MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

It was a pleasant surprise this morning to see a 78-74 victory for Millsaps over Oglethorpe last night (http://www.scac-online.org/basketball_mens/mcou.htm).  OU has been playing really well of late and the box score says they had 669 at the game last night so it was probably a great atmosphere for the home team.

Interesting info from the box score:
--Chris Sanders had a breakout scoring game with 20 points on 8 for 10 shooting including 4 of 6 from behind the arc.  He is a far better shooter and scorer than what he has shown in the past so hopefully this will be a real confidence builder for Chris.
--Edrick Montgomery didn't match the 26 rebounds he got at OU last year but he did pull down 19 to go along with 16 points.  It must have been a great matchup with Ahmad Kareem Shaheed who finished with 15 rebounds and 15 points.
--Millsaps went with a very short bench with only 6 players in double digit minutes.  They are a very tough team when they can do that in a single game but obviously it isn't something you can do for 3 straight nights.
--Millsaps only hit 4 of 13 free throws while OU hit 15 of 18.  Millsaps overcame that by hitting 12 of 28 3-pointers compared to 7 of 25 for OU while both teams hit 19 2-point shots.

I'll throw in a prediction just so everyone can think I'm crazy.  OU finishes with a road trip to DePauw and Centre.  I think they split on that road trip.  They can be so dangerous with all of their shooters and they seem like a team that is capable of playing way above their norm (which is pretty good) on any given night.

[spfan22]

Millsaps shot extremely well in the first half, making almost all of their shots with hands in their face.  It seems like Millsaps has their best 3 point shooting games against OU.  Pilkavich's foul trouble really hurt the Petrels, as well as their inability to get their best shooters some open looks.  Exciting game and atmosphere last night.  OU needs a win on Sunday to stay in the middle of the pack, because they have their hardest road trip of the year when they travel to Centre and Depauw next weekend.

[JJFlash]

Trinity beat the University of Dallas last night for its fourth consecutive road win.  It was Senior night at U of D and the Tigers handled the vocal crowd pretty well.  One can definitely see a different maturity level in this team that wasn't there in the first part of the year.  I believe they led from start to finish, and it seemed they got this win in almost workman like fashion.  I don't know if they are good enough to win in Memphis, but they appear to be coming together at the right time to give somebody a run for their money.

[frank_ezelle]

DePauw won on the road at Austin today 63-58 and Centre came back after Hendrix had taken a 6-point lead with less than 5 minutes to go for a 72-71 road victory.  That keeps both teams tied for 1st in the SCAC.

No word on Millsaps at Sewanee.  It would be Senior Day at Sewanee so that just makes it a little bit more difficult for the Majors to keep pace with DePauw and Centre in the win column.

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps beats Sewanee today 93-80.  That gives DePauw, Centre and Millsaps 10 wins each and guarantees that they will hold the top 3 seeds at the SCAC Tournament. 

Millsaps hosts Rhodes next week to complete the regular season.  DePauw and Centre host Oglethorpe and Sewanee.  In case of a tie, DePauw holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Millsaps and Millsaps holds the head-to-head over Centre.  To be honest, I'm not sure if the seeding will matter too much in Memphis as was shown last year with #8 beating #1 in the first round. 

Right now Hendrix, Sewanee and Southwestern hold the 6, 7 and 8 spots and they are all capable of beating any team in this league on a given night.

[frank_ezelle]

Last post and then I have to get to work on the Millsaps weekly email.  Here's the box score of the Millsaps-Sewanee game:  http://www.sewanee.edu/athletics/stats0607/mbasketball0607/mill-sew.htm

Millsaps had 6 players in double figures led by Allen Odum with 18 points in 12 minutes.  It will make a big difference if he gets well by the SCAC Tournament.  Montgomery just missed a double-double with 17 points and 9 rebounds but it wasn't a bad week, averaging 16.5 points and 14 rebounds in two critical road victories.

By the way, Millsaps trailed by 8 early in the second half before coming back for the 13 point victory.  In the second half Millsaps hit 18 of 25 from the field (72%), 7 of 11 from 3-point range (63.6%), and 15 of 17 free throws (88.2%).

[FlightofthePetrel]

Oglethorpe pulled out a come from ahead win today against Rhodes in a high scoring game  94-86.  Rhodes hit 2 consecutive 3's to cut the lead to 2 with under a minute to play but Ahmad Kareem Shaheed nailed all of his free throws down the stretch to help seal the win.   In a game that was marred by fouls (around 50)  Cory Smith torched the Petrel's and led Rhodes with a game and career high 44 points.

Notables

Rhodes

Cory Smith-   44 pts.

Oglethorpe

Ahmad Kareem Shaheed  29 pts. and 19 Reb.
Eric Dickinson  16 pts.   6 reb
Arthur Pilkevich  15 pts.  8 reb.
Andrew Tulowitzky 12 pts.  7 reb.
Terry Bailey  8 pts.  7 reb.  4 ast.

