Live from Charleston, the Cancun Challenge

Posted on November 22, 2008 by Sandlapper Spike

I’m still amused (or perhaps bemused) by the format of the Cancun Challenge.  Basically, it’s a four-team tournament with guests…

Vanderbilt, Virginia Commonwealth, New Mexico, and Drake are in the actual bracketing for the tournament.  Drake-Vandy and VCU-New Mexico are the first round matchups, with the winners and losers playing each other the next day.  All of that makes sense.

What doesn’t make a lot of sense is that six other teams are part of the Challenge, but won’t compete in the mini-tourney outlined above.  Those six schools are The Citadel, Grambling State, Central Arkansas, South Dakota State, Central Florida, and Morehead State.

Basically, what happens in this “tournament” is that the Vandy-VCU-UNM-Drake group each host two games in the U.S. against two opponents from the six-pack mentioned in the previous paragraph.  It doesn’t really matter which two, because they don’t impact the tournament brackets for any team.  Then all ten teams will go to Cancun, with the four host schools playing an actual tournament while the remaining squads play two pre-determined matchups against other members of the “lesser six”.  The Citadel, for example, will play Central Arkansas and Grambling State in Cancun.

Further confusing things is that there were only eight available spots for the six-pack against the “fab four” in those U.S.-based matchups, so a couple of teams had to play “filler” schools for their second game.  The Citadel thus needed another opponent as part of the Challenge, and Cincinnati Christian is it.

All of this is an effort to cram as many games into an official tournament as possible, because they all count as two games (instead of four) for scheduling purposes.

At any rate, the bottom line is that The Citadel plays Cincinnati Christian tonight.  This will be the first time the two schools have met in hoops.  Cincinnati Christian is an NCCAA school (like Grace Bible College, the opponent in The Citadel’s season opener) and is also a member of NAIA Division II.  CCU, which has about 1100 students, is a member of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which includes schools such as Asbury, Berea, Alice Lloyd, and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.  (The Citadel has played Asbury twice in recent years, winning those two games by scores of 75-48 and 81-60.)  I am not sure, but I think this is Cincinnati Christian’s first year in the KIAC.  In a preseason poll listed on the KIAC website, the Eagles are picked to finish next-to-last in the league, just ahead of SLCOP.

The Bulldogs will be the first of two Division I opponents for Cincinnati Christian this season.  The Eagles will also play Liberty in late December.  The Flames were the opponent the last time CCU played a D-1 team, which was two years ago, Liberty winning 101-65.  Liberty and Cincinnati Christian also met the year before that, an 81-51 triumph for the Flames.

Cincinnati Christian was 23-14 last season.  CCU had been the top seed in the NCCAA national tournament, but lost in the quarterfinals.  Two games later, the Eagles finished their season by winning a consolation game against none other than Grace Bible College, 104-87.  That was the 40th time the two schools had met on the court, with CCU winning 33 of those contests.

This season Cincinnati Christian is 4-1, with victories over Ohio Chillocothe, Kuyper College, Boyce College, and Kentucky Christian, the last two wins coming after the lone loss, 104-67 to Mount Vernon (OH) Nazarene.  Mount Vernon Nazarene was the preseason #3 team in NAIA Division II.

It’s hard to get a read on CCU when you examine the box scores from its first five games.  The Eagles’ first three games were played at a breakneck pace (82, 91, and 92 possessions).  That included an easy win, a close win, and a blowout loss (the 92-possession game).  Then either the Eagles or their opponents lowered the throttle, as the last two games have been played at a more normal pace (71 and 73 possessions).  CCU has occasionally been turnover-prone, but has also forced its fair share of TOs.

The best player for the Eagles is probably Trenton Calloway, a 6’6″, 260 lb. center averaging 15.6 points (on 71% shooting) and 9.8 rebounds per game.  Calloway is not a good free throw shooter (38%).  Chris Scott, a 6’0″ guard, is averaging 11.2 points per game and 4.4 assists per game.  Scott also averages over 3 turnovers per game, as opposed to Tommy McGuire, a 5’10” guard who has almost as many assists as Scott (22 to 18) but has a solid 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  The Eagles don’t have much of a rebounding presence aside from Calloway.  Their other frontcourt players include Drew Ellis, a slender (215 lbs.) 6’7″ forward, and 6’9″, 265 lb. center Luke Mace.  CCU has played at least 12 guys in each game, incidentally.

That’s about all I have on Cincinnati Christian.  The Bulldogs should win this game, and I believe they will.  I expect a more coherent performance than in The Citadel’s win over Grace Bible College.  I think if the Bulldogs stay within themselves and avoid turnovers, victory should be assured.

Filed under: Basketball, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Not saying Grace, but playing Grace

Posted on November 14, 2008 by Sandlapper Spike

The regular season in hoops starts today for The Citadel, which played one official exhibition game (a one-point win over Georgia Southwestern).  The opponent is Grace Bible College, a school of about 180 students, located in Wyoming – not the state, but a suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I had, not surprisingly, never heard of Grace Bible College before seeing the school listed on The Citadel’s basketball schedule.  Grace (the school athletic teams, rather boringly, are nicknamed the Tigers) is a member of the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association.  Grace is stepping up in competition, and the folks there are very excited by this (they seem particularly hopeful of making ESPN’s “Bottom Line” sportsticker).  Grace takes its basketball seriously enough to have a 38-page media guide, with this season’s edition already online.  From the guide:

Coach Gary Bailey has always believed a strong regular season prepares his charges for post-season play but this year’s competition is exceptionally challenging. For the first time in school history Grace will play a NCAA Division I program as they take on the Bulldogs of The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina for the host team’s home opener on November 14. “It will give our players the opportunity to see what major college basketball is all about,” says Coach Bailey, “and we are thrilled to be the guests of The Citadel.”

Grace has won three NCCAA Division II national championships, the last in 2006.  What I find curious about this is that Grace’s record that year was 20-20.  (Last season Grace finished 19-19 after reaching the regional finals.)

Grace has already started its season this year and is 3-1 after a win over Andrews on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, Grace was scheduled to travel to Charleston by bus, a journey of 16 hours.

In terms of common opponents, Grace has played Atlanta Christian four times in its history, winning three of those games.  The Citadel played Atlanta Christian in four consecutive seasons, winning last year 79-55 (scores of the other three games against Atlanta Christian:  113-59, 126-43, 75-49).  Interestingly, the other non-D1 opponent on the Bulldogs’ schedule this year, Cincinnati Christian, has played Grace Bible 40 times over the years, with the Cincinnati school winning 33 of those matchups.

I have no idea what style of play Grace will employ.  I am guessing that the Tigers won’t have much of an inside game, as they only have one player over 6’6″, and he’s a freshman.  Also, one of Grace’s best players is out for the year with an injury.

—

I’m going to wait until Sunday to post my hoops preview for The Citadel.  I want to wait until the Bulldogs are about to play Division I competition (that will be the second game of the regular season, at Virginia Commonwealth).  The exhibition game against Georgia Southwestern had some unexpected elements to it, at least when compared to last season’s statistical tendencies.  I don’t know that tonight’s game will tell us much, if anything, about how the Bulldogs will play this year, either.  All I know is that it isn’t likely to be very competitive.  At least, I hope not…

 

Filed under: Basketball, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »