MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Frank, how did POTY candidate, Edrick Montgomery perform in the win over Colorado College this evening?

By the numbers, Edrick didn't come close to the stats from the last 4 games.  Personally, I thought he played as well or better last night as he did in the games last week against Rhodes and BSC.  Last night was a game where Millsaps didn't need a big performance from anyone and minutes and stats were spread around quite a bit.  Edrick was 6 of 8 from the field--if he had taken 20 shots like he did in the games last weekend, he would have had another 30 point night.  If he had played more than 22 minutes he would have had a handful of extra rebounds.

As we have said all year, good players surrounded by good teammates usually have lower stats than good players who are counted on to carry most of the load.  I think one thing that sets Edrick apart is that he can explode for a big game when needed.  Examples would be the trip to Colorado when Rodney Rogan was injured, the game at Centre when Millsaps only hit 4 of 19 3-point attempts, and the BSC game where just about everyone was in a one-game shooting slump.  In general, Millsaps is a better team when everyone in contributing and Edrick is closer to his 16 ppg and 9 rpg, but it's nice to know that can play a much bigger role when needed.

[frank_ezelle]

That Austin Win and SW loss just makes the Western division conference tournament race even more interesting. #'s 3-5 in the west all sitting at 4-7 in conference play.

That was a huge win by Austin and consequently a huge loss by Hendrix.  It was also a big loss by Southwestern, losing a 1-point game to Trinity last night.  Southwestern had a shot at the end for the win.  If that shot goes in then Trinity falls to 6-5 and Southwestern moves up to 5-6.  It would have given Southwestern somewhat of a chance at getting to #2 in the West, but more importantly it would have given them a cushion for avoiding #5 in the West.  Here's a link to the Southwestern story and boxscore from last night's game:

http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/020908aaa.html

[vozdelospetrels]

Looking forward to a fun game tonight in Atlanta as Sewanee comes in to play OU  at 8 EST. OU looking to push their win-streak to seven games and keep pace with DePauw in the East. Sewanee has definitely struggled in conference play but they are a team that can put some points up. They rely a lot on the three ball, at Sewanee earlier in the year, the Tigers came out nailing their three's then they lost their touch and OU was able to gain control of the game. I know a lot of people think of OU as three point shooting team, but they don't rely on the three as mch as Sewanee. Sewanee, i think, I haven't checked in a while, shoots a larger percenage of 3's to overall FG's attempts than anyone in the conference. I hope coach ponder has his guys ready to play tonight...they better not think this game's a gimmee, especially with Sewanee wanting to shoot 3's and OU having, in my opinion, one of the best shooter's gyms in the conference.

[vozdelospetrels]

Frank,

I suppose to be working right now, but with the links you provide I'm just gonna get caught up on all of my SCAC basketball. Thanks for giving me an excuse to put off work.

[spfan22]

vozdelopetrels:  you are right about people thinking that OU relies strongly on the 3.. they shoot on average of about 21-22 a game.. about the same as last years team.. the decpetion is when OU made their run in 03-04 they were considered to rely heavily on the 3.. but since then they have decreased the number of threes they shoot per game.. the realizatioon is that Burr graduated in 05-06.. since then the three point attempts have decreased quite a bit .. and with two good posts in Shaheed and Ward they dont have to settle for perimeter shots

03-04: 26 three point attempts per game
04-05: 23.7 three point attempts per game
05-06: 24 three point attempts per game
06-07: 21.5 three point attempts per game
07-08: 21.7 three point attempts per game

So.. they dont quite rely on the three as heavily as they once did..

On a side note.. I like OU by 14 tonight.. close at half though

[spfan22]

found this kind of interesting.. Millsaps, Depauw, Centre, and OU rank in the top 5 or 6 in three point attemps per game.. I would assume that these teams shoot more threes because they have the personel to let it go from deep..

