MBB: Landmark Conference

[ronk]

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.

 Well, maybe the top end of mediocre    - Catholic had only lost to 3 ranked teams and won over ranked CNU; there are other conference wins over F&M, Johns Hopkins, and TCNJ

[Tim the Enchanter]

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.

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!

[ronk]

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.

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!

 From my mindset of an "old school" control-type offensive coach mentality, I would have used Spatola in his whole career as the crunch time(end of shot clock/half/game) executioner. He has the best chance physically of getting himself open for a good shot and/or making FTs, receiving the ball inbounds against a press, etc. His skill set(physical/mental) and effort is superior in this regard.

[saratoga]

Absolutely to Tim & Ronk.

[NEPAFAN]

He deserves it. Has been battling his whole career.

[ronk]

  D3 datacast ran their simulations/projections for the NCAA field: wrt Scranton, they have them in with a % of 89; if an at-large berth is needed by losing a game in the conference tourney, then the % is 29 for a loss in the quarters, 76 for a loss in the semis, and 92 in the final.

[saratoga]

I believe the Scranton rating right now is actually listed as solid (84%), while CUA is at 82.7%.

[NEPAFAN]

just want to avoid a let down against Wilkes!

Hope Ruisi is healed up!

[Great Day to be a Royal]

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.

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!

 From my mindset of an "old school" control-type offensive coach mentality, I would have used Spatola in his whole career as the crunch time(end of shot clock/half/game) executioner. He has the best chance physically of getting himself open for a good shot and/or making FTs, receiving the ball inbounds against a press, etc. His skill set(physical/mental) and effort is superior in this regard.

Definition of a SR putting the entire team on his shoulder, and shrugging off years of frustration. Talk about clutch!

[Great Day to be a Royal]

just want to avoid a let down against Wilkes!

Hope Ruisi is healed up!

He didn't look in great condition, and left for awhile, and came back wrapped and limping. Hoping for a speedy recovery for him.

14-1, best start since 1992-93

[NEPAFAN]

14-1, best start since 1992-93

Wow, that is a crazy stat!

[Great Day to be a Royal]

Check out this week's d3datacast. Lots of Scranton win over CUA talk.

[Tim the Enchanter]

'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???

[Patrick Coleman]

We've got 21 of the 25 ballots in and it's looking promising.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

'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.