MBB: American Southwest Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Regional rankings are out:

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2009/02/18/ncaa-regional-rankings-week-2-3/

[golden_dome]

Regional rankings are out:

http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2009/02/18/ncaa-regional-rankings-week-2-3/

After seeing Pabegg's unoffical RPI numbers earlier this week, I was hoping MC would take the #6 spot in the regional rankings. MC has better OWP and OOWP numbers than McMurry and DePauw, who were both ahead of us. I can at least see the committee arguing the head to head between MC and McMurry giving MCM the nod, but how does MC come behind DePauw. MC has two more regional wins and better OWP and OOWP numbers.

Not a good week for MC in the regional rankings, for the men or the women. It would be nice if the NCAA published the committee members and the RPI numbers so we could see what they see.

[hoopstar]

Chris, it probably isn't a big deal because if MC teams are  good enough to make the NCAA  tournaments  they will keep winning anyway and if they were ranked higher they would have had  to continue to win to stay ranked.  I want to remind you that MC's leading scorer Bryan Johnson 19 ppg didn't play vs McMurry. The committee obviously didnt consider the records of late because MC  has done very well of late.  The Men  13-2
and the woman only one loss since the holidays.

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry has a record of 2-1 versus in-region ranked opponents .

W:  UTD, Moss College
L:   North Central IL

Miss College

W: UTD
L:  UTD, McM

Maybe that is it.

Besides, I don't think that McMurry is a full rung on the ladder ahead of MissColl.  As I look at the numbers, the only team that gets into the Tourney as a Pool C is UT-Dallas, if they don't fall on their faces.

McMurry (and I believe Miss Coll) must win the tourney.

[dballa]

HPU 89 CUA 68 Final.  Good win by HPU but may be a tad bit too late.

[Ralph Turner]

McM 69 TLU 54 Final.

In the game, Jonathan Walker was (incorrectly) assigned a 4th foul, three in the second half.  The Livestats stopped at 18 minutes in the second half. Walker had only one foul on the livestats in the first half and into the first 2 minutes of the second half.

It appears that the "official" scorer mis-assigned a foul to Walker who had to miss about 10 minutes of the second half.  This discussion of Walker's foul status lasted about 5-10 minutes, but did not re-instate Walker.  Because the "official monitor" was not at the floor level, but was up in the second level at Memorial, it was not available for review.

McMurry clinches at tie for the ASC-West, but must win at Schreiner to lock in the #1 seed.

[etbualum]

etbu 74 utd 58 final

[cover2]

UMHB 78 SRSU 64 Final...that road loss to Schreiner has hurt UMHB in terms of the west 1 seed.

[Bearkat00]

LETU - 87
UO - 80
FINAL

In the first halff of the LETU-UO game, no one could miss.  The fans got into the act last night when a LETU student hit half-court shot and won a year's supply of chic-fil-a, and he wasn't even the highlight of the first half.  Ozarks (10) and LETU (6) combine to hit 16 threes in the first half in what was a back and forth contest throughout the night in a nice win for LETU.  The second half was a different story in the shooting category as Ozarks went 3-14 behind the arc - though a few of those came with about 45 seconds left to play and they started jacking shots up - and LETU only attempted 4 in the frame. 

Seniors D.Smith and Evers led the LETU attack with 24 and 20 for the game and the Jackets battled back from 4 down with about 4:00 to play to secure a nice 7 point win.  Ozarks was led by Chris Williams with 23, Jeremy Clark with 20 and Colby Woolverton with 15 off the bench.  Ozarks suited up only 8 men for the game and it showed in the second half.  As the game wore on late in the second half, LETU seemed to be a step quicker to loose balls and grabbing rebounds. 

You could hardly tell that LETU was missing their best player - Vanwright - who could possibly see some court on Saturday.  Saturday's game is huge for LETU, hoping to possibly secure that 2 seed and a share of a division title.   

[Bearkat00]

It's always fun to speculate on awards, so I figure I'd give out some early awards:

POY
Bryan Johnson - MC
From my understanding, MC's losses all came with him either out of the game or injured while playing.  Seeing him play made me a believer.  Provides a very strong post presence, but with his quick feet, makes him difficult to match up with.