What does everbody think about OU's sytle of play this year.. I feel like they toned it down and arent quite so aggressive this year.. I think they've done a great job of setting a game plan up that fits their opponents.. many coaches feel like you should always play "your" game.. but OU has been successful at adapting to the strenghts and weaknesses of their opponenets and finding a gameplan that attacks their oppnents weaknesses.. any feedback??

[vozdelospetrels]

Here is what I'm talking about with sewanee relying on the three ball:

Team                 FGA         3FGA     % of 3FGA/FGA
Sewanee           1,095       483           44%
Oglethorpe        1,286       434           34%
Millsaps              1,363       502           37%
Centre                1,101       472          43%
DePauw              1,149       475          41%           

[spfan22]

yeah.. those are pretty significant numbers..

[spfan22]

OU leads Sewanee 37-24 at half.. OU has been in control.. but it deosnt help that Sewanee can't buy an outside basket.. looks like OU might cruise in this one..

[frank_ezelle]

Not much excitement on the SCAC schedule today.  Millsaps has another easy Sunday home game with Austin coming to town.  Afterall, Austin couldn't be much tougher than the last two Sunday home games, Sewanee and Birmingham Southern and those were easy wins--oh wait, Millsaps beat Sewanee on a last second shot and the BSC game went into OT after Millsaps trailed most of the game.

I expect another tough Sunday game at Millsaps because this game means a tremendous amount to Austin.  They had a great win Friday to catch up to Hendrix and they will probably need a win today in order to maintain that tie for an SCAC Tournament berth.  That's assuming that Hendrix doesn't dwell on the Friday game to the point that they let Colorado get their first win this afternoon.  Colorado may not be the cream of the SCAC, but they have some pretty good players and they are capable of getting the road trip split this afternoon.

In the other two games it seems like a safe bet to pick the home team with Centre hosting Rhodes and DePauw hosting BSC.  After this weekend, Centre and DePauw have two tough weekends, but it hardly seems likely that they will be looking ahead to those games this afternoon.

[frank_ezelle]

I was multi-tasking this morning, something my mind can't really do, and I left out a key part in my earlier post.  The game this afternoon is tremendously important to Millsaps as well as to Austin.  As we saw in football, a team is never safe when their lead can be erased in one play/game.  Millsaps has a 2 game lead on Trinity for 1st in the West and in all likelihood Trinity will win out in the SCAC with the exception of the Millsaps game.  I see that as a 50-50 game with Millsaps on the road.  Millsaps can't afford for that game to be a game with 1st place in the balance. 

In addition, when it comes to an at-large bid it seems that Millsaps, DePauw and Centre are the likely candidates.  Millsaps really needs to win out, including the Trinity game, to establish themselves as a strong candidate for an at-large berth if they don't win the SCAC Tournament.  With that in mind, they can't take a physical or mental break in any of the remaining games this season.  With the senior leadership on the team, I have faith that they will be focused and play well down the stretch.

[Major_Fan]

Millsaps up 46-36 at the break after shooting 58 percent.  Montgomery with 9 points and 9 rebounds for the Majors on 4-of-4 shooting in addition to Lorenzo Bailey with 11 points on a trio of 3s.  For the 'Roos, Sturtevant with 14 points on 5-of-7 aim followed by Mark Foster with 8 points.  Millsaps with 13 first half assists.  Points in the paint ... Millsaps 18, Austin 8. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Do we have a score from Centre yet?

[pbrooks3]

I need to campaign for live stats at Centre!  No word on this game from anyone, I presume?

[DPULefty22]

DPU 68, BSC 67 in Greencastle - Aaron Parr hit a buzzer beating three to make it a 1-point final. Ryan Werntz's two free throws with 1.6 seconds left ensured that Parr's three wouldn't matter.

I guess there's just something about BSC's style that makes them a tough matchup for DPU. But the Tigers held on. Schott with a season high 28 points and 9 boards. Moore with 8 assists, though he shot poorly and only ended up with 6 points (perhaps due to an injury to his shooting hand - I saw he had his ring finger heavily taped throughout the game).

The Colonels are next. Yeah, that's kind of a big one.