MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Just wondering if anyone had any early season thoughts now that we are near the end of basically pre-conference play.  It's a little different this year with 4 from the East and 4 from the West getting to the SCAC Tournament.  It makes things a little tougher, especially for the teams in the West where 2 out of 6 will miss the tournament instead of the league wide 2 out of 10 last season.  On the East side it is only 1 of 5 that will miss the tournament because BSC is ineligible, so the number is the same as the league wide 2 out of 10 from 2006-07.

In the West you have Trinity undefeated and Millsaps is undefeated against non-D1 opponents, their only loss being to Southeastern Louisiana.  It seems like the West can be divided into 3 pairs with Trinity and Millsaps at the top, Hendrix and Southwestern in the middle, and Austin and Colorado at the bottom.  I can't say that I did a lot of research to back that up so I'd love to hear any differing opinions that might convince me that the groupings should be different.

In the East it is a little more confusing.  I would have thought DePauw held the #1 spot followed by Centre at #2, but the results of their game at Centre throws a wrench in the works.  My gut feeling is that DePauw is still the stronger team, but either way, they are clearly the top of the East.  After that, is it OU third followed by Rhodes and Sewanee?  And if that's the case, is OU actually closer to the top pair or the bottom pair.  Or to put it a different way, is it more likely that OU would finish 2nd in the East or 4th in the East.  I'd be curious to hear what others think on how the East looks after the first few weeks.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Your view of the West seems to be right... I don't know much about the West but I always thought Millsaps was a really good team.  Trinity was ranked the past week and boasts an undefeated record but I still think it will finish Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Southwestern.

As for the East- Depauw and Centre are at the top by themselves.  Obviously OU, Rhodes and Sewanee will battle it out for the final 2 spots.  I wouldn't look to much into OU's dismantling of Rhodes.  OU shot the ball really well and played one of their best games of the year.  OU will look really good one day and then horrible the next.  This could either translate into being a good team they're not supposed to... or loosing to someone unexpectedly.  I see this season following the pattern of SEC football... not much parity and everyone beating up on everyone.

[irion]

I think the SCAC East could become clearer after the January 4-6 games.  OU and UOS go to DePauw and Centre. If either OU or UOS come out of the weekend with a split it could be interesting at the end of the season when when Centre/Depauw vist OU and UOS.  The analogy of SEC football is good, but with the SCAC teams beating up on each other it may decrease the chances for a second SCAC team to get an at large bid to the NCAA tournament

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps plays their last game before the Christmas break this evening, hosting local NAIA Belhaven College.  While it isn't a game that will be included in the South Regional rankings, I feel like it is an important game for Millsaps. 

Belhaven is a talented team, certainly comparable to the top tier in the SCAC, and it will be a good test for Millsaps.  Last year Millsaps got off to a slow start in pre-conference and the Belhaven game was somewhat indicative of that start.  Millsaps played with an uncertainty to start that game, almost like they didn't trust that their skills would be enough to win the game and they felt like maybe they had to do more than their normal game.  The result was a 10-point Belhaven lead at the half in a game that Belhaven eventually won by 9. 

I think this is a different Millsaps team this season and I think they will play with more confidence this evening than they showed last season.  What I'll be looking for this evening is the attitude of the Millsaps team--that will tell me more about the prospects of the remainder of the season than the final score of the game.

[JJFlash]

Trinity lost its first game tonight to Carthage College.  The Tigers had a 2 week layoff and the rust really showed.  They didn't hit a 3 pointer for the first 35 minutes of the game going 0-for-10 until the first one fell.  The overall FG% was 37%.  I'll be interested to see how they respond tomorrow night against Cal State East Bay.

[frank_ezelle]

While it won't help improve their NCAA ranking, Millsaps got a nice win over NAIA Belhaven College this evening.  Belhaven jumped out to a 13-2 lead and Millsaps came back to take the halftime lead and then led all of the second half for a 75-70 victory.  Rodney Rogan had a big game with 25 points and 14 rebounds.  This leaves Millsaps at 7-1 going into the Christmas break with the one loss being to a D1 team.

Link to story:  http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/basketball-m/121707release.shtml

[DPU3619]

DePauw beat Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute earlier this evening for their first win in that building since 02-03.  53-52 final.  DePauw made 4 (four) FGs in the second half, but won it at the stripe.  Oilar with a 13-12 dub dub.  Freshman Steve Lemasters with 10.

[frank_ezelle]

Box Score for Millsaps-Belhaven game:  http://www.scac-online.org/basketball_mens/mc08.htm

I believe Edrick Montgomery played limited minutes due to a minor injury but Millsaps still won the rebounding battle thanks to 16 offensive rebounds.  With a 7-1 record at the moment and 17 games left in the regular season, Millsaps has a decent shot at 20 regular season wins if they continue to play like they did last night.  I don't have a media guide to consult, but I know that 20 win seasons are a real rarity in Millsaps basketball history.

