MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Walter17]

Oh wow, Austin College could have a great pre-conference record.  How many games outside of conference do they play on the road?  Just that one against UT-Dallas?

[tarheelfan]

Hendrix starts their season off against the Univ. of the Ozarks in Clarksville on Saturday.  Should be a nice test for the Warriors.

[pbrooks3]

Centre laces them up this Saturday night at Franklin in Indiana.  Franklin played Centre in the 1st round of the D3 tournament in Danville last year.  The Colonels won but it was a hard-fought victory over a tenacious bunch of small but physical players.

The other two November games are good ones against traditional rivals, Transylvania at home, and then on the road at Maryville. 

Three decent tests to get the season started.  Maybe not quite the same as Trinity's start, but competitive nevertheless.

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps opens up Saturday against local NAIA Belhaven College.  That will be a very stiff test if Belhaven has their typical team.  This Millsaps team is one that should improve considerably as the season progresses (barring any major injuries).  They only have one SCAC game prior to Christmas, a home game with Hendrix on December 6th.  I suspect the coaches will use the other 9 games more for improvement than for getting a win-loss record that might lead to an at-large bid as they might have been thinking last year.  I believe the only path Millsaps will have this year to the NCAA Tournament is to qualify for the SCAC Tournament and then to win the thing.

[Walter17]

I wouldn't say that Centre's is that much easier of a start than Trinity's, pbrooks.  Franklin and Maryville are always extremely competitive teams. 

I read on the ASC board someone make the assumption that a good D3 team is not better than any NAIA team.  I obviously have a strong opinion AGAINST that statement, but I just wanted to get other people's opinions in here.

[frank_ezelle]

Walter 17--This post showing the final wins and losses between D3 teams and NAIA teams in 2007-08 seems to indicated a general parity between D3 and NAIA.

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=1167.msg894344#msg894344

Admittedly, that parity may come because teams tend to schedule non-conference games with other teams that are of somewhat similar strength.

[jekelish]

It depends entirely on which NAIA schools you are talking about.  Believe me, some NAIA teams could compete against low level D1 schools, while some could barely beat a strong high school team.  It just really depends on the school.

[Walter17]

I think that definitely sums up what I was thinking, jekelish.  I think that's the same for D3 schools.  Obviously, there are quite a few D3 schools out there that just can't compete against a higher division or NAIA division, but I believe (as we are reading in these exhibition reports) good D3 basketball isn't that much different from D2 or low D1 basketball.  But to say that good D3 basketball is not up to the level of any NAIA just stunned me.

[frank_ezelle]

One of the things I really like about the new SCAC websites is that you get a different address for the different sections of the website (on the old one the home address always showed as you navigated through the pages).  Here's the link to the SCAC Men's schedule:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2008-09/schedule

[Walter17]

Oh wow, I hadn't seen the new website.  I heard they were changing webhost providers, or something of that sort (can't say I'm a tech guy!).  The new website looks terrific and navigates smoothly.  Does anyone know what the SCAC interactive page is intended to be used for?

[Ron Boerger]

Oh wow, I hadn't seen the new website.  I heard they were changing webhost providers, or something of that sort (can't say I'm a tech guy!).  The new website looks terrific and navigates smoothly.  Does anyone know what the SCAC interactive page is intended to be used for?

Send scacsid a PM, he might know.   

[frank_ezelle]

The preseason SCAC prediction is out and can be found at:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2008-09/news/0809predicted_order_finish

[pbrooks3]

Things become serious tonight as Centre goes on the road for their opener against a scrappy opponent, Franklin. This will be a tough game and the Colonels will need to use their size to their advantage in order to get a win. Should be a competitive, entertaining kickoff to the b-ball campaign. 

[pbrooks3]

See where Hendrix lost to Ozark.  Thought Centre-Franklin was set for Live-Stats tonight.  Apparently the folks doing Live-Stats for football this afternoon for Franklin weren't prepared to basketball tonight.  If anyone is keeping up with this game, post your update.

[pbrooks3]

Centre pulled out a tough road win at Franklin tonight in a physical game 57-55.  According to my source, there were lots of whistles blown and the game was a plodding defensive tussle.