Here We Go!

Okay, people, it's 2011, so grab your hoverboards and head on over to catch some hoops.
What?
Sorry, my mistake...we get the hoverboards in 2015...use your jetpacks instead.
Hmm?
Never mind then, I thought this was the future...Happy New Year!

So instead, let's deal with the present, and it's a pretty good one for Big South basketball observers, with Conference play in full swing and plenty of good games out there. It's not perfect, at least not for most teams, but few things are, so let's give a look to life in men's basketball across the Big South right now (we have enough of a barometer to read tendencies on the men's side, but the women have only played one Conference game so far, so we'll save that talk for another day).

I mentioned the word "perfect", and that aptly describes the undefeated starts for Liberty (5-0) and Coastal Carolina (4-0). How timely, then, that these two teams collide Saturday evening! The overall Coastal win streak has climbed to an impressive eleven games and a total record of 12-2 this season. For the Chants, Desmond Holloway has scored at least 13 points in every game this season, the only player in the Big South to have double-digit points every time his team has taken the floor. There's a pretty good amount of talent and depth happening for Coach Cliff Ellis in Conway, and CCU has earned the attention increasingly pointed that way.

Meanwhile, Coach Dale Layer has Liberty exceeding expectations at this point, and anxious to keep his Flames red hot. Solid defense and teamwork have gone along with strong performances at home and on neutral floors (9-1), although the road record could use a little work (2-5). Clutch play from junior guard Jesse Sanders helped last week--now we'll see if he will have the right shot at the right time with the Chants in the building.

Those two teams are the unquestioned top two--and although general appearances make Coastal seem the stronger squad and likely to keep on rolling, it would not be surprising to see Liberty eke out a win in Lynchburg. Whether they do that or not, the Flames had better be prepared for a furious challenge when they meet again in Conway in February!

After the top two, the standings and relative power rankings actually get kind of murky for a while...

Perennial contender Winthrop? Lurking, of course, and always a threat come the tournament, but the Eagles just lost badly on the home floor to Asheville on the heels of a weak offensive showing against PC (that nonetheless netted a victory thanks to Coach Randy Peele's "grind it out" approach to the game). Still, this is a team that knows when to peak, and the answer is not January.

And what about that aforementioned PC squad? Pulling down road wins against Auburn and Wake Forest in the same week remains quite the feat, but what have you done lately, Blue Hose? Up and down performances have brought PC to 2-2 in the Big South and 8-8 overall: they're treading water in another year of waiting for full Division I status. No, they won't be a problem for anyone in the tourney because they can't go, but with the mix of talent and experience they do have, the Blue Hose could be a heckuva spoiler for someone along the way.

So you like lots of points? Then it's time to look at VMI, because once again, the Keydets are scorching scoreboards...on both sides. Yes, a familiar problem--score 87, but give up 109. That's what happened when Coastal came to town. Some teams will go with the flow and others will be swept under, but the familiar pattern of "score a lot, give up more" continues in Lexington. The Keydets have a dangerous team when the shots are falling, and one that often makes for entertaining games, but it is uncertain when everything will come together for that elusive title run for Coach Duggar Baucom.

Speaking of living and dying by your shooting percentages, it's time to talk about Charleston Southern. When senior guard Jamarco Warren and company have the threes raining in from all over the floor, watch out; but when the shots aren't falling, life gets tough for the Buccaneers. So, like VMI, they're a tough out on any given night, but the right defense against them might just make all the difference, just by impacting shot selection and opportunity.

It's finally time to touch on High Point. The Panthers have not found any sort of rhythm this season, nor has Big South Preseason Player of the Year Nick Barbour. Losing the last two Conference games on the road and the last four overall have not helped matters for HPU. This is a team needing a win and needing it soon...surely the Panthers are anxious for Saturday's game at winless Radford.

Beaten Bulldogs? UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb have had injury struggles dominate their storylines so far this season. For Asheville, it's been a roller coaster that could still see the team contend with enough healthy bodies...but for Gardner-Webb, once leading scorer Jon Moore (out indefinitely) went down, things went south. GWU has now lost seven straight.

Finally, let's touch on Radford...here's a team that finished 2008-09 as Big South Champion in the NCAA Tournament, opened 2009-10 as a Conference favorite by many, ended last season with a relatively disappointing finish, and has skidded this year to an 0-4 start in Big South games, holding last place in many team stat categories. It's just not pretty for the Highlanders right now.

So there you have it, the quick rundown of what's out there right now for Big South men's basketball. The beauty of it all, of course, is that things can change so fast in this Conference, so what holds this week may not resemble what we're looking at next week, or next month...fun, isn't it?

Lineup for Saturday, January 8th:
CSU at VMI, 1pm
CCU at Liberty, 6pm
GWU at Winthrop, 7pm
HPU at Radford, 7pm
Asheville at PC, 7:30pm.

CATCH THE GAMES ON THE BIG SOUTH NETWORK!

That's enough for me...have a great weekend--get out to one of the games if you can, or watch on the Big South Network, OR catch updates from BigSouthSports.com or our Twitter or Facebook pages! SHOUT--out.

Big Bid-ness

So Football Media Day is behind us, and the calendar page has turned to August...so grab onto whatever glimmers of summer you have left, because we are on the stretch run to the fall sports blitz now.

