MBB: USA South Conference

[captj]

Hey Jake  (pride1fan),

Are you going to post up only when your guys win?  Speak up, dude... we appreciate a little bit of smack-talk on this board.

yea I know. It was a great game. Always fun to see CJ act like a little girl. He was crying like he just saw Brokeback mountain.

Not exactly the smack-talk I was talking about.  Loser.

[narch]

But I dont know who would own the tie braker between NCW & MC

gullett - ncwc would own the tie-break based on their win over cnu - first tie break is head-to-head (they're 1-1, so no winner), then you start at the top of the standings and go record vs. each team...should mc lose, mc will be 0-2 vs. cnu this year and ncwc is 1-1

[ISoar]

Whatever happens, I just want to say good luck to all the teams.  Its a been a long season,(not long enough).  For all the seniors wrapping up the regular season, I know its been a long four years that has gone by way too quickly.  Enjoy it while you can.  And again, good luck to all the teams, players, and coaches.  I hope everybody comes out and plays hard tomorrow. 












except CNU. I hope they lose.   

[cnufan]

Having been in attendance of the CNU/GC game tonight, its tough to say the Berg kid cant play, well he can. 31 he dropped on the Captains tonight, eight of his nine makes came from behind the arc, he was unstoppable and the Captains played at least four different players on him and still no one could stop this kid, he played his sphincter off tonight! Capts shoot 60% from the field and still lose. They have four in double digits and still lose. Poor free throw shooting down the stretch killed them, plus Davon had prolly his worst road game all season with six dimes and six turnovers. Capts need to finish the trip off with a split tomorrow. Tough to go into the conference tourny on a two-game losing streak.

I heard in the MC/SU game the Hornets shot about 26 or 28% from the field and Lawrence missed his first 12 shots, which obviously didnt bode well for the Hornets.

Congrats to FC, they are a scappy bunch and it was nice to see the Panthers come away with a win over NCW. They should have swept that series, having lost in OT at NCW with Keith Harris, I believe, going 0-for-13 in that game.

[cnufan]

More proof to my unmentioned theory that as Hall and Arrington go, the Bishops go. And in Friday's case, Hall was 4-of-9 from the field, 0-of-2 on threes and 8-of-11 from the line. Arrington was 4-of-16, 1-of-10 from behind the arc and 5-of-5 from the line. A combined 8-of-25 from the field and 1-of-12 from behind the arc. You keep them off the books and they are definitely beatable.

[pride1fan]

Not exactly the smack-talk I was talking about.  Loser



Good one.

[cnu85]

Gullet - just wanted to say good job by your boys. Even though CNU shot 60%, GC was able to keep fighting and get the W.

[AUCougars]

AU 34 - NCWC 20 (6:05 1st)

[AUCougars]

AU 48 - NCWC 29 (Half)

Lets go Monarchs!

[AUCougars]

AU 63 - NCWC 46 (11:27 to play)

MC 54 - CNU 44 (2nd half)

[narch]

the board is kinda quite...so i'll liven it up...congrats on the co-championship to the captains and cougars, and boy did the captains ever back into that one (it's a joke, guys...please don't flame me)

today the monarchs got down 2-0 early then blew by the captains and never really looked back...that was the only captain lead of the game - mc must have played one of their best games of the season, but there was only about a 5 minute stretch in the 2nd half when the game was even close to being in question - cnu pulled within 5 after being down double digits most of the game, and radmanovic hit 2 big-time 3's to stop cnu spurts and the monarchs cruised in

captj - i know romeo is a good player, and i trust your assesment of his defensive ability, but he simply couldn't guard a determined seth thomas in the first stanza...thomas scored 8 of the monarchs first 12 points and he had 10 or 12 when cj went to purdham on thomas (who finished the half with 14 and 8)

random thoughts on cnu and mc players

bahm, mc - i saw him play for the first time ever in his senior night, and what a way for him to go out...the only 6 points of his monarch career on 3-4 shooting against cnu starters - i expected a guy who was a career jv guy and had played in only 2 varsity games to be overmatched, but he held his own...he reminded me of a poor man's brian booth

mcevoy, mc - i thought he played as well as i've seen in his monarch career - he took a BAD 3 and a BAD 18 footer for his first 2 shots, but didn't miss again, scoring 10 points...he actually looked quick (relatively) at times and really worked blassingame over on a couple of occasions with deft ball fakes - he added 5 blocks and stymied blassingame when he was in

jones, mc - tough little kid...had 3 rebounds in the first 5 minutes, despite being the smallest on the floor

thomas and grant - we all know what i think of these guys, and they showed why i like them so much tonight - grant didn't shoot the ball great (5-15), but he scored 19, hit some BIG shots, had 6 assists with just one t/o, had 8 boards and played solid d - thomas got 23 and 12 (to go with 5 assists) and looked dominant as the monarchs built a nice lead - also did a good defensive job (as usual)...these 2 just do all the little things and have DONE all the little things for the last 3 years

these 5 seniors came out tonight determined to win their last home game and really went right at the captains early...i hope to see that same kind of intensity in the tournament

thoughts on some captain players in my next post...

