WBB: Empire 8

Started by Eliazabeth Brown, October 31, 2004, 08:10:14 PM

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Caz Bombers

Teams that have spent the last 2 months smashing through weak conferences like GMC tend to get a little overwhelmed in March when they run into tougher competition.  Whether GMC is "better" than Ithaca may not be the question.  The fact is that Ithaca is considerably better than the rest of the PennAC, and GMC is going to have a much tougher time revving itself up to the appropriate gear than IC.

TC HOOPS

I NEVER said GMC will have an easy time against Ithaca, I know it will be a great game. Its not like GMC can't score, we have two 1,000 point scorers a Junior that has over 700 points and a Soph that has over 600 points. I know Ithaca can play, bad teams don't win their league. Hey I just think GMC is going to win and you guys think Ithaca is going to win, we will all find out on Friday night. Can't wait. After we win I'll buy you guy's a drink after the game. And yes I was coaching my son's 2nd grade hoop team and yes I think they could beat Ithaca. That's a JOKE!!!!! But I know they could beat NYU.

sotier

Elmira year end thoughts......A "mail in" against RPI. The team that showed up(or didnt) was not the team we watched all season. Perhaps the extaordinary effort to come back into the game vs Ithaca was all that was left in the tank.They were just never into the game vs RPI...the speed to the ball in their press was essential for them to suceed and was not there....missed layups,shots FAR off from 3range, all indicate that they were spent in the legs. And facial expressions indicated their lingering dissapointment over the Ithaca loss. On to next season ...
A press style defense of Elmira quality will get ya lots of wins, but at some point you will face a team it does not faze...at that point you need a half court offense, something EC needs to address during the off season.When EC was not scoring off the steal they were not scoring. No patience ..and sometimes you need that.Its exciting and effective to have that high gear,but when you reach that playoff hill you better be able to down shift to get over the top.....out from sotier

John McGraw

I'll jump in here before things get nastier over the next few days.

I saw Gwynedd-Mercy play in the NCAA tournament a few years ago in the second round at Scranton. I believe at the time, it was GMC's best team ever and they had a really good player in Kathy Snell. This is the year that Scranton went to the Elite 8 before losing at Bowdoin.

GMC gave them a run for their money and had Scranton on the ropes until the Lady Royals eventually pulled it out.

That being said, this is obviously a different GMC team than it was that season. But, I don't think they should be underestimated just because they play in the PAC. The last time an Ithaca team, men or women, played someone from the PAC in the NCAA tournament, the Ithaca men (who were hosed on Selection Sunday), went to Alvernia and lost in the first round.

The Empire 8 overall is the better conference, but GMC will be a scrappy team. Losing to Geneseo isn't such a bad thing. Geneseo is one of those jeckyll and hyde teams. They play great one minute then stink the next. They did a little more stinking this year than they did last year. Plus that game was back in the early part of the season, I'm sure GMC has improved since then.

Ithaca's had a good recent history in the tournament on the women's side after some inauspicious beginnings when me and GB15 were in school - second round exits to TCNJ on the road, and Ohio Wesleyan at home.

Regardless of what happens, I wouldn't mind seeing an IC-NYU game. Though, I'd like to put some of the early 2000s teams of IC against the national championship contending teams of NYU. Not that this year's IC squad isn't good, it'd just be fun to see the best of the best. These are the things I think about that keep me from working on game preparation.

Caz Bombers

John--

Although the 2003 Bombers reached the Sweet 16, I think their best overall team was the 2004 squad that wound up suffering a massive home upset loss in the 1st round, to Cortland of all teams.  I seem to recall the Ithacan running some awful backpage photo of an IC player in tears after the final buzzer with a NY Post-style headline like "Bombers Choke".  That was right up there with the gigantic photo of a distraught Steve Bell of the IC soccer team after he missed the game-deciding PK against Alfred in the 2003 E8 semis.  (Only GB15 and possibly maybe MaxPower understood that last sentence.)

