MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Yesterday's ranking of Trinity at 23rd in the D3hoops Top 25 marks the first time, other than a one-week appearance during the bastardized COVID season, that the school has been ranked since the end of the '08-'09 season. 

I've seen several people ranking them in the mid-upper teens on Xitter posts, so obviously a lot of voters aren't ranking them at all which is typical for teams in the bottom of the ranking.  And while it won't be easy, there's at least a chance they remain undefeated until they face what will almost assuredly be a 9-0 Pomona Pitzer at the D3hoops Classic; their opponents until then are

• Austin (5-4)
• University of Dallas (3-6)
• Washington and Lee (5-2)
• Chicago (6-2)
• (at Las Vegas) Clark (6-1)

All games will be at home with the exception of the last.

The Sagehens, ranked #20, are 8-0 and face only a 1-7 NAIA La Sierra team (that's already lost to Chapman and Redlands) between now and then. 

[D3Navy]

Go to the D3Hoops.com Classic in Vegas or don't go to the D3Hoops.com Classic.

My current conundrum.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity's current conundrum: figuring out how to beat St. Thomas. Other than that, they have had a brilliant season leading to their current #10 D3hoops.com ranking.  If they can finally shoot the three ball as effectively against St. Thomas as they did against Centenary last weekend - and the SCAC championships are at Centenary - maybe they will.  The team's 23-2 record so far should mean they're a lock for the NCAAs even with a loss, and if they can win the SCAC outright the team will surpass its best record in the SCAC era, 23-3 in 1999-2000.  That year ended with a first-round loss, something this year's team would rather not repeat. 

[OneVoiceOfTheTigers]

Another year where the SCAC Tournament is shaping up to be a barnburner yet again... I just want to take some time to write about it.

#1 Trinity should be the favorites baring injury, the only team they've lost to in conference is St. Thomas. If Trinity does lose, I'd be shocked if they weren't one of the first teams of the board for Pool C. Christian Green has had quite the freshman season to say the least (and may lead the nation in D3 dunks). Pair him with Jacob Harvey and Tanner Brown being the go to guys for 3 pointers and Braxton Barry supplementing the starting unit with his presence in the paint makes Trinity a handful in to many ways to count. Oh yeah, did I mention Dean Balo? He's been a bit overshadowed by Green, but he's another Freshman that's been making an impact in pretty much every game he's in. The only question mark is if the Tigers can find a way to beat the Celts, since they seem to be the team with their number consistently.

#2 St. Thomas has had a very weird run through conference, they dropped both games to Dallas, one to Southwestern (they caught a case of the injury bug to be fair) and one to Centenary. I think St. Thomas does have a path to a Pool C bid, but if they want to have any chance of that happening they can't go one and done. Even though the path has been tough for the Celts, they are still a team that can easily win the Conference Tournament. Calvin Williams and Nick Anderson have been the dynamic duo that has been propelling St. Thomas offense to great heights. The Celts have also been adept pickpockets with almost 18 forced turnovers per game, and are the only team to hand Trinity not one, but two losses this year.

#4 Colorado College vs #5 Dallas is great one to kick off the Tournament. The regular season series was split, with both road teams winning their respective games against one another. Dallas has a really good Starting 5, with Jack Boyle being the headliner, but Kelton Coleman has been stellar from the arc off the bench. Colorado has been excelling with their defense this year, and they've used it to hold some really good offenses under their season average. They lead the conference in field goal defense, 3 point defense and blocks per game. Some of that may be thanks to them playing in Colorado, but they've proven that they can travel with that defense. Dinari Boykin leads the team on the offensive side of the ball in terms of scoring, and Edgar Romero is having a nice season from beyond the arc.

Expert (not actually an expert) prediction: Dallas, I guess? It's a tossup, but Colorado has had a tendency to struggle on offense more than Dallas has near the end of the season.

#3 Centenary vs #6 Schreiner is a fun matchup. Schreiner swept the regular season games, and Kamden Ross is an absolute stud of a player that's complimented by guys like Dylan Mackey and Beau Cervantes on the outside. Centenary being at home is definitely a benefit for them (8-3 at home this season), but superstitions isn't what the gents rely on. Seth Thomas is probably a lock for first team All-SCAC, and they have 4 players (Craig Collier, Jakobi Greenleaf, Quentin Beverly, and AJ Hall) averaging 9 or more points per game. The Gents also lead the SCAC in 3 pointers per game (which I didn't expect).

As for a winner? It's a tossup, but I like Schreiner to win this one.

No matter the outcome, we've got a great weekend of games coming up!

[D3Navy]

Looked like a misunderstanding as a CC player was hanging on the rim to avoid falling on a UD player and the UD player didn't realize it was innocent.  He pushed him away and he almost fell.  The CC bench cleared and went after the UD player.

In my view only CC players going after the UD player deserve scrutiny for suspension.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Boyle has been suspended for Dallas.  Boykin, Russo, and Dittman for CC.  Whoever wins Friday will have a full roster for Saturday (and their leading scorer rested up).

