MBB: Colonial States Athletic Conference

Flyer · February 26, 2008, 10:06:01 PM

Quote from: The General on February 26, 2008, 09:22:00 PM
IU just beat Misericordia and "the vern" Lost to GMC so IU will be hosting the championship game.

and if Ursinus is the team to beat in the area, IU beat them earlier this season. just thought i would let you know

congratulations to Immaculata! ! !
congratulations to Gwynedd Mercy ! ! !

What happened to the Crusaders? ? ? All that talent? ? Did they just not show up or what ? Sounds like they choked or did they get out coached ? ? Barron is a good coach but I sure did not expect an Alvernia loss though.

Mailsy, I don't feel that bad losing to Gwynedd now. Obviously the #1 seeding did not mean much this year with all the parity. Justice may be served. I would have thought the Vern would have no problem this year winning the PAC. Just goes to show you that "anybody can beat anybody this year". I still could not figure out how Cabrini held Alvernia to 25 points in the first half the last game they played them when they averaged near 87pts a game and Cabrini did not play great defense and handed them the ball the whole game but it was not a blow out. Perhaps it all makes sense now.

General, if you are an Immac fan I am hoping for the best for you. I guess since it is the last year of the PAC conference justice is served by keeping the title in the PAC with a team not exiting. I thought Alvernia was the best team in the PAC though to be honest with all the experience and playing together. Jon.... could you give us an update on what happened at the PEC?

mailsy · February 26, 2008, 10:26:31 PM

Quote from: HIdeUmm on February 26, 2008, 10:02:54 PM
just another thought to add on to the Ursinus chatter. Finklea, the Macs, leading scorer did not play in the Home game vs Ursinus.

Just another thought to add to the IU chatter. Finklea, I believe, did play in the last 3 road games where he scored 24, 15, 10. Correct me if I am wrong but they did lose those three games, didn't they? Just a question!!

Still believe they will win on Friday night, though.

How you doing Flyer? How's your stress level? Down, hopefully until next year?

hIdeUmm · February 26, 2008, 10:49:13 PM

Yea he did. thats a good point i was just pointing out that he didnt play and they still won.

However, im focused on fridays game because if they dont win they wont even be a discussion on Ursinus and IU so...

So long Miseri and Alvernia great competitive games the last 3 years... Good Luck down the road

Jon · February 26, 2008, 11:09:54 PM

Not too much to say tonight...pretty straight forward here. The Vern shot 32 percent from the floor and the Griffins hit 10-of-21 3s. Alvernia actually had a look for the lead in the final three minutes, but missed and GMC scored six straight to pull away. We'll see if there is any ECAC action next week.

chairman · February 26, 2008, 11:25:29 PM

Congrats to both winners for advancing and to both teams eliminated for very good seasons.
Not at either game tonight, but I will make an observation concerning my take on the games going in and coming out.

Prior to the game I would have said that any kind of foul trouble on Bradley will be a problem for Alvernia. King and Shawell are pretty good defensive rebounders, but Alvernia looked a little bit soft defensively when Bradley went out, and his work on the offensive boards extends possessions for the Crusaders perimeter players.

King has had a great year and he has hit tough threes all year. Alvernia played in a lot of tight games this year -- both EU games were tight through the 37th minute. An off night from either Shawell or King causes problems for the hosts. The problem Alvernia has is that the way their attack is built, they can't very well tell King and Shawell to stop shooting if they go cold. They are a good team in that it doesn't happen very often, but it looks like that is what happened with King tonight.

The night Smith had tonight was what I expected when I saw him play in January of 2007. At that point I thought he was going to give Shawell a run for POTY for the next two seasons. I didn't see that in either game I saw this year, but it looks like he put things together in the big game.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Gwynedd-Immac Part Trey.... I think the match-ups favor GMC... Immaculata will have to shoot over the length of the Gwynedd players, and they will have to deal with the interior strength of Smith and Wroton. If Immaculata can score 25 points in transition, pick up 17+ offensive rebounds, or hit 6-8 three pointers, they can win. Otherwise I see a Griffin win. Immac is a tough place to win, but home court advantage is not so great that it will make more than a two point difference.

