Concerning the league tournament, does the host team for the tournament, Millsaps this year, hire the refs, or does the league office pick the refs based on a consensus of the coaches in the league like the higher divisions? Does anybody know?

I would agree that Oglethorpe should be the pre-season No. 1 in the conference, based on their starting 5 returning, and possibly having the best player in the league. However, I would argue that Danny Noll at Centre is the best player in the league, and if Centre's freshmen come through, they will be an outstanding team. One should not look past DePauw as they loose only one starter, and I think they will be a better team without Moore. Millsaps has an excellent young team also. Many good teams in the league this year, Oglethorpe, Centre, De Pauw, Millsaps, Trinity, Southwestern, and Hendrix. There will be may upsets this year!

Centre will be fine at guard, although very young. Mullaney at 6-1, beefier and stronger, can play point or the 2 guard. Freshman Shover from Nesthide's high school and Smith are two young point guards. Smith reminds you of Moore and Brian Britt. Brian Ellis, a Freshman shooting guard, looks like a running back, which he was in high school. Also, one of the top 3 point shooters in Kentucky last year.

It's hard to believe, 9 days to Centre's first basketball practice. I watched a shoot around/pick up game of some of the players yesterday, and they were impressive. Very young, but one of Coach Mason's best recruiting classes. Veteran Danny Noll was awsome.

I am amazed at all of this animosity springing from a stupid decision to reduce the tournament from 8 teams to 4 teams. I have a solution. Since the Presidents apparently are overly concerned about the expense of having 8 teams go to the tournament, and have no concerns about flying around the country during the regular season, lets move the tournament to a location with easy access from any airport in the country, Las Vegas. We could get all of the rooms and food compted, and add an extra night for a slam dunk contest and a wet tee shirt contest. Of course, we could also serve beer and drinks at the games, which we would get a peace of the action, and since we're in Las Vegas, we could designate an official SCAC bookie to take bets on the games, and the conference could keep the juice.
This would solve our apparent financial crisis, and we would have a neutral site for the games, and get some great publicity, after all, money is more important than our children's education and intercollegiate athletic memories.

Centre wins 78-77, despite the Hendrix Board Of Trustees, otherwise known as the refs. Worst officiated game I have ever seen. Took 2 hours to play. Talk about home cooking, Hendrix must have the biggest diner in Arkansas.

I have just returned from the Centre game, and am still amazed. I have been watching Centre play for many years, and have also been a Kentucky season ticket holder for over 40 years, and Centre's first half against a good DePauw team was the finest college basketball both offense and defense that I have ever seen. With a little over 11 minutes to go in the first half, Centre led 22-0. Halftime score was 50-14. The second half was very physical and somewhat sloppy, and the refs went out of there way not to call fouls. It was as if they wanted the game to get over fast. Of course in D3 and this league, the same thing could happen to Centre next weekend. Congrats to the Centre girls who continue to get better every weekend, and were obviously inspired by the boys with their upset win over the nationally ranked DePauw girls.

Centre won tonight 78-72 against Maryville. The D3hoops score was reversed; the boxscore is correct. First half was ugly with both teams playing poorly. Senior Kris Bentley had a career high bushel of 3's in the second half to pull Centre ahead, 22 pts overall. Pre-season All-American Danny Noll was his consistent contributor with 23 pts. Centre has a tough game on Sunday at DePauw. Happy New Year to all, and to all a Good Night!!!

I was in Atlanta for a week over Christmas, and there were several reports on the local TV news about the dire financial condition of Oglethorpe. The report stated they may loose their "accreditation". Does anyone know more about this? I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come for small D3 schools in a bad economy.

Although the box score may not show, the Centre-Transy game was one of the best games I have watched in a long time. The score was within 3 or 4 most of the game either way with Transy having a 12 point lead at one time, and Centre being up by 9 at another time. Transy prevailed with experienced players and great 3 point shooting. They will go far in their league. Centre's great 6th man from last year, Chris Gowers, is injured, and when he returns they will be a better team. Their 6-8 Sophmore Alex Lloyd continues to improve as well as their highly recruited 6-1 Freshman guard, Jeff Mulaney. Other freshman are adapting to Coach Mason's system, and will help soon. They will be very good later in the season. Sounds like their coming game with Oglethorpe on Dec. 7 will be very tough.

Congratulations to Coach Greg Mason for South Region Coach of The Year,
and kudos to the SCAC players selected for South All Region; Edrick Montgomery and Lorenze Bailey of Millsaps, Mike Moore of DePauw, Andrew King of Hendrix, and Thomas Britt of Centre.

With the senior losses to Centre, Millsaps, DePauw, and Oglethorpe, the top four teams in the conference this year, I think there will be the most parity that I have seen in over 10 years. Problably, the favorites have to be Birmingham-Southern with all 5 starters back and great recruits to come,
in the East, and Trinity and Hendrix in the West. I don't think there will be a dominating team in the conference other than possibly Birmingham-Southern. In my part of the country, Centre and DePauw are after some fantastic players, "difference makers", and if they get them, they could surprise everyone next year!

Major Fan-I thought you response to the Maryville fan after Millsaps great win was rather gentlemanly and benign. I would have gloated more considering the comments that were made pre-game by not one but two Maryville fans. Perhaps they have academic envy for not being a member of the SCAC. Have a great game today, and may we meet in Salem.

Centre v. OWU tonight. Former assistant (Mason/Centre) and Head Coach(DeWitt/Centre/OWU) meet. OWU is a power team with length and breadth.
They look like a bunch of tight ends on the court. Centre will have their hands full with their front court game, and OWU will have to stop Nestide and Britt, and stay out of foul trouble doing it. Will be Centre's toughest opponent of the year. I hope I can get back to Danville. I have 10" of snow on the ground now, and its still a white-out!

Greg Mason,Centre's successful coach and SCAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year, hopefully will be playing the winner of the Heidelberg-Ohio Wesleyan game Saturday night. I am in hopes that the winner of that game will be Ohio Wesleyan, whose coach is Mike DeWitt, a wonderful guy and great coach, who was the Head Coach at Centre when Greg was an assistant. It would be a great match up for two old friends!