MBB: USA South Conference

narch · February 06, 2014, 01:29:35 PM

Quote from: mattgrubb on February 02, 2014, 11:12:30 PM
Well, Maryville (Tenn) is back to being good ole Murvul at 12-6 and dominating their conference as usual.

i think the scots 9-0 record in conference is more of an indictment of usasac basketball than an endorsement for m'ville - they are clearly the best team in the conference, but this year, that isn't saying much - what is more scary than this year is how young m'ville is...just 2 seniors get double digit minutes and lots of underclassmen in the regular rotation and the best player, j. byrd, is just a sophomore - this team could make noise outside of the conference for the next few years...

unfortunately, my fear that the tough non-conference schedule the monarchs played would do little good in conference is true...they are sitting at 5-5 in conference, with 5 winnable games left...at ferrum, at peace, then home games vs. averett and ncwc (both 1 point road losses for mu) and home vs. ferrum to end the season - hockaday has had a nice senior campaign, averaging 13ppg, 12 rpg and 2 bpg so far, corbett has been a nice surprise as a frosh, averaging almost 11 ppg and hilliard has stepped up his scoring and cut down on turnovers, but there hasn't been consistent production from anyone else this year - this could possibly be the second best team in the conference, but they simply haven't been able to put it all together for whatever reason...

hasanova · February 07, 2014, 10:50:25 AM

I think narch is right for now. For example, I know the GC Quakers haven't played Maryville this season, but they're 6-0 against the USASAC and, at 15-5 (9-2), are not a great team. We've lost some pretty embarrassing games against decent teams. Pretty obvious the USASAC will get one team in this season, so better win the tournament. The Scots, however, do appear to have a very promising future.

scottiedoug · February 07, 2014, 12:05:08 PM

The Scots are certainly better than they were last year and the best team in the league, but I am not sure what that means this year. Methodist is the best team in the conf to play at Maryville this year, I do not know if the Scots are tough enough to win vs. top ODAC schools and the likes of Wooster. The foundation is there, so bringing in a few really top recruits can set in place several years of Scots success. Still, even returning to the habits of the past will not get much success nationally.

Whaddya think Grubby one?

mattgrubb · February 09, 2014, 04:28:44 PM

Well ya the scots are back to being good ole Murvul, beating up on a weak conference and getting basically getting an automatic bid as they the received a pool B bid for years. It has been since 2006 since they won an NCAA tournament game I believe? A lot of one and dones in the dance. They are essentially playing the same schedule they did for years in the GSAC.

Now, This team is loaded with talent and is finally learning to play together and play tough. Yes they have lots of good young talent and will return almost everyone next year. And yes, J Byrd is a sophomore and that kid is really good.

I really enjoyed watching the scots beat Lagrange yesterday. LC is a tough team with a lot of talent. LC plays harder than Murvul and Murvul had to match their intensity and physical play. When the scots learn to play consistently with that kind of toughness and aggressiveness then they will be able to progress and be able to compete with top ODAC, SAA, SCAC teams.

scottiedoug · February 09, 2014, 04:41:03 PM

Learning to play at the level required to compete nationally without playing really good teams in conference is hard to do. The Scots played teams that are having good years early this year and lost to them (Oglethorpe, Centre, Emory) but that was a long time ago.

Their schedule being what it is, they will have to win the USASouth tournament to get a bid to the NCAA, and tournaments are not so easy to win....there are a couple of teams that could knock them off if the Scots have a bad outing or if someone gets really hot. LaGrange, for instance, could be trouble and probably will be at their place, and Methodist could be trouble, too. And Huntingdon suddenly is beating people, including Birmingham Southern.

Mr Grubby is right that they need to get consistently tough and aggressive for whole games, which they have not done much of.

mattgrubb · February 11, 2014, 09:33:20 PM

Well the Scots won at BSC, the nicest gym in the south region, tonight. They beat a team who was previously unbeaten at home. Great Road win for the Scots tonight. Looks like they have a big 3 now and 2 of them are sophomores. Now, they have to win their conference tourney or its all for not....

mattgrubb · February 16, 2014, 07:23:21 PM

Daddy doesn't like to see his scots lose, but neither does he like to see the LC Panthers lose. Great game today. I know Coach Wallace: Maker of Men; Disciple of Defense was ecstatic.

Things are setting up nicely for the USA south Tournament

scottiedoug · February 17, 2014, 10:27:39 AM

It was a great game, at least on the computer. Patrick Duggins is a load to defend. Scots need to win the next two and get back into the habit of winning the close ones. It would have been hard to beat the Panthers three times anyway....

narch · February 19, 2014, 01:54:19 PM

the monarchs get a second OT win over peace last night...amazing that mu has needed two OT periods against a second year program

question for anyone who might be in the know...both the usasac and d3hoops.com sites list the monarchs conference record at 9-14/6-6, but the mu site lists them at 9-14/7-6 and when i look at the schedule (even on d3hoops.com), mu has played 13 teams that are in the usasac and has a 7-6 record in those games - is it possible that one of those games against conference teams is not counting in the conference standings?

Hawks88 · February 19, 2014, 04:37:01 PM

Quote from: narch on February 19, 2014, 01:54:19 PM
the monarchs get a second OT win over peace last night...amazing that mu has needed two OT periods against a second year program

question for anyone who might be in the know...both the usasac and d3hoops.com sites list the monarchs conference record at 9-14/6-6, but the mu site lists them at 9-14/7-6 and when i look at the schedule (even on d3hoops.com), mu has played 13 teams that are in the usasac and has a 7-6 record in those games - is it possible that one of those games against conference teams is not counting in the conference standings?

The schedule on the Methodist athletics website doesn't have the second Averett game marked as a conference game. It looks like everyone has 14 conference games total so maybe that one was scheduled as a non-conference game.

Hawks88 · February 19, 2014, 05:05:53 PM

After looking at it for a bit it looks like the conference schedule was basically set up as two divisions:

West/South
Covenant
Huntingdon
LaGrange
Maryville
Piedmont

East/North
Averett
Ferrum
Greensboro
Methodist
NC Wesleyan
William Peace

If you go with two games against everyone in your division and one against everyone in the other division, for the West/South that comes out to 14 games but for the East/North you get 15. It looks like they decided to not count one game of the East/North matchups to make it 14 for everyone.

narch · February 22, 2014, 09:44:06 PM

the monarchs finish off the regular season at 10-15, 7-7 after beating ferrum today...hockaday went out in style, going for 18 and 15 and hitting a long 3 at the first half buzzer

scottiedoug · February 22, 2014, 11:27:28 PM

Narch...are you coming to TN for the tournament? Anybody else?

narch · February 23, 2014, 09:24:27 AM

Quote from: scottiedoug on February 22, 2014, 11:27:28 PM
Narch...are you coming to TN for the tournament? Anybody else?

no, i won't be there...i've moved on to spring sports

narch · February 26, 2014, 10:03:13 PM

so bryan hockaday is a second teamer?...despite having 17 double/doubles on the season and ranking in the top 10 nationally in rebounds per game and double/doubles on the season...oh, and he is top 10 in the conference in scoring and averaging 2 blocks per game (2nd in the conference) - i would have made him a first-teamer, but i am a bit biased

of course, the top 5 scorers in the league were voted 1st teamers...