With only two games left in the regular season, the Centre College men's basketball team is looking to accomplish something it has only done twice before in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) history: win the regular season conference championship.
The Colonels, winners of four straight, and 14 of their last 15, are 18-4 overall and 10-2 in league play, which ties them with DePauw University for the top spot in the league. The two teams split a pair of games this season with the Tigers winning 73-67 at home back in December, while Centre earned some payback with a resounding 73-41 win just two weeks ago in Danville, Ky.
Not only are the teams in the SCAC aware of the Colonels success, people around the country are starting to take notice as well. Following Centre's win over DePauw on February 3, the Colonels received four votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll for the first time this year. After two SCAC road wins this past weekend over Austin College and Hendrix College, the Colonels are now up to 16 votes and are only 46 votes shy of the top 25.
After missing the NCAA Tournament last season on a last second half-court shot, and losing a second team All-American (Reggie Magnusson) and the league's career-leading rebounder (Coy Zerhusen) to graduation, the Colonels were picked to finish third in the SCAC at the beginning of the year and did not receive any first place votes.
Although expectations of Centre around the league weren't as high as those for DePauw and Trinity University, the expectations within the team were, and the Colonels have been out to prove others wrong the entire season.
Centre started a bit slow going only 5-3 in its first eight games, but then caught fire, winning 10 straight, its longest winning streak since 1979. The Colonels dropped a tough road contest to Millsaps College at the end of  January, but have won four straight since.
One of the big reasons for Centre success this year has been defense. Of Centre's 22 games this year, the Colonels have held opponents to 60 points or less 14 times and have not allowed an opponent to score more than 79 points. As of February 11, Centre ranks third in the country out of 379 teams in scoring defense allowing an average of 57.8 points per game.
The Colonels are also ranked 10th out of 379 schools in field-goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to an average field goal percentage of 38.3%. Only eight opponents have shot above 40.0% on the year and only one has shot above 50.0%.
The 2006-07 season also marks the sixth straight year, Centre has won at least 15 games in a year, tying Rhodes College (1991/92-1994/95) and DePauw (1991/92-1994/95) for the longest such streak in league history.
Centre will host both Oglethorpe University (14-9, 7-5 SCAC) and Sewanee-the University of the South (6-16, 5-7 SCAC) this weekend in the final weekend of regular season play. The Colonels defeated both teams earlier in the year, winning 76-57 against Oglethorpe in Atlanta, Ga. and then downing Sewanee 80-68 two days later in Sewanee, Tenn.
If both Centre and DePauw finish tied at the end of the weekend, they will share the SCAC regular season championship, but if Centre can finish the weekend with one more win than DePauw, the Colonels will have earned the regular season SCAC Championship outright for the first time since 1991-92, the inaugural year of the SCAC. |