There were plenty of discussion points from the sessions last week in Charlotte for all our football members and attending media representatives, but the number one topic was clear: THE BID.

In case you've been ignoring the football talk thus far, this is the big turning point year for the Big South as a football conference: the season that the Conference champion is assured of a position in the FCS Playoffs. The Big South doesn't even have ten years under its belt when it comes to play on the gridiron and does not yet have the championship pedigrees established by some of its neighbors, but now a seat at the table is reserved for the Big South Conference Football Champion, and that is indeed a big deal.

Coastal Carolina snared an at-large berth a few years ago. More recently, Liberty has seen a couple of well-deserving squads get snubbed when the invites went out. In all, it's not much on which to hang one's helmet, but a new game begins now.

The coaches and players had a variety of reactions to the new scenario, but all echoed one sentiment--this will be good for the Big South Conference. That is to say, not just good for this year's teams, but in perpetuity. The new FCS playoff format includes 20 teams (up from 16), and for the first time, it's guaranteed that at least one will be from the Big South. Yes, read that carefully, I said "at least one"...it may seem like a leap of faith, and that may likely be true for year one, but with more teams involved and one team locked, it actually creates greater possibilities of an additional qualified at-large team making the field (like the scenario last year with Liberty & Stony Brook). A whole new line of thought, right?

Among the interesting takes on the new dynamic...
GWU Coach Steve Patton suggested this was a "put up or shut up" time for the Conference, that after years of working to get this qualifier, the Big South needs to demonstrate its worthiness.
CCU Coach David Bennett said that rivals wouldn't be able to use the lack of a bid against Big South teams anymore, but added that getting a game is just a step--that hosting a game would be the next rung on that ladder.
CSU Coach Jay Mills believed that it wouldn't change week-to-week readiness or emphasis for teams, but that the automatic bid would have a lot of impact on the thinking and preparations in the off-season.
LU Coach Danny Rocco assured us that the goals of his team were no different than ever--that the Conference title is always their main target, but that the validation of the playoffs would make it that much sweeter if reached.

And still more from all the coaches and players involved...you can hear them share their thoughts on the automatic bid and the season ahead, the preseason poll and All-Conference team, last year's results, and other stories of life on and off the field, with our Media Day video coverage. Right now you'll find the Media Luncheon speeches from all the coaches at the Big South YouTube page, plus the Streaming Interview Room sessions from each team on the Big South Network (on the "Press Box" channel). The Preseason Preview videos with team capsules and All-Conference team selections can be found in both locations!

If you're still looking for more once you've finished going through all that, don't worry, we collected more great sound from all our visiting coaches and players: thoughts on role models, leadership, and more--and we'll be revealing more of those interviews as we approach the season and progress toward the 2010 FCS Playoffs. Should be a fun year...

Many thanks to everyone from our football schools for making the Media Day event a success--the coaches, the players, the athletics directors, the sports information staffs, and also a special nod of gratitude for the football-hungry fans who have been following all the Big South developments. Blow the whistle--let's go! And that's SHOUT...out...

Championships-A-PLENTAY

Many Southerners know that if you ever find yourself in Spartanburg, SC, and you need a major burger-and-fried-stuff fix, the Beacon Drive In is the place to be. Those not traveling much through the region may know the Beacon from its appearance on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." Either way, you need to know how to order right away. Yep, it's one of THOSE places--first-timers better learn quick that you don't hold up the line, because you need to "CALL IT!" A hallmark of ordering at the Beacon is getting your burger A-PLENTAY (that's "plenty" with proper inflection, of course), meaning virtually buried in an avalanche of fries and onion rings. You get what you came for--and then some.

Hence the appropriate title for this post, because we know it's time for spring championships--and boy do we have an overflowing plate of stuff we can sink our teeth into today!

Let's take this chronologically...

It had been a month since the basketball tournaments for the Big South, but the silence ended last week, starting with the Women's Golf Championship. Charleston Southern's women logged the best showing at The Patriot Golf Club in Ninety-Six, SC, bringing back the first Big South Championship for the Bucs in anything this year. The kudos for CSU don't just end with the trophy--after all, the Bucs beat the Championship record score by eight strokes (881) and became the first team in event history to record team scores under 300 each day. AND CSU senior Olivia Jordan-Higgins brought was the individual medalist. Nice finish all around.

Before the men would get their crack at The Patriot, we turned to the CSU campus, site of the 2010 Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships. With a talented roster of competitors from all across the Big South, the OTF Championships nonetheless came down to one team on top, and the Flames burned brightest. Liberty won both the men's and women's titles, and in so doing, completed an unprecedented sweep of all the "running" titles: Cross Country, Indoor Track, and Outdoor Track, all for both Men's and Women's Championships. Call it the "double triple" as they are at LU, or just call it dominance. Coastal's women's team gave Liberty a major challenge, and even held the team lead for a while, but it was not to be this time. As for the men, Liberty led wire-to-wire there. Interestingly, while the Men's Top Performers in Track (Evans Kigen) and Field (Clarence Powell) came from Liberty, the Women's Top Performers in Track (Ikeiylah Brown) and Field (Brittany Connor) came from Coastal Carolina.

This week began with the Men's Golf Championship, and it's a familiar refrain in the Big South to announce Coastal Carolina as the team champion for men's golf, so that result comes as no real surprise to anyone. Take in these impressive numbers: CCU has now won seven titles in a row and 12 of 14. The Chants were pushed by CSU and Liberty, but could not be caught. Given all that, perhaps it's of some interest that the individual medalist was not a Chanticleer: Liberty's Robert Karlsson had the best score for the tournament.

