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+----- Thread: 2012 CIT CHAMPIONSHIP: Mercer 70, Utah State 67 ---FINAL (/thread-559334.html)
2012 CIT CHAMPIONSHIP: Mercer 70, Utah State 67 ---FINAL - MercerFan - 03-06-2012 10:12 PM
http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/Releases/20120306w2qy73
I'm sure the team would rather be in the NCAA's, but this is good outcome for a team that starts 4 sophomores. I'm proud of the Bears and it would be great to see them win a few postseason games. I'm really glad to see Mercer is a host site.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - etsuBucsFan1988 - 03-07-2012 04:57 PM
I know the CIT gets some ribbing, but anytime you can get your guys more playing time, fans more games to watch and matchups with schools you may never get to play, it's all good to me. Plus if you can keep those games at home even better.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - mubear - 03-08-2012 07:40 PM
Even better sign of how things have changed at Mercer. Our president is willing to pay $31,000 to ensure that we make the postseason and get our program extra exposure. It matters being able to tell recruits you played in the postseason. Even if you have to pay your way into it! Mercer needs a sell out to justify to professors and the academic side and stuff that it can break even.
Also on a previous thread we were comparing the 2002 team. They both made the semi's of conf tourney. It is amazing this team is 22-11, while the other team was 23-6. That is 31 regular season games versus 27 from 2002. I love these guys get more chances to put on the uniform. That years team got robbed of an NIT berth that year when UGA and GT both thought they were going dancing and got their bubble burst and the trickle down effect got us.
Not trying to stir anything up at all, but it is a valid question. If we keep expanding to more games and more postseason tourneys where so many teams make it(and we will if everyone keeps making money). Do we have to start evaluating team win records differently and put career point totals in different categories. Just something to discuss. I don't know my opinion yet. I'll get back to you. My initial reaction is that it seems a guy can be a mid-level player and if he averages about 7 or 8 points a game over his career, he will be an 1,000 point scorer. But he will play in 35-40 more games over his career than players in previous eras.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - ETSUfan1 - 03-11-2012 06:04 PM
Our AD made the decision to host every single game we could in the CIT last year. We lost in the semi's but if we had won, we would have hosted the championship. It was a ton of fun to play on last year. Good luck fellas.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - swvabucsfan - 03-12-2012 08:18 AM
(03-11-2012 06:04 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote: Our AD made the decision to host every single game we could in the CIT last year. We lost in the semi's but if we had won, we would have hosted the championship. It was a ton of fun to play on last year. Good luck fellas.
Good preparation for the future, too. 2 of our 3 CIT opponents are in the Big Dance this year: Ohio U. and Iona.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - MercerFan - 03-12-2012 07:22 PM
mubear... you make the good point that this year's squad played many additional games. Sadly they faltered in the semi-finals like the 02-03 team. This team starting 4 sophomores will still have time to grow in the coming year or two. Remember this year was supposed to be rebuilding towards next season. They overachieved and showed what the future may hold. No let's get a few CIT wins!!
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Round: Tennessee State @ Mercer - ETSUfan1 - 03-12-2012 11:32 PM
Tennessee State is pretty good. They are the only team to beat Murray State and almost did so twice.
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Round: Tennessee State @ Mercer - MercerFan - 03-13-2012 05:18 PM
It says http://www.collegeinsider.com/stream will have the game.
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - mubear - 03-13-2012 07:39 PM
Agree completely. It will be deemed a failure next year if they are not in 1st or 2nd again. The league will be weaker. ETSU will probably increase their talent level a little, but will prob just start getting pointed in the right direction. Kennesaw should get better but is still a cluster. Jacksonville came along at end, but still not as talented as their program has been. This group should have a great two year run. They seem together as well.
My point on the CIT price to ETSU fans, is that Mercer considers itself an academic school like the "Harvard of the South." While everyone on this board and fans of athletics, sees the benefit of paying for a home game and what it does for your university. Many of the acadamians at Mercer do not see it this way. A place like ETSU, that is used to having athletic traditions, sees the benefits of playing in this tourney. I am very glad our president is moving us in this direction, that many of the past Mercer administration did not see.
Lastly, record are made to be broken. And we aren't there yet, but I see a point in college basketball when 40 game seasons are the norm. This will be really different in how we judge teams against past teams which is part of the fun of cheering for a program.
