MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[old_lion]

Hey Pat,

Mississippi College's Tyler Winford ...

I'm just curious as to why this guy would be a 3rd team preseason All-American. I'm not picking on the guy ... he's a good player. It's just that I've known him since high school and have followed his career.

Seems to me, he had a pretty decent freshman year and has declined steadyly since then ...

You can do a search and see his career numbers here ...
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careerplayer

He is a 6'6 big guy. Last year, he averaged 6.8 points and 2.5 rebounds ... I mean, he was only the fifth leading scorer on his own team???

How can those #s qualify you for pre-season honors of any sort? Just curious as to what sort of selection process could identify that guy as potentially one of the top 15 players in the nation? Wow ...

[Ralph Turner]

Hey Pat,

Mississippi College's Tyler Winford ...

I'm just curious as to why this guy would be a 3rd team preseason All-American. I'm not picking on the guy ... he's a good player. It's just that I've known him since high school and have followed his career.

Seems to me, he had a pretty decent freshman year and has declined steadyly since then ...

You can do a search and see his career numbers here ...
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careerplayer

He is a 6'6 big guy. Last year, he averaged 6.8 points and 2.5 rebounds ... I mean, he was only the fifth leading scorer on his own team???

How can those #s qualify you for pre-season honors of any sort? Just curious as to what sort of selection process could identify that guy as potentially one of the top 15 players in the nation? Wow ...

In Coach Jones' system, no player racks up "big" numbers.

Winford's qualities are as a true leader.  If I could cherry-pick one player from another ASC team to play for McMurry, I think that I would choose Winford.

[old_lion]

In Coach Jones' system, no player racks up "big" numbers.

Ralph,

I understand that they play a lot of people ... but scoring-wise, (which we both know is usually the primary consideration for all star teams) four of his teammates had "bigger" #s ... and he, himself had "bigger" #s his first two years.

Winford's qualities are as a true leader.  If I could cherry-pick one player from another ASC team to play for McMurry, I think that I would choose Winford.

Hey, I like him too ... and would love to have him on our team, as well. I just think a 6'6 guy in D3, who averages less than 7 ppg and 3 rpg, being named pre-season All-American ... well, I'm having a difficult time imagining that much leadership ...

[mattgrubb]

I would like to wish coach jones a speedy recover from his surgery.  yes, even a fighting scot, who has lost to his team in the 2nd round 4 times in 9 years, beat them once, has a compassionate side.

Good luck coach jones and chances are we will see you in March

Winford was injured last year i believe, but he is an animal

[Ralph Turner]

In Coach Jones' system, no player racks up "big" numbers.

Ralph,

I understand that they play a lot of people ... but scoring-wise, (which we both know is usually the primary consideration for all star teams) four of his teammates had "bigger" #s ... and he, himself had "bigger" #s his first two years.

Winford's qualities are as a true leader.  If I could cherry-pick one player from another ASC team to play for McMurry, I think that I would choose Winford.

Hey, I like him too ... and would love to have him on our team, as well. I just think a 6'6 guy in D3, who averages less than 7 ppg and 3 rpg, being named pre-season All-American ... well, I'm having a difficult time imagining that much leadership ...

My sources say that Tyler Winford could start at D-1 Texas State, Sam Houston State or Stephen F Austin.  He has a great 20' jump shot.  He just doesn't "blossom" in Coach Jones' system.

Winford was recruited by Coach Don Lofton and chose Mississippi College for the academics.  He is pre-med and can go to any medical school that he chooses next year, Mississippi, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Emory, etc.  In another system, he would be 18 points 7 boards per game playing 30 minutes per night.  With Coach Jones out with his bypass surgery, let's see what Winford does early in the season.

(Shucks, he would be 2nd team All-American at McMurry!  Blatant homerism!   )

[Pat Coleman]

He was the ASC East Division preseason player of the year. He was also hurt last year. The coaches who see him night in and night out thought he had the potential to do big things this year and so do we.

