MBB: Centennial Conference

Started by swish, March 01, 2005, 04:51:33 PM

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Coach C

GMC-F&M should be a battle of two teams trying to figure out exactly what they have.  Both teams saw big losses, but Gaye's loss will likely cut GMC deeper.

Reserved Seat

As I prepare for my 40th season of F&M basketball.  This would be my top 10 players(no significance to listing):
Smith
Scott
Juskin
Plakans
MARSH
Jannetta
Manaskie
Finch
Markey
Laskey

Valentine, if he had played all 3 years--fantastic  freshman('69)

This list leaves off a lot of good players and some of my favorites to watch.
Some left off the list were inconsistent from game to game.

17 more days

D.B. Cooper

#62
Being a fan of the Dips & D3 basketball for about 28 years may make me a relative newcomer but I'll throw out my top 10-12 in approximate order of positive long term appreciation of excellence & thrill.

1. Donny Marsh !! (best ever) Led 1979 squad to 1st Final Four
2. Chris Finch, very versatile led team to 50+ romp over Ramapo in '91 FF Semi
3. Al Taylor, a flash of him pick-pocketing Lester Wallace to beat WMC at buzzer
4. Terry Scott, steady, tough & dependable
5. Denny Westley, being triple teamed by Widener while playing with pneumonia
6. Ed Plakans, alternating chants of "Eddie" by F&M & Platteville fans in '91 final
7. Brad Markey, led charge to near 30-point comeback at So. Maine in '89 E8 tilt
8. Matt Steinmetz, his nearly upsetting Princeton in OT almost by himself
9. Mehaffey/Henry, "Beach Boy & Lefty" led '96 juggernaut past Wilkes to FF
10. Jerome Maiatico, scholar athlete & flashy scorer that was key to '00 FF run

Many great memories & players not discussed for lack of room. More recent player who only played one year as freshman but would likely have had a great career was Kelleher who ran superb point for 1996 super team. A special mention of the last second heroics of Phil Hoeker & clutch technical free throw made by Art Mascolo to beat D1 Colgate in '87.

A trip down Dip memory lane is something that isn't often done here. Enjoyed it.

r.w. mcnickels

Agreed, it would have been nice to see Chris Kelliher develop over 4 years.  His stifling defense set the table for everything that '96 team accomplished and gave opposing guards absolute fits (see: Lycoming and Wilkes in NCAAs).  Didn't score much, but didn't have to with Henry and Mehaffey there.  A really fun a player to watch if you like good defense.

As for this year, Ursinus fans must be excited.  Not many players like McGarvey out there, and he has quite a cast to help him.  Many questions for teams such as Hopkins and F&M, but they will soon be answered.

swish

Hopkins may be in the thick of things. They lack a good point guard since Frank Mason is no longer playing but they return 3 or 4 good players in the 2 to 5 spots. They also brought in a 6'10" freshman that was getting some looks from some Patriot league schools. If he can make an impact they could be very tough as they have Nawrocki(sp?) back. He's big 6'6"240 lbs. and has good hands. They also have some good outside shooters. Should be interesting.

swish

My prediction of the results for the CC pre-season coaches poll.

1. Ursinus
2. Hopkins
3. F&M
4.Gettysburg
5.Haverford
6.Muhlenberg
7. Dickinson
8. Washington
9. McD
10. Swarthmore

r.w. mcnickels

Swish-

Interesting picks.  Ursinus should be the clear favorite.  F&M usually gets good marks in the CC preseason poll because of Robinson's consistency, but I agree that Hopkins should be higher than the Dips at this point with the return of Nawrocki et al.  F&M has too many questions - especially in the post - to be considered any higher than third.

Something tells me Muhlenberg will be good this year.  They lost some scoring, but Stewart is a terrific scorer and rebounder with some solid role players around him.

swish

Even though they beat F&M last year I don't expect Muhlenberg to be a real contender. Stewart is excellent. After that the rest of the players are mediocre,
I see F&M as being very strong at the 1,3 and 4. We should be OK at the two. And although center is a question mark there are two or three players that have some talent. It's just a matter of one of them stepping up.
Looking at F&M this year I think we'll see a team with decent size and better than average athletes. I'd also say I think we have pretty good depth at the 3 and 4.
By the way, Ursinus is the team to beat but they are not unbeatable.

