MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

Started by bamm, March 12, 2005, 09:24:24 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

ronk

Quote from: magicman on September 06, 2016, 08:52:18 PM
Quote from: ronk on September 06, 2016, 07:16:45 PM
magicman,
  In my sporadic part-time work as a contractor on an internet video project, today I came upon a clip of Plattsburgh-SUNYIT bball highlites from 2007 on PSTV. Travis Gorham and A. Williams seemed to be the players of note. They had a record of 12-6 at the time.

ronk,

They were both excellent players. They finished that year (2006-07) with a 21-9 record and were in 2nd place in the SUNYAC conference with an 11-5 record at the end of the regular season. Brockport was the regular season champs with s 14-2 record. The Cardinals won the SUNYAC conference tournament and the automatic NCAA bid by downing Brockport 80-75, in Brockport, to avenge an earlier 74-72 loss during the regular season in Plattsburgh. They beat Rochester University 61-60 in a first round NCAA game that took place at St John Fisher when Anthony Williams made a jump shot from one step over half court at the final buzzer. They lost to host  St. John Fisher the next night 95-87. Williams was an All American that year and Gorham was the teams 2nd leading scorer and top rebounder. They were both juniors. The next year 2007-2008 Plattsburgh ran the table in the SUNYAC conference going 16-0 and unbeaten also in the East Region They won 3 games to win the SUNYAC tournament as well. The received a first round bye in the NCAA tournament and then beat a very good Kings team to advance to the Sweet 16. They hosted the Sectional that year and lost to Brandeis 74-63. They finished with the best record in the history of the school at 27-3. Williams was once again an All American (2nd team D3hoops and  1st team NABC) and is the only Plattsburgh State player to be a 2 time All American. He is currently the schools all time leading scorer and only played for 3 years as he transferred in his sophomore season. Both he and Travis Gorham were chosen to the first team All Region teams. Travis, I believe, is the 2nd leading rebounder in Plattsburgh State history. Both he and Anthony have returned each year since they graduated to play in the annual alumni game. Travis is married and is the father of 3 girls and a boy I think and lives here in Plattsburgh. Anthony is working as A Dean of Students or something like that at a college in the New York City area. They are two of my all time favorite Cardinal players and I always make sure to meet up with them when the alumni game takes place. I see Travis more often because he will show up at home games but Anthony is only here usually once a year and maybe a 2nd visit if we host an NCAA pod.       

  Scranton was defeated by that Brandeis team the next year in the 1st round of the NCAA on a neutral court(F&M). It was a winnable game but, having lost their best frontcourt player(Paul Hawk) in the final week of the regular season with a head injury, the team didn't play well without him.

gordonmann

We have all of the SUNYAC team schedules (men and women) posted on our site. If you click on the team pages, they'll still default to 2015-16 for a couple more weeks. But you can look at any team's schedule by using the following format.

http://www.d3hoops.com/teams/Plattsburgh_State/Men/2016-17/index
http://www.d3hoops.com/teams/Plattsburgh_State/Women/2016-17/index

magicman

#7697
A little SUNYAC coaching news to report.

Former 2 time SUNYAC All Conference performer Chris Manning of Plattsburgh State is coming back to his alma mater as Coach Tom Curle's top assistant to take the job that was vacated when former Cardinal Assistant Coach Cameron Conover left to take the Oneonta State head coaching job.

Manning was the NCAA leader his junior year when he led the nation in steals per game. He was the ultimate pass first, shoot when necessary, point guard and consistently filled up the stat sheet in every game he played. He could beat you a number of ways but none were so dramatic as his ability to relieve an opposing player of the basketball. His senior season he led the NCAA in total steals for the season. During his career at Plattsburgh State, he averaged 5.8 points per game, 5.5 assists per game, 4.1 rebounds per game and 3.5 steals per game. Although he only played at Plattsburgh State for two years his 206 total steals is 4th on the all time college list.

He was a student assistant coach at Plattsburgh 2 years ago and last year he was the top assistant coach at St Lawrence University who came within 1 game of winning the Liberty League last season.

Chris will be counted on heavily by Coach Curle to be in the forefront of the recruiting program and his experience as one of the premier point guards in the SUNYAC will play a large part in the development of the Cardinal ball handlers, now and in the future.

Coach Curle had this to say about his new assistant: "I thought that once Cam left, Chris was a natural fit for this position. He knows what our program stands for, and he knows our recruiting base well and how to identify with them. As a player here, he was outstanding. Chris was a great team leader and captain. Chris worked on staff here as a student assistant for a season, and he provided insight well beyond his years. At St. Lawrence, he gained outside experience and perspective that helped him tremendously as a basketball coach. The bottom line is that I'm excited to have him here as a part of the program, and I'm proud to bring home a former player to Cardinal Basketball."

