MBB: American Southwest Conference

[#1ascfanman]

Here are my picks for this week.


10-4 overall, pretty good so far. 

McM over LeT.
ETBU over HSU
UT-D over TLU
SU over UO-Kinda an upset pick here.
UT-T over HPU
MC over CUA
LC over UMHB

UO over TLU-Bounce back win
SRSU over UT-T-road trip gets them
UT-D over SU
LeT over HSU
McM over ETBU-may be a close game
MC over UMHB
LC over CUA

[Ralph Turner]

The old adage is that you gotta play them one game at a time, but if you do that, and you don't mess up in the mean time, then there are pretty good things out there for the teams that do.

Knowing the history of the playoffs in D-III tells us these things.

It takes about a 20-3 or 22-4 in-region record to earn an at-large or Pool C bid.  More than 4 in-region losses and you are probably sitting at home unless you are from one of the "power" conferences.  (UAA, WIAC, OAC, CCIW and NESCAC are five good conferences that most would consider when listing the power conferences.)

To host a first round game, then you need to be either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the Regional Rankings that will start coming out in February.  The Final Regional Rankings that is determined after all of the games are played is the one that determines the brackets and the seeding

Right now, it looks like the only chance to host a first round series is for the ASC winner to lose only one more game between now and winning the championship.

I know that Coaches DeWeese, Holmes, and Lofton are not too happy.  Coach Butterfield is looking at the strength in the East and knowing that it will be a tough division schedule.

My guess is that UTD is the only team that has a good chance at a Pool C bid (if they don't win the conference tourney) at this time.

[#1ascfanman]

McM over LeT.-INCORRECT
ETBU over HSU-INCORRECT
UT-D over TLU-CORRECT
SU over UO-Kinda an upset pick here.-CORRECT
UT-T over HPU-CORRECT
MC over CUA-INCORRECT
LC over UMHB-CORRECT


Brings me to 14-7,  still pretty good but some surprises yesterday.  Today may be very intersting.

[Ralph Turner]

Roster update for McMurry...

Two starters from earlier in the season are no longer with the team.

Rickey Burney, a one-letter senior from Mesquite, had started 9 games, averaged 23.9 mpg and 10.2 ppg.

Tim Harrison, the junior from Ft Worth, had started 8 of 11 games, played 19.3 mpg and averaged 6.3 points per game.

[#1ascfanman]

UO over TLU-Bounce back win-CORRECT
SRSU over UT-T-road trip gets them-CORRECT
UT-D over SU-CORRECT
LeT over HSU-CORRECT
McM over ETBU-may be a close game-CORRECT
MC over UMHB-INCORRECT
LC over CUA-INCORRECT

19-9.   Good weekend for my picks and looks like a good weekend for the conference.  I hope I can get to some games. 

Ralph-Those kids out for discipline or grades?


It doesn't look like they lost a ton.

[Ralph Turner]

UO over TLU-Bounce back win-CORRECT
SRSU over UT-T-road trip gets them-CORRECT
UT-D over SU-CORRECT
LeT over HSU-CORRECT
McM over ETBU-may be a close game-CORRECT
MC over UMHB-INCORRECT
LC over CUA-INCORRECT

19-9.   Good weekend for my picks and looks like a good weekend for the conference.  I hope I can get to some games. 

Ralph-Those kids out for discipline or grades?


It doesn't look like they lost a ton.

I understand that it was grades.  Why does an upperclassman not have his/her act together by now?

IMHO, the loss of Burney surprised me, but then I am not on campus to know what these guys were really doing.

[#1ascfanman]

Sometimes that is what you get when you recruit certain kids.  I am not saying they were bad, but with transfers and jucos you never really know what you are getting.  I know Coach at LC did not recruit too many of those kids, but please understand I am not criticising anyone here.  Those are gamble you have to take.


This weeks picks:

SC over HSU
LC over UT-T
UO over LeT.- This may be a real good game
UT-D over ETBU-i got to looking, ETBU beats them at home,but I think it changes this year.
McM over TLU-If mcm doesnt look past them.
UMHB over SRSU
CUA over HPU

MCM over SU
UO over ETBU-UO is much improved this year.
HSU ove TLU
MC ove Tyler
SRSU over CUA-upset pick
UMHB over HPU

UO over UT-D-UO can beat them at home.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for your predictions, #1ascfanman!

