MBB: Skyline Conference

[zonescantstopme]

I love the skyline and the teams in it, and it seems to be alot stronger then last year but it is by FAR weaker then it was in the past.  I would have loved to play in this skyline.  it seems more individual based rather then team based and thos old skyline teams had the team concept down

[Cyclone0205]

d3hero -

Stronger than last year, absolutely.


Stronger than 2 years ago, no chance.

Stronger than 3 years ago, no chance again.


Think of the "best teams" in the conference.  Farmingdale, St. Joes, and Old Westbury...none of whom are Top 25 teams...actually, I don't believe any of them have been Top 25 in the last 10 years, if ever.  In fact, if you just look in the region, Skyline generally fairs worse than NJAC and CUNY.  It's not a knock on the Skyline, but it just isn't a very good conference (and I'm a huge Skyline fan, but you just have to compare it to the "good" conferences like NESCAC, SUNY, UAA, CCIW, etc. and you'll see the difference between the good conferences and bad ones).

[d3hero]

Farmingdale, St. Joe's & Purchase are all better than all CUNYs.  Old Westbury is too.

In Skyline news,

St. Joe's beat Old Westbury by 10, 88-78 with their new NAIA transfer scoring 30 and pulling down 15 boards.

Maritime squeaked by MSM by 2, 75-73.

MSV destroyed Bard, 108-72.

And last but not least, Purchase beat up Yeshiva 79-55, very close to my 75-52 prediction.  Purchase was ahead 79-49 and then didn't score for the last 4 minutes of the contest.  The game was never close.  Marvin Billups once again was unstoppable - the Yeshiva defense had no answer for him (yet another dunk, and an and1 dunk at that for him).  Jerrell Lewis was extremely hot in the first half and finished with over 20.  Chad Charney hit several 3's and Justin Walters had double digits with nearly as many steals (imo, he will lead the conference with about 5 per game at the seasons' end.)

That's it for tonight, folks.

My prediction for the score of Thursday's Purchase v. Bard game?  Purchase 95, Bard 55.

[BubbaChuck3]

 D3 Hero:

How can you say that those 4 teams are better than all CUNY's?

  Farmingdale was taken to overtime by Baruch.

Purchase is still an unproven team. Purchase got dismantled by 3 CUNY's last year and they lost to Poly, a weak Skyline team. Irregardless of how many future NBA stars they seem to have accumulated during the offseason, they still have a lot to prove. Chime in on them again in February.

Old Westbury is 0-1 vs CUNY this year, having fallen to Brooklyn at Old Westbury, in their own tournament.

It is very early in the season to be making such rash statements. Each conference had two 20 win teams last year. So in my opinion, the upper echelon teams in each conference match up, while the lesser Skyline teams are better than the lesser CUNYs.

[d3hero]

the sickest thing about Purchase is that their 6'9" guy isn't even playing yet.  If and when they get him back, they're going to be not only regionally good but NCAA tournament good.

As for the Skyline being better than CUNY - absolutely this year.  Brooklyn, Baruch, Lehman, Hunter & City Tech are the top 5 this year.

I actually think Purchase is a great bellweather team for this matchup, as they play against Lehman, Brooklyn (this saturday) and City Tech.  Farmingdale beat Baruch (yes, in overtime) and we'll see how the teams do against Hunter but, i honestly believe that with Mike Campbell going to Farmingdale, Walsh to St. Joe's and the "big three" transfers at purchase, along with Old Westbury & Maritime being good, that the CUNY isn't as strong as the Skyline this year.

[Cyclone0205]

As an obvious Purchase fan I applaud your enthusiasm for the team and wish them all the success they deserve, but as an outsider with a lot of experience covering not only the Skyline, but all of the Atlantic, East, and Northeast divisions, I have to say you're a little overzealous with some of the claims regarding the Skyline and Purchase.


For starters, I'd argue that North Carolina Wesleyan is the most improved team in the college basketball, and that within the region, Kean is the most improved team.  I know you like to throw around that this team picked up this transfer, and so and so went here, and all that looks great on paper, but as far as what they've done on the court up to this point, Kean and NCW have both been more impressive from last year to this year.

Kean - Wins over Division 2 Clarion, Wilkes, and John Jay.  Clarion win impressive, other two aren't. 

Losses are to NYU (undefeated this year, 16-11 in UAA last year), Stevens (5-1 this year, 23-6 last year, ECAC Metro Champs), and Bowdoin (5-1 this year, 22-7 last year, made it to 2nd round of NCAA tournament).


If Purchase and Kean switched schedules, I think Purchase would have the same 3-3 record that Kean has.  I've seen Kean play three time this season and Purchase twice, and I think the difference [AT THIS POINT IN TIME] between Kean last year to this year is bigger than Purchase last year to this year, even though Purchase will finish with a much better record.  Purchase hasn't played anyone good up to this point, so while I know they've gotten better from last year, just how much so remains to be seen.


If you look at Purchase's schedule and look big picture (as in national scene), they could finish the season undefeated and have zero quality wins.  Not to take anything away from the top teams in the skyline, but they just aren't as good as the Wash U's, Amherst's, Platteville's of the country.  So for Purchase being NCAA Tournament good, I would believe we'd have no clue how good they are until we saw them against a good tournament team.


