MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[etg]

(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tiger Basketball/Football)


TU 2698,
Your earlier comment regarding Ron is "right-on-target". I have often wondered if others felt the same way; as I certainly do? Any loyal Trinity fan would have to recognize his unending negative bias. Where does it come from? Many comments that I have heard at Trinity athletic events on Bonzo's posted viewpoints indicate that trying to "figure-him-out" or "convince-him-otherwise" is probably not a possibility.

                                                                             

P.S.
TU2698, you and I can now expect our Karma's to dive. What is Karma anyway; does Ron have a lot of it?

   

[evacuee]

Karma can be taken or added by others with enough experience here.  Basically, it's in place to encourage people to be fair in their posting.  If you or I don't think that what someone said is nice, we can hit their karma. 

I think it works, but I noticed that I when I started paying attention to my karma, I stopped myself from saying what was actually on my mind.  It seems that people get very upset with others here for not being politically correct in their posting, which is why I don't do it as often anymore.

Ron Boerger has taken that to a new level.  Since he is a contributing columnist here, he probably is paranoid that non-Trinity folk will accuse him of bias if he sticks up for the Tigers.  People do that in many public arenas- trash their own so that they won't be labeled as biased. 

Anyway, it seems as if a post doesn't congratulate the other team on these boards or states anything controversial that you have a good chance of losing karma, and people are obsessed with it. 

[frank_ezelle]

It's unfortunate that with the conference growing to 12 teams that TPTB have decided to REDUCE the number of teams that can play in the tourney.   Just look at yesterday - Sewanee by all accounts should have defeated Trinity and Southwestern DID defeat DePauw.  The new plan eliminates the potential for such upsets and it's a shame. 

Response by TU2698:  Ron,

I don't disagree with your take on reducing the teams in the SCAC tournament, but I have to say you're a self-hating Tiger.  To say that Sewanee "by all accounts should have beaten Trinity" offers no credit to a great play by a great player.  Trinity has those types of kids which is why they win even when they play poorly.  You say that kind of stuff about football and now basketball.  I remember trying to convince you that Trinity's ownership of DePauw's football program was due to the fact they are BETTER.  My Gosh, what is your problem?  You definitely have a rooting interest in Trinity, but I think the PC culture of this board has you walking on eggshells and therefore you're reluctant to get excited about them. 
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I'm guessing that Ron's post was "the straw that broke the camel's back" because it wasn't anything outrageous.  Mostly, his post was making a point about the new tournament format and besides, a neutral person would probably agree that Trinity was lucky to pull out that win.  If you want to split hairs between the term "lucky" and "by all accounts", then go ahead.  The main reason Trinity won that game when they were playing poorly is because they were playing a 7-19 team that shot under 40% from the field and under 60% on free throws.  I agree that BJ Moon is a very good player who made a very good play, but come off it with the "Trinity has those types of kids".  Everyone has those types of kids--didn't Southwestern prove that over the last few weeks and the last 3 days?

If Trinity folks want to be mad at Ron because he doesn't rah-rah-rah for Trinity enough, then so be it.  I personally appreciate the fact that while he pulls for his team, he also gives an honest opinion even if it's not what Trinity folks want to hear.  I also appreciate the fact that he is civil in his posts, which isn't the same as trying to be politically correct.  As for the karma totals, I seriously doubt that any serious member on this board really cares about their karma.

[evacuee]

In all seriousness, Frank, I think you're too nice of a guy to really understand.  The only time I see you object is when you stick up for other people, like now.

You do, however, understand that a straw and a camel were involved.

[Ron Boerger]

It's unfortunate that with the conference growing to 12 teams that TPTB have decided to REDUCE the number of teams that can play in the tourney.   Just look at yesterday - Sewanee by all accounts should have defeated Trinity and Southwestern DID defeat DePauw.  The new plan eliminates the potential for such upsets and it's a shame. 

I stand by what I said, and further I put my name behind what I said.  You two anonymous 'gentlemen' can feel free to keep taking your potshots - trust me, it's been done better by others.   Last time I checked this country allows freedom of expression, so if I don't meet your concept of a 'loyal Trinity fan,' that's your problem, not mine.

What my being a 'contributing columnist' has to do with anything here is beyond me, but be it noted that I have never had a relationship to the hoops side of the house and have not been a columnist on the football side since the 2006 season. 