[mattgrubb]

Old Lion,
Here is something for you to digest.  I saw the scots play the other day in their scrimmage and it was probably more beneficial than playing a D1 school since Lees Mcrae looked just like a really good D3 team.  I am going to have to say i saw another murvul team capable of winning a conference title.  Here is how i see it
murvul  5-1  loss at the cave
pc         4-2  losses at Murvul and Lagrange
Lc         3-3  victories-2 over HC and 1 over PC
HC        0-for their lives

I will admit i did not see anyone at murvul who could match up with Baldwin, yet, but given a few games under their young belts and they won't be able to stop him but maybe contain him.  And like everyone knows, the scots have a lot of firepower from the perimeter.  I think the one thing everyone is over looking is the return of Jonathan Johnson, he is a silent killer.  He doesn't throw the powerful punches of a Bobby Golden, but he knows right where to hit you, like a Chuck Norris.


I know you will disagree with this, but i would like to hear your opinion on this subject, especially your opinion of how HC and LC will do this year.

[Spencer Beaty]

Murvul might not have a low-post presence but i would say they might have the deepest frontcourt of any Scots team I have seen with some fresh faces mixing in and getting quality minutes.

[old_lion]

Gardner-Webb over Kentucky 84 -68 ... at Rupp Arena! Wow ...

http://www.gwusports.com//pdf2/94982.pdf?SPID=4168&DB_OEM_ID=10300&SPSID=46209

They even out rebounded UK, 37 to 29.

I guess I feel a little better about our loss to GW.

[old_lion]

Old Lion,
Here is something for you to digest.  I saw the scots play the other day in their scrimmage and it was probably more beneficial than playing a D1 school since Lees Mcrae looked just like a really good D3 team.  I am going to have to say i saw another murvul team capable of winning a conference title.  Here is how i see it
murvul  5-1  loss at the cave
pc         4-2  losses at Murvul and Lagrange
Lc         3-3  victories-2 over HC and 1 over PC
HC        0-for their lives

I will admit i did not see anyone at murvul who could match up with Baldwin, yet, but given a few games under their young belts and they won't be able to stop him but maybe contain him.  And like everyone knows, the scots have a lot of firepower from the perimeter.  I think the one thing everyone is over looking is the return of Jonathan Johnson, he is a silent killer.  He doesn't throw the powerful punches of a Bobby Golden, but he knows right where to hit you, like a Chuck Norris.


I know you will disagree with this, but i would like to hear your opinion on this subject, especially your opinion of how HC and LC will do this year.

Disagree? Not at all Matt ... If Gardner Webb can go into Rupp Arena and beat UK by 16 ... well, sounds like a good time to quit predicting outcomes ...

Besides, you picked PC to split with Murvul ... that would be an improvement ...

You want my opinion on LC and HC ... I have no idea ... I've seen both their rosters, and I don't know very much about any of their players. The only predictions I can come up with re those two teams ...

1) I bet LC will play very hard. Also, they signed Antoine Maddox's brother ... that concerns me.

2) If a fight breaks out, I wouldn't bet against HC. Have you seen their roster? Apparently, the food is a lot better at HC than it is at PC. They've got a heck of an offensive line on that basketball team.

[coachwgh]

I don't even know what LC will be like this year.  It is definitely different than the last time we had to replace a lot of weapons but there is still a lot to learn.  To be cliche...we are learning everything that we need to but it is still not a habit yet.  We had one JUCO scrimmage and it went by way too quickly so the 30 minutes of practice we had after it was over worked better for us than the actual scrimmage.  We scrimmage at Tuskegee tonight.  We played them last season and it was Coach Leon Douglas' first season after leading Stillman to the D2 national tournament in his third season there.  I imagine they will be better but I don't know how much.  We really need to be tested because some of our young guys haven't figured out to compete on every play in practice yet, so there are gaps in our practice that I am not happy with.  Antoine's brother is an awesome young man just like Antoine but he is a good bit behind as a player.  Don't let that scare you old lion.  Still, don't leave him open in the corner or you can count it.  One SCAC note Oglethorpe hired a living legend Ron Bell as an Assistant Coach and they really played well against Samford.  Piedmont and Oglethorpe go at it this weekend and it is a shame I can't scout that because I really feel like it would be entertaining.  The Scots had a rough ride to North Georgia last night and I bet both teams got a lot out of that scrimmage.  I was looking at Coach Faulkner's roster yesterday and their are a couple names that I didn't know about who will help him improve this season.  Our preview should be up on the web early next week which will give everyone a little more insight to the Panthers.  As usual we open up with a brutal first 6 games.  Opening weekend at our place with Emory & Henry and then Centre/Rust, then at Sewanee, then Emory/Oglethorpe at Maryville, then at Covenant who my assistants saw beat Berry last night by going 12/28 from the 3pt line on the road.  I can't wait to see them shoot it at home. Then we relax for a couple of days before we go to Methodist on Dec. 2. When I find who made this schedule, we are going to have a serious talk.  The GSAC predictions were probably dead on but I just could never say with 100% confidence that anyone will beat Maryville until it happens.  I don't care if Spencer Beaty and the Hamburglar started at the 4 & 5, they would still get it done. I also don't think anyone will go winless. For our sake...