I'm taking nothing away from Purchase's team and hope they do well, but I wouldn't start thinking about this as a dangerous NCAA team just yet.

[BubbaChuck3]

D3 Hero:

You did not suggest that the skyline was better than the cuny. What you said was, the teams that you listed are better than ALL CUNYs. As a CUNY has already beaten one of your teams listed, your statement does not seem true.

[CityD3]

I thought this was an all-Bard discussion board....the raptor faithful are awfully quiet and rightfully so.

[d3hero]

The Barders aren't going to be talking until they win a game.  Maybe if they play Polytech again they'll have a chance at getting one but that's doubtful.

I don't know who is playing in the "Bard Tournament" but unless they give themselves a game against a team like Sarah Lawrence, i really don't see Bard winning a game this season.

[zonescantstopme]

Looks like bard is matched up against Regis in the first round of their own tournament.  Regis is coming off of a 6-17 season.  they look much imporved they are 4-1 with their only loss coming to 16th ranked elms in the elms tournament.

[d3hero]

Purchase beats Bard by 17 and the Panthers were only given 14 minutes to warm up pre-game.

Justin White got destroyed by Jerrell Lewis (who is not on academic probation) with Lewis scoring a season high 35 points.

[Raptormania!]

Purchase beats Bard by 17 and the Panthers were only given 14 minutes to warm up pre-game.

Do you mean that Purchase arrived late? Or that Bard pushed up the starting time of the game? Also, minor quibble... 80-65 isn't 17- I know that, and Bard isn't even known for its math department!

Justin White got destroyed by Jerrell Lewis

Yes. White was a non-factor, with a paltry 23 points and 6 assists.

Eager to see what Bard does once it plays more than seven deep, when all the injured folks return.

[raptor31]

Haha, don't worry about Bard, we are only 10 seasons removed from an 0-25 campaign so don't think losing is going to drive us anywhere. As far as the comment "Justin White got destroyed by Lewis," that is completely ignorant because you weren't at the game and didn't see how it played out. Unfortunately, both coaches played zone the ENTIRE game so we didn't get to see the two match up head to head. The couple times they did match up in transition you saw that they were very evenly matched in ball skills, athleticism and they both had mutual respect for each other. Would have been fun to see them go head to head because Lewis would NOT have scored 30+ because he would have had trouble going by J and wouldn't have had 10+ clean looks at 3! Justin also killed the Purchase zone all night long by splitting it with dribble penetration and finding looks for himself and his shooters. If you watched the game what you would have seen was a very gifted scorer in Lewis doing what he does best (taking a lot of shots and making some) and Justin White doing what he does best, being a great point guard!! There is no coach in the country who would watch that game and rather have #24 on Purchase running their team than #3 on Bard. You put J White on Purchase and Lewis on Bard and this is a 40 plus point game so lets not get twisted by looking at box scores. No disrespect to the Bard roster and they will admit it, Purchase had more talent and athleticism than them but didn't have more heart and desire.

Unfortunately the Bard zone allowed Lewis to have a field day and shoot open shots, split gaps in the defense against weaker defenders and overall just eat the Raptors up. While he did play a great game the zone kept Billups and the other 6'5 kid in check for the most part so it wasn't all negative.

Unfortunately no one actually goes to any of the games they write about on here they look at box scores and make claims they have no idea about. Lewis is the real deal, not a D1 player but definately a D2 talent and tremendous D3 player. The other two kids are also great players and Purchase is much improved!

BUTTTT... Bard finds themselves down 10 with 5 min to play and consider this, Bard's 2nd leading scorer Chris Margella severly injured his elbow 10 min into the game and their 3rd leading scorer and one of their best defenders and White's transition partner James Martin DIDNT PLAY!!! Add onto that Forest Alvarez-Ringer who has been a monster the last 2 games and just keeps getting better every day fouled out with 7 min left and the game all of a sudden isn't such a great win for PC. I don't know about you but I am not too comfortable with only winning by a marginal amount (the 5 extra pts were tack on pts at the end with FTs) if I am Purchase considering they were at full strength and Bard was without its 2 and 3 leding scorers, a key big fouled out and a without the service of key role player Adam Shear.

Until the Raptors get healthy it will be tough for them to win but I will tell you this. There is a great attitude on this team and for a team 0-7 they are not blowing up, they are not quitting, they are simply getting better every day and waiting it out until they get everyone back. With a full roster they aren't Skyline champs but they can compete with anyone in the conference, even the overhyped, maybe 5th best team in the league Purchase.

[raptor31]

and what are you talking about they had 14 min to warm up. THERE WAS A GIRLS GAME BEFORE IT!!! Both teams were given 20 min to warm up, I was sitting front row watching the warm ups. Just don't post about stuff you don't know...

[raptor31]

Let me just reiterate this, Purchase is much improved from last year but to say they are "NCAA tourney" good is just ridiculous. I am not sure you have watched Purchase play this year. They aren't close to Farmingdale or St. Joe's and don't really have a chance to win this thing. They are closer to Westbury than where they were but I mean cmon, don't be unreasonable.