MBB: USA South Conference

[narch]

4th:  Methodist is well coached and seemed to play well thus far.  Not sure how their schedule holds up to the likes of GC, AU or NCWC. 

i had this whole great post showing that au's schedule was the toughest (opp win % .648), gc's was the second most difficult (opp win % around .590), mu's was third at .550 and ncwc brought up the rear at .450 - that post also pointed out that the monarchs 5 losses came to teams at .833, but their wins came against teams at around .360...but i lost it trying to look up the spelling of a word

if i had to rank 1-5, it would probably go something like this...eeny, meeny, miney, moe

[VirginiaSlim22]

Still biased, still picking the Hornets first.  Not sure how the roster moves over the holiday will play a role.  In addition to VASlim's reference to Schrader, I hear that SU lost it's point guard. It will be a couple of interesting games to start off conference play, that's for sure.

I wasn't talking about Schrader.  This player still hasn't been "announced".  But what happened to Adams? Grades? Injury?

[Ralph Turner]

Not sure how badly the CAC wants CNU. I'e heard the thought of someone like York or Villa Julie traveling to CNU and having to traverse three beltways in the process (Baltimore, DC, Richmond) is not preferable, to say the least.

Glad to learn of the local travel dynamics...
Thanks! 

How favorably do teams consider traveling down the eastern shore?

I thought it was beautiful (as a tourist...    ).

Hmmm...

Google Maps suggests "not very"!

[hasanova]

Not sure how badly the CAC wants CNU. I'e heard the thought of someone like York or Villa Julie traveling to CNU and having to traverse three beltways in the process (Baltimore, DC, Richmond) is not preferable, to say the least.

Glad to learn of the local travel dynamics...
Thanks! 

How favorably do teams consider traveling down the eastern shore?

I thought it was beautiful (as a tourist...    ).

Hmmm...

Google Maps suggests "not very"!

It is beautiful - as a tourist - but not sure how much sightseeing you can do when the team bus is getting you back home at 2 or 3 am on a Thursday morning.    Some of the beltlines (aka parking lots) cited by Pat are subject to come to complete halts 24/7, especially during wintry inclement weather and during rush hour. 

[scottiedoug]

I agree w/ Ralph that it would be a bad idea to leave Huntingdon and LaGrange out of a combination of the GSAC and the USASouth, assuming they want to be part of it, but wouldn't that decision be made by someone other than "the GSAC?"  Are you suggesting that "the GSAC" (whomever that is) somehow prohibit Maryville and Piedmont from joining the USASouth, or that Maryville and Piedmont refuse to go without them, or that the USASouth has to "take" them all or nobody goes, or what?  I know you have thought this through, Ralph....

[CNU85]

Not sure how badly the CAC wants CNU. I'e heard the thought of someone like York or Villa Julie traveling to CNU and having to traverse three beltways in the process (Baltimore, DC, Richmond) is not preferable, to say the least.

Glad to learn of the local travel dynamics...
Thanks! 

How favorably do teams consider traveling down the eastern shore?

I thought it was beautiful (as a tourist...    ).

Hmmm...

Google Maps suggests "not very"!

It is beautiful - as a tourist - but not sure how much sightseeing you can do when the team bus is getting you back home at 2 or 3 am on a Thursday morning.    Some of the beltlines (aka parking lots) cited by Pat are subject to come to complete halts 24/7, especially during wintry inclement weather and during rush hour. 

CNU has a new scheduling policy......Sunday's at 4pm during NFL playoffs and on Super Bowl Sunday...

BRILLIANT! 

[hasanova]

Not sure how badly the CAC wants CNU. I'e heard the thought of someone like York or Villa Julie traveling to CNU and having to traverse three beltways in the process (Baltimore, DC, Richmond) is not preferable, to say the least.

Glad to learn of the local travel dynamics...
Thanks! 

How favorably do teams consider traveling down the eastern shore?

I thought it was beautiful (as a tourist...    ).

Hmmm...

Google Maps suggests "not very"!

It is beautiful - as a tourist - but not sure how much sightseeing you can do when the team bus is getting you back home at 2 or 3 am on a Thursday morning.    Some of the beltlines (aka parking lots) cited by Pat are subject to come to complete halts 24/7, especially during wintry inclement weather and during rush hour. 

CNU has a new scheduling policy......Sunday's at 4pm during NFL playoffs and on Super Bowl Sunday...

BRILLIANT! 

Well, look on the bright side - lots of convenient parking!

[narch]

wow, su shoots just 33 percent and beats cnu by 12 - the hornets made 28 ft's...

[CNU85]

wow, su shoots just 33 percent and beats cnu by 12 - the hornets made 28 ft's...

Rebounds rebounds rebounds......SU had 20 offensive boards!!! CNU had only 8 offensive rebounds!! When you get that many rebounds under your own basket, you can afford to shoot 33%! CNU has NEVER been able to rebound. Not just this team....for as many years as I can remember. I'm sure I'm wrong on a few years...but how many times have CNU fans been on this board complaining about lack of rebounds. Many times CNU takes a shot and nobody is in the paint. Many times nobosy is inside the 3 pt arch.

I went to the game Sunday afternoon with my brother. He has only seen CNU play maybe 2-3 times ever. He quickly pointed out that under the hoop, CNU tries to play vertical, not big (wide, horizontal). Big gets rebounds. Vertical gets you blocked out. He also pointed out that CNU on offense under the hoop only moves to make breaks for the ball. They don't move to position themselves for rebounds. Finally, he pointed out that rebounding begins as soon as the ball crosses half court....that's when you start to establish your position under the boards. All good points.

