MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[mattgrubb]

i think that is a very probable starting five and the most likely, but i think there could be some real depth off the bench by the end of the year with

Lil' Samuel
8 mile Orr
Shumate
Blair
at least the ability to go 9 deep for RDL

Bobby Golden for President

[mattgrubb]

alright, it is getting close to october, i can already smell the work that is getting ready to take place when practice starts in just over two weeks at Boydson Baird.  We know what the scots have, now we want to know what does the rest of the gsac have.
I need updates from Allen White aka d3ball
of course the coach
Old Lion

[coachwgh]

Alright, people it is almost October and I haven't heard any smack talk on the board yet.  I am afraid we lost more than a quality opponent with FU's departure but a quality(maybe the highest quality) poster.  We miss you Wilburt!  Another year about to start in the GSAC and again I hear people in the mist questioning whether or not Maryville will remain dominant.  Don't worry as long as there is air to breathe and basketballs that are round, MC will be very good.  Watch out for Huntingdon because they will go back to being a little more dependent on the system this year and as someone mentioned lately Cole Hairston could be an early top five nominee for POY.  Just like Allen White, you don't have to put up huge numbers to be the best player in the conference.  I wouldn't be surprised if Piedmont went 21-4 and became the first non-Maryville rep for the GSAC in the NCAA Tourney.  I think Jake Baldwin(another POY nominee) has missed two shots on us in two years.  Heavens to Betsie were are small!  Now the inside scoop on the Panthers.  We are the same people trying to do the same things only better.  That about wraps it up.  We have one freshman who is a year away but a blessing to have right now.  Everybody else has been there done that.  I am excited that we have a couple of guys who decided to apply themselves in the classroom and join us again, which helps us but ultimately helps them even more.  I often wonder about a young man who doesn't play sports in college that flunks a couple of classes.  He doesn't have the immediate punishment/negative reinforcement that eligibility can bring.  It is easy for me to see why a lot of kids don't make it through college.  Back to hoops.  Three things we will do this season(or try very, very hard to do): 1. Don't turn the ball over so gosh dang much!!!! When you go to Maryville and force 25 turnovers you can't blow it by giving it back 26 times.  UGGGHHHHH!  2. Don't give up easy opportunities defensively.  Either from poor rotations out of pressure situations, poor help D, or low post scoring.  3. Continue to hit people with many offensive options.  We have a couple guys that can shoot it a little bit better and a couple of posts that can score it a little better than the rest.  We have to be a team that is very comfortable in our roles and execute decisions to get the best shot each trip.  Not only find the open guy but find the right guy.  Sometimes the open guy is open because the other team isn't guarding him because he isn't any good(a lesson I learned as a player; I was open a lot).  There it is.  Love it or leave it.  I am going to my wife's Great-Grandmother's 100th B-day party this weekend.  It makes me take a step back and appreciate the fact that each day should be important.  Don't waste days.  Hold a door for someone today or smile at a stranger.  We all are fortunate some of us just don't know it.

By the way, I need a graduate assistant, so if anybody knows anyone please let me know.

[old_lion]

I am afraid we lost more than a quality opponent with FU's departure but a quality(maybe the highest quality) poster.  We miss you Wilburt! 

Amen, Coach!

I hate we are not even playing Fisk. Looks like we replaced that home and home series with two road games at Christopher Newport and University of the South.  Ouch! Both of those games will be very challenging, especially if Chris Eddy is back after missing most of last season with an injury.

21-4, huh? Sounds good to me ... I hope you're right! But, I'm afraid you may be being a tad optimistic. Getting out my crystal ball, and looking at our schedule, I see ...
    9 - likely wins
    6 - likely losses &
   10 - that could go either way.

I tell you one thing that makes our schedule tough. We only have 9 home games. Looking back two years, we will only have 30 over a 3 year period. Over the same 3 year period, MC has 36, HC has 37, and LC has 25 this year and last year ... I couldn't find the previous year...

