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...

Postseason Hoops in Alphabet Soups

Lots of teams, lots of tourneys, lots of terms, right? That time of year...

So let's try to clear up the postseason basketball picture for everybody, okay?

Right now it appears that no Big South teams this year will be going into things like the CBI and similar ad hoc tourney set-ups, so that leaves us with the "big four": the NCAA & NIT fields for both the men and the women.

Interesting that this year the regular-season champions in the Big South both came up short in the finals of their respective tournaments, so they both wind up in NIT brackets: Coastal Carolina for the men and Liberty for the women.

The teams that knocked those strong squads off the top of their mountains will be going to the world of NCAA brackets: UNC Asheville for the men and Gardner-Webb for the women.

Of course, in Asheville's case, it still isn't that simple because they are in the "First Round" or "First Four" group, formerly known as the "Opening Round", yet widely regarded as play-in games by hoops followers across the country despite what branding the NCAA chooses in a given year.

Let's break this down first by team and then by the calendar...

UNC Asheville -- the Bulldogs open with Arkansas-Little Rock in Dayton, Ohio...the game is Tuesday night (tonight, as I post this), tipping at 6:40pm on tru-TV. Start looking for that before you get to 6:30, just to be sure you find it. You probably have it without realizing it, as it's part of the CBS-TBS-TNT-tru-TV partnership showing the NCAA and the powers that be WANT you to have this channel. As a DirecTV guy, I can tell you it's on channel 246, but again, consult your local listings, as they say. Now as much as we all believe in Asheville, certainly last year's Winthrop vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff opener should serve as a sufficient cautionary tale that just because you're not playing Pitt yet, that doesn't mean you're not in for a tough game.

Speaking of Pitt, that's the "reward" for the winner in that opening contest: a "Second Round" (what we've always called "First Round") game against the 1-seed Pitt Panthers in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon. Win THAT one and we would have quite a story to tell!

Coastal Carolina -- 2nd straight year in the NIT, certainly not what the Chants were hoping for, and the news gets tougher, as Coastal will open with 1-seed Alabama, a team that had spent lots of time on the NCAA bubble and stood a chance of making the other tourney...perhaps the disappointment will be larger for the Tide and open up a chance for CCU, who already dispatched SEC foe LSU on the road in the regular season...the game will be at 7pm Tuesday on ESPNU. If Coastal stems the Tide, next up would be the winner of the New Mexico-UTEP game (details tba).

Gardner-Webb -- the third time WAS the charm for the Runnin' Bulldogs, who knocked off their nemesis, Liberty, in the Conference Final to earn the automatic NCAA berth...GWU got a 14-seed and faces Miami (the Hurricanes are a 3-seed) in Charlottesville, VA. That game is set for noon on Sunday the 20th and can be seen on ESPN2. The winner will face the winner of the Oklahoma-JMU ballgame on Tuesday the 22nd.

Liberty -- an odd position for the Flames, quite used to the NCAA side of life, but now moving into the WNIT bracket...Liberty opens up at Charlotte, Wednesday night at 7pm (no TV known). Strange part of that is it seems like the committee was using part of last year's bracket--GWU opened WNIT play at Charlotte's Halton Arena in 2010...go figure. The winner of this one would advance to play the winner of the South Carolina-App.St. contest. If the Flames are not too put out by falling short of their primary goal, they could do some damage in the WNIT field--watch out for that.

Okay, so here it is chronologically:

TUESDAY (today), March 15th:
M-NCAA, UNC Asheville vs. UALR in Dayton-OH, 6:30pm on tru-TV;
M-NIT, Coastal Carolina at Alabama, 7pm on ESPNU (winner vs. New Mexico-UTEP winner tbd)

WEDNESDAY, March 16th:
W-NIT, Liberty at Charlotte, 7pm (winner vs. SC-App.St. winner tbd)


THURSDAY, March 17th...(M-NCAA, Asheville-Little Rock winner vs. Pitt in DC, 3pm)


SUNDAY, March 20th:
W-NCAA, Gardner-Webb vs. Miami in Charlottesville, 12pm on ESPN2

TUESDAY, March 22nd...(W-NCAA, GWU-UM winner vs. Okla.-JMU winner tbd)


Hope that helps--that's about as much as we can say as of Tuesday--good luck to all our teams and we hope everybody enjoys the upcoming games! 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.

