MBB: Great South Athletic Conference

[mattgrubb]

these 9 others you speak of don't have the power of a Bobby Golden or a Sid Ellis or a Raul Placeres or a Josh Tummel, but i like what this group could be capable of collectively

I think the "No Name" team could be good for them if they prove to get it done night in and night out like they have so far with one good win and two expected wins

I will win the next bet just get your money ready

[old_lion]

Looks like Pursell gave Baldwin the business.  I told you all he could ball.  Old Lion, give me the scoop on Piedmont this weekend and let me know what you thought about Pursell.

That's not how I would characterize their match-up, Matt ... but Pursell is a fine player and he had a very good w/e in Birmingham. I would love to have him in addition to Baldwin,  but I certainly wouldn't take him over Baldwin.

Sort of a strange w/e for my Lions ...

I knew after those first two games, there was no where to go but down ... but, man, I wasn't expecting a performance like Friday's. "Murphy's Law" was the theme for the evening ... if it could go wrong, it did ... http://www.piedmont.edu/athletics/mbasketball/07-08stats/pcm03.htm
* First of all, Coach Glenn was ill, did not make the trip until Sunday.
* Have to give credit to Sewanee ... they played very well.
* We didn't ... shot poorly, turned it over, got out rebounded ... just wasn't our night.
* Officiating was pretty poor, inconsistent (both ways) all w/e ... but very questionable 4th and 5th fouls on Baldwin
    proved to be the final nails in our coffin. He was only allowed to play 6 or 7 minutes in the 2nd half. (In fairness, we
    also benefited from a pretty bad no call as we survived a late run by Birmingham Southern Sunday.)
* Let's just say I'm looking forward to the rematch with Sewanee on Dec 5th.

Things were more back to normal Sunday. We shot the ball fairly well, got out rebounded, played hard and well together ... and hung on to win a close one. We did a pretty good job of handling their full court pressure and the waves of bodies they threw at us. We nursed a 5 to 10 point lead the entire game until they hit 3 straight 3's in the final minute or so to tie it. After we turned it over, we then benefited from the strange no call to get the ball back, before we got it inside to Baldwin to score on a tip in with .3 seconds to play ... whew ...

"Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes... well, he eats you"

[old_lion]

Coach Haynes,

I noticed Baize didn't play in either of your last two games ... He's not injured again, is he? I hope not ... I love that guy's game. He's a "pure PG" type you need on the floor to make everyone else better.

[mattgrubb]

I spoke to Ben last night and his take was that he would like to play for piedmont b/c they look inside every possession.  Kind of a good set up for a low post player.

I will be interested in the rematch as well old lion.  I think playing in Demorest will give the lions the advantage, but lets jump it up again and if Pursell gets the better of this match up, would you make the trade then?

Timmy Blakely is the freakin business.  I can't wait for the conference schedule to get here so you all can see him dominate the paint.  He is a rebounder.

Congrats Piedmont on the tip in win, that is a good showing for the GSAC, now i need you all to beat sewanee in the rematch.  It is all about GSAC credibility and HC is not doing their share.

[coachwgh]

The Panthers didn't spread too much GSAC cred this weekend.  We looked like a poorly pieced together suit....tight in the crotch and low in the shoulders.  Baize injured his knee in the final minute at Sewanee.  It is cartilidge.  He made it through two days of rehab, a full practice and a shoot around without a glitch.  First seconds of the game he collapsed.  He will be back but we aren't trying to rush it.  One of our freshmen back up pg's sprained his foot on Sunday and will be out for a short time.  A back up 2G is out with our second stress fracture of the year and my bench looks awfully short.  We had a good practice today, which is just what we needed since we are playing our 6th game in 11 days tomorrow night.  We will have a couple of days to get ready for Methodist on Sunday.  That is a game where you can spread some GSAC cred.

[Spencer Beaty]

"Blakely is not a thinker he is a rebounder"

           -Matt Grubb-

Well said sir!

[old_lion]

Baize injured his knee in the final minute at Sewanee.  It is cartilidge.  He made it through two days of rehab, a full practice and a shoot around without a glitch.  First seconds of the game he collapsed.  He will be back but we aren't trying to rush it. 

Here's wishing Landon a speedy recovery ... you're going to need that guy to get things moving in the right direction.

Good luck tomorrow night.

[old_lion]

I spoke to Ben last night and his take was that he would like to play for piedmont b/c they look inside every possession.  Kind of a good set up for a low post player.

Yeah ... seems to be working out pretty well for Baldwin.  But he can score from anywhere ... he'd do well at the 3 if we had more big guy options ...

I will be interested in the rematch as well old lion.  I think playing in Demorest will give the lions the advantage, but lets jump it up again and if Pursell gets the better of this match up, would you make the trade then?

Surely you jest ... you're a Murvul guy, you understand loyalty ... I wouldn't trade any of our guys. But, I sure would like to be able to add one more talented big guy to our mix. 

If we had one more talented big guy, we'd be pillaging the streets of Murvul ... salting your fields, stealing your women, and having our way with your cattle ... wait a minute ... I may have gotten that last part backwards ...   

