Baseball Bonanza, Gem Included

Here we are, in the midst of the Baseball Championship tourney--full name, "The 2011 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship Presented by Triangle Rent A Car." The event always promises a wealth of excitement and a list of storylines, but with five games completed, one stands out among the rest...keep reading, we'll get there.

All the action is happening at VMI, where a number of renovations and improvements have made Gray-Minor Stadium a solid host for this event. Play follows the same model of recent seasons, with a single-elimination first night to pare the lower four seeds to two teams, and then four days of full double-elimination bracket play.

This year that formula meant the elimination of the event host school in the very first game, a 3-1 win for Radford over VMI...always tough to lose the home team early, as it can have a tendency to deflate some of the crowd size and enthusiasm, but baseball attendance often poses a riddle in any year, given that school is out for most students anyway.

The other elimination game on Tuesday saw Gardner-Webb parade around the bases to mount a 14-4 victory against High Point. But, baseball being a fickle game, GWU got the other end of that stick the next day, when Liberty rode some home run hitting to a 13-5 win. For the Runnin' Bulldogs, the loss forces an elimination game on Thursday, while the Flames know they'll be around at least to Friday.

Like LU, Charleston Southern knows it will have at least two games ahead. CSU & Liberty will meet Thursday night, given that the Bucs dealt Winthrop a loss in a 9-3 final Wednesday.

Thursday's first game is an elimination game setting Radford against GWU...each squad won Tuesday night to stay alive, but dropped a game the next day against a higher seed. Now they face off against each other to see who's going home and who lives to play another day.

Radford got put in that game by top-seed Coastal Carolina. Well, they really got put there by star pitcher Anthony Meo, who tossed an absolute gem: the first no-hitter in Big South Conference Baseball Championship history. Now THAT earns a real SHOUT-out from us--what a remarkable performance (CCU celebration pictured). In fact, the no-no went both ways for the first four innings--neither side had mustered a hit by that point--but the Coastal bats awakened, while the Radford hitting could not find a solution for Meo's mastery. Credit CCU for the 5-0 win, and salute Meo for doing what no Big South pitcher had done before in this tournament. The Chants next draw old rival Winthrop Thursday afternoon, with a chance to eliminate the Eagles (although WU will be naturally doing all it can to prevent that outcome).

Remember, all three games on Thursday and again on Friday can be seen on the Big South Network at BigSouthSports.com, while the game(s) for the Championship final on Saturday will be shown instead by ESPN3.com.

The full details of game schedules, with links to Live Stats, BSN streaming, and the tournament bracket, can all be found on the Baseball Championship page.

And, just in case you missed it, you can find the full listing of Big South Baseball All-Conference and season award honorees at BigSouthSports.com.

Enjoy the games, everybody--another year of competition is nearly in the books!
SHOUT---out...

It Came From the Blog!

Many demerits and well-deserved slaps on the wrists for not having a SHOUT in this spot recently...as they say in all the movies, it's been quiet--too quiet--here lately. Time to fix that with a quick reset.

First subject: the Big South Conference & the NCAA this spring...some nice extras this year...

WGOLF -- the Coastal Carolina women were thrilled to pull down the Big South title, but it turns out that was just the beginning, as last week the Chants nabbed fourth at the NCAA East Regional at Daytona Beach, qualifying for Nationals! CCU even managed to sit in the lead position briefly in that competition, and earned plenty of respect as the first team in school and Conference history to make the final stage of competition for the Women's Golf National Championship.

MGOLF -- the men's teams are no mere duffers either: Liberty won the Conference crown by a crushing margin and earned the Big South's automatic qualifier position for regional play, but the Flames will not be alone when the squads hit the links next week--Coastal Carolina snared an at-large selection as well, giving the Big South two MGOLF NCAA teams for only the third time. In an odd twist of fate, LU will travel out to Arizona, while CCU heads up to Virginia for the next round.

M/W TEN -- also on the calendar, we have our men's and women's champions in tennis ready for upcoming action in Knoxville--both of them...yes, unaware of what the other selection committee was up to, both the men's and women's panels sent the Big South champs to Tennessee's courts. For Radford's men, it is as a 4-seed for those pairings, and the Highlanders will indeed draw the Vols. For Winthrop's women, it is as a 3-seed, and the Eagles will see the Vanderbilt Commodores as they hope to play another day.

Meanwhile, next on the agenda: the teams still in action, trying to see if they too will have a chance at NCAA tournament play. This week, we have the softball championship at Winthrop (tonight, in fact, I will be emcee for the season awards banquet at WU). Play cranks up with six games Thursday (five at Terry Field, one on a different diamond), plus another four-to-six games on Friday (as needed), and the single-game championship final on Saturday. The Terry Field games on Thursday and Friday (5/12-13) can all be seen on the Big South Network, while Saturday's final (5/14) belongs to ESPN3.com.

Two weeks later, we'll follow a similar plan for baseball at VMI, with games running on the Big South Network from Tuesday (5/24) through Friday (5/27) and capped off by the final on Saturday (5/28) on ESPN3.com.

By the way, I don't know how long it's going to hold up, but Coastal Carolina has won four consecutive games without allowing a run -- in fact, the Chants have an overall streak of 37 consecutive shutout innings. While we're at it, let's give a SHOUT-out to CCU star pitcher Anthony Meo...all he did in his last outing was pitch eight shutout innings with a dozen strikeouts and no walks. Not too shabby, right? Wow. Coastal seems to be peaking at just about the right time. Whether Coach Gary Gilmore can get his guys to make another run to the Super Regional (or beyond) remains to be seen, but anyone who thought the Conway Kids were struggling this season should take another look.

Okay, that's good for checking in for now--should see more from SHOUT in the coming weeks, plus some summer features and bonus items once we get beyond the season. Oh, and don't forget, we have Camels in our future once we get beyond the softball and baseball championships--which will make for some interesting changes! Thanks for sticking with us...follow us on Twitter and Facebook, everybody! And that's SHOUT--out...

Happy Track-iversary (Blog-iversary?)

