MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[pbrooks3]

Actually I was at the game and the officiating was simply awful, and that is being kind. Hendrix got the benefit of most of the calls. What concerned me was the last 4.6 seconds when Andrew King sprawled on the center court losing control of the ball - I figured there was probably one last whistle coming from the refs against Centre for breathing on King.  Fortunately for the Colonels the whistle never came.

One Hendrix supporter, and I follow Hendrix too told me a Hendrix parent of a player was complaining to the officials at the end of the game because he didn't think they made enough foul calls in his son's favor. I might add that the Centre player defending that particular Hendrix young man was an unsung hero for Centre tonight allowing only one made basket.

[madison]

Pbrooks & Old Student / Athlete:

Hey, Centre won the game! Before flying off the handle about fouls please consider the style basketball of Centre versus Hendrix. Just look at the season stats for both teams and you will find that HC has shot 33% more free throws for the season. One of the obvious reasons is that HC pounds the ball inside - drawing more fouls, and Centre attempts 40% more 3-pointers – drawing less fouls.
I, for one, think Hendrix (Coach Priest, Coach McCracken and all the players) deserve a lot of credit and should be congratulated. After-all, up until approximately four years ago, Hendrix owned the perennial title of "SCAC Cellar Dweller".  Now they are quite competitive in the league, as well as a legitimate contender in the post season. It is very obvious that opponents of Hendrix no longer chalk up a win before tip-off.

[pbrooks3]

Madison - good post. I have no qualms with your points. Hendrix and Coach Priest had an excellent game plan and executed it well. They pounded it inside effectively from the opening, and Andrew King was very good, the best I've seen him play in some weeks (since his injury). You are absolutely dead on in terms of the style of play. Centre doesn't go to the foul line because they don't push it inside for physical baskets like Hendrix. I also did not expect Centre to be treated to lots of fouls on the offensive end. My complaint was the fact that when there was physical play at both ends of the court, the refs were not consistent on the calls. There were a couple of times when there was no contact whatsoever and one of the officials anticipated contact and blew the whistle. There were other marginal calls. Most of the time these calls went against Centre. Priest is to be applauded because he knew what to do to attack Centre effectively.  He got stellar play from many of his post-oriented players and they almost pulled out the game tonight. Centre, if they advance to the D3 tournament, will encounter more physical play down the line. Centre may struggle with this as they did tonight.  However, I still feel Hendrix benefitted from the officiating tonight.   
Disagree all you want with me, but I do not like when officials end up the focal point of a game.

[conwayfan11]

It was one great game.  pbrooks dont take anything away from the players who played for hendrix or centre. Im sure there were a lot of people lining up at the refs door after the game, and if centre would have lost there would have been just as many parents and fans complaining. Bottom line is that was one hell of a game

[hendrixfan]

I would like to see Priest scrap his scripted 9-man rotation.  Players who were red-hot would be taken out simply because it was their time.  Hightower and Rose sat too much.
Team chemistry has been off balance all year, and the tension starts on the left side of the bench.

Maybe next year will show even more improvement, but there are some big holes to fill.

[pbrooks3]

I will admit that officiating got the better of me last night and I suspect to Hendrix supporters I came across as scapegoating in the event the score had been reversed.

In retrospect (after calming down a bit and getting the heart rate under control), you posters are right about it being a tremendous basketball game. There were an ungodly number of lead changes in the 2nd half and both squads played at a high level during the final 20 minutes last night. In a lot of ways, Hendrix played the better basketball game. The Warriors made clutch shot after clutch shot when necessary. The amazing thing to me in the final 15 seconds was that neither squad actually attempted a field goal. Fortunately for the Colonel faithful Chris Gowers got to play hero from the free throw line.

Last night will be remembered in SCAC annals as one of the better tournament games because of the competitive spirited play of 2 teams giving it all to the end. 

[frank_ezelle]

We saw some details yesterday on next year's SCAC tournament format which is changing - there will only be semis and a final in the plan, a two-day event instead of three.  The way things will work is the top 2 teams from each division (east and west) will make the tournament.  I call the school presidents' plan for the tournament Obama cuts. 

This format is understandable for the sheer reason of economics in D3, and many other conferences are using it.  It will take away potentially some of the drama we've witnessed in the past from a fan's perspective.  Regardless, as long as the goal or prize of the SCAC season is understood from the standpoint of the teams, players and coaches, it shouldn't be a big deal.  However, if every league goes to this type of format, you reduce the unknown factor just a tad when it gets near selection time for the D3 tournament annually.

If the idea of this plan is to save money, then whoever came up with the plan is saving a dime while losing a dollar.

What is saved by going to just 4 teams in the tournament?  There will be one less day of tournament expense and 4 teams won't have travel expense to attend a tournament that was their goal to reach from day 1 of practice.  In a league filled with long trips, do you really want to eliminate the one trip that means the most to 4 teams?