I know Chris was my number one choice and I'm glad to see him back in Plattsburgh. 
   

magicman

#7698
I got a chance to meet with the new head coach of Men's Basketball at Potsdam State, Jim Bechtel, this summer when I returned to Potsdam for Alumni Weekend and my annual bash with my fraternity brothers. It was the 50th anniversary of my induction into my fraternity and we had over 20 guys show up to enjoy the weekend.

Coach Bechtel seems like a good hire for the Bears and knows that he has his work cut out for him. Recruiting will be the primary focus to get the talent level back up so Potsdam will be competitive with the rest of the conference. He did well at Canton, especially last year, but the YAC is a step up from the teams that the Kangaroos played for a large part of their schedule. It will be hard to go from 1-24 to a winning record in a single year and I don't think the Bears can pull that off. (Unless Coach Bechtel really as a couple of horses coming in that I don't know about.) I'll be happy to see some decent improvement, hopefully a handful of wins, and some talent that the Bears can build a future on. Hoping my Alma Mater can return to the glory years of Coach Welsh is obviously too much to ask, respectability however, and an occasional run at the SUNYAC championship is what most Potsdam supporters would like to see.         

Also on campus that weekend was Potsdam legend Jerry Welsh who was honored along with former Wrestling coach Neil Johnson. What a wonderful night it was to see these two great coaches honored for their outstanding careers at Potsdam State. Both men are in their 80's now but both look years younger than their actual age. I nearly spilled a glass of coke all over Coach Welsh as he was sitting next to me as we listened to Coach Johnson speaking. You never saw an 80 year old man move so fast as Coach Welsh did as that spilled drink headed for his lap. He didn't get a single drop on him as he lept up and away from the table in a flash.
Coach Welsh lives in Durham North Carolina and still teaches at Duke University, so it was probably the last time I will get a chance to see him as he doesn't get back to Potsdam that often any more. In his speech to the gathered faithful he said he was most proud, not of the accomplishments of his players on the court, but of the outstanding men those players have turned out to be.   

Coach Welsh's appearance on campus brought back many of the players that were responsible for the great teams that were National Champions in 1981 and 1986 and also were national runners up on 3 other occasions. The Bears put together an undefeated season in 1985-86 and then continued unbeaten well into the 86-87 season winning 60 straight games which is the 2nd longest men's basketball winning streak in college basketball history.

I managed to run into 2 time All American(1980 and 1981), Derrick Rowland, the 2nd leading scorer (1847 pts) and 2nd leading rebounder (834) in the Bears program. Derrick has a business called "The Perfect Sports Group" and features "The Perfect Shooting" system which is designed to make a shooter out of you. Here is a link to his website: http://theperfectsportsgroup.com/

With him was All American Maurice Woods(1982), #9 all time pts per game-career (13..4 ppg) and #10 all time rebounds per game-career (6.6) I remember watching Derrick and Maurice play back in the early 80's and would travel back to Potsdam every year at tournament time because almost every year the Bears were hosting NCAA games the 1st and 2nd weekends of the tournament. 

2 time All American Steve Babiarz (1988 and 1989) was present and was in such great shape he played in the alumni basketball game on Saturday and could probably still start at most of the YAC schools and he's pushing 50 years old now. Steve is the All-Time leading scorer in program history with 2089 points during his 4 year career at Potsdam. He is 2nd on the career ppg list with 17.1, trailing only another Potsdam legend Mike Deane who averaged 18.1 ppg for his 3 year career. Deane had 1447 points in his 3 years as the Bears point guard but also averaged over 10 assists per game during that 3 year career as well. That's a number that blows away every other SUNYAC career assist leader. I think the "official SUNYAC career assist leader" has about half as many assists as Deane had in 3 years. 8-)

The recipient of many of those assists by Deane was 2 time All Conference, Ted Bence, 6'7" center on those Deane led teams and he was also on hand for the weekend. Ted is the all time leading rebounder for the Bears with 887 boards and is also tops on the list in rebounds per game with 8.8. Ted is the 10th leading scorer in Bears' history with 1307 points.

Bill Merna another great player for Potsdam was back as well. Bill was a starter on a number of teams in the late 60's and went on to become one of the premier high school coaches in New York State at Ogdensburg High School before retiring a few years ago.

Joe Topa was an All Conference performer, also in the 60's, and as a freshman hit the game tying shot against Plattsburgh in 1966 to send the game into overtime and then made the game winning free throws in the extra session to win it and send the Bears to the NCAA tournament. He came back all the way from Texas for the weekend. I hadn't seen Joe since 1969 so it was good to renew that old friendship.