Hoops Time...& a Fall-Out Review

Ah, yes, let's tip this thing off for real today.
But, you say, "The season started weeks ago."
True.
Yet it's so hard to gauge what should be learned from a combination of road games against superior opposition and home games against weaker opponents. Sure, it's not ALL that, but it's generally the case that Big South teams spend a lot of time in November going out to major conference foes and bringing in lower level squads. The results are predictable, but not absolute: on the men's side, Asheville started out by beating Auburn and Winthrop knocked off Wake Forest, while on the women's side, there were some disappointing losses to very small visiting schools...let's not bother with those details, too depressing.

So why get excited now?
Because tonight (Thursday) there are four Big South Conference games for the men, with another five coming on Saturday. If you're wondering about the math, that's two games for eight members this week, with two teams only getting one game (CCU & CSU).

Yes, Conference games.
The unquestionable peer-to-peer measuring stick, when we'll be able to get a clearer picture of what we might expect down the road. Obviously the league schedule does not begin in earnest until we're ready to bid farewell to 2010 and swing into 2011, but the games of early December will count just as much, so they'd better be ready for them!

Here's the schedule:
Dec. 2nd...
Gardner-Webb at High Point,
PC at Liberty,
UNC Asheville at Radford,
Winthrop at VMI...I do like this one in particular--the "grind it out" defense of Winthrop and the "run and gun" offense of VMI--you figure something's gotta give...

Dec. 4th...
PC at VMI,
CSU at Coastal,
GWU at Radford,
Asheville at HPU,
Winthrop at Liberty.

From there, it's a couple light weeks to get through the month and the holidays, but get fired up again for New Year's Eve and the roller coaster ride that follows, with the full regular slate of Big South Conference games--and that applies to the women in January as well.

For those who live for the hoops side of things, this is the start of--as the song says--"the most wonderful time of the year."

If you're looking for more on the early part of the men's season, you can find our check-in with "Rush the Court" here.


RECAP TIME
Yes, so SHOUT has been quiet recently, but let's fix that and get caught up with a quick review of what the fall sports brought us this season...

Cross Country -- championship-wise, it was another sweep of the Men's & Women's Championships by the Liberty Flames. No one was surprised to see Liberty's Sam Chelanga run away with the individual title again for the Big South...just as you couldn't be too surprised to see Chelanga cross the line as the individual National Champion--a back-to-back winner of the NCAA title! Our congratulations and appreciation for Sam's accomplishments truly runneth over...he is simply the best. Factor in Josh McDougal's win in the event a few years ago and the Flames have produced three of the last four Men's Cross Country National Champions!

Women's Soccer -- would you believe a FIVE-way tie for the regular season title? Yeah, seriously. So tiebreakers sorted out the seeding among a pool of virtual equals, and when the dust settled, the High Point Panthers had made it as back-to-back Big South Champions (the highlight of which was the golden goal bicycle kick in the final by Jillie Johnston). HPU then fell to Maryland in the NCAA First Round.

Men's Soccer -- speaking of High Point, the men's squad for the Panthers roared through the year with a fast, high-scoring attack, going undefeated against Conference foes all the way to the Championship's final game...and that's when they got tripped up: Coastal Carolina took the title, downing HPU 3-1. Coastal then lost at Duke in the NCAA First Round.

Volleyball -- another tight battle through the season played its way into the Big South Championship, and the tournament had its own plot twists--this time favoring the Panthers in the final. High Point stunned top seed Liberty by rapidly sweeping the Flames in the final match. LU may have been exhausted from a five-setter over host Winthrop the night before, but whatever the reason, HPU is the survivor...and the final chapter there has not yet been written, as the Panthers play at Duke (them again?) on Friday to start NCAA play.

