MBB: American Southwest Conference

[MissChoctaw]

MC looked very good against Millsapps. It was good to see them do well against a zone since that will be the defense that teams will try to play against MC this year. MC boy, I agree the chocs are very deep however the key will be knowing who to play and when to play them. That is a good problem for Coach Jones to have.

[McM Blue Devil]

I will be traveling with the McMurry team this weekend to Baltimore.  They will play in the Johns Hopkins Tournament.  Friday night they play an always consistently good program in Rowan University. Saturday they will play either Johns Hopkins or Immaculata. I will do my best to give updates throughout the weekend.

Should be interesting.  There are alot of newcomers on this year's squad and nobody knows quite what to expect.  As always I am sure McMurry will be right in the thick of the conference race.

[Ralph Turner]

MC looked very good against Millsapps. It was good to see them do well against a zone since that will be the defense that teams will try to play against MC this year. MC boy, I agree the chocs are very deep however the key will be knowing who to play and when to play them. That is a good problem for Coach Jones to have.

If you ramp up the intensity to the levels that you saw at McMurry in 1999-2001, then you need 10-11 deep.

Everyone plays and everyone sweats!  When you are getting that level of intensity in the short spurts that you can run in an real up-tempo defense,  with short ball control cycles (you know shoot at 7 secs into the cycle instead of 7 seconds remaining on the possession clock, so you are running 80 possesions per game instead of 40-50) then everyone plays.  Otherwise, you have players that are disgruntled.

The old traditonal MC half court that I have seen just doesn't stress the opposing teams athletes.

[MissChoctaw]

If you ramp up the intensity to the levels that you saw at McMurry in 1999-2001, then you need 10-11 deep.

Everyone plays and everyone sweats!  When you are getting that level of intensity in the short spurts that you can run in an real up-tempo defense,  with short ball control cycles (you know shoot at 7 secs into the cycle instead of 7 seconds remaining on the possession clock, so you are running 80 possesions per game instead of 40-50) then everyone plays.  Otherwise, you have players that are disgruntled.

The old traditonal MC half court that I have seen just doesn't stress the opposing teams athletes.

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Not sure I did the whole copy paste thing right but anyway. Ralph I agree that MC needs to play at least ten guys. However shooting seven seconds into the shot clock that is asking for someone shoot layups on the other end. If you have guards that can get a good shot for someone within seven seconds of the shot clock the by all means play with that philosiphy. But since there is no Steve Nash in college basketball this philosiphy should not be used. Should MC push the ball more? YES. Should they press more? YES. But not at the expense of their half court execution.

[Ralph Turner]

MissChoctaw, I am not sure if you were around for those McM-MC games in 1999-2001, but McMurry could pull that one off.

2000 All-American Daniel Martinez would steal the ball (a D3 leading 6 spg) and then pass to 2001 All-American Alex Denson who would hit 2-3 3FG's in a row and then the opponent had gone from 2 down to 10 down.  By the 30th minute, our #1-5 had logged only 16-18 minutes of clock time and the other team is running out of gas or their bench cannot keep up with me or my #6-11 players who also have logged about 12-14.  Everyone plays; everyone sweats!

Alex Denson was an All-American on 21 mpg!

And the wild thing about that style is that sometimes the #9 player has the hot hand and gets double figures.  The teammates know that you feed the hot-hand on his night, because it might your hot-hand the next one.  Plus the intensity in practice thru the top 12-14 players is awesome.  Everyone knows that they are likely to see plenty of action!

I want an ASC national champion.  I was listening the night that McM lost before 4500 screaming fans at National champion Calvin in the Elite 8, the night we lost to future NBA player Horace Jenkins for national finalist Wm Paterson in 2001, and the night that SRSU lost a 17 point second half lead to Lawrence at Puget Sound in 2004 after upsetting national ranked Trinity in the second round.  IMHO, that ASC-West up-tempo style has given national teams more trouble than the MC half court style.

I know that I repeat the same thoughts, but unless Miss Coll does something different, a 29-1 Choctaw team will lose to a traditional Great Lakes team in the Sweet 16.

