MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Borat...NOT]

Congratulations to Coach Cunningham!  You can really tell a great coach by the way he coaches to the strengths of his players and over the past 3 years you have seen him do a great job of this.  From the team with Devins and Murray, to last years teams with a handful of great wing players to this years young team, he always gets the most out of his talent. 

[DPU3619]

Well, DePauw again the only SCAC team of note regarding the d3hoops.com Top 25 poll this week.  DPU the first team out of the poll on the men's side.  I think they might creep in there next week if they can get by Maryville (Mo.) on the road this weekend.

[frank_ezelle]

Not a great week for the SCAC with 3 road losses to go along with one home win.  Trinity lost on Tuesday at McMurray 75-62.  On Wednesday Rhodes lost at Rust 66-55 and Sewanee lost at Emory 91-62 while Oglethorpe won at home against Piedmont by a 95-90 margin.

While SCAC play won't resume until January 5th, it seems like the next four weeks will go a long way in seeing how the league shapes up this year.  It seems like this year is less about the talent on each team and more about how well a team is playing as a unit.  The team or teams that hit their stride over the next 4 weeks and come into January playing well will have a huge jump on those who lose focus through the holidays.

Millsaps plays at Pensacola Christian tonight in a game that should be much closer than the season opener won by Millsaps.  Belhaven played at PC last week and only came away with a 10-point victory.  The tip-off for the Millsaps game tonight is 7:30 and it can be heard over the internet at this link:

http://www.espnradio1240.com/

[frank_ezelle]

I just heard a great story that some might enjoy during this lull in the season.

One of my nephews spent a little time at Millsaps and hopes to return soon, but at the moment he is serving with the Marine Reserves in Djibouti, Africa.  Just a few minutes ago he looked up and saw Tyler Warren who played basketball at Millsaps from 2002-2006.  Tyler (along with Andy Bates of Trinity) is now touring with the Harlem Globetrotters and playing for the always winless Washington Generals and they are doing a show at the base today. 

Halfway around the world guarding a small patch of land in Africa and a former Millsaps classmate shows up for a basketball game--what are the odds of that!

[evacuee]

That is a pretty incredible story, wow.  I wonder if there's any chance for Bates or Warren to make the Globetrotters.   

Did I read something about the Friday/Sunday commitment by the SCAC?  I was actually counting on that this year so I could see both Tiger teams in Jackson on a Sunday and bring some recruits that are 7 and 9 years old.  However, Trinity Sports Info told me that both games will be played on a Saturday night instead.  They'll play Friday at Rhodes and then get down to Jackson for an 8:00 tipoff on Saturday, which, I have to admit, might make for a serious home court advantage for the Majors.  That schedule sounds pretty harsh to me. 

Frank, I guess I won't be able to make it to the hanger this year.  The timning is going to push us too far past curfew for the recruits.   

[frank_ezelle]

TU, it's probably good that the tykes can't come up to Millsaps because once they say the splendor of the Hangar Dome they would be hooked on Millsaps for life.

Regarding the Saturday game, I don't know what the story is on that.  The pocket schedule from the start of the season shows Sunday for the game but that apparently has been changed to a Saturday game.  It shouldn't be too bad for Trinity to travel from Memphis to Jackson on game day especially if they are flying.  It's not even that bad if they come by bus.

Also, not that it matters much, but how can a good guy like you have a negative karma?  I'll bump you up one to help get you out of the hole.

[scaccommish]

Just a piece of info for the SCAC board, the league's ADs voted this past spring to allow teams the option to play on Friday/Saturday - mainly due to travel concerns for teams that fly. In the post 9/11 era, it seems that Sunday flight options have become more and more limited at some of the airports our teams have to fly in and out of. As long as the home school can accomodate the change, Friday/Saturday is now an option.

[Borat...NOT]

I saw Andy Bates today in the Trinity University Dining Hall with a friend.  Does this mean he is no longer traveling with the globetrotters or are they just back in the states on a break??? 