[OLD STUDENT/ATHLETE]

I am amazed at all of this animosity springing from a stupid decision to reduce the tournament from 8 teams to 4 teams. I have a solution. Since the Presidents apparently are overly concerned about the expense of having 8 teams go to the tournament, and have no concerns about flying around the country during the regular season, lets move the tournament to a location with easy access from any airport in the country, Las Vegas. We could get all of the rooms and food compted, and add an extra night for a slam dunk contest and a wet tee shirt contest. Of course, we could also serve beer and drinks at the games, which we would get a peace of the action, and since we're in Las Vegas, we could designate an official SCAC bookie to take bets on the games, and the conference could keep the juice.
This would solve our apparent financial crisis, and we would have a neutral site for the games, and get some great publicity, after all, money is more important than our children's education and intercollegiate athletic memories.

[hendrixfan]

This is just one of several decisions I have disagreed with in the past few years.

I didn't like the idea of adding Colorado College.  The money saved on that trip alone would be enough to send the teams to a first-round tournament game.

I didn't like the idea of playing the men's games first this year.  It didn't take a genius to figure out that wasn't going to be successful.  I don't know how things worked at other locations, but in Conway I witnessed a mass exodus of students after the conclusion of the men's games.

This latest plan to cut the first-round games is sad.  I agree with the afore mentioned point that some teams will have little hope of making the post season by mid-January. 
With the amount each school in this league spends on travel, I can't see how one more weekend will crash the budget for the schools eligible to participate in the tournament.

[hendrixfan]

I'm changing the subject, but nothing has been said about the announcement of the conference's yearly honors:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Mike Moore, DePauw

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Jeff Mullaney, Centre

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Charles Houston, Trinity

COACH OF THE YEAR
Pat Cunningham, Trinity

SCAC FIRST TEAM
Mike Moore, DePauw
Danny Noll, Centre
Todd Ward, Oglethorpe
Luke Caldarera, Trinity
Andrew King, Hendrix

SCAC SECOND TEAM
Kola Alade, Austin
Charles Houston, Trinity
Cory Smith, Rhodes
B.J. Moon, Trinity
T.C. Thomason, Centre

SCAC THIRD TEAM
Tom Callen, DePauw
Ben Pursell, Sewanee
Ryan Crowdis, Centre
Blake Martinez, Millsaps
Joe Kennedy, Oglethorpe
Chad Songy, Millsaps

SCAC HONORABLE MENTION
Chris Sturtevant, Austin
Kris Bentley, Centre
Lance Jacobs, Colorado
David Foley, Hendrix
Cal Rose, Hendrix
Chris Sanders, Millsaps
David Allison, Oglethorpe
Kenton Coleman, Sewanee
A.C. Cox, Southwestern
Zach Bergstrom, Southwestern
Travis Barber, Southwestern

[Walter17]

I think the yearly honors came out pretty much how we all expected.  Mike Moore was terrific this season.  They won when Moore played well and they lost when Moore didn't.  He was more of the key to DePauw's success than any other player for any other team.  I'm a little surprised that Andrew King made the first team, however.  I figured Kola Alade or Charles Houston would have snuck in and been that last spot with King being a second team. 

Congrats to Centre, they really earned this year's SCAC championship.  As a Trinity fan, I can only hold my breath that our Tigers get in now. 

[frank_ezelle]

Trinity got in as a host in a 3 team bracket.  Centre also is a host.

[scottiedoug]

Since Maryville did not have a good year with the SCAC, I think Trinity should look ahead!

[frank_ezelle]

It will be interesting to see how Trinity plays since they limped through most of February after finishing January with a big win at Centre.  I know that they are 6-2 after that win over Centre, but they lost big at Millsaps, barely hung on to win against Hendrix and Sewanee, and then fell in the SCAC semis to Southwestern. 

On the plus side, they have played well in February at home.  Also, I think the winner of the Trinity-Maryville game will have an advantage in the second game against a team that is seeing their first tournament action.  Despite what I saw of the Tigers in Jackson this year, I think they will two wins this weekend.

Now if we can just get pbrooks3 to pick Maryville.

[scottiedoug]

Maryville is just a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.  No need to practice.

[DPU3619]

Think Capital is probably the team to worry about in that part of the bracket - but how about that potential Centre/Trinity match-up in the round of 8?!

[Ron Boerger]

Ah, Scottie, don't think that Coach Cunningham is going to overlook M'ville any more than Coach Sattelle on the distaff side.  Sorry.