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.

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!

Web-O-Rama Lives!

You may find yourself--searching across sites online.
And you may find yourself--looking through Big South school pages.

You may ask yourself, "Why goof on a Talking Heads song?"

And you may say to yourself, "Good grief, move SHOUT along!"

Yes, Big South SHOUT took a little breather around Independence Day, but it's all business now--the 2009-10 calendar opened July 1st, so we're not looking back (well, not much, anyway--check out the important item for VMI): it's full speed ahead in preseason mode!

First item on our July agenda is getting everyone caught up around the horn with another installment of that SHOUT favorite: Web-O-Rama...so let's get those browsers going...

Charleston Southern...CSUSports.com tells us that we're within 60 days of the Bucs' football opener at The Swamp in Gainesville, but it also offers interesting baseball notes--particularly for those seeking instruction: a delay in camp dates (pushed back a month) and details for those who want more individual training assistance.

Coastal Carolina... the first thing you'll notice right now at GoCCUSports.com is the splash page that teases the release of the site redesign on July 22nd, but there's more activity in Conway than just on the website. Check out the Adkins Fieldhouse Construction slideshow, showing you the expansion in progress at the Chants' football home.

Gardner-Webb... GWUSports.com has baseball success stories for fans of Runnin' Bulldogs past and present: a Southern League All-Star starter, plus three All-Stars playing in college summer leagues...a good job by the "Diamond Dogs."

High Point... soccer superlatives are among the highlights at HighPointPanthers.com, where HPU salutes its impressive group of nine players on developmental league rosters right now in preparations for the season ahead.

Liberty... LibertyFlames.com turns to recent basketball stars for a couple good stories--Anthony Smith making the summer league roster for the Indiana Pacers and Megan Frazee adjusting to life in the WNBA (pictured here, Getty Images photo)--fun and fascinating stuff as they transition from college to the pros!

Presbyterian... GoBlueHose.com has a nod to the future of its softball program with a report on accolades given to the three members of its incoming freshman class.

Radford... RUHighlanders.com has a nice baseball item that RU fans will enjoy taking advantage of--a links page to connect you to college summer league teams that feature Highlanders on their rosters.

UNC Asheville... the big news this week at UNCABulldogs.com is the announcement of Asheville's new baseball coach, Tom Smith--complete with free video of Monday morning's press conference.

VMI... a huge salute, both from VMIKeydets.com and (of course) from BigSouthSports.com, on VMI winning the Big South Conference 2008-09 Institutional Sportsmanship Award. This year's honor actually marks the fourth straight time VMI has won--accounting for all four years the award has been in existence. Bravo, Keydets!

Winthrop... those already counting down to the next hoops season will like a recent item at WinthropEagles.com, where it has been announced that the Lady Eagles will participate in this year's Preseason WNIT. WU will open Preseason WNIT play with Georgia Tech in Atlanta on November 13th.

Okay, that's all for today--don't forget to follow us on Twitter and become a Facebook Fan, too!

If those reminders seem too familiar by now, you may be thinking it's the...

...same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it EVER WAS!

(that's back to the Talking Heads--look it up, kids--better yet, give it a listen...SHOUT--out)

Honoring Good Sports

Not to interrupt everyone basking in the glow of America's huge upset soccer win over Spain, but we have the latest awards from the Big South Conference...

The ballots have been scored for the spring Team Sportsmanship Awards and here are the results for the eight sports:

VMI earned the nod two times, once each for baseball and men's outdoor track.

GWU also got a pair of honors, coming in women's golf and women's tennis.

Joining them as a double-winner is Liberty, with awards in softball and men's golf.

The remaining two honors went to High Point (women's outdoor track) and Presbyterian (men's tennis).

For the 18 sports in the 2008-09 year overall, Liberty has merited five wins, VMI has received four awards and shared in two others, Gardner-Webb has won twice and shared twice, Presbyterian has two wins, High Point has won once and shared twice, and Radford has one win.

A final tabulation, taking into account all first, second, and third-place rankings for all sports will now be made, with the overall Big South Institutional Sportsmanship Award winner to be announced next week. This will be the fourth year for that honor, won all three previous years by VMI.

You may now resume your celebration for the US Soccer Team...

Sportsmanship Winners (& Softball Update)

Just to be sure everyone's up-to-date...the Softball Championship was scheduled to start at 10am this morning, but has been pushed back two hours due to heavy rains overnight in the Radford area. Sooooo...your new start times are approximately 12pm, 2:30, 5pm, and 7:30, all starting with Charleston Southern (4) against Gardner-Webb (5) at high noon!

While I've got everyone, I want to touch on something we didn't get to in the last couple of posts: SPORTSMANSHIP. Some of you are already skeptical, but bear with me...

See, the topic of good sportsmanship is naturally part of what athletics--and particularly collegiate athletics--is all about, and has a fundamental role in what the Big South Conference does...so much so, there are even honors awarded to teams recognized for sportsmanship!

The winter results were recently announced:

2008-09 Big South Team Sportsmanship Award Winners
Women’s Basketball:................Presbyterian
Men’s Basketball:....................Gardner-Webb, VMI
Women’s Indoor Track:.............Gardner-Webb, High Point
Men’s Indoor Track:.................VMI

Now add in the results from the fall...
Football:..............................VMI
Volleyball:............................Liberty
Men’s Soccer:........................Radford
Women’s Soccer:....................Liberty
Men’s Cross Country:................High Point, VMI
Women’s Cross Country:............Liberty

...with the spring sports to be added at the end of the season.

This year marks the fourth season for the Big South Team Sportsmanship Awards. Big South Conference teams vote on their top three choices for best sportsmanship (and cannot vote for themselves).

VMI has won 16 team awards and all three overall awards since the program began. Keydets, we salute you!!!

Good Sports

Some much-needed rain is falling in the Charlotte area now and it's time for a SHOUT!


Plenty of Big South fans keep up with what teams have won championships on the fields and courts of play, but do you know what teams have won the greatest respect from their peers when it comes to sportsmanship?


The Big South Conference polls teams in every sport at the conclusion of their competitive seasons to see whom the student-athletes consider the best examples of sportsmanship. An institution lists its top three (not voting for themselves, of course), they get corresponding point values, all the points are added up, and a winner for that sport is announced by the Conference office. At the very end, an overall winner is declared by combining the results of the various Big South sports and determining who got the highest percentage of their possible points. For the last two years, the overall award was earned by the student-athletes of VMI.


Here's how things have been going this year, with several spring sportsmanship awards announced and only baseball left to report...

Liberty (5.5): Men's Cross Country, Volleyball, Women's Indoor Track, Men's Golf, Men's Outdoor Track, Women's Outdoor Track (tie)

Radford (3.5): Men's Indoor Track, Men's Basketball, Women's Tennis, Women's Golf (tie)

VMI (3): Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer, Football

High Point (2.5): Women's Cross Country, Men's Tennis, Women's Outdoor Track (tie)

Charleston Southern (1.5): Women's Basketball, Women's Golf (tie)

Winthrop (1): Softball

No first-place finishes for CCU & UNCA / baseball results still pending.


Of course, don't make the mistake of thinking that fewer of these honors makes a school out to be a collection of poor sports! We think everyone in the Big South does a good job upholding honor and dignity--this award merely thanks the ones who are the best at doing that all year long from the perspective of their fellow student-athletes.

Geographic bonus note: Virginia schools have claimed 12 of the 17 awards issued so far (NC and SC schools 2.5 each).

Have a great weekend, sports fans...