[mattgrubb]

there is the difference in murvul and piedmont, any time you want to trade Baldwin, we will offer Orr, straight up
although we don't have any room under the salary cap and would have to pay the luxury tax b/c of the overpaid perimeter players we have

The scots go to Rust this weekend, a heck of a road trip and a tough place to play

Spencer,
Timmy is my player, you have to get your own

Where has the killer been?  I would like to point out he now has the lowest Karma on the board

[batteredbard]

In a bit of self promotion (and since they're tallying the hit count on stories now and its hard to compete with popularity of UT coverage without some help ...

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20071126/SPORTS/71126006  - MC men win over Oglethorpe

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20071125/SPORTS/71125008  - MC men win over Emory

I really like the defense that Maryville has this year. For three games in to the season it is a more complete man to man than I've seen in a season or two and is fun to watch. When the half court man to man comes away with more steals than the full court press thats a good indicator of both smart passing on offense and hard work on defense. Not perfect but I like the mobility and switching. They both seem to be fairly advanced for this early in the season.

Bowers can take over a game but like any player can be off. I think he was pushing it early in the second half trying to hit a few 3s as a knockout punch and got off his game for that 5 min stretch. Q looks to me to be coming around, he was much better Sunday at looking for his shot. JJ seems to be growing back into game form. The posts? Well I like Lambert's attitide 20 points and 20 rebounds a game from the position. Orr did better than half that by himself Sunday but it was while beating the press over the top. I did like the way he defended Shaheed most of the time. The senior got the best of the redshirt sophomore a few times toward the end of the first half but it was not the weak spot I thought it would be. (But that may have been the Petrels not getting to the big guy in the right spot enough)

I thought LaGrange really looked out of kilter  after Baize went down during the opening tip Sat afternoon. But wow on Joe Cromwell's 32 points in 31 minutes 15 of 18 from the floor against Emory Sunday. Still trying to figure how much o a factor Baize was because Sewanee beating Piedmont but losing to LaGrange is a question mark in my mind if anyone wants to offer some reasoning, I'll most certainly listen.

Any chance Piedmont may consider renaming the Classic at the end of the year to the USAC GSAC challenge with MU and Ferrum taking on PC and MC?

And since no one is criticizing me for leaving pout a this or that on the south region report for Hoopsville, Im guessing ya'll aren't listening , yet. 

[Ralph Turner]

bard, I have been pushing the hyperlinks to stories about McMurry, HSU and the ASC that have appeared in the Abilene Reporter-News for about 6 years now.

Thanks for the links, and I will check out anything that you post!

+1, friend! 

[Ralph Turner]

Pretty soon, serious, over-the-top, Maryville fans will use their laptops to sign on to LiveStats for the running game summaries.

Now all you need to do is to put in some premium seating in the Cooper Center with electrical outlets to keep that batteries charging!   

[coachwgh]

I grew near Chattanooga and always under-appreciate its quality.  Driving down Lookout Mtn last night and seeing the city lit up is one of the great sites to see. 

Out of kilter is a very good way to describe our play this past weekend.  I was honestly embarrased.  I am also starting to be more in favor of fewer regular season games.  In order to get my 25 in I have to start in a ridiculous fashion.  Yesterday was our 6th game in 11 days with a Sunday off, and two days for Thanksgiving that puts us down to 8 and Monday was our 3rd practice since the season started and I have always said that I enjoy practice more than the games.  We need to get better but haven't had the time to correct things all the way that didn't get fixed before the season started.  We will have 3 days going in to Methodist this Sunday I hope it helps.  We played well in the second half last night but missed two free throws with a minute to go that would have cut it to 1.  They scored and then made 4 straight free throws.  Freshman PG with his first start played 37 minutes and had 0 turnovers.  At times it wasn't pretty but I guess you got to be happy about that. 

When we beat Sewanee, we just played to our full capability.  It wasn't a perfect game but if we played that way in every game we would be about .500 instead of 1 for. 

[old_lion]

http://www.piedmontlions.com/index.asp?path=mbball

Why don't we all just agree to declare Baldwin POY now and make him ineligible for further player of the week awards ... so some other guys can have a chance. 

If you take a talented, versatile big guy/scorer ... put him in a good, up tempo team concept, surrounded by unselfish passers ... well, he's going to have a good shot at a few more outstanding weeks.

Congrats guys ... keep up the good work.

[old_lion]

Out of kilter is a very good way to describe our play this past weekend.  I was honestly embarrased. 

Hang in there, Coach. I'm certain you'll "right the ship" and get your team moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's going to be before we have an opportunity to play you.

I am also starting to be more in favor of fewer regular season games.  In order to get my 25 in I have to start in a ridiculous fashion.  Yesterday was our 6th game in 11 days with a Sunday off, and two days for Thanksgiving that puts us down to 8 and Monday was our 3rd practice since the season started and I have always said that I enjoy practice more than the games.  We need to get better but haven't had the time to correct things all the way that didn't get fixed before the season started.

Whoa!!! That "solution" would be worse than the original problem. The season is too short as it is!

How about instead ... maybe allowing practice to start a few weeks earlier ... or maybe easing some of the restrictions on off-season workouts with your team.

I realize the D3 focus is student first, then athlete. But I've long maintained that the structure/focus of athletics (as opposed to more free time) helps, not hinders, an individual's focus and time management skills ... and therefore, does not infringe on his ability to be a successful student.

I realize it's "only D3" ... but the majority of these guys are committed athletes (that's not mutually exclusive with being a committed student). I'm betting the majority of them would like to be able to spend more structured time in the gym.