MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[pbrooks3]

Rhodes 78-76 with 3:34 to play.

[pbrooks3]

80-77 Rhodes with 2:24 left

[pbrooks3]

1:06 to go; Rhodes leading 84-81.

[pbrooks3]

21 ticks - Rhodes up 85-81. Rhodes has possession in the front court. 10 fouls each now.

[pbrooks3]

Final: Rhodes 89-83

[FlightofthePetrel]

Unfortunate letdown after a tough game in Birmingham.  Looks like OU will all but be assured the #3 seed from the east now and will open up against Trinity... could be an interesting game on a neutral floor.

I'm interested to see the box score.  In Atlanta Nick Watterson had a career game with 23 points- I doubt he had the same stat line but with the addition of Ward this is a game that OU should not have lost!

[Major_Fan]

Great game from what I could follow in the live stats at Trinity.  Millsaps survives foul trouble late and moves to 21-3, only the sixth time in school history dating back to 1911 that we've hit the 20-win mark.  The SCAC Tournament in 12 days is really cracking up to be a good one!  Read the Millsaps/TU release here.

http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/basketball-m/021708release.shtml

[pbrooks3]

Unfortunate letdown after a tough game in Birmingham.  Looks like OU will all but be assured the #3 seed from the east now and will open up against Trinity... could be an interesting game on a neutral floor.

I'm interested to see the box score.  In Atlanta Nick Watterson had a career game with 23 points- I doubt he had the same stat line but with the addition of Ward this is a game that OU should not have lost!

It was a frenetic 2nd half at Mallory Gym and the refs allowed a lot of fouls and physical play the final 20 minutes.  I didn't get the final stats but Oglethorpe was definitely led by Joe Ward; he was the go-to guy the second half - think he had about 25 for the game.  He and Palmer were the energy guys for the Stormy Petrels today.  Just about every 3-pointer Palmer tossed up, regardless of distance, went in.  Rhodes was led by Cory Smith with 25; he played an outstanding game.  Hoskins had 23, and Hamilton had 10.  Cory Smith played one of his best games of the year of the games I have seen, and the style of play of OU makes isolation plays for Cory a big part of the Lynx's offense.  I came away from this game impressed with Ward.  He literally took over the game several times in the 2nd half, and he hit shots from both inside and outside the paint, including an occasional three.  He's a big-time player.

[pbrooks3]

That's a fairly good evaluation of the young OU team.  Ward really does play above the rim and seems to be a matchup problem for most SCAC teams... minus Messenger from BSC who shut him down the other day blocking 3 of his shots- it was definitely something I haven't seen this year.

What's your take on next weekends games against Centre and Depauw...   Thanks again for the updates.

I guess you can tell I like Joe Ward; he'll present a match-up challenge for both Centre and DePauw.  I'd guess that the best match for Ward on the Centre squad is TC Thomason; DePauw would likely counter with Brian Oilar.  I'll try to provide some other thoughts on these games later in the week prior to the weekend.

[etg]

(El Tea Gray---re: SCAC Basketball Tournament)

I may have missed this discussion at some point, but is Charles Houston expected to return form his injury in time for the SCAC Tournament? Trinity is a vastly better basketball team with him in the lineup. IMO the Tigers would have won their last three home games if Chuck had played (U Dallas, Hendrix and Millsaps). I have seen all of Trinity's home games this season; believe me at full strength they could possibly run the three game Tournament Bracket at Hendrix. Defense wins Tournament Basketball.

                                                                                 

[OLD STUDENT/ATHLETE]

If the standing in the East after next weekend are Centre, DePauw, Oglethorpe, and Rhodes, and in the west, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, and SW, and I correct that Centre would play SW, and Oglethorpe would play Trinity in one bracket, and in the other bracket it would be Millsaps v. Rhodes and DePauw v. Hendrix.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Just got the text message.... Todd Ward had 30 points and 6 boards.  Palmer went 5 of 5 from 3 for 15 points.  Hard to believe with those numbers that OU wasn't able to pull out the victory.

[Major_Fan]

Old Student/Athlete, you can go on the SCAC website today and the top headline is/are the brackets for the tournament in Conway.  From there, you can see if your thinking is correct... http://www.scac-online.org.

[pbrooks3]

Just got the text message.... Todd Ward had 30 points and 6 boards.  Palmer went 5 of 5 from 3 for 15 points.  Hard to believe with those numbers that OU wasn't able to pull out the victory.

The problem as I saw it was those were the only two guys that made any real contributions for the Stormy Petrels in the 2nd half.  Of course, Coach Ponder knew who was hot and made sure these players were getting the touches.  Rhodes was more balanced, and got enough big plays (mostly from Smith) and free throws down the stretch to pull it out.  Oglethorpe's pace of play (my opinion) is similar to the way Rhodes wants to play.  Oglethorpe normally executes it better than Rhodes, but today they were playing an improved team over the one they played at home earlier.  The Lynx are getting some key contributions from some of their younger guys now like sophomore Reid Hamilton and freshman Nathan Olie.  I might also mention that sophomore Jared Hoskins was big during a key stretch of the first half when the rest of the Rhodes team was cold; he scored a few 3's and made several nice drives to the basket for hoops.  Rhodes still makes bad turnovers and struggles with frequent defensive lapses, but their consistency of play over 40 minutes is better now.  They won't necessarily be a pushover in the tournament this time around.

[pbrooks3]

OS/A--No apology needed.  I do have a problem of posts that are too long and I can see how someone could scan them and pick up the wrong impression.  During football season it was a Millsaps fan who jumped all over me in a similar situation.

On how the SCAC teams rank, I truthfully hope you are correct.  The way polls are done with the general rule being that if you keep winning then you keep moving up, Centre has certainly done what it takes to be as high as they are.  I just don't think I would consider them the favorite to win on a neutral court against all but 1 or 2 D3 programs in the nation.  Likewise with Millsaps.

Speaking of Millsaps, I am concerned about the game at Trinity today, especially after Millsaps got off to a slow start at Southwestern on Friday.  At the moment Millsaps has started off well and they lead 22-16 after 9 minutes.  Live stats are at this link:  http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/MBasketball/livestats/xlive.htm

Before I comment, want to welcome OLD STUDENT / ATHLETE aboard - I believe we're already acquainted; it's good to have another opinion on the message board.

Frank, I don't disagree with you on the rankings.  Centre has been truly riding the wave, and #2 or #3 is likely an aberration because of the parity of play.  Colonels, in real terms are probably somewhere in the  10-15 range.  My phantom top 25 would have Millsaps at 22 this week.  So these teams are pretty close in my book.  I may be off base but there may actually be 25-30 teams capable of winning the big dance this year.  Millsaps and Centre can be in this mix.  DePauw may be close as well.  There are some other good teams in the SCAC too.  I came away impressed with what I saw of Oglethorpe today.  They may be a year away from a 20-win season, but they are good.  Trinity has struggled of late, but they're not operating at full strength right now.  What perhaps separates Centre from some of the other top SCAC teams this year is their ability to win the tight, tough games even when they're not playing at their best.  I do absolutely believe the other intangibles are the (1) senior leadership of Nestheide and Britt and (2) top quality coaching from Greg Mason & his staff.