MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[old_lion]

Well, I'm channeling my inner Alan Greenspan (irrational exuberance) again.  With a pissed off Murvul coming to town soon, I figured now was a good time to be optimistic and enjoy the moment.

For the first time in the Lee Glenn Era, the Lions have a chance (at least mathematically) at 20 wins this late in the season.

I'm looking at the schedule.  The Lions are 11-6 right now with (assuming we can win a first round gsac tourney game) 10 left to play.

Of those 10 games, I see
·   5 probable wins
·   3 probable losses, and
·   2 that could easily go either way (HC@HC and Oglethorpe @ home)

I'm not saying it's likely.  9 more wins would require winning both toss up games and 2 out of 3 against Murvul.  Let's not forget avioding upsets in the 5 s/b wins games ... no small task. But, at least the chance is there.  Hey, we could beat Murvul in Demorest and on a neutral floor for the gsac championship.  Stranger things have happened ... OK, I can't think of any right now, other than the whole OctoMom fiasco, but I'm sure they have.

Even if the Lions don't win 20, they are well on their way to accomplishing something to be proud of.  They appear to be improving during the season ... that's progress.

Go Lions!

[mattgrubb]

Old Lion
You have  a point, while they will not beat murvul 2 out of 3, they are laying the ground work.

Winning is a habit, look at RDL.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks Ralph!

I think the blame lies elsewhere.

I thought these NAIA games did not count for D3 posters polls!

Which reminds me, do the team and individual stats from non D3 games count in the NCAA /D3 stats?  I had been meaning to ask you about this before last night's episode of not paying attention to business.

Pollsters, yes.

NCCA Division III South Region Evaluation Committee, no.   

[scotfan]

The MC/Milligan game was live streamed on the Milligan College website last night. The Scots looked totally lethargic in the first half, bounced back and played at least decent basketball for a lot of the second half, and then went brain dead late.

Lowlight of the night..... less than 20 seconds left, Milligan up 72-71 with their pg, who looked about 5-9, for two free throws. Milligan had nobody on the lane except the guy shooting the free throws. He missed both shots but somehow got his own offensive rebound  through four Scots. They had to foul him again and , of course, he made both. The Scots also had a couple of critical turnovers in the last minute or so.

Finally, while Milligan definitely outplayed the Scots, I think they owe an assist to the timekeeper on the game winning buzzer beater. Picture this..... there are 3.3 seconds left and Milligan inbounds to their biggest guy. He catches the ball about the top of the key in backcourt after breaking toward the passer from around half court ( i.e. going the wrong direction). The Milligan coach said on their website that the play was designed for him to immediately pass to one of their guards streaking up the court. He had time to notice that they were covered and then he drove the ball to just inside the three point line at the other end and made the shot. Tyus Edney would be proud of that one 

[old_lion]

I have to give a shout out to the Lady Lions mid-season addition, Sada Wheeler.

http://www.greatsouth.org/News/wbball/2010/1/19/111709_WBB_POW.asp

If she got Player of the Week while averaging 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game, there is probably another PotW award coming.

The next 3 games she averaged 17.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.
Damn, you go girl! 

It would have been nice, back in the day, if our Lions could have found a post presense comparable to Ms. Wheeler.  Ah, what might have been ...

[Ron Domino]

I have to give a shout out to the Lady Lions mid-season addition, Sada Wheeler.

http://www.greatsouth.org/News/wbball/2010/1/19/111709_WBB_POW.asp

If she got Player of the Week while averaging 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game, there is probably another PotW award coming.

The next 3 games she averaged 17.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.
Damn, you go girl! 

It would have been nice, back in the day, if our Lions could have found a post presense comparable to Ms. Wheeler.  Ah, what might have been ...

The Kersey kid was pretty stinking good. 

[mattgrubb]

yea Kersey could flat out play, thank goodness for MC that he didn't stay in school, he would have ended the MC streak early on, in fact, he almost did if it had not been for McCord's 75 foot bank shot as time expired b/c Kersey dominated that game throughout regulation.  Overtime was a different story.

[old_lion]

I have to give a shout out to the Lady Lions mid-season addition, Sada Wheeler.

http://www.greatsouth.org/News/wbball/2010/1/19/111709_WBB_POW.asp

If she got Player of the Week while averaging 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game, there is probably another PotW award coming.

The next 3 games she averaged 17.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.
Damn, you go girl!  

It would have been nice, back in the day, if our Lions could have found a post presence comparable to Ms. Wheeler.  Ah, what might have been ...

The Kersey kid was pretty stinking good.  

Yeah, I've heard Kersey was tough. But he was before I started following PC ... I never saw him play.

I was speaking more of the "diminutive years", from 04-05 to 07-08.  We had some good front court guys during that period.  Obviously, everyone knows how good Baldwin was.  And we had Brent Walker for 2 seasons.  He was greatly under rated, never got nearly the credit he deserved.  But they were really 3/4s being forced to do the inside work because we were never really able to recruit the true inside presence type of guy.

I'm talking about the type of player that Al McGuire used to refer to as "aircraft carriers" ... the type of player that could dominate the glass and enable his teammates to be more aggressive by defending the basket.

I realize there aren't a lot of those players in DIII ... but the Lady Lions found one.  
http://www.greatsouth.org/sport.asp?path=wbball&tab=winter

I'm just saying, it would have been a whole different ball game had we been able to find one also.  As some of you know, my "dog in the fight" during that period was a true PG. It would have been nice to see what he, and PC, could have accomplished, had they had the luxury of working with all the components that you'd ideally like to see in a complete team.

I had the privilege of watching that sort of situation his senior year in high school ... and it was a thing of beauty.  You guys would have enjoyed it ... in many ways it was similar to Murvul's team concepts, though not quite as structured.  That North Gwinnett team upset defending AAAAA champion Wheeler in the first round, beat Stephenson (with GT's Aminu) in OT in the second round, and then came within  a couple of baskets of upsetting Lou William's South Gwinnett powerhouse that went on to defeat a previously unbeaten Tift County team by 20 something in the state finals.  Good times ...

[bballlover]

The weather could play havoc for games to be played in Demorest this weekend.http://www.ajc.com/news/northeast-georgia-braces-for-286467.html

[bballlover]

Update: Lions & Scotts  http://www.piedmontlions.com/

[KnoxCounty22]

Coach Glenn is doing a great job with the Lions. He is giving former players who really care about the program, something to be proud of...and that is very special.

I have a great deal of respect for Coach Glenn and his staff.

Over the years I've realized all the good that Coach Glenn has done for me as a student, player, coach, but more importantly as a person.

I tip my hat to Coach Glenn.

[scottiedoug]

Where have you been, KnoxCounty22?

[old_lion]

Get out the heavy duty golf umbrellas folks ...

Herds of flying pigs have been spotted in the Demorest area.

Kudos, Lions!

[old_lion]

Details ...

http://www.piedmontlions.com/news/2010/1/31/01_31_10_wball.aspx?path=mbball

http://www.piedmontlions.com/news/2010/1/31/01_31_10_mball.aspx?path=mbball

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulations to Piedmont!