MBB: American Southwest Conference

[Pat Coleman]

There's a link on the Top 25 that gives more Top 25 info.

[Bearkat00]

There's a link on the Top 25 that gives more Top 25 info.

Ha - that's embarressing.  Thanks Pat!  Sorry for not being observent before asking a question.  For those who want to know visit http://www.d3hoops.com/faq.php?question=5

[golden_dome]

Bearkat,
    The Top 25 poll has nothing to do with selection to the NCAA Tournament. That is done by an NCAA Committee. Regional rankings will come out tomorrow giving you an idea of where everyone stands. The same criteria used to rank each region is used to select at large teams to the NCAA Tournament.

MC will probably be #1 in the south region rankings this week with UMHB projected to be #5.

Here is information posted by pabegg on the Pool C board with QOWI calculated.
SO  51   01 01  Mississippi College       008  A w C        10.5882 16-1 18-2
SO  53   02 03  Virginia Wesleyan         010  A w C        10.7619 18-3 19-3
SO  54   03 02  DePauw                    021  A w C        10.4118 14-3 17-4
SO  53   04 06  Guilford                  025  C 4          10.1111 15-3 16-3
SO  51   05 04  Mary Hardin-Baylor        029  C 6          9.95 17-3 17-3
SO  52   06 05  Maryville (Tenn.)         030  B 2          10 15-3 15-5
SO  55   07 07  Averett                   054  C second     9.5 12-4 14-6
SO  51   08 08  McMurry                   056  C second     9.3333 14-4 15-6
SO  54   09 09  Centre                    058  C second     9.5714 104 164
SO  51   10 00  Texas-Dallas              080               8.7778 13-5 15-5
SO  55   11 11  Greensboro                081  A other      8.8235 125 156

For the complete list of each region and exactly what everything means you can visit the Pool C board and scroll back to the post by pabegg.
http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=4232.870

[David Collinge]

...bearing in mind that this is just Patrick Abegg's view of the Pool C world and not in any way an official pronouncement.  You'll note that of Mississippi College and Va. Wesleyan, MC has the better regional record (16-1 vs. 18-3) but VWC has the higher QoWI (10.7619 vs. 10.5882).  Balancing these (and possibly the other three primary selection criteria), Patrick has come to the conclusion that MC "should be" #1 and VWC #2 in the South; but there is no guarantee that the South Regional Committee will reach the same conclusion. 

[golden_dome]

...bearing in mind that this is just Patrick Abegg's view of the Pool C world and not in any way an official pronouncement.  You'll note that of Mississippi College and Va. Wesleyan, MC has the better regional record (16-1 vs. 18-3) but VWC has the higher QoWI (10.7619 vs. 10.5882).  Balancing these (and possibly the other three primary selection criteria), Patrick has come to the conclusion that MC "should be" #1 and VWC #2 in the South; but there is no guarantee that the South Regional Committee will reach the same conclusion. 

I noticed that too but I think the two game lead keeps MC in front. Patrick's numbers are very close. I know that his QOWI for MC and Virginia Wesleyan is exact.

MC is leading Louisiana College 54-24 at the half and outscored LC 36-0 in the paint.

[Bearkat00]

Chris,

Not to jump the gun here or anything, that MC is loaded with a lot of SR who get the majority of playing time, with the exclusion of Collins and Winford.  I know you guys continually re-stock and all, but just curious to see if you can shed some light on what we might expect next year.  Normally MC has a couple of Sophmores who see significant playing time and I don't see that in this year's team.  Just curious...

Looks like the LETU loss really kicked it in gear for you guys.  Nice win!

[golden_dome]

Chris,

Not to jump the gun here or anything, that MC is loaded with a lot of SR who get the majority of playing time, with the exclusion of Collins and Winford.  I know you guys continually re-stock and all, but just curious to see if you can shed some light on what we might expect next year.  Normally MC has a couple of Sophmores who see significant playing time and I don't see that in this year's team.  Just curious...

Looks like the LETU loss really kicked it in gear for you guys.  Nice win!

We lose a lot after this season but we have some talented players returning plus a couple who have not played a lot this year. I would expect us to bring in another big class next year heavy on junior college players, just like always.

Off of the 2003-04 team we only returned one player with any experience, our backup point guard that year Jason Walker. The next season we brought in Tyler Winford, Jonathan Collins and a lot of JUCO players who went 24-5 the next year and 29-2 last year.

Next year we won't have to completely rebuild, just add some players. We return Tyler, Jonathan and Prince Trotter. PT has a lot of talent and will have a big year next season. Plus there are a few other talented players who just did not have a chance to show it this year with so much returning talent.

We have some examples of those players this year. Marcus Evans did not play last year but has had a great year. Ryan Hudson and Gene Hunt played some last year but they have been great this year and a big reason for our success. Torry Crumedy and Prince Trotter were added to the roster and also have a lot to do with our success.

This is a big recruiting year for us though but I have heard it is going very well. Its a little bit easier to recruit when kids know they will have an opportunity to get playing time immediately.