It's a few days early by the calendar, but not by the event: it's the three-year anniversary for Big South SHOUT!

See, I'm writing this (in first-person no less--feels more appropriate) from the press deck of the Clemson University Indoor Track & Field facility, just like we did the very first official post of SHOUT in 2008. That first post, "Taking a LEAP," hit February 29th, 2008...making the "leap" a forced pun on the launch of the blog and the calendar's Leap Day...and it used the same clip art photo seen below...

The wheel keeps turning...that was my first stint streaming from the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships--and I'm now on my fourth. Back then the event was a joint meet held along with the Southern Conference. Since then, the SoCon and Big South have gone back to staging separate events (although on consecutive days), which greatly simplifies the process--as many events as we see in a meet like this, imagine even more sessions and double the athletes. Separate events means a little more in rent for each league, but a less hectic process. And of course, I'll be handling the video streaming for it all on the Big South Network again this year.

It's also the fourth year for the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships, where I was last week...sweltering (and streaming of course) in the oppressive humidity in the otherwise very nice Gabrielsen Natatorium at the University of Georgia. Those four years have been on the move--Huntersville-NC, Athens-GA, Knoxville-TN, and back to Athens-GA. Those three-day meets can drag at times, but you can't deny the skills of the student-athletes who come out and give their all--some very impressive displays in the pool and the diving well. They come to compete from four different conferences, none of which have their own championship events: Big South, SoCon, MEAC, and the Atlantic Sun. Big South news of note from the CCSA: Gardner-Webb had an impressive dual finish, taking second for the men and third for the women (congrats), and Liberty's women finished 6th--which is an impressive performance for a first-year program, making the upper half of the field.

Anyway, it's all part of the annual gauntlet of championships and travel: swimming, track, men's basketball, women's basketball (and board meetings) in consecutive weeks, after which we can fully embrace the spring sports...which have already begun. Such a busy time, but it's all part of the wheel that turns in collegiate athletics every year.

So Happy Blog-iversary, SHOUT fans, here's a SHOUT-out to you!
Yours truly,
Mark Bryant
Big South Conference

Retail Therapy? Economic Stimulus? Sure, Why Not...

Okay, here's the deal: most often we use this space to discuss issues/perspectives/events across the Big South Conference...but every so often we verge into "shameless plug" territory. And that's pretty much where we're going today-----wait, give it a chance!!!!

The Big South Online Store went up last year at admittedly sort of an awkward time for us; namely, in the middle of the baseball tournament, our calendar's final athletic event. Not ideal, no, but it allowed us to kick the tires and run some things along before the games resumed.

Well, now we have run most of the way around the calendar and baseball season is near its beginning while basketball approaches its dramatic conclusion, not to mention the several other sports that are active out there right now in the Big South. So I feel it is a good time not only to say that the Big South Store has what fans are looking for, but has a greater variety of styles and items across the board than you'll find anywhere else.

Yeah, I know, sounds like classic marketing hyperbole, right?
Except it's the truth.
I will concede that for any given school you may be able to find some close options out there if you look hard enough, but not likely all in one place (Coastal is obviously one, since they use the same vendor, so the selection is an EXACT match), but only one place has such a tremendous array of goods to pick from for ALL Big South schools, as well as the Conference itself...and you can get there via BigSouthSports.com or BigSouthStore.com.

Need a Liberty Golf Bag?
...a VMI Parka?
...a Gardner-Webb Backpack?
...an Asheville Blanket?
...a Winthrop Cooler?
...a PC "Onesie"?
...a High Point Frame?
...a Coastal Camp Chair?
...a Radford Umbrella?
...a CSU Journal?
...or perhaps a Big South Stadium Chair?

Just examples, of course...and you can get any of those items for any of those schools, along with the classic assortment of t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, magnets, decals, license plates, bags, pens, notebooks, golf accessories, desk items and various gift "stuff" that you're looking for.

Like I said, it's a pretty good place to shop...and right now there's even a special sale on magnets and decals, with 15% off, but only for another few days after this posting.

The Big South Conference thanks and salutes its partners at Advanced-Online with a big SHOUT-out for making an Online Store we could all be proud of--and we know it's just going to keep getting better!

So that's it, folks. I'm unplugging the plug for now. We'll get back into the hoops talk and ramping up baseball season, etc., soon enough...but until then, go get the stuff to dress the part for your role as a Big South fan. Cool? Cool. Till next time, that's SHOUT -- out.

Tier System?

Under the current format of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Men's Basketball Championship, used for the past few seasons, there wind up being three races at once in the Conference standings, and this year is no different.

At the top, it's obviously been a two-horse race all season, although one of those thoroughbreds is clearly up a length now. Coastal Carolina and Liberty have been the top of the heap throughout league play, with the Chanticleers sporting the edge and the Flames managing to keep pace right behind. Well, last night CCU held off a late LU charge to complete the season sweep of the challenger, thereby giving the Chants a two-game lead in the standings plus a tiebreaker edge over the Flames, with just six Conference games remaining in the regular season. With the Coastal win streak now at 19 games, it's a legitimate time to ask if the run has an end, and where it will fall.

Surely it could go down as soon as Saturday, with VMI running and gunning at CCU. Fail to keep up with the pace or fail to hit your shots when you have the chance, and you're in trouble against the Keydets. That said, VMI has continued its habits of scoring 90 and giving up 100--defense is largely a non-factor in those high velocity contests. But one should note the Chants haven't lost at home this season to anyone. Down the schedule, we see at PC, at Winthrop (now THAT could be interesting, given the grudge match between those rivals), vs. GWU, vs. NC Central, vs. Asheville, at CSU, and then the tournament. If Coastal CAN keep this momentum running, they could be as strong as 28-2 riding a 26 game streak when March arrives and CCU hosts championship play. Surely any team can win any night, and all this could be moot in short order, but the speculation is intriguing. If, and I mean IF, Coastal runs the table, one would have to favor them to win three home games for the Conference Championship--and then what happens in terms of NCAA seeding? The record and the win streak would be wildly impressive, the RPI given a generally weaker out-of-conference schedule would not.

