MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[jekelish]

Some stats from the first AC/Centre game...

Halftime score was 22-21 in favor of the Colonels, who then hit 7-of-10 from deep in the second half and outscored the 'Roos 46-41 after the break.

Three players for Centre had double figures in that second half, with Thomason scoring 14 after the break, Noll scoring 11 (3-of-3 from deep), and Britt scoring 10.

For the 'Roos, Sturtevant scored 14 of his 22 after halftime and Alade scored 10 of his 17.  Alade was only 5-of-17 from the field and didn't hit a three that game...that considered, it's a testament to how well the rest of the team performed when their top player struggled to find his shot.  Sturtevant came up huge, hitting 8-of-14 (2-of-3 from deep) and grabbed seven boards.

Big difference in that first game: CC shot 50% from the field, AC shot 38.5%.  AC won the battle on the boards 32-30, and forced the Colonels into 19 turnovers. 

Should be a good game if the first meeting is any indication...wish I could make the trip to Conway.

[pbrooks3]

Based on your post jekelish, I think I'm glad we're playing on a neutral court.  Actually you've played at the new gym at Hendrix once; Centre has not.  This gives you an advantage on the familiarity front.

[pbrooks3]

SCAC Men's Tournament bracket is set:

http://www.scac-online.org/basketball_mens/2008mbasketballbracket.pdf

This is going to be an exciting weekend in Conway!  Good luck and safe travel to all the teams and fans.

Also, to follow up on what JJ said, Colorado College fought really hard and its too bad they didn't pick up a victory this year.  That is going to be a tough road trip in the future.  Those guys should be proud of their efforts.

It was tough sledding for Colorado College; I think they played almost all of their SCAC opponents particularly tough at home during the season, and any one of these games could have gone the other way.  Centre struggled big-time there and got a good challenge throughout the game.  I will bet right now that Colorado College will have several wins in the 2008-09 season.

[frank_ezelle]

Looking at the 1st round, I imagine most people would pick Centre over Austin and Millsaps over Rhodes, while pointing out that Austin and Rhodes are capable of an upset if Centre and Millsaps do not play up to their capabilities.

The more diverse opinions will come on the Oglethorpe vs Hendrix and Trinity vs DePauw:

Oglethorpe won at Hendrix 71-70 in the only meeting between the two teams.  That was on 1/20/08.  Oglethorpe has a 10-3 record at home and is 6-6 on the road.  Hendrix at 13-11 is not too far away from the 16-9 of Oglethorpe.  Hendrix played well in Texas two weekends ago and poorly at Millsaps Saturday--maybe Millsaps had something to do with that but I didn't think Hendrix had much intensity.  They will be intense this Friday, but I think Oglethorpe will ride the momentum of this past weekend to a first round victory.

DePauw and Trinity only played once with DePauw winning a close one at Trinity, 70-68.  When Trinity had Houston healthy, they came very close to beating Centre and DePauw in the same weekend.  Houston is back playing, I don't know if he is 100%, but apparently Mike Gilb is injuried.  I think this will be a very good game and I can see Trinity winning if they are hot on the 3-point shots, but DePauw has won 9 of their last 11 and I see them winning this game.

[pbrooks3]

Hendrix should definitely be fired up to play well.  The thing about Hendrix that concerns me is their ability to properly protect the ball and not turn it over to a good opponent.  Oglethorpe will harass them with pressure.

DePauw certainly has to be the favorite in their first round game against Trinity.  I think these guys realize that regardless of their good body of work this year, it may take the SCAC championship & a Pool A selection to get them to the dance.  The way the WIAC, UAA and some of the so-called power conferences are shaping up, Pool C slots may be scarce for other good teams. 

My thinking is Millsaps gets into the D3 tournament unless they somehow short-circuit in the opening round of the SCAC.  I just don't see that happening.  Millsaps is probably a strong favorite to win the SCAC tournament.  What does everyone  think about that?

[spfan22]

Great game yesterday between OU and Depauw with ou winning in 2 OT's 86-80.. both teams had several opportunites to win the game.. Shaheed had a great game on Senior day finishing with 29 points and 9 rebounds. 

After seeing the 2007-2008 versions of Britt and Moore, I came away very impressed..  I know you can't base your judgements on one game, but from what I saw this weekend and from previous years.. Im going to say that Moore has to do a little more for his team than what Britt does for Centre.. Moore kept them in the game yesterday with so many big shots and great plays.. I had Britt as my POY before the weekend, but after seeing both this weekend, I might be slightly leaning towards Moore, not that my opinion matters.. also cant forget about Montgomery either

[pbrooks3]

Great game yesterday between OU and Depauw with ou winning in 2 OT's 86-80.. both teams had several opportunites to win the game.. Shaheed had a great game on Senior day finishing with 29 points and 9 rebounds. 