[D3Navy]

Boyle has been suspended for Dallas.  Boykin, Russo, and Dittman for CC.  Whoever wins Friday will have a full roster for Saturday (and their leading scorer rested up).

Overkill.  Particularly suspending the UD player.  He had another kid on top of him and had no idea what was going on.  The guys off the bench on the other hand...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Boyle has been suspended for Dallas.  Boykin, Russo, and Dittman for CC.  Whoever wins Friday will have a full roster for Saturday (and their leading scorer rested up).

Overkill.  Particularly suspending the UD player.  He had another kid on top of him and had no idea what was going on.  The guys off the bench on the other hand...

I watched the video a bunch of times and don't feel either player deserved punishment for the inciting incident.  I'm sure I didn't watch the aftermath as closely as the league office, so I'll definitely bow to them on repercussions there.

I will say, though, my brother was in attendance (which is how I knew it even happened) and maintains, despite my objections, that Boyle's final, frustrated tossing of the leg was unnecessary and dangerous.

We'll likely never know how the deliberations went down, but, to me, the fact that only four players are facing sanctions feels pretty gracious, all in all.

[Ron Boerger]

CC led Trinity basically the entire game, though the Texas Tigers made it interesting late and Colorado helped by missing some FTs in the 4th, but couldn't pull it all back and fell 71-70.  They will rue missing half of their own FTs in the loss.

And Centenary continued the upset trend, pulling away from St. Thomas late in winning 64-51. 

Trinity definitely gets into the tournament, though where is a question.  They probably want Centenary to win tomorrow, since Shreveport is within 500 miles, that would set up a pod with UMHB, Centenary, and one other team to be flown in.  A Colorado College win makes it much easier (and IMO likely) that the ASC and SCAC winners fly out for the opening weekend.

St. Thomas probably slide to first four out and needs some help.  If they get in (and Centenary wins too) one of the three SCAC teams will have to go elsewhere since you can't match up again in the first round.

[Ron Boerger]

Assumptions made, assumptions failed as UT-Dallas won the ASC with a short buzzer-beather.  If 12-15 Rhodes wins the SAA (as a #7 seed after upsetting #2 B-SC and #3 Oglethorpe) then they can drive to Dallas and the pod probably ends up there regardless of whether or not 18-9 UT-D deserves it (spoiler: they don't).  We've seen this before in a women's pod where they ended up hosting solely because a fourth team (Hendrix) was able to bus there.

Rhodes faces the clear class of the conference in the finals; Berry went 13-1 in SAA play and are 18-9 overall, but games between the two have been close with the Vikings winning by 6 at home and 11 in the most recent meeting in Memphis earlier this month.  Today's game is at Berry. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

NWU has a pretty gaudy record, but they haven't played a super strong schedule.  The ARC was very good this year and they performed well there, but Trinity should be favored and there are a lot of second round matches that would be more difficult around the country.  It's a good draw, for sure, especially given the geographic issues you all suffer in Texas.

[Ron Boerger]

NWU has a pretty gaudy record, but they haven't played a super strong schedule.  The ARC was very good this year and they performed well there, but Trinity should be favored and there are a lot of second round matches that would be more difficult around the country.  It's a good draw, for sure, especially given the geographic issues you all suffer in Texas.

Agreed, it's no bracket of death which is a pleasant change.

And it would take some doing (and upsets) but should they both survive this weekend and the following game, Catholic's Enzo Sechi could face off against his former Trinity team in the sectional finals.  Catholic would likely have to beat the unanimous #1 Hampden-Sydney (26-2) in the third round, while Trinity might have to face a St. Thomas team it's already lost to twice (but both will need to play better than they did in the SCACs to get that far).   Sechi is averaging 11.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, and less than 2 fouls per game while starting in 24 of 26 appearances. so the change of scenery has treated him well. 

[Ron Boerger]

Basketball is a funny sport.  Last night Trinity couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (4/24 from three), forgot how to shoot free throws (9-20 including a even more dreadful 6-17 in the second half where they also missed the front end of several one-and-ones), were outrebounded 51-36, but even then fought back and trailing one had a chance to take the last shot for the win.  Unfortunately that shot was forced early (8 seconds remained), was rebounded by the Comets, and they (of course) hit the resulting free throws to secure a four-point win. 

Besides the dismal shooting performance, Trinity could not keep UT-D off the offensive glass (20 OR), and the numerous second-chance opportunities on the Comets' final possession eventually resulted in the three that gave them the one-point lead before the final sequence. 

Trinity is a young team (only one of the three seniors, Tanner Brown, is a starter) and made plenty of youthful mistakes last night.  It will be interesting to see what lessons were learned next season.

[Ron Boerger]

Congratulations to Trinity's Christian Green, today named the Rookie of the Year by D3hoops.com.  Looking forward to what next season brings for this young man and this team!

https://www.d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/2024

[D3Navy]

This is a big. deal.

Congrats to Christian and the team!