In any case, that's putting a number of carts before their respective horses, no doubt about it.

After all, let's look at Liberty--they've beaten all Big South comers save one...LU has lost only two Conference games, both to Coastal Carolina. You have to like THEIR chances to advance in the tourney, possibly to a final against CCU. Can the same team win the head-to-head match-up three times in one season? It has happened, but it's a tall order. The Flames' faithful know they have a beautiful chance to play spoiler in much the same way that Coastal's much-hated rival Winthrop did one year ago, knocking off the regular season champs on their own floor.

So the captivating race and rivalry at the top is one drama playing itself out in front of us...and with FOUR teams hosting first round games, the next race then comes into play. If you can't be numero uno, you really, really want to be in the top four. As of this writing, with Coastal at 12-0 and Liberty at 10-2, those teams pretty well have one and two locked down--because the next squads are at least three games behind second place!

The middle group could be considered as large as five teams fighting for two positions: Asheville and Charleston Southern have the lead of the moment, each with 7-5 records, followed by Winthrop, lurking on the perimeter at 6-6, and you can't yet count out VMI and HPU, holders of 5-7 marks, just two games off of the pace for hosting a game. There will still be plenty of shake-ups going on within that quintet for the remaining weeks of the season.

Okay, so two teams currently in the top tier, FIVE teams in the middle tier, leaving three currently in the bottom tier, yes? Now if you consider that those first two groups we discussed include seven teams, that takes up every slot but one in the tourney field, still set at eight. Of the three teams remaining, PC has the unfortunate distinction of being ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA division transition rules. The Blue Hose have been forced to be content with the role of spoiler from day one--they can't play for seeds, tournaments, or championships. So that leaves us with two teams scrapping for one spot: Gardner-Webb and Radford. It seems so hard in this light to think that Radford was the Big South Champion the season before last, falling to UNC in the NCAA's, but the Highlanders have not enjoyed much high ground this season. In fact, both RU and GWU have staggered out to 2-10 Conference records. The "winner" in this contest will have the distinction of (almost certainly) making a trip to Conway to meet Coastal Carolina...some reward...but still, "that's why they play the games," right? It's not as if the team left out gets a better draft pick--you might as well be pushing for greatness. Win the right games at the right times and big things happen--the beauty of the college hoops Cinderella stories.

Make sense? So as you're watching the MBB standings in the Big South, remember the three races at stake: the top one, top four, and top eight positions. If you keep those in mind, you'll start seeing more intrigue, more on the line than before--trust me.

And finally, a huge SHOUT-out of support for our fans and friends facing the worst of the winter storms. Most of our region here is under merely cold rain, but beyond the borders of the Big South there are plenty of folks struggling with astonishing amounts of ice and snow--we send you our wishes for your safety and comfort through these difficult days!

Enjoy the upcoming games, everybody---------SHOUT, out.

Getting Better All the Time

Truth is, Friday consistently seems to be the best day of the week to get a SHOUT out there for everybody, but last week was a sick Friday so your resident SHOUTer was down for the count--sorry to miss one like that, but I'm back!

The Big South has been going through some interesting growth and development in recent times...nearly every member plus the Conference itself has seen online renovations in the form of key website redesigns -- the most recent ones to the party are Gardner-Webb and PC. If you haven't done so already, check out the all-new www.GWUSports.com and www.GoBlueHose.com now! It's okay, I'll wait...

Nice, huh?

Factor in the other web face-lifts seen pretty much everywhere else this year and you've got a pretty sleek online profile for the Big South Conference!

On top of that, we're seeing a growing trend for more schools to try their hands at supplementing the sites with more video production. Keep your eyes out for the efforts at Charleston Southern, High Point, and Winthrop, among others. I'm telling you, the difference between what's happening out there now and what was going on just a few short years ago when there was resistance to the idea of streaming games and blank stares in reaction to the concept of additional video coverage...well, it's just staggering.

So much effort and initiative is out there now, and good work is being done. If you find yourself with a few minutes to kill sometime, do your own Big South "Web-O-Rama" like we do every so often here at SHOUT. Hit each member site and you'll see revised looks, fresh video, community stories, athlete profiles, new blogs and journals, and more every day. It really makes you proud to be part of the Conference.

Growth doesn't stop at clicks either--it extends to bricks, too. In athletic facilities, you have the remarkable upgrades performed at Liberty, the new baseball stadium at Gardner-Webb, construction proceeding at Asheville, and other projects on the books around the League. Turn from the athletic department for a moment and you see things like High Point University and its desired expansion from a growth campaign of $300 million to one of $2.1 BILLION over the next ten years.

Yeah, that's billion with a big "B" right on the front.
And yeah, that gets a "wow"...

The virtual homes are better, the physical facilities are better, the envisioned futures are better. The best part may be simply that it's all true and not just optimism on my part.

And while I'm feeling generous with the compliments, kudos to the NEW Online Store at BigSouthSports.com. If you haven't taken a peek, give it a look--I think you'll be impressed with the variety and quality of merchandise for any chosen school and for the Conference itself. I speak from first-hand experience: I've ordered stuff for myself, and I've been pleased with the goods--and with the turnaround time. So a SHOUT-out to the Big South's new partner, Advanced-Online, for making the store bigger and better in every way!

Okay, that's enough gushing...let's just go out there and get some victories against those out-of-conference foes, okay??? Volleyball and men's soccer are already getting deeper into Conference play, which is exciting, but football and women's soccer are still getting some outside tests, so let's beat up on everybody else before we start beating up ourselves...

Enjoy the games! SHOUT...out.

Of Shopping, Streaming, and Scoring

So much going on around here, I almost didn't get the chance to SHOUT about it!

First, let me get the shameless plugs out of the way, because we're all fired up about having a NEW Big South Online Store up and running. This site really does have the most apparel and merchandise for the Conference and its members that you can find in one location anywhere, which explains the excitement.

Anybody can do shirts and hats, but we start there and keep on going: backpacks, jackets, decals, jerseys, pens, umbrellas, etc. All with the logo of your favorite school from the Big South, or the logo of the Conference itself, of course. Many thanks go out to our merchandising partners at Advanced-Online.com for making the new Online Store possible.

