WBB: American Southwest Conference

[dballa]

It was an exciting game tonight in Brownwood.  MC had an 8 pt lead in the middle of the 2nd half but HPU held them to 2-16 shooting the rest of the way to pull out the victory. 

I do have to say though if the officiating is as bad the rest of the year as it was tonight, we're in for quite a few technicals and some very upset fans.  The officials were awful and one of them always does ASC games, mainly the ones between HPU and HSU. 

It should be fun this season like you said Ralph.

[JACKET84]

The refs were consistantly inconsistant.  That was the worse officiated game I've seen in a long time.  They had no idea the difference between a block and charge. 
   I must say that MC has a very very good team.  HPU, HSU & McMurry are very lucky they got to play MC at home this year.  MC would be 3 - 0 vs these teams if they had played in Mississippi.  They just missed too many shots, and crucial free throws.

[golden_dome]

The refs were consistantly inconsistant.  That was the worse officiated game I've seen in a long time.  They had no idea the difference between a block and charge. 
   I must say that MC has a very very good team.  HPU, HSU & McMurry are very lucky they got to play MC at home this year.  MC would be 3 - 0 vs these teams if they had played in Mississippi.  They just missed too many shots, and crucial free throws.

Thanks for the post. This is the best MC we've had in several years, just unfortunate timing with having to play the 3 conference powers all on the road. We were leading 53-46 with about eight minutes to go last night and scored 3 more points the rest of the game. Can't do that on the road against a team like HPU.

But we beat HSU on the road, and both the McMurry and HPU games came down to the wire as well. I thought beating HPU would probably put us in the Top 25, but maybe we can get in there at some point later.

The ASC Tournament will be very interesting this year, probably 6-7 teams at this point who could win it.

[Ralph Turner]

The refs were consistantly inconsistant.  That was the worse officiated game I've seen in a long time.  They had no idea the difference between a block and charge. 
   I must say that MC has a very very good team.  HPU, HSU & McMurry are very lucky they got to play MC at home this year.  MC would be 3 - 0 vs these teams if they had played in Mississippi.  They just missed too many shots, and crucial free throws.

Thanks for the post. This is the best MC we've had in several years, just unfortunate timing with having to play the 3 conference powers all on the road. We were leading 53-46 with about eight minutes to go last night and scored 3 more points the rest of the game. Can't do that on the road against a team like HPU.

But we beat HSU on the road, and both the McMurry and HPU games came down to the wire as well. I thought beating HPU would probably put us in the Top 25, but maybe we can get in there at some point later.

The ASC Tournament will be very interesting this year, probably 6-7 teams at this point who could win it.

And the critical thing for the conference is that our champion needs to go far in the tourney.

I think that Trinity may be good enough to earn a bid, too (either the SCAC's Pool A or Pool C).

[golden_dome]

Ralph,
   The only bad thing about having so many good teams this year is it will be very difficult to have a pool C team. I would not be surprised if everyone has at least three losses during the regular season. A fourth loss in the ASC Tournament might be too many for pool C consideration.

[Ron Boerger]

I think that Trinity may be good enough to earn a bid, too (either the SCAC's Pool A or Pool C).

Pool A?  Seems unlikely, they just haven't been the same since Coach Geyer left a few years ago.   Oglethorpe's the conference favorite and DePauw is always in the SCAC mix.    The TU ladies get #16 Southern Maine at home on the 30th and that should provide a good indication of what this team might do and how likely a pool C bid might be. 

[Ralph Turner]

Ron,

Thanks for the post.  We ASC fans never rule out Trinity. 

McUrry beat Peace (NC and USA South) 68-50.

Box Score  Plenty of minutes for the deep bench for LIB.  Good to see that happening.

Big game today when LIB plays Bates (Maine).  Bates made the NCAA's in 2005 and 2006 and have started 6-1 this season.  (I did not find a pre-season poll on the NESCAC web site.)

[Ralph Turner]

at HPU 74, Lacollege 67

[Ralph Turner]

I have posted these thoughts numerous times and most recently on the men's board.

It applies to the women as well.

The conference should decide to count only intra-division games in the standings.

To wit, the road trips are not equitable.

Mississippi College played McM, HSU, HPU and SRSU on the road.

UT-Tyler caught those 4 at home!

Those schedules are not comparable!

I propose that the conference continue to play the full inter-division schedule.  That is a common sentiment among the coaches and AD's of the "fringe" teams, those teams on the far geographical extremes of the conference.  The value of those games is that they will still be "in-region" games in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee. 

But, at the end of the season, the travel variances that arise in the single round-robin create too great a discrepancy when considering division championships!

Next season, please change the format for determining the division championships to counting only double round-robin intradivisional games!

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry is playing Bates (NESCAC) now.  I cannot find the Livestats on either school's or even on the sponsor's (SportTours.net) website.

This is a good game to win from a national perspective.  There are several good women's teams in New England, and a McMurry win would help the perception of the conference this season.

I will appreciate any updates.

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry 66, Bates 42

A nice win!!!

[Ralph Turner]

I asked Mark Simon tonight on Hoopsville to evaluate the wins the weekend versus Bates from the NESCAC (McMurry) and Babson from the NEWMAC (HSU).

He said that both teams were about 3rd in their conferences (both having 10 members.)

He thought that the two best conferences were the WIAC and the UAA.

The next group of four or five were the CCIW, the OAC, the SCAC and the ASC.

[Ralph Turner]

HSU 84, Babson 75 OT

Interesting box score.

HSU only went 6 deep.  Only six players had double digit minutes in an OT game, all having 20 or more minutes.  The others had 4, 5, 6, 6 and 7 minutes.

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry 66, Bates 42

McMurry gets a 16-2 run at the start of the second half (to 15:21 left) to break the game open.

45 turnovers.

Lots of players saw lots of minutes...definitely a different game than HSU's, but both are good for the conference! 

[golden_dome]

I asked Mark Simon tonight on Hoopsville to evaluate the wins the weekend versus Bates from the NESCAC (McMurry) and Babson from the NEWMAC (HSU).

He said that both teams were about 3rd in their conferences (both having 10 members.)

He thought that the two best conferences were the WIAC and the UAA.

The next group of four or five were the CCIW, the OAC, the SCAC and the ASC.

The McMurry/Bates score is interesting. They played #16 Southern Maine at home earlier this season and actually led midway through the second half before falling by ten. Bates won the NESCAC three years ago and I think they've finished third the last two years with a 15-10 record.

That is probably a pretty good breakdown of conferences from Mark. I think the ASC is 10-4 against the SCAC this year. Even though the matchups favored us, it is still impressive against a good league. I would like to see some of our women's teams matched up with the WIAC or UAA, because there aren't many conferences ahead of us IMO. This year is probably the deepest ever in the ASC. All eight teams in the ASC tournament will be solid.