[Ralph Turner]

scacsid, that makes for some interesting changes.

It will be interesting to see the way that teams handle the various trips.

Southwestern/Trinity seems a likely Fri-Sat pair.  It is only a 2 hour drive between them and both have good airports (Austin/SAT).

Austin College/ Colorado College is another.  DFW/Love Field or CSprings/DIA gives some choices.  Those are only 2 hour flights apart.

Does Oglethorpe/Sewanee become a Fri/Sat?

Does Hendrix/Rhodes?

I will appreciate everyone's thoughts.

[frank_ezelle]

I saw Andy Bates today in the Trinity University Dining Hall with a friend.  Does this mean he is no longer traveling with the globetrotters or are they just back in the states on a break??? 

I know that Andy went off to the Globetrotter's earlier in the year, maybe around August.  Given the amount of travel involved in the job, I would think that they get time off to simply recover.  I'd be interested to know what his experience was like.

[Borat...NOT]

Andy left around September for around 3 months overseas with the Globetrotters.  From what I heard he really enjoyed his time.  I know he was looking at playing with a pro team in portugal but that feel through so he went with the trotters.  It's most interesting to me that he, Jason Morris, and Sean Devins were working out together, preparing to try out for european squads and Bates is the only one still playing basketball.  Morris decided to give it up early into the process but Devins attended numerous camps and tournaments trying to ink a deal.   Although Bates is a good player and had a great career at Trinity, it seems to me like Devins and Morris would be more coveted professional players. 

Any thoughts on why Bates is still playing and Devins wasn't able to ink any sort of deal?

[frank_ezelle]

I got an email from my nephew after he got back from the game.  He was talking about how with the Globetrotters it is about a lot more that just the basketball.  All of the players interact with the fans a fair amount either before, during or after the game.  Some of the players also go to game locations a few days before the game and talk to groups in schools, youth clubs, etc. 

It could be that Andy just fit the ambassador role that the Globetrotters are looking for as a member of the Nationals and that was just as important as his basketball skills (I mistakenly said the Washington Generals but that goes back a long time--you know you are old if you remember Red Klotz and his unerring two-handed set shot). 

[DPU3619]

DePauw had no problems with Maryville (Mo.) this evening in a 68-50 win.  Stephen Schott (10 pts, 15 reb) and Matt McDonald (13 & 10) both with double-doubles.  Mike Moore with 16.

DePauw didn't shoot all that well, but Maryville shot it considerably less well.  DPU jumped out to a big lead about 5 minutes in and cruised the rest of the way.  All of the sudden, Coach Fen has the Tigers at 6-1.

[DPU3619]

Any thoughts on why Bates is still playing and Devins wasn't able to ink any sort of deal?

The Sean Devins I remember is a kid who is almost 7'0" and might weigh 125 pounds right out of the swimming pool.  The times I saw him, I wasn't really that impressed with his ability to step out and hit a jumper.  Perhaps the 3 or 4 times I saw him were an exception to the rule, but I can't really recall him having anything much outside of about 15 feet or so. 

So, you've got a tall, lanky guy with not a lot of muscle down low and an average at best (from my observations) jumper.  While he was a great shot-blocker and rebounder, I attribute that more to his ridiculous size advantage at this level and having arms that might have actually been 6 feet long.

[MajorAlum80]

I hate to make drastic statements this early in the year so I will only say that I'm starting to worry about the Majors.  They lost to Pensacola Christian by nine on Friday.   The Trinity and Belhaven losses I can understand....although throwing up 30 three's against Trinity is something you scratch you head about...but to be frank, Dallas and Pensacola Christian are teams that we should not be losing to.  In our season opener (the only game I made it to), we beat Pensacola by 31.  I know homecourt advantage helps but we were clearly a far superior team.  We are a much better team than we have been showing.  After seeing the football team this season, I am not putting it past the boys to make a run but we need to get things going.