Don't know if this is inappropriate for a Skyline Conference thread, but here's a link to the Skyline's Player of the Week.

http://skylineconference.org/News/mbball/2009/2/23/skyline_winter0809_report13.asp?path=mbball

OxyBob · February 23, 2009, 04:57:34 PM

Quote from: Raptormania! on February 23, 2009, 01:46:41 PM
just defending Justin White's accomplishments against those running him down in this thread.

I only got to see Justin White play once, but he was indeed impressive against Caltech. White scored 6 points on 2-for-9 shooting, all while being single-covered, and the 7 shots he missed were oh so very close to going in the basket, so there was at least potential for a perfect 9-for-9 night. White was also 2-for-2 shooting FTs, which is 100% (and you can't get better than that!), and he led the Raptors with 6 turnovers, which means he was handling the ball an awful lot even while losing it. Most importantly, White was a part of history, as Caltech won 81-52 and ended its 207-game, 11-year D-III losing streak. Thanks for the memories, Justin!

OxyBob

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 05:58:51 PM

Well, if a player struggles in a single game early in his development, I guess we know all we need to about him.
You stay classy, OxyBob. It must feel good to publicly rip a student-athlete when he succeeds.

Cyclone0205 · February 23, 2009, 06:30:39 PM

Raptormania!, to be objective, you can't call anyone out on being "classy".

Someone makes a post about Damien Santana becoming the all time scorer in Farmingdale history and you have the audacity to not only strike out his writing and change it to "now that's always impressive", but then continue to plead for people to give attention to Justin White.

You single handedly are the reason people here don't want to acknowledge many of White's accomplishments, because you cannot have an objective conversation, but rather must make everything the Bard special. Try every now and then to stop being so single focused and talk outside your comfort zone.

Is Justin White a talented player? Yes.
Do we all know how much you love Justin White? Yes.
Have you made us all sick and tired of hearing about Justin White? Yes.

There, he's gotten the publicity you wanted. His name has been mentioned. Now, can the focus please shift to the conference tournament teams. Thanks.

raptor31 · February 23, 2009, 08:21:27 PM

A lot to talk about here... wow!! I go away 24 hrs and we get 16 posts on Justin White. Shows the kid is doing something right. First of all if you guys are so sick of it just don't reply to the post about the kid or Bard!! No big deal, just don't reply. Secondly, Cyclone, Raptormania! wasn't ripping Damien Santana, he was simply saying that the comment should have been "now that's also impressive." He wasn't and never does put down other great players in the conference. The problem is you come on a board and give your opinion and people start disrespecting a kid. It's no problem to disagree and state your opinion but completely unnecessary to rip a kids accomplishments. If I say I think JWhite is the best guard feel free to disagree (you are wrong but that is alright) but don't trash a kid who is playing his ass off.

Secondly, if we didn't talk about Bard Basketball on here I am pretty sure this thread would be at about 25 pages instead of 47. Point blank, not many people in the skyline care about their teams enough to get on this board and post consistently, the fact that a few people who have been involved with the Bard program for the last decade get on and write when there is something to write about says a lot about the atmosphere that has been growing the past 10 years. This is an open board to discuss anything and since no one seems to want to talk about the playoffs says something about the Skyline as a whole.

If you don't care about hearing more about Bard Bball stop reading now! Something most of you don't know is 10 years ago this team was not NCAA recognized and against a schedule that didn't include many NCAA opponents went 0-25 with an average margin of defeat of 48 ppg. That is where we come from and it is a hideous past. The schools athletic budget is close to nothing, the facilities are just alright, and the support of athletics from the administration is close to non existent. The past 10 years have seen a lot of growth in students that care about sports and athletes that want more and yet the support hasn't come from the powers that be. We have become NCAA recognized, a part of a conference with an automatic bid and while going 1-24 this year is rough it is with a young team and against a caliber of opponent the school has never played.

There is definitely a lot of work to do but Coach Wood has done a tremendous job recruiting (there is no give to the 1400 and 3.5 GPA requirements for admissions) considering the schools he goes up against in recruiting battles, i.e. Williams, Amherst, Ithaca, Vassar, Skidmore, etc. etc. All these schools have bigger budgets, better facilities, athletic tradition, and obviously this makes it a tough task to recruit against them. It is nice to come on here and say START RECRUITING but it is a little tougher to actually go do that. Not to be an elitist and I have nothing against the schools in the conference but Bard in the Skyline with no give in the admissions process is like Princeton trying to compete year in and year out in the NEC or MAAC. It is tough to go out and get the same caliber athlete and player when the pool of players you have to get is limited by grades and most of those kids aren't going to like a liberal arts school like Bard over a place like Amherst.

