MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[Griffcoach22]

(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 ...

Come on........you gonna start the stat crying again?  That doesn't deserve any more of a response, so I won't even go there again. 

Piedmont/HC should be a good one tonight. 

And no, I am not affiliated with HC...to answer the poster above.  I just keep up with their program.  It's a good one with a great offensive system.  I like good basketball.

[mattgrubb]

if he can't keep stats then he can't keep stats, let it ride
GriffCoach are you still saying you don't have an affiliation with HC?

[Griffcoach22]

I am not affiliated with HC in any way.  I don't even live in Alabama.  I catch them when they come around my hometown and play and I listen on the web.  I have followed their program ever since Coach Duckworth became the head coach at HC.   

[old_lion]

Come on........you gonna start the stat crying again?  That doesn't deserve any more of a response, so I won't even go there again. 

Piedmont/HC should be a good one tonight. 

And no, I am not affiliated with HC...to answer the poster above.  I just keep up with their program.  It's a good one with a great offensive system.  I like good basketball.

Just pointing out the obvious ... That those ridiculous #'s reflect badly on all concerned ... especially your team. I can't believe a HC fan would be so apathetic.
(OMG, I just had an epiphany ... you aren't the stat guy, are you?)

I'll admit it ... I'm an old point guard who greatly values assists. I'm "old school" ... I'd rather see a great pass than a slam dunk any day. A stat guy who consistently under reports assists does not present an accurate picture of what is occurring on the floor. I find it very irritating that we have two schools in the GSAC, who have stat guys that for whatever reason, do a consistently poor job.

A great offensive system ... that's a strange claim to make for a team that has 201 more turnovers than assists. That is, if you believe the reported #s ... and you appear to... Or maybe for some reason, you just don't want to admit the problem at the scorer's table? Whatever ... but you can't have it both ways.

We do agree on one thing ... HC @ PC s/b a good one tonight.


Matt, you were a scorer, right? You have a different perspective. Any idiot can get the points right. The other stuff, that doesn't tie back to the scoreboard, requires a little more effort.

[mattgrubb]

Well not any idiot, look at Jeremy Holliday, but most can, it is definitely easier to put up 20 points than fight for 10 rebounds or 5 steals or find 5 assists.  The hustle stats are much harder to come by.  It would be a good idea to have a quality stat person to give the guys credit who deserve it the most, b/c the guy who scores all the points is going to get his credit from the cheerleaders.
Obviously Griffcoach is associated with Coach Duckworth??

[Ralph Turner]

Interesting weekend next weekend for the conference tourney.

As I understand the seedings, even if Huntingdon defeats Piedmont tonight, Maryville has the #1 seed because of Winning Percentage in road conference games (3-1 MC vs 2-2 HC).

Actually it looks like the stars are aligning for Huntingdon to get a Pool B bid.  Let's look at the road to a Pool B bid for the Hawks.

1)  A win tonight is another in-region win which helps the in-region percenatge.

2) The #2 seed helps HC most because they get a chance to defeat Fisk.  Fisk very, very, very badly needs to defeat Rust in Holly Springs, for many reasons including keeping their in-region winning percentage above .666.  That 14-popnt QOWI win would help Huntingdon to boost their QOWI.  It would also give Huntingdon another win over an in-region ranked team, if the LaGrange loss and the Semi-Finals loss do not knock Fisk out of the In-region Rankings. 

3) We are probably looking at Maryville on the other side of the tourney bracket.  A tourney win over Maryville would be a 14-pt QOWI win and another win over an in-region ranked team, if the Finals loss and the regular season losses do not knock them of the Regional Rankings.   (Feb 15th regional rankings are not out yet.)

Huntingdon has now boosted their in-region percentage to .667 (12-6).
Their record against in-region ranked teams is 4-2.

I think that this is the case that they make for a Pool B bid.

Travel Safely, Hawks.

