PSAC EAST

[Ship69]

Coaches' Poll (Men's)


1. East Stroudsburg (7)
2. West Chester (1)
3. Millersville
4. Shepherd
5. Lock Haven (1)
6. Kutztown
7. Shippensburg
8. Mansfield
9. Bloomsburg

Not a lot of surprises in that listing. ESU pick makes sense, and Ship is obviously getting panned for the subpar season last year. The Raiders will have a of newcomers, but I believe the talent level is higher than last year, and I wouldn't be shocked to see them finish a slot or two higher than seventh. A lot depends on the transfers others have brought in.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Not a lot of surprises in that listing. ESU pick makes sense, and Ship is obviously getting panned for the subpar season last year. The Raiders will have a of newcomers, but I believe the talent level is higher than last year, and I wouldn't be shocked to see them finish a slot or two higher than seventh. A lot depends on the transfers others have brought in.

These polls were butchered last year. Nobody knows much of anything at this point. There's a few known commodities but that's about it. Until this portal culture changes this will likely be the norm year to year.

There are players about to become stars in this league that nobody has even heard of yet.

[WarriorVoice]

These polls were butchered last year. Nobody knows much of anything at this point. There's a few known commodities but that's about it. Until this portal culture changes this will likely be the norm year to year.

There are players about to become stars in this league that nobody has even heard of yet.

That's not so unusual in hoops. Many Freshmen make immediate impacts on their teams.

[Ship69]

These polls were butchered last year. Nobody knows much of anything at this point. There's a few known commodities but that's about it. Until this portal culture changes this will likely be the norm year to year.

There are players about to become stars in this league that nobody has even heard of yet.

It might be butchered, but I think ESU, given the quality of what they have returning, plus Wilson's track record, would be the clear favorite at this point, and the poll reflects that. I wouldn't be surprised if the teams picked 2-5 finished in just about any order within that group. They've all lost some studs, so they'll be very dependent on the quality of transfers. Ship should be more talented, but it's hard to imagine a team with seven freshmen and a couple of transfers being contenders right off the bat. Bloom will similarly be depending on newcomers, and Mansfield usually loses its best players to the portal on a regular basis.

[TheBigCat2192]

Coaches' Poll (Men's)


1. East Stroudsburg (7)
2. West Chester (1)
3. Millersville
4. Shepherd
5. Lock Haven (1)
6. Kutztown
7. Shippensburg
8. Mansfield
9. Bloomsburg

Not surprised ESU ended up first but I’m a little surprised Millersville ended up behind WCU and didn’t grab a single 1st place vote. Not the most experienced team but they’ve got one accomplished guy coming back in Stover, an experienced returner in Ested, and two fairly accomplished D2 transfers in Saraj from Mansfield and that guy from St. Rose (can’t shoot a lick but talented passer). That’s not deep but it’s not nothing either.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

That's not so unusual in hoops. Many Freshmen make immediate impacts on their teams.

No doubt. And, most coaches won't talk about transfers in preseason discussions.

Lombardi always says he's not going to spend time talking about a player who hasn't made his first layup yet for the program.

[Ship69]

Not surprised ESU ended up first but I’m a little surprised Millersville ended up behind WCU and didn’t grab a single 1st place vote. Not the most experienced team but they’ve got one accomplished guy coming back in Stover, an experienced returner in Ested, and two fairly accomplished D2 transfers in Saraj from Mansfield and that guy from St. Rose (can’t shoot a lick but talented passer). That’s not deep but it’s not nothing either.

Just for the fun of it, I checked out the eligibility status for players on each team in the East this week. I didn't worry about whether they were redshirts or not, just eligibility status. Here's how it came out:

Lock Haven — Five freshmen, no sophs, five juniors, four seniors and one grad student

West Chester — Two freshmen, four sophs, six juniors, four seniors

Bloomsburg — Five freshmen, two sophs, six juniors, four seniors, one grad student

Mansfield — Two freshmen, two sophs, six juniors, no seniors, three grad students

Shippensburg — Seven freshmen, one soph, six juniors, no seniors or grads

Shepherd — Three freshmen, three sophs, three juniors, two seniors, three grad students

Kutztown — Two freshmen, seven sophs, five juniors, one senior

East Stroudsburg — Five freshmen, four sophs, three juniors, three seniors

Millersville — Five freshmen, one soph, five junors, two seniors, two grad students

Of interest to me are the number of players who didn't start out at their current school. As far as I could determine from combing through the rosters (and I might have missed a couple), the figures for that are: Millersville and Bloomsburg, 8 each; West Chester and Mansfield, six each; Kutztown and Shippensburg, four each; Lock Haven and Shepherd, three each; East Stroudsburg, two.

Stitzel at Millersville is the current king of the transfer in the Eastern Division, and you're right in that they could be a strong contender in the division. A lot of the transfers have extensive playing experience, and you can't dismiss a team with nine players at junior level or higher. Bess at Bloomsburg is showing an incredible 18 players on the current roster and is bringing in a lot of guys to see if he can snap them out of the doldrums up there.