Coach Welsh's longtime assistant during the glory years, Steve Kmack, was on hand as well. Steve went on to be the very successful coach of Potsdam High School for many years before retiring a few years ago.     

The Alumni game was the next day on Saturday afternoon followed by a cookout for the fans and players to socialize. It was all put together by Assistant Athletic Director Bill Mitchell and the testimonial for the coaches on Friday night followed by the Alumni Game on Saturday made for an enjoyable weekend. The fraternity golf outing on Friday and the rock band that's been together for 50 years.. "Double Axel" playing downtown on Friday and Saturday night from 10 till 2 didn't hurt either. ;D               

magicman

Had a pretty reliable source tell me the other day that former Potsdam State coach Sherry Dobbs has been hired by St. Lawrence University to be the assistant coach for the Saints. When Chris Manning left SLU to become the new assistant at Plattsburgh State that left an opening to be filled and who better than a former head basketball coach at a D3 college who happens to live in the area. Sure hope this story is true. Coach Dobbs will bring quite a bit more to the table than the average assistant coach and should be a good hire for SLU coach Chris Downs.   

magicman

I'm looking at the SUNYAC teams' non-conference schedules to see who will have the toughest out of conference games this year. I'll give my report when the schools have filled n a few more games. 

magicman

The Sporting News has named Oswego State senior guard, Brian Sortino, as a Preseason 2nd Team All American. This is the first, of what should prove to be many awards for the Lakers' go to guy, this season.

The publication has picked Amherst as the Preseason #1 team in DIII. They have 2 other teams from Massachusetts in the Top 10 with Babson at #2 and Williams at #8.

DIIINews has listed Sortino as one of the Top 24 players in the country and has picked Oswego State as #21 in their Preseason Top 25.

Here's the DIIINews link: http://www.smallcollegehoops.com/Home_files/D3NOct16FactSheet-1.pdf

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

I don't want to take anything away from those fine gentlemen, but I have never found DIII Online to have a serious take on the division... especially their Top 10. Sporting News is better, but not much considering Williams #8? And CNU not getting a lot of love not being in the Top 2.
Host of Hoopsville. USBWA Executive Board member. Broadcast Director for D3sports.com. Broadcaster for NCAA.com & several colleges. PA Announcer for Gophers & Brigade. Follow me on Twitter: @davemchugh or @d3hoopsville.

magicman

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on October 19, 2016, 10:04:12 AM
I don't want to take anything away from those fine gentlemen, but I have never found DIII Online to have a serious take on the division... especially their Top 10. Sporting News is better, but not much considering Williams #8? And CNU not getting a lot of love not being in the Top 2.

In previous years I have stated the same things about both of these publications. Most of us that have been around for a few years on the D3hoops boards, know that the #1 place to follow D3 sports is here. But it's better to be picked by a 2nd rate publication than not picked at all, I suppose. ;D

Bengalsrule

#7704
Quote from: magicman on October 19, 2016, 12:18:59 PM
Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on October 19, 2016, 10:04:12 AM
I don't want to take anything away from those fine gentlemen, but I have never found DIII Online to have a serious take on the division... especially their Top 10. Sporting News is better, but not much considering Williams #8? And CNU not getting a lot of love not being in the Top 2.

In previous years I have stated the same things about both of these publications. Most of us that have been around for a few years on the D3hoops boards, know that the #1 place to follow D3 sports is here. But it's better to be picked by a 2nd rate publication than not picked at all, I suppose. ;D

Hmm interesting preview. I'm looking for ward to the d3Hoops preview. Like magic said, they, "D3HOOPS",  are #1!

All-Time

Glad to see my guys back on the boards.
Can't wait for the fun to begin ;D

Bengalsrule


Bengalsrule

2 SUNYAC teams in pre season top 50 (52)!  Oswego 27th ( 74 votes ) and Geneseo with 1 vote! Somehow I was thinking that there would be at least 1 from the 'Yac in top 25 but it's early!  End of the season rankings are more important that preseason any day of the week!

http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/men/2016-17/preseason

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

Not to be picky, but it really isn't a Top 50. Not when the voters can only vote for 25 teams.
Host of Hoopsville. USBWA Executive Board member. Broadcast Director for D3sports.com. Broadcaster for NCAA.com & several colleges. PA Announcer for Gophers & Brigade. Follow me on Twitter: @davemchugh or @d3hoopsville.

Bengalsrule

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on November 01, 2016, 08:43:34 PM
Not to be picky, but it really isn't a Top 50. Not when the voters can only vote for 25 teams.

C'mon Dave. Let the Yac have it's moments  ;)