MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[Spencer Beaty]

Come on Scots

[scottiedoug]

This Scots team cannot beat a good and experienced team like Trinity while shooting 5 - 22 3's.  A great season, though, and it will be the Scots' turn to be a seasoned and experienced bunch for a few years.  It should be fun!

[old_lion]

This Scots team cannot beat a good and experienced team like Trinity while shooting 5 - 22 3's.  A great season, though, and it will be the Scots' turn to be a seasoned and experienced bunch for a few years.  It should be fun!

Good point, Scottie.  The 3 point shooting, in conjunction with 5 assists vs. 17 turnovers ... well, that's a very difficult set of circumstances to overcome.   Your guys must have competed awfully hard just to keep it close.

http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/MBasketball/statistics/ncaa01.htm

But I agree ... the Young Scots have much to be proud of.  That was an impressive run just to qualify for the tourney.  As usual, the future looks bright for Murvul.

[GSAC Killer]

It is a learning experience. I bet the taste of losing that NCAA tournament game will fuel them to want to do better next year. We have a great bunch coming back. With a different schedule, no injuries, and most of the guys coming back I believe they are a Sweet 16 team!!

Potential Starting 5 Next Year: Damron,Lambert,Williamson,Watson, and Hernandez. 

[scottiedoug]

Maryville Times story about Trinity-MC:

http://thedailytimes.com/article/20090306/SPORTS/303069973

I hope Killer is right, and I bet he is, that losing this game will help out over the summer and next year as the Scots work to get better.

WBCR decided not to wait a few minutes to talk to Coach Lambert so we were deprived of his assessment of the game and next year.  What was the big rush?

[Spencer Beaty]

You hate to lose not playing your best, but that is how it goes sometimes.  I am proud of MC and all the work they did the second half of the season to make it to the tournament in the first place.  Congrats Scots!

[batteredbard]

NCAA tourney games, unlike GSAC tourney or reg season,  have a mandatory press period post game. I know that when the women hosted in 06 we kept Dee, Plemons, Munday and Uner in there for about 20 minutes and that was after they had a certain locker room privacy time window.
If I remember correctly the only time recently that WBCR has held on long enough to talk to Randy post game was when they played the early game at Mississippi College against Trinity and they stayed on giving post game and breaking down the Choctaws as they were playing in anticipation of playing them Saturday. They didn't hold for him to get out of press area the next night.

It was interesting to watch game tracker and hear the webcast as it was about a minute behind the stats. It sounded like stat guys may have been a little tight on crediting assists vs what we were hearing, but the turnovers killed the Scots. Even more so than Lewis getting all of his 8 in that 11-0 run with 14 minutes to go. 1pt behind to a dozen was the difference.

I did like the job they did keeping Caldarera from scoring but he made up for it with rebounds and assists.

If everything goes MC's way (everyone comes back and everyone stays healthy) then its a very deep talented team next year. I'd start Laverdiere, Watson, Williamson, Hernandez and Lambert with Damron, Willett, Brown and Bradley coming in. Not sure who the fifth would be.
Wes Ben and Eryk can shoot long (believe it or not Wes hit more treys than Jordan this season) and you alternate Jordan and Jared at point depending on how loose or half court you want to get with the offense.

Thing is, who is going to want to play these guys next year? May be difficult to get two games with Centre again. Might need a fundraiser from those oh so talented alums and send the boys on a southwest swing. I'd like to see them take on three of four ASC teams right before Christmas. Can still get some USAC teams to round out the sked and really season that group up.

[scottiedoug]

A trip to Texas with Centre to play McMurray and HSU in one of those
"classics" with Murvul and Centre playing each Texas team would be fun.  Then Murvul and Centre could schedule each other back east.  That's four high quality games.

[mattgrubb]

the bard always has a way of putting my thoughts into words, good coverage this year batteredbard

[bballlover]

with so few seniors this year in the GSAC  this could be a quiet off season.

[Pat Coleman]

Any readers here who are even thinking they might want to attend the Final Four should enter the City of Salem's contest: Free lodging, free tickets, admission to team banquet and VIP passes:

http://www.d3hoops.com/salemgiveaway/

[MCScotsFan]

My favorite year before this one was definitely with Ellis, Calloway, Mason (who seems to be doing great if anyone ever wonders about him!), and Placeres along with Bobby Golden. While Andy Chaney could shoot like a crazy man,  when one of the 5 were out, in general, I was waiting for them to go back in.
Placeres will probably always be my favorite player to watch. He had this drive toward the basket that looked fast until he put it in overdrive! He was animated and worked the crowd, led the team and joked around with the refs. It was always a great show!

