MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[jekelish]

Nice start to the season for Austin College. Led ETBU by as many as 21 points, and after the Tigers cut it to two points late, held on for a 74-70 win. They were 20-20 from the free throw line, which certainly helped, to say the least.

[D3Navy]

Trinity takes one at the buzzer in overtime from Pacific in Colorado Springs.  A close game the whole way but Jacob Harvey took control in OT.  With 1:17 remaining he launched a 3-pointer that no one other than Jacob Harvey had any business launching to bring TU to within 1 point.

With 15 seconds remaining, a Pacific player sunk only one of two free throws giving Pacific a two-point lead.  TU brings it down, makes multiple passes until the ball lands in Harvey's hands well beyond the arc.  BOOM!

Game over.

Terrific finish.

[Greek Tragedy]

No Calvin Williams IV on St. Thomas' roster?? I thought he was only a junior last season. Anyone know?

[Greek Tragedy]

https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Calvin-Williams/673299

Apparently Calvin Williams is in Europe killing it.

[river2]

No Calvin Williams IV on St. Thomas' roster?? I thought he was only a junior last season. Anyone know?

They listed him as a junior but there was some ambiguity around the year he'd played in the defunct JBA before college. Not sure if they tried and failed to get him one more year or if he just decided to get paid to play overseas instead but I'll ask around.

[Ralph Turner]

Hendrix and LeTourneau come to the SCAC in 2025-26. Might we see two 6-team divisions?

West
CC and St Thomas (best airline connections)
Schreiner and McMurry
TLU and Concordia-TX

East
Hendrix and U Ozarks
Centenary and LeTourneau
Austin College and U Dallas

[Ron Boerger]

Hendrix and LeTourneau come to the SCAC in 2025-26. Might we see two 6-team divisions?

West
CC and St Thomas (best airline connections)
Schreiner and McMurry
TLU and Concordia-TX

East
Hendrix and U Ozarks
Centenary and LeTourneau
Austin College and U Dallas

I had an exchange with Commissioner Hanberry at the start of the season and it sounded like they will continue a divisional alignment for basketball, at least.  That Schreiner-McM pair (which makes sense) will become the Sul Ross of the (edit) SCAC for the teams that are in the east and I have no idea how CC deals with it - flight to SAT or AUS, drive to Schreiner, enjoy the western Hill Country on the drive to Abilene, then hopefully they can fly out of Abilene on one of the Embraer puddle jumpers that fly in there (vice versa if they start with McM).  AA offers a connection to the Springs which would save the additional drove to/from DIA.

Ozarks/Hendrix and Schreiner/McMurry would almost certainly have to fly when they play each other - 11 hours from HX to Abilene, 13 between HX and Schreiner, and that's if you can avoid DFW traffic.

[Ron Boerger]

Christian Green was on the bench in street clothes Friday night against the U of Ozarks.  The Tigers eased past the Eagles (13-5, 5-4) 69-63 but they need him against the better teams in the league.  Senior Ty Williams replaced him last night but in his first career start fouled out in only 15 minutes of play, the third time this season he's been DQd in 15 minutes on the court or less. 

Edit:  was again in street clothes on Saturday.   Williams had a much better game, scoring a season-high 18 to go with 6 boards in a 76-68 win over Centenary.

[Ron Boerger]

Christian Green was out again for Trinity (17-3/10-1 SCAC) last night, but the team put on one of its best performances of the season, racing out to a 48-13 lead at halftime on their way to an easy 86-38 win at TLU (6-14, 4-7 SCAC) in which nobody played more than 19 minutes, and everyone healthy - all 19 - saw playing time with all but two players scoring.  Trinity shot nearly 52% (62% in the first half) and outrebounded TLU 55-32.  Next up today is Southwestern (2-18/2-9) in Georgetown, a game I intend to watch in person. TLU and SW return the favor in San Antonio next weekend; the following week will see Trinity play at St Thomas (19-1/11-0) and Colorado College (11-9/7-4), which if chalk holds will determine the regular season champion.  The Tigers and the Celts are in opposite divisions, so this will be the only meeting in the regular season between the two.

EDIT:  It's worth mentioning that TLU's NPI is not only lowest in the SCAC, but one of the worst in the country (353 out of 408 according to D3DataCast.com).  Southwestern slots in at 337, second-worst in the conference.  Trinity is 51, St. Thomas, 28.

[Greek Tragedy]

I completely forgot there are 2 divisions. I usually just check this site's standings page and they are not separated.

[Greek Tragedy]

St. Thomas takes a big loss. They sit as the Pool A, but around the Pool C 11-12 mark. It'll be interesting how big of a drop they take after their loss to Ozarks.

[Ron Boerger]

St. Thomas takes a big loss. They sit as the Pool A, but around the Pool C 11-12 mark. It'll be interesting how big of a drop they take after their loss to Ozarks.

D3datacast still has them 29th overall, bubble in (53.7% if no pool A) but another loss, either to Trinity or Schreiner next weekend, would severely hurt those chances. 

Unfortunately for Trinity, last night they were not only again without Christian Green, but also his replacement, Ty Williams.  You can get away with that against TLU and Southwestern (one hopes) but it'll be a tough road next week without them.   Both were in street clothes.

Trinity put their student manager, senior Henry Thompson, on the roster for the weekend.  He was 0-2 but did manage a rebound in his two minutes.

[Greek Tragedy]

29th in efficiency ratings. 39th in NPI and between Pool C 20 and 21. Trinity is at Pool C 22. They play each other once and possibly twice, so someone may get knocked out, even if they split.

[Ron Boerger]

Looked at the box from the StT-Ozarks game.  Something odd going on last night there:

- Celt starting F Charles Gitonga played nine minutes in the first half, was inserted early in the second, immediately committed a foul, and was then pulled from the game not to return.  Hopefully he was not injured.  He only averages 18 minutes a game FWIW.
- St Thomas only played eight players all night, so they went to a seven-man rotation after Gitonga left the game, and matters got worse as two of the seven fouled out late.   

[D3Navy]

St. Thomas takes a big loss. They sit as the Pool A, but around the Pool C 11-12 mark. It'll be interesting how big of a drop they take after their loss to Ozarks.

D3datacast still has them 29th overall, bubble in (53.7% if no pool A) but another loss, either to Trinity or Schreiner next weekend, would severely hurt those chances. 

Unfortunately for Trinity, last night they were not only again without Christian Green, but also his replacement, Ty Williams.  You can get away with that against TLU and Southwestern (one hopes) but it'll be a tough road next week without them.   Both were in street clothes.

Trinity put their student manager, senior Henry Thompson, on the roster for the weekend.  He was 0-2 but did manage a rebound in his two minutes.

Nice to see Ty Williams play on Senior Night and have a solid game.  He seemed to be moving well.

Also nice to see a bucket from Henry Thompson.  A really nice thing for the team to do.

Lastly, Jacob Harvey sank one of the best three-point shots I've ever seen...and was fouled doing it.