AND NOW another title tilt is happening, even as I write and share these thoughts with you. The Big South Men's & Women's Tennis Championships began this morning from the campus of Radford University, where the hosting men's team enters with the top seed, while Charleston Southern has that honor on the women's side. So by Saturday afternoon, we're scheduled to have two more champions crowned.

That's if the weather holds, of course...we just got through nine days staging four outdoor championship events with nothing more than a fog delay one morning and some breezes, so the luck so far has been quite good (bringing the law of averages into play, quite possibly). It may be a race against rain come Saturday, but we're hoping all is well for tennis to run on schedule.

Once tennis concludes, that just leaves softball and baseball to finish out the "pennant races" of their seasons and stage their May tourneys, which will close out the 2009-10 season.

As far as title-winners this year, looking back on it, we find a very favorable run for LU:

Championships won (14 total)--
7.5 Liberty (M/W XC, M/W ITF, M/W OTF, WBB, FB-tie)
2.0 Winthrop (MSOC, MBB)
2.0 Coastal Carolina (VB, MG)
1.0 High Point (WSOC)
1.0 Charleston Southern (WG)
0.5 (Associate Member Stony Brook: FB-tie)

And with only four left to crown, nobody can catch Liberty on this list...as for Sasser Cup, there are a number of other factors involved, but no one can doubt LU would be a favorite to repeat.

In other news, HPU is streaming their Spring Athletic Banquet tonight (4/22). It's available on the Big South Network, just like these other games I'm going to talk about in the video (although the banquet is the only one of those events that you can watch for free)...here's the guide for this week--with one note--ADD IN the Saturday-Sunday games for Coastal Carolina at VMI baseball:



So that's it for today...until next time-- "CAALLLLLLL IT!" SHOUT--out.

Big Games & Championships, Good Times...

So you've been waiting for your SHOUT...(okay, okay, at least play along).
It's here, it's time, let the embloggination begin...(no, it's not a word, nor is it mine, but I liked it, so I'm throwing it in there).

First off, a happy SHOUT-out to the ranked Big South baseball teams for pulling off a tremendous Daily Double on Tuesday night against another pair of ranked teams: VMI downed Virginia and Coastal Carolina defeated North Carolina.

Now, the actual rankings depend on your poll of preference. This week, I could easily produce different lists that placed Virginia at number 1, 2, 3, or 4. Regardless, we're talking about a top-flight team right now, yes? For the sake of argument, we're calling UVa a #1 team--one that came into Lexington and got a good beating by the Keydets, 12-3. Very impressive...VMI holds the #26 spot in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, but could get some increased consideration with that victory.

Meanwhile, Coastal is in the # 9 - 12 area of the rankings, while UNC holds a spot about ten places down from that, so by rank this was not an upset. Nonetheless, props to the Chants for completing the ACC two-fer by the Big South teams this week--and again, not a close one, with a 12-4 final score.

That was a big night for the Big South--after all, that group would make a heckuva regional lineup, wouldn't it? I know it would not go down that way, but CCU, UNC, VMI, & UVa would make for some great ballgames. Perhaps down the road we'll see Virginia and Coastal each hosting their opponent from this week in a regional of their own...but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

A Big South Championship was decided this week, and it was a good one for the folks of Charleston Southern--winner in women's golf. CSU led the event after day one, after day two, and most importantly, after day three. Bucs golfer Olivia Jordan-Higgins also brought a title back to Charleston as the individual medalist. CSU had not broken through with a championship in any sport last year nor so far this year until taking the crown for women's golf.

But the Buccaneers did not stop there this past week, clinching the Regular Season Championship for women's tennis as well, as they cruised through a spectacular season. We'll see next week if they can add another event win with the Tennis Championships at Radford's campus.

And while we're talking about Charleston Southern, that also happens to be the host site for the 2010 Big South Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships, happening right now at CSU. The leading teams after the first day of competition were Liberty for the men and Coastal Carolina for the women. Not coincidentally, those squads were the winners of those titles a year ago and now seek the repeat. At the same time, there will be added intrigue on the women's side, where LU will be trying to get past the strong CCU team in an effort at a remarkable sweep. Liberty holds the current titles for M/W Cross Country and M/W Indoor Track -- so taking both sides at outdoor would complete a powerful cycle (something I believe they've referred to as a "double-triple crown"). We shall see...

Right on the heels of outdoor track comes the championship tourney for men's golf and then men's and women's tennis next weekend. We'll have more on those events in SHOUT next week, of course...and beyond that, we've got softball and baseball in May

Here's your guide to what's streaming on the Big South Network...



Hey there--not following us on Twitter or a fan on Facebook yet? What are you waiting for? We've got hundreds who've already joined the fun, but we're still missing you!

Have a great weekend, one and all--get out to some games if you can (and if you can't, then catch some at the Big South Network). Thanks....SHOUT--out...

Take Me to Your Leaders

Time for your Friendly Neighborhood Spring Sports Update...

Under the yellow haze of pollen, the races are taking shape across the Big South Conference (all standings based on play as of 4/8/10).

