MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

warriorfan · January 06, 2007, 02:17:36 AM

Hendrix defeated Trinity tonight in a very fast paced game. Senior Michael Bennet had a game high of 20. He was followed by freshman Cal Rose and Andrew King. Senior Matt Secrease is out with an injury, but should be in shape to play soon. I believe this the first time Hendrix has beat Trinity in 10 years. Southwestern will make a visit to Grove Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, the Warriors can keep the streak alive!!!

frank_ezelle · January 06, 2007, 08:30:09 AM

Two big home wins for Sewanee and Hendrix. In the other two games it was the visitors who came out on top, Centre over OU by a 76-57 score and Southwestern over Austin in a low scoring 52-33 game.

For those with short memories, let me point out that Sewanee and Hendrix were the two teams that did not make the SCAC tournament last year. With the bottom two teams from last year beating the likes of Trinity and nationally ranked DePauw, I think we have ample proof that this will be a wide open year with very few if any easy games.

Millsaps plays at Rhodes this afternoon at 5. There is no scheduled broadcast of the game.

colincondi · January 06, 2007, 11:16:12 AM

A couple of shockers on the SCAC men's side... Sewanee over DePauw and Hendrix over Trinity... Granted, Trinity is down from the last few years and Hendrix seems to be playing well, but the margin surprised me. Sewanee should be pretty strong now that they are healthy... how did they force DePauw into shooting 30 3's? SW over Austin was somewhat expected, and Centre over OU is not a big surprise, but the score was... Centre held OU 30 points below their average...

I agree with Frank... I don't see many easy games anywhere on the schedule...

JJFlash · January 06, 2007, 07:16:48 PM

I saw the Trinity-Hendrix game last night. I was impressed by Hendrix' execution on the offensive end of the court. Many of their set plays led to easy shots. The FG% of 48% tells you they accomplished what they set out to do. Trinity had a poor shooting night. (I'm not taking too much away from the Warriors defense) LOTS of pretty good looks just didn't fall for the Tigers.

frank_ezelle · January 07, 2007, 08:42:58 AM

Just to get the quick facts out of the way, Millsaps won 84-67 at Rhodes on Saturday. Rogan had 20, Montgomery and Bailey had 18, and Odum had 15. Chris Sanders grabbed 12 rebounds.

I would never lie to anyone and tell them that I was a great athlete or coach in my past. I was decent, but no where near the college level in any way. On the other hand, I do think I'm way above average in making honest observations even when it comes to Millsaps. Driving back from Memphis, I came up with the following 3 observations about Millsaps basketball:

1) I've seen most of the Millsaps home games since my nephew joined the team in 1998-99. This year's team is the most talented group in that 9 year stretch.

2) The best team I've seen at Millsaps during that 9 year stretch is the 2000-01 team that finished 20-6, tied for 1st in the conference, and went to the NCAA Tournament.

3) If this year's team wants to be better than the 2000-01 team, then I have the following suggestion. Ask Coach Wise for a copy of the 2/22/04 tape of Trinity vs. Millsaps and then have all the players meet and watch the tape without the coaches. That 2003-04 team was lacking in height, talent and depth, but they played with more intensity and heart than any Millsaps team that I've ever seen. If the current team can rise up to the consistent intensity level of the 2003-04 team then they will take their play to an entirely different level.

I'm not sure just how many people will be offended by my observations but I am certain in the accuracy of my statements. This year's team has the chance to be great and they have the chance to challenge for best ever at Millsaps in 2007-08. It's up to them to decide just how great they really want to be.

Ralph Turner · January 07, 2007, 09:13:53 AM

Quote from: frank_ezelle on January 07, 2007, 08:42:58 AM
Just to get the quick facts out of the way, Millsaps won 84-67 at Rhodes on Saturday. Rogan had 20, Montgomery and Bailey had 18, and Odum had 15. Chris Sanders grabbed 12 rebounds.

I would never lie to anyone and tell them that I was a great athlete or coach in my past. I was decent, but no where near the college level in any way. On the other hand, I do think I'm way above average in making honest observations even when it comes to Millsaps. Driving back from Memphis, I came up with the following 3 observations about Millsaps basketball:

1) I've seen most of the Millsaps home games since my nephew joined the team in 1998-99. This year's team is the most talented group in that 9 year stretch.

2) The best team I've seen at Millsaps during that 9 year stretch is the 2000-01 team that finished 20-6, tied for 1st in the conference, and went to the NCAA Tournament.

3) If this year's team wants to be better than the 2000-01 team, then I have the following suggestion. Ask Coach Wise for a copy of the 2/22/04 tape of Trinity vs. Millsaps and then have all the players meet and watch the tape without the coaches. That 2003-04 team was lacking in height, talent and depth, but they played with more intensity and heart than any Millsaps team that I've ever seen. If the current team can rise up to the consistent intensity level of the 2003-04 team then they will take their play to an entirely different level.

