MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[Griffcoach22]

Coach Duckworth is a recruiter.  He knows how to recruit players to schools with no athletic scholarships.  He did it with minimal scholarships at Covenant College, Belhaven, and now Huntingdon with no scholarships athletically.  The program is here to stay because that is what it is- "a program".  He recruited players at Belhaven who could have played in a lot bigger programs.  Because of this, he built his Belhaven teams into a program that went to the NAIA national tournament his last year there and then they went back to the regionals the year after he left.  Time will tell, but I believe HC will be a frontronner each year in the future. 

[ohyeah]

Golden is certainly a good choice.

I just don't understand why Brent Walker doesn't get more consideration. He has to be the most versitile big man in the GSAC.

His credentials ...
* 8.8 ppg - he is one of 8 guys scoring 6 or more ppg in
   PC's balanced attack
* 8.3 rpg - tops in the GSAC
* 2.4 assists - tops among post players
* 2.3 steals - 2nd in the GSAC behind Allen White
* no stats available, but he also draws a lot of charges

This guy needs some recognition!

Old lion,

I dont think anyone said they didnt consider him, I just think there are better choices.  Whose place would he take on the team?  I know you make a point about Courtney Ellis, but he has better numbers then Walker and on a better team.

[ohyeah]

Griffcoach,

Believe it or not, none of the GSAC schools give athletic scholarships (or at least none that I know of pulling a SCAD).  Anyways, how do you think Maryville acheived the level they did until this year.  They brought in players on a higher level and they starred at MC. 

Also, the problem coach Duckworth has is the school itself.  Not the prettiest of sites.  I know he lost two recruits to Maryville a couple years back. 

[mattgrubb]

i know of a lot of recruits that have come in that don't work out, recruiting is not near as important as player development and kids buying into the system,
Maryville is playing 3 or 4 kids that i would not call prize recruits and they play and do very well, that is the sign of a good team
Kids are labeled early as D1, 2 or 3 players, even if you get a D1 or D2 transfer it just means they weren't good enough to play at that level and if you develop a kid that was a D3 player coming out of high school he could be a lot better than many D2 or D1 players by the time he is an upperclassmen i.e. Josh Tummel, Matt ennen, sidney ellis, raul placeres, even Bradley Blair who dominated Carson Newman, i bet the CN coaching staff wishes they had him that night.
Bottom line is coaches make players, and MC has had some assistant coaches who have been very good at player development over the past 10 years and they have the All south and All american awards to prove it in the locker room

By the way Josh Tummel would dunk on Brent Walker and courtney ellis

[Urban Myth]

By the way Josh Tummel would dunk on Brent Walker and courtney ellis

Where did Tummel go to high school?  The name sounds really familiar, I'm wondering if I played against him at some point.

[mattgrubb]

He went to Halls in knoxville, not sure if he really graduated but he did graduated from MC

[old_lion]

Walker's credentials ...
* 8.8 ppg - he is one of 8 guys scoring 6 or more ppg in
   PC's balanced attack
* 8.3 rpg - tops in the GSAC
* 2.4 assists - tops among post players
* 2.3 steals - 2nd in the GSAC behind Allen White
* no stats available, but he also draws a lot of charges

Old lion,

I don't think anyone said they didn't consider him, I just think there are better choices.  Whose place would he take on the team?  I know you make a point about Courtney Ellis, but he has better numbers then Walker and on a better team.

Well, I haven't heard him mentioned as a possibility by anyone else. I'm not saying he s/b in the final 10. But IMHO, the selection process s/b to identify 15 to 20 candidates and then whittle that list down to 10. In my biased, but extremely knowledgeable opinion , my boys Adams, Baldwin, Green and Walker should all be on the candidates list.

Re Ellis having better #s ... I beg to differ. Other than Walker averaging 2 ppg less, all of his #s are either similar (FG%) or better ... rebounds, assists, steals, FT % ...  Also, it's subjective, but I think Walker has the edge in intangibles.

Re Fisk having the better team ... maybe, but I think that's a close call. We could have (maybe should have) split with them. I'm sure most would say that MC, HC, and Fisk are all better teams than PC. But, assuming you are right that those are all better teams ... that is a point in favor of any Piedmont player "on the bubble". We all need to remember that it is easier to look good, to put up good numbers, when you are on a good team, surrounded by good team mates. That's a fact.