First let's slide into baseball:

With two teams ranked in the top 30, the Big South has earned plenty of respect--thanks to the performances of Coastal Carolina and VMI. Interestingly, those two teams are not alone in the tangle for the top of the Conference baseball standings--Gardner-Webb has squeezed in there as well. Those are the only three clubs that can boast both a winning record in Big South play and a winnning record overall: Coastal (5-0 / 24-5), GWU (5-1 / 15-13), and VMI (7-2 / 25-5). By the way, an interesting schedule twist next Tuesday has created a Big South-SoCon showdown night, with Elon at Liberty, The Citadel at Coastal Carolina, and App. St. at High Point, all at 6pm.

Next let's take a swing at softball:

Like the baseball standings, the field of contenders with winning records in Conference and overall is a narrow one. For softball, that upper-echelon group is only a duo: Radford and Liberty. The Highlanders are 8-1 / 22-10 and the Flames are 4-2 / 19-10. The Championship is just over a month away now at Coastal Carolina--and I've just learned that your writer here will be your announcer there for the streamed games in the first two days of that event.

Time to serve up some women's tennis:

While I can list four programs that have run off winning records in the Big South and overall, only one is truly the leader here: Charleston Southern. CSU has raced out to a 7-0 / 15-1 start and has mounted a legitimate threat to Winthrop's grip on the sport in the Conference. Winthrop (3-1 / 9-8) is among the schools in that winning group, along with Coastal Carolina (3-1 / 15-4) and Radford (3-2 / 12-4), but there's a lot of catching up to do if the Bucs are to be overtaken by anybody else before the Championship at Radford in just two weeks.

And on the other side of the net for men's tennis:

Out of all these leader groups, men's tennis is the one that includes an aberration--a team at the top in Conference NOT sporting a winning record overall, and that's Winthrop (3-0 / 7-10). The other squads in contention do not have that issue: Radford (3-0 / 10-9), CCU (3-1 / 12-6), and Liberty (2-1 / 10-7). RU is of course the team that's owned this title for a while, but it's clear that they will have some quality opposition when the Highlanders take the home court in an effort to defend their crown later this month.

In the other spring sports, golf is approaching its finish...the Women's Golf Championship tees off Monday at The Patriot Golf Club in Ninety-Six, SC. The Palmetto State is not only the home of the course, but also the top three seeds: Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, and Winthrop. There's a certain deja vu to that, since Coastal and CSU finished 1-2 in this event a year ago. Men's golf has an additional week before teeing off that championship.


While the next Big South Championship will be awarded in women's golf, the next one you can watch on the Big South Network is the 2010 Big South Men's & Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships from Charleston Southern. Given the level of competition seen across the Conference this year, I would expect some remarkable times/heights/distances from the participating student-athletes. Team-wise, keep your eyes on the Liberty contingent. The Flames took home the hardware for men's and women's cross country in the fall and for men's and women's indoor track in the winter...meaning LU seeks a remarkable "double triple crown"--winning for men and women in all three running/track-related sports. It would be an incredible feat, but they'll have to beat the field next week to pull it off, and that won't be easy.

Okay, feel caught up on the spring goings-on?

Good, let's talk football!

No, seriously, just for a minute--never too early. Surely you know spring football has been going strong for weeks, and now is the time when the spring games start popping up everywhere. Lots of those intrasquad scrimmages will be played this Saturday, particularly across the South. Among them, the Presbyterian College Blue Hose, and I am proud to announce that the Big South Network will have its first-ever April football event with the live streaming of the PC Spring Game (4/10, 10am). You can order it through BigSouthSports.com--but you better catch it live, because this one won't be saved in the archives!

Speaking of the "BSN" -- here's the story on what will be streaming this week, including that football game from PC...

That's all for now, folks. Not expecting a new entry tomorrow, so I'll wish you a good weekend now...SHOUT--out!

Ouch...Reality Bites Big South

Fun while it lasted?
Not even sure of that.

Friday morning, sitting on 0-4 in postseason hoops, with one underdog hope remaining.

To recap:
Tuesday night--Winthrop had its shot in the NCAA Opening Round game, facing Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC Champ) in Dayton. And while we can cling to the novelty of Winthrop scoring the first points of the 2010 Tourney (a basket from Andy Buechert), the Eagles faltered on the national stage, struggling with shooting woes all night and losing 61-44. UAPB's reward, of course, is a date with Duke today, but the Golden Lions have earned the right to keep dancing.

Within minutes of that ending, the Big South's Regular Season Champion met the same fate as its Tournament Champion--a double-digit loss. For Coastal Carolina, it was a trip to Birmingham for the NIT First Round and a meeting with UAB. The bigger Blazers controlled the game and held off the Chants for a 65-49 victory.

Just like that, the men's basketball postseason had ended.

On to Thursday night, when perhaps the women would fare better for the Big South...but no, the script was repeated--two games, two losses. Gardner-Webb made the short trip to Charlotte to face the 49ers in the First Round of the WNIT, but seemed to lack the intensity needed to take one on the road. Charlotte led the game wire-to-wire, and by wide margins most of the way. In the end, it was UNCC 74, GWU 60.

At the same time, Charleston Southern wound up in the surprise position of hosting a First Round game of the inaugural edition of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI). Appalachian State had the better seed but had to make the trip to CSU for this one. ASU dominated the scoreboard in the first half, opening nearly a 20-point lead, but the Bucs would not give up the ship, making for perhaps the most exciting game of this postseason quartet. CSU fired off a comeback and climbed almost even with the Mountaineers, but then App-State regained its footing and pulled away for a 62-47 win.

