Lost and Found Department

You can always tell when things have gotten a little extra-busy around the Big South Conference, because SHOUT goes offline for longer periods every so often (beyond just a mere handful of days). In this case it's over two weeks...sorry about that...but the disappearing act is over: time to SHOUT with the Big South!

In the "down" time, it's been a fury of championship programs and championship events for me, but I hope to use the upcoming days as opportunities to offer some first-hand accounts of events and personal insight into what's going on.

It would be nice to offer more details around recent items, but I'm not foolish enough to promise we'll cover everything--so here's a rundown of quick hits:

--Bravo, Dustin Johnson...the Coastal Carolina alum and "Best of the Best" honoree won his second PGA Tour event with a west coast victory (a strong performance in a rain-shortened event).

--Trading Places...not the movie, but the basketball standings: VMI hit a rough patch after leading the men's hoopsters most of the season--and while the Keydets skidded into a losing streak, the Highlanders surged along with an impressive run of wins to put Radford on top for good. RU has earned the regular season title and top seed for the Championship!

--Home Sweet Home...the four host teams for the men's basketball quarterfinals have been established (even if all the seeding has not come together yet): Radford, VMI, Liberty, and UNC Asheville will all begin their paths to the title on their home floors.

--Eternal Flames...will anyone stop the Liberty women's basketball squad or will they just keep this up forever? LU is undefeated in Conference play, sitting at 12-0 with the regular season title and top seed already clinched. Including non-conference contests, Liberty has won 15 straight.

--King of the Mountain...a salute to Coastal Carolina baseball--the Chanticleers defeated #1 North Carolina this week!

--The Water's Fine...Big South members Radford, VMI, and Gardner-Webb participated in the 12-team Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association Championships last week. The CCSA is a joint venture of four conferences (Big South, SoCon, A-Sun, MEAC) for an overall swimming and diving championship meet. I was there for all three days (at the Gabrielsen Natatorium of the University of Georgia in Athens), and yes, I hope to put up some pictures and tales from the event soon--meanwhile, big congrats go out to the overall men's champions from College of Charleston and women's champions from Florida Gulf Coast University!

--It Keeps You Runnin'...the 2009 New Balance Big South Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships have arrived. The full meet will be video streamed on The EDGE, of course, and that's where yours truly comes in--I'll be here in Clemson for all the events over the two-day meet. You can find the schedule of events and link to the results at the Big South's Championship page.

And hey--we also did On The EDGE Viewer's Guides for last week and this week...obviously last week's didn't make it to SHOUT, although if you're really curious (and I doubt anyone's that curious), you can still find it in the On Demand section of The EDGE. This week's is--right here:

Lots and lots going on across the Big South Conference these days--be sure you're keeping an eye on www.BigSouthSports.com and checking on SHOUT plus our YouTube channel BigSouthSports!

As always, thanks for reading. We hope you enjoy what SHOUT has to offer and keep coming back for more...this week marks a milestone for the Big South Conference blog--more on that to come very soon!