MBB: Skyline Conference

[Rhodes Scholar]

i ve played against him the last two years, and honestly he is impossible to guard if you lay off he shoots the three and if you push up he goes by you.  He has amazing body control and strength in the air and the ability to draw contact. 

on top of all that he knows the game and his team and coaches put him in the position to use all of his talents

Thanks for the input. It's especially nice to hear an opposing player's perspective on Hoyt. Like I said, I've never seen him play, but he has to have a variety of weapons in order to score as many points as he has been scoring.

[sixfour]

also good to see my team The Macs over at Yeshive playing good ball, .500 in the skyline is a decent record this season, and moving into the tourney they are a team noone seems to be talking about which is dangerous.

[Rhodes Scholar]

Yeshiva 68, Mount St. Mary 57

Yeshiva led all the way in this one, and while the outcome was never really in doubt, the Maccabees were unable to break it open. The Macs led 30-24 at the break, opened up double-digit leads several times in the second half and withstood a mild comeback by Mount St. Mary down the stretch to pick up the victory.

The Macs have more size, talent and depth than the Blue Knights. Yeshiva is well-coached, disciplined and fundamentally sound. They move the ball around well and get a lot of back-door baskets. Shuki Merlis is a pretty good center and Harel Vatavu is a solid forward.

Mount St. Mary is pretty much a one-man show by the name of Mike Hoyt. The 5-9 shooting guard is currently the second leading scorer in the nation. He scored either 39 or 41 points tonight (I don't know if he got credit for a tip-in basket in the second half) and he's well worth checking out. He can hit an NBA three, hit a pull-up jumper, or take it all the way to the hoop. He is strong and can convert the shot after drawing the foul. He can also pass if need be, although that might not be his first instinct.

[Rhodes Scholar]

Here's how the Skyline Conference fared against the two other Atlantic region conferences this year:

Skyline vs.

CUNYAC....17-10*
NJAC....3-5

*One game remaining: Hunter @ St. Joseph's, Long Island (2/12)

[Rhodes Scholar]

For those who are interested, Mike Hoyt is covered in the latest Around the Nation column, which can be accessed on the front page.

The amount of points that he's scoring is extremely impressive, but his percentage of the team's points is truly amazing. In each of the last three games, he's scored approximately 70% of Mount St. Mary's points!

[Lefty]

Stevens Tech 87, Yeshiva 51
Skyline Quarterfinal Game

Stevens Tech opened this game on fire from the outside.  Yeshiva tried to play a zone in the first half and got burnt.  Stevens Tech shot 9 for 15 from 3 point range in the first half mainly because they were wide open.  Stevens Tech had five guys in double figures led by Virgil Gray's 19 points.  George Greco impressed me from the outside shooting 4 for 6 from 3 point range and finished the game with 18 points.  Stevens really didn't show much of an inside game....not that they had to.  I am not sure if they don't have a good inside game or they just didn't want to go at Yeshiva's big guys.

Yeshiva didn't impress me at all.  6' 8" Shuki Merlis is a big guy with not many moves.  Merlis was ok on the defensive end but unimpressive on the offensive end.  He scored most of his 11 points because he was just bigger in height and body size.  If any team wanted to push the ball against Yeshiva I think there big men would be in big trouble.

Overall Stevens was average at best.  My opinion is if they get into the NCAA's they are probably a one and done.
     

[CCsalive]

I was at the Manhattanville game last night...what an environment, the place was rocking with air horns and all. Mville pressed the whole game and wore down Farmingdale with hustle plays, three-pt shooting and Offensive rebounding.
Damien Santana was the lone threat for Farm as Mville pressured the hell out of Farm's guards and made the post entry very difficult.

Bummed to see Stevens lose. They're deserving of an at-large, and good enough to win a tourney game, but Conference strength could doom them.

[D3Cast]

Nice drop-in by one "P. Coleman" on the DuckCast webcast(s) on Thursday night. (I know he was on the Stevens women's game -- didn't watch all the men's, but saw the fantastic finish!)

He's everywhere, I tell you. Everywhere.

-steve

[Pat Coleman]

It was a busy three days -- Thursday at Stevens, Friday at Alvernia and Saturday at Albright.

[sludge]

Greetings from the Old Dominion (ODAC) conference.  Sounds like Manhattanville is a guard-threat team that likes to press and raise mayhem.  Have I got that right?  Any scoop you could provide is welcome;  I'm a fan, not a coach!

I look forward to seeing them play in Baltimore on Friday.

[diehardfan]

Hey guys, we're collecting previews for each team in the tourney on one of the multiregional boards. If I get them by Friday I may even be able to stick them in one document for people to peruse. A fun little tourney resource of sorts. Would someone here be willing to do one for Stevens and Manhattanville? Thanks much!

http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5147.0

[diehardfan]

Alright, well, just in case anyone sees this...

Hey guys, I just thought I'd pop in to let you know about a little project we did. A group of around 40 posters banded together and created a Unofficial Guide to the 2006-2007 NCAA Tourney, that contains a team-by-team breakdown of the teams in the tournament. This is especially cool given the fact that the official NCAA guide gives you very little insight into the teams, and nearly all of the previews in the Unofficial Guide were made by fans of the team.

The website is: http://wheatonhoops.googlepages.com/ncaatourney and on that website you can find browsable information, as well as a 19 page printable PDF document. This was updated as of this morning.

While I doubt that we'll ever get any posters to submit information for the 11 teams that did not submit previews, it does include previews from 48 of the 59 teams in the tournament, and all of the teams in the Sweet Sixteen. I hope you check it out and enjoy the content!

If there are any corrections or content additions you would like to me, please submit them to me by PM. Thanks!

[njlincolnlion]

An Amherst Sectional was created in the Multi Topics section for discussions on this weekends sweet sixteen games.

[sixfour]

ok so the season is over.....in terms of the skyline i know next year is one of change...what is the landscape of the league next year, who are the teams listed as skyline next year?

[Raptormania!]

I can tell you who the champion will be: Bard College. I hear there are some other squads battling for second place.

One of them has a new coach, too!

http://www.poly.edu/athletics/sport.php?sport=2&term=6&ctrlPanel=1&teamType=m