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Post by bison137 on Feb 16, 2022 21:46:04 GMT -5
Are they the only team in league with grad students? There are a number of schools with 5th year players. To me it is irrelevant if they are grad students or if the school figured out a way to keep a player for five years without entering a grad program. The more notable ones are: - Jack Ferguson (Colgate) - listed as a senior but has played five years. - Nelly Cummings (Colgate) - in his 5th year, but sat one of them as a transfer. - Stacy Beckton (American) - listed as a senior but has played five years. - Marvin Bragg (American) - in his 5th year but missed last year due to injury. - Marques Wilson (lehigh) - listed as a "fifth year"; has played all five years. - McCoy (Boston) - grad student. - Mathon (Boston) - grad student. - Whyte (Boston) - 5th year. If Loyola had had any senior last year worth keeping, they would no doubt have recruited them hard for a 5th year. On their men's lacrosse team, they have ten grad students and likely a couple more 5th years.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 16, 2022 21:01:26 GMT -5
BU is pretty good! Start 3 seniors and 2 grad students makes a tough opponent. Need an A game to compete, and the guys didn’t quite bring it tonite. And one of those seniors, Walter Whyte, is in his fifth year there. Not sure why he's not a grad student.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 16, 2022 19:26:34 GMT -5
Giannaros should be on the all rookie team. I'm sure she will be. The top two, who will battle for ROY, are Lex Therien and Cecelia Collins. Then the next two are likely Giannaros and Golembiewski. Antagnoli of Lafayette will get some votes as well.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 16, 2022 18:58:34 GMT -5
BU has no Childs, Esposito, or Weimar. All players that have played big roles and/or started. HUGE opportunity for Cross tonight. Boy, that is a huge loss. Two regular starters and another part-time starter. Did they say why they are out?
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Post by bison137 on Feb 15, 2022 21:07:17 GMT -5
Creme doesn't make any attempt to rate who will win the tournament. For one-bid leagues, he simply takes the current first place team. HC is currently tied for 1st with Boston U and holds the tiebreaker. Hence they are this week's pick. Do regular season WBB champs who lose the league tournament get any benefit like the auto bid to the NIT for MBB? I can't recall hearing about this for the WNIT. The WNIT goes one step further. That tournament automatically takes the “best” team from every conference who did not get taken for the Big Dance.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 15, 2022 20:42:00 GMT -5
Avery and the Overachievers will give it their all, but I'm surprised an objective observer has rated HC as most likely to win the PLT as we were picked to finish fifth preseason. Creme doesn't make any attempt to rate who will win the tournament. For one-bid leagues, he simply takes the current first place team. HC is currently tied for 1st with Boston U and holds the tiebreaker. Hence they are this week's pick.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 14, 2022 23:53:20 GMT -5
Brutal half of basketball. American turning it into a slugfestand daring the officials to call every foul, HC sleepwalking and allowing the AU defense to impose their will. Would like to see us speed up the pace in the second half. pL officials aren’t good to start with, and this Brennan street fight gameplan makes them even worse — no clue when to call fouls and when to let contact go. Dreadful night of pL basketball. I assume you know there is no such thing as "patriot league officials". All of the refs in tonight's games routinely ref in the Ivy, MAAC, America East, and NEC. They may not be great but they ref more games out of the PL than in it.:
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Post by bison137 on Feb 13, 2022 20:08:53 GMT -5
Looked like the football team was at the women's game Saturday Yes, a large group arrived 3 minutes into the game. Most left at halftime but some stayed into the early fourth quarter.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 13, 2022 15:56:03 GMT -5
That's nonsense. Loyola has been better in the PL than they were in the decade before joining. They had one aberrational year (2012) prior to joining, but generally were not terribly strong. Massey rankings for Loyola: 2004 - 26 2005 - 25 2006 - 16 2007 - 15 2008 - 15 2009 - 10 2010 - 12 2011 - 21 2012 - 1 2013 - 11 (average rank of 15.2 in decade before joining PL) - - - - - - - - 2014 - 4 (first year in Patriot League) 2015 - 23 2016 - 5 2017 - 11 2018 - 5 2019 - 7 2020 - 14 2021 - 11 (average rank of 10.0 since joining PL) From 1990-2000 they made the NCAA Tourney in eight out of 10 seasons as an independent. During Dave Cottle's run they had a .721 winning percentage. But they aren't as relevant now as both Syracuse and Loyola were when they were independents. Interesting that after claiming (falsely) that "Loyola has dropped off nationally since joining the PL", you have to go back to the 1990's to find a time when they were at least as good as they have been in the PL. But they were worse from 2002 through 2013 (the last season before they joined the PL.) I assume you are now acknowledging that your original claim was not correct.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 13, 2022 11:34:51 GMT -5
Loyola was trounced 20-8 by Maryland today. Loyola has dropped off nationally since joining the PL....same with Syracuse and the ACC. That's nonsense. Loyola has been better in the PL than they were in the decade before joining. They had one aberrational year (2012) prior to joining, but generally were not terribly strong. Massey rankings for Loyola: 2004 - 26 2005 - 25 2006 - 16 2007 - 15 2008 - 15 2009 - 10 2010 - 12 2011 - 21 2012 - 1 2013 - 11 (average rank of 15.2 in decade before joining PL) - - - - - - - - 2014 - 4 (first year in Patriot League) 2015 - 23 2016 - 5 2017 - 11 2018 - 5 2019 - 7 2020 - 14 2021 - 11 (average rank of 10.0 since joining PL)
