Monday 7 February 2011

Marauders land another blue-chip recruit; OUA West Playoff race

Adding to an already talent-laden recruiting class, McMaster Marauders have obtain a commitment from Oakville Loyola wing 6'2" Adam Presutti, an important recruiting target for numerous OUA & QUBL schools.  Presutti is regarded as a high basketball IQ wing who has range beyond the three point line, is very coachable and has strong upside for a very good career as a CIS player.  Presutti's father, Lorenzo, spent time in the Ryerson Rams program in the early 80's.  Adam joins 6'3" Joe Rocca (Sarnia St. Christopher's), 6'4" Aaron Redpath (Whitby Richardson) and 6'7" Brett Sanders (Saltfleet) in Mac's second consecutive top-end recruiting class.  Crown On-line Magazine has an excellent piece on Presutti's commitment.  The Marauders roster for next season is shaping up as one of the deepest and most talented in all of Canada for Head Coach Amos Connolly as this 4 player class joins this past season's class of 6'7" Taylor Black, 6'5" Satar Wahidi and 6'0" Kyle Giedraitis plus second-year transfer 5'11" Kenan Etale, plus likely returning vets 6'3" Victor Raso (will enter 3rd), 6'4" Scott Laws (will enter 4th), 6'6" Cam Michaud (will enter 4th), 6'2" Jordan Tew (will enter 3rd) and 6'8" Scott Brittain (will enter 5th). 

OUA West Playoff Possibilities:  Marauders are currently in a battle with several other teams for an OUA West playoff spot, a position that became much more closer to reality after Saturday's win in St. Catharines over Brock Badgers.  With 4 games remaining, Marauders are at 9-9 and tied with Western Mustangs for 4th spot in the West.  Both teams trail second/third place Windsor/Laurier by 3 full games so it is more likely that there is only one more spot available for a first round home playoff game.  McMaster hosts Western on Wednesday night in Hamilton and a Marauder win would put them in the driver's seat for fourth place as they would own the tie-breaker against Western (Mac won the first game 95-80) - although that race is far from over.  Waterloo appears to have the most difficult schedule with 3 road games including games at Windsor, at Western and at Mac - all 3 ahead of the Warriors in the standings - plus their Senior's Night home finale against cross-town rival Laurier Golden Hawks, in their own battle for first place/first round playoff bye.  Last place Guelph has 3 games at home but their biggest game of the last 4 could be next Wednesday night at Brock, a game in which they will need to win by at least 11 points to own the tie-breaker with the Badgers (Brock defeated Guelph 76-66 earlier in Guelph).  After Wednesday night's game in Hamilton against the Marauders, Western finishes with 3 home games including a pair against first-place Lakehead Thunderwolves on the final weekend of the season.  Brock has two difficult games in Thunder Bay this coming weekend against Lakehead but finishes at home against Guelph and Laurier.

McMaster 9-9  WESTERN, at Guelph, at Windsor, WATERLOO
Western 9-9 at McMaster, WATERLOO, LAKEHEAD (2)
Waterloo 8-10 at Windsor, at Western, LAURIER, at McMaster
Brock 8-10 at Lakehead (2), GUELPH, LAURIER
Guelph 7-11 LAURIER, MCMASTER, at Brock, WINDSOR.

Tie-breakers:
Waterloo over Brock
Guelph over Waterloo
Brock over Western
Western over Guelph
McMaster over Brock
Others still to be decided.

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