When McKinnon was playing I thought the PG's at Alfred were Will Smith (hurt his Sr year) and Devin Downey.

Those teams at AU were loaded and its disappointing that Murphy could never get the best out of them. I know injuries played a part but they had more talent than anyone in the E8 for a couple years.

RIT has posted the roster for the 2009 - 2010 season. Looks like 4 incoming Freshman and only 2 seniors, Young and Sweet (team captains).

Two of the freshman are 6'6 bigs and there is also a 6'4 F and a guard in the class. Haven't heard much on any of them but it looks like McVean will have a bunch of big guys to choose from to try and replace the production Carson gave him the last few years.

FROMFAR, I haven't heard anything about the incoming players at RIT. Since I'm not in Western NY anymore I usually don't hear much about the team until the season starts. I knew about the kid from Avon because after seeing him play in Glens Falls I wondered where he was headed to school.

Regarding the move from the E8 to the LL, I can't say I'm a fan of the move. I don't know much about the LL teams but I enjoyed watching RIT go up against the other Rochester schools as well as AU and IC. When I was in NY, the fact that you could catch a bunch of road games because the other schools were so close was an added bonus. Other than Hobart, none of the other LL schools are really that close in terms of being able to see a game and get back the same day without too much trouble.

I remember reading in the D&C that the starting PG from Avon that was in the Super 15 is going to Fisher. I saw the kid play in Glens Falls when Avon won the Class C title and he was impressive. Undersized but he completely controlled both games, keeping his team under control and hitting big shots when he needed to. As long as he doesn't get overwhelmed physically I think he would be a good player for SJF.

QuoteYes, Cruz needed to be smarter and not pick up that second technical. And that's on him. But I don't know if Mullins should be chastised too hard for leaving him in there. 20 points is a lot, but so is 7 minutes. Just as one example, against St. Lawrence, the Bombers had a 17 point lead with 15:01 to go. With 12:10 to go, it was down to five, thanks to a 12-0 run. Things change pretty quickly in Basketball and you don't want to relax too quickly. I do agree that Cruz needed to play with more control however

Bombers,
I mentioned that the 7 minute mark is not "empty the bench" time as I agree with you that a lot can happen in that time or less than that. My point was not that you need to clear the bench but you take out that 1 guy so he avoids a possible second technical. IC up 20 at home against a team that, by all accounts I've seen, was not playing well should not need to have Cruz in the game. In my opinion thats poor game management by Mullins, take it for what its worth.

You see coaches pull players out of games in the first half with 2 fouls just so they don't do something dumb and pick up a 3rd, why not take a key player out with 7 minutes left and the game in control to make sure he doesn't do anything dumb? And with Bostic already out until the NCAA's why even risk losing Cruz at that point since you are already down one starter.

I guess I'm not suprised that the suspension was overturned but I still don't really agree with it. Regardless of what the technicals were for, if you're stupid enough to get 2 then shame on you, sit a game.

The second technical came with 7:04 to go in the second half and IC up 20. That's not exactly "empty the bench" time, but if you have a starter with a technical and you're up 20 at that point, why is that player in the game? ESPECIALLY with the conference tourney coming up, why risk it?

Cruz was stupid to pick up the second technical and Mullins was stupid for leaving him in the game and they got bailed out by a commisioner's office that made a judgement call about a judgement call. Not every commissioner would make that decision so IC should consider themselves lucky.

Just watched the video of the dunk and it seems to be a borderline call but the call was made so there is nothing that can be done at that point.

Regarding the suspension, I think the discussion on whether to rescind the one game ban is ridiculous. Whether the first technical was a weak one or not (weak T's get called all the time), Cruz was still dumb enough to get himself a second technical and get thrown out. Not sure when that technical happened but if IC was up big, why even have him in the game with one technical?

Fair enough Nate.
Part of my opinion of Evans is based on his on-court attitude and off-court problems but I agree he was a very good individual talent.

Razor makes a good point, AU was loaded those years as well. Injuries and bad coaching killed them.

Will Smith barely played due to injuries once they got Downey back. I don't think I ever saw them on court at the same time. If they were Smith could have pushed Downey to the 2-guard and that team would have been dangerous.
Doctuer and Stortini were injured a lot those years and missed stretches as well.

Nate, I don't recall the Dunne teams before Evans but I agree that Naz has always been talented but never lived up to potential. From the games I saw Evans played, I'd have to disagree about making his teammates better, they just all seemed disinterested since Evans was always dominating the ball. Granted what I saw was a small sample size.

Really when it comes down to underachieving teams at AU and  Naz there is one common trait, Absolutely aweful coaching. Too bad for AU they didn't have their new coach with the talent they had a few years back.

The biggest difference with Jimmy Evans is that he didn't make his team better. Sure he could score and did have some assists but with him, Maroney, and I believe Zablocky (or Lieska or whatever his name was) they had one of the most talented teams in the league and they didn't amount to anything. In the games I saw they never played as a team and even looked like they didn't really enjoy playing together. Overall they were a disappointment.

Of course with Daley coaching, that's par for the course. Naz always has talent yet always seem to underachieve.

In other news, RIT moved to 11-0 in the conference and officially clinched a spot in the conference tourney with a 75-58 win over Alfred tonight.

S. Roe with a career high 20 points and Carson went for 13 and 11 in 21 minutes of action.

Next game for the Tigers is a week from today when they play SJF on the road. I know they beat SJF by 20 points earlier this year they always seem to be on the losing end playing at Fisher. Here's hoping this year's team turns that trend around.

RIT moved to 10-0 in the Empire 8 this weekend after sweeping their road trip.

Close win over Utica Friday night, 58-55 and handled Elmira with ease, 87-42 today. Carson with a career high 29 pts today go to with 12 rebounds. Nice bounceback game for him after only scoring 9 pts. Friday to go with 13 boards.

RIT plays Alfred at home this Tuesday before taking next weekend off. 4 of the last 6 conference games are at home for RIT but their 2 toughest road games are left, @SJF 2/10 and closing out the season @IC.

Regardless of what happens I don't think anyone would have had RIT in this position when the season started, including all of the RIT fans out there.

I thought Fisher was better off that year without Jefferson anyway. He was a really good player but the team played better without him since he dominated the ball when he was on the court. In the games I saw the rest of the team really didn't seem to enjoy playing when he was out there.

One of the rumors floating around at the time was that he pulled a 0.0 GPA. You have to try really hard to be that bad in school.

In the consolation side of the Chase, RIT beat Brockport 62-61, sealing the game with a late FT. Carson with 21 and 12.

The Tigers will play Roberts in the 5th place game. The game will be at Roberts, the second time in three Chase games RIT will play a lower seed in their home gym. That's amazing to me, but hey, that's what you get for not winning the first round game.

The IC-Wick game sounds about as boring as basketball can get. I remember a few years ago when UNC was really down (the 8-20 year) they tried that against Duke. Shockingly it didn't work, just like last night. Even though IC only won by 7 that's like winning by 15 in a game played at a normal pace.

GB15,

I believe that Hobart used to be in the tourney and for some reason dropped out and were replaced by Keuka.

I've often thought the same thing, especially back when they had a pretty solid team with Docteur, Downing, Smith, etc. That would have made for a pretty loaded local tourney but maybe the prospect of 4 teams from the E8 is too much for the "tournament officials"

FD,
Nice backhanded compliments of the Tigers. They may not be the best athletes but they are playing as a team and taking care of their business at home (good teams do that), as evidenced by holding SJF to 36 freaking points, 36.