Give it a look, do a little browsing, you'll probably find something you like!

Okay, so probably enough about the Big South Store already...let's move right along to the Big South Network and what's shaking for the fall...

Naturally we have the full array of live streaming events you've come to expect from the Big South Network: nearly 200 for the fall sports, with plenty of football, volleyball, and soccer (men's and women's) for everybody.

Beyond that, we'll still bring you the Royal Purple Round-Ups with host Matt Hogue, the weekly football teleconferences, and our guides to what's happening with the BSN.

But new this year, we'll have more specialty programming, with fresh video from our member schools: Big South Coach Camp, with short coaching interviews and insights, including tips from each week's coach on his/her sport...the Big South Super Seven, featuring "the best 7 plays from the last 7 days"--our very own weekly highlight show...and one we're really excited about (and one that's already started)--Big South "Flipped": On Campus.

We armed each of our schools with a Flip Camera and the instructions to find fresh happenings and learn new stories about the events on campus and around the athletic departments of their institutions. We want "Flipped" to take us inside our schools to see what's going on outside the field of play for our student-athletes and coaches. This is one show that could go in a million different directions, and we want to see where it takes us!

Now let's get to the action...the fall season has begun, and although things seems to begin slowly, events will quickly accelerate to full speed.

Right now, women's soccer has most teams just a game or two into the young season, while at the same time, it's been exhibition play for men's soccer and volleyball. Those two sports join women's soccer and get into it for real within the next few days, and then football gets its turn in the spotlight, with PC in the first game for any Big South team this year (9/2 at WFU), and all the others kicking off with the first Saturday of play on 9/4.

If you look to the preseason polls for any guidance, here are the favorites going into the season:
Football -- Liberty
Volleyball -- Coastal Carolina
Men's Soccer -- High Point
Women's Soccer -- Liberty

Of course, those things have a way of changing, but that's where expectations are (according to coaches and media representatives, anyway).

Before I wrap up, a big SHOUT-out to former LU running back Samkon Gado for not only signing recently with the Titans, but then hitting the end zone twice on Monday Night Football for Tennessee in preseason play. Gado is one of about ten former Big South players in camps right now hoping to hang on through the cuts to make their respective NFL squads (familiar names like Thigpen, Teal, Simpson, Simpkins, and more). Good luck to you all!

It's "go" time now, so look for SHOUT to ramp back up for another big season ahead...and that's SHOUT--out.

Wrapping Up--or Starting Over?

Truth is (regarding the title question), it's a little of both...when a season draws to a close, it's easy to think of it in terms of reviews, wraps, and retrospectives--and there's always a need for that kind of thing--but it remains a fact of the modern athletics industry (collegiate or professional) that there is no longer an "off-season"...only PRE-season.

When we last left SHOUT at the previous post, we were in the thick of the Conference Baseball Championship Tournament. Since then, top-seeded Coastal Carolina did indeed take that title, albeit with somewhat more drama than an undefeated Big South season would imply. Liberty fought CCU for that crown, and although the Flames had a good overall record, they wound up on the outside of the NCAA bubble looking in...

As for the Chanticleers, they hosted the Myrtle Beach Regional, which saw the ouster of NC State, Stony Brook (our football associate member--hello, Seawolves!), and Coastal nemesis College of Charleston. The CCU-CoC duels wound up being wild rides with high scores, multiple ties, lead changes, extra innings, arguments, and more thrills. In the end, the Chants survived and kept their #4 national seed (a first for the Big South) alive into the Super Regionals to face another Palmetto State rival: South Carolina.

Many of you are aware, but here's the quick rehash so we're all on the same page: many years ago, Coastal was part of the USC system and was under that umbrella. The familiarity between the two led to a similarity between mascots and a sharing of team colors (since dispatched and replaced by CCU). The relationship shifted when the kids wanted to move out of the house, so to speak, as Coastal broke from the USC network and went on its own. Aside from the exceptionally rare forced/accidental pairing (not set scheduling), the two had not met in competition since. Voila, instant subtext for the Super Regional. Add in a little grousing from the Gamecock faithful on how ticket selling was handled, and you know you've got some bitterness off the field.

Meanwhile, on the field, you had two of the nation's top teams squaring off, and the match-up was indeed a quality one. The games had plenty of intrigue, as many of CCU's post-season efforts did. Unfortunately for Coastal, the "dream season" would end with a two-game exit against USC rather than with a trip to Omaha. A shame, really, but after all, it was still a tremendous season--and only eight squads get to make that trek to Rosenblatt Stadium.

But it's not ALL baseball, not with the conclusion to the Outdoor Track & Field season happening in grand fashion at the NCAA Championships in Eugene. Seven Big South student-athletes competed at the event, all doing their programs proud, but none more so than Liberty running star Sam Chelanga. The distance specialist dominated the 10K race to claim HIS SECOND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR (going with his individual title in cross country). Before coming back to Liberty, he had a shot at another giant win, but finished the meet with a runner-up finish in the 5K...so close and yet...

We naturally salute Chelanga for that feat and for being the Big South Conference Male Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, along with his female counterpart for the OTFAY honor: UNC Asheville's Natalie Pearson. Great seasons for both competitors and well-deserved honors also--so consider our SHOUT-out just the icing on the cake, okay?

Yeah, so there's the wrap-up...now what?

Well, since you asked...would you believe we're already more than halfway through June?
The month began with the annual Big South Spring Meetings, where lots of policy adjustments and decisions affecting the coming year are made. A number of other meetings dot the summer schedule, but the tent pole holding everything up between the end of one academic-athletic calendar and the next is Football Media Day. You may not believe it, but that's mere weeks from now, just over a month--on July 29th, and then it's full speed into fall sports...oh my...anyway, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the Dads out there...SHOUT--out!

PLAY BALL!

Fans in the Big South Conference certainly have plenty of events and athletes to get excited about throughout the year, with lots of successes and remarkable competitions to enjoy...but we also know that there are times when fan fever reaches a higher level--moments when even casual fans find themselves fired up for the sports drama to come.