I enjoy following them.

[Ralph Turner]

We have finished the inter-division games for 2009-10.

Once again, the standings bring out the inequity of counting the crossover games in the standings.  I repeat this every year, because the facts do not change.

Some say to count the games, because you have to play them.

Well they do count because they are South Region in-region games.  That impacts NCAA Regional rankings and prospects for Pool C (at-large) bids and the chance to host the NCAA playoffs, if you are one of the 62 teams (for the Men and 64 teams for the women.)

What is not fair, is that the teams that played in the fall semester in December are not the same teams that will be playing in February.

There are academic casualties.

There are mid-term additions and transfers.

There are disciplinary cases.

There may be injuries in the mid-season that impact key players.

There are inequities in the single round robin schedules.

ETBU played UMHB, CTX, McM and HSU on the road.  They went 1-3 against those four teams that are currently #1, #2, #3 and #6 inter-divisional records.

UOzarks played UMHB, CTX, McMurry and HSU at home.  They went 2-2 including a one-point losses to HSU and McM.  They were two baskets away from being 7-1 versus the West.

Those schedules are not balanced.

Here are the standings thru Wednesday night, Jan 13th.


ASC-East

Team	Conf Record	Crossover Record	Intra-division Record	Games relative to 4th place
UT-Dallas	7-1	7-1	0-0	+2
Miss Coll	7-2	6-2	1-0	+1.5
LeTU	6-2	6-2	0-0	+1
UOz	5-3	5-3	0-0	0
UT-Tyler	4-4	4-4	0-0	-1
ETBU	4-4	4-4	0-0	-1
LaColl	4-5	4-4	0-1	-1.5

Team	Conf Record	Crossover Record	Intra-division Record	Games relative to 4th place
McMurry	6-2	5-2	1-0	+2.5
UMHB	6-3	4-3	2-0	+2.0
CTX	4-5	4-3	0-2	0
SRSU	4-5	3-4	1-1	0
HSU	2-6	2-5	0-1	-1.5
Schreiner	2-6	1-6	1-0	-1.5
HPU	2-7	1-6	1-1	-2.0
TLU	0-8	0-7	0-1	-3.5

IMHO, the divsion races ought to be starting tonight.   The season is almost over and some teams are so far into the hole that they cannot see out.

With the beginning of the new semester, the student bodies ought to have a chance to see the team get hot and make the tournament.

Next year, I hope that both men's and women's coaches will vote to count only the division games towards the division championship and the playoff bids, and end this madness.

Thanks for indulging me in this perennial rant and good luck to LaCollege, ETBU, UTT, HPU, HSU, Schreiner and TLU.  With 12-13 games left in the season,  (that is half of the season), you already in a hole and your season may be looking bleak.

[#1ascfanman]

SC over HSU-CORRECT
LC over UT-T-INCORRECT
UO over LeT.- This may be a real good game-INCORRECT
UT-D over ETBU-i got to looking, ETBU beats them at home,but I think it changes this year.-CORRECT
McM over TLU-If mcm doesnt look past them.-INCORRECT
UMHB over SRSU-CORRECT
CUA over HPU-CORRECT

MCM over SU-CORRECT
UO over ETBU-UO is much improved this year.-INCORRECT
HSU ove TLU-INCORRECT
MC ove Tyler-CORRECT
SRSU over CUA-upset pick-INCORRECT
UMHB over HPU-CORRECT


Brings me to 26-15

This was my worst pick em weekend but still 11 games over.

UO over UT-D-UO can beat them at home.

[mcm_sid]

We have finished the inter-division games for 2009-10.

Once again, the standings bring out the inequity of counting the crossover games in the standings.  I repeat this every year, because the facts do not change.

Some say to count the games, because you have to play them.

Well they do count because they are South Region in-region games.  That impacts NCAA Regional rankings and prospects for Pool C (at-large) bids and the chance to host the NCAA playoffs, if you are one of the 62 teams (for the Men and 64 teams for the women.)

What is not fair, is that the teams that played in the fall semester in December are not the same teams that will be playing in February.

