MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[wilburt]

So William is your silence regarding Murvul next year 'cause you figure it goes without saying that the Scots will be the class of the class?

Astute observation on your part Doug.  I intentionally omitted Maryville because they have been boringly predictable in recent years.  Coach Lambert may or may not be able to count to inifinity more than once, but he can sure count to 20.  As a result, he will craft a "modestly challenging" schedule designed to get Maryville 20 overall wins. 

Among those 20 wins are expected to be a significant number of South Region wins so as to compete for a Pool B bid.  A good number of those South Region wins are against your traditionally average or doormat South Region teams like Sewanee, Oglethorpe, Emory, etc. 

Murvul fans will complain (as they do every year) as to why they get no respect from Pat Coleman and the rest of the d3hoops Top 25 pollsters.  And as true to form in recent years he'll likely go 1-1 in the NCAA tourney if Maryville makes it...

Doug it is a very boring script...

[wilburt]

3. I expect a breakout year next season for Piedmont  

From your lips to God's ears ...

Early recruiting rumors say that we have a good shot at adding at least a solid combo guard and two promising post guys ...

IF that happens, and we are able to get everyone of significance back (always a challenge in D3), then we have a legitimate shot at being very good next season.

I agree wholeheartedly Old Lion...

It's a dream of mine but I just hope we can get some disgruntled D1 transfers from UT to come to Fisk...

[mattgrubb]

I agree wilburt with the scheduling problems lambert has and here is the reason,
You can only go to the tough places so many times, or meet teams in the tourney and offer a home and home series so many times, if they don't accept, what can you do or can you accept just come to my place every year, not really, if you were an ODAC team wanting to compete would you travel to maryville to play a nonconference game?  Unfortunately Lambert plays the teams that will play him, he does not have the money to pay teams to come and play in maryville or he would, and they would find out how hard it is to win in the foothills

[GSAC Killer]

Grubby one way to put it!! Yes our schedule in the past has been geared so that we can make the tournament, is that not what you should do if you were a coach...
   There are very few teams that want to have a home n home with us and also that we don't have money to be traveling to all these places.Like Grubby said how many team want to come to Scots Land to pull off a win, NOT MANY!!..
Yes it is true we usually win one and lose one in the tournament but how many team can say 1) They make it to the NCAA tournament every year, 2) Win a game in the tournament, and 3) Win 20 games every year..........NOT MANY!!!!

As you can well see the two words of the day are NOT MANY!!!!!!!!
   I hope the guys get motivated for next year and see if they secure a top spot in the South region the possibilities of making it to the Final Four is very likely.. Hint HInt TRANSYLVANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wilburt]

I agree wilburt with the scheduling problems lambert has and here is the reason,
You can only go to the tough places so many times, or meet teams in the tourney and offer a home and home series so many times, if they don't accept, what can you do or can you accept just come to my place every year, not really, if you were an ODAC team wanting to compete would you travel to maryville to play a nonconference game?  Unfortunately Lambert plays the teams that will play him, he does not have the money to pay teams to come and play in maryville or he would, and they would find out how hard it is to win in the foothills

Please don't talk to me about Maryville's scheduling problems.  If you think Maryville has it bad Fisk has it worse!  If few teams want to have a home and home with Maryville then even fewer teams want to have one with Fisk.  No one wants to come to Nashville to play Fisk except for Rust and UDallas.  And they have to because they are South Region independents. At least you can get the Emory's and Oglethorpe's to play you, because they certainly will not play Fisk.     

I do have to give credit to one ODAC team that appears to take on all comers and that is RMC.  They played Lincoln in a home and home series this year in addition to giving Fisk a guarantee to play them in a holiday tournament this season.   So we live with it and move on...

[scottiedoug]

One "solution" we keep coming back to is the expansion of the GSAC with a couple of good programs.  Not just good teams, but programs that share at least most of the fundamental assumptions of DIII.  But that's an old problem.

I agree William that nobody wants to play Fisk at your gym.  And it is moreso than nobody wanting to play Murvul at Murvul.  Some "reasons" in the Fisk case are not commendable.

So I am not sure if Lambert and Glover really can do much more about this.  The unual doormat calculations, if they really are on purpose, which I doubt, do not always hold up, either.  Look at Averett, for instance, which rose up from the doormat.  And on the other hand, who would have thought Methodist would have had such a tough year.  And Sewanee and Oglethorpe forgot they were doormats.

