2016 NCAA Tournament

[gordonmann]

Unrelated note:

The Ivy League will decide its AQ next year by a four-team tournament.

Boo.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

It is hard work just to get into the NCAA tournament in the first place. It is even harder to get out of the second two rounds. But which eight teams of the 32 left can get the job done and march on to the championship weekends?

Thursday night on Hoopsville, Dave McHugh chats with some of those who have already surprised and those who hope to keep their tournament dreams reality.

Hoopsville hits the air at 7pm ET. You can watch the show here: http://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2015-16/mar10

Guests include (in order of appearance):
- Ryan Cain, Keene State men's coach
- Jim Scheible, No. 16 Rochester women's coach
- Kendra Hassel, No. 6 UT-Tyler women's coach
- Jason Zimmerman, Emory men's coach (NABC Coach's Corner)
- Dave Hixon, No. 15 Amherst men's coach
- Steve Moore, Wooster men's coach

You can also tune into the podcast(s) after the show has aired:
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/hoopsville
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hoopsville/id1059517087

Don't forget you can always interact with us:
Website: www.d3hoopsville.com
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[magicman]

(Babson - Flannery) > Cortland?

Cortland played Amherst to a draw so I think Babson could beat Amherst even without Flannery, not that they would be the favorite in LeFrak and not that they wouldn't rather have Flannery.

I think Cortland was a better team than most people gave them credit for. They weren't on anybody's radar all year long but they won 9 of 10 games, in a tough SUNYAC conference, against Buffalo State,  Brockport State, Oneonta State, and Oswego State and weren't favored to win any of them. Somehow the Red Dragons managed to come away with the SUNYAC crown. If a ref had swallowed his whistle in the final 5 seconds of that Cortland-Amherst game, as refs do in so many instances, with that little time on the clock, then Cortland would be playing Babson tomorrow night. I still think Babson without Flannery will be in trouble against the former LJ's.       

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Oswego was on people's radars until they struggled out of the gates and started the conference slate 1-4... that can make them disappear pretty darn quick.

As for refs.. .I am glad they have stopped swallowing their whistles. I am tired of late fouls not being called because they are too afraid to affect the game... as one ref and a coach have said to me in different circumstances... a foul affects the game no matter when it happens, it is part of the game all 40 minutes, might as well call it when it happens.

[Gregory Sager]

Darned right, D-Mac. North Park lost an overtime game at Elmhurst this season because a ref who was five feet away from the play and had an unobstructed view swallowed his whistle when an NPU player got clobbered on a layup attempt just prior to the buzzer at the end of regulation. Seeing as how NPU missed out on the four-team CCIW tourney by one game, you can see how that act of whistle-swallowing altered the entire season for the Vikings, especially since the player attempting the layup was an 80% free-throw shooter this year.

I've talked to more than one ref who was watching a game from the stands who has told me that he will never blow the whistle in that situation. I've made the same argument you made, and they've still insist that they'd never do it. It's frustrating.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I have had refs tell me that... but not in recent years. A number of the guys I talk to now say they are more comfortable blowing their whistles late in games. Again, does their whistle affect the game? Yes. But the players already affected the game by making the decision or instinct to foul in the first place. The ref isn't affecting the game, the players are.

[AO]

Darned right, D-Mac. North Park lost an overtime game at Elmhurst this season because a ref who was five feet away from the play and had an unobstructed view swallowed his whistle when an NPU player got clobbered on a layup attempt just prior to the buzzer at the end of regulation. Seeing as how NPU missed out on the four-team CCIW tourney by one game, you can see how that act of whistle-swallowing altered the entire season for the Vikings, especially since the player attempting the layup was an 80% free-throw shooter this year.

I've talked to more than one ref who was watching a game from the stands who has told me that he will never blow the whistle in that situation. I've made the same argument you made, and they've still insist that they'd never do it. It's frustrating.

Clobbered?  I suggest you watch the play again.  The only thing worse than refs missing obvious fouls is when they make bad calls based upon assumption of contact rather than actual viewed contact.  Don't stop the game because there "might" have been a foul.

[ronk]

Dave,
  I heard you pick Tufts over Scranton on hoopsville if they meet in the sectional final; did you know that Scranton beat Tufts on a neutral court last season?
  Any d3hoops people going to be in Scranton?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

ronk - it was last season... and it was actually about halfway through the season... pretty much has nothing to do with this situation. Not sure why you would want me to use that as comparison for a pick. Tufts also did pretty well last year and Scranton fell in the first round... should I use that as well? SMH

I think Gordon is going to be there on Friday last I heard, but I can't speak for him to be sure.

[gordonmann]

Yep, I'll be there. I'm riding shotgun with Dean Corwin for the first game and will be soaking in the atmosphere for the second

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

What he said.

[ronk]

ronk - it was last season... and it was actually about halfway through the season... pretty much has nothing to do with this situation. Not sure why you would want me to use that as comparison for a pick. Tufts also did pretty well last year and Scranton fell in the first round... should I use that as well? SMH

I think Gordon is going to be there on Friday last I heard, but I can't speak for him to be sure.

