MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

If you want an honest answer, the odds of Sewanee getting a win this weekend range from poor to extremely poor.  Personally, I hope they win both games but two things make me think that any win is unlikely.  First, Sewanee lost by 28 and 19 when they went on the road to Indiana.  Second, Sewanee lost at home last weekend by 14 and 16 to OU and Millsaps.  I think most people outside of OU and Millsaps fans would consider the Indiana teams equal to or better than OU and Millsaps.  (And if you want a third reason, from the reports posted here last week it sounds like the Sewanee students have given up on the team.) 

When you ask about dangerous teams, consider the near win by Hendrix at Southwestern this season.  Or consider Trinity squeaking by Sewanee by 3 points earlier in the season.  This year, far more than any year in the past, all teams will be dangerous at the tournament.

[Sewanee#24]

Thanks for the response.  Unfortunately, you are probably right.  Rose-Hulman always play great defense and I think Muskeyvalley, based on previous years, is one of the better players in the conference and DePauw is typically pretty tough and they may be motivated as we beat them pretty bad in Sewanee last year.  All that said, I'll be hoping for a different result. 

[frank_ezelle]

I've reported on every Millsaps home game but I had to think a lot about whether I should post about the Southwestern-Millsaps game.  It's a game where the biggest factor apparently was something that happened prior to tipoff.

Millsaps played the first half without their leading rebounder/scorer (now their second leading scorer).  I like the coach, I like the player, and I have no inkling on the reason for the half game benching.  It's not the first time this has happened this season and each time it happens you can only hope that it is the last.

I once coached a key league game (at no where near the college level) where I had 3 players serving a well deserved 1-game suspension.  Due to a small roster, an injury and multiple foul-outs, we finished the losing effort with 3 players on the court and the 3 eligible but suspended players sitting on the bench. 

That was a situation where I felt like I had no choice regarding the suspensions.  I could not ignore the infraction and allow the players to play.  On the other hand, I recognized that the suspension was punishing the players who had done nothing wrong by giving them less of a chance to win.  All in all, this was one of the most difficult decisions and most unpleasant situations in 20 plus years of coaching.

Would Millsaps have won the game if they had played at full strength?  I think they would have but we'll never know.  What we do know is that a win would have put them in 3rd place and only a game out of 2nd with a chance on Sunday to make that just one game out of 1st.  It was a lost opportunity and I hope it is a situation that doesn't linger and damage the remainder of the season.  It was a game that could be a turning point in either a positive or a negative direction--I guess we'll know more on that when Trinity comes to town on Sunday.

[warriorfan]

The night before the finals of the state tournament, one of our players was out after curfew, running the halls and getting into mischief.  He was allowed to play, but played poorly.  May have been attitude, may have been being tired...who knows.  Anyway, he only scored two points.  But, those were the two final points that sent the game into overtime and set us up for the win.  I really think it depends on the stakes of the game and the team.  Sometimes it might motivate a team to step up, sometimes it works against the grain.  Hendrix has had it's share of this the last couple of years, too.  This has really hurt our team.  I feel for the coaches because they have such a huge responsibility when traveling with these kids. 

[Ron Boerger]

Southwestern upset by Oglethorpe today, 74-58.  Trinity got by Millsaps 88-80 to effectively take a two-game (one+2-0 h/h tiebreaker) lead with two games remaining in the regular season.   

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps and Trinity were tied at 71 with 4:34 to go and Trinity was only up 79-76 with 1:10 to go.  I haven't seen a box score yet but I think the box score will show that Millsaps had a below par shooting game just as they did on Friday.  I don't think it was the defensive pressure that caused the poor shooting as much as possibly the pressure of the game.  Against teams like SW and TU there is less margin of error and maybe that knowledge had some bearing on the poor shooting percentage.

Thanks to the Rhodes win over Hendrix, Millsaps locked up a spot in the SCAC Tournament.  Last year the Millsaps team played like their lives depended on winning the first tournament game and consequently they played a terrible game.  If this year's team can go to Memphis and play loose and relaxed, they have a real shot at playing on Sunday and possibly beyond.  Hopefully they will get back on track with wins on the road at Hendrix and Rhodes next weekend, two teams still fighting for a spot in the SCAC Tournament.

[evacuee]

Frank was great company during the ladies' game.  I'm surprised the shooting issue didn't come up between him and me.  I was ripping my hair out over the Millsaps shooting.  They didn't get too many good looks at the basket, but rather seemed to be jumping higher than the tigers today and seemed to hit jumper after jumper from about 8-10 feet.  TU had defenders there but couldn't stop a trio of guys that took turns getting hot.  What got the Tigers over the hump though was the height advantage I thought.  I rarely saw the Majors get a rebound.

The Tigers had to come back from 6 point or greater deficits on three separate occasions during the game.  With no one that could camp out under the goal, TU's ball movement was extremely impressive and I don't think they played all that badly despite being a little flat.   I thought the Majors stayed in there just because they seemed to be shooting so well.  Maybe Frank is talking about late in the game.   

He's a good guy, and an even better supporter of MC sporting events. 