(03-12-2012 07:22 PM)MercerFan Wrote: mubear... you make the good point that this year's squad played many additional games. Sadly they faltered in the semi-finals like the 02-03 team. This team starting 4 sophomores will still have time to grow in the coming year or two. Remember this year was supposed to be rebuilding towards next season. They overachieved and showed what the future may hold. No let's get a few CIT wins!!
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Round: Tennessee State @ Mercer - MercerFan - 03-13-2012 07:53 PM
I'm thrilled too about the new President/administration (and obviously donors/boosters) trying to get Mercer to the next level in athletics. It's going to be fun watching the next couple seasons at a minimum, plus football, and baseball is still great. For now though let's finish off TENN ST. and move on in the CIT!!
p.s. -- good point on comparing ETSU vs Mercer in terms of money. There really is a different mindset completely. I can't stand the idea of some Mercer academic employees not supporting athletics. It's frustrating, but part of the "game". We have the tools for future success. It's a good time to be a Mercer fan.
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Rnd: TSU 60, MU 68 ---FINAL (2nd Round this weekend TBD) - ETSUfan1 - 03-13-2012 08:11 PM
Congrats on your win!
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Rnd: TSU 60, MU 68 ---FINAL (2nd Round this weekend TBD) - MercerFan - 03-13-2012 10:56 PM
(03-13-2012 08:11 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote: Congrats on your win!
Thanks. Mercer is now going to host Georgia State in the 2nd round. Game time is Saturday at 4pm.
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Rnd: TSU 60, MU 68 ---FINAL (2nd Round Saturday GA State @ Mercer) - ETSUfan1 - 03-14-2012 10:41 AM
Wow, that has to be a big one for you guys. Good luck.
RE: 2012 CIT 1st Rnd: TSU 60, MU 68 ---FINAL (2nd Round Saturday GA State @ Mercer) - MercerFan - 03-14-2012 03:41 PM
versus former Atlantic Sun rival
RE: Mercer hosting CIT 1st Round game - swvabucsfan - 03-16-2012 07:28 AM
(03-13-2012 07:39 PM)mubear Wrote: Agree completely. It will be deemed a failure next year if they are not in 1st or 2nd again. The league will be weaker. ETSU will probably increase their talent level a little, but will prob just start getting pointed in the right direction. Kennesaw should get better but is still a cluster. Jacksonville came along at end, but still not as talented as their program has been. This group should have a great two year run. They seem together as well.
The only thing that makes the league weaker next year is the loss of Belmont, which is looking at a down year anyway with the loss of inside players Hedgepeth and Saunders with no good replacements coming in.
Young teams like FGCU, USCU, Mercer and UNF return almost all key players and should be significantly improved. The really bad teams: Kennesaw, Stetson and Lipscomb, should be no worse, and could also see some improvement. Jacksonville is iffy, but seemed to finally find a go-to scorer in Aloys Cabell. You can usually count on Cliff Warren to field the kind of scrappy team that they were at years end. ETSU is chaotic, with the loss of 3 seniors, the on campus robbery and the possibility of a coaching change to complicate recruiting. But we were only 11-9 in conference this year.
The league will be different - not looking up to Belmont or ETSU. But not weaker overall.
Congrats on your win - and to USCU in knocking off Kent State.
RE: 2012 CIT 3rd Round: Mercer vs. ODU/USC-U (TSU 60, MU 68 1stRnd; GSU 59, MU 64 2ndRnd) - MercerFan - 03-17-2012 05:14 PM
Georgia State 59
Mercer 64
FINAL -- CIT 2nd Round
BIG WIN TODAY FOR MERCER!!!!! New program record for wins (24) and counting. The quarterfinal game will be versus the winner of Old Dominion/USC-Upstate. Mercer led by 10 at the half, and by as much as 14 in the 2nd half against Georgia State. However, GSU came back and tied it late down the stretch with about 5 minutes left. Mercer withstood the GSU push and came right back to hold on for a tight win.
RE: 2012 CIT Quarterfinals: Mercer vs. ODU/USC-U (Georgia St 59, Mercer 64 2nd Round) - mubear - 03-18-2012 05:31 PM
Great Win!! Should help down line in recruiting too. Hope we get back to playing them again.