Football -- we've mentioned tiebreakers and twists from other sports, but football definitely had its share and then some. With the Big South's first-ever Automatic Qualification entry to the NCAA FCS Playoffs on the line, the whole year came down to the last two games on the last day of the regular season. Stony Brook and Liberty dominated Big South play out of the gate and lasted as undefeated most of the way...but Coastal Carolina found itself mid-season and started an amazing push. The Chants lost to SBU early, seemingly part of the tailor-made set-up for a clash between the Seawolves and the Flames in the end, but everything changed when Coastal Carolina upset Liberty later in the year.

Suddenly a very real possibility existed for a three-way tie at the top among those schools...all would share the regular season title, but who would get the AQ? If Liberty beat Stony Brook, the head-to-head match-ups would only lead in a circle (A beat B beat C beat A, etc.), so no winner...and comparing records against the remaining teams would also not matter, as they all beat everyone else...meaning that the tiebreaker would come down to fewest points allowed in Big South games, a test of relative defensive strength.

So to the final week we go, SBU seemingly holding all the cards--win and in, no ties to break...and even if they lost, they had a cushion of about 40 points in the tiebreaker. Get ready for the playoffs? The answer was a two-part resounding NO. First Coastal obliterated Charleston Southern 70-3 (interestingly enough, only the "3" matters, as it was irrelevant how many points Coastal scored on CSU...the whole point of the defensive tiebreaker was to attempt to avoid running up the score...tiny bit of irony there, as you'll see). In doing that, the Chants actually knocked Liberty out of the running for the AQ just as the Flames began their own game. How? Because LU entered the day four points behind CCU in the tiebreaker and CCU only surrendered three! Unless the Flames figured out how to put SBU in negative numbers, Liberty was already done. For Coastal, the issue became one of hoping for two more things: Liberty winning, and doing so with 42 or more points on the board. And again, all SBU needed was the win--making everything else immaterial. So what happened? Of course, the wild scenario played out--in a game breaking a number of offensive records (both for Liberty and the Big South), the Flames defeated Stony Brook 54-28 -- pandemonium!

Summing up: three teams shared the Big South Conference Football Championship, but when the tiebreakers sorted out the one team receiving the automatic bid, that went to Coastal Carolina. From there, the good news was that CCU got to host the opening game...the bad news was that the Chants fell 17-10 to Western Illinois (who will play next at App. State). Also unfortunate was that Liberty once again was denied an at-large bid to the playoffs. The Flames can claim all or part of four straight Big South titles now, but regrettably no trips to the postseason for all that success.

Okay, so those are the soap operas of the fall, wrapped up for you in one wordy package.
If you hadn't guessed by the mentions above, the fall Sasser Cup leader (standings for all sports) is High Point. HPU has never won the Sasser Cup, but the fall was certainly a good start. Liberty and Coastal (who have each won multiple Sasser Cups over the years) sit in second and third, so watch out, Panthers. That same 1-2-3 order held at the top of the rankings for the men's, women's, and overall standings.

OKAY, time now to ramp up your hoops attention, if you have not done so already.

Enjoy the games, and remember this thought: Thanksgiving should not be the only time for giving thanks, and Christmas should not be the only time for peace on earth and goodwill. Make the most of your holidays, everyone--may they be happy and safe for all. And Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating this week (it came early this year)!

That's all (that's plenty) for today...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...

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!

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!

Hoooooooooops & more...

Special day, the rolling out of Conference action in men's basketball, and a good time to SHOUT (shout it, shout it, shout it out loud...yes, KISS reference, deal with it).

There's other news to get to, but let's start with that (let's get it started--HA--let's get it started--IN HERE...okay, Black Eyed Peas reference seems less dated, perhaps).

Here's the deal, folks...out-of-conference play hasn't given us much positive ground to latch onto so far...against the really heavy hitters it's been a whitewash (0-15 against the major combination of ACC, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC--and none of them particularly close), against the next tier and the peer groups, it's been a mixed bag (13-16 against other D-I's), and finally against lower-level squads, the mark has been appropriately favorable (14-0 including D2-3-NAIA and whoever else lined up out there).

