MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[pbrooks3]

Big time match-up indeed.  Wish I could be there for this one, but will not make it.  Are either Frank or Major_Fan covering this one?

[Gus Sinski]

 Talk about mixed feelings. On one hand, Hendrix showed me more today in terms of intangibles than I think I've seen all year. Mere print doesn't fully communicate how well Oglethorpe shot the ball in the first half today. The Petrels were nailing shots from Little Rock, while none of Hendrix's players could get into an early rhythm. Andrew King looked out of sorts early, and Cal Rose had so many solid three-point attempts clang out of the basket that I wouldn't have held it against him had he opted to just leave the gym, go home and play video games.

The Warriors are to be commended for answering a rather loud bell and managing to take what I thought was a secure lead in the final two minutes. But victory always favors the team making the fewest mistakes, and Hendrix made a bushel in the final moments.

Folks, I can't stress this enough: Few things are more difficult than winning a Sunday road game in the SCAC, especially when it happens to be one of the longest road trips on your schedule. To say it's a "mental toughness" thing almost doesn't give it justice.

Oglethorpe coughed up a value meal-sized lead, yet managed to stage a mini-comeback in a gym they've never played in before. Lots of teams would have folded...I've seen better teams fold under lesser circumstances on Sunday.

But make no mistake: The Stormy Petrels had their grown man pants on today.

[Ron Boerger]

In San Antonio, BSC outscores Trinity 37-29 in the second half to post a 58-54 win.   The visitors were led by Aaron Parr's 16 (including 3-6 from beyond the arc) and 12 each from Daniel Hudson and Nathan West.  Patrick Robinson was the only Tiger to score in double figures with 12 (on 5-of-14 shooting).  Trinity outrebounded Birmingham-Southern 31-21 but shot only 43% to the visitors' 53%. 

[pbrooks3]

That's high percentage for any one to shoot against Trinity.  How many of the shots were made from the 3-point line?

[pbrooks3]

I echo Gus' post on SCAC road games. This weekend was a bear for Centre traveling 3,000+ miles, first playing Friday night at Austin and then Sunday afternoon at Colorado College. Regardless of the competition, that's some bigtime travel for D3 to play 2 games. Two weeks from now they get to make yet another lengthy pilgrimage to San Antonio/Georgetown

I am pleased we got 2 wins this weekend; but it wouldn't have surprised me if we'd lost one of them.

[Ralph Turner]

I echo Gus' post on SCAC road games. This weekend was a bear for Centre traveling 3,000+ miles, first playing Friday night at Austin and then Sunday afternoon at Colorado College. Regardless of the competition, that's some bigtime travel for D3 to play 2 games. Two weeks from now they get to make yet another lengthy pilgrimage to San Antonio/Georgetown

I am pleased we got 2 wins this weekend; but it wouldn't have surprised me if we'd lost one of them.

I need some help here.  How hard is it to fly into major airports (Austin and San Antonio) and bus the 107 miles (1 hr 45 min) between SU and TU for the games? That is the closest travel pair in the SCAC.

UOS to OU:  165 miles/ 2hr 44 mins.

BSC to Rhodes:  235 miles/ 4 hr 12 mins.

Millsaps to Hendrix:  297 miles/ 5 hrs 32 mins.

DPU to Centre: 238 miles/ 4 hrs 8 mins.

Would it be easier to play the SU-TU leg over one night instead of two?

Austin College-Colorado College has to be the toughest -- elevation of the Springs is 6600 feet and 2 plane flights just to get there.

[golden_dome]

Amazing win for Millsaps tonight after looking at the boxscore. Millsaps outrebounded 43-20, outshot 50% to 39%, and hit 17 free throws to 21 for Sewanee, and the Majors still won the game. They might be the last south region team still undefeated against DIII competition?

[frank_ezelle]

Chris, you are right about how one-sided the box score looked in Sewanee's favor.  The one spot where Millsaps won the game was just 6 turnovers compared to 21 for Sewanee.  This often overlooked stat has been a key factor in the Millsaps success all season.  As for the game yesterday, it was as ugly to watch as it looks in the box score. 

I'm busy during the games taking photos so my observations are spotty at best.  It was rather stunning that a team could play so well on Friday and so poorly on Sunday, but I got the feeling that there was so much intensity put into trying to prevent a letdown that it led to a team that seemed more uptight than I've seen them all year.  Millsaps was very lucky to go through a game like that and come out with a win, and I hope everyone will just relax and trust in the talent of the team when they play against Centre and DePauw. 

