MBB: USA South Conference

[cnufan]

Whats wrong with Boor??

[captj]

Someone had posted earlier that he went down with an ankle injury.  I checked the box scores from their last couple of games and he didn't play.

Helloooooo.......... any Averett poster sout there?

[cnufan]

Ya right, good luck with that!!

[cnufan]

Speaking of Averett, the Cougars shoot 59% for the game and beat So. Va 104-66.

[hasanova]

Speaking of Averett, the Cougars shoot 59% for the game and beat So. Va 104-66.

I've seen two boxscores from Averett games this season - versus Lynchburg and Southern Virginia - but I haven't seen the Cougars play this year.   Averett beat LC at the buzzer, but so far the Hornets appear to be a second tier ODAC team.  Any predictions for the style of play and outcome when Averett visits Guilford on January 4th?  So far, the Quakers are 3-1 (lost to NAIA DII #6 Embry-Riddle on the road) and just came off a wild 147-136 road win over Emory & Henry last night.

[captj]

Wow, Averett destroyed SoVA.  Not only were they 59% fg for the game, they were 59% on threes also (16 for 27).   AND held SoVA to 34% fg for the game.  Captains should NOT be feeling too proud of their two closely contested, home wins against SoVA.  I am so glad that we play our conference games after the non-conference games.  We've got a long way to go before we're ready for our conference schedule.

[captj]

And by the way, Boor did not play.  Uh oh.  How good would they have been with him?  It's very early, but I'm feeling good about my prediction that Averett would finish 2nd in conference.

[mybleedinghands]

Speaking of Averett, the Cougars shoot 59% for the game and beat So. Va 104-66.

I've seen two boxscores from Averett games this season - versus Lynchburg and Southern Virginia - but I haven't seen the Cougars play this year.   Averett beat LC at the buzzer, but so far the Hornets appear to be a second tier ODAC team.  Any predictions for the style of play and outcome when Averett visits Guilford on January 4th?  So far, the Quakers are 3-1 (lost to NAIA DII #6 Embry-Riddle on the road) and just came off a wild 147-136 road win over Emory & Henry last night.

Averett has a somewhat Princeton-esque offense. They really like the backdoor cuts. THey are extrmely effective at it.  Their post players don't have a lot of muscle and arent the typical back to the basket players. They like to get the ball away from the basket and take midrange jumpers to allow space underneath for the backdoor cut.  They are much improved with the 3 point shooting. They have this one whjite kid (forgot name or number) that is very good at draining the 3. You have to close out on this kid fast and contest the shot or else because he''s got the green light to take the 3, and he's going to make it most of the time. I think he may be #24. THey also have a bunch of other good 3 point shooters as well. They don't really have any one standout player thats going to take over every game, but they are a deep and balanced team with 5 or 6 players capable of scoring in double figures. They have some pretty athletic guys that will not hesitate to dunk the ball with ease if given the opportunity. They are a pretty good rebounding team. THey don't have any one guy that's going to be averaging a ton of rebounds, but their guards crash the boards pretty well.  Their OPG, Sterling Williams, can be turnover prone too. He's averaging a little over 4 turnovers a game and he had 8 turnovers against Lynchburg. He really seems to get aggravated when you pressure him a lot and play good defense on him, which is reasonable, but he shows it and you can probably use that to your advantage to force him int stupid fous and maybe some technical fouls. Defensively they like to use some full court pressure. Lynchburg was able to beat the pressure relatively easily most of the time, but at times you could see that it bothered us a little. I don't know if their press is kinda weak or if it was just our game though.

[hasanova]

Scottie, thanks for your assessment of Averett.  I believe the Quakers will try to force a faster tempo against the Cougars, especially at home.  Last night's game versus E&H in Emory (no less) proved, I think, that the Quakers can win with that strategy.  No offense meant to Southern Virginia, but I am using the Lynchburg game as a barometer of Averett's talent and athleticism.