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Post by bison137 on Feb 12, 2022 11:48:49 GMT -5
Game 2 is at No.4 Syracuse today at 12:30 and it’s televised on the Big Ten Network - it’s their opener and it will be a tough atmosphere inside the Dome - this matchup is akin to our bball team playing at Duke I doubt it will be a tough environment. In the games where Syracuse opened with Colgate, pre-Covid, they averaged 2400 fans in the Dome.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 11, 2022 22:50:32 GMT -5
Talked to another coach from the northeast tonight and we couldn’t figure out what might be going on in Annapolis Could you elaborate a bit on this? As far as I see, Navy over the past three months has been almost exactly what people were expecting before the year began.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 11, 2022 16:27:42 GMT -5
As Bucknell fans go, I've always been a huge critic of Doug's pbp. I despise all over the top homer announcers. I often muted him while watching games. So, I've been more than pleased with his work this year. Frankly, I've been shocked. I think it's partly that he's grown a bit, Conrad has been a steadying influence, and frankly, the team's performance has constrained his tendency to go over the top. His work has been solid this year (though poor performance has never seemed to be an issue for that La Salle guy). Over the years after a HC-Bucknell game, in Worcester, I had multiple conversations with Doug B. He was very friendly and was pleasant away from the microphone. While a definitely a homer, it is understood with a broadcaster whose identity is intwined with a team over a number of years. I agree 100% about Doug B. While I'm not a big fan of his PBP style, he is a really good guy and goes out of his way to be helpful. If a fan emails him any sort of question related to Bison basketball or other sports, he responds quickly and in depth. Then he apologizes for not having responded sooner - even if it only took him 20 minutes. Doug has been at Bucknell for 22 years, serving as a marketing specialist as well as an announcer and coordinator of radio/TV/
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Post by bison137 on Feb 10, 2022 13:46:52 GMT -5
Does Birdsong do play-by-play on ESPN for Bison home games? Yes. The broadcasts are significantly better since they have added Terry Conrad as his color analyst. Terry was a long-time Flannery assistant and a very successful D3 coach at Lycoming, before an ill-fated stint at Bloomsburg where he was sabotaged by his assistant. Terry knows basketball very well and adds a lot to the broadcast. It limits how much Birdsong talks and keeps him somewhat under control.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 10, 2022 13:03:51 GMT -5
Hmm, interesting. But with covid restrictions of varying degrees, is a home court advantage a very big thing right now? The real advantage, IMHO, is that the other team has to travel oftentimes many hours. It isn't so much a packed arena of screaming fans. (Cue the PL "haters" who say that almost never happens anyway during the best of times). Still, Ray, it is an interesting take on things in the PL. Thanks for sharing. Pomeroy has shown that there is a significant home court advantage even in the patriot league. I found the same thing years ago when I analyzed a couple of years of data. As you say, it is not the crowd, but rather a few other factors. The travel is a big issue, as is the familiarity with the court and the shooting background.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 8, 2022 14:41:55 GMT -5
The “guy” that replaced Willard, whose name you should know since he is one of the better known coaches in America, had a huge advantage that Willard did not have. Specifically just after Willard was fired, Pitt finally finalized plans to build their long overdue new arena to replace the small and very outdated gym that they were playing in. That new arena, the Peterson Events Center, opened in 2002. It made a huge difference in Pitt’s ability to recruit. And a huge difference in the results achieved by Howland and then Jamie Dixon. Howland left after the 2002-2003 season...he coached in that new building for one season as it opened on April 27th, 2002. Howland was the national coach of the year in 2001-2002. But go on about the arena being the difference. Willard was the only coach in Pitt's Big East hoops days to never make the NCAA Tournament even though he had highly rated recruiting classes including NBA first round pick Verteego Cummings and NBA player Mark Blount. According to both Howland and Ralph Willard, once Pitt announced plans for the new arena and had its groundbreaking, it immediately made recruiting MUCH easier. It's kind of silly to list Blount. To begin, he was not highly regarded out of HS. Tall but not very skilled. He stayed at Pitt for two years and in his BEST season he averaged 9 ppg and 4 rpg. After he left Pitt, it took him four more years to make the NBA.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 8, 2022 13:31:53 GMT -5
Note that the only mention about RW from our resident "lemon-sucker" was Pitt. No mention at all in his post and record at Western Kentucky to make the result negative toward HC and clearly slanted. Good coaches do struggle at places. The guy that replaced Willard lasted four seasons there with Sweet 16 appearances in his final two seasons...🤷♂️ The “guy” that replaced Willard, whose name you should know since he is one of the better known coaches in America, had a huge advantage that Willard did not have. Specifically just after Willard was fired, Pitt finally finalized plans to build their long overdue new arena to replace the small and very outdated gym that they were playing in. That new arena, the Peterson Events Center, opened in 2002. It made a huge difference in Pitt’s ability to recruit. And a huge difference in the results achieved by Howland and then Jamie Dixon.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 8, 2022 13:04:12 GMT -5
