Via Eric Kolenich of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, coach Buddy Bolding has signed Benedictine centerfielder Colton Konvicka. Here is a scouting video of Konvicka:
Benedictine CF Colton Konvicka has committed to Longwood. #hsxtra
— Eric Kolenich (@EricKolenichRTD) April 23, 2012
Joe Lunardi has tabbed Charleston Southern as the early favorite to win the Big South Conference in his very early “Bracketology” predictions. Lunardia tabs the Buccaneers as facing off with Texas Southern in the play-in game for the right to play Kentucky in the Second Round of the West Regional. The Buccaneers are coming off a 19-12 season which ended in a horrendous 91-64 loss to eventual Big South champ UNC-Asheville. The Bucs were actually the only Big South team to beat Asheville on their home floor last year.
Barclay Radebaugh’s squad only loses one season from this past year’s campaign in Kelvin Martin. The combination of Saah Nimley and Arlon Harper make up, arguably, the Big South’s top backcourt. The Bucs have added junior college transfer Allie Fullah (6’8, 235 lbs) and high school senior Malcolm Bernard (6’5, 205 lbs) for 2012-2013 campaign.
Coastal Carolina’s leading rebounder, Sam McLaurin, will be leaving Conway after starting for three years as a Chanticleer. McLaurin averaged 10 points and nearly 8 rebounds per game in the 2011-2012 season. He is also the school’s career leader in blocked shots.
“Ever since after last season, I’ve been talking it over with my family,” McLaurin said. “We all talked about it for a while. It was one of those things where we just had to say ‘Let’s wait and see. Let’s not rush into a decision. Let’s keep weighing the pros and cons.’ At the end of the season, I went back home, talked to my family and we pretty much came to the decision that this pretty much was the best thing for me.” via Myrtle Beach Online
Big South divisions and scheduling parameters have been set for the 2012-13 basketball seasons. The Big South has decided to split the league into two divisions, North and South. There is still no word on how seeding will be determined for the conference tournaments. It could be cross division or simply ranked one thru twelve.
North Division
Campbell
High Point
Liberty
Longwood
Radford
VMI
South Division
Charleston Southern
Coastal Carolina
Gardner-Webb
Presbyterian
Winthrop
UNC Asheville
Scheduling Parameters:
- 16 conference games: two versus each divisional opponent and one each versus cross divisional opponents.
- Men’s Conference games will be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, barring scheduling conflicts.
- Cross-divisional games will be held on Saturdays
- The last five games of the conference season will be against divisional opponents.
- Each school will host four Saturday home games
- Every divisional opponent will be played before a second “repeat” matchup
- No school will have more than three consecutive home or away games
Today is the signing day for basketball prospects across the country (who haven’t previously signed). We have a comprehensive list of all the Big South recruits HERE . Schools are still adding signees, commits, or locking up verbal commits across the Big South and we’ll keep you posted on it here.
Gavin Stephenson, 6’3, SG, Baltimore, MD (Atholton): Committed to VMI. He is VMI’s second commit of the year, joining Dorian Albritton.
Robby Newman is the lone senior positional player for the Lancers this year. Newman is clearly leading by example at the plate this year by batting .375 with 34 RBI. Last year the Virginia Beach native belted four home runs over the course of the season, through thirty-three games this year he has more than doubled that total with nine home runs. So the question that immediately pops up is can Newman break Michael Tucker’s school record of 22 home runs set in 1992?
The Lancers have 20 games left on the year and if Newman hits at the same pace he’s been batting so far he’ll end up with 15 home runs, a respectable number but nowhere close to 22. What Newman has working for him is the Lancers schedule, most of the games are against sub-par pitching staffs. The Lancers still have matchups against VMI , VCU, North Carolina A&T, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Norfolk State, and Rider. Newman is a legitimate threat to go deep in all of those matchups and could maybe even put together a couple multi-homer games. It will be interesting to see if the senior can put together a historic finish to the 2012 season.
Patience has to be the theme for this year’s Longwood baseball team. Buddy Bolding’s squad entered the year with just two seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores, and eight freshman. It has certainly been a season of ups and downs that has been full of growing pains throughout. The Lancers got their overall record, 17-16, back above .500 on Sunday by defeating North Carolina Central (10-23) on the road. After splitting with the Eagles on Saturday the Lancers now have an overall road record of 5-5 on the year.
The Lancers have had no problem mustering up offense this year. Robbie Newman is batting .375 with nine home runs and 34 RBI. Justin Lacy is batting over .400 (.417) and Scott Burkett is batting over .352, the two have combined for 47 RBI. Pitching has been the weak point for the Lancers, although starters Brandon Vick (4-1), Kyler Morgan (4-3), and Matt Gwaltney have respectable ERAs of 3.28, 3.63, and 3.83 respectively. The youthful bullpen has been the focal point of the problems, but hopefully the experience that these young relievers are getting will pay off over time.
Longwood can make statement this week and add to the win column as they take on future Big South rival VMI (11-20) on Wednesday in Lexington. The squad will then have nearly a week off before their next game, which will be against VCU on April 17 in Farmville.
Winthrop has hired former Wake Forest and Xavier assistant Pat Kelsey to take the place of Randy Peele as the school’s basketball coach. The 36 year old spent eight seasons at Wake Forest coaching under Skip Prosser and Dino Gaudio. Kelsey then went back to his alma mater, Xavier, to become the team’s associate head coach. In 2011 Kelsey stepped away from coaching citing issues coping with Skip Prosser’s death and wanting to spend more time with his family. Kelsey has stated that he has since come to grips and is ready to step back into coaching.
Kelsey’s contract is for six years with an annual salary of $175,000, according to the Associated Press. Kelsey has already tabbed his first assistant in Brian Thorton. Thorton played at Xavier and spent last year as an assistant coach at Furman. Kelsey is also looking to add Brevard head coach Mark Prosser to his staff. Prosser previously spent time as an assistant at Wofford.
Kelsey has already lost the commitment of two-star recruit Jackson Trapp. Trapp was Winthrop’s top recruit and spent the last season playing at Fishburne Military Academy, where he played with Lancer signee Karl Ziegler. Kelsey has been able to retain the commitment of Jerron Foster, a junior college transfer from Southern Idaho.
Antwan Carter was voted on the Virginia SID All-State Team today. He is the first Division 1 era Lancer to make the squad, previously Dana Smith, Maurice Sumter, Kirk Williams, and Michael Jefferson had made various All-State teams but not a First Team (I believe). This is a tremendous testament to Carter’s career and year at Longwood. In 2011-12 Carter averaged over 19 points per game and over nine rebounds per game. He is joined on the All-State squad by an impressive group of players, including State Player of the Year Mike Scott from Virginia. Here are the complete list of VaSID Honors:
Player of the Year: Mike Scott, UVA
1st Team
Mike Scott, F, UVA
Antwan Carter, F, Longwood
Kyle O’Quinn, C, Norfolk State
Ryan Pearson, F, George Mason
Darrion Pellum, F, Hampton
2nd Team
Kent Bazemore, F, Old Dominion
Bradford Burgess, F, VCU
Chris Cooper, C, Old Dominion
Erick Green, G, Virginia Tech
Jesse Sanders, G, Liberty
Honorable Mention
Kendall Anthony, Richmond
Humpty Hitchens, JMU
Quinn McDowell, William & Mary
Chris McEachin, Norfolk State
Stan Okoye, VMI
Congratulations to Antwan! These are truly some impressive names to be ranked above.
