MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[OLD STUDENT/ATHLETE]

With the senior losses to Centre, Millsaps, DePauw, and Oglethorpe, the top four teams in the conference this year, I think there will be the most parity that I have seen in over 10 years. Problably, the favorites have to be Birmingham-Southern with all 5 starters back and great recruits to come,
in the East, and Trinity and Hendrix in the West. I don't think there will be a dominating team in the conference other than possibly Birmingham-Southern. In my part of the country, Centre and DePauw are after some fantastic players, "difference makers", and if they get them, they could surprise everyone next year!

[Ralph Turner]

BSC is ineligible for post-season play.

Last year, they did not even count the games.

Do we know if BSC will be "double-promoted" to Provisional Year #3 this summer, when the NCAA evaluates their progress?

[pbrooks3]

I think Hendrix and Trinity will be the teams to contend with in 2008-09. No dominating teams to speak of across the conference. B-S will be tough for everyone, but as Ralph noted they're still provisional at least for one more season.  The East will be interesting to watch - Oglethorpe might be the team that wins the division. Still like what I see at Centre and DePauw - how their respective new players look will be key. Sewanee will improve with at least 2-3 additional conference wins. Rhodes has the players, just don't know whether they've got the desire.  Can't wait until next season!

[OLD STUDENT/ATHLETE]

Congratulations to Coach Greg Mason for South Region Coach of The Year,
and kudos to the SCAC players selected for South All Region; Edrick Montgomery and Lorenze Bailey of Millsaps, Mike Moore of DePauw, Andrew King of Hendrix, and Thomas Britt of Centre.

[vozdelospetrels]

Has anyone ever thought about how fun it would be to take the All region teams and play a tournament with those teams. I've always thought about this with DI college basketball with the all conference teams battling it out. It would really be great for regional bragging rights and a good show case of DIII talent. Probably won't happen, but would be interesting. I don't know too much about the other regions, but could you imagine all of those guys listed on the South region team playing together. All 15 of those guys can play. Imagine Jake Baldwin and Edrick Montogemery not having to play Center as they would have the 6-10 Ben Strong down low. Then give them Mike Moore running the point...and a loaded bench. It would be awesome.

[frank_ezelle]

That would be fun to see an all-regional tournament.  I always thought that Edrick would be stronger as a 4 instead of a 5, but there was no one to take his spot in the middle at Millsaps. 

Good luck to the Lady Petrols this evening--I pulling for back-to-back national championship for the SCAC on the women's side.  Just having a SCAC team in the Final Four for 2 straight years is a great story.

[frank_ezelle]

Washington U. wins the national championship this evening.  In the Elite Eight, Washington had the benefit of a home court and a big home crowd as they came back in the second half to beat a cold shooting Millsaps team 57-46 (and yes, Millsaps had those same advantages in the first two rounds).  In the national semifinals on a neutral court, Washington beat Hope 89-74 and in the championship game they beat Amherst 90-68.  It makes me think that Millsaps winning the national championship this year would not have been such a far-fetched idea. 

It also made me think about a few "what ifs".  Was the difference between Millsaps and a national championship the loss of the 3 players to injuries/health issues this year.  What if Sandro Norris, the starting center as a freshman 3 years ago, had stayed at Millsaps for his full 4 years?  Or what if Tyler Winford had picked Millsaps over MC 4 years ago--his grandfather was a big sports star at Millsaps and I believe Tyler's choice came down to the two schools.

I know that every team has their "what ifs", but I never fully realized during the season that Millsaps was so close to the best in the country.  Just add in any one of the above "what ifs" and I could see them winning the national title.  Add in two and I think they do win the national title and they finish the season undefeated against D3 teams.

What it all means is that I need to change my way of thinking when it comes to Millsaps athletics and the national scene.  Two years ago Coach Page had the baseball team one pitch away from the college world series.  Coach DuBose has won SCAC championships in his first two "rebuilding" seasons, so think how much better the team could be in the next few years.  And now Coach Wise has made it to the Elite Eight with a team that apparently could have won the national title.  As an overall program, I know that Millsaps is still ranked low in the SCAC, but in the major men's sports, the idea of Millsaps winning a national title doesn't seem to be an impossible dream.

[Ralph Turner]

And I wish that UMHB's Jason Wagner and Matt Dickey had been healthy...
And that #1 seed UMHB had been able to host a sectional...

[pbrooks3]

What ifs unfortunately don't win championships?  Millsaps had an outstanding team that boosted the SCAC to a higher ground in men's basketball in 2007-08. They played a competitive game against the eventual national champs, even winning the 1st 20 minutes. What we can say is this was the best Millsaps team in the modern era and one that could compete in D3 on the national level against the best.  

[frank_ezelle]

And I wish that UMHB's Jason Wagner and Matt Dickey had been healthy...
And that #1 seed UMHB had been able to host a sectional...

And that's an excellent point.  If I remember correctly, even Washington U. lost an outstanding point guard during the season which they overcame in winning the national title.

There are plenty of teams like UMHB who can make the argument that they could have won the national title except for a few "what ifs".  I'm just starting to fully realize that Millsaps is one of the teams in that group in a few selected sports.  As much as I support the Millsaps sport programs, I must admit that overall it is one of the weakest programs in the SCAC when you look at the President's Trophy race.  Millsaps is currently in the 9th spot out of 11 schools, with maybe an outside shot at 7th overall by the end of the year except that we'll get 0 points in men's and women's track.