What's up with that? We have one of the best D3 facilities in the South and we can't get anyone to come play us? It's not exactly like we have been a killer road game for anyone ... I don't understand that. But then again, my wife says there is a lot I don't understand...

Should be an interesting year.

[coachwgh]

Old lion, the only thing I can say about PC on the road is that their players seem to have a swagger in opponents gym that is hard to break.  They are a positive and enthusiastic group on the road.  It is hard to schedule in our locations in Georgia.  The new SCAC schedule has just recently screwed me and I have lost two region games.  Old lion we need you to go to a couple of open gyms and report back with detail.

[mattgrubb]

Well Maryville college has a new athletics logo and it does not include "fighting".   unfortunately this does not reflect the efforts that myself and all of my fellow "fighting scots" alumni put forth while we wore the orange and garnett.  From this point forward i will refer to myself as "fighting Matt Grubb" b/c i have not lost the fight that was in me when i was a Scot and i don't think this years team has either, no matter what some marketing firm says

Go Scots

Bobby Golden for President

[GSAC Killer]

I will also be going by "Fighting GSAC Killer".  Mr.Grubb your performance on Sunday was very much like your play in your college years! CLUTCH CLUTCH!!!!

Big disappointment on the Scots losing the Fighting but hey it is what it is.
No disrespect to Old Lion but the Lions will not go 21-6.. NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Not with the way they coach down there.. That 5 in 5 out method is TERRIBLE!!! Jake Green n Baldwin  needto play 30 minutes plus and PICK N ROLL EVERYONE TO DEATH.. If you want to win listen to the Killer!!

[mattgrubb]

word, the lions have always had talent, maybe a more traditional system would help them get better results, if i had those two, i would make sure they were in shape to play 35 minutes a game, they are much more effective on the floor than the bench

[old_lion]

That 5 in 5 out method is TERRIBLE!!!

Killer,

You know what they say about opinions ... they are like noses ( or maybe it was some other body part), everybody has one. But I have to say, I'm with you on the "5 in, 5 out" thing. To be fair, that wasn't our methodology for that long ... we really didn't do it for that many games last year ...

Having depth is definitely a good thing ... much better than not having depth. But, I'm reminded of a cliche ... "Any strength, taken too far, becomes a weakness". I think that can become the case pretty quickly when it comes to "spreading minutes democratically". IMHO, there are a lot more negatives than positives, to routinely going deep into your bench.

Sure, you have Rick Pitino, Nolan Richardson, Paul Westhead, Warren Haynes, the Grinnell coach, to name a few, who have had some success with the "Chinese fire drill" approach. But check out Pitino's recent Louisville teams ... he is trending more towards the norm lately ...

On the other side of the ledger, you have the likes of John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, Bob Knight, Jim Larranaga (George Mason), Bobby Cremins, Paul Hewitt, Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, Bruce Weber, Jim Boeheim, Gary Williams, Eddie Sutton, etc. etc. etc. ... this list is A LOT longer!

Peruse the numbers yourself ... there definitely is a pattern. http://www.sportsstats.com/jazzyj/past/divi.htm
There are exceptions, of course, but the really successful teams tend to not go much deeper than 7 or 8 (while the outcome is in doubt) and they tend to have 3 or 4 guys at 30+ mpg, or close to it. No doubt about it, these coaches know who their horses are, and they tend to ride them as much as possible.

Coach Wooden was quoted as repeatedly telling his teams, "Gentlemen, I'll play my top eight until the game is won or lost".

So gee, let's consider ... as a basic philosophy, which group do I want to cast my lot with? No offense intended, Coach Haynes, but I'm going to have to go with the second group.

Hey guys, sorry I got long winded ... but basketball is sort of my hobby. I don't play golf ... never could get over the fact that you can't make up for lack of skill with hustle and defense.

[old_lion]

if i had those two, i would make sure they were in shape to play 35 minutes a game, they are much more effective on the floor than the bench

Good point, GrubbyOne. That logic is difficult to argue with. I'm betting/hoping that Coach Glenn won't find the two Jakes (or Adams or Whitlock, either) sitting next to him too often ... while the outcome is in doubt. Those four are now all experienced veterans and should be ready to step up and be the backbone of this team.

