Archives For Big South Conference

Lancers Weekly Round Up: April 14

April 14, 2013 — Leave a comment

Baseball (17-20,7-8): Despite losing three out of four this week, Longwood had a solid week taking Virginia Tech to extra innings (the Hokies were ranked #22 in the country a week ago) and beating the first Top 25 opponent in program history, Campbell, on Friday night on ESPN3. The Lancers are barely hanging on to a tournament spot and next weekend’s series against Gardner-Webb is HUGE for the team’s hopes.
Last Week: @ Virginia Tech L 7-5 (10), @ Campbell W 3-2, L 1-0, L 4-1
This Week: 4/17 vs James Madison, 4/19-21 vs Garnder-Webb (3 Game Series)

Softball (29-11,11-5): After a disappointing home loss to Liberty that snapped Longwood’s 8 game win streak, Kathy Riley’s squad rebounded by sweeping Radford. The Lancers will look to get some revenge on Liberty this week before heading to Gainesville to take on nation’s third ranked team Florida.
Last Week: vs Liberty L 8-7, @ Radford W 9-5, W 12-3
This Week: 4/15 at Liberty (DH), 4/20-21 at #3 Florida (3 Game Series)

Lacrosse (9-6,4-2): After a loss to Virginia Tech, the Lancers rebounded to pummel Presbyterian on the road. LU now finishes their regular season this week with a out-of-conference game against American and then a pivotal match up against Liberty for seeding.
Last Week: L 14-8 at Virginia Tech, W 21-8 at Presbyterian
This Week: 4/17 at American, 4/20 vs Liberty

Men’s Tennis: (5-14,0-8): The men’s squad went zero for four last week losing to Radford, Richmond, George Washington, and something called ASA Junior College. The team embarks on the Big South Tournament this week at Winthrop.

Women’s Tennis (6-13,1-8): The women’s squad had a successful week grabbing two wins, including the Tennis program’s first Big South win over Presbyterian. The women also head to the Big South championship this week, which is also being held at Winthrop.

Best of luck to the tennis teams and women’s golf as they compete in the Big South Tournaments this week!

In Baseball, Big South, Golf, Lacrosse, Tennis , , ,
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Is the Big South a Sinking Ship?

March 28, 2013 — 1 Comment

Is the Big South’s obsession with football eventually going to kill the conference?

Big South Kyle Kallander has watched a ship sink before. In 1996 he was the commissioner of the old Southwest Conference which dissolved that year. Since his tenure their he has been with the Big South and is currently in his seventeenth year at the conference.

I’ve been saying since Longwood joined that the conference that eventually realignment dominoes were going to hit the Big South and that the conference needs to be the preemptive aggressor before the war hits our front-yard. Guess what? The army of the Southern Conference and the CAA is now at are gates.

The CAA is bleeding members and its not over yet. I think the conference has a pivotal decision to make, do they want to be a northern conference or a southern conference. Simply put, their current geographic footprint is certainly not sustainable long-term.

Football is certainly the driver in expansion and the Big South is hanging on by a thread. The Big South has seven football schools with the addition of Monmouth as an associate member, you need six schools for an auto-bid into the FCS playoff. The CAA is knocking on the Southern Conference’s door and threatening to steal more schools like Davidson, Furman, or Elon. Sooner or later the SoCon is going to have to replenish and they are going to look at the Big South and the Atlantic Sun.

The Big South shouldn’t simply rollover and takes its beating from the Southern Conference. After losing three members this year and more on the horizon, what makes the Southern Conference a more attractive destination then the Big South?

All of this could be avoided if the Big South fortified itself with one member, Kennesaw State or Mercer. Both have aspiring football programs and could slip in to take Liberty’s place when someone finally gives them a home on the FBS level. But instead of being aggressive, our conference is sitting back and waiting to be pillaged. The Big South could very easily be with Liberty and Coastal Carolina within the next couple of years and maybe even VMI.

Should Longwood care? Half of the Big South’s membership doesn’t even play football for the conference. The fear of being left out in the dust certainly isn’t a comfortable notion.

My question is, why keep chasing the carrot that is football? How much of a revenue driver can it be for a conference that may just feature Presbyterian, VMI, Monmouth, and Gardner-Webb in a couple of years?

Perhaps it is time for the schools in the Big South and SoCon who do not play football for either conference to get around a table and talk about starting a geographic conference of their own where basketball is the flagship and their is no constant fear of a sport you don’t even sponsor being a driver? What might that look like: Longwood, Radford, Campbell, High Point, UNC Asheville, Winthrop, Davidson, UNC Greensboro.  At that point, you could even argue that UNC Wilmington and the College of Charleston could find the idea more enticing then their ever fluid situation in the CAA.

