McCaffrey’s Musings:
By -Tim McCaffrey
Men’s and Women’s Rankings……and not much else!!
Men’s Turbulent 13 (movement from last week after current record)
#13) Post (3-5) ⬇5
#12) Bloomfield (4-3) NR
#11) Jefferson (5-3) NR
#10) Saint Michael’s (6-3) ⬇1
#9) Bridgeport (4-3 ) ⬇3
#8) Southern New Hampshire (4-4) ⬇1
#7) Franklin Pierce (4-3) ⬆ 4
#6) Saint Anselm (5-3) ⬆ 4
#5) Pace (6-2) ⬇1
#4) New Haven (4-2) ⬆1
#3) Saint Thomas Aquinas (7-1) ⬇1
#2) Dominican (7-1) ⬆1 *
#1) Bentley (6-1) ↔
OUT: #12 Daemen, #13 Holy Family, Jean Shorts, #14 Felician.
* Dominican is 8-1 overall, but the win against Cheyney isn’t an NCAA D2 win.
Teams that fell out combined to go 0-6 with only one of those losses to a team with a winning record. Yikes! Colleges are trying to drop out of the rankings at record pace!! Post and its awkward color scheme (new nickname?!) have played a hellacious early-season slate and it actually gets harder with an upcoming trip to Mike Donnelly’s 7-1 Florida Southern. The former Eagle Coach welcomes the school where his college head coaching career started in 2003. The Moc’s only loss came to Barry, which Post will also play at the FSC Tournament. Not to mention the Eagles take a trip to Southern New Hampshire and have already played teams #1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 above. Marc Kuntz and his group will be prepared for anyone come March, but can they win enough games? It really is a shame Dominican and Saint Thomas Aquinas don’t play AT LEAST once every year in the regular season. Depending on your point of view there is either a lot of parity or mediocrity in the region. If you’re new to the region, welcome to the NE 10 where anyone can win on any day.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Tues. 5:30 #1 Bentley @ #5 Pace: These two teams met in the Second Round of the NCAAs a season ago and it was a rock fight that went to overtime with the Falcons getting the hand-raise. There is no reason to think this should be a fantastic game with two groups poised to return to the dance!
Women’s Best 13:
#13) Holy Family (5-4) NR
#12) Post (6-3) ⬇7
#11) Dominican (5-4) NR
#10) Saint Thomas Aquinas (6-2) ⬇4
#9) Southern New Hampshire (4-2) ⬆4
#8) New Haven (4-2) ⬆3
#7) Saint Rose (5-2) ⬆2
#6) Southern Connecticut (5-2) ⬆1
#5) Le Moyne (5-2) ⬆3
#4) Jefferson (7-1) ↔
#3) Bentley (5-2) ↔
#2) Daemen (6-0) ↔
#1) Assumption (7-0) ↔
OUT: #10 Chestnut Hill, #12 Adelphi, Shopping at Malls, #14 Georgian Court
The women’s side is much less jumbled as teams are beginning to separate themselves from one another. Daemen visits STAC Friday and the Musings is fairly certain the Wildcats remember the Spartans coming into town last year and shocking the ‘Cats. The ECC will be Daemen’s to lose if it wins in Rockland County.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Sun. 1:30 #5 Le Moyne @ #1 Assumption: If you’re sick of football on Sundays then why not check out Worcester for a very intriguing contest between two of the region’s finest teams! The Greyhounds haven’t had a winning season since 2017 when they last made the NCAAs. Kerry Phayre’s group are not only winning, but they are decimating opponents by an average of over 24 points a contest. The only question is if the 10-day layoff in between tilts will bother the undefeated squad.
Until next time…
A gentle reminder that for continued free musings: https://www.patreon.com/D2easthoops