I don't remember the stats from last night, but I think CNU's leader in rebounds was Barton - the point guard! If he wasn't the top guy, he was up there. I had to "watch" the game with live stats and listen to the web stream. Wasn't able to make the game. CNU was up 10 in the first half. SU battled tough and closed to one at the break. SU should now feel very confident. They won AT the Freeman Center and did it coming from behind. Not much more is needed to build confidence after a win like that! Congrats to SU -  a job well done! I think they hadn't won at CNU since 1990.

[narch]

'85, i'm not disagreeing with you at all, but su did out score cnu from the ft line by 16 points - as much as rebounding was key to that win, so was making 28 ft's

tonight should be interesting - gc has two really good wins (guilford and mississippi college), but they've also lost twice to ehc (a team that is 4-7) - maybe the monarchs should run "the system" tonight

i'm predicting a road victory for averett and i'm hoping for a road victory for the monarchs...ahh, the heck with it...i'm predicting both road teams win - i think the monarchs match up well with this gc team

[CNU85]

Agreed Narch. Also, our top shooter was "0-all night" 0-8 from the floor...I think 0-2 from 3 and even 0-1 from the line....The webcast guys said when he left the game late that he just looked totally dejected....he missed everything he put up all night long....after scoring almost 20 Sunday.

A lot of the fouls were in the last 2 minutes...the usual late in the game foul strategy. But even so, they took a lot (and made a lot) before that point in the game. I think part of it is CNU being out of position....lazy reach in fouls.

[SU97]

Man, what a great game last night down in Newport News.  Everybody is real proud of Coach Harris and the Hornets up here, considering that the last time Harris walked off the court at CNU with a win he was wearing a uniform...  18 years is a long time. 

Narch and CNU85 are both right.  Rebounds and FT's were the big reasons why SU got away with some horrible shot selection all night, but I don't think CNU's lack of rebounding was as important as the Hornet's focus at the line. It has, by far, been the most profound difference between the Hornet's 2006-07 campaign and the current result. I think SU averaged a dismal .600 from the stripe last year, while they are shooting .800+ as a team this year. Some of those close games in 06-07 were lost at the FT line - take the SU-CNU match up at SU as an example:  last year's game in Winchester had the Hornets out rebounding CNU 49-40 in an overtime contest that the Captains won 84-81.  In that game SU shot 49% (9-21) from the FT line...  last night SU hit 28-33 (a 85% clip). 

28 FT's – SU didn't hit 28 FT's all season last year...

Onyie and JLawrence put in the typical night, both rocking double-doubles, but SU as a whole were forcing way too many shots.   

As with last year, I was very impressed with Davon Barton.  He lit it up last night. His range was crazy, and he single handedly carried CNU in the first half.  When he hit the shot at the buzzer to put CNU up at half, all I could think was "oh no, not this year, not again..."  At one point late in the game SU had to match both Onyie and JLawrence up with Barton just to slow him down. The game I would like to see is when he matches up with Nicholson down at Greensboro.  That should be a hell of a show.

Speaking of guards... I was really worried that SU would have problems at the PG slot since Adams quit last week, but freshman Nick Brown stepped in and really played well. 10 points with only 4 turnovers is a nice line for a rookie.     

[SU97]

A lot of the fouls were in the last 2 minutes...the usual late in the game foul strategy. But even so, they took a lot (and made a lot) before that point in the game. I think part of it is CNU being out of position....lazy reach in fouls.

14 of the Hornet's 33 FT's were in the final two minutes, which was obviously the plan for CNU to get back in it.  At that point SU was only up by 5 points.

I didn't see much lazy play from CNU, much of the play was pretty physical the whole night. 

[SU97]

i'm predicting a road victory for averett and i'm hoping for a road victory for the monarchs...ahh, the heck with it...i'm predicting both road teams win - i think the monarchs match up well with this gc team

Methodist only down by one with @ 8 min left.

Narch - what's going on with Shuford? 

[narch]

the monarchs fall short in OT, losing 76-75 - i only had the opportunity to watch & listen to the game for the last 4 or so minutes of OT, but the monarchs were down by as much as 19 at one point per the box score - jason sharpe had a huge night for gc with 13 points and 18 boards, but i would guess his biggest play was a blocked shot on a luemichael smith layup attempt with :02 to play and the monarchs down 1 - shuford played just 7 minutes for the monarchs...not sure if he is hurt or sick or what the scoop is, but you've got to think that having one of the leading rebounders in the conference and the 2nd leading scorer on the team on the floor would have been a boost for mu...i hope they don't have to play without him for an extended period of time - smith and mcdade each had 22, winstead scored 12 and mcbryde had 9 for the monarchs, but nobody else scored more than 3...not the typical balanced effort for mu - the pride out rebounded mu by 20 (wow!) - mu held nicholson to 14 points on 16 shots, but he did stuff the stat sheet with 9 boards and 5 assists - there were only 2 pride players with more points than shots, and one of them scored 2 points on 1 shot, so the monarchs did a solid night's work defensively, but they simply didn't keep the pride off the glass and they had no answer for sharpe in the last few minutes of ot

it's great that gc has a live video stream, but honestly, the 2 times i've tried to watch a game on that stream it's been more frustrating than it's worth, and i've got a pretty good connection...i'd really rather watch the livestats and hear the audio than watch the video feed, but even the audio was scrambled because of the video feed (maybe there is an audio only option that i couldn't find)

good win for gc and nice effort for the monarchs