MBB: Centennial Conference

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

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Swat Fan #1

#7140
This was a very interesting game for me as my son played for Swarthmore and Ithaca College is my and my wife's alma mater. I waited to post so as to see what others thought of the game. There is no mention of the horrific zone that Swat played the first quarter of the game. I didn't get it at all. When they switched out of it, they played much better. I thought Ithaca College played way over the top physical and almost dirty at times. I re-watched it and I stand by it. In fact, it was worse the second time I watched it. The crowd got into IC's shooter (kid with headband) head and he seemed more worried about what the crowd was saying to him.

I am so sad for the seniors on Swat who were shooting for a National Championship and now don't have the chance. The two bigs will be very hard to replace as they dominated almost everyone they played over the years. Two great young men.

This was Swat's year - They were #1 in every single poll this year and I hope they are named Champs. It would only be fitting.

jmcozenlaw

Quote from: Swat Fan #1 on March 14, 2020, 05:58:24 PM
This was a very interesting game for me as my son played for Swarthmore and Ithaca College is my and my wife's alma mater. I waited to post so as to see what others thought of the game. There is no mention of the horrific zone that Swat played the first quarter of the game. I didn't get it at all. When they switched out of it, they played much better. I thought Ithaca College played way over the top physical and almost dirty at times. I re-watched it and I stand by it. In fact, it was worse the second time I watched it. The crowd got into IC's shooter (kid with headband) head and he seemed more worred about what the crowd was saying to him.

I am so sad for the seniors on Swat who were shooting for a National Championship and now don't have the chance. The two bigs will be very hard to replace as they dominated almost everyone they played over the years. Two great young men.

This was Swat's year - They were #1 in every single poll this year and I hope they are named Champs. It would only be fitting.

My undergraduate degree is from Swarthmore. Yet, this comment,"I thought Ithaca College played way over the top physical and almost dirty at times. I re-watched it and I stand by it. In fact, it was worse the second time I watched it", shows how two people can watch the same game, several times, and have views that are the polar opposite.

I guess that makes the world go round.

Oh, and I stand by my opinion as well. ;)

footballfan911

"Way over the top physical and dirty? Hahahaha. You must be related to the announcer on the broadcast who said there were two "cheap shots" on O 'Dell. You Swat fans are priceless. It was a well played playoff game between two good teams. Sorry Swat didn't blow them out by 40, like they are accustomed too, but maybe, just maybe, give Ithaca a little credit for being able to hang with the team of destiny. It has been mentioned here that Swat fans don't post on this board and most Swat fans are respectful of their opponent. Calling Ithaca dirty is just laughable and out of line....nobody cares where you graduated from so prefacing your take with the fact that you are an Ithaca grad, therefore your take has some validity is preposterous. And for the kid with the headband being concerned with the crowd....being called a faggot and a homo is bound to get your attention. Heard it half a dozen times if I heard it once as I was sitting directly in front of a row of Swat students. Over the line.

Swat Fan #1

Quote from: footballfan911 on March 14, 2020, 10:01:48 PM
"Way over the top physical and dirty? Hahahaha. You must be related to the announcer on the broadcast who said there were two "cheap shots" on O 'Dell. You Swat fans are priceless. It was a well played playoff game between two good teams. Sorry Swat didn't blow them out by 40, like they are accustomed too, but maybe, just maybe, give Ithaca a little credit for being able to hang with the team of destiny. It has been mentioned here that Swat fans don't post on this board and most Swat fans are respectful of their opponent. Calling Ithaca dirty is just laughable and out of line....nobody cares where you graduated from so prefacing your take with the fact that you are an Ithaca grad, therefore your take has some validity is preposterous. And for the kid with the headband being concerned with the crowd....being called a faggot and a homo is bound to get your attention. Heard it half a dozen times if I heard it once as I was sitting directly in front of a row of Swat students. Over the line.

I won't address most of this garbage from a first time poster, but yeah, I think I may be in a unique position to talk about both teams. I live about ten miles from IC and get to see them play all the time. This was by far the most physical they have played all year from what I have seen. In fact, it wasn't close. I am not saying it wasn't a great game plan as it was the only way they could have won. You obviously don't know anything about Swat as they were in many many close games this year. That is why they didn't get rattled. Maybe you should stick to football as you clearly don't know basketball at all. I have been going to IC basketball games since '81. You?

jmcozenlaw

Quote from: Swat Fan #1 on March 15, 2020, 09:37:09 AM
Quote from: footballfan911 on March 14, 2020, 10:01:48 PM
"Way over the top physical and dirty? Hahahaha. You must be related to the announcer on the broadcast who said there were two "cheap shots" on O 'Dell. You Swat fans are priceless. It was a well played playoff game between two good teams. Sorry Swat didn't blow them out by 40, like they are accustomed too, but maybe, just maybe, give Ithaca a little credit for being able to hang with the team of destiny. It has been mentioned here that Swat fans don't post on this board and most Swat fans are respectful of their opponent. Calling Ithaca dirty is just laughable and out of line....nobody cares where you graduated from so prefacing your take with the fact that you are an Ithaca grad, therefore your take has some validity is preposterous. And for the kid with the headband being concerned with the crowd....being called a faggot and a homo is bound to get your attention. Heard it half a dozen times if I heard it once as I was sitting directly in front of a row of Swat students. Over the line.