[pbrooks3]

In response to Ralph, I was not insinuating that the Trinity/Southwestern leg was as difficult as Austin/CC. The idea of 2 plane trips to opponent sites in 1 season is unusual for Centre (we'll need to get used to this if the current schedules hold). Centre typically has to bus 1.5-2 hours to an airport to fly out. The Trinity/SW games are usually back-to-back nights which is different at most other SCAC venues where games are Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Actually I'm glad the Austin/CC games followed the standard Friday/Sunday script. I'm not sure logistics would have allowed for a Friday/Saturday night arrangement. My point - there's a fair amount of geography covered in this league; more this year than in the past with the entry of Colorado College.

[Dave84]

well, a sad sunday for Trinity it appears.  I'll have to ask around to find out what happened, but from the box scores it looked to be a typical Trinity dog fight with low scoring.  I'm anxious to see how the Tigers bounce back, but I guess a loss to BSC isn't a TERRIBLE thing at the moment.  17 TO's by Trinity (6 by point guard BJ Moon) doesn't look terrible, but in a low scoring and slower paced game, 15 TO's could be considered high.  This weekend is HUGE for Trinity because it's at oglethorpe and sewanne, both of which trinity has never played particularly well at either gym. 

[Ralph Turner]

In response to Ralph, I was not insinuating that the Trinity/Southwestern leg was as difficult as Austin/CC. The idea of 2 plane trips to opponent sites in 1 season is unusual for Centre (we'll need to get used to this if the current schedules hold). Centre typically has to bus 1.5-2 hours to an airport to fly out. The Trinity/SW games are usually back-to-back nights which is different at most other SCAC venues where games are Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Actually I'm glad the Austin/CC games followed the standard Friday/Sunday script. I'm not sure logistics would have allowed for a Friday/Saturday night arrangement. My point - there's a fair amount of geography covered in this league; more this year than in the past with the entry of Colorado College.

pbrooks, sorry that I did not make myself clear.

Let me try to ask the question again.   

Please rank the road trips in perceived order of difficulty.  I am trying to gauge the challenges that the SCAC teams face.

I believe that the three toughest conferences in the country for travel are the ASC, the SCAC and the UAA (alphabetical order) because the nature of the travel is different in all three.  Thanks to all responders.)

[DPU3619]

To be honest, Ralph, I think it depends.  Obviously it matters which school you are in this conference.  It's obviously more difficult for the outliers like DePauw, Centre, Colorado, Trinity, etc.  DePauw is 5 hours from its travel partner for example.  Every roadie is at least that long.  Colorado is a FLIGHT from it's travel partner.

Some teams choose to make some of these road trips a Friday/Saturday trip instead of a Friday/Sunday.  That's when it really gets tough.

DePauw makes the TU/SU trip on a Friday/Saturday in a couple of weeks.  DePauw has made a Sewanee/Oglethorpe trip on a Friday/Saturday before, If I recall.  You're driving through the backwoods of northern Georgia on some 2 lane road about 2 in the morning when you've got to be on the floor at 10:30.

While I wasn't strapping on a uniform, I can certainly tell you that I thought the LONG bus rides were more difficult than the flights.  I'm sure that Austin/Colorado is tough, particularly when you factor in the altitude, but some of the bus trips for DPU and Centre (Hendrix/Millsaps, Rhodes/BSU, and Sewanee/Oglethorpe) are just horrible.  Especially when you've got both the men's and women's teams packed into one bus with very little room.  The 9 hours to Hendrix on Thursday followed by the 6 hours to Millsaps early on Saturday (gotta get there in time to get a practice in!), following followed by knowing you've got another 9 hours home after the game on Sunday is just a killer.

[Ralph Turner]

To be honest, Ralph, I think it depends.  Obviously it matters which school you are in this conference.  It's obviously more difficult for the outliers like DePauw, Centre, Colorado, Trinity, etc.  DePauw is 5 hours from its travel partner for example.  Every roadie is at least that long.  Colorado is a FLIGHT from it's travel partner.

Some teams choose to make some of these road trips a Friday/Saturday trip instead of a Friday/Sunday.  That's when it really gets tough.

DePauw makes the TU/SU trip on a Friday/Saturday in a couple of weeks.  DePauw has made a Sewanee/Oglethorpe trip on a Friday/Saturday before, If I recall.  You're driving through the backwoods of northern Georgia on some 2 lane road about 2 in the morning when you've got to be on the floor at 10:30.

While I wasn't strapping on a uniform, I can certainly tell you that I thought the LONG bus rides were more difficult than the flights.  I'm sure that Austin/Colorado is tough, particularly when you factor in the altitude, but some of the bus trips for DPU and Centre (Hendrix/Millsaps, Rhodes/BSU, and Sewanee/Oglethorpe) are just horrible.  Especially when you've got both the men's and women's teams packed into one bus with very little room.  The 9 hours to Hendrix on Thursday followed by the 6 hours to Millsaps early on Saturday (gotta get there in time to get a practice in!), following followed by knowing you've got another 9 hours home after the game on Sunday is just a killer.