[scottiedoug]

MattGrubb and GSACKiller:  On the subject of player development and the future of the SCOTS and of the GSAC, what can you tell us about Coach Beatty's MC JV team?  I did not get to see them.  What's coming along we should feel better about?

I guess the Huntingdon story for the future is yet to be told!  It seems clear that Coach Duckworth has experience in building, so we can revisit this issue in three or four years.  For better or worse, and in this case it's better, Randy has a record in D3  which anyone can see and evaluate.   Duckworth will too, assuming he stays with it.

Meanwhile, I hope what we are seeing is the rise of the GSAC and not just a down year for MC.

[GSAC Killer]

Coach Beaty led the JV team to its best record ever.. I believe they finished the season at 9-2...
  In my opinion Trey Brewer and Danny Saxe can and will provide some good minutes starting next year.. Blake Roberts although a little undersize had a great JV season... I would like to see more of Cristopher Orr and Alex Bowers...
  Time will tell but a great season for the Fighting Scots JV squad..

All the Scots need to do is win the conference and the will get a pool B bid.. More than likely will go on the road but hey once your in anything is possible..

[mattgrubb]

Killer
Anything is possible, sounds like Bobby Golden's Valentine's day

[Griffcoach22]

old lion- to respond to your previous reply, only 4, not 6, of the seniors at Huntingdon have been there for 4 years. 2 transferred in last year. Also, based on their all conference selections maybe Huntingdon is about a more quality system, player development, and the players belief in the system.  The hawks have only had 2 all conference players each of the past 2 years on 16-11 and 17-10 years and according to all the posters on this website, Huntingdom only has ONE candidate this year.  I think that is so much bullcrap!  HC is #1 in the NATION in Division III basketball at Defensive FG%. Not bad for a program full of players that noone respects.  That just puts the icing on the cake for Duckworth- tied for first in the conference with only one all-conference player.  Pretty D@mn good job of coaching if you ask me!

[scottiedoug]

Every poster so far has said Duckworth is Coach of the Year.  Why so snarky, Griffcoach?

[ohyeah]

he also said he has no affiliation with HC......makes you wonder dont you.  Im not fighting for Chris Adams here and Im a Maryville fan.  So this guy is clearly with HC.  Actually, do you play for HC?

[old_lion]

old lion- to respond to your previous reply, (1) only 4, not 6, of the seniors at Huntingdon have been there for 4 years. 2 transferred in last year. Also, based on their all conference selections maybe Huntingdon is about a more quality system, player development, and the players belief in the system.  The hawks have only had 2 all conference players each of the past 2 years on 16-11 and 17-10 years and (2) according to all the posters on this website, Huntingdom only has ONE candidate this year.   I think that is so much bullcrap! (3) HC is #1 in the NATION in Division III basketball at Defensive FG%.  Not bad for a program full of players that noone respects.  That just puts the icing on the cake for Duckworth- tied for first in the conference with only one all-conference player.  Pretty D@mn good job of coaching if you ask me!

(1) You're right, I misspoke. But my point was that HC is a team, loaded with veterans, that has been successful in past seasons. Six of those guys are now seniors and Cole is in his third year as a starter/ key player.So the expectation was that they s/b very successful this year.

(2) HC clearly has 3 strong candidates ... Allen, Cole, and Justin. IMHO, they should probably get 2 on the all-GSAC team. More on that after tonight's game.
I believe a previous poster has already mentioned those 3 guys ... maybe it was you?

(3) It's obvious that defense is the key to their team. It's amazing that a team with 463 TOs to 262 assists could be as successful as they are. It's more than amazing ... I'd say it's virtually impossible. Their ball-handling is suspect, but it's not that atrocious. For their opponents, they show 377 turnovers, 197 assists. Please ... the guy obviously doesn't know what an assist is.

Anyone still want to defend their incompetent stat guy? I assume he'll be doing the stats for the entire GSAC tournament? That's just great ...

[GSAC Killer]

The Scots now have won 5 consecutive Regular Season Titles!!
  Congrats to the Coaching staff and the players...