WBB: Empire 8

[Bombers798891]

Bombers gut out a tough game, and edge Hartwick 43-38, to win the Empire 8 title.

Jess Farley is the heroine, as she buries two huge three pointers. The first, with the Bombers down 36-31 with 2:50 to go, might have kept the Wick from pulling away. The second, with 59 seconds to go and Ithaca trailing 38-35, was a game-saver.

Overall, good defense dominates, as the teams only hit 26 shots. Both teams should make the NCAAs.

The beat goes on for Ithaca. Only two seniors on the squad means another loaded Bombers team coming next season

[Bombers798891]

I don't think you'll find a better performance in the NCAA's than the Bombers' game against Elms. Ithaca wins 84-37.

Elms had to be a better team than they showed tonight, but...I just don't know what their game plan was. It seemed like they tried to go to Denisha Parks first, but anything beyond that, there was nothing.

The Bombers had a 21-0 run over 7:07 of the first half, then an 18-0 run over 7:47 of the second half blew it open. Ithaca was +18 on the boards, and +11 in the turnover game. Elms shot a mere 12-for-50 from the floor for the game.

Dominating night all around...

[ohhhzababy]

Good season this year

[Bombers798891]

So it looks like I'll probably once again be the only poster on this board...Oh well. I'll try to spur interest regardless

I really hope the league rebounds from a dreadful 2011-2012 campaign that saw two teams finish above .500, but the early results are mixed. Through the first 30-40% of the season, only Ithaca (+90) and Hartwick (+99), have really impressive point differentials. Utica's the next best at +14, but they lost at home by 30 points to an Oneonta State team that lost by 10 to the Wick. I think it's shaping up to be a two-horse race in the E8 again between the Bombers and the Hawks.

Hopefully, there's some other posts in here this year. I used to try and post more, but seeing a series of posts from me and no-one else has turned me off of posting anything but important updates

[7express]

Ithaca probably looks like the team to beat again.  Not sure who/what Harwick lost, and not sure how Stevens is doing.  Last year was dissapointing for them, but I'd look for them to rebound.  Don't think anyone else besides those 3 will be serious contenders.

[Bombers798891]

Ithaca probably looks like the team to beat again.  Not sure who/what Harwick lost, and not sure how Stevens is doing.  Last year was dissapointing for them, but I'd look for them to rebound.  Don't think anyone else besides those 3 will be serious contenders.

Hey, there's the other poster! Nice!

Stevens looks tough to figure. They've played a brutal schedule, and seen predictable results, but losing to Utica? That makes me think they're middle of the pack. Utica will be in the mix, but their big weakness is going to be on the line. The team is 58% on free throws, which is bad enough, but Fiore (54%) and Greenwald (42%) are going to find themselves on the line more and more if they don't at least get up to passable.

[7express]

Last year Stevens played RIC tough, and RIC was the team who just dominated the always good LEC, but then went in the tank after that.  My prediction (Western Connectucut student so don't know much outside the LEC) but I'm prediction Hartwick Ithica finishing 1 and 2.

[Ethelred the Unready]

So it looks like I'll probably once again be the only poster on this board...Oh well. I'll try to spur interest regardless

I really hope the league rebounds from a dreadful 2011-2012 campaign that saw two teams finish above .500, but the early results are mixed. Through the first 30-40% of the season, only Ithaca (+90) and Hartwick (+99), have really impressive point differentials. Utica's the next best at +14, but they lost at home by 30 points to an Oneonta State team that lost by 10 to the Wick. I think it's shaping up to be a two-horse race in the E8 again between the Bombers and the Hawks.

Hopefully, there's some other posts in here this year. I used to try and post more, but seeing a series of posts from me and no-one else has turned me off of posting anything but important updates

Some of us, while we don't post, enjoy hearing what's going on around the league. 

[Bombers798891]

So it looks like I'll probably once again be the only poster on this board...Oh well. I'll try to spur interest regardless

I really hope the league rebounds from a dreadful 2011-2012 campaign that saw two teams finish above .500, but the early results are mixed. Through the first 30-40% of the season, only Ithaca (+90) and Hartwick (+99), have really impressive point differentials. Utica's the next best at +14, but they lost at home by 30 points to an Oneonta State team that lost by 10 to the Wick. I think it's shaping up to be a two-horse race in the E8 again between the Bombers and the Hawks.

Hopefully, there's some other posts in here this year. I used to try and post more, but seeing a series of posts from me and no-one else has turned me off of posting anything but important updates

Some of us, while we don't post, enjoy hearing what's going on around the league.

No-one's saying lurking is bad. But message boards are naturally better when there's a back and forth

[Ethelred the Unready]

So it looks like I'll probably once again be the only poster on this board...Oh well. I'll try to spur interest regardless

I really hope the league rebounds from a dreadful 2011-2012 campaign that saw two teams finish above .500, but the early results are mixed. Through the first 30-40% of the season, only Ithaca (+90) and Hartwick (+99), have really impressive point differentials. Utica's the next best at +14, but they lost at home by 30 points to an Oneonta State team that lost by 10 to the Wick. I think it's shaping up to be a two-horse race in the E8 again between the Bombers and the Hawks.

Hopefully, there's some other posts in here this year. I used to try and post more, but seeing a series of posts from me and no-one else has turned me off of posting anything but important updates

Some of us, while we don't post, enjoy hearing what's going on around the league.

No-one's saying lurking is bad. But message boards are naturally better when there's a back and forth

I'll have to look at league rosters and see if I know any of the current players.  I know "of" one at Naz, but that may be it.