[frank_ezelle]

Rhodes lost by 7 at Sewanee Friday night and by 8 at OU in a game that sounds like it was closer than the final score.  I saw the first game between Rhodes and Millsaps and I thought that Rhodes had a pretty good team but they are on the brink of elimination from the SCAC Tournament.  It just goes to show how balanced the league was this year.

Austin in winless so they will end up in 10th place this year.  Rhodes can only catch Southwestern and that only happens if Southwestern loses at home to Austin and Hendrix and Rhodes wins on the road at Millsaps. 

[TeeItHigh]

With one weekend left to go, will either Centre or DePauw get beat?  DePauw looks to be struggling, can Oglethorpe get them on Sunday?  Or will they get Centre first on Friday?  Let's not forget Sewanee, are they capable of pulling off the upset?   

[DPU3619]

DePauw looks to be struggling, can Oglethorpe get them on Sunday? 

Winning 10 of 11 is struggling? 

Also, DePauw is 9-0 at home this year.

[scacfan]

This post might be a week too early, but the tourney is getting close and the bracket is at least starting to take some shape.  Unless Rhodes wins at Millsaps and Southwestern loses both games at home, it looks like Southwestern will pick up the 8th and final spot (and with two home wins, they could actually move up to the 6 seed).  It looks like the top 3 seeds are still up for grabs amongst the top three, Oglethorpe and Trinity are pretty much fighting for #4 and #5, and the 6-8 seeds are all still up for grabs. 

Hendrix lost in overtime to DePauw and by one to Centre at home this weekend, so they at least showed they can play with the top two teams in the standings.  Sewanee actually beat DePauw earlier this year.    Southwestern lost to Millsaps earlier in the year on a buzzer-beater, so as Frank mentioned in an earlier post, this is shaping up to be a great tourney.

Surprise teams of the year?  How about Centre and Oglethorpe, and possibly Trinity?  Centre lost both the conference's leading rebounder and the Player of the Year, so with those two losses, logic would say they might be down a little from last year.  Right now they seem to be playing better than anyone.  Beating DePauw by 32 is pretty impressive, as is winning 14 of their last 15 games.  They seem to be a very well-balanced team.  Oglethorpe started 0-4 in the conference but have rebounded to win 7 of their last 8 with the one loss being a 4 point loss to Millsaps.  That's a pretty impressive turnaround and they are scoring in bunches.  We'll see what they can do when they take the toughest road trip in the conference this weekend.  Trinity lost all five starters from last year, but you knew they wouldn't drop to far.  They seem to be playing their best ball of the year, having won four straight including their last three conference games. 

I don't want to leave Depauw and Millsaps out.  I just don't think they are surprises.  DePauw is having a great year at 19-4 and has won 10 of 11, but I think everyone kind of expected that, based on who they had coming back.  Same with Millsaps.  They are having a great year also and have won 8 of 10, but I think people expected them to be good also. 

This weekends results should be interesting.  Once the bracket is final, I'm sure we can have a good discussion on predictions. 

[scottiedoug]

With apologies to folks who are indifferent to accuracy, I want to point out that Oglethorpe has lost two games in their last 10 to GSAC teams LaGrange and Maryville.   Maybe that does not count in figuring out who will beat whom in the SCAC tournament but it might be a hint as to what to expect in the NCAA.

[TeeItHigh]

In response to DePauw struggling, I would think that  losing by 32 at Centre two weekends ago and then only beating Austin 5 on Sunday would constitute struggling.

[frank_ezelle]

With apologies to folks who are indifferent to accuracy, I want to point out that Oglethorpe has lost two games in their last 10 to GSAC teams LaGrange and Maryville.   Maybe that does not count in figuring out who will beat whom in the SCAC tournament but it might be a hint as to what to expect in the NCAA.

Like the birds returning every spring, it is time for scottiedoug to return to the SCAC board.  If the Scots are hitting 3-pointers like they did in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last year then they'll be hard for anyone to beat.

On the remark about DePauw struggling, it's one of those glass half empty or half full things.  DePauw seems to play very well in stretches but they also have some big letdowns.  Millsaps led DePauw by 21 in the first half but DePauw came back and won.  Centre beats DePauw by 30+.  DePauw needs OT to beat Hendrix.  DePauw has a huge half time lead on Austin then only wins by 5. 

Give credit to DePauw that they have enough talent to overcome their poor stretches and they continue to find a way to win, but at the same time I think it is fair to say that they have struggled during stretches of several games down the homestretch. 

I think OU has a chance to win at both Centre and DePauw this week because OU has a knack of going on incredible hot streaks, but clearly they will be the underdogs in both games.

[frank_ezelle]

With apologies to folks who are indifferent to accuracy, I want to point out that Oglethorpe has lost two games in their last 10 to GSAC teams LaGrange and Maryville.   Maybe that does not count in figuring out who will beat whom in the SCAC tournament but it might be a hint as to what to expect in the NCAA.

Just out of curiosity, exactly what hint does it tell us about the NCAA?  Maryville is leading their conference and they have two narrow 4-point victories over OU this year, a team that is tied for 4th in the SCAC.  Are you suggesting that Maryville will struggle when they meet the top teams from a conference in the NCAAs?