MBB: American Southwest Conference

[gccfan]

LETU up 56-31 at the half... YellowJackets putting on a show shooting 55% and committing just 1 turnover.

[gccfan]

ETBU has come out hot in the 2nd trail 62-47 with 12 minutes to play.

[gccfan]

LETU up 70-64 with 4:26 left... The refs have taken the game over making horrible calls against LETU and letting ETBU get away with fouls.

[Ralph Turner]

McM 75, UOz 69

It was ugly!  Very ugly!  The good thing is that Alvin Stevens and Bud Willis each hit a pair of FT's, then Terrance Booker hit 1-2 in the last minute to ice game.

McM hit 30-43 FT's and 20-24 in the 2nd half.

On to UMHB on Thursday.

[gccfan]

LETU up 77-68 with 2:39 to play

[gccfan]

79-71 LETU with 45.4 left... Jesse Hayes shooting 1-and-1 for LETU

[gccfan]

letu holds on for 84-73 win.  ETBU never gave up.

[golden_dome]

letu holds on for 84-73 win.  ETBU never gave up.

Congratulations to LeTourneau. 9-4 with wins over Hardin-Simmons and UMHB is impressive.

[Bearkat00]

What an exciting year to be an ASC fan.  On one side, you have National Power MC (having a phenomanal season), UT-Dallas (a team that could probably beat anyone in the Nation) LETU (boasts solid wins against UMHB and HSU, played McM tough) and on the other side your have three dangerous teams that just continue to beat up each other in McM, UMHB and HSU.  I am excited to see how things turn out the rest of the way. 

One question I do have for anyone out there?  How does our conference compare top to bottom with other conferences in the Nation.  I mean looking at what I think to be our top tier teams, MC, McM, UTD, UMHB, HSU, I feel we could have one of the toughest conferences in the nation.  Anyone elses thoughts?

By the way, the one ref at the LETU-ETBU game was HORRIBLE.  This is the second game he has tried to take it to LETU this year.  It's good to see this team not falter under the pressure, unlike previous teams!

[golden_dome]

What an exciting year to be an ASC fan.  On one side, you have National Power MC (having a phenomanal season), UT-Dallas (a team that could probably beat anyone in the Nation) LETU (boasts solid wins against UMHB and HSU, played McM tough) and on the other side your have three dangerous teams that just continue to beat up each other in McM, UMHB and HSU.  I am excited to see how things turn out the rest of the way. 

One question I do have for anyone out there?  How does our conference compare top to bottom with other conferences in the Nation.  I mean looking at what I think to be our top tier teams, MC, McM, UTD, UMHB, HSU, I feel we could have one of the toughest conferences in the nation.  Anyone elses thoughts?

Bearkat00,
   The best conference is the CCIW (College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin). They have four Top 25 teams right now in Carthage, Wheaton, Augustana and Elmhurst and others are receiving votes. They also have three Final Four appearances since 2000. The WIAC (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) has three Top 25 teams right now led by UW-Stevens Point who is #1 and won the 2004 and 2005 national championship. UW-Platteville won it in 1998 and 1999.
   After those conferences you probably have the ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference) which is Virginia Wesleyan, Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon. I think all of those three have reached Final Fours and Wesleyan won the whole thing last year. They are down a bit this year though with just one Top 25 team and Guilford receiving votes.
   After those league's, it is more open though there are a couple others like the MIAA with Hope and Calvin but they seem to be down this year also. The ASC is closing the gap on those league's and this season could get us that much closer. We need to get two teams in the tourney, get the opportunity to host some games and maybe a sectional and then win. Wins in the NCAA Tournament is the only way we can get the ASC name up there with those other leagues.

[kid nice]

Geography kills us when it comes to hosting sectionals. I know this is discussed every year, but it is the truth. The NCAA is not going to send 3 teams from virginia, wisconsin, ohio etc. to mississippi or texas.  They save money by sending one team from MS or TX to a more central location for the other 3.  It sucks, but someone is just going to have to go on the road and win the thing. last year mc was like 29-1 and didnt host. thats insane but just the way it is.

[gccfan]

Chris, be sure to give us the account of the MC-UTD game this week.  I'm sure most of us will be interested to have an insider's look at the game.   In regards to the hosting question, I think if we could get two teams in, then MC (most likely) would have the chance to host.  That would be pretty cool.

[golden_dome]

Geography kills us when it comes to hosting sectionals. I know this is discussed every year, but it is the truth. The NCAA is not going to send 3 teams from virginia, wisconsin, ohio etc. to mississippi or texas.  They save money by sending one team from MS or TX to a more central location for the other 3.  It sucks, but someone is just going to have to go on the road and win the thing. last year mc was like 29-1 and didnt host. thats insane but just the way it is.

There was an interesting debate about that topic regarding MC and the ASC on the Top 25 board. http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=4097.1995

[Ralph Turner]

gcc, I will jump in here on the hosting.  There should be about 16 venues that host a first and/or second round game.  MC is in great shape to do that.  There are 4 venues for the Sectionals.

There is a very good thread of about 60 posts that answer several of the questions implied in your post.

In that discussion, Chris does a very good job of showing the disadvantage that teams that are flown into a sectional have at making the Final Four.

There are just under 400 schools with men's basketball and about 40 conferences. My opinion about the strength of the ASC is that we are around 10th-12th, mainly by how much the "bottom" of our 15 schools brings us down.

I would love for schools to go to other parts of the country, especially the midwest and east coast, to see how basketball is played in those parts of the country.


While I was posting, Chris answered the question!!!     

I recommend that you move back to post #1943 to get some early background. 

[gccfan]

I just finished reading all those posts... Definitely a very good discussion about the travails of being down South when it comes to D3.  I thought you both made well thought out arguments and represented the rest of us very well.  Hopefully now we can just take care of things on the court.

I still feel bad that the one game Pat Coleman saw us (LETU) play was our absolute stinker at Howard Payne.  I'm sure that game didn't do anybody else, particularly UMHB and HSU, and ourselves any good.