Interesting how much the MAAC Hoops Breakdown matches up with Fairfield Frank’s tweet which was posted over two hours earlier.
Love the tier posting from Fairfield Frank. One thing it does seem to suggest is that, at least at this time, there are absolutely no super teams in the league, and for that reason the Stags may indeed have a chance to do some real damage if they can just get Yetna to join Seck in the lineup plus of course keep everyone else relatively injury free as the season plays out. Also of interest to me is the pictures of former MAAC coaches McCaffery and Patsos, something that serves to remind us of some of the characters who used to roam the sidelines of league games on a nightly basis. The former BTW once again blew his fuse in a contest this weekend and got thrown out for what must be a multitude of times over his time coaching Iowa. But in thinking about those two plus some others like say Pitino, Masiello and even back to Gonzalez, in some perverse ways I miss seeing these type of guys come in as part of the enemy. They usually managed to rile up the fans, that's for sure.
Also of interest to me is the pictures of former MAAC coaches McCaffery and Patsos, something that serves to remind us of some of the characters who used to roam the sidelines of league games on a nightly basis. The former BTW once again blew his fuse in a contest this weekend and got thrown out for what must be a multitude of times over his time coaching Iowa. But in thinking about those two plus some others like say Pitino, Masiello and even back to Gonzalez, in some perverse ways I miss seeing these type of guys come in as part of the enemy. They usually managed to rile up the fans, that's for sure.
There have been a lot of guys that roamed the sidelines that fans loved to hate. You named most of them. The MAAC right now lacks such personalities, although I think Latina and Anderson may have a shot of breaking into that group.
Three MAAC teams in the major madness small conference top 25. Reassuring to know I’m not the only one who likes to shorten Quinnipiac, however I do know the correct way to spell Canisius.
There was a bit of talk in Boston, the other day, about Jaylen Brown and assists. Over a two-game span, he had zero. Does that make him a selfish player? 1) two-game sample size 2) for his career he is something like 3.3 APG and he is right on that pace in 2023-2024 3) is assists really even a "good" stat?
The Celtics' coach was talking about this and says he prefers a stat that is something like "scoring chances created" - which narrows the focus more on the player passing the ball vs. the skill of the shooter they pass to. Of course, it's not perfect, but probably a better indicator of a player's efforts at sharing the ball. This crossed my mind in the Iona game, when Floyd didn't have a great A:TO game, but I actually thought he was typically effective passing the ball... to my eyes, his stats (and the Stags' score) suffered more from some sloppy pass-catching and poor shooting results.
There was a bit of talk in Boston, the other day, about Jaylen Brown and assists. Over a two-game span, he had zero. Does that make him a selfish player? 1) two-game sample size 2) for his career he is something like 3.3 APG and he is right on that pace in 2023-2024 3) is assists really even a "good" stat?
The Celtics' coach was talking about this and says he prefers a stat that is something like "scoring chances created" - which narrows the focus more on the player passing the ball vs. the skill of the shooter they pass to. Of course, it's not perfect, but probably a better indicator of a player's efforts at sharing the ball. This crossed my mind in the Iona game, when Floyd didn't have a great A:TO game, but I actually thought he was typically effective passing the ball... to my eyes, his stats (and the Stags' score) suffered more from some sloppy pass-catching and poor shooting results.
I think the assist stat does have limitations, particularly when evaluating a guard that plays on a team with poor shooters. Last year in particular there were a lot of lost assists when we had players missing some wide open shots. We had a game this year where a player missed two bunnies dished to them by Floyd. Instead of a 6 assist game that's a 4 assist game. That's not really a measure of Floyd's effort.
I still think assists is a meaningful stat but a point guard who is surrounding by strong offensive players is going to have better assist numbers because of this.
Haven’t paid much attention to URI after they beat us but was surprised Pomeroy has them below us in his rankings. The Rams are on a 5 game losing streak, with the most recent loss on December 21st — losing at home to New Hampshire 81-71. Wonder if our result against URI would have been different if Fields and Leach were healthy.
Was surprised that Quinnipiac wasn’t on the list. Checked Pomeroy this morning and see Quinnipiac at 239 and Merrimack at 240. Don’t know if Rhody Vault forgot QU is in New England or if the results from the MTE in Hawaii yesterday somehow moved QU up 12 places in Pomeroy’s rankings since the tweet was created before the games were played In Hawaii.
This weekend’s MAAC men’s basketball schedule is on the right side, the women’s weekend schedule is on the left. The Marist men don’t have a game before they face us on Sunday.
Federman grades each MAAC team before the start of only conference games the rest of the season. He doesn’t think Durugordon solves Siena’s major problems but I’ve seen too many things happen in MAAC games through the years, not to expect the unexpected in a MAAC men’s basketball game.
Quinnipiac’s Savion Lewis had 18 assists last night in QU’s win over Rider. From realgm, that is the 2nd highest single game assist total in D1 this season. But this is where the absurdity of counting statistics against non-D1 teams confuses things. The single game high for assists this season is 19, set by Drew Thelwell of Morehead State. He got those assists in a game against NAIA Alice Lloyd. Somehow that achievement is listed as superior to Lewis’ 18 assists against Rider.
Quinnipiac’s Savion Lewis had 18 assists last night in QU’s win over Rider. From realgm, that is the 2nd highest single game assist total in D1 this season. But this is where the absurdity of counting statistics against non-D1 teams confuses things. The single game high for assists this season is 19, set by Drew Thelwell of Morehead State. He got those assists in a game against NAIA Alice Lloyd. Somehow that achievement is listed as superior to Lewis’ 18 assists against Rider.