I'm suggesting a separate thread for BB news about other MAAC teams as opposed to the rest of college basketball. Guy, if you disagree, feel free to delete this post. But here we can post/vent about the rest of the League. But after one, two or three games, I've come away with the following opinions. In no particular order: *Zach Hearst (Quinny) has gotten off to a great start, and based on a much too small sample, looks like a POY candidate. And Quinnipiac's big man looks like the MAAC's top rebounder. As a team you have to say that the Bobcats will contend for the regular season title. On the down side they lost a close game, last night to a decent A10 team, LaSalle, and despite having an arena that I wish we had, only 1300+ fans attended. Not good. *Canisius has gotten off to a nice start, with Lewis, Valenti and "Heath the lesser" their only players that I'm familiar with. Shows the value of a good coach like Jim Baron. *SPU, a tough start against their typical soft OOC schedule. One very good player (Dominguez Sp?) just not enough. Poor John Dunne looks like he'll be staying in Jersey City for awhile. *Manhattan looks like the best team so far, with Andujar (Iona killer) and a much improved Pankey leading the way. Since I've never seen him play, Lawrence is a mystery to me. In the regular season I see them as our biggest competition. *I'm not sleeping on Siena. Their biggest problem is having so many fans who just over estimate the team and then jump ship at the first sign of trouble. Their coach doesn't help, with his constant substitutions during a game. Doesn't give his guys a chance to get comfortable on the court. Off court stories about Poole indicate that they might have issues there, but who knows. Problem for the Saints is that guys like Tony and Soup make like they know and post their opinions as facts. Hopefully, the team doesn't read their board. There is talent on the team with seven-eight guys who can play and if given a chance should improve as the season goes on. *FF, Marist, Monmouth, Niagara haven't done anything that has caught my attention, though the Purple Eagles look like the team most devoid of talent. And Marist does have two VG players, so if anyone else steps up so may the team. *Only game tonight is Siena at St. Bonnaventure, snow permitting. If Siena wins a road game, where wins are tough to come by, the "delusionals" will be back on board. If not more JP bashing.
Sharkey, Siena might have made the Bonnies look bad, so we'll have to see how SBU does in their next couple of games. One thing we do know, it's tough to win on the road, and the Saints were under a lot of pressure to not start, 0-3. Probably about a half dozen Saints' fans lives were on the line. MTS, for one, threatened to eat himself to death if they lost.
Siena losing OOC games does not help us in any way and only hurts the conferences rankings. With that said, both the bonnies and Siena looked like crap. The bonnies have their troubles right now. Ndoye played like crap, their guards are inexperienced and not very aggressive in getting to the hoop, freshman PF Denzel Gregg (former Iona recruit) is suspended for six games due to a violation of team rules (rumored to be a failed drug test)... they might get better but right now they are a mess. The refs were horrible and made some really bad calls on the bonnies
At least Siena held off the late charge and closed out the game. Siena has a lot of question marks that need to be answered (outside shooting sucks with the exception of Poole and Oliver, Cole is struggling to find a role, losing Silas is hurting them on interior defense, Wolfe is rumored to be transferring, White might be following Wolfe back home, Patsos will not give Hymes time unless everyone else is fouled out, etc...) but I think they will improve once Bisping gets back to 100%. Siena has a cupcake OOC schedule and they will have to win most of the games or they will kill our RPI. The conference needs wins.. lets hope that Siena figures out their issues and that this game helps them to turn the corner and grab more OOC wins. That way we can beat their asses and crush their fans little hopes during conference play.
Siena beat a absolutely terrible St. Bonnie last night...Siena fans are celebrating it as a great win and puts them once again among MAAC favorite...In truth St. Bonny was picked 10th in league pre-season and have a complete rebuilding job ahead ...
A must read on Siena board...Their absolute juvenile rant against their own cheerleads...A perfect study for a psych study class...
Post by ghostofwillard on Nov 20, 2014 11:11:53 GMT -5
Long standing theory of this league (and most of college basketball) that you need guard play is going to be tested this year. In the MAAC I like Iona's guard best, but IMO Siena is a little stronger up front, and Manhattan has a large advantage there. But iona dominates both in the backcourt, going to be interesting.
Long standing theory of this league (and most of college basketball) that you need guard play is going to be tested this year. In the MAAC I like Iona's guard best, but IMO Siena is a little stronger up front, and Manhattan has a large advantage there. But iona dominates both in the backcourt, going to be interesting. [/quote]
Ghost......We have All MAAC'S best center, and another All MAAC player up front and promise at the four...Would you trade them with Siena?...To state that Manhattan has a ''large'' advantage there is hard to understand...As for guard play...We have the best player in the MAAC, and a very, very promising point guard...
IMO....Manhattan will be one of the major competitions, but that Siena is a bluff that already has started to be exposed...
]OT, who on Iona is the MAAC's best center, or maybe I'm not reading your post accurately?[/quote]
Laury...........Admittedly unorthodox in play, but he is our Center...Where ever you may want to place him, he is the MAAC's best and most valuable front court player... Without him Iona is just another MAAC team fighting for position...His true value will be realized when he is gone next year...
A real surprise...Even though game played in Conn. area, Fairfield is only a 3 1/2 point dog to Wofford Friday.........As to our game, latest I can find we are a early 2 point dog to Wake.....A quick assessment...Our speed, outside shooting and pressure against their Height.....
Post by ghostofwillard on Nov 20, 2014 21:18:43 GMT -5
Ok, we differ in opinion here I wouldn't consider Laury a center, I think he's the best offensive big man in the MAAC, but while he's Iona's best rebounder, i don't he's the MAAC's best rebounder. Also because so much is asked of him on the offensive end, I wouldn't consider him as a top interior defender in the MAAC either. Just my take, but despite the presence of Laury and Williams up front, I still think Iona is vulnerable there.
How would you like to be a SPU fan? Is their season over already? Or can they pin their hopes on the fact that they played w/o Desi Washington? At least I think they did. But losing AT HOME to a team picked to finish last (or close to last) in the League is devastating. Will their home attendance go from tripe figures to double figures? As an original MAAC school, I always root for them when they're not playing the Gaels. And over the years they have dealt us a lot of crushing defeats in the MAAC tournament, but you feel for them, as they get minimal student and school support.
MAAC went 3-1, last night, with only FF losing. Rider and Monmouth are doing better than expected, at least by me. While the opposition may be weak, all the wins look like line drives in the box score. Assuming that SPU turns their season around, and that might be a dangerous thing to do, I'd say that FF and Niagara and FF will duke it out for last place. FF has a BB legacy, but the Admin seems to be sending a message that they are downgrading their program, just like Loyola. And speaking of Loyola, how happy is Mad/MAAC (??) Dog with their move to the Patriott Conference?
ic59..the story of the night in the maac was the Iona win over an acc team on the road....last night was a very good win...im heading to the hoops tourney at Mohegan sun today --Manhattan in first game (I'll wear my IONA attire)