MBB: American Southwest Conference

[dballa]

gccfan actually Tom Hermann is from HPU.  I dont know if I would call him a surprising player, he's played great his whole time at HPU.  He scored 30 today in their win against Ozarks.

Art Gonzalez is a great shooter for SRSU.  They have a bunch of good shooters.  If they get their fundamentals down, even with their lack of height, they'll give a lot of team fits.

[Ralph Turner]

gccfan,

I have finally calmed down from the loss to ETBU yesterday!

I have so many thoughts about that game!

1)  We should not have lost that game!  As I looked at what it was going to take to make the playoffs in the pre-season, I thought that it would take 21 in-region wins in the regular season.  (A win versus UTSA is fun to imagine, but the selection committee doesn't consider it, at all!  A win over UTSA and $5.00 gets you a latte at Starbucks!)  We got the 2 wins that we needed in Colorado and the win over  ETBU in Marshall, but I counted on going 6-1 versus the East (including going to Miss College) and splitting with UMHB in the West.  That would give us 22-2 and maybe hosting the Tourney.  If we slipped up somewhere else, then we would still have twenty-one (South Region) wins in the regular season.

2)  I especially want McMurry fans to realize that the rules for getting an at-large Pool C bid (as UMHB did last year, and Miss College did the year that UT-D won the tourney and as the women have) have changed, and not to the benefit of the geographically isolated ASC.  You have heard me talk about our non-conference scheduling for several years now.  We don't help ourselves there.  Even bringing Pat Coleman to meet the coaches back in 2004 hasn't helped change it much.  I don't want to count on a Pool C bid.  I think that we have to win the ASC to get an NCAA tourney bid!

3)  Please remember that the Top 25 poll has absolutely no impact on getting a post-season bid.  UMHB can be #9 all season long, and they still have to win the tourney to guarantee a playoff bid!  We won't see a South Region Ranking until early February to see how close that we are.

4)  What we need to do now, is beat Miss College in Clinton and sweep UMHB, especially since the CRU has beaten Miss College.  I think that is what it will take to get the playoffs in Kimbrell this year.

5)  A general point of information about the at-large bids...Division III is not like Division I where you are thinking that the Big XII will get four bids, and the SEC will get 5 and the Big Ten will get 6 bids!  This year, there are 17 total Pool C bids to be spread around the 340 teams that haven't earned their conference AQ!  That is about a one in 20 chance of getting an at-large! Don't count on it! You can count on some 21 and 22 win teams sitting at home!

I am not writing this team off, but they had better have their game face on Monday night!  They have dug themselves a huge hole, and they have 20 conference games ahead of themselves to dig themselves out of it!  UMHB has a one game advantage on them, already.

I hope that the team gets serious about this, soon!

Win it all!

[#1ascfanman]

wow, my wildcats surprised me in the wrong way, goin 0-2 to open things off.  We have to win all of our home games and take a few on the road somewhere to get into the playoffs.

ETBWhat!?!?!?! What a shocker.  They must be somewhat better than my initial thought.  If they beat HSU they could be a sleeper on the East.  Saw the box score and they have a lot of guys doing a lot of things looks like, but I still pick my boys to sweep  them!  Probably just a fluke.

UMHB gets a big early season win! This puts MC in last place in the conference atleast for a couple of days.  They struglled a little bit against Concord Grapes.     They will be tough to play on the road. 

What a start to conference play!

[Bearkat00]

What's frustrating for us LETU fans ~ we have had double digit leads in each of our first four games and have split.  Great out of conference schedule, but I'd like to see us play George Fox in Colorado instead of McM.

Great year for basketball though and as we've seen in the upper tiers of D1 and D2, anyone can lose on any given night!

Anyone actually watch the MC-UMHB game?

[gccfan]

Ralph, when I heard MCM lost to ETBU my first thought was you.  I was at the MCM-LETU game last night so I'll try to give a little first hand opinion. 
1) LeTourneau is very good.  They are deep and can get up and down the court as fast as anyone.  JJ Rockmore really gets the team moving in transition.
2) Dewayne Hall is the real deal for McMurry, he single-handedly shot them back into the game.  I'm not sure why he didn't play until 5 minutes left in the first half, but he was virtually unstoppable last night.
3) I was very impressed with Terrance Willis, he's a very quick jumper allowing him to get offensive rebounds and block shots.  He blocked a Dewones Smith dunk last night.  Willis can be a difference maker for MCM this year.
4) My final thought is about Zac Majors for LeTourneau.  He scored a career high 18 points last night, including a go ahead 3 with 1:30 left and then drained both ends of a 1-and-1 with 12 seconds left to put the lead to 3.  He just moved into the starting lineup on Saturday, but I think you will see a lot more of him.  If you looked at him in lay-up lines he doesn't look like anything special, but he has a confidence about him.  Every shot he took hit nothing but net in those last minutes and he wasn't afraid to take the big shot.  I think we will be hearing more and more from him in the future.

[gccfan]

Also wanted to say congrats to UMHB on their #5 ranking.  I'm guessing that is the highest they have ever been.  Good luck to the football team as well.

[McM Blue Devil]

To answer your question gcc fan, Dewayne Hall is playing with an aggrevated hamstring.  McM is beat up right now.  No excuses however LeT is the real deal.  I have great respect for JJ Rockmore.  I have had the chance to visit with him on several occasions and he is a top notch kid.

[gccfan]

Thanks McM Blue Devil... that's the type of info we pay the big bucks for   

[gccfan]

It's a simple question, but if you had the first pick in your very own ASC Fantasy Basketball Draft, what player would you select.

[Bearkat00]

Just looking through some stats from games around the conference.

Noticed that Mike McKie, SR. for UT-Dallas isn't playing.  I always liked him and that he could be a tough match up for a lot of teams.  Any word on him?  I saw he played for two minutes in the first game and hasn't played since, so I assume knee injury.

[#1ascfanman]

Sounds like this will be an interesting year to say the least! UT tyler loses to Schreiner!   ETBU beats McNasty and then loses a close one to HSU.  Box score from both games and the Cooper kid stands out, he may be one of the best in the conference at this point.  They only lose by four.  Abilene is always a tough road trip.  LC plays Lamar on the eighth, tough game after losing two over the weekend.  I would like to be at the LeT. ETBwho game on Saturday, I believe they are kinda rivals and it might turn out to be a big one.  I've got LeT. by 10 in this one, they are rolling right now.

Go LC!!!!

[Ralph Turner]

I know of these programs that have games available on the internet.  You can usually find the link of the schools web site.

Corrections appreciated:

Concordia
ETBU
HPU
HSU
LeTU
McMurry
Miss College
TLU ?
UT-Dallas

I will be posting results as possible on the in-game updates board, this season.

[gccfan]

#1ascfanman... you are absolutely right, the ETBU-LETU game is a huge rivalry here in East Texas.  I'm a little worried about this game for the Jackets because you never know what will happen.  We have gotten them before when they were much better than us and now that I think we have the better team I hope our guys don't take them lightly.

[#1ascfanman]

I always love the rival games! Anything can happen!  On the vote you gotta add the kid from ETBwho.  21 against Homer Simpson University and good rebounder. 

Of course my vote is Josh!

Go CATS

[#1ascfanman]

Three big games this Saturday   McNasty vs Homer Simpson University, LeT it out vs. ETBwho, and Howard Payne in the...vs Sully. 

I got McNasty by 5
LeT it out by 10
Sully by 11. 

Any other predictions