[Fan of the Game]

I thought the Trinity defense did make a big difference in the Millsaps game.  Trinity is one of the best 3 point defending teams in the conference (Millsaps shot .182 from 3 point land).  Trinity also has the league leading shot blocker in Andy Bates (2 blocks against Millsaps on top of 4 at Oglethorpe).  Trinity also has a bunch of good 3 point shooters this year in Ross Burt, Mitch Walker, Brandon York, James Lake, and Andy Bates.  In the Millsaps game they combined for 9-20 (.450). 

I must say that Rodney Rogan is a very impressive player.  Trinity had a difficult time guarding him in the paint and if this game was typical, he's got a lot of range on his shot.  I also want to compliment Tyler Warren's game.  He does so many positive things on the floor that don't make it to the stats. 

On a different subject, does anyone know why Southwestern lost by such a big margin to Oglethorpe?   

[frank_ezelle]

Regarding the Millsaps shooting, I was thinking mostly about the 3-point shooting which was a dismal 4 of 22.  Having watched these guys all year, I thought they were taking shots they normally hit with a higher frequency.  However, I will concede that TU's ability to run 6'6" guys out to contest just about all of the 3-point shots certainly may have been a factor.

Millsaps did shoot 50% for the game, a number that was helped by Edrick Montgomery's 8 of 9 shooting.  The only person who can really stop Edrick from scoring is Edrick.  There are times when he plays great defense without picking up any fouls and at other times he picks up fouls in a hurry and has to sit too much.  If Edrick stays out of foul trouble for 3 games in Memphis then Millsaps will have a great shot at winning the tournament.

Regarding sophomore Rodney Rogan, he averaged 23 points and 9 rebounds in the two games this weekend.  Those are certainly Player of the Week numbers but unfortunately Millsaps lost both games.  He reminds me so much of Daniel Waguespack because he does everything so well on both ends of the court.  I find it hard to believe that Rodney won't be 1st team SCAC at some point in the future and possibly the Player of the Year.  And I still feel that he is playing out of position at the 4 spot and that he really should be at the 3 if only Millsaps can get in a couple of big men.

As for Fan of the Game's comments about Tyler Warren, thank you for noticing.  He's a San Antonio guy who got away from Trinity and he has had a great career at Millsaps.  Millsaps has a lot of really talented players this year but Tyler is the heart and soul of this team and he is the player to look for in crunch situations.

And finally, I really enjoyed meeting TU2698.  I have a feeling that the students and alums at all of the SCAC schools are basically a pretty good lot and our conversation Sunday just added to my belief.  Sometimes the athletes' parents are a little hard to take (I've known my share of Millsaps parents in this category) but I think they can basically plead temporary insanity that lasts until their kids graduate college.

[frank_ezelle]

I know that was long (as is my tendency) so just a brief additional note.  Tyler Warren now has 1,304 points and is 3 points away from being in the top 5 scorers in Millsaps history.  It certainly is an accomplishment worth noting.

[carlweathers]

Great weekend for Trinity.  Now they head home for Senior Weekend with a chance to win the conference outright and avenge an earlier loss to a very good Centre team.  Mitch Walker really shot the ball well and seems like Brandon York played very well off the bench. 

Tyler Warren is a very good player.  Too bad he didn't go to Trinity.

The most surprising thing about the Southwestern-Oglethorpe game is that Oglethorpe won without Dickinson going off. 

Depauw is really coming on. 

[Rose Basketball]

If the SCAC Tournament started today......

1. Trinity (10-2, 18-5)
2. Southwestern (9-3, 17-6)
3. Centre (8-4, 16-6)
4. Rose-Hulman (7-6, 11-12)
5. DePauw (7-6, 11-12)
6. Millsaps (6-6, 13-10)
7. Ogelthorpe (5-7, 12-11)
8. Rhodes (3-9, 11-12)

Hendrix (3-9, 10-12)
Sewanee (3-9, 7-15)


Friday, February 24th

2:00 ET - (2) Southwestern vs. (7) Ogelthorpe
4:00 ET - (3) Centre vs. (6) Millsaps
7:00 ET - (1) Trinity vs. ( 8 ) Rhodes
9:00 ET - (4) Rose-Hulman vs. (5) DePauw

Saturday, February 25th

2:00 ET - Semifinal
4:00 ET - Semifinal

Sunday, February 26th

1:00 ET - Championship

[frank_ezelle]

I know the tournament brackets will change somewhat after this weekend but the current standings make a great opening day of the tournament:

--Southwestern and OU meet again just 2 weeks after OU has thumped the Pirates.
--Centre would be looking to avenge their 3 point home loss to the Majors in the only meeting of the year between the teams.
--The Indiana teams matching up with a chance to end the season for their in-state rival.
--Trinity as the top seed gets the worst possible 8th seed by having to play the host team right off the bat.

It will be interesting to see what changes are produced by this final week of play.

[Ron Boerger]

When was the last time the tournament was not held in Memphis?  Has there been any thought given to rotating the tourney around? 

Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to having it in the same location each year, and Memphis is probably as close to a "central" location as the SCAC can find. 

[consultant]

The tournament has only been around for three years.  The previous tourneys were all held in Memphis, and I tend to think that the SCAC commissioners have deemed the tourney a success.  But, I'm sure they are always evaluating the situation and would be prepared to change venues should the need arise.