We represent our school to the fullest and even when we are down (like right now) we will continue to care because that is the type of program Coach Wood has built, one where people involved care about the players that have come before and after. As bad as the record has been something has to be said about the fact that the two most loyal fans on this thread are the two Raptor faithful. Check out raptormania.com for a great fan site that goes back with almost 10 years worth of material!! I know at least 10 people just hit your site right there Raptormania!

Congratulation to all the Skyline teams this year, it was a competitive year all around and I hope the playoffs are the same. Obviously, we will see a St. Joes-Farmingdale final and it should be a great one! Watch out for Chris Niblock as the X Factor in that title game!

raptor31 · February 23, 2009, 08:23:16 PM

On a side note, I got a chance to check out the kid Carlos Valdez (per Justin White's request) on Mt St Mary on the online game watching system we have through Bard (can relive all 24 losses and that one win online) and he is tough!! Kid has legit size and skill. Hopefully he will develop like almost all Mt St Mary players do!! The program has fallen back a step but

Coach Davis continually does a great job developing players and getting his kids to play hard. Recent examples are Mike Hoyt and Chris Harrison (who I coached against as a freshman and didn't see how he would ever become an impact guy but he has). The guy knows his stuff and inspires kids to get better. Look forward to seeing how good this kid becomes.

raptor31 · February 23, 2009, 08:34:43 PM

And it is really easy guys... if you want the conversation to shift to the conf playoff teams then TALK ABOUT THEM!!! This isn't a place where only one conversation at a time can go on. The problem is there aren't many people from those schools that really care enough to get online and talk about them. Go to another conf site and you have multiple posters from every school talking constantly about everything. Just doesn't happen here. I would love to get into a conversation about who is the best big in this conference but every time something like that comes up it just kind of dies. Mike Campbells gotta get that by the way right or are we not classifying him as a true "big." Didn't see anyone all year dominate the way he did against Bard. Just did whatever he wanted when he wanted. Very crafty around the basket and just had the ability to bully whoever he wanted.

Raptormania! · February 23, 2009, 08:51:48 PM

Someone makes a post about Damien Santana becoming the all time scorer in Farmingdale history and you have the audacity to not only strike out his writing and change it to "now that's always impressive", but then continue to plead for people to give attention to Justin White.

Sad that you have the ability to cut and paste, and you still misquote me. Our friend Queens had just finished calling Bard "miserable" and was comparing Santana to White, making the implicit point that Santana was impressive, White was not. Rather than run down Santana- because why would anyone do that?- I simply responded and pointed out that what he did was "also" impressive.

I can't help but find it amusing that you are upset over my talking about a remarkable week a Skyline Conference player had on a Skyline Conference board during a week he was named... Skyline Conference Player of the Week.

If you disagree that White is worthy of praise, so be it. I don't claim to be objective- but I certainly don't think the objective numbers undermine my case.

And as for talk about other teams- who is stopping you? Is the presence of Justin White some kind of mute button on your computer? Seriously- I'm pretty sure I can't force you to stop talking about your team and rip a student-athlete who just completed a remarkable week. And I'm certainly going to respond when people are unfairly critical of him.

OxyBob · February 23, 2009, 09:00:58 PM

Quote from: Cyclone0205 on February 23, 2009, 06:30:39 PM
Raptormania!, to be objective, you can't call anyone out on being "classy".

Oh, don't worry, I know that Raptomania! means no harm, and I am sorry if I tread on his or Justin White's tender Bard sensibilities. Thing is, I am a big fan of the Skyline Conference. Not only did Bard help Caltech make history by snapping CIT's 207-game losing streak to D-III teams, but just this season Polytechnic came to California and lost to Caltech, snapping the Beavers' 30-game losing streak back to last season when they defeated Gallaudet. One of these days Caltech will finally win a conference game (they've lost 286 straight stretching back to 1985), but until then I appreciate the opportunity to look at Caltech's schedule and anticipate a rare CIT win courtesy of the Skyline Conference.

OxyBob