MBB: American Southwest Conference

[dballa]

Ozarks 78 HPU 74 Final.  Tough loss HPU had the lead most of the way and even up by as much as 10.

[SRLobo51]

Final: SRSU 91 – AC 67

The Lobos once again had some guys step up and play today.

This young team is getting more and more confident as each game passes. They will be a very tough team to beat.

As I have learned over the past few years, Coach Davalos knows how to get the most out of his teams and this team has plenty of talent.

[imad3fanatic]

UMHB knocks off #16 ranked Mississippi College 66 - 64

[dsc]

Cowboys won by ten points or so...over LeT.

[dsc]

Final Score:

HSU 54-40 over LeT

Personal Fouls:

HSU 23
LeT  26

(For those who are watching that!)

[Ralph Turner]

A big thanks to Patrick Stewart the McM SID of 2 1/2 years who is taking the similar post at SUNY-Plattsburgh.

We will miss him.  He approached his job with a dedication and drive that brought credit to the institution and to himself! 

Our loss is amateur hockey's gain.  He probably won't miss the 3 hour commute to his amateur hockey matches, but Plattsburgh is much more conducive to that.

Patrick, we wish you and your family a safe move, and may our paths cross again!

http://www.mcm.edu/sports/general.htm

[Ralph Turner]

On another message board, David Collinge asked me about the McM-Miss Coll rivialry.  That led to this verbose explanation of the ASC.  The opinions are mine, and I will appreciate any historical corrections.  I copy it to this board and the football board for general information and will encourage commentary on the football board, (off-season, you know.    )

------------------------------------

David, MC and McM have been the top basketball programs in the ASC since the formation of the conference.  Former MC Coach Jones (now AD) and McM's Coach Holmes are good rivals.  MC and McM have the most NCAA appearances in the ASC and the most appearances in the post-season tourney and tourney finals.  So, a tourney bid or national/regional ranking has been always on the line directly or indirectly, every time they have played.  Not bad blood, just great rivals!

The ASC was created in 1996 as the NCAA D3 option for intercollegiate athletics in this part of the country.  With the leadership of college presidents from McMurry, Austin College and others, Commissioner Fred Jacoby (one of the finest conference commisioners ever to grace college athletics, e.g. WSUC and the old D1 Southwest Conference), assembled Mississippi College, which was moving up from D2, U Ozarks, and  the members of the NAIA-2 Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Assn (Austin College, U Dallas, Hardin Simmons, Howard Payne, McMurry and Sul Ross State.)

Over the next decade, Commissioner Jacoby brought Texas Lutheran from D2, Louisiana College from the NAIA/NCCAA, saw UT-Dallas add a full range of intercollegiate sports and move from the NAIA, saw UT-Tyler add a full range of intercollegiate sports and move from the NAIA/ USCAA, and brought UMHB, Concordia, Schreiner, LeTourneau and ETBU from the NAIA en masse.

UDallas left after 2000-01.  Most people speculate that they would jump at the invitiation to join the SCAC.  UDallas was not able to get a club football team going in 2003.  That may have been an attempt to attract interest from the SCAC.

The 15-team conference (plus provisional 2007 UT-Tyler) has provided competition and "in-region" games by the use of crossover games between the divisions.  Also, the conference has had enough schools for an AQ in the AQ sports (FB, Hoops, VB, Soccer, Baseball and Softball) even if every one of the 15 schools did not offer a sport.  Yes, we are spread out, but the conference provides access to the playoffs.

My personal desire is for another 4 schools (2 west and 2 east and preferably private schools) to join the conference and then we split into 2 conferences and 2 AQ's.  The moving of Austin College to the SCAC may make that program more competitive. (But,  they will always lose to Trinity.    )  However, the AC loss also means that we are now 5 schools away from that magical number.

D-3 UDallas won't likely come back.  D-3 Rust is too far to the north and east (near Memphis, TN)  and too far west for the GSAC!

D2's St Edwards in Austin, Incarnate Word in San Antonio, St Mary's in San Antonio and Abilene Christian (which has won more D2 national championships than anyone except UC-Davis) are not likely to move up to D3.