I really think those 2004 Bombers would have beaten UR in round 2 and then made the Final Four.  No way to know for sure, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

JQV

Quote from: Caz Bombers on March 01, 2007, 12:10:46 PM
(Only GB15 and possibly maybe MaxPower understood that last sentence.)

ahem.

John McGraw

My memory is kind of fuzzy, let me see what I can remember.

I'm kind of partial to the 2001-2002 team with Kerri Brown, Jenny Swatling and a freshman Stephanie Cleary, plus Alex Ivansheck. That same group was back the next year and Brownie, as a senior, was the Empire 8 Player of the Year. The 2002-03 team may have been a year older and wiser with all those four players. I have no idea who graduated the same year as I did. Off the top of my head, I can guess Kelly Brady, Sarah Duerr, and Donna Fisher.

The 2004 team was Swatling and Cleary's team as upperclassmen.

It depends on whether you'd want an older Swatling and Clearly with a younger supporting cast; or Swatling and Cleary as the younger players, displaying flashes of later brilliance and Brown leading the show.

JQV

Quote from: John McGraw on March 01, 2007, 01:48:18 PM
My memory is kind of fuzzy, let me see what I can remember.

I'm kind of partial to the 2001-2002 team with Kerri Brown, Jenny Swatling and a freshman Stephanie Cleary, plus Alex Ivansheck. That same group was back the next year and Brownie, as a senior, was the Empire 8 Player of the Year. The 2002-03 team may have been a year older and wiser with all those four players. I have no idea who graduated the same year as I did. Off the top of my head, I can guess Kelly Brady, Sarah Duerr, and Donna Fisher.

The 2004 team was Swatling and Cleary's team as upperclassmen.

It depends on whether you'd want an older Swatling and Clearly with a younger supporting cast; or Swatling and Cleary as the younger players, displaying flashes of later brilliance and Brown leading the show.

For my money, Kerri Brown was the best of all three of them.  She was way more efficient that Cleary from the field and much more assertive than Swatling.  I think Swatling was probably the most talented though.

Caz Bombers

I stand corrected, Mr. Chairman, didn't think you were paying attention to a soccer event after you graduated, considering you never liked soccer anyway.  Agree with sentiments regarding Brown, Cleary and Swatling.  This Erika Steele kid seems like IC's best big since at least Kelly Gawronski.

gobombers15

A few things:

1) Re: IC's best team: I spent a good ten minutes sitting here in the library thinking about which was the best (wow, anything not to write my journal comment...only Jose will understand that one). It's a very tough call, especially since I didn't see much of the 2002-03 Sweet 16 team because both Caz and I were in Los Angeles for the second semester. I actually had this conversation with Jennie a few months after we both graduated and she said the best team she was on was the 2001-02 team that lost to Ohio Wesleyan at home in the 2nd round. Now, as you've seen me write on here before, Jennie is not an alpha dog on the court, so it doesn't surprise me that she thinks the team that had many scoring options (Kerri Brown, Jennie, Steph as a freshman, etc.) was the best team. I told her I disagreed with her and that I thought the '03-'04 team was better and she said she could see that, too. Her main reason for thinking the '03-'04 team wasn't as good was because they didn't have as many offensive threats, even though she and Steph were both huge offensive threats. After Gawronski, they didn't really have a player they could go to and get consistent points. Sanvidge and Kelly were kind of one-trick ponies at that point (outside shooting), Micho was more of a defensive player, Brennan and Poole were role players and Alex Ivansheck got hurt and her replacement, Lauren Kusy, was generally overwhelmed, a lot. Not sure what my point is, just giving you what I think Jennie's take would be because she was on those teams. If someone put a gun to my head, I'd probably take the '03-'04 team, only because Swatling and Cleary seemed to be so far beyond their competition that season. However, I'm sure some would argue that the '04-'05 team was the best; they went toe-to-toe with Southern Maine up at their place and if the team had performed a little bit better at the FT line in the second half, IC probably would have pulled the upset. Can't discount them, either.

