MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

Ralph Turner · December 17, 2006, 07:01:13 PM

I saw LaGrange fall just short of UDallas tonight. Denetris Render hit a streak at the 6 minute mark with a couple of steals and baskets to pull LaGrange to within 2 at 60-62 with 4:59 left. LC pulled to within 63-66 at the 2:02 mark, but UDallas remained ahead by clutch free throw shooting and won 79-71.

UDallas only plays UT-Dallas (56-90 loss), U Ozarks (86-85 neutral court win) and UT-Tyler in late January among the ASC teams. The Austin College game tomorrow will give a little more insight in the relative strengths across the south.

We will see if they are Pool B material.

mattgrubb · December 18, 2006, 02:00:57 PM

i hate seeing my panthers lose

I sure hope the scotty dogs can pull out a W tonight in lexington but it feels as if the vols are going to rupp, if they do it will be a great win for them. a win that will be looked at heavily come late February.

Go Scots

coachwgh · December 18, 2006, 03:53:14 PM

Texas is far. I want to send a public thanks for the support Ralph Turner gave us both days in Dallas. I true ambassador for D3Hoops posters everywhere. We stunk it up in Dallas. We missed more bunnies than there are stars in Texas. We are on break now until after Christmas and we need more practice than we do rest at this point. Our guys are fresh and playing hard but we are really struggling with being razor sharp. We are more like a butter knife right now. It gets the job done but not the best way to do things. U of Dallas is a very good team. They have size, shooters, versatility and depth. I will be very surprised if they don't make the tournament at the end of the year. As I have said before....our situation mirrors that of Huntingdon last year and they had one or two losses along the way that bit them at the end and this could be the one that kills us if we don't get real close to perfection the rest of the way.

scottiedoug · December 18, 2006, 04:01:32 PM

Coach: It is great to have several GSAC teams working so hard, and reasonably so, to get to the tournament. If for some reason the Scots cannot get there, I'm pulling for y'all.

scottiedoug · December 18, 2006, 10:56:59 PM

Ouch! Scots are 5-4 at the break. Global warming.

Ralph Turner · December 19, 2006, 12:10:29 AM

Austin College 70, UDallas 68.

I saw AC last week against UT-Dallas. (This is the state school that was an upper level research university until about 10-12 years ago. UT-D's academic standards are harder than most of the the D2's and some D1AA's in the state, so this is no slouch of a university. Its chess team won the World University Chess Championships about 2 years ago.)

UT-Dallas was clearly better, but Austin College is getting better athletes with the move to the SCAC. I wonder if there wasn't a shift in Administrative policy to make AC most competitive in the SCAC.

Nevertheless, another Pool B (UDallas) gets the loss, and the result makes sense. UDallas lost a very close one to Hendrix, so I think that I can place them as a mid-pack SCAC team on their home gym.

Thanks for the kind words, Coach Haynes. I really enjoyed seeing the Panthers. I was impressed with the talent that you seem to be getting. I hope that D3 is catching on in Georgia. It has taken about 10 years in Texas. You and the GSAC should be able to build quality programs, when the GA high school players realize that D3 is fun and very good quality ball for the student-athletes who play it.

(One of the stars of the UT-D win over Howard Payne tonight was not recruited by D-1's out of high school at a very excellent Houston suburban high school. He is now playing for UT-D and loving it and pursuing a challenging major.)

mattgrubb · December 19, 2006, 03:08:28 PM

well 5-4, no bueno with the talent the scots have and i won't blame coaching. Randy Lambert has not scored a point since the 70's when he scored a lot of them and if he was suiting up this year things would be different. Again, there comes a point when talent and potential only mean you are not doing what you are supposed to.

Congrats to my friend Matt Parton and Transylvania beating Maryville is always a good thing for your program whether it happens often or rarely. I heard Matt played well for the poineers and MC is going to see him for three more years.

Go panthers

Spencer Beaty · December 19, 2006, 05:41:02 PM

Granted, one of the Scots losses is to a DII team which they should have beaten anyway, but there other losses are to a buzzer beater, a team they beat by 40 in the rematch, and a good tranny team. This might not be the year of the scot. I love my scots but they lack the key elements of a good team. I dont know what those are at the moments but hopefully Randy does.

scottiedoug · December 20, 2006, 03:21:39 PM

One thing the Scots need is Jared Laverdier healthy and able to play some solid minutes at point. Regardless of whether Bo should be playing point, he should not be the only person playing it. And I understand Jared's broken wrist will be a problem for at least six weeks. I bet Transy is going to win a lot of games this year.

It looks like Brady Neal has gotten his stroke and confidence in it, so someone besides Bo is a threat to score from outside. I do not think the Scots will become the GSAC's doormat (or easy pickings for Methodist and Greensboro).

mattgrubb · December 20, 2006, 03:37:58 PM

the scots will become a door mat for the gsac over my dead body and randy's too

mattgrubb · December 21, 2006, 04:15:06 PM

ooh January 6th is so close, lagarange GA will be rockin out that night, cant wait to see my panthers take on my scots

Prediction (could be a xmas gift) LC 78 MC 75

scottiedoug · December 22, 2006, 12:06:55 PM

MattGrubb: Yeah that should be fun, but I hope the Scots do not overlook Greensboro, whom they play away on Jan. 3. They are 7 - 1, including beating John Carroll.

colincondi · December 22, 2006, 06:46:01 PM

At the break, this is the closest the GSAC has ever been... last year at this time, it was obvious Maryville was the top team in the conference (obviously, late season injuries to Bobby and Monte changed things)...

Right now, I'd call it a toss-up between LC and MC, with Piedmont close behind. If you take a look at common opponents, you might have to give MC a slight edge. MC beat Oglethorpe on a neutral court by four, split with Emory in a home and home, and beat Sewanee by 17 at home. LC lost to Oglethorpe by five on a neutral court, split with Emory, and beat Sewanee four at home. Based on this, plus LC's inability to beat MC, I'll give MC the edge. That being said, I'll pick LC to beat MC in LaGrange, but think MC will return the favor at home.

Piedmont looks to be pretty good this year as well. Baldwin is putting up some monster #'s... in the only common opponent category, they lost at Oglethorpe by five... put up a good win at NC Wesleyan and put a scare in a pretty good NAIA team... Since opening weekend, they seem to be playing pretty well (4-2 vs. DIII competition... the two losses at OU and a six point loss to #15 Averett). They could very easily win this thing...

Huntingdon, as expected, is rebuilding this year, but they seem to be improving and have battled a couple of SCAC teams to the wire the last couple of games... their style of play can always win a game, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them go 0-6. I would be surprised to see them win 2 or more games in conference play...

Spencer Beaty · December 22, 2006, 10:19:04 PM

Have a merry merry christmas. Beaty is off until '07

Mac Attack · December 25, 2006, 09:19:11 AM

Wondering if there is anyone who will be attending the MacMurray vs. Huntingdon game on December 29 and/or the MacMurray vs. LaGrange game on December 30 who could post some in-game updates as well as final score and recap each night? It appears that neither Huntingdon or LaGrange will have a webcast, so for the MacMurray fans that can't make the trip, any information throughout/after either game would be deeply appreciated!