So wait, it won't be weaker. This was by far the most down this league has ever been, no matter how many teams have come and gone over the years. The league may have been weaker in the early 80's, maybe. And we lose the best team in the league, but we won't be weaker?? Somebody has to win the games and have a good record, it doesn't mean the talent level is high. Your an ETSU fan. Since you have been in the conference, your best players have gone to nice professional careers overseas, like many of the top players in the conference. Watch how many from this years teams end up playing overseas. Not near as many. How many guys on ETSU will this year?? The talent level has dropped significantly. Records won't. Now the competiveness will be high and we have some great young coaches on the rise. It will be a fun league to watch and follow still, especially as we have more like-minded schools and budgets. But I will argue that this year was weak and next year will be weaker for those that have followed the league for a while.
RE: 2012 CIT Quarterfinals: Mercer vs. ODU (Georgia St 59, Mercer 64 2nd Round) - MercerFan - 03-18-2012 08:50 PM
Going on the road to Old Dominion! Gonna be a tough environment, but this team has been road warriors this season.
RE: 2012 CIT Quarterfinals: Mercer vs. ODU/USC-U (Georgia St 59, Mercer 64 2nd Round) - swvabucsfan - 03-19-2012 09:08 AM
(03-18-2012 05:31 PM)mubear Wrote: Great Win!! Should help down line in recruiting too. Hope we get back to playing them again.
So wait, it won't be weaker. This was by far the most down this league has ever been, no matter how many teams have come and gone over the years. The league may have been weaker in the early 80's, maybe. And we lose the best team in the league, but we won't be weaker?? Somebody has to win the games and have a good record, it doesn't mean the talent level is high. Your an ETSU fan. Since you have been in the conference, your best players have gone to nice professional careers overseas, like many of the top players in the conference. Watch how many from this years teams end up playing overseas. Not near as many. How many guys on ETSU will this year?? The talent level has dropped significantly. Records won't. Now the competiveness will be high and we have some great young coaches on the rise. It will be a fun league to watch and follow still, especially as we have more like-minded schools and budgets. But I will argue that this year was weak and next year will be weaker for those that have followed the league for a while.
Let's make things simple for you: you claim that the league will be weaker next year. My response is that only the loss of Belmont significantly weakens the league. Most of the teams in the league should be better next year than this. Let's look at the facts.
I'll assume that you won't be so foolish as to claim that FGCU, USCU, Mercer and UNF, returning almost all key players, are likely to be weaker next year. That's 4 out of 10 teams.
Kennesaw, Stetson and Lipscomb set the bar low enough that they are also unlikely to be weaker next year. They were bad enough, that it should not be too hard to show some improvement next year. And Kennesaw has a pretty good looking list of 6 recruits, led by 6'7" Brandon Williams, ranked 88 by ESPN. Of the 3 teams, only Lipscomb loses a few important players. Those losses should be outweighed by the development of talented young recruits.
That's 7 out of 10 teams which are unlikely to be "weaker" next year.
That leaves Jacksonville and ETSU. Jacksonville started badly, but finished well. They lose a couple of rotation players, but seemed to have found a reliable scorer in Aloys Cabell by years end. Recruiting has also been good, led by Jarvis Haywood, another ESPN ranked 88. Only ETSU loses more talent than they have coming in, although there is highly rated bench talent (Lester Wilson, Rashawn Rembert and John Walton) that either redshirted or was little used. I'd bet on Jacksonville fielding a team that will do at least as well next year, and perhaps better. They are unlikely to be "weaker". ETSU has too many question marks to be a good bet. Analysts will definitely pick them to be weaker. But overall they were only mediocre this year.
Which brings me back to my point - the only thing which makes the league significantly weaker next year is the loss of Belmont, which won't be as good anyway with the graduation of both post players, Hedgepeth and Saunders, and point guard Drew Hanlen.
RE: 2012 CIT Quarterfinals: Mercer vs. ODU (Georgia St 59, Mercer 64 2nd Round) - HatterFan - 03-20-2012 11:37 AM
"Kennesaw, Stetson and Lipscomb set the bar low enough that they are also unlikely to be weaker next year. They were bad enough, that it should not be too hard to show some improvement next year."
That should be on the cover of their season ticket brochures next time.
2012-13 Stetson men's basketball - unlikely to be weaker! not too hard to show some improvement!