[SouthernBFIB]

Was anyone as impressed as I was to O-thorpe fight back against a much better Emory team as I was. They could've mailed it in when it looked like Emory would roll but much creidt to the coaching staff and players for making it a game in the last 3 minutes.

[frank_ezelle]

I thought the above post was an odd one considering that Emory won by 17.  I went in search for a story on the game and found the following:

http://www.d3hoops.com/releases.php?release=bkb6rteqx3wa5xon

In reading the story I see that OU did cut 20 points out of a 30 point lead so I see the point being made by SouthernBFIB.  On the other hand, there must have been times when OU look really bad in this game to find themselves so far behind in the first 20-25 minutes.  It seems like an earlier post indicated that OU has been inconsistent in their play this year and it sounds like this game is a good example.

[Dave84]

I wouldn't be so quick to put Millsaps ahead of Trinity in the west this year.  While on paper, Montgomery and Rogan look like they should have Millsaps as a SCAC favorite, yet they haven't proven to be as consistent through out the years.  Defensively, you know what you'll get from Trinity.  Coach Cunningham is by far the best defensive coach in the league and I don't think anyone could argue that.  So with a great defensive team, they will always be in games.  After a solid showing last year for such a young group, I think you'll find Trinity pulling-out quite a few close games that they would have otherwise lost last year.  Millsaps doesn't seem to have made very much improvement from year to year, if you ask me.  

Then again, you can take this for what it's worth since I am a Trinity supporter.

[frank_ezelle]

As an obvious Millsaps supporter, I agree with Dave84.  Trinity has already proven that they are a quality team and they have the scheduling advantage this year.  In the crossover portion of the schedule, Millsaps plays DePauw and Centre on the road this year while Trinity gets those two in San Antonio. 

Can Millsaps go on the road and beat Centre and DePauw and is Trinity good enough to defend their home court against DePauw and Centre?  The answer to that should go a long way in determining the outcome of the West.  That's not discounting the chances of the other teams in the SCAC West, but between the two teams that are favored to win, Trinity has the easier schedule.

As for Millsaps not being significantly better this season, I can see that train of thought because they basically have the same team as last year.  I think the changes are in the intangibles with more maturity, more focus that comes with a group of seniors wanting to win a championship in their last go-round, and a bench that better understands their role with the team.  Keep in mind that Millsaps was 11-3 in the SCAC last year with those losses being by a total of 7 points (that did include two losses to Trinity), so they are a team where slight improvements over last year might go a long way.

By the way, I'm glad to see the post by Dave84 and SouthernBFIB--it's always good to get new voices involved in the conversation.

[JJFlash]

Trinity bounced back well tonight.  They beat Cal State East Bay by 12.  BJ Moon led the way with 21.

Dave84 hit the nail on the head about Coach Cunningham and defense.  This is the third game in a row in which Trinity held the opposition under 50 points.  If the Tigers keep up the intensity on the defensive end, they will be in every game and be a tough team to beat at home or on the road.  If Frank E. is right about the schedule being in Trinity's favor, the Tigers have to be among the favorites in the SCAC.

Happy Holidays to everybody on this board!

[frank_ezelle]

As we all know, there are 12 teams in the SCAC (11 eligible for the SCAC AQ), and I don't want to discount any teams this early in the season.  Road games are always difficult to win and on most nights it is a battle to defend your home court.  Add to that the possibility of key injuries or maybe even a key transfer coming into a program and things can get shuffled quite a bit.

That being said, let's go with the preseason SCAC voting and say that Centre, DePauw, Millsaps and Trinity are the top 4 teams.  If it came down to those 4 teams in the SCAC semi-finals, does anyone think that their team would be a lock to win the next two games and the SCAC AQ?  I don't think so, which is why it is so important that these teams have all gotten off to good starts with Millsaps and Trinity being a 7-1, Centre at 5-1 and DePauw at 5-2 (I didn't have the time to look up the records against just D3 competition).  Being in position for an at-large bid is a good backup plan.

While looking up the current team records, I see that the D3Hoops.com voters feel like Trinity is the favorite in the SCAC this year with Trinity being ranked 22nd this week.  Centre received 11 votes and Millsaps received none--I think the voters are still mad about Coach DuBose pulling his starters in the MC football game.    I guess it doesn't hurt the motivation of the Millsaps team to be ignored so maybe it's good that they received no votes.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't think most people are overly sold on Trinity, fwiw.