Miss College comes to McMurry on Nov 30th.  We will see then.

[MissChoctaw]

I totally agree that MC needs to speed up the tempo a lot more. But in the last four or five minutes the game slows down. This is where your teams half court offense and defense must be exceptional in order to win a national championship. IMHO, it is not wise to shoot the first available shot when the game is tied with two minutes left in the game. I believe this hurt McMurry in the tournament last year.

[kid nice]

Ralph, I agree with you that the style presents problems for the opponent.  However, this style is not one that you can just start playing one day when you have been doing something else for so long.  It may not look like there is a lot of strategy to it but there is a lot of spacing and running to correct spots on the floor, getting players to be confortable handling, passing,and shooting while running at full speed.  I played in some of those games and it puts a strain on you physically, but if I remember correctly,  i think in my 4 years we ended up 4-4 against this style so I can't say that it is actually better, it is definately different.  I am in aggreement that to get past a great lakes team the choctaws will have to do something different, because what we have done in the past has not worked so far.

[Ralph Turner]

...
I believe this hurt McMurry in the tournament last year.

I don't usually say this, but I really believe that the referees hurt us last year in the tourney!!!

The refs did not like dealing with Vanlandingham!!!  He really got on their nerves, and I think that the refs took it out on us for that.

[realist]

RT: I've said this before.  You are 100% correct.  I was at that Calvin game in 2000.  McM had Calvin reeling after about 6-7 minutes.  Calvin finally figured the only way to play/win was do what McM was doing, only do it better.  Use 3, 4 or 5 to inbound the ball, and throw over the top of McM defense.  This lead to lots of easy lay ups, dunks etc.  It looked like an international game the inbounds etc. where happening so fast.  That game is one of my all time favoite games to watch on tape.  You need the athletes to play this game, but is done so seldom it shocks teams once you get past conference play. For those who don't know this, in that sectional that weekend you had the #1, 3, & 4 teams, and the other team beat the #2 to get there.

[Ralph Turner]

RT: I've said this before.  You are 100% correct.  I was at that Calvin game in 2000.  McM had Calvin reeling after about 6-7 minutes.  Calvin finally figured the only way to play/win was do what McM was doing, only do it better.  Use 3, 4 or 5 to inbound the ball, and throw over the top of McM defense.  This lead to lots of easy lay ups, dunks etc.  It looked like an international game the inbounds etc. where happening so fast.  That game is one of my all time favoite games to watch on tape.  You need the athletes to play this game, but is done so seldom it shocks teams once you get past conference play. For those who don't know this, in that sectional that weekend you had the #1, 3, & 4 teams, and the other team beat the #2 to get there.

Realist, you are right about that Sectional!  It was unbelievable.

Week #13 Top 25 in 2000.

McMurry had beaten Maryville TN in the Sweet 16.  Maryville TN had come out of nowhere to beat Hampden-Sydney.

That was the year that the South Regional and the Great Lakes Regional were paired into the "Calvin" Sectional.  The men no longer do that.

[kid nice]

Has no other teams had any scrimmages other than the Choctaws. Whats Sul Ross looking like?  Don't they have a new coach?  What about MHB? Everyone is talking Virginia W. being in thier tournament but can they give them a game?

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry vs Rowan (NJ) tonight at the Johns Hopkins Tourney.

[Ralph Turner]

Rowan 68, McMurry 63 at the Johns Hopkins Tourney.

[McM Blue Devil]

MCM looked ok last night against a well coached, disciplined Rowan team.  McM had their starting point guard go down with a sprained ankle with 19 minutes left in the first half. Colt Tharpe hit 4 3's in the first half but did not play in the second half due t0 a bruised rib.

McM appears to have alot of depth, we just need to gel and have time to get know one another on the court.  I like the makeup, chemistry and pontential of this team.

Will play tonight at 6 against Immaculata.

[mcmfanatic]

I see MCM beat Immaculata 75-61 tonight.

From those that were there... Were there any highlights from the new talent?