2nd Regional rankings are just released.  Fisk and Maryville are tied at 7th.

http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=128

[old_lion]

Well not any idiot, look at Jeremy Holliday, but most can, it is definitely easier to put up 20 points than fight for 10 rebounds or 5 steals or find 5 assists.  The hustle stats are much harder to come by.  It would be a good idea to have a quality stat person to give the guys credit who deserve it the most, b/c the guy who scores all the points is going to get his credit from the cheerleaders.
Obviously Griffcoach is associated with Coach Duckworth??

Well said, Matt. But you may have misunderstood me ... I was not disparaging scorers. I was saying it was easier for the stat guys to record points (as opposed to some other stats), since they have the scoreboard to tie back to.

But you make a good point about the "recognition factor" for some of the less heralded stats ... all the more reason for the stats guys to pay attention and get it right.

[Griffcoach22]

Go Hawks!   91-86 overtime winners over Piedmont tonight. 

Great conference season!  It was all because of HC's stat people no doubt!

[old_lion]

Great game last night.

Gutsy performance by the Hawks. In spite of us shooting a reasonable percentage this time (44% as opposed to the 27% we shot in The Brick House) and Allen White picking up 4 fouls in the first half, the Hawks made some big plays down the stretch and found a way to win.

With White limited to only 6 points, Hairston (26 pts, 6 rebs) and Addison (15 & 11 ) stepped up big. Kudos to the Hawks ... you guys deserved the win. Great clutch FT shooting (16 of 18) for a team that has shot 66% for the season.

And Kudos to my Lions, as well. Great team effort, guys. Everyone played hard. Three guys had particularly outstanding games ...

Baldwin ... 27 pts, 7 rebs, 3 stls
Green ... 13 pts, 7 assists, 1 TO, 4 stls
Walker ... 14 pts, 10 rebs, 6 assists, 5 stls

I know you guys are frustrated, losing to both HC and Fisk in OT. But keep your heads up. Your fans are proud of your efforts and of the progress you've made this season. Now let's go see if we can win 2 or 3 games in the tournament.

And finally to Griff ... you just can't hide class (or the lack thereof), can you?   

[Urban Myth]

1st off kudos to piedmont, they played a good game, and Baldwin and Walker (how about that stat line?) had huge performances.

2nd, congrats to the hawks.  it seemed like everyone stepped it up last night and made shots and got stops when they needed them. 

finally, on the subject of the stat keeper.  i say we just drop the whole topic, not that i am defending anyone or verbally abusing them.  sometimes it's hard for some people to keep up typing everything into a computer, so things get left out, assists mostly.  and yeah, it does affect greatly how a team looks on paper, but it's done with.  old lion, i would say your stat keeper is a little generous.  1 TO for Green, i think he had a few more than that...

[GSAC Killer]

People are human!! So we are all bound to make mistakes.. I for one got the bad end of the stick most of the time when I played.. They were always off 2-3 assists a game.. I never worried about that because all that matters is that "W"..
   A week to prepare for all of the GSAC...
      Piedmont vs LaGrange  winner plays Maryville...
      Huntingdon vs Fisk

  I still see a Fisk vs Maryville final... With the winner going to the NCAA Tournament and more than likely ending up at Mississippi College...
  Great regular season in the GSAC.. Might be the most unpredictable GSAC season since the start of the conference which is well needed...
     Keys for teams to win:
LaGrange: Pressure Pressure Pressure!! Use that depth....
Piedmont: Have a consistent transition from subbing 5 in and 5 out...
Huntingdon: Being able to believe they can beat Fisk and Maryville again??
Fisk: JUST PLAY BASKETBALL!!!
Maryville: Running the system.. WHICH IS GIVING THE BALL INSIDE!!!!!!!
     Good luck to all.....
 

[old_lion]

OK, I know you have all been anxiously awaiting my thoughts on post season honors, so here goes. Forget 1st and 2nd team for a minute, let's just start with a list of deserving guys, and then whittle it down to 10 guys.

Here's a  start ... Let's think about it by teams. I think it should break down as follows ...