Wes, that was an excellent discussion.

I would like hearing you as a guest discussing "Travel in the SCAC" on Hoopsville.

Marcus is doing a good job as South Region reporter, but another voice nearly always helps.  I don't think that the country knows what travel is like in the SCAC and the ASC.  They can imagine the UAA just because they may have flown into those airports once.

+1 

[Coach-JMS]

First let me say that it was nice meeting Frank Ezelle yesterday before our game at Millsaps.  I think he does a wonderful job of covering Millsaps and is a good ambassador for Division III athletics.  He does a great job with media coverage and posts on these young student-athletes that sometimes are overlooked in the sporting world. 

Anyway, it is typically not my style to get on message boards and comment on teams, players, or anything of that nature.  However, I think a few things do have to be addressed when looking at the Sewanee vs Millsaps game on Sunday.

First, I would like to say that I feel like our kids at Sewanee deserve a lot more credit than Frank is giving them for their hard work and effort versus Millsaps yesterday.  At the same time, you have to give credit to Millsaps (in particular, Lorenzo Bailey) for making big-time plays and hitting huge shots down the stretch.  However, I do feel like some of the reason for Millsaps struggles can be directly attributed to how hard Sewanee played on the defensive end.  Our guys did a great job of trying to take away some of their strengths as a team and did a good job of contesting all of their shooters.  Millsaps did shoot the ball poorly, but I think some of it was as a result of forcing tough shots, so give our guys some credit.

Anyway, the main reason I am posting is because in all my years as a player or coach the 3 seconds call late in the game was by far THE WORST CALL I HAVE EVER SEEN in a game that I was a part of in some realm.  I know Frank said he had still photo shots and felt that it could have been the right call or whatever, but the film of the game shows otherwise.  After watching the play about 9-10 times, it is clear that it was AN ABSOLUTELUY PUTRID call.  Here is what really happened...Pursell misses a lay-up and gets his own rebound, after he secures the rebound there is a less than 2 second (when watching I timed it with a stop watch several times and came up with 1.9-1.95 range every time I timed it in real time which doesn't even account for human error) time span that goes by and the referee blows his whistle and calls 3 seconds.  Not too mention that Pursell is getting absolutely mauled in the process of the imaginary 3 seconds call.  Millsaps is flat out trying to foul because they are down 1 with about :12 seconds left and need to get the ball back.  Rogan actually has his arms wrapped around Pursell bear hugging him as two other players hack away at the ball.  It is quite a sight when rehashing it in the film room.  Once again I give all the credit in the world to Millsaps and Lorenzo Bailey for making the plays they had to make down the stretch to win the game.   At the same time, I feel like it is quite a travesty for an official to make that kind of a call to determine the outcome of a game.  It was a bad call, there isn't any room for discussion after watching it on film, sorry Frank.

[frank_ezelle]

Coach, let me agree with you 100% that I did not give enough credit to the players from Sewanee.  I was posting last night while trying to get photos downloaded and keep up with the NFL game and I just didn't have time to cover the game in all details.  I should have given credit to the Sewanee players, and in particular the clutch shots they hit down the stretch when the game was getting very tight.  I'll also mention what you didn't, pointing out that Pursell was obviously not at 100% which limited both his minutes and his effectiveness when he was in the game. 

You've seen the film and you were closer to the play so I can't dispute your version of the play, nor do I have reason to think that it is grossly inaccurate.  You said it was 2 seconds, I said that from a viewer's perspective it might have been 3 real seconds which is rarely enough for a 3 second call.  You say they were trying to foul Pursell, and considering the situation, that would seem like the logical thing to do.  I will agree with you 100% that it was a surprising call to make in that situation.  It certainly surprised me.

The only thing I can point out is that the game was still undecided at that point no matter which call was made.  With 12 seconds on the clock and a 1-point lead, if Pursell gets fouled and hits one of two free throws, then the play by Lorenzo puts the game into overtime.  If Pursell hits two free throws then Millsaps needs a more difficult three pointer but they still had the chance to put the game into overtime.  I say this not with the intention of discounting the 3-second call, but merely to point out that Millsaps would still have had a somewhat decent chance to win or tie the game even if a foul had been called.

And I too enjoy our conversation at the game yesterday.  I'm just sorry that the game ended on such a sour note and I fully understand your post.  I wish the game had ended with Pursell hitting one of two free throws and then Lorenzo hitting a 3 pointer for the win.