There are academic casualties.

There are mid-term additions and transfers.

There are disciplinary cases.

There may be injuries in the mid-season that impact key players.

There are inequities in the single round robin schedules.

ETBU played UMHB, CTX, McM and HSU on the road.  They went 1-3 against those four teams that are currently #1, #2, #3 and #6 inter-divisional records.

UOzarks played UMHB, CTX, McMurry and HSU at home.  They went 2-2 including a one-point losses to HSU and McM.  They were two baskets away from being 7-1 versus the West.

Those schedules are not balanced.

Here are the standings thru Wednesday night, Jan 13th.


ASC-East

Team	Conf Record	Crossover Record	Intra-division Record	Games relative to 4th place
UT-Dallas	7-1	7-1	0-0	+2
Miss Coll	7-2	6-2	1-0	+1.5
LeTU	6-2	6-2	0-0	+1
UOz	5-3	5-3	0-0	0
UT-Tyler	4-4	4-4	0-0	-1
ETBU	4-4	4-4	0-0	-1
LaColl	4-5	4-4	0-1	-1.5

Team	Conf Record	Crossover Record	Intra-division Record	Games relative to 4th place
McMurry	6-2	5-2	1-0	+2.5
UMHB	6-3	4-3	2-0	+2.0
CTX	4-5	4-3	0-2	0
SRSU	4-5	3-4	1-1	0
HSU	2-6	2-5	0-1	-1.5
Schreiner	2-6	1-6	1-0	-1.5
HPU	2-7	1-6	1-1	-2.0
TLU	0-8	0-7	0-1	-3.5

IMHO, the divsion races ought to be starting tonight.   The season is almost over and some teams are so far into the hole that they cannot see out.

With the beginning of the new semester, the student bodies ought to have a chance to see the team get hot and make the tournament.

Next year, I hope that both men's and women's coaches will vote to count only the division games towards the division championship and the playoff bids, and end this madness.

Thanks for indulging me in this perennial rant and good luck to LaCollege, ETBU, UTT, HPU, HSU, Schreiner and TLU.  With 12-13 games left in the season,  (that is half of the season), you already in a hole and your season may be looking bleak.

Dr. T,

You've broken this down a little further than I would have, but I think that counting only West Division games or vice versa in the east division is a good idea. The question from there would be, do you still continue to play every team from the opposite division each year, or do you schedule like baseball every year and play the cross division series' on a every-other-year rotation? For the schools with a little more financial fortitude, the freedom to not have to play every cross-division team would allow for more in-region game schedules to boost RPI and please the selection committees. However, it would probably hurt the schools who don't have as much coin as they would scramble to try and fill a schedule.

But, all that being said - if you count just 14 games a year - instead of 21- towards ASC Tournament standings, much like college football you make each of those games a lot more interesting, and a lot more weighs on each game creating a more competitive atmosphere. My two cents.

[#1ascfanman]

We'll see if I can add to my 26-15 record.


Missed the UO UT-D game, 26-16.


UT-D over UT-T
LC over ETBU
McM over SRSU-ONce again, can they overcome the trip.
CUA over SU
UMHB over TLU
HPU over HSU
MC over LeT


LC over LET
SRSU over HSU
UTT over UO
MC over ETBU
McM over HPU
CUA over TLU
UMHB over SU

[kid nice]

Now that UNO is going DIII, is there any chance of them joining the ASC or maybe even teams from the ASC East splitting and making their own league? They could add Centenary and Huntingdon(sp?) with UNO, MC, LET, ETBU and LC and maybe UTT and have an 8 team league.

Also, i know the arena at UNO maybe the biggest and nicest in DIII, they should make a bid on the DIII final four.  Who wouldnt like a trip to the French Quarter for 3 or 4 days!

[#1ascfanman]

I dont think the French Quarter is in the spirit of DIII and the private church schools.....



That is a great recruiting base!  They will be a force in due time.

[kid nice]

I didnt know that good music, churches, and history was not the spirit of D3.  Is the spirit of D3 to have no fun and experience new things, new culture and maybe have a little fun? What are you talking about?  That was a dumb statement. 

They will have a great recruiting base you would think but they havent worked it very well as a member of DI so i dont know....