WBB: Landmark Conference

Started by Dave 'd-mac' McHugh, February 20, 2007, 07:24:46 PM

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ronk

Quote from: amh63 on August 08, 2017, 09:51:14 AM
ronk.....the academic year will soon start for D3 schools.  Just checking in to see if you "helped" Amherst's HC this season on the recruiting trail.  Seems one of your NY players..on your list... that ended up at Amherst made "rookie of the year" in the Nescac.  Amherst  needs some talented front court players...though the multi-position player that can play defense and score inside and outside is the type everyone wants at all levels of BB :).  Have a good Summer.

I saw GP at a couple of big tourneys last month but I didn't talk with him so I don't know who's coming in this year. Williams, Middlebury, and Tufts each have a guard/wing that I liked but I haven't heard of any front court players for the NESCAC.

ronk

 Some thoughts on coming season:
   Only 3 rosters posted so far: Juniata, Goucher, Catholic(w/o newcomers)
  Cam McPherson(Moravian) granted another year; Brianna Bull(Goucher) transfers to Catholic; Juniata gets a good 6-4 post(FR)
  I put Moravian as the preseason choice because Cam McPherson returns, along with 3 soph starters from last year, and a good post who needs only to increase her playing time. Scranton has questions about the availability of 2 good newcomers which can't be evaluated until the roster is posted. Goucher only has 7 on their roster as they undergo a head coaching change and lose their best player to transfer.

ronk

 2 more rosters posted(Drew,Scranton), 1 updated(Goucher)
  Goucher add 3 players to make 10 - minimum for full scrimmaging
  Drew adds at least 2 good frosh(Monique Davis-Campbell and Julia Ramos)
  Scranton's 2 good newcomers(letting each newcomer think that they're 1 of the 2) materialize; have to integrate the newcomers, offense, defense, roles, and assistant coach. Intensity of fans the only constant.  ;)

ronk

Preseason forecast:

1st  Scranton-Moravian tie
3rd  Catholic
4th-7th everybody else except Goucher
8th  Goucher

Only E-town has yet to post this year's roster so they could have the edge for the last playoff spot with a good incoming class.

ronk

 Lady Royals complete the sweep of NEPA(Kings, Wilkes, Marywood) tonite by stopping Marywood. Makenzie Mason and Bridgettte Mann led the way. Players are still getting acclimated to the new offense and each other. Plenty to work on in view of the turnovers(mostly post-entry passes and 3-second violations) and offensive rebounds allowed to an undersized opponent.
  Former Lady Royals' Mackenzie Yori had 2 very good games last weekend against her former Scranton teammates and Marywood.

ronk

  Lady Royals had a good competitive game yesterday @ York; it benefit both squads in their quest for their respective conference AQ. I'm always in favor of choosing to play someone that will help your team grow in that regard. York's Katie McGowan looked good in the paint with a variety of moves. For the Royals, Bridgette Mann led the way in the final 2 mins.
  Lady Royals have their holiday tourney Fri/Sat opening with Hartwick, then either FDU or Messiah. Fans will have an opportunity to see Messiah's Leah Springer play. At 6-0, she's a complete player and a contender for M/A POY, in my opinion. 2 years ago, I saw her play a number of AAU games and my regional POY record from AAU play is pretty good, having gotten 3(Katie Sire-Atlantic,Sara Talbert-M/A,Lisa Murphy-Great Lakes) right last year of the 4(only missed on Alex Leslie-East) in the Mid-Atlantic area.

ronk

  Lady Royals had a good competitive game yesterday @ York; it benefit both squads in their quest for their respective conference AQ. I'm always in favor of choosing to play someone that will help your team grow in that regard. York's Katie McGowan looked good in the paint with a variety of moves. For the Royals, Bridgette Mann led the way in the final 2 mins.
  Lady Royals have their holiday tourney Fri/Sat opening with Hartwick, then either FDU or Messiah. Fans will have an opportunity to see Messiah's Leah Springer play. At 6-0, she's a complete player and a contender for M/A POY, in my opinion. 2 years ago, I saw her play a number of AAU games and my regional POY record from AAU play is pretty good, having gotten 3(Katie Sire-Atlantic,Sara Talbert-M/A,Lisa Murphy-Great Lakes) right last year of the 4(only missed on Alex Leslie-East) in the Mid-Atlantic area.

kate

Juniata has their Holiday tourney this Friday and Saturday.   Delaware Valley University Aggies will be participating playing against GMU in the first game.   I went into Juniata's schedule and it wasn't listed.   They play St. Lawrence at 4.   Hopefully they'll have video of the Del Val/GMU game as well as their own.  It would be much appreciated!

kate

Went on the Del Val web page and see that the Aggies play GMU at Juniata tomorrow at two, and it should be on video.   Thanks Matt Levy!

saratoga


Holy Aggie,

A Kate sighting!

Kate, I haven't seen anything from you since early last summer & I must admit, I was worried.