Tale of the tape--four teams in four different tournaments, no advances.
Humbling and disappointing losses of 17, 16, 14, and 15 points...

And then there was one.

Yes, folks, there were five postseason hoops squads for the Big South Conference, but four have fallen. That leaves us with a vested interest in one team yet to play: the Liberty Flames women's team, Big South Championship tourney winner and rep for the NCAA's. The Flames open with Kentucky Saturday afternoon, and while UK's women don't have the same expectations as those riding on the men's team from Lexington right now, these Wildcats will have the favorite position understandable for a quality SEC team. By seeding, the match-up is a 4v13 tilt, so a win would certainly qualify as an upset.

Only I don't think anybody around here would be too upset about it...

Well, we'll see. Hey--look on the bright side: we've got Conference play in baseball and softball now, so I guess it's time to turn the seasons anyway (if you haven't already).

Make it a great weekend everybody----SHOUT--out!

The Next Season

Well, from a basketball perspective, there are no more regular season games, no more Conference tournament games, only the luster of postseason play--the next season has arrived.

As of this writing, the Big South Conference has FIVE teams (men and women) playing in assorted events for teams with successful seasons. These events vary in prestige and history, but they all have one thing in common: you keep winning, you keep playing. Let's look at the games chronologically...

First on the schedule and first in the minds of many, the NCAA Men's Tournament...the real source of the "March Madness" that permeates American culture from St. Pat's to early April each year.

The Winthrop Eagles pulled off the upset from the 3-seed position in the Big South Championship to earn the Conference's automatic berth...that was Saturday afternoon--and come Sunday evening, it was learned that WU would have to traverse another obstacle if the Eagles were to make the traditional field of 64. They must survive the Opening Round game...also commonly known as the "Play-In Game" (which, sorry NCAA, is exactly what it is in this field of 65--dressing it up as the "Opening Round" is merely semantics when we're just talking about a pair of teams trying to settle one spot in an otherwise determined field).

Winthrop and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC Champion) will square off in Dayton, Ohio, tonight (7:30pm, ESPN) to see who gets put in the unsettling position of taking on Duke in the First Round of the Big Dance. Winthrop's tournament pedigree did not get WU past this hurdle in the eyes of the Selection Committee, but even though there's a small blow to the ego for being in this position, there's still a PR bump. After all, this is the only NCAA game happening until lunchtime Thursday. The "Winthrop" name is getting out there a lot right now, and "Big South" gets some attention as well, so that's not bad. Now they have to win the thing to prove they belonged in the field to begin with...the dubious reward being the 1v16 game.

As you surely know, or will hear ad nauseum soon, "no 16 has ever beaten a 1-seed since the tournament went to 64 teams," yada, yada. True. But don't you think if anybody could do it, a Winthrop-Duke is a great regional tussle for the possibility? Well, yes, but I won't go there yet...one game at a time, survive and advance, etc., etc. Let's see what happens tonight first.

Meanwhile, as the Eagles are getting their Opening Round on, the Chanticleers will try their hand at the NIT. Coastal Carolina Coach Cliff Ellis made it clear that the NIT is a big step for the CCU hoops program, and he's right, but this was a team that really thought the NCAA bracket was up next on the calendar. Hopefully Ellis has gotten his bunch regrouped and ready for action after the disappointment on the home floor against Winthrop, because the Chants have got to face the UAB Blazers in Birmingham tonight (no television, sorry folks). Coastal has the dubious honor of having the most wins ever among eligible teams NOT to make the NCAA field, so it would be big for CCU to snare some NIT wins and prove a point of its own.

Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day...wear something green and catch your breath, no Big South basketball on the 17th.

Thursday it's time to start play for the women, with two tournaments happening. Gardner-Webb enjoyed the Big South Regular Season Championship, but ended with a loss to Liberty in the Conference Championship tournament final and a bid to the WNIT. There was hope among some that GWU might parlay its successful season into an at-large NCAA bid, but that was a faint hope at best. Now Coach Rick Reeves must do just as cited for Cliff Ellis above--get his top-seeded club over its loss in the Big South tourney and get the players ready for action in another tournament to prove their mettle. Fortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, the initial travel will not be very demanding, as they will be going to Charlotte to face the 49ers in the First Round (Thursday, 7pm).

At the same time, Charleston Southern will get the taste of postseason play with a new event labeled the WBI, or Women's Basketball Invitational. CSU is an 8-seed, but will host 1-seed Appalachian State because of a schedule conflict for the Mountaineers. Since Charleston Southern will be home, we will be able to stream the game for you on the Big South Network! Somewhat ironic that the last team in, playing in the newest tournament, is the one to play at home, but that can be the beauty of postseason play sometimes--its unpredictability.

Last, but far from least, the women's team at Liberty will take the court in the NCAA Women's Tournament on Saturday (Mar.20) at 2:30pm, facing Kentucky. The Flames were given a very respectful 13-seed, facing 4-seed UK. The Flames survived a wild one with Gardner-Webb in this weekend's Big South Championship, and Coach Carey Green has an experienced and battle-tested bunch taking the floor. Don't be too shocked if they earn themselves another game...

