MBB: Skyline Conference

[NYBB]

Wow!  Purchase finally won one for Coach Charney...and Polytech beat them relatively easy last time.  Wow.  Very nice

[Raptormania!]

Fantastic! A source from on high confirmed to me that it is six teams in the postseason tournament.

So Bard essentially needs all its winnable games- should win at home against Purchase and Poly, and took Yeshiva to OT, and played MSV close away, could win both of these as well. That gets them to six conference wins- another and it is seven. (That Yeshiva loss looms large right now!!!)

Yeshiva at three wins would need, if Bard defeats them, to beat Poly at home, Purchase on the road, and defeat two top-tier conference foes, most of whom require Yeshiva to win away, to top six wins.

MSV has at Poly and at Purchase- a win by either would help Bard enormously. The rest is more difficult.

Looks to my eyes like 8 wins should get a team into the tourney for sure- seven gives a team a good chance, and six is the bubble.

Sounds like Tuesday is the chance for Bard to avenge the Throggs Neck Massacre.

P.S. Eight teams doesn't negate the regular season, nor does ten. You can provide byes for the top two teams in a 10-team scenario, making those spots valuable, while the third team gets to face the worst team in the conference. If the teams were not seeded, I could see your point.

Of course, it is subjective. But if the NCAA tournament upsets have told us anything, it is that people love underdogs and the drama that goes with him. Now, if you feel comfortable opposing the will of the people, so be it. But I won't sit by and let such un-American sentiments go unchallenged.

[Rhodes Scholar]

From my perspective it's rather simple: Farmingdale, St. Joe's and Old Westbury are locks. Maritime is very likely and MSM is probable. That leaves five teams battling for the final spot.

[NYBB]

St. Joe's and Farmingdale will place 1 and 2.  Old Westbury and Maritime 3 and 4.  Mt. St. Mary & Mt. St. Vincent will round out the 5 and 6 spots leaving Yeshiva, Bard (sorry raptormania!), Poly & Purchase to wait till next year.

Westbury defeats Mt. St. Vincent, Maritime gets by Mt. St. Mary.  Favorites win and the finals end up 1v2 with Farmingdale taking it in a close matchup.

[Rhodes Scholar]

Right now there are three distinct groupings in the Skyline:

The top tier--Farmingdale, St. Joe's and Old Westbury--is 23-1 against the rest of the conference.

The middle tier--Maritime, MSM and MSV--is winless against the big three but is 11-1 vs. the bottom four. The only blemish was MSV's loss to Polytechnic.

The bottom tier--Bard, Poly, Purchase and Yeshiva--is 2-22 vs. the top two tiers.

Obviously it's not going to be easy for any of the bottom tier teams to make the conference tournament this year.

[Raptormania!]

That is fair based upon the results right now- but given the closeness of the MSV/Bard game, and that the rematch is at Bard, I'm not sold on MSV as clearly better than Bard. The Raptors are also a young team that has improved greatly as the season has progressed.
Bard needs to step up, no question. But I think they will give tier 2 a run for its money.

[NYBB]

The Raptors are not nearly as young of a team as MSV.

Bard's best all around player, Arocho, is a senior and so is their only legit big man, McGinn.  Their best guard, Washington, is also a senior and if you look at MSV, they're only losing one real impact senior and coming back next year with a large majority of their players with 2 or 3 years left.

I've seen Bard play: they're tenacious on D and create a lot of havoc.  They run and they shoot, kind of like Golden State and when they're hot, they're hot.  But when they're not and the guards they're playing against know how to control the game, the defense doesn't work nearly as well.

[Raptormania!]

Not nearly as young? Bard has three players that aren't underclassmen- MSV has three players that aren't underclassmen.

I think both will improve as the season goes on- but I suspect, given the talent of some of Bard's younger players (ie. Justin White), that the Raptors have a chance to make some noise down the stretch. When they are shooting well, they are tough to beat- there are so many weapons there.

[NYBB]

they are a decent outside shooting team...they remind me of the GS warriors in the way they play an uptempo game.  All i know is that the 3 guys graduating out of Bard this year will be much more of a loss than the 3 that MSV are losing.

[Raptormania!]

Oh, don't get me wrong, Washington, McGinn and Arocho are all huge losses for Bard. But the point we were discussing was Bard's youth relative to this year- and the large number of young players taking steps forward are what will make them increasingly tough down the stretch.

[NYBB]

I agree.  And i do like Justin's game...he's an excellent FT shooter and plays well under pressure.  I just don't think Bard is going to be in good shape next season after losing the 3 we've mentioned.

[Rhodes Scholar]

There's a full slate of conference games tonight:

St. Joe's (9-1) @ Poly (2-8)
Old Westbury ( 8-2) @ MSV (4-6)
Maritime (5-5) @ Bard (2-7)
Yeshiva (3-6) @ MSM (5-5)
Farmingdale (9-1) @ Purchase (2-8)

[Raptormania!]

It all depends on how Coach Wood recruits. But you're right, he'll need to add some pieces. I suspect strongly that he will. And they have a nice base of talent already there- and a year older.

So if form holds, but Bard can upend Maritime, the Raptors will be tied in the loss column for the final playoff spot, right? MSV, Yeshiva, Bard all will have seven losses- and Bard plays both of them before the season ends.

[NYBB]

Maritime is going to create matchup problems with their best player (in my opinion, the best player in the SKY), Jamal Webb.  He's a Lebron type player in that he plays the 1 through 4 : he can dribble, post up and shoot from the outside.  Should be an interesting game.

[Rhodes Scholar]

St. Joseph's 87, Polytechnic 67

St. Joe's
David Acree  20 pts
Phil Lipari  18 pts
Mike Crisci  13 pts

Poly
Arjun Ohri  16 pts
Jason Buckner  15 pts
Anthony Mottola  12 pts

This game was never in doubt as the Golden Eagles had way too much firepower for the Blue Jays to handle. St. Joe's led 40-22 at the half and was rapidly expanding their lead before Poly made a comeback midway through the second half to keep the deficit quasi-respectable.

Acree was scoreless at the break but put on a show after the intermission. He repeatedly beat his man off the dribble and either scored from outside or in the lane. Although Acree may be the best player in the conference, St. Joe's is not a one-man team. The Golden Eagles have a variety of weapons and can score inside or on the perimeter. They play good defense and are physical as well.

Poly hustled and never quit but they simply lacked the talent level to compete. Ohri played well for the Blue Jays, while Buckner, Mottola and Vashista Amarjit were effective in spots.