Welcome back

kate

Thanks Saratoga!   Believe it or not, we still miss playing you guys and the drive to Scranton!  We don't get to as many games as we used to, but still follow those Aggies  ;)!    Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Healthy New Year!

ronk

As conference play resumes after the break and 11 nonconference games, here's my forecast after the coaches' preseason poll:

2017-18 Landmark Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
Rank   Institution (First Place)   Points
T1.   Moravian (4)                     58
T1.    Catholic (1)                     58
3.   Scranton (3)                     56
4.   Elizabethtown                     32
5.   Juniata                             22
6.   Drew                                   20
7.   Susquehanna                     19
8.   Goucher                               7

Scranton         11-3
Moravian         11-3
Juniata            10-4
Catholic            9-5
Elizabethtown   6-8
Drew               5-9
Susquehanna   4-10
Goucher           0-14

Any of the top 3 should be able to get a Pool C bid if needed.

saratoga



An unfortunate story that continues to evolve is the women's basketball program at Goucher.

Since the beginning of Dec. they have played 7 games & in only 2 of those contests have they played 7 players.

The other 5 games have seen only seen 6 kids play which is an accident waiting to happen.

In addition to seemingly having only 1 player on the bench, the team is losing by an average of 60 plus points per game over the last month.

Not sure how long this can continue before a serious discussion by their coaching staff & administration takes place so that the few remaining players are not continually placed in an unhealthy situation.

I give the remaining players & the coaching staff all the credit in the world for persevering, but at what cost?

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

First of all... let's remember there was a change at the coaching level prior to this season. Second of all, some bad luck has plagued the squad. The first being they lost Bull to a transfer to CUA in the off season. The second, they lost another player to a season-ending knee surgery and apparently a third to leaving college entirely (long story I am not at liberty to share, nor do I want to).

Yes, the team is low on numbers, but they aren't giving up. They have found some to fill in and are pushing forward.

Shuttering the team this season, as you seem to suggest, is not something that is easy to decide on. If you followed the Occidental football story this past fall, you will see just how contentious a decision like that is just on the surface. Goucher is also not Bryn Mawr and there is more at stake. They probably don't want to commit a Bryn Mawr either because of the ramifications to their fellow conference mates especially. Ending the season leaves the rest of the games against conference opponents not played costing some of those teams two games from their schedule (the rest, obviously, one). While the games would only be against Goucher, it could significantly affect team's NCAA resumes (two less games is hard) along with giving those squads no time to make those games up against other competition that could help them. Further, if teams are able to scramble to replace those games and others could not, there is an unfair advantage/disadvantage.

While not playing Goucher could seemingly help the SOS, off the top of my head it could actually hurt one's SOS if they have already played Goucher and the second game is canceled.

So, to be fair to the conference and their opponents, I believe Goucher should stick it out. I don't think their players are in any unhealthy situations and to say so I think is a bit bombastic.

There are also other factors in play that canceling the rest of the season, I feel, would be the wrong decision. This coaching staff is in its first season and they are trying to change a culture that for a very long time has been looking in the wrong direction. Canceling a season keeps them from continuing to work with the current players on the squad who are going to be instrumental in helping change the course in the next few years. Lose that time and you are starting from scratch and possibly in a worse position next fall.

Another factor is recruiting. Andrea Preston was a long-time assistant under Dixie Jeffers at Capital. Talking to Dixie, she told me Andrea is a beast at recruiting and from what I have heard occasionally behind the scenes... Andrea is already making a huge difference in recruiting (from what I heard, recruiting was severely lacking in the last few years, but I have not been able to hear the whole story on that). Cancel the season and you drastically affect recruiting. While one thinks that being blown out could hurt recruiting, I don't think it hurts nearly as much as not playing at all. You don't have games to meet recruits at (where they could see themselves fitting in). A lot of coaches will admit their faults and talk to recruits about how they can help even in a 60-point blow out. Those conversations are "what ifs" if there are no games.

If Andrea is doing half as well at recruiting as I have been told, Goucher is going to recover from this just fine. It sucks and it hurts. As one who went through a 0-17 soccer season in college, I can relate... though most of our games were nail-biters. This isn't the most fun one can have, but the future of the program is worth more than canceling because the team isn't as competitive as we all would hope.

And hat's off to the coaching staffs of Goucher's opponents who see what is happening and doing their best not to make it worse. I showed up pretty early for a men's game following a women's earlier in the season hoping to see the end of the women's game. I knew the coaching staff of the other program, as I do most, and wanted to see how they looked against Goucher. The game was already over. Something like a 30 points or more blow out. I walked up to the visiting coach and jokingly said, "you can't put that many points on my alma mater!" She panicked. "We played zone the entire time! I knew what we were facing and didn't want to run up the score." I had to reassure her that I was kidding and that I expected the score to be higher. I also appreciated that she had tried to shut things down in the best way possible, but even her bench couldn't miss their shots. From what I've heard, a lot of Goucher's opponents are doing what they can to shut things down. They understand the situation Goucher is in and don't want make it worse - especially conference opponents who respect the administration. Not everyone has felt that way, but most. That is appreciated I am sure by the coaching staff, students, and admins as well.

Let's see where the future comes, but this might be the best thing this program needs... a true chance to start over.
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.

ronk

  Met Andrea at 1 of the big July AAU tourneys; she seemed cognizant of the challenge ahead, notwithstanding the future loss of the 3 players you mentioned. I would see the previous coaching staff at similar tourneys, so I can't differentiate between the staffs on that basis. Best wishes for her progress in recruiting.
  Can't see how not playing Goucher would negatively affect one's SOS, whether or not you had played them once already.