[old_lion]

Piedmont Observations:

As I said in an early post, depth may not be our biggest strength right now.

We looked good in a scrimmage against Oglethorpe on Saturday. We won the first 20 minutes. We were also ahead in the 2nd period until the waning minutes when Coach Ponder put his starters back in against our 2nd unit. That group didn't fare very well against their full court pressure.

Right now, we are basically a 6 man team.

In Baldwin, we have a very good scorer/ big man .. a 4 year starter.

In Green, we have a very good PG ... a 4 year starter.

Our next 4 guys, Parker, Mayweather, Rubio, and Coppage are all very solid.

IMHO, the contributions of the next 3 guys will be the key to our season. Before all is said and done, there will be stretches when we are going to have to depend on these guys ... because "stuff happens" ... we aren't going to always be able to play Baldwin 35+ minutes a game. And even if we could (if Baldwin stays healthy and never runs into a "whistle happy ref") that's asking a lot of a big guy. With all the effort and dirty work required of a big guy, I think it's virtually impossible for that position to play effectively for 35+ minutes per game.

These guys emergence will be critical.

Chuck McCoy, 6-4 ... is going to be essential. Had he not had a bad ankle much of the preseason, he would definitely be competing for a starting spot right now. As he plays his way back into shape, his becoming a presence on the boards is going to be key to our becoming a well - balanced team. He is going to have an impact ... hopefully, sooner, rather than later.

Phillip Sloan, 6-8 ... also slowed by an off-season injury. If he can develop into a solid back-up for Baldwin (give us 10 or so minutes per game) and maybe even play with him occasionally ... then I'd say we'd have all the pieces we need for a very successful team. I'm hoping the coaches are putting in a lot of patient effort into helping this young man develop.

My sleeper ... 6-4, Will Martin. This guy plays with a lot of effort and desire.  There is no reason he can't become a key role player, a key contributor. He just needs to relax and play with a little more confidence.

Caveat:
As always, that's just my opinion ... I could be wrong. 

[scottiedoug]

Coach Haynes:  I saw Emory and Henry last year in the ODAC tournamant.  Y'all picked an interesting challenge for an opener!

[Spencer Beaty]

Fellow posters,
I am trying to get a certain student section pumped up.  You represent different colleges and regions of the south.  I need a couple really good cheers...any help?

[coachwgh]

Emory & Henry should be interesting.  In one way it is insane for an opening game because it will be complete choas, but on the other hand, you can be successful even if you aren't completely satisfied with your teams progress at the start of the season.  For example, our help in the post is not very good right now.  That won't matter against E&H.  If we are strong with the ball, make lay-ups and rebound I feel like we have a chance. 
SB: I am personally a huge fan of the goal shaking, uniform boooooo!  I feel like the booo has been passed over for humiliating chants, child-like complaining and unexpressable anger.  The concensus boooo from a student section over a bad call or when a certain player checks into the game or touches the ball can be a tough but classy atmosphere.  I miss it.  I used to get booed a lot in high school, but that may have been because of my mullet and the fact that I wore purple high tops. 

Our final scrimmage went well.  We definitely finalized some depth chart questions and discovered our remaining weaknesses that we will be working on.  There will be times this season where we won't have a senior on the floor and possibly no one with previous LC experience on the floor either....scary!