In other words, we are where we are...no lifelines thrown from above to improve RPI, no mines exploding below to destroy it either. We've gotten used to seeing a win or two against "the big boys", but so be it--not shaping up to be that kind of year so far...after all, we're also sort of used to seeing a slip-up against the tiny schools too and so-far-so-good (insert knocking on wood here).

So the proof of the metaphorical pudding lies in the middle...let's give it a look: 0-8 against the A10, Big West, Colonial, and Mountain West; 7-8 against the A-Sun, MVC, SoCon, and reclassifiers; plus a more pleasing 6-0 against the OVC, Patriot, SWAC, and MEAC. Like I said, a mixed bag. Being a little more analytical, the common measuring-stick/peer conferences in terms of geography and level of play for our fanbase are these: A-Sun, Colonial, & SoCon...and against that trio, the Big South record is 5-9.

Bottom line: Big South men's basketball is a bit behind of the preferred curve to date. Sure, there have been a lot of strong players departing over the last two seasons, but it's not as if we haven't seen skilled replacements step in--there are a lot of quality ballers on the floor in this League.

So now what? Wellllllllllll....that's where Conference play comes in--a chance to get a measure on these squads head-to-head, a legitimate opportunity to see what we've got out there. Losing to power conferences and drubbing lower classification schools proves nothing...those are the results that could've been drawn on paper rather than played on a court. Obviously the sub-.500 record against the other opponents gives us a small clue or trend, but now that we put the teams together to battle it out, who will step up and put a claim on being better than that?

Radford is certainly the popular favorite, a preseason pick of the Big South poll and national publications, and who can blame them with the squad the Highlanders can put on the floor? But right now, every team is 0-0...it's that perfect point of the season when all possibilities are open. That starts to change tonight with four games, the first two tipping at 7pm...and say, they're all on the Big South Network--cue the video:

You can also find the Big South on MASN today and tomorrow--------
Coastal Carolina at VMI, 12/3 at 9pm, and
UNC Asheville at GWU, 12/4 at 7:30pm.

Other news briefs from the Big South this week:

Coastal Carolina:
--new Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek announced at CCU
--three football coaches will not be returning, according to Head Coach David Bennett

Gardner-Webb:

--women's basketball has now rattled off seven straight wins

Liberty:

--NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP for Sam Chelanga in the NCAA Men's 10k!!!
--Flames take Sasser Cup lead due to strong fall performances
--football stadium demolition/construction underway

Winthrop:

--WU will not renew the contract of Women's Soccer Head Coach Melissa Heinz

That looks like enough for today--go enjoy those games for the men's hoops...pretty soon we'll talk about the women's game and the benefits of being a "Fantastic Fan"!

Behold the Power of Friday

So it's a Friday in June at the offices of the Big South Conference...what's going on?

Well, to be perfectly honest, not a whole lot. It's funny--there's a fairly narrow window of relative quiet between one year and the next, and we're in that space right now.

We run on a fiscal year and event calendar of July-June, so naturally there's some year-end wrap-up stuff, a little housekeeping and a little bookkeeping going on, as one would expect...plus there are early preps for the year to come already in motion, but they're not yet up to full speed.

The phones don't ring and the e-mails don't flood the inbox quite the way they do with sports in-season. This time-frame is also when the vacations happen, so the office may be reduced in staff on any given day (like say, today).

All that said, the wheel does keep spinning--those slow preparations will start to pick up speed, particularly after the 4th of July, and the countdown to the fall will begin in earnest, especially with late July and the arrival of Football Media Days. It won't be long before the buzz is in the air again and the days overflow with activity once more (even when you know it's coming, it always seems like a switch gets thrown somewhere and you're off and running).

Nonetheless, a narrow window of relative quiet is better than no window at all...one must find peace wherever/whenever one can (careful, approaching zen)...

Enough musings, here are two real news-notes for you:

Track & Field Athletes of the Year were announced today--
The Men's Award is shared by Liberty's Sam Chelanga and VMI's Donnie Cowart.

The Women's Award goes to the Charleston Southern 4x100 relay team (Dionne Gibson, Jessica Thomas, Misha Morris and Gabrielle Houston).

Look for lots of talk about Big South Women's Basketball this year, with the "Fantastic Fan Program" and support in the form of a grant from the NCAA!