Which also speaks to the point that any victories mean more games coming Friday, or Monday, or other days as needed, so keep an eye and ear out for the latest!

So there you have it--five postseason tournaments to track, each with one Big South squad to root for...and yes, you are supposed to put your personal feelings aside for Conference pride now--after all, none of them are in direct opposition now, right? The further these teams can go, the better it is for the Big South's profile nationally, and the better in turn it is for each team and its ability to schedule "up" more often, improve RPI, etc. Just go with me on this one.

And while hoops hysteria reigns supreme, there's still lots more out there to talk about in the days ahead--baseball & softball, track & field, golf & tennis, and coaching changes for soccer, etc.

Let's play ball-----that's SHOUT--out!

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!


--
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.
--
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).

--
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).

--
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!

Of Basketball & Bare Feet

Where does the time go? Been a week since the last SHOUT...yikes (!), sorry for the delay.

We'll keep this one relatively brief, but there are indeed two main and interrelated topics as alluded to in the title of today's post.

First, the basketball itself--the men's side has gotten very interesting, with the competition both expanding (in number of teams) and contracting (in separation of games). Coastal Carolina dropped a game to Radford, but still holds the lead at 7-1 and has matched the Big South's best overall mark through 20 games at 17-3. Radford is indeed right behind, still a game back at 6-2 thanks to a loss at CSU. Behind those two is the other pair from last weekend's battle royale: Charleston Southern and High Point, each at 5-3. Now we warned you about the Buccaneers being in a position to charge, and CSU closed the deal, beating both RU and HPU. The flip side of that is High Point, dropping two games and falling back of the leaders.

The next group is a trio of 4-4 teams: UNC Asheville, Winthrop, and Liberty. Of those squads, we say now watch out for Asheville, as the Bulldogs have been on the rise. Their losses were close ones and their wins have come recently and in bunches. With Coach Eddie Biedenbach now the all-time leader in regular season Big South victories, it looks like this edition of UNCA has indeed learned about winning. Winthrop and Liberty haven't proven reliable this year, but they can hang with anyone when they're "on"...

The remaining teams need help if they are to climb up from the bottom. GWU holds onto a glimmer of hope at 3-5, but PC and VMI are each 1-7...and while PC is sitting out its last year of transition-based ineligibility, the Keydets are at risk of dropping from the 2-seed to OUT of the Conference Tournament in the span of a year.

For the women, the leader club has grown by one again, with Gardner-Webb, High Point, and Radford all 4-1 going into the weekend. GWU seemed to be the team-to-watch first, then HPU pulled alongside, and now RU is in the pack...and don't be surprised that 3-1 Liberty wants to climb right into the mix too! As for the rest...well, the top four squads have 15 wins in Conference play, while the bottom five teams total six Big South wins...nuff said.


For more hoops, check out the Conference site, but okay, it's now time for the "bare feet" part of the program...seriously.

Avid hoops-watchers may have caught on to this already, but some college coaches have been appearing on sidelines without their shoes, or socks, or anything, on their feet. It seems unusual at first, but the key is that it is getting noticed. The whole effort is a campaign on behalf of Samaritan's Feet, a humanitarian relief organization dedicated to acquiring shoes for children around the world who have no shoes to wear. A five-dollar donation is the equivalent of a pair of shoes--which might be all it takes to stave off some diseases and infections, might be what is needed to get involved in sports otherwise difficult or impossible to play, or might be the difference in taking both literal and figurative steps forward in life. We take it for granted--they do not have that luxury.

In the Big South Conference, the initiative is "Barefoot for Bare Feet," and runs selectively through men's and women's games from January 23rd to March 1st, starting with both Charleston Southern coaches (Barclay Radebaugh and Julie Goodenough) in their home games tomorrow (1/23). At the Barefoot games, members of the Big South Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will collect new shoes (athletic shoes only) and monetary donations. In addition, school-specific donation-by-text numbers are available.

We encourage everyone to help Samaritan's Feet with their initiatives. And yes, as you might expect, Haiti is a target for this aid (they were part of the SF programs even before the devastating earthquakes that deepened the troubles there).

And so with that, we return to the games themselves by offering this week's Big South Network Guide:

That's all I've got today--make it a great weekend, folks....and that's SHOUT--out!!!

Game On!

Just throwing in a quick word as we move through the basketball schedule from Thursday's men's match-ups to Saturday's men's and women's showdowns...

The headliner match for last night went to the defending champ, not the undefeated challenger, but don't worry--there'll be a rematch down the road. Coastal Carolina had won 12 in a row, but couldn't get the baker's dozen, as Radford notched a ten-point victory on CCU's floor.

MEANWHILE, Charleston Southern held on in the end in a tight home struggle with High Point (we warned you to keep an eye on the Bucs with this schedule set-up), downing the Panthers by three.

The net result: tighter standings and more contenders in the men's basketball standings--

Coastal 6-1
Radford 5-1
High Pt. 4-2
Liberty 4-2
CSU 4-3

The focal points in the men's race are at first place and fourth place. The top seed owns the right to host its way through the Conference Championship Tournament, while the top four teams will all be able to host first round games. Outside the teams listed above, Winthrop is 3-3, Asheville has two wins, and VMI, GWU, and PC each have just one win so far.

