Fantastic writeup!  Thanks, Riley!

Go Royals!!!

What a defensive battle!  Despite 20 turnovers, Scranton manages to hold off the powerful NYU offense, holding them to a season low 52 points (36 below their season average). 

Congratulations Lady Royals!  Let's get one more against Denison on Saturday and bring the title back to the Electric City!

@Ryan:  I hope you're right! 

Scranton and the The Landmark Conference are well-represented on the all region team:

Kranson (POY/1st team)
Talutto (ROY)
O'Brien (COY)
Romanowski (1st team)

Plus Roth, Mummert and Scoblick on 2nd team.

Congratulations to all!

19-7 + Mediocre Schedule = 9 more months of no Royal Men's basketball

They probably needed to at least get to the Landmark championship to have a shot at making the NCAA tournament.

Thanks for doing the legwork!  I wa trying to wrap my head around the tiebreakers if it ended up being a 3-way tie for 2nd...

Scranton just got a commitment for both basketball and baseball:

https://x.com/richflanagan33/status/2023555336066801695?s=20

With the victory, Lady Royals officially clinch first in the Landmark.  Even if they finish tied with Catholic, they would hold the tiebreaker by virtue of Catholic's loss to Susquehanna.

They're currently alone in 2nd place and can finish no worse than third.

If they win out, they will be first in the conference with the tiebreaker over Catholic.  (A tall order with Wilkes and Catholic on the horizon).

Drew holds the tiebreaker over Scranton; Catholic holds the tiebreaker over Drew.

Just noticed that last Wednesday against Moravian, Kaci Kranson passed Meredith Mesaris to become the all-time leading scorer in Landmark conference history.  Congrats, Kaci!

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on January 19, 2026, 02:30:22 PM

Quote from: Tim the Enchanter on January 19, 2026, 01:09:08 PM'92-'93 was my freshman year at the U.  I believe both the men and women were ranked #1 that year in the pre d3hoops.com days.

As for the men:  last week they were 32nd in the voting and are now 14-1 with an 11 game winning streak after the big win against Catholic (and now appararently on Ryan Scott's radar). 

7 of the 8 teams immediately ahead of them (#23-31 in the voting) lost, as did #19 UW Platteville.  #18 UW Eau Claire lost twice this week for their 4th loss in a row. 

Is this the week they crack the top 25???

Definitely considered Scranton.  But I haven't been voting for Catholic either, so still not on my ballot.  I'm fairly certain they're on enough ballots to crack the Top 25, though.

Not on your ballot, but at least on your radar screen.  Maybe next week. 

'92-'93 was my freshman year at the U.  I believe both the men and women were ranked #1 that year in the pre d3hoops.com days.

As for the men:  last week they were 32nd in the voting and are now 14-1 with an 11 game winning streak after the big win against Catholic (and now appararently on Ryan Scott's radar).   

7 of the 8 teams immediately ahead of them (#23-31 in the voting) lost, as did #19 UW Platteville.  #18 UW Eau Claire lost twice this week for their 4th loss in a row. 

Is this the week they crack the top 25???

Quote from: saratoga on January 17, 2026, 08:06:21 PMOn the bandwagon?
Nah...still not convinced though the kids played as hard as you can ask.
If CUA is the creme de la creme of the Landmark then the league top to bottom is pretty mediocre.

Halftime adjustments?
What a concept!
Generally, this is where close games go sideways for Scranton & the opposition pulls away.

Playing Smart
Sammy needs to understand the big picture in real time much better than he's shown.
Too important a talent to be relegated to the bench because of avoidable & dumb fouls.

Iron Lung Award
Great job by Jon Spatola & Brendan Carr doing a little bit of everything to keep this game from slipping away & both playing nearly 40 min. each.

Talk about clutch:  Despite playing 34 minutes, Spatola hit 7-8 free throws in the last 30 seconds and scored 11 of the team's last 13 points.  Helped stave off the flurry of threes Catholic hit down the stretch!

All four have been having strong senior seasons. Last month in a win against Villa Maria, Malloy had a line of 27 points (out of a team 48), 13 rebounds, 6 blocks and 5 steals. 

https://www.archmereacademy.com/news-detail?pk=1602318

Excited for this incoming class!

Scranton commit Maura Gilroy is featured prominently in this season preview of Haverford High School:

https://www.cityofbasketballlove.com/news_article/show/1350732