Over the years, the Baseball Championship has been one of those benchmark events. This year should be no different, and it's time to take the field and get going: games one and two are tonight at Winthrop Ballpark for the 2010 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship.

The headline story has to be top-seeded Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are justifiably ranked with the nation's elite teams. Their overall record is sensational; their Conference record is spotless: 25-0 in Big South play for 2010.

Seriously. Undefeated. Twenty-five wins.

CCU has an inside track on hosting an NCAA Regional--and a Super-Regional if they survive. Those games would all be played at BB&T Coastal Field (home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans minor league team, and a very nice room to catch a game, right across from the Broadway at the Beach complex). The Chants have been knocking on the door to Omaha for years--does Coach Gary Gilmore have the right combination this time? I won't be the one to jinx anything (baseball is so superstitious), so I'll just say "all things are possible"...and now that the regular season is over, all eyes are on the various conference tournaments as teams are slotted into postseason roles.

But here's the thing...Coastal may be wearing the belt, but seven other participants are in the ring for this particular royal rumble. The top four seeds know they are in the main double-elimination bracket starting play on Wednesday: CCU, Liberty, Radford, and High Point. The next four teams have to play their way into that phase of the competition, with single-elimination play Tuesday afternoon and evening...

Game 1 - VMI vs. UNC Asheville, 4pm
Game 2 - Winthrop vs. Gardner-Webb, 7pm

The two winners join the top four seeds and play for the title...the two losers are one-and-done, postseason over, thanks for playing. If that seems rough, remember that Charleston Southern didn't even make this party, finishing 9th for an eight-team field (noting that PC is still not eligible for the tourney due to NCAA D-I transition rules).

Beyond the two-game opening day on Tuesday, it's three games each day for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (11am / 3pm / 7pm schedule each day), and then the final game(s) on Saturday starting at 1pm (one game for certain, two games if necessary to determine an overall winner).

The entire event will be broadcast on the Big South Network. If you subscribed to a Baseball SportPass (or a Spring Combination Package or an Annual Membership), you already have the tournament included in your account. If you're a game-by-game purchaser or new subscriber, you'll need to order the Championship (available by the day or full event) to see the competition. It promises to be one of the more elaborate productions attempted to date on the Big South Network, with up to six cameras in use, significant graphic support, frequent use of replays, and experienced announcers (including me, so I won't lay it any thicker than "experienced" for now). We give a big SHOUT-out to Everett Hutto and Scott Finn at Winthrop for the ambitious production plans and look forward to a sensational product.

Okay, enough hype...PLAY BALL! Just hours after this was written, all the words in the world won't make a difference, as the teams will start sorting it out for themselves between the lines. I hope you have a chance to follow the tournament in whichever way you wish -- either by attending the games at Winthrop, watching on the Big South Network, or following the updates I intend to offer as frequently as I can on Twitter, Facebook, and naturally in some first-person accounts right here in SHOUT! Whew...enjoy the games.

Channel Your Inner Channels

Hello, Big Southers far and wide--welcome to another edition of SHOUT.

Surely you're ready for a weekend...I know I am...and if you're a Big South sports fan (which of course you are), then you're also looking forward to another great weekend of Conference games in baseball and softball. Plenty of good match-ups to enjoy out there!


Congrats to Radford for clinching the Regular Season Softball Championship nice and early--but there's still the matter of the upcoming tournament. RU will surely be the favorite, but a lot can happen with so many games in such a short period, so we look forward to the drama that will unfold at Coastal Carolina's field May 13-15.


Meanwhile, we quietly hit a unique milestone on the baseball side this past week, as Coastal Carolina topped the NCAA Baseball RPI list...you read that right: Number One in the nation based on record, road performance, schedule strength, and all the other factors that go into computing RPI. Regrettably (and isn't this always the case for teams at the top), CCU lost the first game after those rankings were published, falling on the road at Virginia. The good news is that loss may not have a catastrophic effect, considering that UVa came in at #4 on the very same list. RPI position is naturally among the consideration factors for regional hosting and seeding, so the Chanticleers have to be happy finding themselves in the uppermost tier.


By the way--big congratulations to Winthrop for the performance at the 2010 Big South Conference Men's & Women's Tennis Championships: WU swept the titles, winning final team matches as the 2-seed on both sides. The Eagles defeated the top-seeded teams in both men's play (Radford, also the host team) and women's play (Charleston Southern).


Before I go on to plug our title topic today, I also want to be sure and add a proper salute and SHOUT-out to our Winter Sportsmanship Awards winners, as voted on by their peers: PC women's basketball, GWU men's basketball, VMI women's indoor track, and Liberty men's indoor track. Those results will be combined with the fall honors already known and the spring list to be announced in determining who the overall Sportsmanship Awards will belong to at year's end.

And now, what's all this "channel" nonsense from today's headline?

We've put together a significant enhancement and upgrade to our Big South Network video portal at BigSouthSports.com. Before this, you always had to view everything from a Big South window and find anything you're looking for from out of the entire selection of events throughout the Conference. Not anymore--particularly not if your loyalty resides with a specific member of the Big South.

When you access video via the Big South Network now, you will find a new drop-down menu on the left side inviting you to "SELECT A TEAM." Clicking that gives you a list of the ten member institutions, and picking one of those essentially "changes the channel," transforming the player to a skin matching your school of choice and altering the available programming accordingly. Want to find only upcoming games for Coastal? championship events for Winthrop? games on demand for High Point? Gotcha covered...all part of the ongoing efforts to improve the fan experience with BigSouthSports.com and the Big South Network. We hope you like it--a lot went into making this happen, and we thank our web and streaming hosts with NeuLion/JumpTV, because these video developments were actually a bit harder than they look, and they were implemented seamlessly (so a SHOUT-out to the project developers today as well).

Speaking of the Big South Network (you knew this was coming), here's the video guide not only for this week, but the next TWO weeks of programming:



That's all I'll throw your way today. Enjoy yourselves out there--and try to catch a game at a Big South school if you have one within reach (and if not, well...that's what the video streaming is for, right?)...and that's SHOUT...out.