I thought that in basketball if you played a single minute you lost the ability to redshirt. As did I. which is why I think the idea of saving his eligibility for some future school (like some speculate HC did for Sandy) is unlikely it’s not only unlikely, but it is impossible. Once he played a minute of one game, he had burned a year of eligibility.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 8, 2022 11:31:24 GMT -5
If you're in a tight game and a player needs more seasoning, I totally agree with the DNP-CD. If you're getting blown out, give the kids on the end of the bench a chance. No one cares if you lose by 25 or 40. I think any comparisons to Ciaran Sandy is a poor analogy. Sandy played in zero games. Lewis has played about 40 minutes over 6 games. He's not hurt so there's no medical redshirt. Is there some number of games you are allowed to play in and still maintain eligibility without a medical reason? Unless there is something medical going on, no reason not to use Lewis some even if he is biding his time for a move. Unlike Sandy, Coach Nelson recruited Lewis. He thought enough of this kid to go out and recruit him. I would want a darn good reason to expedite his way out the door. Maybe Coach Nelson has changes his approach on transfers. Two years ago, two players let him know before the season was over that they would be entering the portal. They disappeared from the team. Taking the fact that Lewis sits on the bench during blowouts in a poor season and inferring that Lewis is waiting to leave is a pretty big logical leap. It might be true, but it's not the first conclusion I would jump to I thought that in basketball if you played a single minute you lost the ability to redshirt. that is correct. Except, of course, for the scenario of an early season-ending injury.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 7, 2022 20:07:51 GMT -5
Did HC ever look to recruit Records considering he came from right down the road in Rhode Island? IMO he is the difference in the game - when HC tries to double team him he just kicks it out for a open 3 Almost no one recruited Records. His only D1 offers came in March/April of his senior year - from Colgate and Binghamton. Was ranked #75 in New England by NERR, and was listed at that time as 6-7. Colgate's roster now lists him at 6-10.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 4, 2022 14:54:55 GMT -5
Fascinating article. Katherine Clifford was a track athlete at HC. I assume Sacred Heart HS is now long gone. Jack McCarthy who played Freshman basketball at HC went to another small Catholic HS in Newton that I presume is also long gone. The writer brought out how gender equality expectations have progressed. The thinking behind six on six basketball must have been that girls shouldn't be running the full length of the court, that it wasn't lady like or something. That version of girls basketball was incredibly popular in Iowa and that state resisted changing to five on five for quite a while Yes. And in Iowa the girls game drew far bigger crowds than did the boys when it came to the state tournament. But a lawsuit forced the state to begin offering the five on five game around 1985 and eventually six on six disappeared. One interesting statistic is that in 1970, 20% of all the girls in the country participating in sports were residents of Iowa. One other related item is that New Jersey had their own version of 6v6 where there were two offensive players, two defensive players, and two players who could play both offense and defense.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 4, 2022 11:22:11 GMT -5
Canada did the same with their WCQ games... Yes, but Canada does not have any moderate weather options in the winter, the US does. I saw where someone said that this is payback for having to play in Central America in the heat of the summer but that is something that is out of those nations' control. Perhaps payback for Central American countries having security look the other way as opposing players are pelted with objects, including bags of urine. Most countries choose locations for World Cup qualifiers that give them the biggest advantage. Some countries in South America opt for locations that are greater than 8000 feet in elevation. By the way, Canada set up the field for the US game so as to be narrower than world class fields normally are. Thought it would give them an advantage. It was five yards narrower than my local high school field.
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Post by bison137 on Feb 2, 2022 10:49:02 GMT -5
ESPN+ schedule shows HC- Providence game being broadcast.
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Post by bison137 on Jan 31, 2022 20:12:49 GMT -5
Interesting to see a BU player hold the ball as the sides across the floor...no travel call. Luckily he lost the ball out of bounds. I didn't see that play, but sliding on the floor is often legal under NCAA rules. Just can't roll over or get back to one's feet again.
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Post by bison137 on Jan 31, 2022 17:31:15 GMT -5
The whole sorry spectacle smacks of Berlin '36. Maybe more like Garmisch-Partenkirchen '36. (The Nazis hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics that year.) Wonder if any woke athletes or brave 'journalists' will ask to tour the concentration camps this Olympics. Or speak up for Hong Kong and Taiwan. (On another note, the idea of Greece as a permanent Summer host and Norway as a permanent Winter host would make some sense.) Yes, very similar to Berlin 1936. Said that the world allows it to go on as business as usual.
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