I'm not sure just how many people will be offended by my observations but I am certain in the accuracy of my statements. This year's team has the chance to be great and they have the chance to challenge for best ever at Millsaps in 2007-08. It's up to them to decide just how great they really want to be.

Good morning Frank,

As an outside observer who listened to that Millsaps/MC Choctaw first round playoff game in 2001 over the Chocs' Jackson radio internet feed, I think that you have made very well-considered observation and provided an example to substantiate the constructive criticisms that you are making.

I see that the SCAC is wide open this year. I don't think that there is a dominant Top 25 team that we have seen in a Trinity or a DePauw earlier in the decade.

The SCAC race should be very entertaining. With the balance of talent that is in that league, I think that you have identified the distinguishing characteristic of the 2007 SCAC Champion...the intense desire to excel.

irion · January 07, 2007, 06:25:40 PM

Sewanee lost to Centre 80-68. Garcia had 26, Pursell had 12 and 6 rebounds. I don't think it would have changed the outcome but the offciating was inconsistent at best. On to Rhodes and Milsaps this weekend.

DPU3619 · January 07, 2007, 07:30:11 PM

Quote from: irion on January 07, 2007, 06:25:40 PM
I don't think it would have changed the outcome but the offciating was inconsistent at best.

At Sewanee? Questionable officiating? You don't say....

I always get a good chuckle out of thinking about the referee who threw a Sewanee fan out for absolutely nothing up on the mountain against DePauw last year. That same fellow also gave out about 40 techicals and whistled at least 2,000 fouls by himself in that game.

On an unrelated note, here's the rest of the scores from today:

DePauw 76
Oglethorpe 70

Trinity 64
Austin 45

Southwestern 57
Hendrix 43

irion · January 07, 2007, 10:07:08 PM

At Sewanee? Questionable officiating? You don't say....

I always get a good chuckle out of thinking about the referee who threw a Sewanee fan out for absolutely nothing up on the mountain against DePauw last year. That same fellow also gave out about 40 techicals and whistled at least 2,000 fouls by himself in that game.

The guy he threw out was on the Board of Trust at Sewanee. Of course, Coach Thoni does not help the situation by staying on the refs. He is better this year....

carlweathers · January 08, 2007, 11:26:53 AM

Quote from: DPU3619 on January 07, 2007, 07:30:11 PM
Quote from: irion on January 07, 2007, 06:25:40 PM
I don't think it would have changed the outcome but the offciating was inconsistent at best.

At Sewanee? Questionable officiating? You don't say....

So far this is line of the season. Well done.

consultant · January 08, 2007, 02:13:50 PM

The SCAC season is going to be wild for sure. As Frank and Ralph have mentioned in earlier posts, the teams that have a solid nucleus of players that exude that "intense desire to excel" will come out on top more often than not in league play. A lot of these teams (Southwestern, Centre, Hendrix, and Millsaps) have begun to learn how to win. Will they keep it up?

consultant · January 09, 2007, 11:57:03 AM

Well, I see where Millsaps lost to Rust 92-70 last night at Rust. I bet Rust has only lost a handful of games at home in the history of its men's basketball program. I was not able to listen to the game. Did any Millsaps' faithful catch it?

frank_ezelle · January 09, 2007, 04:11:43 PM

I listened to the game and I've been waiting to see a box score. It sounded like Rust was raining three's from all over the court and they broke open a close game with a barrage early in the second half. I really didn't get a good feel on how the individual stats went for the night. For a while it sounded like Edrick Montgomery was going to have a shot at the new 11 for 11 shooting record set last week but I know he missed at least one shot. Unfortunately for Millsaps, it was a game where Edrick got in foul trouble early and stayed in foul trouble throughout which limited his minutes and his effectiveness on the defensive end.

Just another example from the last 3 days of how unpredictable the SCAC is this year: On Saturday Millsaps won at Rhodes by a 84-67 margin. On Monday Rhodes won at Dallas 81-53 while Millsaps was losing by 22 at Rust. It's hard to predict how any team is going to do this year on a given night.

frank_ezelle · January 09, 2007, 04:32:43 PM

Just to update my post on the Rust game, there now is a story on the Millsaps website (http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/basketball-m/010907release.shtml). Edrick Montgomery did come within a shot of breaking the shooting percentage record as he hit 12 of 13 and I think that miss came in about the last 5-6 minutes.

Rust shot 60% from the field which included 14 of 24 3-point shots, 12 of 16 from behind the arc in the 2nd half.

frank_ezelle · January 10, 2007, 09:14:17 AM

A QUESTION FOR ANY HENDRIX FAN:

The SCAC scoreboard indicates that Hendrix does a livestat and a webcast for their basketball games but there seems to be no information of such on the athletic website.

It looks like the livestats can be reached at this link: http://www.hendrixwarriors.com/livestats/xlive.htm

Is there a link for a webcast and are they covering all of the games?