2) The Ithacan has run some pretty rough back pages. I'd say the one with the IC women's basketball player crying after the loss to Cortland, of all teams, was the harshest. Though Bell crying after missing the PK to lose in the E8 tourney in a game that probably cost IC a bid to the NCAA's wasn't very nice, either. Oh well. On the bright side, I'm entering a team from my grandmother's nursing home to play IC in the E8 Tourney next year; I figured that'd be a sure win for my granny's team.

3) Brown, Swatling and Cleary were all great players. Not sure which I'd take if I had to. They all were very different players and that's what made them great. Jennie had the sweet shot and you could count on her game-in and game-out. Stephanie had the mean streak, that snarl that you love to see in great players. She had the attitude that she was better than you and she knew it and there wasn't a whole lot you could do to stop her; also, fantastic on the defensive end, one of the best at guarding the passing lanes that I've ever seen, male or female.  Kerri was just a great scorer. Not the greatest shooter you ever saw, but you'd look at the box score and be like "wow, Kerri had 19 tonight, how'd that happen?" That's the sign of a scorer.

4) GMC will be a tough challenge. If you go back and look, I've never said otherwise. But I think Ithaca is prepared for them as a result of their tough early-season schedule. I really liked what I saw out of IC in the E8 Tourney. Steele was a beast (I mean that in the most feminine way possible), Kelly and Sanvidge really took the game over in OT against Elmira (which you love to see from your seniors) and Bixby isn't playing like she's young anymore. If IC can get something from its bench (Friel, et al), I think they have a good chance to pull the minor upset. TC, does GMC press or do they stick to the half-court defense?
A 2004 graduate of the "almighty legendary" Ithaca College. Goooooo Bombers.

JQV

Quote from: Caz Bombers on March 01, 2007, 03:16:21 PM
I stand corrected, Mr. Chairman, didn't think you were paying attention to a soccer event after you graduated, considering you never liked soccer anyway.  Agree with sentiments regarding Brown, Cleary and Swatling.  This Erika Steele kid seems like IC's best big since at least Kelly Gawronski.

caring about soccer and hearing about the missed PK are different things.

TC HOOPS

Jose : Hey why didn't you run your mouth after Gwynedd beat Ithaca? Now turn that picture around and have their coach pointing at ours.

gobombers15

Quote from: TC HOOPS on March 04, 2007, 12:02:40 AM
Jose : Hey why didn't you run your mouth after Gwynedd beat Ithaca? Now turn that picture around and have their coach pointing at ours.

Has your coach taken a team to the NCAA in every year of this decade except one? You need to grow up and have some class. This Ithaca fan congratulated you on your win (even though we gave the game away) and yet you CONTINUE to talk trash about the game. You're out of the tourney, too. Be gone, nobody wants to hear from you anymore. Why don't you go and make some homophobic comments again and get kicked out of NYU's gym like you did on Saturday night. I hope Pat takes away your posting rights soon.
A 2004 graduate of the "almighty legendary" Ithaca College. Goooooo Bombers.

JQV

Quote from: TC HOOPS on March 04, 2007, 12:02:40 AM
Jose : Hey why didn't you run your mouth after Gwynedd beat Ithaca? Now turn that picture around and have their coach pointing at ours.

Sorry dude, had a busy weekend.  Do you feel better about your no-name conference now that you beat a real team in a down year?

TC HOOPS

gobombers15 : Yes Pat did block me from posting for a few day's but I am baccccccccck. Let's get something straight. No Gwynedd-Mercy fans made any homophobic remarks like you said we did, you wern't even there. What happened is we called the refs "HOMERS" so who ever THOUGHT we said the other word is wrong. It's easy for everyone to jump on board and act like it was me and other fans carring on but the TRUTH is that we were cheering and yes yelling at the refs, no cursing like reported. Then a fan on NYU came into our section and told us to keep it down or he will have us thrown out. (UNREAL) And I told him to get away from us. THAT'S it. And after the game we were waiting for our kids to come out when a diffrent NYU fan came up to us and said why don't you guy's leave, you took your beating and next year try to come back with a better team.With that yes I flipped, that's the last thing you want to hear after your daughter just played her last college game. That's the REAL TRUTH what happened!!!!!