DEPAUW MEN PICKED TO REPEAT AS CONFERENCE ROUNDBALL CHAMPS IN 2006-07
In exclusive voting of the sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), DePauw University has been selected as the team to beat for the men's basketball conference title for the 2006-07 season.
The DU Tigers picked up six of a possible 10 first-place votes and came in with 95 total points to finish ahead of Trinity University's 83 points, which included the remaining four first-place votes.
DePauw has four starters returning from last season's team that, as the No. 4 seed, won its first SCAC Tournament title, 64-61, over Centre College when tournament MVP Austin Brown nailed a 61-foot shot at the buzzer. The shot was replayed countless times on sportscasts around the nation and was even picked as the ESPN “Play of the Day.”
In addition to Brown, who averaged 9.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a junior guard last season, DePauw returns junior post Stephen Schott. A Third Team All-SCAC selection in 2005-06, Schott averaged 14.5 points (17th in the SCAC) and 7.5 rebounds (third in the SCAC) per game. His career rebounding average of 7.45 boards per game currently ranks seventh on the SCAC all-time list. Sophomore guard Mike Moore led the league in assists last season, averaging 5.56 dishes per game.
Although no SCAC team is ranked in any preseason poll, DePauw did receive the 10th-most votes for any school outside of the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25 and was the only conference team to receive any votes.
Trinity lost all five starters from last year's team that finished 20-7 overall and had the best regular season conference record at 12-2. Despite being upset in the first round of the SCAC Tournament, the Tigers still earned their fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Senior guard Brandon York is the team's leading returning scorer (9.2 ppg). In the last four years, no team has won as many SCAC games as Trinity (46).
Centre College received 77 points and finished third in the SCAC preseason rankings. The Colonels return junior guard Matt Nestheide, the team's second-leading scorer from a year ago (14.1 points per game). Nestheide is the SCAC's current career leader in free throw percentage (88.3%) and finished second in the league last season, hitting from the charity stripe at an 89.0% clip. Senior forward Matt Jacobson (11.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg) also returns.
Fourth-placed Millsaps College will rely on junior forward Edrick Montgomery, who posted team-highs last season for both points (15.8) and rebounds (8.4) per game. Junior forward Rodney Rogan, who averaged 14.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in earning Third Team All-SCAC honors last season, teams with Montgomery to provide the Majors as deep a frontcourt as any team in the conference.
2006-07 SCAC MEN'S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
2005-06 Records
Rank Vote totals Team SCAC Overall
1. 95 (6) DePauw University Tigers 8-6 15-13
2. 83 (4) Trinity University Tigers 12-2 20-7
3. 77 Centre College Colonels 9-5 19-8
4. 73 Millsaps College Majors 7-7 14-12
5. 54 Southwestern University Pirates 10-4 19-8
6. 51 Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrels 5-9 12-14
7. 44 Rhodes College Lynx 5-9 14-13
8. 31 Sewanee-University of the South Tigers 3-11 7-17
9. 26 Hendrix College Warriors 4-10 11-13
10. 16 Austin College Kangaroos *1-20 3-22
Note: First-place votes, in parentheses, are worth 10 points, second-place votes are worth nine points, etc., down to a 10th-place vote worth one point. Final SCAC and overall records for 2005-06 are listed in the right columns after each school.
*Austin College played in the American Southwest Conference last season.