We shall see ...

[mattgrubb]

Old Lion,
That is something that piedmont has lacked in years past, seasoned vets, I think Huntingdon is a great example of what seasoned vets can do in the GSAC, fortunately maryville has them every year, this year it is Bobby, Bradley, and Bo, it would include JJ if he did not get sick.  Experience means a lot in this league b/c there is usually not much of it.  So i think this could be piedmont's year to compete.

Go Scots, homecoming is next weekend and it is my 5 year reunion, oh yeah, here is my chance to get shot down again by those girls that would not talk to me in college.  But you know what, I am a real fighting scot and i will not stop until there is a victory

[Hawks88]

Just wanted to make a quick shout out to the Huntingdon golf team for their win at the Greensboro College Invitational this week. Way to go, Hawks!!

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/SPORTS/610040315/1002

[old_lion]

Old Lion,
That is something that piedmont has lacked in years past, seasoned vets, I think Huntingdon is a great example of what seasoned vets can do in the GSAC, fortunately maryville has them every year, this year it is Bobby, Bradley, and Bo, it would include JJ if he did not get sick.  Experience means a lot in this league b/c there is usually not much of it.  So i think this could be piedmont's year to compete.

Go Scots, homecoming is next weekend and it is my 5 year reunion, oh yeah, here is my chance to get shot down again by those girls that would not talk to me in college.  But you know what, I am a real fighting scot and i will not stop until there is a victory

I agree. I'm hoping we can follow in their footsteps this season.

To amplify your earlier point, those vets were mostly on the floor, not the bench. Look at the distribution of minutes ...  http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/mens_basketball/season_stats#TGBG.RES
* 3 guys between 31 and 29 mpg
* White at 26.2 mpg ... his mpg would probably have been higher had he not been prone to foul trouble
* 3 more guys between 18 and 23 mpg
* their 8th guy was at 14.5 mpg, their 9th guy (2.9 mpg) only played in 14 games
* I'm not counting Williams because he didn't play the 2nd half of the season.

And remember, HC played a good many cupcakes early. I bet if you look at the games down the stretch, the "top eight's" mpg were even higher.

Also ... good luck at homecoming. I hope your "jumper is falling", so to speak ...   

[ohyeah]

Nice cool, foggy mornings and the smell of popcorn.  Its getting close. 

Killer, did you get to see the whole game on Sunday, or did you leave early.  It was funny watching Buzzball explode on each other.

[coachwgh]

It is getting awfully close to the best time of year.  I wrote a very thorough reply yesterday morning and then my login timed out and I just didn't have the time to retype it.  This will be an abreviated version.  5 in 5 out(platooning) can be a very good thing.  As I recall John Carrol and Mississippi beat Maryville with that philosophy.  They also did it with better players than the two teams in our league that have tried it.  We slowly got away from it as the year went along.  We lost two of our top 10 to grades after 1st semester which throws a kink in the chain and not everyone was holding up their end of the bargain.  Each group is supposed to do what they do best together, that stopped working.  I feel like it did something that will help us in the long run, create group responsibility for individual mistakes or successes.  It forced some of our guys to lead their group through mistakes that weren't necessarily their fault but because someone in their group made the mistake it gave everyone the same result...a loss.  I watched a DVD on platooning from Mike Moran(JC) he does a great job with it and I think it is like anything else you do.  If you teach it, expect it and stick with it you get the results you desire. 

Where is the new Maryville logo? I can't find it.  When we adopted our new logo I wanted to change our mascot also.  I wanted it changed to the opposum because we play dead at home and get killed on the road(HA HA HA HA).  Sorry, but I watched an old Don Meyer video the other day and he butchered that joke and it was still funny.  I am guessing there are quite a few that wish he was still at (David) Lipscomb. 

It sounds like I need to make a drive to Maryville for one of these open gyms.  LC Homecoming this weekend.  If you believe in the power of prayer, pray that I don't get hurt in our alumni game Saturday. 

Go Vols!!!