I won't address most of this garbage from a first time poster, but yeah, I think I may be in a unique position to talk about both teams. I live about ten miles from IC and get to see them play all the time. This was by far the most physical they have played all year from what I have seen. In fact, it wasn't close. I am not saying it wasn't a great game plan as it was the only way they could have won. You obviously don't know anything about Swat as they were in many many close games this year. That is why they didn't get rattled. Maybe you should stick to football as you clearly don't know basketball at all. I have been going to IC basketball games since '81. You?

It is precious watching the children argue about such trivial things in the times we are facing right now. :)

Oh, and I will not repeat any of the words that were in fact hurled from the Swat stands (at the "kid with the headband"), but it was very out of line and as a Swat grad, I'm ashamed!!

jmcozenlaw

Quote from: Swat Fan #1 on March 15, 2020, 09:37:09 AM
Quote from: footballfan911 on March 14, 2020, 10:01:48 PM
"Way over the top physical and dirty? Hahahaha. You must be related to the announcer on the broadcast who said there were two "cheap shots" on O 'Dell. You Swat fans are priceless. It was a well played playoff game between two good teams. Sorry Swat didn't blow them out by 40, like they are accustomed too, but maybe, just maybe, give Ithaca a little credit for being able to hang with the team of destiny. It has been mentioned here that Swat fans don't post on this board and most Swat fans are respectful of their opponent. Calling Ithaca dirty is just laughable and out of line....nobody cares where you graduated from so prefacing your take with the fact that you are an Ithaca grad, therefore your take has some validity is preposterous. And for the kid with the headband being concerned with the crowd....being called a faggot and a homo is bound to get your attention. Heard it half a dozen times if I heard it once as I was sitting directly in front of a row of Swat students. Over the line.

I won't address most of this garbage from a first time poster, but yeah, I think I may be in a unique position to talk about both teams. I live about ten miles from IC and get to see them play all the time. This was by far the most physical they have played all year from what I have seen. In fact, it wasn't close. I am not saying it wasn't a great game plan as it was the only way they could have won. You obviously don't know anything about Swat as they were in many many close games this year. That is why they didn't get rattled. Maybe you should stick to football as you clearly don't know basketball at all. I have been going to IC basketball games since '81. You?

As a Swat grad, I'm in no position to tell anybody to "stick to football" as (1) Football is the 800 pound, dominant sport in our country and (2) I can't "stick to football" as a Swat grad, although an IC grad proudly can................as the administration axed the program years ago, foolishly!!!! And the NESCAC still has a solid football base amongst it's member institutions.

And no.................water polo (or polo), fencing nor handball are NOT replacements. Just about nobody cares (or has played ANY of these "sports". ;)

Swat Fan #1

Well is name is footballfan so that is why I said it. I will not be lectured by a first time poster on here. I went to IC, support its sports (got engaged at an IC football game and am friends with the last two football coaches) and am an IC basketball supporter for almost 40 years. I went to some games this year and they played Swat more physical than I had previously seen them play. I thought it bordered on dirty play, hence why Landry was so upset. Again, they had to play this way as it was their only chance to win. I thought the IC coach did a great job preparing them for it. Swat was the best DIII team in the country this year and should be named national champs. They were #1 in every single poll this year. Every. Single. Poll.

jmcozenlaw

What was borderline dirty play was O'Dell (at 6'7".........and if he is only 200 pounds, I am a Rhodes Scholar..........one of his teammates, from Newtown, PA, estimated that to be about 30 pounds too light, at least) backing down and then dipping the shoulder and finishing through the Ithaca "Pipecleaners" defenders (as a veteran ref who watched the game told me). He could have been called several times for an offensive foul. With the size and bulk difference (it looked like a college team vs. a high school team), Landry had no right to whine and complain to the extent that he did.

