MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

As some of you might remember, I said I would write the SCAC about Birmingham-Southern's eligability status. The school will join the SCAC next year, but it is competing in the D1's Great South Conference this year. Pat Coleman posted on the issue and clarified that Southern will not be eligable until its provisional period is complete, and Mr. Coleman is right.

But here is what D. Dwayne Hanberry wrote me:

"Mark,
Yes, Birmingham-Southern will not be eligible for NCAA championships for the next four seasons as they go thru the provisional process. The first year they will be eligible for NCAA championships will be 2011-12.

As for SCAC championships (in any sport), that matter will be decided definitively at our next President's meeting (next month).

thanks,"

That means no NCAA for Southern until the Chinese celebrate their next year of the rabbit, but I am anxious to know what the SCAC will do. It is interesting that the SCAC is thinking about allowing Southern to compete although the NCAA is not. And I would love to hear the Presidents' arguments for and against the proposition.

Myself, I believe the SCAC should allow Southern to compete asap. But that is just my gut reaction, and a good arguement could easily alter my stance. I look forward to hearing what happens during the President's meeting, though.

Mark, as I remember, as UT-Tyler has gone thru the provisional status for the NCAA (they are in year # 4), they competed for ASC honors.  They just didn't participate in the post-season tourneys that determined the AQ's.

[yodcw2003]

So anybody got anything on Rhodes???

[spfan22]

Rhodes seems to be struggling this year because they lost their two leading scorers from last year in Rami Almefty and Matthew Jakes.  They were the face of the team and the two leaders of that team for several years. 

Rhodes also has to get defensive stops when they need them.  They gave up an average of 85 points a game over the weekend, and in conference games that will not get it done.  With all the scoring they lost from Rami and Jakes, that means their defense has to step it up even that much more.

[frank_ezelle]

This is probably the biggest weekend of the season for Rhodes.  After starting the season with a road win over Trinity, Rhodes has lost 4 straight SCAC games including 3 at home.  It would seem like their hopes for going to the SCAC Tournament hinge on getting at least a split this week on the road and it might be that they need a sweep.  Since Hendrix and Austin don't go to Rhodes this year, the winner this weekend holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

What makes this weekend so important is the remaining 7 games for Rhodes.  They host DePauw and Centre which will be extremely tough.  Then they host Southwestern and Trinity, once again a difficult pair to beat.  And they end the season on the road against Sewanee, OU and Millsaps, three teams that all won at Rhodes.

[yodcw2003]

Yeah, it definitely looks bleak for Rhodes this year. My brother and buddy ( you may remember them Patrick Yoder and Bryan Baird) went and saw them play Austin Peay this year and said they looked liked like they maybe in for a long year after losing Rami and Matt. I'll always be pulling for them and hopefully we can get back to the days when we were competing for the SCAC.

[frank_ezelle]

TO THE HANDFUL OF MILLSAPS FANS:  Just a note that the Austin vs. Millsaps game will not be webcast this Friday.  The link I put in the email this week was based on something I got from the Austin website that I should have checked more throughly.

And regarding Rhodes, I really didn't think the team was that bad in the one game that I saw them play.  I just think that every team in the league this year is solid and a team that is down just a little might end up looking like a team that is down a lot.  Rhodes has some talent and I don't assume that the Rhodes trip to Jackson will be an automatic win for Millsaps.

[JJFlash]

Does anyone know if Centre College will be webcaastging the game against Trinity on Satrday night?  If no webcast, will they have LiveStats?

[Mark Hengel]

I do not believe Centre does the webcast or livestat thing. To my knowledge, the only broadcasts of SCAC games can be found at www.scac-online.org. Sorry, I guess you'll have to make due with the Trinity at DePauw game, which DePauw will webcast. DePauw does a great job of this.

[Ralph Turner]

I do not believe Centre does the webcast or livestat thing. To my knowledge, the only broadcasts of SCAC games can be found at www.scac-online.org. Sorry, I guess you'll have to make due with the Trinity at DePauw game, which DePauw will webcast. DePauw does a great job of this.

Ditto on the DePauw webcast.  If you just want to hear a D3 game, and Depauw is an option, you won't likely be disappointed!

[JJFlash]

Thanks, Mark and Ralph!  I'll admit I support Trinity so  was hoping to catch something of the Centre game.

[consultant]

It appears that we are beginning to see some separation in the conference standings.  The top tier teams all won on Friday, and now Millsaps, Centre, and DePauw all have a two-game advantage over the rest of the pack with the exception of a 1 and 1/2 game lead over Sewanee.

[frank_ezelle]

The Sunday game between Millsaps and Hendrix will be big for both teams.  Millsaps hosts Centre and DePauw next weekend and the Majors don't need to fall a game behind prior to those two tough games.  Hendrix is in the middle of the pack at 3-3 right now but that includes a road loss at both DePauw and Centre (two teams that are a combined 16-0 at home this season),  so that record might be a little deceptive.  I look for a close game in Conway on Sunday, something that will be decided by 6 points or less.

[frank_ezelle]

The box score for the Millsaps-Austin game has been posted on the SCAC Scoreboard.  The bottom line looks very similar for the two teams with the margin of victory coming from Millsaps hitting 17 of 33 free throws to on 7 of 12 for Austin.

Number of note for Millsaps:  Edrick Montgomery had 25 points and 12 rebounds, hitting 9 of 15 from the field but only 7 of 14 from the line.  Deonte Oscar hit double-figures with 11 and Chris Sanders pulled down 11 rebounds (5 on the offensive end).  Lorenzo Bailey only had 8 points but he was the game leader with 5 assists and an impressive 7 steals.

For Austin, Jason Burton just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds to go along with 12 points.  Brian Hambrick and Arron Mewbourn each added 10 points.

Link to Austin College Story:  http://www.austincollege.edu/NewsDetail.asp?NewsID=715&ItemID=5325

[frank_ezelle]

Nothing surprising about the scores last night as the home teams won all three:

Centre 61--Trinity 52
DePauw 59--Southwestern 51
Oglethorpe 92--Sewanee 75

Trinity cut the lead to 2 with just over 4 minutes left but couldn't pull out the win:  http://www.centre.edu/web/athletics/basketb_m/news_archives_06-07/mbb_trinity_0607.htm

Southwest was within 4 with less than 4 minutes to play but couldn't get any closer:  http://www.depauw.edu/ath/mbasket/index.asp?id=18758

From the OU website there is this nugget but no box score yet:  Oglethorpe dominated the game from the opening tip, jumping out to a 47-35 halftime lead, and cruised from there. Sewanee never led and the game was never tied after the first basket was scored.

Millsaps plays at Hendrix this afternoon needing a win to keep up with Centre and DePauw and to set up a big weekend in Jackson next week.  I hope the Majors aren't looking ahead to those games because the game this afternoon will be a tough one to win.  Live stats are available on the Hendrix website which is down at the moment but I'm sure it will be up soon.

[frank_ezelle]

It looks like I was wrong about the Hendrix server being up by game time.  I've gotten on the livestats a couple of time and I've seen the lineups, but now I'm getting a message about server not found.

I did get a page at the www.hendrix.edu address and it looks different from what I remember so maybe they are upgrading their website this weekend.  If anyone else is able to get on the live stats and have it update, please post here.  That link is:  http://www.hendrixwarriors.com/livestats/xlive.htm

Thanks.