[narch]

'nova - scottie's assesment is pretty solid - i wouldn't call the offense a princeton offense...it's more motion with some back-doors, so i guess it is "princeton-esque" in that regard - they are playing a couple of frosh (2 bigs and a guard), so no usasac team has really seen the full capability of this team - they were very limited offensively last year, but that doesn't seem to be the case this year, judging by the shooting %'s and scores - they DID play nasty defense last year, but i read scottie's assesment of their game with rmc on the odac board, and he doesn't seem to think they play hard on the defensive end...i'll reserve judgement until i see that myself - with exception of oglethorp and rmc, they've held the other 4 opponents to 68, 66, 62 and 54...pretty solid - sterling williams is their best perimeter player, and is nice on both ends - scottie mentions his turnover problems, but doesn't mention a solid 1.5:1 assist/turnover ratio...i like williams' game a lot - i think your quackers will have a tough time with them...should be a good game

as an aside, when are the quackers going to play the monarchs? i've heard they use some lame excuse about "too many conference games, not enough non-conference dates" when mc talks to them about a game, yet i see some naia programs on the gcq schedule - you do your part with the quacker coaches, and i'll do mine with the monarch coaches, and let's make this happen - no excuse for these teams to not play every year, especially with so much cross-recruiting (mostly won by the quackers the last few years ie: 2 mc transfers, strong and kimbrough)

re: averett - something about their start is reminding me of ferrum in football - i said after the 3rd or 4th game that ferrum scared me, and lo and behold they end up 9-1 and usasac champs from out of nowhere...averett's start is scaring me, as well, although not as much - in my mind i know they play strong defense (scottie's assesment notwithstanding) and they seem to have found some offensive spark now (and without boor, as captj pointed out) ..could be a recipe for a strong conference push - your prediction might just be right, captj

[narch]

game notes for the asu/mc match-up - should be interesting...wouldn't it be nice to see that espn scroll tonight and see mc leading and eventually winning - i, for one, would really like to see that and the front page coverage on d3hoops.com - not exactly holding my breath, but it would be nice...more importantly, i hope to log on to d3hoops.com on sunday evening and see that the monarchs have upended a very good m'ville team...that would be SUPER nice

the game notes list robert lee as a probable starter tonight...i suspect that is primarily for the defensive pressure he can provide on the pg for asu, but i hope that is a long-term deal for the monarchs - no disrespect meant to hairston, but i love lee's game on both ends...lee is not a true pg as hairston is, and it forces grant to play pg, but i think hairston is better coming off the bench and providing some energy, while lee's defense and shooting ability really can stretch an opposing defense, allowing guys like thomas and the post players more room to work - go monarchs!

[hasanova]

Narch - Yeah, I know both Palombo and AD Kirby, so I'll mention it to them.  Guilford does have 18 conference games, but it does look like Methodist is a better fit than some of the nonconference games they do play.  Not sure about Palombo's overall scheduling strategy, but Kirby should be tight with the USASAC guys after all his years as football coach at Greensboro.  Funny thing, all four recent nonconference football games are against the USASAC, but only two of the seven available nonconference basketball games.  Certainly, travel costs aren't as big a deal for basketball as they are for football.  Palombo seems to like to take the guys on a trip out of state at least once and also schedule his old midwestern foes in Greensboro during Christmas (he was at Defiance).  The Pride, by the way, usually alternate with the Quakers on these two opponents.  Two years ago the Quakers played Hiram and last year UW-La Crosse and Case-Western Reserve during the holidays.  This year it's Ohio Dominican and Heidelberg.  I don't remember a game against Methodist since the Monarchs had a player who was the younger brother of one of Duke's stars (help me out on the names please lol) and that's been many years ago.  It seems like a natural intrastate rivalry to me, too.  We also always seem to have one or two DI teams on the schedule each season.  Although it would be great if the Quakers ever beat one of those teams, I personally think it's better to give your guys a fair shot at a victory within your own division.  I can't believe the money for a Guilford game at Elon, Western Carolina, East Tennessee, Wofford or UNC-G is worth it.

[cnu85]

Even CJ stated after the second SoVa game that had it been a conference game "we would have had our ears pinned".....I think he used an incorrect phrase. The context of the phrase was centered around discussion of the turnovers and having too many mistakes. Had that game been against a conference opponent we would have lost. We can be confident against SoVa, St Joseph's and MAryland Bible...but we had better get the kinks worked out before we hit the floor against a conference foe.  Maybe CJ knows what he's doing with these easy non-conf games.....?....

[captj]

Perhaps.  As long as there are some "reality check" games thrown in the mix, which there are.

[captj]

I would be relieved and pleased (big time!) if we came out of Myrtle Beach as tourny champ.