MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[JJFlash]

Happy New Year, Frank.

Will the Trinity - Millsaps game be broadcast on the web?  If so, could you provide a link or point me to the website?

Thanks!

[frank_ezelle]

There are no broadcasts or live stats of the Millsaps games this year.  I'll post a score when I get home after the game but unfortunately, I don't have any way to post scores during the game.  It should be a great game, but I also expect the Trinity game at Hendrix to be a tough matchup as well.

[irion]

I saw UOS play at Huntington on New Years Eve.  Sewanee won easily.  I don't know how much good the game did the players since they have a tough road trip to Depauw and Centre this weekend.  It did give some of the younger guys some significant playing time.

I am staying in Indy for the Depauw game this weekend.  Anyone have suggestions as to where to stay, resturants, etc?

[cush]

I'd stay on campus at depauw, walden inn and make sure to go to marvins if they are open and get a burger and fries. Than again, if your not a college student, greencastle isn't that fun, so i'd probably stay around keystone mall in indy. Or you could stay in bloomington, which is probably closer, maybe an hour or little less, and get a feel for IU.

[Dave84]

sorry about posting the question before break and not responding.  not trying to go back to older conversations, but i would like to side with carl on saying  burr would have never started on trinity.  i feel that we all place a little too much emphasis on statistics (ESPECIALLY talking about 1,000 point scorers).  obviously, a player must be good to get to the 1,000 pt mark, but it may be an easier road for some than others.  in regards to the trinity team, i truly believe that 8 or 9 of the players from the '04-'05 team could have been 1,000 point scorers on several other teams.  5 players (morris, devins, murray, bates, and burt) actually did make it to the 1,000 point total.  this is an interesting statistic because they all played at least 3 years with each other.  This means that the scoring was a bit more balanced, and to defend trinity even further, they were always a more defensive minded team that did not place as much emphasis on putting up shots, as some other teams do.  i mean honestly, whose position on that trinity team could burr have taken?  sorry about making this one lengthy...

anyways, does anyone have any insight on predictions for this weekend?  trinity vs. hendrix/millsaps?  i know trinity lost to hendrix twice last season and are really looking for payback.

[DPU3619]

I am staying in Indy for the Depauw game this weekend.  Anyone have suggestions as to where to stay, resturants, etc?

You've got a 45 minute drive to campus ahead of you if you choose to stay in Indy.  If you stay in Cloverdale off of I-70, there's about every kind of hotel chain and fast food restaurant available and you are just 15 minutes from campus. 

If you're really set on staying in Indy, let me know what side of town you're staying on.  I can suggest a few restaurants.

[frank_ezelle]

Trinity is on the road this weekend so that usually means two tough games.  It might help the road teams some that there probably won't be many students on campus, but few SCAC really have a significant home team advantage because of their rowdly crowds.

I don't really see Hendrix beating Trinity just going by what I've seen in the stats.  Andrew King has been the leading Hendrix rebounder in 8 of 9 games and the leading scorer in 6 of 9.  He is a very good player, but it doesn't sound like Hendrix has a strong enough supporting cast to pull off an upset of Trinity.

The Millsaps-Trinity game should be a good one, maybe as close as the football game was this year and maybe someone will win on a 70-foot shot.  With Trinity ranked #22 in the D3 Poll and Millsaps not even receiving a single vote, Trinity is obviously the favorite in this game.  It appears that both teams are better than they were last year, a year where Trinity won both games by a combined total of 5 points.  Can Millsaps turn the tables this year?  With no common opponents between the two teams this year it is hard to say, but it would be a pretty good guess that there probably won't be more than 120 points scored in the game and the winning margin will be 5 or less.  

[Dave84]

good insight frank.  king has seemed to be the a solid player each year he's played.  it's interesting that hendrix has not been able to put the pieces around him to compete, I figured this year he would have a supporting cast.  As for the Millsaps/Trinity game, who knows maybe we'll end up with another Pontiac game changing performance (which, by the way, it would look great for the SCAC if everyone voted/told friends to vote for the Trinity football play - https://r.espn.go.com/espn/contests/07GameChangingPerformance/index?cmp=ncaafb07weekly).  As long as I can remember, Millsaps has always played Trinity close and vice versa.  With fairly similar styles of play, this weekend should make for terrific basketball.  It really all depends on how well Trinity's big men can handle Montgomery.  For the first time in a long time a freshmen has been contributing at Trinity in Luke Caldarera.  He is a very similar player to Rodney Rogan, in being a versatile 4-man/3-man.  I would predict that he could play as an x-factor for this game.  One key point of emphasis for Millsaps will be their guard play against BJ Moon.  He's a tough cover, and if I'm correct, turned out to be the difference maker in last year's matchup in Jackson.