Nobody will, nor should they be named a "national champion". I never agreed with it during the college football days (pre-playoffs), nor do I agree with it now. I appreciate the work that everybody does each week in compiling the poll, but a true national champion must be crowned on the court. To be honest (about my.......and only my alma mater ;) ), the way that Swat looked against Ithaca, and before that, against Hopkins (as well as a few other close games), I would have made a gentleman's bet with anyone on this board that Swat would have NOT been the last team standing. I can't name one team that would have, but there were certainly three of four other teams playing better ball during this point of the season.

Again, while I appreciate every. single. poll. ;) ...........................I'm not going to predict how cute the newborn will look when mom's is just entering the 9th month. :)

Now with hoops in the books......................we can turn our attention to America's Passion (as baseball is our Pastime) ;)

centfan

#7148
basketball in the centennial is generally, historically gentlemanly, which is a function of the high ethics of the schools in the conference. over the years play has gotten even less physical, similar to the nba.i think that is what we all want...sportsmanship and clean play.but if a team gets physical, i see no inherent problem with it. it sounds like ithaca was physical, but whether they were dirty is another question as physical play is not necessarily dirty play. i wasn't there so i can't say. what i can say is that i watched swat many times this season and find it hard to believe that they have consistently been the # 1 team all season. they were good, play well together, had a couple of good bigs, a bunch of shooters and are disciplined. my view is that a group of athletes who were well coached would beat them consistently as swat lacks athleticism, speed, quickness and risk. they play slow, methodical and controlled basketball to a point of it bordering on boredom. they only take well selected shots which, yes, is what we want but all in all it is pretty flavorless basketball. that doesn't take away from the great job landry has done and how good the players are together. i see that and know that it is extremely difficult to achieve. but it does baffle me that there was not one team in the country in D3 that had a group of athletes that could defend, harass, intimidate and get up and down on offense to handle swat easily. on another note, relevant to the recent posts, perhaps swat and landry are starting to feel a bit of arrogance and feel like physical play is inappropriate and disrespectful when employed by their opposition? that their style is superior and resorting to physical play is crude, a low level of play? if a team, school and coach feel that they should not be met with aggressive play, how do they feel about a player being verbally harassed by homophobic student fans? what if a swat player was yelled at in that manner? was there a discussion with those students by swat deans, administrators, faculty, other students who one would assume were at the game? were they asked to leave or reprimanded at all? perhaps that is worth considering. perhaps some idea of privilege/superiority might account for the coexistence between the ideas that swat players shouldn't be exposed to aggressive play and simultaneously members of their community exhibit disrespectful, homophobic verbal abuse towards an opposing player. who yells such things in this day and age, particularly those affiliated with swarthmore college?? worth thinking about. also, awarding a championship to any team when a championship game was not actually played seems somewhat ludicrous. any true player would not find that meaningful or fulfilling.but it is an original thought! stay safe, healthy everyone.

jmcozenlaw

Quote from: centfan on March 17, 2020, 01:33:35 PM
basketball in the centennial is generally, historically gentlemanly, which is a function of the high ethics of the schools in the conference. over the years play has gotten even less physical, similar to the nba.i think that is what we all want...sportsmanship and clean play.but if a team gets physical, i see no inherent problem with it. it sounds like ithaca was physical, but whether they were dirty is another question as physical play is not necessarily dirty play. i wasn't there so i can't say. what i can say is that i watched swat many times this season and find it hard to believe that they have consistently been the # 1 team all season. they were good, play well together, had a couple of good bigs, a bunch of shooters and are disciplined. my view is that a group of athletes who were well coached would beat them consistently as swat lacks athleticism, speed, quickness and risk. they play slow, methodical and controlled basketball to a point of it bordering on boredom. they only take well selected shots which, yes, is what we want but all in all it is pretty flavorless basketball. that doesn't take away from the great job landry has done and how good the players are together. i see that and know that it is extremely difficult to achieve. but it does baffle me that there was not one team in the country in D3 that had a group of athletes that could defend, harass, intimidate and get up and down on offense to handle swat easily. on another note, relevant to the recent posts, perhaps swat and landry are starting to feel a bit of arrogance and feel like physical play is inappropriate and disrespectful when employed by their opposition? that their style is superior and resorting to physical play is crude, a low level of play? if a team, school and coach feel that they should not be met with aggressive play, how do they feel about a player being verbally harassed by homophobic student fans? what if a swat player was yelled at in that manner? was there a discussion with those students by swat deans, administrators, faculty, other students who one would assume were at the game? were they asked to leave or reprimanded at all? perhaps that is worth considering. perhaps some idea of privilege/superiority might account for the coexistence between the ideas that swat players shouldn't be exposed to aggressive play and simultaneously members of their community exhibit disrespectful, homophobic verbal abuse towards an opposing player. who yells such things in this day and age, particularly those affiliated with swarthmore college?? worth thinking about. also, awarding a championship to any team when a championship game was not actually played seems somewhat ludicrous. any true player would not find that meaningful or fulfilling.but it is an original thought! stay safe, healthy everyone.

