MBB: American Southwest Conference

[etbualum]

ETBU looked pretty good tonight.  Bossier Parrish was pretty athletic but not very good offensively.  I was pretty pleased with how the post players played.  Melvin Allen is going to help.  Brent Compton who is a transfer also played very well.  If you can believe it or not Cedric got better.  He has extended his range.  I think he hit 4 threes with a couple of them being NBA range.  They played two halfs and ETBU won both of them by 5 or 6 each.  Then the JV played a period and lost by a couple.  Good opening effort for the tigers.  The first two games will be pretty rough.  LSUS went to the Semis I believe last year and they have at least 3 d-1 transfers.  Should be very tough games for ETBU.  If they can play either of those teams close the east better watch out.

[Ralph Turner]

etbu alum, any thoughts of ETBU and LeTU hosting Huntingdon and another South Region independent, like a Rust, in an early season tournament.  You could reciprocate in Montgomery the next year.  The history in that part of the South is interesting.  So the trip might be worthwhile  (501.4 miles to Montgomery according to the Streets and Trips guide)

Two victories would help your QOWI so much, and it would help Rust and Huntingdon get South Region games.

The new AD at LeTU came from Huntingdon.  That was my hope for some relationship to connect South Region teams.

I am not trying to call you out, but Pat Coleman did have a piece in the Daily Dose earlier this month about ASC Scheduling, and ETBU did not fare well by his criteria.   Just trying to help the conference.

[Pat Coleman]

That blog post:
http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=61

[etbualum]

My thoughts on scheduling and I think this goes along with what our coach's think.
The reason behind a lot of our scheduling is budget, competition, and the lack of a real chance at a bid.  All the non conference games are close and can be made for pretty cheap.  We are playing Northwestern State for a payday (not sure how much but every bit helps). We hate playing Wiley, but we also cannot get away without playing them or the local paper would rip us and it would not help with recruiting.  I think the other part is that we play the schedule we do so we can see very good teams in the preseason.  Teams that are better than most of the competition we will see in the ASC. 
I also think that the only teams that can get a bid out of the ASC are MC, MCM, and maybe Sul Ross.  So we put our eggs in one basket. Too much dissapointment in counting on a bid. 

[mcm_indians]

What does everybody think about HSU getting votes for the top 25??

[hoopshops]

HSU getting some votes shows the ASC is getting love around the Nation.  Gotta love it.

[whitebutterflies]

I'm glad that the ASC is getting some recognition in the polls, still the d3hoops poll mean nada.

D3hoops, and anyone else who conducts a poll might want to take in account other predictions and pools from people with more basketball knowledge and creditability. It baffles me that UMHB, SRSU, and McM all were picked ahead of HSU, and still recieved no credit in the pools. Someone wasn't doing their homework.

[whitebutterflies]

I meant polls not pools.

[Ralph Turner]

whitebutterflies, IMHO, Calvin Nite was the main difference between the 2004-05 Cowboys and the 2003-04 Cowpokes.

He graduated.  HSU was not disrespected.  They were 2004-05 ASC-West tri-champs but did not make the conference tourney finals.

If you look at the balloting, there are 8 votes difference between UMHB and HSU.  Now, let's imagine that one of the 20 ballots has UMHB in first, HPU "hidden" in 2nd for the 7 votes without calling the attention of a 1st place vote, SRSU in 3rd, McMurry in 4th and HSU in fifth.

Switch places in the ballot of a single first place vote from UMHB (worth 8 points on an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system and give it a 5th place HSU. Drop HPU from 2nd to 4th.  Move up SRSU and McMurry one place each to 2nd and 3rd. Move UMHB to 5th on that single ballot.  (Shucks I can imagine Darrell Royal filling out such a ballot and "po-mouthing" his own team so as not to call attention to his team!)

That ballot give a recalcuated tally and breaks out this way:

UMHB (7) 123
HSU (4) 123
SRSU (4) 122
McM  (5) 121.
HPU 71...

That balloting is very close!!!!

No one is disrespecting HSU.  The Cowboys have never played a D3 NCAA tournament basketball game.  Coach Howard is good.  Coach Howard may be the single reason that HSU is getting national recognition.  In fact, I still am amazed that someone at another level, D2 or D1 mid-major, hasn't talked to him about an assistant's job, at the least.

As for D3hoops.com Mississippi College got the respect that I would expect.  We have had only 2 Elite 8 teams (McMurry in 2000 and SRSU in 2004) since  the onset of the Pools in the 1998-1999 season...not very impressive. Mississippi College made the Sweet 16 last year, but was handily defeated.  They are getting the respect  carried over this year.

HSU hosts a very very good Southwestern team on  22 Nov 2005.  A solid victory by the Cowboys will begin to put the Cowboys on the radar screen.

I have one other thought about Polls.  Polls are a measure of reputation to some degree.  Various confernces get respect by past performance.  (We get cut some slack in football, because everyone knows how good the conference has been in the last few years.)

We will have to earn it in basketball.  MIssissippi College really doesn't play anyone who has playoff experience out of the conference.  The Fisk game is the only D3 game that they have.  Carver Bible and Wesley (MS) may even hurt them.  A Top 25 team ought to play better competition than that.  It would not surpise me to see MC lose votes after those first two games.

As Polls go, you get an early ranking.  You may string some impressive wins, like beating both UNT and SMU, to give you a boost.  But, the main way you rise is when teams above you lose.

[carlweathers]

No one is disrespecting HSU.  The Cowboys have never played a D3 NCAA tournament basketball game.  Coach Howard is good.  Coach Howard may be the single reason that HSU is getting national recognition. In fact, I still am amazed that someone at another level, D2 or D1 mid-major, hasn't talked to him about an assistant's job, at the least.

Why would a relatively successful D3 head coach have any interest in becoming a D2 assistant?  Clearly D1 assistant isn't something that Howard is that interested in because that is what he left to come to HSU and a head coaching job at either of those levels from D3 you have to win more than he has. 

[whitebutterflies]

WHAT??

Ralphy,

I am saying that HSU got too much respect, garnering attention in the polls, when 3 teams were ranked higher than HSU.

And I have no idea how to respond to your chaos theory on how someone could've voted. The fact is UMHB was 1, SRSU was 2, and MCM was 3, and HSU was 4. Still HSU got love in the polls. That is what I dont understand.

That being said, d3hoops or anyone else cannot predict how the season will go, so polls are worthless anyway.

[Ralph Turner]

UMHB -- has lots of players back.  How did the new facility help with recruiting?
SRSU--3 consecutive ASC-West titles and ASC-West POTY is back!
McM--Coach Vanlandingham is back and has brought in some real talent!  Now to see how they gel!
HSU--Lost Calvin Nite and needs to answer depth questions.

HSU hosts "#28" Southwestern on Nov 22nd.  Southwestern is tall and experienced and the CCIW people respect Southwestern.  HSU can get good exposure with that win!

[etbualum]

Also for UMHB one of the new guys Ben Camillo from Argyle visited and was looking at etbu.  How has he done so far?  Will he have an impact for them?>

[321inandout]

From what I have heard UMHB swept the d3 market in Texas H.S. this year.  So, Ben and others are very good players.  I will say for UMHB if they need freshman to make an impact they are not deserving of the #1 ranking in the west.  Freshman can be good role players but upper classmen make a team good!

[etbualum]

Centanary scrimmage on friday for the Tigers.  Anyone else playing this week?