MBB: Skyline Conference

[Raptormania!]

Cyclone and Raptor31 are chock-full of good points. Just to briefly address:

4)  How do you solve 3?  Simple...more money for athletes.  The athletes you want aren't the ones you have to lower your academics for.  But the ones that do qualify, you can't lose because of money.  That is where Stevens made their move.  They started invested more in their scholarship funds and thus had a bigger resource pool to provide financial aid and scholarships. 

This one flies in the face of 1, unfortunately- to get this an AD needs to be a forceful, effective advocate for the school providing financial aid and scholarships to prospective athletes.

[Cyclone0205]

Ahh Mania, i should have been more clear...


The AD should be forceful for school funding.  What I meant by "answer to no one" is that you can't have an AD who is tied more towards the academics than the athletics.  Your AD has to be the one that fights the professor and says "yes, this kid has a playoff game and will be missing this exam and you will allow him to take it when he gets back."  Maybe that's not a problem at Bard, but I know at Stevens and WPI (both teams who have become respectable in basketball) that was always an issue of professors wanting their agendas to supersede sports.


I know, that seems to go against my point about not dividing the professors and the athletic department, but that is always a battle that comes up.  That's why I think you have the AD fight it on his front, as opposed to fighting (initially) for the lower admissions standards at times for athletes.

[Raptormania!]

No, that makes a lot of sense. Frankly, there's probably more than one way to get there- but you need an AD to do this, and an administration to listen.

[Knightstalker]

Cyclone, that is a problem at most schools, some professors think their core fundamental course is more important than anything else.  I had a FC II (basic english class, lit and grammer) prof who tried to fail me because I missed a week of classes due to dress rehearsals and matinee performances of Man of La Mancha my second year at NJCU.  She asked me what was more important, her class or playing some guitar.  I replied that since I was a music major and classical guitar major, the play was more important.  Especially since that play was a big part of my grade for three different classes that semester.

What is also helpful is an Academic Compliance coordinator who deals with the checking on grades and eligibility and deals with the faculty when it comes to it.  

[raptor31]

All great points guys and something Coach Wood has done since getting to Bard is help create the SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) which has handled a lot of situations we are talking about. They have helped get lights on the soccer field to allow night time practices. Also, this committee helped bridge the gap between professors and athletics and created a policy where as an athlete you can miss classes for certain games and practices as long as you give the schedule to the professor ahead of time. When I was a student fellow athletes got marked down grades for choosing to go to games over classes. Some professors are so full of themselves and their classes and think that this type of academic success is all that matters in a kids school experience. Thankfully, we have made it illegal for a professor to mark kids down for fulfilling team commitments. One of the small battles we have won the past 7 years on the way up.

[raptor31]

Monster win for Maritime and Old Westbury pulled it out as expected. Guess the big run by Purchase didn't quite work out. Sometimes coaching and having talent that knows how to play together helps! Where did our favorite Purchase fan go?

In all seriousness great turn around by the Panthers this year and it shows how one year can make a big difference! This time last year if I said Purchase will be a playoff team everyone would have laughed! Who knows, next year we could be sitting here having the same conversation about (the team that shall not be named).

[BklynBasketball]

Monster win for Maritime and Old Westbury pulled it out as expected. Guess the big run by Purchase didn't quite work out. Sometimes coaching and having talent that knows how to play together helps! Where did our favorite Purchase fan go?

In all seriousness great turn around by the Panthers this year and it shows how one year can make a big difference! This time last year if I said Purchase will be a playoff team everyone would have laughed! Who knows, next year we could be sitting here having the same conversation about (the team that shall not be named).

purchase will certainly be a strong team in this conference for the next few years...they have a good base and a coach who cares.

BaRD ( I WILL NAME THEM) should also be in the playoff hunt next year in my opinion.

[raptor31]

There aren't many boards on this site that are weaker than the Skyline board by the way.

[all day quads]

Billups is in the discussion. What are the all conf teams? I got them like this.

First Team
Campbell - Farmingdale
Santana - Farmingdale
JJ Walsh - St. Joe's
Billups - Purchase
Justin White - Bard

Second Team
Nick DiMaggio - MSV
David Acree - St. Joe's
Lester Prosper - Old Westbury
Arjun Ohri - Polytechnic
Jerrell Lewis - Purchase

Third Team
Chris Harrison - MSM
Joe Cooke - MSV
Andre Cooper - Maritime
Martin Leibovich - Yeshiva
Shane DeNully - Old Westbury

Obviously there will now be 25 posts about how JWhite is not first team but I think he and Billups stats speak for themselves. This is an individual accomplishment not a team accomplishment. Both of these kids had tremendous years that I think outshine the kids from the better teams. Ohri I put on 2nd team simply because he didn't do as much all around as the other 2. Acree, while still having a great year didn't score as much and his % are lower than last year. The other 3 first teamers are no brainers. DiMaggio 2nd team over Cooke (3rd team) because he did a little more assist wise and I think he ran that team well. Prosper 2nd because of his impact on the game and he had nice numbers (14ppg 10rpg 2 blocks). Jerrell Lewis didn't have as great of a year as advertised to start but still was 2nd team worthy. 3rd team you could argue a couple guys but I think Cooper deserves to be there because he had a nice year and Maritime finished surprisingly high. Leibovich is deserving and the one you could prolly argue on would be DeNully but I think his assist numbers (especially ass/to) put him on the team. Probably no better PG in terms of running his team and getting the ball to the right people than DeNully.

Raptor31,

Although I usually respect all your posts, I can't say the same for the one above.  Your first and second teams look good, but I can't fathom not having Yonah "the Maccabi Assassin" Greenstein on your third team. 

Maccabi once again came up clutch for Bard in their game vs. Yeshiva, when he stepped up and hit a 3 pointer with 30 seconds to go to put Bard up 2.  He followed it up by hitting 2 clutch FTs with 3 seconds left to seal the game, and give Bard their first win of the year.

I feel bad for the Skyline Conference, having to deal with the Assassin for 3 more years is not going to be fun.

[mid-range j]

Looks like Farmingdale and St Joes will battle it out in the finals..some pretty ridiculous stat lines for each game...

Mike Campbell - 22 points 20 reb
Damien Santana - 20 points 8 reb 4 ass.

JJ Walsh - 22 points 11 reb
David Acree - 17 points 6 ass 5 reb

and Tim Doughtery of Maritime finishes his career ( I dont know if they will make ECACS or not) with a 29 point 13 rebound performance..he really had a great career..

[Queens]

Alot of impressive performances in the Semis of the Skyline... Gotta tip your hat to Tim Doughtery on a great career, not gifted with the best athletic ability but worked his but off to become a very successful college basketball player...

[Queens]

I got the spread at Farmingdale -7...

Any takers?? 

[skylinestar]

ill take that bet, st joes wins by 10

[raptor31]

I think Farmingdale is just a bit too much. Walsh has to keep Campbell in check and have a big game on his offensive end for St. Joe's to play with them. This matchup the last two years has been lopsided in Farmingdale's favor, including last year smacking in the final. Good luck to both squads tomorrow and if St. Joe's wins we might see two teams in the NCAA's from the Skyline.

[ball1003]

Skyline fans.... check this out    JJ "Dynamite" Walsh explodes against Maritime

"BEST DUNK OF THE YEAR"!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rnTyxw_EWw