Quick rant--where are our comments and feedback? C'mon, let us know you're out there!!! I know we could try to get more attention by throwing in some popular search terms, like "Next on Big South SHOUT: Lindsay Lohan tweets live updates on the Iranian election, Megan Fox visits Conan O'Brien to discuss Transformers, and the cast of Twilight tests the new iPhone before debating PETA's stance on Obama vs. the fly"...but we're not stooping to that level here, no sir!

Okay everybody, remember to follow us on Twitter--and have a great weekend!

Big Night, Big Year, Big South

Well, we've made it to the next day...whew!
What am I talking about THIS time? Let's jump back to Thursday night and review...


The Big South Conference 2009 Awards & 25th Anniversary Dinner--a gathering of not only VIPs from all the Big South member institutions and sponsorship partners, but also of great student-athletes and coaches from the full span of Conference history! It was a special night at McBryde Hall on the campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.


The Sunbelt Rentals Scholarships were formally awarded.
The Christenberry Award and Graduate Fellowship recipients were recognized.


Then came the major yearly awards--the All-Sports Trophies: Liberty won the Men's, Coastal Carolina won the Women's, and Liberty earned the Sasser Cup for overall sports performance. The Flames had a sensational year, pulling down Conference championships in men's cross country, men's track (indoor and outdoor), football, volleyball, and women's basketball. In addition, LU also notched five runner-up finishes. A sensational season, congratulations to Liberty University!


But as amazing as those honors and awards are, they only served as preamble to the highlight of the night: a salute to the 25th Anniversary "Best of the Best," followed by the announcement of the Top Ten Countdown for the "Best of the Best" through a special video--this one right here, as a matter of fact...

In summation (or for those who don't have a few spare minutes to watch):

10-Martin Sayer, Radford tennis--player of the year all four of his seasons
9-UNCA MBB 2003--first-ever NCAA MBB tourney win for the Big South
8-LU Track & Field--dominant winner of vast majority of Conference titles
7-Coastal Carolina Baseball--nationally prominent and still on a long run of success
6-Josh McDougal, Liberty track--distance sensation, National Champion, 14-time All-American
5-Katie Feenstra, Liberty WBB--among nation's best players, engine for title run
4-Radford WBB Dynasty--the Highlanders were virtually untouchable for a decade
3-CCU Men's Soccer/Joseph Ngwenya--great player and team to Sweet 16
2-Winthrop MBB 2007--knock off Notre Dame in NCAA tourney, go to 2nd round
1-Libery WBB Dynasty--10 straight Big South titles & Sweet 16 berth!!!

There you have it--a fantastic night for the Big South...

Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina Baseball is at the Chapel Hill Regional, just starting against Kansas--AND several Big South student-athletes are at the East Regional for NCAA Track & Field. Good luck to all our remaining competitors!

Have a great weekend, everybody...

It's a Blog-centennial!

Tales of Baseball Tangles, Meeting Wrangles, and Anniversary Angles...the 100th post for Big South SHOUT!

And yes, for the Word Police, "blog-centennial" is all wrong (it's a hundred posts, not a hundred years, after all)...but it sounds a lot better than the more accurate "hectoblog" would have, so I'm taking poetic license on that one...

The final champion of the 2008-09 season has been crowned: the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers have won the Big South Baseball Championship. Yes, the top seed won, but it wasn't easy for them--or for the casual bracket follower.

You see, it all started getting complicated with Radford's upset win over Coastal in Game Five...that resulted in five surviving teams after six completed games...and that in turn meant leaving the standard double-elimination bracket (no picnic to follow in any case) and going to the first contingency bracket. With me so far?

Coastal dispatched High Point in the revised bracket's Game Seven, leaving four teams standing--but then the Chanticleers stirred up another bracket racket, this time by defeating the previously unbeaten Liberty Flames in Game Nine (I haven't lost you yet, have I?) and forcing the final three teams into the second contingency bracket.

Really. No point in making this stuff up, after all.