I wonder in Transy will continue to play Murvul?

[ohyeah]

Please don't talk to me about Maryville's scheduling problems.  If you think Maryville has it bad Fisk has it worse!  If few teams want to have a home and home with Maryville then even fewer teams want to have one with Fisk.  No one wants to come to Nashville to play Fisk except for Rust and UDallas.  And they have to because they are South Region independents. At least you can get the Emory's and Oglethorpe's to play you, because they certainly will not play Fisk.     

I do have to give credit to one ODAC team that appears to take on all comers and that is RMC.  They played Lincoln in a home and home series this year in addition to giving Fisk a guarantee to play them in a holiday tournament this season.   So we live with it and move on...

I think I would rather play UDallas then Emory.....especially at Emory.  I remember when Maryville used to play SCAD home and home until they went to D2.  When teams get in tourneys with in region records, they are stupid to go to Fisk or Maryville an play b/c if they lose and dont win their conference tourney, their chances of making the tourney dwindle.  However, with the expanded bids, it makes it easier to get in now.  The one team that always sticks out in my mind is the 2003 Capital team.  They lost 3 games the whole year and all of them were to the eventual national champ otterbein and they didnt get in.  In region games hurt, therefore, RMC doesnt really have anything to lose by playing lincoln.

[mattgrubb]

Wilburt
We are in agreement about scheduling
Here is something i have mentioned before, you all need to fix up your gym
Teams like going to play Hope, Calvin, Mississippi College, Centre, Transy all these teams have really nice modern facilities.  It is just an opinion, but fixing up the gym or building a new one would definitely help draw teams to fisk, at least it could not hurt.  You have to give yourself every advantage when you are a GSAC school.

Also, William, if you were the coach at an SCAC school trying to get a descent nonconference record would you schedule at Fisk, what are you chances of winning?

[mattgrubb]

Randall for life

[wilburt]

I agree William that nobody wants to play Fisk at your gym.  And it is moreso than nobody wanting to play Murvul at Murvul.  Some "reasons" in the Fisk case are not commendable.

So I am not sure if Lambert and Glover really can do much more about this.  The unual doormat calculations, if they really are on purpose, which I doubt, do not always hold up, either.  Look at Averett, for instance, which rose up from the doormat.  And on the other hand, who would have thought Methodist would have had such a tough year.  And Sewanee and Oglethorpe forgot they were doormats.

Doug I don't think "fixing up" the Johnson gymnasium would make much of a difference in scheduling some teams to come to Nashville.  We could schedule Mississippi College to come to Nashville to play a college double header at TSU's Gentry Center.  For example - Fisk vs. Mississippi College and TSU vs. OVC opponent on a Saturday night. Do you think the other MC would still come?  Doubt it...   

And Grubb is correct, some SCAC coaches trying to get a decent nonconference schedule do not want to play at Fisk nor play Fisk at home, but they seem to be able to play the other 4 GSAC schools with some regularity .

[mattgrubb]

I bet that has something to do with style of play
maryville has a more traditional type of system that a team will see on a daily basis in the SCAC, as well as the other GSAC schools
Fisk is more athletic and has a more uptempo style than any of the SCAC schools, they simply don't have the athletes to compete with Fisk, especially early in the season before their offenses and defenses gel together as a cohesive unit, which is something Lambert is an expert at doing

[wilburt]

Excuses, Excuses Grubb...

[Ralph Turner]

...  In region games hurt, therefore, RMC doesnt really have anything to lose by playing lincoln. ...

RMC is within the 200-mile radius rule with Lincoln.  It counted as in-region.

Away games are worth one-point extra on the QOWI determinations.  Conversely, home court is worth one-point less on QOWI.

IN-region is the key!

[scotswin]

Blah, Blah, Blah.

Maryville does a good job with its schedule.  Yes, there are a mixture of doormats andquality south region teams.  Most schedules are mixed this way.  Let me state the obvious; basketball is a game in which the better team does not always win.  If Maryville were to play only top teams in the non-conference, they would end up with a fare share of losses.  The at large bid system does not look kindly on losses.  Therefore, the scots have a mixture of strong and average teams on the schedule. 

I don't have inside indormation, but I would be shocked of Randy has ever turned down a home and home invite from any top south region team.

[wilburt]

Speaking of SCAD an article on our good friend Cazzie Russell.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060314/SPORTS06/603140307