[gccfan]

I was a little disappointed to see that UMHB was only 6th in the region.  What else do they need to do?  They have only won 13 or 14 straight games and haven't lost in the new year.

[gccfan]

I also wanted to post an updated Top 10 players list

1. Mardochee Jean, HSU -- 45.79
2. Chris Isom, ETBU -- 45.09
3. Kevin Deans, SU -- 39.76
4. Timothy Broomfield, MC -- 39.67
5. Alvin Stevens, McM -- 39.43
6. Kevin Guyden, UMHB -- 38.64
7. Joel McDonald, CUA -- 38.62
8. Josh Johnson, LC -- 38.29
9. Jonathan Young, SU -- 37.10
10. Zach Pickelman, HSU -- 36.45

Looks like Jean and Isom are seperating themselves from the pack.

[Ralph Turner]

I was a little disappointed to see that UMHB was only 6th in the region.  What else do they need to do?  They have only won 13 or 14 straight games and haven't lost in the new year.

gcc, in basketball, performance in the most recent games is not a criterion.

One fewer loss would have helped UMHB.

How do you think that we McMurry fans feel with 2 one-point last second losses?  That is keeping us from being ranked at all.

[Bearkat00]

I was a little disappointed to see that UMHB was only 6th in the region.  What else do they need to do?  They have only won 13 or 14 straight games and haven't lost in the new year.

gcc, in basketball, performance in the most recent games is not a criterion.

One fewer loss would have helped UMHB.

How do you think that we McMurry fans feel with 2 one-point last second losses?  That is keeping us from being ranked at all.

I assume they are basing this off of Strength of Schedule then?  UMHB only has 3 losses, the same as team that they have beaten (Virgian Wesleyan), one less than DePauw who is ranked higher than them and one of UMHB losses has come to MC. 

[Ralph Turner]

I was a little disappointed to see that UMHB was only 6th in the region.  What else do they need to do?  They have only won 13 or 14 straight games and haven't lost in the new year.

gcc, in basketball, performance in the most recent games is not a criterion.

One fewer loss would have helped UMHB.

How do you think that we McMurry fans feel with 2 one-point last second losses?  That is keeping us from being ranked at all.

I assume they are basing this off of Strength of Schedule then?  UMHB only has 3 losses, the same as team that they have beaten (Virgian Wesleyan), one less than DePauw who is ranked higher than them and one of UMHB losses has come to MC. 

Hello bearkat,

I think so.  pabegg ran his best guess at the QOWI here.  I think that UMHB is not getting help on the QOWI.  Look at the South Region Standings (IN-region games) and assign them the QOWI values for the various won-loss percentages in the Handbook.  (Wins on teams over .665 = 14-15 points; from .500 to .665 = 12-13 points; .333-.499 = 10-11 points; .000 to .332 = 8-9.)

We have plenty of ASC schools whose in-region rankings are less than .333.  We get killed because we don't have another conference that is weaker than we are in Texas that offers South Region games that are winnable to our weaker teams, which in turn, boost their in-region records.

[Bearkat00]

Thanks Ralph! 

Does a team, such as MC, who consistly does well in the National Tournament, improve the view of a conference to nationally or does it help when a different team earns a bid to the tournament year in and year out.  I hope this makes sense. 

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks Ralph! 

Does a team, such as MC, who consistly does well in the National Tournament, improve the view of a conference to nationally or does it help when a different team earns a bid to the tournament year in and year out.  I hope this makes sense. 

Bearkat, I hope that other posters jump in on this one as well.

I think that the best thing that can happen is for multiple teams to go deep in the tourney.  Because we are geographically isolated, I believe that we make our best case when our champion (after going thru the Texas sub-bracket) goes deep.  Then it is easier for us to contend that our conference is stronger than others might think.

Everyone can see the success that Texas/ASC teams have had.  They can remember that McMurry made to Elite 8, but that was 2000 and the Sweet 16 in 2001.  (What have you done for me lately?)  SRSU made the Sweet 16 in 2004.  (Yeah, same question.)  UT-D played a well-respected Trinity team close but lost anyway.  MC has been good, but they have never beaten a Great Lakes team in all of their trips to the NCAA's.

My wish is that McMurry beats Miss College in the Men's Tourney Finals and earns the Pool A bid.  Since Abilene is greater than 500 miles to Clinton, then why not just fly McMurry to some western venue that has "travel orphans" and seed Miss College (a Pool C team) in an eastern bracket.  I would then hope that both teams (being seen against different competition) would go deep.

As for the women, I hope that McMurry or HPU can make the Final Four this year.  Then, the ASC women are not just a one-trick pony (HSU Cowgirls).

[gccfan]

Ralph, I agree with you on the need for multiple teams to do well.  For this season it means having someone upset MC in the conference tourney, although UMHB should have an outside shot at a Pool C bid if they continue to win.  On the women's side, it would be great if we could somehow split up our ASC bids so that we give multiple teams a chance to advance because this year I think McMurry, HPU and HSU could all go far in the tourney, but most likely only one will be able to advance out of the regional.