[narch]

i understand that tonight was just one game, but here are my thoughts on some cnu players based on what i saw today:

romeo - i mentioned his defensive struggles with thomas in the earlier post, but he didn't impress me offensively tonight, either...of course, the monarchs had a combo of thomas, grant and lee guarding him all night, and they are very good perimeter defenders (and give him 3 very different looks) - he hit a couple of nice 3's, but i didn't see any mid-range game, he doesn't rebound at all and he just didn't stand out...i posted something similar after the game last year and got jumped, so i'm prepared to hear it again, but i've NEVER seen him play well...i'll have to look at stats and take cnu fans word for him being a good player

barton - i was really disappointed by his play tonight...i was looking forward to seeing this wunderkid pg and he was just ok...i saw some flashes, and he sat a lot in the first half, so maybe he's under the weather or something, but he did not impress either

selden - i see why the cnu fans like him so much...he hustles, he can shoot, he works hard on defense - i agree with captj that he is not a pg, but he's a solid player...i'd like to have him on my team

lewis - he could be a BEAST if he worked harder to get the ball, directly or by rebounding it - all night he had a huge mis-match, being guarded primarily by shuford (6'2"/195...a little generous on the height, i might add) or radmanovic who is a bit soft defensively, yet he just didn't seem to be aggressive enough and didn't demand the ball...when he did get the ball, he was effective, but he doesn't go after rebounds agressively either - that was something i wanted to watch after looking at stats, and i see why his rebounding numbers are lower than you would expect from someone his size - he COULD be NASTY, though

blassingame - i REALLY like that kid - lewis could learn something from watching how hard he works on both ends of the floor and how aggressively he posts and goes after the ball - he's a bit raw, and he floated a couple of times (yeah, i know, he made an 18 footer, but he wouldn't be floating out there in MY system), but this kid could be a poty if he develops...how did a nc kid choose to go out of state to cnu and pass up all the d3 and d2 programs in state...interesting - i'd really like to have him on my team

bench - nobody on the cnu bench really impressed me - purdham did a nice job defensively on thomas in the first half, but passed up a couple of wide open 3's - riley had 13 in 16 minutes, so maybe i didn't pay close enough attention to him

lastly, coaching - i thought cj did a bad job tonight - i know he's a living,  breathing legend, but he had an off night - he zoned the monarchs when mc had radmanovic, thomas, lee and grant on the floor...not the lineup you want to play zone against, and he stayed in the zone long enough for the monarchs to hit 3 or 4 big threes - i also thought the fact that cnu was fouling when down 12 with 16 seconds left was a bit bush...maybe that wasn't his call, but he didn't seem upset that it happened

[narch]

last one

cnu brought great fans...they were MUCH louder than the mc crowd (i can't call them fans...they didn't cheer) - i imagine that the freeman center gets pretty rowdy if they are packing another 1000 fans like the ones that were in attendence tonight

the atmosphere at mc has really been bad the entire time i've been a monarch fan, and i know this wasn't a good season for the monarchs, but this year was the worst i've ever seen - i'm going to call some people out - i might take some heat, but i don't care

the "cheerleaders" were pretty "blah" at every game i went to this year (at least the games they attended) - mc is supposed to have this incredible cheerleading program and there were FOUR female cheerleaders and four male partners at the game tonight...thats it...they didn't do a SINGLE CHEER the entire game - the mascot was not in attendance - how can i expect fans to get into games when the cheerleaders (who get scholarships, by the way) don't even get into the game? - there was no dance team (again, they get scholarships, too) - there wasn't a SINGLE entertaining thing outside of the basketball (even the guy who was chosen for the $1000 shootout at half time looked less than excited about being there) - there were only 23 home events that the cheerleaders would have had to attend this season (8 men's hoops, 11 women's hoops and 4 football games)...is it too much to ask of them to have the ENTIRE squad at each of these events?  maybe there is something i don't know...maybe the whole squad come down with the flu or something today, but they weren't even AT the piedmont game...

i miss the pep band...just FURTHER detracts from the atmosphere without them there as they were in previous years

the monarchs played hard today and got that #3 seed and a home game next week...i hope the fans will come out and LOUDLY support the team...i hope the cheerleaders will all be there CHEERING and performing routines...i hope the dance team will be there doing their thing...mostly i hope the monarchs continue to play well - i actually like the chances that the monarchs have of winning that bracket with a home game against a scrappy ferrum team and potentially averett in the freeman center - we all know how hard it is to beat a team 3 times in the same year, and i don't know if the monarchs could have pulled that off vs. greensboro, and i'm not sure that au can pull it off against mc (if they survive ferrum) - if this team gets into the finals, they CAN win it all and go dancing for the 3rd year in a row...that's a BIG if right now, though

[captj]

i understand that tonight was just one game, but here are my thoughts on some cnu players based on what i saw today:

The sentence above was the most important part of your assessment of CNU.  I could be just as critical of your beloved Seth Thomas as you are of our guys since all I saw him do was go 3 for 17 in Newport News.  

I'm not too concerned.

[narch]

The sentence above was the most important part of your assessment of CNU.  I could be just as critical of your beloved Seth Thomas as you are of our guys since all I saw him do was go 3 for 17 in Newport News.  

I'm not too concerned.

true, but in 4 appearances at the riddle center romeo has scored a total of 35 points (8.75 ppg), grabbed a total of 7 rebounds and had a total of 3 assists (to go with 3 t/o's) and had 4 steals - in three games at the freeman center (thomas didn't play against cnu as a frosh), thomas has scored 31 points (10.33 ppg), grabbed 23 rebounds (7.67 rpg), had 6 assists (vs. 5 t/o's) and had 6 steals...you've at least seen him play 2 solid games...my assesment of romeo is a little more critical because i've seen him play more than the others, BUT i've only seen the kid play 4 games in his entire career...i know that he's a very good player...i just haven't seen it