As one looks at the map of NAIA schools that we might "invite", the mission/vision issue is just one confounding factor.

Texas Wesleyan University in Ft Worth spent one exploratory year moving from D2 (Heartland Conference) thru the ASC back to the scholarship NAIA-1 Red River AC.  I guess they could not imagine life without scholarships on their campus.

Other private schools (NAIA-1) in this broad area include Northwood Institute in Cedar Hill (a southwest Dallas suburb), Southwestern Assemblies in Waxahachie (30 miles south of Dallas) and College of the Southwest in Hobbs NM.  CSW likes NAIA-1.  Houston Baptist sees itself as NAIA-1.

A large corps of HBCU's, namely Wiley College, Texas College, Jarvis Christian College, Paul Quinn College and Huston-Tillotson College, compete in the Red River AC and have active rivalries amongst themselves.  HBCU Langston OK is moving to D2.  Texas A&M International in Laredo is not geographically desirable.   UT-Permian Basin in Midland is exploring D-2 and D-3.  This state school would have numerous close state school rivals in the D2 Lone Star Conference.  Each of these NAIA schools would have to upgrade their programs to match D3 requirements.

As for other NAIA-1 schools, the Texas Panhandle schools of Wayland Baptist (Plainiview) and Lubbock Christian are in the Sooner AC and are closer to Oklahoma than most of the ASC schools.  Football playing Bacone College in Muskogee OK has moved from the junior college ranks, but I think they see NAIA-1 as their model as does John Brown University, Siloam Springs AR, the NAIA-1 reigning basketball champ and football-playing Southern Nazarene OK.

LSU-Shreveport is in the NAIA-1 Gulf Coast AC.  It would need to add numerous sports.  Belhaven in Jackson MS would be a nice addition to the ASC-East.  It has all of the sports necessary, but I believe that they see NAIA-1 as their model.  All of the other GCAC schools are around New Orleans or Mobile, except the HBCU's Tougaloo and William Carey.

NAIA-2 Lyons College in Batesville AR is probably not interested.  They could be a travel partner for Ozarks in a new ASC-East Conference.

There just aren't any more schools.  I cannot imagine the ASC getting the schools necessary to allow the 2 ASC divisions to split into 2 distinct  conferences.  If there were to be a change in rules to allow multiple bids for very large conferences, basically a special case for the ASC, we might get some help on bids.  But I think that Pool C is the way we have to go for extra bids.

(Sorry about the verbosity, but this is a comprehensive assessment of college hoops in this part of the country.  Thanks to all for indulging me.)

[whitebutterflies]

Ralph- I'm just curious, are you the AD at MCM?

Anyway, enough about McM.

Good win for UMHB over Mississippi this weekend. I dont see the Crusaders loosing a game at home this year. They have IMO the best defense in the ASC, and probably the most depth of any team.

Looked like HPU might be a sleeper team this yr, then they lose to Ozarks at home. The ASC is going to be wild. 

[Ralph Turner]

whitebutterflies, thanks but I am just an ASC fan.

Everyone else in the country is getting 2 playoff slots for 15 members, as if we had a separate a seven-team ASC East and an separate 8-team ASC-West.  Because not every school sponsors every sport, I wanted to discuss this in the off-season to look at the issues and how they would affect the athletic programs. 

Since the start of the pools, the only East Region women's basketball team to get a playoff bid is the 1999 Austin College team.  That is a little unfortunate.

My efforts are towards getting the ASC as much exposure as possible.

[dsc]

Thanks Ralph, for all you do and that is a LOT!

We appreciate it...well done!

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks dsc!

The ASC-East will not be back at full strength until fall 2007 when UT-Tyler is expected to have finished provisional status.  They have hit their requirements for the 1st 2 years, and I don't doubt they will succeed.

The NCAA is considering legislation that will authorize a self-study period in 2006-08 that will allow some conferences to re-align without the loss of the AQ.  That may be the time when we can get this done.