All in all, Millsaps isn't the kind of athletic program that you would expect to produce a national champion and yet a few programs have broken through on the national scene.  The 2006 baseball team was one starting pitcher short of a great chance for a national championship.  This year's basketball team was obviously very close.  I won't be surprised if the football team is very close in 2010 if and when Coach DuBose hits his 5th year of building the program.  It's just nice to see that some teams at Millsaps do have the coaching and talent to compete on a national level.  Now I wish I could convince the school administration to do a better job of promoting the sports programs to the alumni, something that they are reluctant to do for reasons unknown to me.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Millsaps is currently in the 9th spot out of 11 schools, with maybe an outside shot at 7th overall by the end of the year except that we'll get 0 points in men's and women's track.

Oglethorpe is in the same boat- except we'll probably finish 11th out of 11 schools.  Great for our school that we made it to the final four.  Aside from women's basketball and golf our athletics lack quite a bit.

[Ralph Turner]

Millsaps is currently in the 9th spot out of 11 schools, with maybe an outside shot at 7th overall by the end of the year except that we'll get 0 points in men's and women's track.

Oglethorpe is in the same boat- except we'll probably finish 11th out of 11 schools.  Great for our school that we made it to the final four.  Aside from women's basketball and golf our athletics lack quite a bit.

Which begs the strategic question about the role of OU and the SCAC.

SACS and Oglethorpe

Is the travel expense and the commitment to do it the "SCAC-way" worth the continued efforts for the "contributions" that being a "peer institution" in the SCAC?

That is a hard question, especially when the OU endowment is more in keeping with the schools in the GSAC and the USA South.

Becoming the 8th women's program (and 5th men's program) in a re-configured USA South Division would alleviate some of the travel burden that Oglethrope is experiencing.

A board member that is facing some serious issues with the SACS accreditation will know that commitment to the SCAC will require commitment of resources that may not be popular.  It will require strong leadership from the president and the board.

[frank_ezelle]

Ralph, once again you live up to your Hall of Fame ranking with your knowledge of what is happening in D3 sports. 

On another subject, congratulations to Edrick Montgomery for making the D3Hoops All-American 2nd team.  Edrick finished his SCAC career with either 760 or 761 rebounds (I've seen both numbers) in just 3 years, less than 100 rebounds away from the SCAC career record.  He also finished with 1,383 points which seems to be the second highest among SCAC players who didn't play 4 years in the league, second to the 1,406 scored by Thomas Johnson of Rhodes in the early 90's.

In my obviously biased viewpoint, I believe D3Hoops got it 100% right by naming Edrick as one of the top-10 D3 players in the country.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Millsaps is currently in the 9th spot out of 11 schools, with maybe an outside shot at 7th overall by the end of the year except that we'll get 0 points in men's and women's track.

Oglethorpe is in the same boat- except we'll probably finish 11th out of 11 schools.  Great for our school that we made it to the final four.  Aside from women's basketball and golf our athletics lack quite a bit.

Which begs the strategic question about the role of OU and the SCAC.

SACS and Oglethorpe

Is the travel expense and the commitment to do it the "SCAC-way" worth the continued efforts for the "contributions" that being a "peer institution" in the SCAC?

That is a hard question, especially when the OU endowment is more in keeping with the schools in the GSAC and the USA South.

Becoming the 8th women's program (and 5th men's program) in a re-configured USA South Division would alleviate some of the travel burden that Oglethrope is experiencing.

A board member that is facing some serious issues with the SACS accreditation will know that commitment to the SCAC will require commitment of resources that may not be popular.  It will require strong leadership from the president and the board.

While we may not stack up with the creme de la creme of the SCAC those top programs, I believe, give us something to shoot for. Since I've been here the school has done alot of things to lessen that gap (hiring a great new President as well as a teriffic Athletic Director). These pieces have not been in place long but great strides have been made since they've been here (2 new dorms built (one entirely on donations), partnership with Infinite Sports and an overhaul of the workout equipment, new tennis courts and basketball facilities, etc.).  There is a long road ahead but I think the people that the school has in place provides a stable ground that will help the school climb out of the spot it's in.

To address the accredidation status of the school: while OU might be under review I have no fear that after the evaluation period OU will be restored to full accredidation. Unfortunately President Shall inherited a very sticky situation here but he has and will continue to do a marvelous job of leading this school.

[Ralph Turner]

Honestly, is there anyone who thinks that the Oglethrope of the first half of this decade gets admitted to the SCAC under that and/or probably its current situation?  (Look what it took Austin College to get in, e.g., a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and a football team, and what University of Dallas hasn't gotten.)

OU has benefitted from the company that it keeps.  I can understand the commitment that the school must make to be considered in the same breath as Sewanee, DePauw, Centre and Rhodes.  I hope that the OU family will capture the vision that the President and the Board outline, and that they will give the university the 10 years necessary to get up to "SCAC" speed.  I have seen endowment numbers in the recent past that were one half of the lower tier of the SCAC.  OU's enrollment is very small.  Compounding 10% gains in endowment and 5% gains in enrollment, going into the upcoming demographic ebb of college age population figures, will require stellar (way above average) performances for a decade.  (Where can you get another 100 male students?  Is that the "f-word" at OU?    ) 

Having an Atlanta base is good for the SCAC.  OU now must firm up its end.

Good luck.