MBB: MAC Freedom League

[kate]

Great news and fingers crossed is right!!!   Best of Luck to our Aggies tomorrow night at 7 pm facing Wesleyan!   We'll be watching on the net!   Heart is still racing after that Stevens game!   Congratulations on a memorable (to say the least) season!!!

[saratoga]

Kate:
Congrats to Del Valley for pulling that one out & keeping you tuned in for the tournament.
The best time of the year.
Enjoy!

[Stretch4]

The MAC Freedom All Conference awards seem pretty close to how I would have voted with a couple of small exceptions. Co-Player of the year was interesting as while I had Redding as a first team lock, I think Lazdowsky was more consistent across the entire season and probably should have been the single choice. A third straight DPOY for Spellman was a no-brainer. Coach of the Year could only be Coach Kaba. Gibbs had to be in consideration for first team, but DeSales finishing out of the playoff picture likely resulted in him dropping to second team. The two that I would have switched would have been Goodall from Stevens and Pair from Del Val to second team, with Atkinson from DeSales and Timochenko from LVC moving to Honorable Mention.

[d3hoopstories]

Half of the MAC Freedom schedules have been posted. First up - Arcadia.

The Knights have four out-of-conference opponents who finished among the top 80 in NPI last year and three of those games happen during an eight-day stretch in November.

On November 12, they'll host Gwynedd Mercy. On November 14, they will travel to Chester, PA to face Washington & Jefferson on the first day of the Widener tournament. Five days later, on November 19, they will play at York (PA). The other top 80 opponent is Wilkes, which will travel to Glenside on December 14, in the final game for the Knights before the two-week break.

[d3hoopstories]

Next up: Lebanon Valley

The Dutchmen do not have a single out-of-conference opponent that finished in the top 100 of NPI last year. Their toughest game may be at home against Albright College on December 3. They also travel to Stevenson on November 11 and Muhlenberg (PA) on December 6.

[d3hoopstories]

Early December update:

Only three MACF teams have winning records to date and all three faced off with opponents from the Centennial Conference on Wednesday night.

Misericordia (5-1) picked up an impressive road win at Swarthmore, keyed by a 9-2 run in the middle of the second half that pushed their lead to 59-50. The Cougars held Swat to just 39% shooting on the night and placed four players in double figures, lead by Matt Prociak with 17 and Jack Gallagher with 16.

In Hoboken, Stevens (4-2) jumped out to a quick 19-point lead over a very good Franklin & Marshall squad on the strength of seven made 3's in the first 11:30. The lead dwindled to 10 at half as the Diplomats tightened up things on the defensive end. The Ducks' failure to rebound effectively in the second half proved costly in an overtime loss in which F&M recorded 25 second chance points.

Arcadia (5-2) cruised to an easy home victory over a Haverford team that is likely to finish in the bottom half of the CC. Jamison Lynam had 21 points on 9-15 from the field.

Coming up:

The Knights have two good tests before the break, traveling to Alvernia this weekend and hosting Wilkes on 12/14.

The Ducks will test their mettle on the road at Albright (12/6), Union (12/10), and Scranton (12/14).

The Cougars have a pair of cupcakes before going to Randolph-Macon (12/29) and Hood (1/3).

[d3hoopstories]

Two of the league's top teams lost in Reading, PA yesterday, making it more unlikely that the MACF will earn an at-large bid this season.

Arcadia shot just 6-31 from deep in a loss at Alvernia, giving up 19 fast break points in a game in which they trailed by just 3 at halftime. A 10-2 Alvernia run to open the second half extended the lead to 39-28 and the Knights never got closer than five. For the game, Arcadia shot just 21-70 from the field and missed nine free throws.

Four miles north of there, Stevens lost to Albright. The Ducks trailed by six at half but took a 64-57 lead with 6:52 to play. From that point on, Albright outscored Stevens 22-10. The Ducks' starting guards were 2-15 on three point attempts and the Ducks coughed it up 17 times, leading to 24 points off turnovers for Albright.

[d3hoopstories]

Stevens falls to 4-4 after a road loss to a good Union team. The Ducks looked lethargic in yielding 44 second half points. For the game, Stevens was outscored 50-20 in the paint. A road game on Sunday at Scranton is all that is left before the holiday break.

Hurley's team will need to find some kind of defensive identity prior to conference play. His previous squads have thrived on the defensive end, typically yielding an average of 64-65 points per contest over the last decade or so. In the last five games, Ducks' opponents have averaged 79 points.