That was the best Murvul team I saw.  (But then, I never saw any of Grubb's teams ... I would really have liked to.)  But I have to chastise you for one thing ... NEVER mention Mason ahead of Paceres ... it just ain't right.     (I'm only semi-kidding ... you're welcome, Killer.)  BUT, you get extra credit for your appreciation of "the straw that stirs the drink" type player ... that's all too rare.

On a related topic ... you guys know how I love the #s ... well, kudos to whomever is doing the stats on the GSAC website ... I believe John Hughes, the LaGrange SID, is the lead dog.  They now have links to the last two season's stats ... and it includes some really nice sorts of the information.
http://www.greatsouth.org/sport.asp?path=mbball&tab=winter

It would be really cool if they could develop an extensive archive section ... and have this type of info back several seasons.  I would love to be able to see this type of info on some of the good teams from the past ... like the 2000 team Grubb mentioned ...

the 2000 team had Housewright then also on that team Watts GSAC player of the year, Ennen GSAC player of the year, Tummel GSAC Player of the year

and Huntingdon's good, senior-laden team from 05-06.

http://www.piedmont.edu/athletics/mbasketball/05-06stats/pcm24.htm

BTW, that 05-06 team was my favorite Piedmont team ... outstanding depth.  In 05-06, the gsac was much better overall, than any other season I've seen.

"the straw that stirs the drink" type player "- I guess you'll have to explain that one to me, if you would. i have no idea what that means. Glad I did it, but don't know what I did. 

I added Bo before Raul because I had so much to say about Raul.
Honestly, Raul was all that and really made watching D-III fun to me. I'd never watched a D-III men's game for the team he was on with Waldo Butram. I really enjoyd the team as a whole but Placeres drew the fan in.  Everyone loved watching him play at MC. Everyone still mentions him in the stands and everyone talks about him being up at G-P.

RDL/MC turns out some fine men as do all of y'all involved in D-III sports. Because when the game is over, life goes on for these men. THAT is the reason I love D-III basketball. (Except for Alex Bowers whose still playing! ). I know everyone interested in D-III sports loves the game but you just are so darned proud of these kids who come in as freshman kiddlets and leave as young men and women...ready, for life!!


I'm sorry the Scots lost but proud they go so far with such a young team.

So, how many more days until the next season??!!

[Ralph Turner]

Interesting article from the DePauw paper...


http://media.www.thedepauw.com/media/storage/paper912/news/2009/02/20/Sports/Scac-Looks.For.Ways.To.Cut.Costs-3641137.shtml

I wonder if the GSAC is more acceptable than they were before the current economic situation.

[wilburt]

Interesting article from the DePauw paper...


http://media.www.thedepauw.com/media/storage/paper912/news/2009/02/20/Sports/Scac-Looks.For.Ways.To.Cut.Costs-3641137.shtml

I wonder if the GSAC is more acceptable than they were before the current economic situation.

I don't think so Ralph.  Both the SCAC and GSAC appear to try and keep together what they have already.

[old_lion]

I added Bo before Raul because I had so much to say about Raul.

I know ... I was just kidding about that ... sort of.  That was always a pet peeve of mine ... the pure PG (Killer, Green, Baize, etc.) Vs. the volume shooter (Bo) who happened to be playing the lead guard position ... IMHO, they don't even belong in the same conversation.  But, when he got hot, Bo could shoot ... I'll give him that.  And, he was going to keep shooting until he got hot ... so consequently, he scored a lot and , IMHO, he got more recognition than he deserved.  His shooting %s were always pretty poor ... he scored more than the typical PG, because he shot a lot, period.  Just my opinion ...

"the straw that stirs the drink" type player "- I guess you'll have to explain that one to me, if you would. i have no idea what that means. Glad I did it, but don't know what I did. 

The phrase was attributed to Reggie Jackson ... not surprisingly, he was talking about himself.  As in, "I'm the guy that makes the Yankees go."

I think the phrase is much more applicable in basketball, than in baseball.  It refers to a "synergy guy" (usually a PG) who does all the things (some intangible) that enables his team to function better. In short, he makes his teammates better.  That's why, if you look at the season stats of most teams, it's almost always the "straw that stirs the drink type players" that lead them in minutes played.  His coaches, and his teammates, don't like it when he's not on the floor ... guys don't want to play instead of this type player ... they want to play with him.