When Marketing Attacks!

In a perfect world, we would be able to put our schedules out there and our student-athletes would find large crowds greeting them at every event, cheering them on to new heights.

In the real world, we depend on some clever people dedicated to getting the word out, selling positives ("so many wins!"), downplaying negatives ("what losses?"), and working very hard to promote our events, athletes, and ideals.

Yes, it's all about the marketing. Today the Big South Marketing Group gathers in Charlotte for a face-to-face talk about what's going on at the member schools of the Conference, best practices for handling certain scenarios, and how everybody can work together to grow the profiles of the member institutions and the Conference as a whole.

Everything from advertising inventory and television deals to championships, sponsor-promotion tie-ins, and social media developments will be on the list today.

Meetings, you say...boring, you say. Perhaps...to some.

In truth, the ideas that come out of sessions like this can have a big impact on how your favorite school's sports are presented--and how the Big South membership is interconnected for various sports, events, promotions, and more. Just sayin'...

Anyway, today's post is really our chance for a quick SHOUT-out to the "BSMG" folks who keep the ideas churning and the turnstiles turning--have a great session!

Williams Wows , Tourney Turns

While current Big South players battle it out on the hardwoods for the Big Dance, a former Conference star has made it to The Show...so it's hoops-a-lot for today's SHOUT.

Let's start with the well-deserved SHOUT-out to former VMI Keydet Reggie Williams. Reggie reigns as the all-time leading scorer for VMI and the Big South, but his accomplishments have continued to grow after that stellar collegiate career for the Keydets.

Recently we drew your attention in this space to Williams hooking on--and then dominating--the NBA Developmental League. He led the "D-League" in scoring as a member of the Sioux Falls Sky Force (26.4 ppg). Now Williams has gone another step: the NBA.

First came the word that yes indeed, Reggie Williams had inked a ten-day agreement with the Golden State Warriors...before knowing anything else, that itself is good news--a shot at the highest level of the game, a live audition for his pro prospects against the best in the business--but it's only the start of this story.

He was in uniform right away, for the Warriors' game against the Miami Heat. He sums the experience up like this: "Coming in your first night and the first guy you guard is Dwyane Wade, it’s kind of different but it was a good experience. It was fun. I had a good time. I’m upset we lost but just have to move onto the next one tomorrow night.”

That's a modest summary from Mr. W, whose "good time" included the impressive debut numbers of 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Read more about that performance from our colleagues at VMI. But wait, there's more--you can catch Reggie Williams wearing his number 55 (the same he wore when he finished with VMI) for Golden State on national TV tonight: TNT has the Warriors visiting the Orlando Magic at 7pm, Wednesday, March 3rd.

Could there be more good things in store for Reggie? Coach Don Nelson praised his passing and lack of fear, adding, "In just one game he has gotten the respect of his teammates." Sounds promising. (Pictures courtesy NBAE/Getty Images, with thanks to VMI)

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Okay, okay, so what about the Big South basketball happening NOW, right?

Gotcha...on it.

Quarterfinal night for the Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Basketball Championship provided some drama, but in the end, little in the way of real surprises: in short, the favorites won.

So the top four seeds earned those positions and the first round home games that went with them...and all four will advance to the semis. Some games had more drama than others, even though the eventual winners all had double-digit leads at some point in their respective games.

HPU at UNC Asheville -- I was there for this one myself, and I can tell you the difference was settled quickly: the Bulldogs jumped to a 9-1 start and paced ahead of the Panthers for the duration. High Point had its moments, but Asheville generally controlled the game and got the 84-73 win.

VMI at Coastal Carolina -- the 1v8 game pretty much played like one, with the Chants jumping up early 21-9 and maintaining a healthy lead throughout much of the contest, ending in CCU's favor 82-73.

Liberty at Winthrop -- Liberty had an early run, but the Eagles grabbed and then held onto a lead the rest of the way (one with its shares of dramatic ups and downs, even closing within one point)...the margin was eight at the half and was back to eight at the end: WU 80-72.

CSU at Radford -- now here's the biggest drama of the night...RU's 16 point lead at the break withered until it had disappeared altogether, resulting in overtime for this 2v7 game. The Highlanders got the slim 9-6 edge in the extra five minutes to survive and advance.

Now it's on to Thursday night and the semifinals from Kimbel Arena at Coastal Carolina University, both games on ESPNU (at 6pm & 8pm):

Radford (2) vs. Winthrop (3), a rematch of last Saturday's two-point game.

Asheville (4) vs. Coastal (1), with the host hoping to earn another home game.

Saturday's final will be at 4pm on ESPN2.

The Big South Network will have free live streaming coverage of the postgame coach and player interviews after the semifinal and final games.

Look for more updates on the tournament here, as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages, and always get the official word at BigSouthSports.com. Enjoy the games...SHOUT--out!

Full Speed Ahead

Hello, SHOUT readers...


You know, we all have those hectic windows in our work life--in taxes, it's early in the year; in retail, it's late in the year; for college conferences like the Big South, right now is one of those "peak season" windows.


Everyone in the Conference office is running around these days, but just using me (as the example I know best): last week I was at the swimming facility at UT in Knoxville for CCSA Championships, this weekend I'll be at the Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Clemson, and then right on the heels of that, it's off to a site to be determined for action in the Men's Basketball Championship tournament--and as soon as that's wrapped, we're off to High Point for the Women's Basketball Championship tourney AND the Big South Winter Meetings. And of course, in the middle of all that, our daily responsibilities don't go away, so the regular parts of the job are in there too.


Don't misunderstand--that's not complaining, just sharing--I want everyone to know that the staff at the Big South is hard at work to make the championship swing work at its best for all the student-athletes, teams, and institutions of the Conference...this is an exciting, dramatic time of the year, with so much going on for fans of all kinds--please enjoy the stellar competition and the coverage we offer from these great events.


On to the events themselves...