[Pat Coleman]

Latest poll released today. Trinity drops out and Millsaps picks up a handful of votes.

[frank_ezelle]

Well, since I prefer for Millsaps to be in the role of the team that gets no respect, I must point out that Trinity got over 14 times the number of votes as Millsaps received.  But hey, I'll gladly admit that Millsaps really hasn't beaten an upper level NCAA D3 team this season so I fully understand why they only have a handful of votes.  If they play up to their potential for the rest of the season, the all important NCAA rankings will turn out okay.

I'm not sure if there is anyone on the board who has seen both Millsaps and Trinity play so who can really predict how the game will turn out this Saturday.  I think the key for Millsaps will be thier balance and their added depth this season.  In 9 games, Millsaps has had 6 different guys as the high scorer.  If Montgomery is having an off night, Rogan seems to hit for 25.  If Bailey is missing from the outside, Oscar is hitting for 15 points.  And in most cases, someone comes off the bench to provide a nice scoring lift.  If Millsaps plays like they did against Loyola, then they will win the game--but how often does a team hit 17 of 26 from behind the arc? 

It has all the makings of a great game and it's a same that it won't be on the internet and it is taking place when the Millsaps students are still out on break.  But as I've mentioned before, the next game on the schedule in Friday night, not Saturday, and both teams need to make sure that they don't get caught looking ahead.

[pbrooks3]

I still think Millsaps has got to be the class of the league on the western side of the conference this year.  Trinity looks very good defensively from the stat lines, but I think the Majors can win this weekend.  I know Centre is glad they're only playing Millsaps once and at Danville this year.

[Dave84]

a neat little side accolades for Coach Cunningham's Trinity program.  In '02-03, Trinity ended up #1 in the country in FG% defense with quite a large team.  Devins obviously being a huge reason for that statistic.  But I looked up on the NCAA stat leader board and found this year's Trinity team to be #1 in that category again.  This just shows how amazing of a defensive coach he really is, because this team is no where near the size and length as the Devin's era, but have still managed to be a nationally recognized defensive team.  I would definitely say Centre has been in the same mold the past half decade.  frank, will you be at the millsaps game with possible updates and game recap?

[pbrooks3]

Dave84, I agree.  Cunningham and Mason emphasize the defense for sure.  Centre has continued to improve in this area over the past 2-3 years.  Centre had the good fortune of having its own Devins-type player last year with John Patterson in the middle swatting shots aside.  John is now in Europe playing basketball.  That is the major difference between last year's squad and this year's - no established post presence in the Centre lineup.

[frank_ezelle]

Dave, I'll be at the game taking photos but will have no means of providing updates.  I live 5 minutes from the school so I'll make sure and check the message board as soon as I get in on Saturday night and I'll post the results if they haven't already been posted.

HOWEVER, we are talking about Saturday night on the Millsaps-Trinity game and there are games this evening that should not be overlooked.  While I think Trinity should win on the road against Hendrix, I also thought the Trinity football team would win on the road against Rhodes, so Hendrix winning tonight is not outside the realm of possibilities.

As for Southwestern, it's hard to figure out much from their box scores.  They often have 10 players with double-digit minutes played, and while they lost their two games after Christmas, I noticed that they starters played a little less than normal.  Will the starters play a little more this evening and make Southwestern a tougher team?  I don't know, but it seems like a possibility.  As we saw in football, sometimes coaches play non-conference games and conference games a little different.  I expect two tough games for the Millsaps men this weekend and defending their home court with two wins is a key if Millsaps wants to win the West division.

[Dave84]

oh I totally agree about not overlooking tonight's hendrix game.  if anything, hendrix is a HUGE game for trinity because of last season's two losses.  On the topic of Southwestern, I really was expecting Matt Caplan to have a huge season, but it seems like he has been putting up similar numbers to last year, if not worse.  He had a solid year last year and has the skills/size to be a good wing scorer in this conference.  Every time I've seen him play, he's looked tough and played hard, so it will be interesting to see how he performs through out conference.  I'd love a recap on tonight's game, if you don't mind frank! thanks!