[Bombers798891]

So, the Utica announcers seemed to indicate that Utica's head coach was unhappy with the officiating in tonight's game. Someone on Utica picked up a technical in the second half, so clearly something was an issue. Now, I didn't watch the first part of the game, but at the end, after an Ithaca foul, one of the announcers said "Well, they have to call a couple on Ithaca" somewhat glibly.

So it's interesting to me that:

1) Utica had zero fouls called on them in the first half.
2) Ithaca's first free-throw attempts came with 6:21 to go on the Utica technical
3) The first time Ithaca went to the free-throw line as the result of a Utica personal foul came with 3:46 to go in the game, and the Bombers up by 17 points. In other words, it was already over by the time Ithaca got the luxury of a free throw.

Now, as I said, I didn't watch the game. Maybe the officiating really was that bad, and the Bombers got away with things defensively that they shouldn't have. But it seems more likely that these officials just let things go on both sides. Regardless, there's some irony in a team picking up a technical for (presumably) going at the refs 34 minutes into a game where the other team hasn't shot a single free throw

[Ethelred the Unready]

So, the Utica announcers seemed to indicate that Utica's head coach was unhappy with the officiating in tonight's game. Someone on Utica picked up a technical in the second half, so clearly something was an issue. Now, I didn't watch the first part of the game, but at the end, after an Ithaca foul, one of the announcers said "Well, they have to call a couple on Ithaca" somewhat glibly.

So it's interesting to me that:

1) Utica had zero fouls called on them in the first half.
2) Ithaca's first free-throw attempts came with 6:21 to go on the Utica technical
3) The first time Ithaca went to the free-throw line as the result of a Utica personal foul came with 3:46 to go in the game, and the Bombers up by 17 points. In other words, it was already over by the time Ithaca got the luxury of a free throw.

Now, as I said, I didn't watch the game. Maybe the officiating really was that bad, and the Bombers got away with things defensively that they shouldn't have. But it seems more likely that these officials just let things go on both sides. Regardless, there's some irony in a team picking up a technical for (presumably) going at the refs 34 minutes into a game where the other team hasn't shot a single free throw

Having watched my share of girls and women's basketball, I can only imagine this was a brutal game where the officials just disappeared.  But you're right, that is a strange scenario.

[Bombers798891]

So, the Utica announcers seemed to indicate that Utica's head coach was unhappy with the officiating in tonight's game. Someone on Utica picked up a technical in the second half, so clearly something was an issue. Now, I didn't watch the first part of the game, but at the end, after an Ithaca foul, one of the announcers said "Well, they have to call a couple on Ithaca" somewhat glibly.

So it's interesting to me that:

1) Utica had zero fouls called on them in the first half.
2) Ithaca's first free-throw attempts came with 6:21 to go on the Utica technical
3) The first time Ithaca went to the free-throw line as the result of a Utica personal foul came with 3:46 to go in the game, and the Bombers up by 17 points. In other words, it was already over by the time Ithaca got the luxury of a free throw.

Now, as I said, I didn't watch the game. Maybe the officiating really was that bad, and the Bombers got away with things defensively that they shouldn't have. But it seems more likely that these officials just let things go on both sides. Regardless, there's some irony in a team picking up a technical for (presumably) going at the refs 34 minutes into a game where the other team hasn't shot a single free throw

Having watched my share of girls and women's basketball, I can only imagine this was a brutal game where the officials just disappeared.  But you're right, that is a strange scenario.

One of the things that bugged me about it was that two years ago, I was at the Ithaca/Utica E8 semifinal game at IC where some Utica fans were critical non-stop of the officials in a game

A) They lost by 27 points
B) Where 14 fouls were called against Ithaca and 6 against the Pioneers
C) Ithaca shot 4 free throws to Utica's 9

Now two years later, it's nearly the same story. Bombers win by 20 points, have twice as many fouls called against them and shoot half as many free throws, and yet, somehow, the refs are doing the Pioneers a disservice.

Look, we all complain about refs at some point, but usually it's when our team loses a close game, or there's a massive FT disparity against them. Utica's the only team that can lose in a blowout, win the foul battle handily, and still there's harping on the refs. Sorry, but the refs aren't to blame. This Ithaca team is deeper, and better, than Utica. That's why one of the teams is 11-1 and the other is 7-7.

So, the E8 conference again looks dreadful. After last night's games, only Ithaca and Hartwick are above .500 (Houghton is excluded) this puts tremendous pressure to either win the E8 tourney or go something like 23-4 as runner-up. If the Wick, for example, goes 20-7, are they going to get in as a Pool C with the conference as down as it is?

[7express]

What was Hartwick's regular season record last year, like 22-5 or somewhere around there??  I'd think they'd need to be around there again and make the E8 final.

[Bombers798891]

What was Hartwick's regular season record last year, like 22-5 or somewhere around there??  I'd think they'd need to be around there again and make the E8 final.

They were 21-4. I agree with you, I think they could pull it off at say, 22-5. If they split with Ithaca, I think it's possible they win everything else. But losing two to IC would give them six total losses and they'd be short on good wins. Here are their non-E8 wins this season

St. Joesph's: 6-8
Union: 8-3
Drew: 5-9
Oneonta State: 4-8
Morrisville State: 0-11
Randolph-Macon: 2-11

Other than Union, that's a whole lot of nothing, unless something drastically changes in conference play. Ithaca's been left out at 20-7 when the E8 was stronger than it is this season. I'd be nervous dropping any more than five games total if I was hoping for a Pool C bid in this conference