When UT-Tyler comes on board in 2007-08, the ASC-East will have the minimum 7 teams in:

1) Men's and Women's Soccer (Fall)
2) Men's and Women's Cross Country (Fall)
3) M & W Hoops (Winter)
4) Softball/Baseball (Spring).


ETBU's adding Men's and Women's Tennis and LC's adding Men's Tennis would give the ASC-East its 5th sport for men and a 5th for women.   (D3 Tennis is considering adding the AQ for Tennis conference team champions.)

UOzarks and Louisiana College adding Volleyball would provide the 7 teams necessary for the AQ and would be a 6th team sport for the ASC-East.

An official conference must offer one team sport for men and one team sport for women in each season and five and five total. (Bylaw 3.3.2.2.3)

As for the West, HPU is adding M & W soccer in the 2006.

The West would have at least 7 teams in

Men's and Women's Soccer (Fall),
Volleyball (Fall),
Men's and Women's Hoops (Winter)
Men's and Women's Tennis (Spring),
Baseball/Softball (Spring),

The 6 football teams in the ASC-West qualify as an official conference and the addition of the 3 ASC East teams as affiliates would maintain the Pool A AQ. (This is actually pretty common in D3.  The Northwest Conference is headed there with Menlo; the ODAC has Catholic as an affiliate; the MIAA is using Wisconsin Lutheran until Tri-State finishes provisional; Maryville is an affilliate in the USAC, etc.)

That is 5 men's and 5 women's teams with no additional teams necessary.  That gives the ASC-West full status as a new conference and the accompanying AQ's.

As for Men's and Women's Cross Country for ASC-West members, an affiliate relationship with the ASC-East would work for McMurry and SRSU.

As for Track & Field, I understand that HSU is adding the sport for Men and Women.  Having T&F is not needed for "Conference Team sports" as required by the bylaws, but an affiliation arrangement could be maintained.  Currently Men's track has McMurry, SRSU and HPU plus MC.  Women's Track is currently offered by TLU, McM, HPU and SRSU plus MC.

The NCAA is discussing an AQ for Golf.  Currently 6 ASC West teams sponsor men's golf and the East has 5.  An affiliation arrangement could be used here as well.

The ASC-West has the minimum 4 Women's golf teams to provide a conference sport if affiliates were found or new teams were added.  Golf is evaluating an AQ status for conference champions.  However, women's golf is so strong in the ASC-West, that Pool B (UMHB women, HSU women and McMurry women in recent seasons) may be the more attractive arrangement and no additional work is required.

I know I am spending other people's money, but adding Tennis at LC and ETBU and adding the infrastructure for another conference is all that is between us and virtually doubling the number of playoff bids we offer our student-athletes.  The critical thing is each school not dropping a sport or leaving the conference.  One might wonder about Mississippi College staying in D3 or UT-Tyler moving to the Lone Star Conference or someone else moving to the SCAC.  These are very big questions and might be "deal-breakers".  At 7 on the East and 8 on the West, we do not have any slack for a team to leave!  As I outlined earlier, I don't see any schools who might be invited either.  And, the NCAA Provisional status and exploratory year is about a 5 year process!

For the first several years or the first decade, I would recommend that very strong affiliation agreements and scheduling provisions would be in effect, (virtually no change in the current ASC-East/ASC-West arrangement,  you gotta find South Region games somewhere).   Nevertheless, I think that this would stengthen the ASC as we know it!

I look forward to commentary.

[etbualum]

Im pretty sure etbu will not be adding tennis anytime soon.  We do not currently have the facillities.

[Ralph Turner]

etbualum,


pthththtsssssst, There went some air out of the trial balloon!

[quasar]

Congradulations to Brandon Gatlin on being West player of the week

[mcmfan]

A few weeks ago, the Abilene Reporter-News said that HSU is going to be playing an up-tempo style compared to past years: "Returning nine players from last season's team gives [Coach Dylan] Howard enough depth to implement the run-and-gun system he has been craving since he took the job at Hardin-Simmons."  Does this mean both HSU and McM will be playing a full court press on Monday?  That could make for a pretty exciting game.