At least 2 from MC, HC, and Fisk ... and at least one from PC and LC ... that's 8. Then the other 2 probably s/b 1 more from MC and the other from PC.

OK, everyone just hold your ridicule for a moment. I'll admit I'm biased towards my Lions ... but Piedmont deserves two spots this year. We are much improved, there is no dominant team in the GSAC this year, and we just took the hottest team in the conference to OT (something both Maryville and Fisk failed to do last weekend) before coming up a little short... We don't have any stars, so we must have several guys who are very good.

Submitted for your consideration ...

LaGrange ... one
definitely Corie Jackson

Piedmont ... two
I'm too close to the situation to pick ... it's like picking your favorite child. But at least one, probably two, out of Adams, Baldwin, Green and Walker. The easy route would be to pick the two leading scorers. But if you had to pick a guy that you'd least like to play a big game without, it probably would be Green or Walker. Bottom line is, you couldn't go wrong with any of the four.

Huntingdon ... two
definitely Allen White
A strong case can also be made for either Cole Hairston or Justin Babian. It would be a close call, but I think I'd take Hairston.

Fisk ... two
Very close call for two spots between Ellis, Patton, and Williamson. I'm sure some will disagree, but I think Ellis is the odd man out. Coming into the season most would have said he was one of the top five players in the league. But he has definitely under achieved vs. expectations. For the alleged "best low post player" in a league with a shortage of good low post players, to be scoring only 11 ppg and shooting only 46% from the field and only 48% from the line ... well that's not very impressive. And I'm sorry to say, Chris Adams appears to have removed himself from consideration.

Maryville ... three
definitely ... Monte Calloway
At first glance, you'd say the other two s/b Mason and Golden. But I'd say Bradley Blair has also made a case for himself recently. OK, he's probably not in the GSAC top ten, but he at least deserves an "atta boy". And I wouldn't even say it's a done deal that Maryville gets three, although they probably will. Murvul getting three was almost pre-ordained.

But, that 10th guy could come from several guys who are on the bubble. The GSAC hasn't reached parity yet. But we are a heck of a lot closer than we were in 04-05. I'm sure some will argue for HC or Fisk getting three and PC getting only one. Yes, HC and Fisk did get the Ws over PC ... but they were all extremely close, competitive games. IMHO, the evidence clearly shows that there is not enough difference in talent to justify a 3 to 1 difference in representation on the all-GSAC teams.

Coach of the Year ... Duckworth
Player of the Year ... Calloway

[old_lion]

1 TO for Green, i think he had a few more than that...

Urban, I agree ... I had him for two turnovers and eight assists.

But I think you have to remember that there is a degree of judgment involved in assists, turnovers, and steals.

No one is perfect, but our guy is very good. IMHO, he hasn't missed many this season.

[Griffcoach22]

Old Lion, you want to talk about me having a lack of class.  YOU are the one who keeps bashing stat people.  How does that make me the one with NO class?  Explain it to me. 

Also, why would anyone who is not the official stat keeper sit in the stands and keep stats of the game?  Division 1 fans don't even do that.  Is it something you enjoy doing?  Just wondering.

And no, I am not bashing you for doing it so don't get your panties in a wad!

You are entitled to your opinion about all conference.  I have not seen everyone play so I can not attempt. 

Lastly, do you think if Fisk wins the tournament and gets a bid they would be sent to Mississippi College?  They played in the regular season.  Would the NCAA place two teams against each other in the first round who have already played one another?? 

[mattgrubb]

Of course Fisk would, THE NCAA loves rematches, it gives a chance to see who the big dog is like in 99-00 when MC went 1-1 against a scholarship SCAD team during the regular season, then SCAD came to MC for the first round and MC beat them by 20.  Who was the better team that year and who had one lucky day.

I still like Calloway as POY b/c i am biased, but allen white sure came through last weekend, while i think Monte is definitely a better player, he just did not get the chance.

The tourney is going to be so sick, i may go, if i am there i want to stay in a girls dorm in Montgomery, anyone got any connections.  It will be one big party regardless of who wins.