Other nominees
Dale Vanwright - LETU
While we see that LETU can win without him, he truly is a difference maker and a leader of this team.  When he gets hot, no one can stop him.  Had too many games where he scored in single digits.  Probably the best OVERALL player in the conference (I know, I am bias  )
Anthony Reese - UTT
Had the best individual performance from any player that I've seen.  Seems to have been consistent throughout the year.  If his team makes the playoffs, he might move ahead of Dale in these rankings
Temaine Wright - UTD
Best player on the best team.  I haven't seen him play yet, so I could be wrong.

Newcomer
Dale Vanwright - LETU
I don't even think this is going to be a close vote.  On the flip side, I am too lazy to do any research to find out if there is anyone else worth considering.  Still, I think this is a no-brainer

Defensive POY
Josh Chambers - ETBU
I am going off of what I've seen him do against LETU.  He is unbelievably athletic and had quiet a few block shots. 
Clarence Jeffery - MC
Harrassed our guards all day long and seems to be very quick
Josh Davis - LETU
I believe he is the most underrated player in our conference (as McM and what he did to them).  Coaches son who matches up against the best player.  Helped hold J.Johnson, LC, to only 6 points in the first meeting. 

Coach
Terry Butterfield - UTD
Best team, National Ranking
Bob Davis - LETU
Improvement of last year's record, playing for opportunity of first every Division title. 

1st Team
Dale Vanwright - LETU
Bryan Johnson - MC
Josh Johnson - LC
Anthony Reese - UTT
JJ Rockmore - LETU

2nd Team
Dusty Evers - LETU
Hakeem Kareem - UTT
Chris Williams - UO
Jeremy Clark - UO
Temaine Wright - UTD

Honorable Mention
Tony Brock - UO
Jacob Turnipseed - ETBU
Jeremiah Pojah - ETBU
Clarence Jeffery - MC
Ernie Lowry - UTD

Just my thoughts - by no means am I an ESPN analyst.  Just thought I'd cause a rutkus :-)

Not very often an LETU fan can start bragging about their team!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jmnaseum]

Ralph, Help me out on the Wild Wild West.
McM and UMHB are in.  If Concordia and HSU win they are in.
If Sul Ross and HSU win they are in.
With a Concordia win and a HSU win CUA will finish in third.  HSU and SR will tie and then go down the list of tie breaking procedures.  I think all is even until the Mississippi game, where HSU won and SR lost.  Am I correct?

What a scenerio

[jmnaseum]

never mind my last post.  by virtue of McM sweeping HSU, HSU is eliminated.

[dballa]

Ralph, Help me out on the Wild Wild West.
McM and UMHB are in.  If Concordia and HSU win they are in.
If Sul Ross and HSU win they are in.
With a Concordia win and a HSU win CUA will finish in third.  HSU and SR will tie and then go down the list of tie breaking procedures.  I think all is even until the Mississippi game, where HSU won and SR lost.  Am I correct?

What a scenerio

Isn't Sul Ross in whether they win or lose?
Sul Ross has the tie breaker over HSU and HPU because they beat McMurry.

If Sul Ross beats Concordia and HPU beats UMHB, HPU goes to the tourney because they split with HSU but would have the better record against UMHB who is higher in the standings.  Also they swept Concordia and would knock them out.  I think that's right.

You are right HSU should be eliminated.

[rimrocker]

Bearkkat:

I assume you are just looking at players for the East division since you don't mention a single west player(?) 

I think it will be a tight vote between Gaddy at UMHB and Moreno at McMurry for West POY. 

[Bearkat00]

Bearkkat:

I assume you are just looking at players for the East division since you don't mention a single west player(?) 

I think it will be a tight vote between Gaddy at UMHB and Moreno at McMurry for West POY. 

That is correct.  I haven't seen all the teams from the West - though I've seen both of those players that you mentioned.  If I had a vote, Moreno would be my POY.