You can say that the higher seed should be favored, but I don't think that applies to a situation like this season where 2-7 were separated by a couple plays here and there. Immac earned home court, but I don't think we can say that they are huge favorites.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

chairman · February 26, 2008, 11:28:16 PM

Tough one. Sounds like Eastern's whole year. Congrats on #200 Jon. Glad to see you reached it before Tiger lost this year.

hIdeUmm · February 26, 2008, 11:37:02 PM

IF...the Macs play the way they did tonight... I dont think GMC has a shot.. Its Gonna be a Great Competitive Game. Chadwin vs His "Mentor"

chairman · February 27, 2008, 12:03:49 AM

With all due respect. Neither GMC or Immac is capable of playing the game at a level where the other team doesn't have a shot. Misericoridia doesn't match up well with the Mighty Macs. GMC does. It will come down to execution. It looks like the Griffins took a pretty good chunk out of the Mighty Macs a couple weeks ago at Alumnae Hall.

I'll stick to my earlier predictions on things Immac must do to win. I don't think they hit 6 threes, so it will be offensive rebounding or transition hoops.

Flyer · February 27, 2008, 09:20:22 AM

Quote from: Jon on February 26, 2008, 11:09:54 PM
Not too much to say tonight...pretty straight forward here. The Vern shot 32 percent from the floor and the Griffins hit 10-of-21 3s. Alvernia actually had a look for the lead in the final three minutes, but missed and GMC scored six straight to pull away. We'll see if there is any ECAC action next week.

Jon, do you know if the Vern will schedule any games next year with any former PAC teams. I am sure EU will play Cabrini once a year at least. Sure has been a strange PAC playoff year if you ask me. Seems the hot teams went cold and the cold teams warmed up to the task at the right time.

Mailsy, doing better, but still dissappointed. Seems like this year the title was really up for grabs and anyone with a mini-win streak could have won it this year. I feel the Cavs could have gone deeper if they played defense and hit foul shots which has plagued them all year. To be honest with you, I was looking forward to heading to Reading to see the Vern play the MACS or Miseri on Friday. I won't be heading to anywhere with a large crowd and not enough space to walk in though. I must ask if the best team is really going to win the PAC.

Think GMC is going to pull it out but I am hoping the MACs win it all.

Flyer · February 27, 2008, 09:23:34 AM

Quote from: Jon on February 26, 2008, 11:09:54 PM
Not too much to say tonight...pretty straight forward here. The Vern shot 32 percent from the floor and the Griffins hit 10-of-21 3s. Alvernia actually had a look for the lead in the final three minutes, but missed and GMC scored six straight to pull away. We'll see if there is any ECAC action next week.

Jon, what kind of defenses were played? Did Miller change anything at the half? Sorry, had to work late.

Jon · February 27, 2008, 09:24:17 AM

Chair,

I grant you my first karma point for both your acknowledgment of a milestone and your match-up observations. Me thinks you may be coaching the wrong sport.

Smith had energetic determination all night which wasn't matched. You can see from the quotes in today's paper that the boys felt the same way. (From the Reading Eagle)

Some years I'm not jazzed about a possible ECAC invite. This year I'm hoping things work out for a few more games. I think that would give the Crusaders, and specifically Matt King, a chance to erase a bad taste.

Jon · February 27, 2008, 09:34:21 AM

FlyGuy,

I'm sure Alvernia will schedule some games next season against PAC teams. I know we're trying to get GMC in our tip-off tournament. Seeing as there was only one senior in last night's game it should be quite a rematch. Not sure what the rest of our non-conference schedule will look like at this point.

We played a lot of zone last night and the Griffins shot well...very well. Keenan hit a big 3 in front of his bench that seemed to be one of those "bad shots" until it went in and Talley banked in a 3 midway through the second half that was kind of a kick in the pants. GMC played a lot of their 1-3-1 with a few change up possessions, and they really pressured the wings on the first pass. I thought we got a lot of looks and Shawell, as he does, hit the tough ones. Thirty-six 3s is a big number...we took fewer shots (33) inside the arc.

hIdeUmm · February 27, 2008, 03:12:06 PM

That 1-3-1 is Frustrating. Who is COY now that Miller and Woodruff are out in the Same round of the playoffs???

Jon · February 27, 2008, 04:15:01 PM

Theoretically, all-conference voting is based on regular season performance...not sure Miller hoisted any of our 47 misses last night.

hIdeUmm · February 27, 2008, 04:28:50 PM

I didnt realize it was just regular season. O i know that loss was because of bad shooting really on both end with miseri and vern... Miseri just couldnt get in a groove and the Macs just work there defense and got some shots to fall... Hyman hit a three??? yes Hyman, Finklea with a 3 after a backcourt inbound with 3 seconds on the shot clock and then Lepone's 3 at the end of the half... kills the defense.