4 of the Scranton players and 5 of the Tufts players from that game would be starting in the possible matchup; seems pertinent to forecasting an outcome.

[ronk]

Yep, I'll be there. I'm riding shotgun with Dean Corwin for the first game and will be soaking in the atmosphere for the second

Good! I'll try to stop by.

[pg04]

Any word on Flannery's injury?

At least we know what Flannery's injury is. We also know that there is a reasonable chance he may play this weekend.

There hasn't been one syllable spoken about Vincent Pace who is the leading scorer for Tufts and only played 15 seconds this past weekend. We don't know whether his injury was an ankle, a knee, a quad or a hamstring. I think Tufts will have their hands full, even at full strength, with a very athletic Johnson & Wales team that I watched play twice this past weekend. Tufts, minus Vincent Pace, could be watching the action on Saturday night, instead of participating in it.   

You may (or probably do) already know Pace's status but this confirms a torn ACL: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/03/10/tom-palleschi-inspirational-leader-for-tufts-basketball/I1OHDh3hqLwSWsaFblN6TP/story.html

[magicman]

Oswego was on people's radars until they struggled out of the gates and started the conference slate 1-4... that can make them disappear pretty darn quick.

As for refs.. .I am glad they have stopped swallowing their whistles. I am tired of late fouls not being called because they are too afraid to affect the game... as one ref and a coach have said to me in different circumstances... a foul affects the game no matter when it happens, it is part of the game all 40 minutes, might as well call it when it happens.

Dave,

Not sure why you're telling me that stat about Oswego. I was talking about Cortland not being on anyone's radar, not Oswego. Here's the post from Gordon and my reply:

(Babson - Flannery) > Cortland?

Cortland played Amherst to a draw so I think Babson could beat Amherst even without Flannery, not that they would be the favorite in LeFrak and not that they wouldn't rather have Flannery.

I think Cortland was a better team than most people gave them credit for. They weren't on anybody's radar all year long but they won 9 of 10 games, in a tough SUNYAC conference, against Buffalo State,  Brockport State, Oneonta State, and Oswego State and weren't favored to win any of them. Somehow the Red Dragons managed to come away with the SUNYAC crown. If a ref had swallowed his whistle in the final 5 seconds of that Cortland-Amherst game, as refs do in so many instances, with that little time on the clock, then Cortland would be playing Babson tomorrow night. I still think Babson without Flannery will be in trouble against the former LJ's.     

As the #1 poster of all things about SUNYAC hoops, I know exactly how slowly Oswego broke out of the gate in conference play. Cortland, on the other hand did start out fairly well winning 9 of their first 10 games. They didn't play a particularly strong non-conference schedule and I didn't expect them to be on anyone's radar. But over the course of the season they did well against the 4 teams I mentioned in my post, who were all decent teams in a strong SUNYAC conference. My comment about the ref not swallowing his whistle wasn't made to criticize the ref. I happen to also agree, as a former referee, that a foul in the last second of the game is no different than a foul in the first few seconds of a game, it's still a foul and a referee's job is to call the game according to the rules. I was merely pointing out that, in many instances, (that we witness all the time) there would not have been a whistle blown, and Amherst would have been a loser.

I didn't see the Amherst-Cortland game, as I was courtside at the Johnson and Wales-Fitchburgh State game at the time. So I have no idea whether the foul called on the Cortland player was a good call because McCarthy got hammered, or was a questionable call. I was merely pointing out that the game could have had a different outcome.

I was, coincidentally, sitting with a college referee who was evaluating the team of officials that called the game we were watching. He would occasionally check his iphone to see how Cortland and Oswego were doing in their games. We knew Cortland had a late lead and the next time we checked we got the final score that Amherst had won by a point, on 2 free throws with just a few seconds left. We both commented on how that's such a tough way to lose a game but also felt that you have to call the game the right way until the buzzer goes off.       

My response was to Gordon's inference that because Cortland played Amherst to a draw, he thought that Babson, even without Joey Flannery, could defeat Amherst. That sounded to me like Cortland wasn't seen as that strong of an opponent. I'm not sure Babson, even with Joey Flannery, could beat Cortland. Last year Cortland, who finished 7th in the SUNYAC and missed the conference tournament, beat Trinity who won the NESCAC regular season crown (and did so again this year). Trinity almost went to the Final Four last year losing in the quarterfinals in overtime to Babson. A game that Trinity probably should have won, as they had a 7 point lead with under 3 minutes to play. They committed 3 turnovers, 3 fouls and missed a key free throw, which allowed Babson to tie the game and send it to overtime, that resulted in a Beavers' win and a trip to the Final Four. That Babson team of last year is, I think, better than this years product. Cortland is certainly a much better team than last year's club and the fact that they could hang with the #1 team in the Northeast Region on Amherst's home floor confirms that, in my opinion. Babson has already played Amherst once this year on the Beavers' home court and lost 103-96 in double OT. Babson had no injury issues in that game and  came up just short. Without Joey Flannery, and playing on a neutral court, because Amherst isn't hosting, Tufts is, I think they will have too much to overcome. Cortland also came up just short against the former LJ's but they did it on the LJ's court.