Saturday's MBB line-up:
GWU at VMI, 1pm
HPU at CCU, 2pm
UNCA at LU, 7pm
WU at PC, 7pm
RU at CSU, 7:30pm

So just like Thursday, we look to the South Carolina coast for two games, but with the opponents reversed--either way, it's four of the top five teams trading blows.

For the women, Saturday looks like this:
UNCA at RU, 3pm
WU at HPU, 4pm
PC at LU, 4pm
GWU at CSU, 5pm

So the top three teams (GWU 3-1, HPU 3-1, RU 2-1) are all involved in separate games...all important, but with slightly less head-to-head drama than what this weekend's men's schedule has delivered to us.

Okay--that's it--have a great Friday everybody------and ENJOY THE GAMES!!!

Chants Encounters

Those who have followed Big South basketball for years know that while Coastal Carolina has had competitive seasons, the Chanticleers haven't won any regular-season or tournament championships in Conference since Tony Dunkin (pictured) was collecting an unmatched FOUR Player of the Year Awards (and if you are unfamiliar with his work, check out his "Best of the Best" salute).

It's true: regular-season wins in 1988/89/90/91 and tournament wins in 1990/91/93...that makes a gap of 17 years by the time we get to crunch time of this campaign.

All of which makes the CCU run more jaw-dropping by the game. Coastal has now surged to 16-2 with 12 consecutive wins and a Big South mark of 6-0. Coach Cliff Ellis has gotten his team in a winning rhythm, and all parties involved have to be satisfied with Joseph Harris (pictured) making the decision to return to Conway for his final year of eligibility.

So regardless of what happens this weekend, the performance is spectacular and the records set will be tough to match. Nonetheless, with excitement over the Thursday-Saturday double feature at Kimbel Arena at a fever pitch, the pressure may be on to win as a statement: an assertion as to which team belongs in the first place position.

THURSDAY: Radford at Coastal Carolina, 7pm (available on the Big South Network).

The Radford Highlanders were the preseason favorites (as recounted in our last post) and the easy plug-in choice by national publications for early "bracketology" as defending champions with returning talent. Like CCU, RU opened this season 4-0 in the Big South, setting up a potential clash of titans for this week's game. Since that start, the Chants have notched two more wins, while Radford took a punch at High Point to hit 4-1. If any luster is off of the match-up with that loss, don't tell the campus by the shore--everyone there is pumped for this game, and rightfully so.

SATURDAY: High Point at Coastal Carolina, 2pm (also Big South Network).

Right on the heels of that showdown comes one just as challenging, if not more so because it requires avoiding any letdown coming off of the first game: High Point visits Coastal. Due to Radford's extra attention (for example, this recent write-up on "Big Art" Parakhouski for SI.com), HPU may be slipping under the radar for the casual fan outside of High Point, NC. Don't be fooled--the Panthers are not going away. They are also 4-1 in Conference and dealt the Highlanders their only loss.

Meanwhile, hoops fans, I offer this suggestion: keep an eye on Charleston Southern, just in case. CSU is a seemingly average 3-3 at the moment, but the Bucs are the other team in this travel partner set-up: they will also play High Point and Radford in the next few days (HPU 7:30pm Thurs., RU 7:30pm Sat.), so how they fare could play a big role in which teams hold the upper spots--and in what order--going into next week.

Basically, we've just gone from the fun of seeing Conference games to the thrill of a race for position--it's serious business now! Naturally, we've got the games streaming...here's the guide for this week:

That's enough of a SHOUT for today--enjoy the many games out there for ALL our Big South teams (try to get out and support your favorites in person if you can)!

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!

Volleyball Time (& football, & basketball, &...)

The Fall Championship Swing continues...

Here are the fall results so far:

Men's Cross Country: Liberty
Women's Cross Country: Liberty
Women's Soccer: High Point
Men's Soccer: Winthrop

And we have two pending results that will be solved by sometime Saturday afternoon...

Volleyball--now in the Conference Championship at Radford, with eight teams starting quarterfinal Thursday, then four surviving to play semifinal Friday, and finally two still standing on Saturday to go after the title in the last match. At this writing, the first quarterfinal has been played...regular season co-champion and #2 seed Liberty advanced 3-0, eliminating GWU. The top seed is UNC Asheville--and the Bulldogs have to face the host team in the fourth match of the day on RU's floor. The final begins at 2pm Saturday.

Football--something unexpected happened on the road to the virtual "Big South Championship Game": Stony Brook lost. For weeks, the 11/21 LU-SBU game had been circled by many as a likely meeting between undefeated clubs shooting for an outright championship in a head-to-head battle. Well, that's partly right. With Charleston Southern pulling off the upset over SBU in overtime last weekend, SBU enters at 4-1 in the Big South, while Liberty held serve and went over the 50-point threshold again (against GWU this time) to reach 5-0. So now, the Flames are assured at least a share of the title--win this week and it's all theirs...while the Seawolves are working for a claim on half of the honor (the championship is based only on record, not on any tiebreakers). And while that's the battle for the top, there's an interesting "tipping point" match between Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina this weekend: both are 5-5, so the winner has a winning record, loser has a losing record, and that's what they'll have to reflect on until next season.

Oh, and yes, basketball is bursting out all over.