West Chester usually has some turnover, and Mansfield often needs guys to replace portal losses. Interesting that Mansfield with six juniors and three grads will not be a particularly young team.
Ship got caught with an unbalanced roster last season and had four transfer out, an unusual number in the Chris Fite era. Replacements have been brought in, but they'll need the junior cohort and talented soph Markus Frank to step it up with seven frosh on the rosster.

Lock Haven has made good use of transfers recently, and there are quite a few upperclassmen on their roster. Shepherd goes either way. Wilson will take transfers, but usually seems to like building players to adjust to his system.

You can see the effects of the portal in the unbalanced nature of some of the rosters. Some have no seniors, some have few juniors or sophs, etc.

The East is always a slog, and this could be an interesting year to watch. Coaches such as Driscoll, Wilson, Blair, Fite, Stitzel, and Nestor have been prowling the sidelines for quite a while now, and the rivalries are there.

[TheBigCat2192]

Hard to believe we’re already there but BU opens their season (okay, not really) tomorrow with a scrimmage against King’s College. I’m a little surprised that more of our teams don’t schedule these kinds of games as regular season non-conference especially given I’ve seen BU and others play a number of the PSU branch campuses who are also D3.

[Ship69]

Hard to believe we’re already there but BU opens their season (okay, not really) tomorrow with a scrimmage against King’s College. I’m a little surprised that more of our teams don’t schedule these kinds of games as regular season non-conference especially given I’ve seen BU and others play a number of the PSU branch campuses who are also D3.

I believe Ship has a game with Wilson, a D3 school located 11 miles down U.S. 11 from us, in December, and we're also playing Cheyney, so we have a couple of these games on the schedule. There really aren't a lot of D2 caliber schools, other than the ones we already play, in our area.

[TheBigCat2192]

I believe Ship has a game with Wilson, a D3 school located 11 miles down U.S. 11 from us, in December, and we're also playing Cheyney, so we have a couple of these games on the schedule. There really aren't a lot of D2 caliber schools, other than the ones we already play, in our area.

I was looking at Cheyney’s schedule the other day (was discussing whether or not they still played sports with someone). Quite the eclectic mix of opponents: D2, D3, NJCAA, and I believe even a USCAA school in the Newport News shipbuilding technical school.

[jrshooter]

Ship got caught with an unbalanced roster last season and had four transfer out, an unusual number in the Chris Fite era. Replacements have been brought in, but they'll need the junior cohort and talented soph Markus Frank to step it up with seven frosh on the rosster.

I'm seeing Michael Dunn at Edinboro. Rather than four transferring out, though, I think three of them must have left college basketball. Most notably, I don't see Ty Crespo anywhere.

Fite brought in some legit talent from a Frederick High team that won a Maryland state title.

[Ship69]

I'm seeing Michael Dunn at Edinboro. Rather than four transferring out, though, I think three of them must have left college basketball. Most notably, I don't see Ty Crespo anywhere.

Fite brought in some legit talent from a Frederick High team that won a Maryland state title.

Crespo had supposedly left for Mansfield, but I don't see him on their roster. Whippen has transferred out to Texas somewhere and was on that roster last I looked. Andrew Recchia is listed on the roster at Flagler in Fla. Yeah, Dorsey from Frederick looks legit, and I think the Smith kid from Carlisle also has potential. That has the possibility of a good unit with Markus Frank there. How they'll do this year might depend on if the big transfer kid from IUP can give them a little extra in rebounding, Donovan Hill picking up his play, and the junior cohort that is the part of the team with the most experience needs to step up its game as well.

[jrshooter]

Not a great opener, although I didn't see much of it. 11-for-22 from the foul line. Frostburg with a 23-2 edge off turnovers. Only 8 points for Frank. And no sign of Dorsey; would he be redshirted?

Michael Dickson in the starting five with Martin, Conner, Frank, and Hill. Figueroa and Smith fast off the bench.

[TheBigCat2192]

The PSAC website’s basketball section seems to be staffed by a group of lazy volunteers rather than professionals.

1. Neither of Shepherd’s games have a score listed
2. Bloomsburg allegedly played themselves yesterday
3. Millersville and Point Park don’t have a tip-off time. The box simply says “all day”
4. Some opponents have links to their team sites but some don’t.
5. ESU is apparently playing a game at 4PM against Kutztown followed by another at 6PM against Cheney today.

On top of the minor tech issues BU started the season off by dropping two. Not surprised about losing to Fairmont State but I had some hope for them to beat WV Wesleyan. Might be in for another long season.

[Scrub]

The PSAC website’s basketball section seems to be staffed by a group of lazy volunteers rather than professionals.

1. Neither of Shepherd’s games have a score listed
2. Bloomsburg allegedly played themselves yesterday
3. Millersville and Point Park don’t have a tip-off time. The box simply says “all day”
4. Some opponents have links to their team sites but some don’t.
5. ESU is apparently playing a game at 4PM against Kutztown followed by another at 6PM against Cheney today.

On top of the minor tech issues BU started the season off by dropping two. Not surprised about losing to Fairmont State but I had some hope for them to beat WV Wesleyan. Might be in for another long season.

All I can say is thank God it's not just the MEC then. I thought it was just our site that was a mess (with Frostburg listed as having played Frostburg). [facepalm]