Last week I didn't get anything posted to SHOUT (and shame on me, sorry about that) while working poolside at Tennessee's Aquatic Center for the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships. The nutshell recap: favorite Florida Gulf Coast University did swim away with the women's championship, while Davidson College made a splash in taking the men's title. Of those schools fielding both men's and women's teams, Davidson had the best performance, with a M-1/W-2 team result, but Gardner-Webb was just behind with a M-2/W-3 finish.


That was the third year for the CCSA (Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association), a joint venture of the Big South, Southern, Atlantic Sun, and MEAC. The champions for the three years: Men-- College of Charleston (2008, 2009) and Davidson (2010); Women-- Davidson (2008), Florida Gulf Coast (2009, 2010). The event has been held at Huntersville, NC, Athens, GA, and Knoxville, TN...no telling where we'll be in year four...



THIS week, it's on to the Big South's Indoor Track & Field Championships, again to be staged at the indoor facility on the campus at Clemson University. Recent years have been owned by Liberty's men and Coastal's women, but it's a clean slate for 2010 and all we know is that there will be plenty of speed, height, and strength on display (and all streamed live on the Big South Network of course). Outside of those perennial strong teams, keep an eye out for star performers like Felix Kitur of VMI and the Charleston Southern men's relay team.


MEANWHILE, oh yeah--the men's basketball races are on fire!

Here's what we know going into Thursday's games: Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, and Radford will host first round games (with the seeding order still up in the air a bit). That fourth home slot has not been settled, but three teams have a shot at it: Asheville has the inside track, Liberty is right behind if UNCA stumbles, and High Point needs to win out and get help to climb past UNCA and LU, making it the least likely of the trio. The Championship schedule is on the Big South website and will be updated as teams go into their slots.

The men's quarterfinals, along with the track championships and LOTS of other events are filling up the slate for the Big South Network this week--here's the link to the video on YouTube (not going to fight Blogger on the video embed this week). You can also get there by clicking it inside the Vortex box on the right side of SHOUT or using the Big South Network player right on BigSouthSports.com, of course!

Well, I don't want to make this too long, so I'll spare you any lengthy stories about women's basketball (Gardner-Webb still rolling, Liberty right there--could be a finals collision in the making), baseball (Winthrop really opened up on fire, and Coastal is the real deal again), and softball (CSU knocked off a ranked Louisville squad)...just one more thing today...

Believe it or not, SHOUT is approaching an anniversary of sorts...the first live/public post for Big South SHOUT hit the web at the start of the Indoor Track & Field Championships at Clemson two years ago: February 29, 2008, to be precise. Seemed clever at the time to jump off on "Leap Day." Two years and 144 posts later, we're still SHOUT-ing...and we hope you keep reading.

Thank you for your support--we offer a grateful SHOUT-out to you all!

The Need for Speed, and Other Quick Hits

You know, we can all talk about fast as if we know what we're talking about, but TRUE speed--WORLD CLASS velocity is something very few know personally. Obviously Usain Bolt is on intimate terms with a level of fast that neither you nor I would ever approach without wheels (and a motor)...but why do I bring this up to start SHOUT today?

Because they know F-A-S-T at Charleston Southern, folks!

I used the words "world class" above, and that's exactly what we have to salute here: the fastest time in the world this season for the 4x200 meter relay.


The speedsters in question (pictured at right) are Javon Young (Swainsboro, Ga.), Levi Brooks (Barnesville, Ga.), Cornelius Tyler (Silvania, Ga.) and Dantwan Spreads (Decatur, Ga.). Collectively, the four have been named the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Men's Indoor Track Athletes of the Week. Read this from BigSouthSports.com and marvel at what these Buccaneers did:

The Charleston Southern quartet ran the world's fastest time this season in the 4x200-meter relay as they clocked in at 1:25.47 at the New Balance Invitational over the weekend. The time was the second-fastest time in collegiate history and the fifth fastest time in American history. The team won the event by more than two seconds and just missed the all-time collegiate record by 0.4 seconds.


Crazy good? Ubetcha.
What more can I say? Here's a rousing SHOUT-out to Javon, Levi, Cornelius, and Dantwan!


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Moving on: Hoooooooooops!


It's another men's basketball Thursday, with much at stake entering the season's final weeks...

VMI at GWU -- you scoff, thinking these teams are near the bottom right now, but barring significant change, one of these teams will fail to make the Big South Championship field of eight--and neither one wants to be that team.

CCU at HPU -- it's the leader trying to maintain position visiting a hopeful trying to earn a home game in the postseason, making it a very meaningful game for both squads.

CSU at RU -- and here's another match-up of a team outside the top four seeds (first round hosts) against a team near the top, but this time it's the visitor that has ground to make up.

LU at UNCA -- now we're talking about a battle, because this game has the teams currently in 4th and 5th, separated at the moment by a half-game that represents the difference between being the home team or the road team in the 4v5 game of the Championship Tournament.

The men then go around again with a full slate of five Conference match-ups on Saturday--and once more with another five games on Tuesday...only a handful of Big South games remain for these teams once we hit the weekend, so each time on the court will feel magnified in significance.

For the women, Gardner-Webb still holds the top spot after fending off Liberty's challenge, but these two teams could well meet again when the Championship wraps up in High Point next month.

And also in basketball news, we have THREE games on TV on the same day this Saturday, a rare feat: get the details here.
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Bonus SHOUT-outs to two former Big South stars and "Best of the Best" honorees:
- Dustin Johnson, CCU golf, for making the current cover of GolfWeek;
- Reggie Williams, VMI basketball, for making the NBDL All-Star Game.

By the way, Dustin's "Best of the Best" story holds the lead over any other video at the BigSouthSports YouTube channel, with more than double the views of the next clip (Katie Feenstra).

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Under five feet of snow? Think spring...after all, it's baseball season.

Well, almost. We're just a week away from playing ball. Hard to believe, but true.


And the video streaming packages for baseball and softball are now available at the Big South Network.

Speaking of which, find this week's video guide here (since the video wouldn't seem to load into Blogger again).

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And last, but FAR from least today: the NEW & IMPROVED www.BigSouthSports.com !!!

