MBB: Landmark Conference

[Great Day to be a Royal]

Ronk,
I think the Lady Royals were given a less than 1% chance to defeat Pitt yet it still happened.
Regarding the men hosting...I'd say first of all, let's see if they even make it to the tournament.
If they do, certainly the possibility would be there but it would depend on whether or not they win the Landmark outright or get a Pool C.
Unless the committee is desperate, I don't see an at-large hosting in what will be a competitive field.
I know its happened before & geography plays a crucial role but most things being equal that first weekend & with no real tournament history by Scranton in a long time, I see them packing.
Leave the tournament hosting to the team that has the best shot of winning the weekend...the Lady Royals. 

Not only does geography play a crucial role, which helps Scranton, but also does the size of the area. Mutliple hotels so you can spread the teams out. Long way to go for that!  Let's speculate hosting if there is a conference championship

[saratoga]

Absolutely agree.
If Scranton wins the conference, then good for them & they should be in the conversation.
In the meantime, way too early to start chilling the champagne & printing the tickets.

[NEPAFAN]

Any thoughts on the Holy War match up Saturday?

[Great Day to be a Royal]

Any thoughts on the Holy War match up Saturday?

If they were as flat as last night, they are in trouble.
The need to make the put-backs and shots within the paint. Far too many misses.

[saratoga]

This Royal squad is smoke & mirrors.
Barely knocking off a horrible Lyco team at home seems like a recipe for disaster vs. the Holy Roman Empire.
I can envision them taking it right to Sammy, getting him on the bench with foul trouble then pulling away.
Whether or not the Cardinals can actually pull that off remains to be seen & is the 64K question.

[Great Day to be a Royal]

The soft bounce passes into the paint happened multiple times, and lead to deflections or turnovers.

Multiple times defenders got caught with their backs to the ball as Lyco came down the floor. Have to tighten both of those parts of the game.

[ronk]

 Catholic under Coach Kelly seems to consistently play to their ability so chalk favors them; it would take top games  from more than 1 Royal(Tornabene, Carr, or Spatola) to prevail.

[NEPAFAN]

Hopefully the Royals get to play Catholic three times this season...

[Great Day to be a Royal]

And the third is at the Long Center, in front of a packed student section!

Stinks tomorrow is during intersession. Not that they get huge draws, but I would imagine a 13-1 Royals hosting their top rival, would draw more students on a Saturday afternoon

[OUVan59]

Ntiamoah is still on Catholic's roster, but I don't know why he hasn't played recently. Scranton & Catholic play this Saturday; maybe the broadcaster will mention his absence, but he rarely does for unavailable players.

He was at the end of the bench ,might be hurt

He's got a cast on his hand/wrist. Looks like a smaller cast than he had in December but not sure of his prognosis.

[Augie2020]

What a win at the long center Scranton down 9 at half kids in foul trouble, but this young team is  resilient and determined.  Scranton takes it 71-68 @ home

[saratoga]

Very gutsy win by the Royals today vs. a Catholic team that is not nearly as good as their hype.
They had Scranton in perfect position with Sammy in serious foul trouble & they could not hit shots from the field or foul line (16/26).
Lost the game right there.
Meanwhile, the Royals were 22/25.
Won the game right there.
Obviously, no one dominate team in the conference...flip a coin for the eventual champ.

[NEPAFAN]

Saratoga is officially on the bandwagon!!!



I wrote off the Royals at the half!

[Great Day to be a Royal]

A half time adjustment!

Royals win! Complete team effort that didn't back down after a really poor first half

[saratoga]

On 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.