MBB: Landmark Conference

[CardsFan]

Scranton has been pretty consistent all year.  Yes, I suspect you all got excited about the home win over Catholic, as it was certainly Scranton's best performance all year, but the non-conference schedule wasn't great and they performed pretty much as expected in conference, based on the early season results.

Perfectly valid to be disappointed, of course, but I don't think there was any dip in play or quality.

I would argue that Scranton's defense was noticeably worse in the second half of conference play. Through nine league games the Royals gave up about 68 points per game. Over the final nine league games, they gave up about 78 points per game. The comeback wins against Goucher, Moravian, and Lycoming may have masked the true extent of those defensive deficiencies.

[saratoga]

CardsFan:

You're right on the money.
Typical cupcake early schedule builds some false hope & as other coaches make their adjustments in the second half, the Royals fade from view.
That & the fact that the Royals have been absolutely trounced repeatedly in big games makes it hard to even take this program seriously any longer.
Some coaches live for the bright lights...others just melt in them.

[stlawus]

All I can say to that is:

The NCAA better revert back to the eye test. 
Either mens basketball as a whole is horrible this year (which I don't think is true) or...
Scranton is way, way over-rated (which I think is true).
I mean my God, they're barely beating teams with 2 conference wins right now. 

If you look at their rating on Massey their actual rating is 50 spots higher than their power rating. So far it hasn't happened yet but a disparity that big usually means regression to the mean. Just something to keep an eye on.

I noted this a couple weeks ago.  I think it was just unfortunate timing with regression to the mean. After the last game there is still a 44 point delta between the actual rating and power rating. If it's like a ~20 spot difference between ratings there's not much difference, but a disparity that big can bite you without coaching adjustments.  I have tuned into Scranton games when I can since I appreciate the large and involved fanbase engagement on here, and I have to agree with some that the coaching is suspect at times.