Here's the irony--the double-elimination bracket plays out in orderly fashion if the seeds hold, yet we wound up going through these extra twists and turns only to follow the seeds: the last four teams were the top four seeds and they were eliminated in four-three-two order to leave the number one seed in the champion's throne!

Anyway, next up for the Chanticleers, a date with Kansas at the Chapel Hill Regional on Friday. CCU is the 2-seed, facing #3 KU, while host and top seed UNC plays Dartmouth.

Baseball may be the last Conference Championship, but it's not the last activity for the Big South on the traditional academic/athletic calendar...not when the Spring Meetings are upon us. Meetings? Yes, it's time again to gather the CEOs, ADs, and other administrators from all the member institutions of the Big South to discuss matters of policy and procedure, finance and function, impact and interest. Parliamentary Procedure does not make much of a spectator sport, but the votes cast in these sessions do reach the fields and courts of competition in a variety of ways. I'll keep you posted on any major developments as warranted.

The other thing that comes out of these meetings is the Awards & Anniversary Dinner (in other years, it's the Hall of Fame Dinner, but no HoF this year--we're finishing off the 25th Anniversary celebration instead). Not only will we have the annual presentations of the Christenberry Awards and Graduate Fellowships, the All-Sport Trophies, and the Sasser Cup, but we will also reveal the final results of the "Best of the Best." A special video will count down the top ten from the 25 sensational spotlight athletes, teams, and moments of the Big South's first 25 years. Designated representatives from all 25 honorees will be acknowledged and someone from the top "moment" selected will address the crowd. I know the order, but it's top secret--you're not getting it out of me...

By the way, the Anniversary Dinner is invitation only, but don't worry, you can catch up on what went on--starting Friday, the countdown video and the evening's ceremonies will be available as free video on BigSouthSports.com!

Did a fun interview today with the NCAA News on the impact of Twitter for collegiate sports. That should run sometime in June--I'll let you know where to find that when it runs.

That's all for now--SHOUT, out!

The Gretzky Post

What, you say? A hockey reference? Surely it's not to imply that this entry is a "Great One"...

No--it's about the number. This is post #99 since we got SHOUT jump-started on Leap Day 2008. Using that reasoning, I guess I could've called it "The Sapp Post," but that just didn't have the best ring to it.

Speaking of this blog and its brethren, here's a little love from the Conference's main site.

Moving on...

THE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP HAS ARRIVED!!!

Yes, we've begun the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship. Hopefully you'll be able to get out to McCormick Field in Asheville and soak up some of the atmosphere in that classic minor league park (home to the Asheville Tourists), but if not, there's always our wall-to-wall coverage on The Big South EDGE. Kudos to Championship Host UNC Asheville for making the event happen so smoothly--and a special SHOUT-out to Everett Hutto of UNCA for making the production of the live streaming top notch, with SIX cameras out there to capture the action from every angle. Looks great, sounds great: follow your team's path through the double-elimination bracket by ordering the game on The EDGE.

Enough promotion, how about the hardball? Well, Tuesday night got things rolling with the tournament's two lead-off elimination games--the bottom four seeds contesting for two open slots. High Point held off Charleston Southern to advance, while 8-seed VMI pulled off a surprise by routing Gardner-Webb. That victory may not have left much in the tank for the next morning, as the Keydets fell to top-seeded Coastal Carolina...but the good news for VMI fans is they're still in it--they just have to play their way back out of the loser's bracket to do it (a tall order for anybody).

As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, HPU and Winthrop are just starting in the day's second game. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday each feature a trio of games (at 11am, 3pm, and 7pm) before we get to Saturday's Final (one game or two as needed).

So what about the other postseason efforts not concluded at our last post?

Softball--Radford dropped the opener to Georgia, but fought back with a win over Campbell, only to lose to Regional Host North Carolina, eliminating the Highlanders.

Men's Golf--Coastal Carolina finished 11th at the NCAA Northeast Regional, ending the season for the Chanticleers (the top five teams from each Regional advance).

Is it just me or were there a lot of links today?

That's all for now...enjoy the baseball--the Big South crowns its champion on Saturday!

