It's still a little early to know what player changes may be happening in the conference, but are there any thoughts on the long term implications of the recent changes?  We lost Jones and Howard at MC and HSU, and of course the second seat at McM has revolved again, but it seems that we have a lot of relatively new coaches. Schreiner, Sul Ross, TLU, & UTT are all  going into the year with 2nd (or 3rd) year coaches, and Davis @ LETU and Bonewitz @ CTX are going into their 4th and 5th years respectively. DeWeese is in year 9 (or 10) and his machine is now highly tuned.  Is the old guard finally falling by the wayside (i.e. McM terrible season, or is the game changing and it's time for new approaches and (relatively) youthful excitement and connections with the players.   We'll have six teams this year with less than 3 years in their current assigment.  It seems hard to believe that it won't effect the conference results this season.  These guys never put a point onthe board themselves, but they can sure have an effect on the mood of the team and the outcome of the game.  Thoughts?

Where the 42 successful shots allowed came from was your 83.6 points per 100 possessions.  Since you can't give up a single point it is only logical to assume the 83.6 points would come off of 42 shots made.  If that is correct that would imply that Burgart stops a shooter 58 times out of 100 times he is in the defensive position.  The blocked shots I would assume are included in the defensive rating.  I was simply trying to translate your numbers to a useful tool.  When I go to a baseball game and a player has a .321 average and has gone 0 for 3 so far in the game the odds are that his average will hold and he is very likely to get a hit at the 4th at bat.  As a rating tool your numbers work in comparing players, but I wanted to see if they would be a useful predicter of performance.

Okay, I'm looking at the defensive ratings and transferring from points to shots made.  Are you saying that 42% of the time an offensive player went up to make a shot against Burgart that the offensive player was successful?  (or 58% of the time Burgart put up a successful defense if you a glass half full versus half empty person)

Or that Trotter scored 64% of the time he got his hands on the call during a possession?  That wouldn't seem to jive with his .619 effective FG rating.  Maybe the adjustment for 3's balances this out.

From the perspective of a  father of a college athlete:  I understand very well the drive required for all of those involved in the game.  Player on player altercations will happen, coach to coach shouting matches  may happen, it's just part of the game, and we move on.  However a coach reverting to name calling of opposing players is beyond the pale and requires discipline from the school.  Failure to do so is support for the coahes' actions.

In Monday's game between LC and McM look for the boy's from Abilene change their ways and take the first game on this road trip, and I wouldn't count them out at MC.  My inside info says their will be a new face or two on the court... 

I'm hoping that the addition of height at the post will help us most on the boards, allowing more second chance points.  It would also be nice to see our tall guards have the opportunuity to pull back from the 4-5 and put the long ball back into the McM game plan.  I know the new kid's a freshman, so he'll certainly take some seasoning, but it could sure provide a different look.

So Ralph, did you get a chance to see our teams on Saturday night?  I see we've got a 7 footer in the line up, that's a big change for McM basketball.  Any thoughts?

Kudos to Ralph for the score posting site!   

As for the McM game tonight... It's difficult to tell which McM team is going to show up from game to game and even from one half to the other.  The inconsistency has to be driving Holmes to the edge.  They have some very talented players and appear to be able to play with the best when they fire on all cylinders, and then they play like they did the first half tonight.  I feel the FRUSTRATION.

Well I did say tell me if I'm all wet...  I didn't just assume that the NWC was weaker than the ASC, but it does seem to be a conference with little parity among it's members (at least that what my friends from the Pacific NW tell me).  So when a NWC team (in this case Whitworth) gets a quality win, it does make it difficult to tell if they are for real or just had the basketball Gods smiling down on them.  Of course the same could be said for UTD in their recent D-1 win.

With the size of the ASC, and the apparent parity among at least 3 and as many as 5 teams, it does seem unlikely (at least mathematically) for ASC teams to rack up the .850 winning averages that I see in many other conferences.  Maybe it will all balance out by the end of the season.  I'm somewhat new to the D-III world, but so far I've been impressed with the quality of the teams I have seen to date.

But seriously thanks to both Pat and Ralph for their comments,  I guess I need to go get a towel and dry off now.

To follow Nice Kid's comment, UTD must feel a little like Boise State today.  Granted they cracked the top 25, but to only hit 18 seems a little stingy on the voters behalf.  While you can say that UTD has not yet hit the tough teams in conference at this time, it doesn't really jive when you look at some of the other highly ranked teams.  Whitworth for example has had a pretty weak schedule, plays in a weak conference, but is much closer to the top.  Is it regional bias, lack of respect for the ASC, or something else?  This looks to be a very competitive race this year in the ASC, especially in the west, with several very good teams.  Unfortunately it looks like having a tough conference may not count for much in the rankings or tournament bids.  If I'm all wet, just say so, I can take it.

Any word on the McM - SHSU game?  I can't get it on streaming audio anywhere.

LeTourneau vs McMurry 

Correction McM wins 73 - 61

LeTourneau vs McMurry

McM wins 63-51

I see MCM beat Immaculata 75-61 tonight.

From those that were there... Were there any highlights from the new talent?

124 hours to Midnight Madness @ McM!!!!!  Any sneak peaks from the locals?