THIS, the post above..................is THE post of the year. I can add very little to what was stated.

As a Swat grad, I should be offended that you found it hard to believe that they have consistently been the #1 team all season. ;)

As an astute basketball fan, taking off my blinders, you are spot on and I truly believe it's a function of the parity in D-III hoops this year and the lack of any 'powerhouse'.

A handful of powerhouses do exist in D-III football year in and year out. There were none in hoops, including my alma mater. A large number of very good teams? Heck yea! A couple of dominant teams that we'll be talking about 20 years from now? Oh......heck no!

O'Dell could have used most of the Ithaca players as dental floss. Physical game? Not really, but it depends on one's perspective. Dirty? Not in one million years. I've seen more physical, dirty play in the Philadelphia Catholic League GIRLS basketball.

Let's see what Landry does next year with the track record he has quickly built up and the national recruiting footprint that many schools at this level don't enjoy.

txg

Quote from: centfan on March 17, 2020, 01:33:35 PMwhat i can say is that i watched swat many times this season and find it hard to believe that they have consistently been the # 1 team all season. they were good, play well together, had a couple of good bigs, a bunch of shooters and are disciplined. my view is that a group of athletes who were well coached would beat them consistently as swat lacks athleticism, speed, quickness and risk. they play slow, methodical and controlled basketball to a point of it bordering on boredom. they only take well selected shots which, yes, is what we want but all in all it is pretty flavorless basketball. that doesn't take away from the great job landry has done and how good the players are together. i see that and know that it is extremely difficult to achieve. but it does baffle me that there was not one team in the country in D3 that had a group of athletes that could defend, harass, intimidate and get up and down on offense to handle swat easily.

This is shockingly dismissive.  They lack athleticism, speed, quickness and risk (whatever that means)?  They play slow and boring basketball?  They averaged 80 points per game, highest in the conference.  They were 28-1.  I mean, reasonable people can disagree on who the #1 team was.  But I don't think anyone should pretend that voting Swat #1 is somehow outlandish.

It's nice that you acknowledge the great job that Kosmalski did.  Indeed, he must be the greatest coach in the history of basketball, to get so much out of a bunch of slow and nonathletic players.

centfan

#7151
txg
i didn't mean to shock you,i just wanted to share my opinion. to me swat plays successful, textbook (but dull) basketball. landry has trained them very well and recruits strong role players. and since he took over he has proven himself to be a dominant coach in d3, (though i am not ready to say he is the best in the history of basketball). but the team doesn't (or isn't allowed to) take very many chances. and hearing that a team far smaller than them played physically and coach complained doesn't endear me to them either. having watched centennial basketball for about 12 years, i find this year to be a down year. and due to unfortunate circumstances, we'll never know who the best team in D3 was this year when the going got tough, despite the weekly idea that swat was the best. swat didn't get it done last year with a strong guard and leader in wiley, and my instinct is that they would have struggled this year if faced with bigger, more athletic guards and a solid big on an opposing team. but we will never know. oh, and "risk", by the way, is a term used to express the willingness to take chances and possibly fail. (it's generally not  basketball jargon, which might be why you were confused). when one (or a team) is overly invested in control, risk diminishes and sometimes disappears. part of the excitement in sports is watching athletes reach beyond what they can do and attempt something more challenging, and sometimes paying a price for it. i don't see that in swat's brand of play, which is a big reason why they didn't excite me. i saw their basketball i.q., patience, shooting ability, competitive spirit, discipline, confidence, good manners and depth, but lots of things that i love about the game they don't possess. i hope that helps.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh

I found nothing about Swathmore dull. Seen them a number of times in person and their ability to not only styme a team on defense but then cut through them like a hot knife through butter on offense was incredible. I think of the game at JHU when it was a tough battle in the first half (Hopkins leading for some time). The second half started and Swarthmore came out like a cannon ball. They absolutely went crazy cutting through the Hopkins defense while at the same time shutting down JHU on the other end of the floor. It wasn't dull. It was incredible.

Are they flashy with big dunks and fast-break highlights? No. But they aren't dull by any stretch of the imagination.
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.

centfan

thanks, dave, i appreciate your thoughts.
it's all rather subjective.
swat is well coached but words like "cannon ball" and "incredible" just don't apply for me when it comes to swat but, as you know, that's what makes the world go round.
we can certainly meet in agreement that they were a solid, effective team.
thanks for all your work on these sites...i am sure i speak for all in saying it is appreciated.

CCHoopster

Will FnM name AD or new HC first?