Next post is the century mark for SHOUT (and they said it would never last)--oh, and next week we reveal the "Best of the Best" top ten countdown, so don't miss that!

The Camels are Coming!

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT today from the Big South Conference:

The Fighting Camels of Campbell University will be joining the Big South, starting with the 2011-2012 academic/athletic calendar!!!

If there's a somewhat familiar ring about CU and the Big South, that's because the Camels were a founding member of the Conference. Campbell competed (and won a fair amount of titles) in the Big South from 1983-1994. In recent years, CU has been competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference, but remained a familiar foe on the schedules of many Big South teams. The switch is not immediate, as Campbell will remain in the A-Sun for another two years, but when the fall 2011 season comes around, the Big South will have 11 full-time members. WELCOME, CAMELS!

In other news...

Radford dropped its opener Thursday afternoon at the Chapel Hill Regional for NCAA Softball. Regional top-seed (but not host) Georgia downed the Highlanders 3-1, meaning RU next faces the loser of the game between host (but not top-seed) UNC and Campbell (an interesting coincidence, having CU come up again, don't you think?).

RU has to win to avoid an early exit, a fate that the Big South tennis reps could not avoid at the hands of ACC opponents: Duke ousted the Radford men and Clemson downed the Winthrop women in their recent first round match-ups.

Meanwhile, the baseball regular season wraps up this weekend! It's the final Conference series for everyone (Thurs-Fri-Sat), then a couple days to catch their breath--followed by the 2009 Big South Conference Baseball Championship at McCormick Field in Asheville, NC.

With more on the final baseball games and the championship, here's...well, here's ME with this week's "On The EDGE" (our final one this season):

That's all for now, SHOUT lovers...don't forget to find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!

Bring on the Softball

Radford hosts the 2009 Big South Conference Softball Championship (presented by Texas Roadhouse), with play beginning Thursday morning--yes, morning, as the first game takes the field at 10am, weather willing.

RU not only has host duties, but the honor/bonus/burden of being the top seed as well. Last year, Winthrop had the one-two punch of host and top seed, which helped the Eagles get the third and most important part of the winning trilogy: a championship. Can Radford do the same this year? They were the two-seed behind Winthrop last year, just as WU is the two-seed behind Radford this year. Odds favor a showdown between the two, but double-elimination tournaments can be tricky if a team slips up and winds up on the wrong side of the bracket.

Day one (Thursday) brings us four games: 4-CSU/5-GWU, 3-LU/6-CCU, 1-RU/(g1 winner), 2-WU/(g2winner). Day two (Friday) is when things get really complicated, for a while at least, with FIVE games over the full course of the day. That crowded slate gets us from six teams down to two, setting up the third day's finale. Championship Saturday will be either one or two games (if needed) to determine the one winner for the Big South.

Whew...got it?

It'll all make sense if you watch the results unfold on The Big South EDGE, with all games streamed live from Radford. Here's more on the video streaming for the week...

More to share:
The Big South announced four winners for the 2009 Christenberry Award (highest academic honor for student-athletes): Marcie Veitch, CCU track/field; Alexandra Spector, RU tennis; Patricia Coimbra, WU tennis; and Patrick Walker, LU wrestling.

While we're on the subject of smart and deserving student-athletes, let's give a proper SHOUT-out to the two recipients of the Bob McCloskey Insurance Big South Conference Graduate Fellowships: Tessa Thomas, WU softball; and Jonathan Ahearn, GWU baseball.

Don't forget, the baseball championship is right around the corner--games are set for May 19-23 at McCormick Field in Asheville, NC. The final week of the regular season is just ahead of us now, and competition for seeding could be intense. Enjoy the games!

NCAA Tournament updates--
Men's Tennis: Radford is in the Knoxville regional vs. Duke on Friday, 5/8
Women's Tennis: Winthrop is at Clemson in the first round on Friday, 5/8
Women's Golf: Coastal Carolina is in the Gainesville regional starting Thursday, 5/7
Men's Golf: Coastal Carolina will be in the New Jersey regional starting Thursday, 5/14

Gotta run, Big South fans--dodge those showers and catch some great softball and baseball while we still have some season left! SHOUT...out.