The mother ship of the Big South's online world has a whole new look and feel. It was a long time coming, a long time in development, and we hope you feel it was all worth it. Please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, experiences from the site with us (here or via our Twitter or Facebook or any way you like)!

Thanks for being part of the Big South Family. We hope you enjoy the upcoming games and seasons--and encourage you to share your experiences with us. And that's SHOUT--out!

Ballers, No Bawlers

Okay, so Monday I wrote a little bit about the teams on top in men's and women's basketball...the men's teams cited won't have a beef with me from that, because they won their games, but on the women's side, things took quite a turn. Now I'm offering some thoughts on Thursday afternoon and the men are at it again tonight--no jinxes here, and I'll explain in a minute, but let's get going...

As I write this, Coastal Carolina and UNC Asheville are playing an afternoon game at the Justice Center. Yes, that was originally slated to be an evening game, just like the other tip-offs coming up at 7pm tonight, but weather concerns for the Asheville region bumped the game up in advance of the winter precipitation threat. That being said, the weather isn't the only thing cold out there, since the two teams kept scores in the single digits for a good while into the game--we'll just have to hope the results warm up well past the temperatures.

Here's the deal at the moment for Big South men's basketball--the top three teams all notched wins again back on Monday, putting Coastal Carolina and Radford each at 4-0, with High Point just back at 3-1. Interestingly enough, as the Chants put their ten-game winning streak and unblemished Conference mark on the line in today's pre-snow matinee, RU and HPU are both sitting out this date--eight of ten teams in action, but not those two, so there may be some subtle shifts in the leader board depending on the CCU outcome. Next, ALL ten teams play Saturday, including a match-up that has Radford AT High Point, which could be a doozie.

So if you like streaks (and who doesn't?), not only do you have Coastal's ten-game overall and four-game Big South runs at stake (do you know the final yet? still the first half for me)--you also have HPU's 6-0 home mark this season flying headlong into RU's 11-game Conference road game winning streak. The painful flipside to those positive rolls: GWU and PC, losers of ten and nine games overall, respectively.

And I promised women's hoops--with a whoops! At the start of the week, I lavished praise on GWU's Lady Bulldogs for their tremendous start and forecast a bright future for them...so naturally, they laid an egg that same night. Radford came to Boiling Springs with a record of 1-10 on the year, but left with a surprising upset win over the formerly 12-2 Gardner-Webb squad, thanks in part to a start that saw GWU miss its first 11 shots from the field...ouch.

Sports being such a fragile creature at times, I feared for cries of a jinx about our humble blog's remarks...but GWU Coach Rick Reeves settled the matter with some perfectly blunt coach-speak via Twitter:

@CoachRickReeves
We got the big head and thought we just had to show up to win and we got taught a hard lesson. I believe we will respond well next game!

Sounds like the final word on that to me.

In any case, HPU's women have now won five straight and own the only 2-0 mark in the Big South...but then again, not all teams have even logged a pair of Conference games yet, so too early to start drawing any serious conclusions.

I also promised I'd go over the Big South Conference Fall Sportsmanship Awards in this entry, so without further ado, here are the honors announced over the holidays, as voted on by their peers within the Conference in each listed sport:

Football:........................VMI, Charleston Southern
Volleyball:......................Liberty
Men's Soccer:...................UNC Asheville
Women's Soccer:..............Presbyterian College
Women's Cross Country:......VMI
Men's Cross Country:...........Liberty

A huge SHOUT-out to all the student-athletes on these teams, representing the ideals of sportsmanship and leading by example! The Big South will again award an Institutional Sportsmanship Award at the conclusion of the 2009-10 competitions. VMI has won the overall award all four years of its existence.

We interrupt this blog to bring you our weekly peek at the upcoming events on the Big South Network:

One more SHOUT-out before we're through...to colleague and friend Everett Hutto, who has made the switch from UNC Asheville to Winthrop (his alma mater). The jobs at either end are both media-related, but he will have a role concentrated more on the video and new media aspects of the athletic department and less on the traditional sports information side. The WU fans will benefit from his work, to be sure, just as the Asheville fans will miss his efforts on their behalf. Good luck, Everett!

Harris Poll: Double-Double Trouble!

We don't make individual players the main focus of this blog very often, so when we do, you know something good is going on--that's why you'll understand that this SHOUT-out to Coastal Carolina's Joseph Harris is indeed well-deserved.

Let's think back for a moment--after last year's All-Conference performance, it was uncertain if Harris would suit up for the Chanticleers this season. He graduated in the spring (biology) and retained a year of eligibility due to his medical redshirt in the 2007-08 season, but was considering alternatives for his redshirt senior year and his preparations for nursing school...in fact, grad school at UAB seemed to be in his future. It wasn't until confirmed in an August announcement that we knew that Harris would take the court for Coach Cliff Ellis and CCU in 2009-10.

The folks in teal can all enjoy the results of his return to Kimbel Arena. Harris has earned Big South Player of the Week honors in three of the season's four weeks so far! Read that again--Player of the Week three times--in a month!

Here's the rundown for the 6-5 forward from Lejeune, NC:

Week one he shared the award with Nick Barbour of High Point (Barbour was an electric 10-11 in 3-pointers), as Harris opened the year with his 31st career double-double and 13th-straight game with more than ten boards. In week three, he scored 20+ in a trio of games and averaged a double-double in that span (21.3/10.7). In week four, he averaged a double-double AGAIN, contributing greatly to two Big South road wins and running his career total to 37 double-doubles, all while climbing the ranks in the Conference record book for his impressive career stats...whew...

Bravo! Way to go, Mr. Joseph Jon-Anthony Harris!

Well, that's a tough act to follow, but I was still going to give it a shot with this week's Big South Network Guide...until Blogger failed to publish my video despite giving it all day to process--maybe tomorrow?

On Monday, we posted a fun "open question" on our Facebook Fan Page...what special Big South Christmas gift would you give this year? Still collecting some fun responses--enter one there or comment here and we'll put the best ones together in a holiday edition of SHOUT!