Some nice victories for the men's teams on opening night, with Radford downing Navy, VMI stopping Army, and Coastal Carolina defeating the College of Charleston (a SoCon favorite this year)...but things took an unfortunate turn in recent days--and on TV, no less--with Liberty (vs. Clemson), Coastal Carolina (at Duke), and UNC Asheville (at Tennessee) all taking pretty bad beatings at the hands of major programs in front of large audiences. But it's verrrrrrry early, so we won't draw too many conclusions beyond the obvious and understood fact that, in general, the ACC and SEC programs are going to be much better on the floor most nights...that said, we can still hope for some more of those signature upsets our Conference seems to sneak in each season.

So with the last of the fall sports at the finish and the thrill of hoops still getting bigger, let's see what the Big South Network has going on this week (from our pre-Thanksgiving turkey: me)......word of warning--feeling under the weather this week, so it's not my best work, but even with a weak voice and less energy, the message comes through...I hope...

That's all for now, peeps and tweeps, friends and fans--keep rockin' in the Big South!

SHOUT, out...

Upside-Down Tournament Frenzy

Okay, okay, what's in the water down in the South Carolina Lowcountry, people?

One upset, maybe two, sure...but FOUR---as in ALL FOUR QUARTERFINALS????

And besides that--three out of four games go to overtime--and two of those to penalty kicks?

The Big South Women's Soccer Championship kicked off in Charleston, SC, Thursday...but nobody could have seen this coming...not all of it...

Game One

VMI tops Coastal Carolina in PKs after a 1-1 tie...no big deal you say, a 5-seed beats a 4-seed, happens all the time...but wait...

Game Two

Regular season champion and 1-seed Liberty falls to 8-seed Winthrop in PKs after a 0-0 tie...good grief, that could change the dynamics of the whole bracket, right? Have to turn your eyes to the 2 & 3 seeds now, right? Right?

Game Three

The only game decided in regulation on the day: 7-seed High Point ousts 2-seed Gardner-Webb 2-0 with a pair of second-half goals. Coming on the heels of WU's major upset over LU, GWU went from possible favorite to definite spectator in the span of a couple hours.

Game Four

All of which set up beautifully for the host, one might think, yes? Charleston Southern, the 3-seed and host team for the event was suddenly the top survivor in the bracket, simply by holding out for the day's last game (and what a wait, after two of the previous three went all the way to penalties). But the mojo of the day was not to be denied: into overtime they go, and out of overtime the result is clear--Radford 2, CSU 1.

So yes, the 1-2-3-4 teams are OUT and the 5-6-7-8 teams are IN with regards to the semifinals to be played Friday afternoon and evening...

Given that change of events, what could you possibly predict next? In other words, who you got now: 5-VMI vs. 8-Winthrop (4:30pm) and 7-HPU vs. 6-Radford (7pm)...I know I'm not making any guesses. Enjoy the games--and I look forward to seeing who makes (and wins) the final on Sunday! ((Pssst...all the games will be live on the Big South Network!))

Champs and Hoops and More

Someone just turned the burner up on the competition in the Big South...

As suggested Monday, the heat may be coming from the Flames--but they're not the only ones, because the fall sports are reaching their hard-fought conclusions: Championship Time.

Okay--to start, congrats again to our first team champions of this year--Liberty Men's and Women's Cross Country.

But as I write this, we are about to begin the next championship event: women's soccer, a traditional eight-team, seven-game, single-elimination bracket--quarters, semis, final. So what started as ten competitors in the regular season became eight for the tournament (UNC Asheville did not qualify for the Championship and transitioning PC is not eligible for postseason play)...by the end of Thursday, that number becomes a final four which will in turn be the last two teams standing by Friday's end--give them a day off and then they crown the winner with Sunday's game. Good stuff...especially when upsets start shaking the bracket. Anything goes in single-elimination competition...otherwise, why bother, really? "That's why they play the games," indeed.

And on the verge of bracket play starting, we congratulate player of the year Marky Boyce (CSU) and all the other women's soccer award winners and honorees this season.

The Women's Soccer Championship is the highlight on this week's Big South Network Guide, but it's far from alone--check it out here...

So let's review: CHAMPIONSHIP event this week (WSOC), CHAMPIONSHIP event next week (MSOC), CHAMPIONSHIP event the week after that (VB), PLUS somewhere in there we'll have a football champion crowned on the field (probably 11/21, same as VB)...by that time we'll all need a breather for Thanksgiving weekend.

That's a lot, right? Not even talking about the fall segments of golf, tennis, baseball, softball, etc. as they prepare for the real meat of their schedules in the spring...

Ah, but there's more: THE TIME FOR HOOPS HAS ARRIVED!!!

Yup, basketball is here, Big South fans. It's all exhibitions and scrimmages right now, but keep your eyes wide open, because Friday the 13th will be very lucky for basketball lovers--that's opening day for men's and women's teams across the Big South, with plenty of hardcourt action going on throughout the Conference!

Which makes the perfect time for a quick plug: the Big South Network will have every home game for the teams of the Big South (except those games with overriding/major TV agreements). That means you get all the games your team plays on its own floor, and all its road Conference games as well...you only miss out on road games outside the Big South. Check out the packages available for hoops lovers at the Big South Network.

Moving right along--for all our fine folks who get MASN, be ready for Big South football coming your way Saturday night. VMI at Liberty will hit the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, and I'll be handling the play-by-play duties for that one, working with Ray Jones as analyst. The broadcast starts at 7pm--hope to have you with us!

Lots to do, gotta run--SHOUT...out!