Reserved Seat

One week until tip-off.
Bring on GMC.
Can't wait to see what F&M has.

localfan

Guess I'll try this again. Somehow my last post ended up on the football page. Sorry about that.
Anyway, This upcoming "Pride of Maryland" tournament this weekend looks very interesting. Washington opens up with Hood College, which is only in its third year but has some good talent. Hopkins and McDaniels open up against Salisbury and Frostburg respectively. Could end up with an old fashion Hopkins/Goucher game for the championship game on Sunday.
I feel that since this tourny is at the start of the season, it's wide open and anyone can win it. I look for a few upsets on Friday and Saturday.

D.B. Cooper

F&M's team roster is finally up on the their team homepage. I am a bit worried that it appears the team will not have a strong inside game this year.  It looks like Josh Fogg (at 200 #) will be playing at center. He was always a nice off the bench role or fill-in player, solid but was not usually able to score much. The only player with size back is Hines who looked promising in the early going last year, but after he got a concussion he didn't play much & when he did his play was not as sharp as it was before he got hurt.
I have doubts that any of the newcomers are going to be big parts of squad. The transfer from Randolph Macon looks like he was the last bench player on a RMC team that had a sub-par year. Little turns up in media searches of the freshman players to indicate a frosh class that will help the team this year.
Smith is outstanding, Outerbridge is very good. Teschke should benefit from last years starting experience. I have high hopes for Leonard as his athleticism impressed me last year. Chasen may also show progress from getting PT last year.
In summery this team has some potential to be good (win 18-19 games or so) but has  weakness in the inside muscle department. Ursinus lost only 2 players from a strong team both of whom seldom scored any points. With the improvement I expect from the other players they are the prohibitive favorite & should win around 22 games if no injuries. Hopkins should also win 17 or so games and has the type of team that could give Dips a heap of trouble. Other teams like G-berg & Mules will contend with Haverford (Black Squirrels should not be quite as strong this season) for last playoff spot.

swish

I've only heard a few bits and pieces about the state of the team at this point but here's what I know. They do have injuries to some key players. Don't know if any of these are season ending but I wouldn't be surprised.

The middle will probably be handled by committee(Fogg and Hines). We're fairly deep at the 1-4 positions with two or three good guards and three or four good forwards.

My gut tells me this team will pull it together slowly as long as nobody tries to be a superstar. They truly have to play as a TEAM this year. I don't think they played that way last year at all.

They may be a little light in the middle but really have all the other ingredients I believe. They can play "D; they can handle the ball; they can shoot pretty well from the outside and they can rebound (remember Smith was one of the leading rebouders in the league last year).

I think we're going to see a totally different kind of F&M team this year (in terms of style of play). It may not happen the first weekend but I am certain nobody will want any part of F&M(even though we will probably be the second or third seed) come conference play-off time.




r.w. mcnickels

Quote from: swish on November 15, 2005, 04:36:48 PM
I am certain nobody will want any part of F&M (even though we will probably be the second or third seed) come conference play-off time.

That's a pretty bold statement to be making in November, especially given how many questions - and, according to you, injuries - surround the Dips. 

Point taken about the talent in the backcourt and on the wing.  I agree.  But I've also seen a few talented F&M teams peak in midseason and not play their best come late February.  So how can you be certain?

Robinson's system demands that the Dips work the ball inside effectively.  With so many question marks in the post, I don't think anyone can say for sure how good this team will be until we see how these guys play together for a few games.

swish

Maybe "certain" was too strong a word. How about confident?

What I was really getting at is that  although F&M will probably not be as good as they were the past few years, I think other teams know that even on a down year G-Rob has a way of getting a lot out of his teams. With G-Rob and a core of very good players they become a tough team even as a low seed and can beat almost anybody.

And by the way, a down year for F&M this year could be 19-6.

heartofachampion

I don't think anyone will beat Ursinus for the conf title.  I think F&M is the third best team behind Ursinus and Hopkins, and that might be generous from what people are saying about this years frosh class.  I hope I am wrong, but this could be a down year for my dear old F&M