After seeing the 2007-2008 versions of Britt and Moore, I came away very impressed..  I know you can't base your judgements on one game, but from what I saw this weekend and from previous years.. Im going to say that Moore has to do a little more for his team than what Britt does for Centre.. Moore kept them in the game yesterday with so many big shots and great plays.. I had Britt as my POY before the weekend, but after seeing both this weekend, I might be slightly leaning towards Moore, not that my opinion matters.. also cant forget about Montgomery either

Shaheed's great game yesterday and overall good shooting this weekend apparently put him in the lead in FG% (54.3%) in the final regular season stats, beating out Thomas Britt (54.1%).  Britt led all players in 3-point % at 48.7% and free throws at 90.0%.

[DPU3619]

Millsaps 278th in OWP in the latest SOS #'s.  But, 17-2 in the region and a likely Rhodes/Oglethorpe road to the SCAC finals is good news.  They'll certainly move up in the region rankings with the DePauw loss.

I'm recanting my previous position on the Majors playoff chances (which was a maybe) and changing it to the stance that the Majors will hear their name called even if they lose to Rhodes on Friday.

[frank_ezelle]

Wes, I don't want to test that theory about getting in even with a loss to Rhodes.  You might be right, but I see the Rhodes game as somewhat of a NCAA qualifier round--win and you probably get into the main draw, but lose and your season is over.

Pbrooks3 wrote earlier that he sees Millsaps as a strong favorite to win the tournament.  I'm not sure if there ever is a strong favorite to win the SCAC Tournament from a statistical standpoint.  That's why it has been so important all year to keep alive a hope for an at-large berth.

Looking at the odds of winning the SCAC Tournament, it would be real easy if all 8 teams were equal.  Your chances would be 1 out of 8, or 12.5%.  Since the teams aren't equal, the tricky part is to raise or lower each team's chances and still come out with 100%.  Let's say you give Millsaps and Centre each a 35% chance of winning and DePauw a 25% chance.  That only leaves a 5% chance for the rest of the teams combined and that's not right.

If you bump Millsaps and Centre down to 30% each and DePauw to 20%, then how are you going to spread the remaining 20% among OU, Trinity, Hendrix, Austin, and Rhodes.  I know each of you would differ on the percentages, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. 

At the risk of boring everyone with numbers, another way to look at it would be to calculate the odds of a team winning each specific game.  Let's say you rate DePauw as having a 50-50 chance in games against Trinity, then probably Centre, and hopefully Millsaps.  That puts DePauw back at a 12.5% chance of winning the Tournament, and this is a team that is regionally ranked at the moment. 

It's going to be a great tournament and I hope a lot of fans will get to Conway to support the teams.  Unfortunately, I will not be in Conway and I might not be able to follow the games on the internet.  The company I work for is moving this weekend and leaving town for a basketball tournament or just about any other reason is out of the question.  Maybe I'll get to see Millsaps play during the next weekend.

[Major_Fan]

Millsaps up two spots to No. 22 in this week's poll... Centre steady at No. 2.  Please let us have another showdown for the SCAC Championship!!

[pbrooks3]

As I said earlier, I believe the Majors are in once they dispose of Rhodes Friday. What they do after that won't matter. Just for the heck of it, I might try to put some odds on each team's chances of winning the SCAC tomorrow if I have time.

[pineconefan]

Just wanted to skip by this board and say congrats to former Whitworth Pirate assistant Rodney Wecker for getting Austin College pointed in the right direction and into the SCAC playoffs.  The 'Roos have a good one leading that program.

Last year Whitworth met DePauw in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Wonder what the chance are of the NWC and SCAC meeting again in 2008?

[scaccommish]

SCAC Hoops Weekly - Tournament Edition

http://www.scac-online.org/basketball_mens/022508mbasketballreport.pdf

[d3allstar]

first off... congrats to AC on an great season and an incredible improvement from last year... i'd like to start a discussion of some other types of tiebreakers so a coin flip never has to determine a team's season... any ideas??

[lammersk]

A couple questions:

1.  When do Birmingham Southern games begin to count (and when will they be eligible for post season play? Next year?

2. With Fisk halting all athletics and Maryville apparently bolting, the GSAC looks like it might have suffered a mortal wound.  Any chance that a couple teams might come to the SCAC?  Huntington and LaGrange already seem to play a number of SCAC teams and if they both came the all important parity between feline and non-feline mascots could be maintained (up to 7-7 from a current 6-6).