MBB: Liberty League

[Bartman]

Union 75 - Hobart 68 ... Union coach Chris Murphy, seemingly concerned about getting little offense from his bench, found a way to get the subs involved early. He started them, leaving his three best players Jack Plesser, Tanner Tedesco and Matthew Garside sitting for the first 3 minutes. Did it work? No...Hobart took advantage and went out to an early 10 point lead...In reality it was senior night and Murph started his four seniors. The Garnet scrambled back, took a lead but trailed the Statesmen 34-31 at the break. In the second half Hobart grudgingly allowed the Garnet Chargers to take control and put it away late...A day after scoring his career high 37 points Plesser had only 6. Foul plagued and frustrated he played only 17 total minutes before fouling out. Hobart seems to have the answer for Plesser, holding him to only 12 and 6 points in the two league meetings, both won by Union none the less. Tedesco 21, Dufort 19 and Garside's 11 got it done. For Hobart Monty Nedd had an impressive 26.

Congrats to Union on doing what has become familiar result for Hobart, get a lead and lose the lead and then lose the game. This Hobart team has not played to its potential since the break. A small miracle needs to happen in order to leapfrog Clarkson and/or Skidmore to secure the last spot in the LL tournament.They could be a dangerous #6 in the tournament, but they need to get there. Union, and RPI seem to be headed to crash in the finals, with Vassar a strong third. I really thought Hobart was going to be one of the top three , but we lost our bench coach  to a HC job, who seemed to have really added value at the end of close games the last few years.

[Jersey42]

RPI has done surprising well with all of their key injuries.  Two of their starters from the first eight games remain sidelined and I don't know if either one will return this season.  Dylan Matchett (LL 2^nd team last season) has missed the last six 1/2 games and Pat White has missed the last eight games.  Two of their other top eight have missed multiple games earlier in the season.  Yechiel Stewart was their leading scorer before he missed five games.  Nate Tawiah-Boateng has missed six games.

The last time RPI had everyone healthy, they won by 20 points.  RPI has found a way to go 7-1 since then. All but one of the games were close, and any of them could have been a loss. 

Close games mean the starters are playing more minutes.  It makes the Saturday games tougher.  At least there will be one or more days off in the playoffs.

If I understand the tie breakers correctly, it looks like RPI now controls their own destiny for the top seed.  They need to win out or If Vassar beats Union next week, RPI can lose another game. In any case, it will not be easy.

[UfanBill]

Every team has injuries... Union's starting PF from last year, 6'7" Jr. Brendan Reid has not played a minute all season due to a knee injury. He averaged 6.9 pts/gm and a third in the Liberty League 8.4 rebounds in the 2024-25 season. Think they couldn't use him? And how about another PF Aren Cummings who was the 2022-23 LL Rookie of the year but has battled injuries that have compromised most of his talents. Cummings, now a senior, is just now getting a few minutes of floor time again but is still struggling. Union is guard dependent largely because of the unavailability of Reid and Cummings.     

[stlawus]

All of the top 6 have rather significant injuries.  The aforementioned RPI and Union personnel, but Vassar also hasn't had Avery Lee since the beginning of January. Was averaging almost 17 a game until then. SLU lost starter Chris Downs Jr for the rest of the season after a shoulder injury sustained against Hobart several weeks ago. They have already played the whole year without Troy McPherson who was going to be the starting shooting guard.  Ithaca didn't have their best player Evan Cabral against Clarkson yesterday, not sure the extent of his injury or situation.  Skidmore looks like they have lost their leading scorer and likely rookie of the year winner Jacob Gooden to what looked like a very nasty shoulder injury last week.

Teams are going to have to dig deep in the final stretch.