What is lost by going to just 4 teams in the tournament?  For many teams, the motivation and hope of the winning the SCAC title is lost.  For some teams it will probably be clear cut from the start of the season that they aren't capable of a top 2 spot.  For many teams, it will be clear at about mid-season and so the last 6-10 games will simply be playing out the schedule.  For even the best teams, a key injury at the start of the season or in January might very well rule them out, even if they are the best team in the league throughout the month of February.

To give a concrete example of what this rule change means, look at Millsaps and Southwestern this season.  With Millsaps they had such a turnover of players and every close game went against them early on.  They start the season 0-5 in the SCAC--under this new system the motivation to keep plugging would have been gone.  But this year the motivation was still there because a 4th place finish was possible.  In the last 10 games of the SCAC season, they went 6-4.  That included an overtime loss to DePauw and a 3-point loss at the buzzer to Centre, plus a victory over nationally ranked Trinity.  Would this turnaround, would this valuable life lesson that sports are all about have happened with the new tournament setup?  The answer is a very big NO.

With some variation, the same story could be written for Southwestern who had to dig deep and prevail in must win games over much of February.  Now look at them--playing today for the SCAC Championship and a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament.  I'm sure the possibility of getting to the SCAC Tournament was a big plus for other schools like Oglethorpe, Austin, and Sewanee.  And next year it might be a DePauw, Centre, or Trinity that is glad to have a shot at the third spot if they get saddle with a big graduation hit or a couple of key injuries.

The bottom line is that for whatever is save on the bottom line by eliminating the quarterfinals of the SCAC tournament, far more is lost in what it takes away from the athletes, especially the athletes who aren't at the elite programs.  What this change means is that by the midway point of the basketball season, about half of the teams will be eliminated from the tournament and they'll just be playing out the season.  Is this fair to those 150 or so SCAC student-athletes?

This is a change that seems to be very poorly thought out and it is a huge slap in the face to the student-athletes playing basketball in the SCAC. 

[hendrixfan]

Preach on, Frank!

[pbrooks3]

Frank, this kind of political (economic) message is rampant everywhere right now across the universe. It's a shame, but it's a done deal at the executive level and we just have to face the music now. Must say your timing was good with a Sunday sermon!

[madison]

Pbrooks3:
You make some excellent points. I agree that inconsistent officiating is never good, especially for players and coaches attempting to execute game strategy, as well as for the fans following their team.
Congratulations to Centre on their hard-fought win – wish the Colonels good luck in the finals. Centre always seems to come-up with a good team and that speaks volumes for their organization, both coaches and players. The Colonels definitely can shoot the basketball, seems like something of a "trademark" for players in that area.
Many said Hendrix would never get the quality players to compete in the SCAC, so I would be remiss without commenting more about Hendrix assistant coach Thad McCracken, who behind the scenes, has quietly traveled far and near to recruit many players on the team, has been a leader in strength training / player development, as well as scouting / developing game plans to compliment Head Coach Priest.

[pbrooks3]

Centre is riding Kris Bentley's five 3's to a 15 point halftime lead. Jeff Mellaney hit a long one just before the horn to get Centre to 42. Bentley's range is impressive as several of his bombs have been of the 30 ft variety.
Kris is a great student-athlete story for the SCAC. More on that later. 

[hendrixfan]

Many said Hendrix would never get the quality players to compete in the SCAC, so I would be remiss without commenting more about Hendrix assistant coach Thad McCracken, who behind the scenes, has quietly traveled far and near to recruit many players on the team, has been a leader in strength training / player development, as well as scouting / developing game plans to compliment Head Coach Priest.

I definitely agree with the points on Coach McCracken.  The program will suffer if he leaves.  Both coaches have done a good job of raising the program to a new level.

[pbrooks3]

It was a fight to the finish between Centre and Southwestern with the Colonels never relinquishing completely their 2nd half lead. Southwestern played 3 impressive games falling only 5 points short of an NCAA bid. Centre is now on its way to the tourney for the 3rd consecutive season.  Congrats to the Colonels!

[madison]

Congratualations to the Centre Colonels. To date, the Colonels have lost only four games - and three of those were by a grand total of 8 points!

[pbrooks3]

What a wonderful story Centre's Kris Bentley is. He is a senior English major who has been a member of the Colonels basketball team for 4 years, the first 3 of which were spent mostly on the bench as one of the backups to Matt Nestheside and Thomas Britt. This season he finally got his chance and he's taken advantage of it to start at the two guard. He's established himself as one of the most exciting long-range shooters in the SCAC. What a wonderful way for him cap off his SCAC career with a 31-point effort today against Southwestern. He canned 8 threes, many of them 30 feet away. He drilled 7-7 on the foul line with the final two helping Centre close out the Pirates. Probably a lot of observers might think Bentley is a single-dimensional player, but that is not the case. He's a lock-down defender as well as evidenced by his effort Saturday night against Hendrix's Cal Rose. Kris, just for good measure,is young man with an engaging personality who is fun to be around. He's the consumate team guy and a great D3 student athlete. Congratulations Kris on a great senior campaign!