It’s just an idea and more fantasy than reality. But now is the time to be aggressive, actually last year was the time to be aggressive, and not the time to sit back and just wait to see how thing shake out.

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Posted on July 20, 2012 In Big South ,
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Who Will Win First?

July 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

Now that we are officially in the Big South Conference the obvious question turns to who will hoist a Big South championship first? Every one of Longwood’s sports will compete in Big South competition with the exception of Field Hockey. The Big South does not sponsor Field Hockey so the Lancers will enter their eighth season as a member of the NorPac Conference.  So which of Longwood’s other sports is ready to immediately step up and take a Big South crown?

Immediate Contender

Softball- The obvious title contender is Kathy Riley’s softball squad. The 2011 team was screwed (for lack of a better word) out of the NCAA tournament and the team has shown it can compete at the highest levels. Brooke Short, Megan Baltzell, and Jordan Cox all return from a young squad that went 29-26 a year ago. The team will now have to rely on less neutral site tournaments and can focus on winning a Big South title.
2012 Big South Champion: Coastal Carolina

Could Contend

Men’s Soccer- The squad was 3-1 against Big South teams a year ago. Although the team lost some key players, the 2012 version of the Lancers is a veteran one coming off an Atlantic Soccer Conference championship. The Lancers return six seniors and two juniors, while also bringing in a talented recruiting class.
2011 Big South Champion: Liberty (Coastal Carolina also received a NCAA bid)

Women’s Golf- Amanda Steinhagen and Ariel Witmer have what it takes to make an immediate impact in the Big South. If the rest of the team gets hot at the Big South championship then the Lancers can definitely take the crown.
2012 Big South Champion: Campbell

Women’s Soccer- The squad continues to grow and was 1-2-1 against the Big South last year. They may be a year off, but this year’s team could make some noise this year with some a lot of players returning.
2011 Big South Champion: Radford

Wild Card

Men’s Basketball: The team has so many new additions to the roster that there is no telling how they will gel. The Big South is without a clear cut power in basketball this year, so the season may come down to whomever gets hot at the Big South tournament in Myrtle Beach.
2012 Big South Champion: UNC Asheville

Women’s Basketball: Liberty is the traditional power in women’s basketball for the Big South, but their imminent departure may open the door for other programs. Like the men’s program, the women’s team is adding a lot of new pieces and will need some time to come together. They are certainly heading in the right direction though.
2012 Big South Champion: Liberty

Lacrosse: The Big South will be a lacrosse league for the first time ever this year. Last year’s Lancers’ Lacrosse squad struggled, but with the new league everything could be up for grabs in 2013.

No Chance

Baseball: This is nothing against Buddy Bolding’s squad but Coastal Carolina is a perennial power in the college baseball scene and the scary thing is that Liberty is not far behind them. It will be near impossible to knock off both the Flames and Chanticleers in route to a NCAA bid.
2012 Big South Champion: Coastal Carolina

Men’s Golf: Once again, no offense to the program but this is a result of the other school’s involved. Coastal has always been a power and has produced pros like Dustin Johnson. Recently, Liberty has grown to power and even finished tenth at the NCAA championship this year. Remember the name Robert Karlsson because you’ll likely be hearing it on Sunday afternoons.
2012 Big South Champion: Liberty

Photo Via CRS Sports News

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Do CAA Changes Equal Big South Changes?

June 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

There are several reports outlining that the Colonial Athletic Association has formally invited Southern Conference members Appalachian State, Davidson, and the College of Charleston. There are also rumors that the CAA may look to  Stony Brook, Furman and Elon also. If all six of these moves came to fruition it would leave the CAA with 14 teams and more importantly leave the SoCon with seven teams. If that does become the case then Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander better man his battle station. A seven team conference is certainly not sustainable long term, especially with hints of the Georgia Southern moving to FBS football. If the SoCon was to be poached that hard then the most logical place to look would be the Big South and the Atlantic Sun Conferences.

On Sunday, the Big South will become a twelve team conference with the addition of Longwood. But how long will that last? Liberty leaving the conference is a case of “when” rather than “if”. So that quickly drops the conference down to eleven schools. Stony Brook going to the CAA would leave the conference with only five football schools. But who would the Southern Conference target? There is always Coastal Carolina who has been screaming to get in since their football inception in the early 2000s. But something is keeping Coastal out. There is VMI who has a healthy rivalry with the Citadel and left the SoCon in 2003 after being a member for nearly eighty years. Could the SoCon look to add more basketball oriented schools and poach Asheville or Winthrop?

On the other side of the fence would be the Atlantic Sun. A conference that stretches from Florida to North Carolina and has a profile most similar to the Big South. On Sunday the Atlantic Sun will shrink to nine with the departure of Belmont, but will have a tenth conditional member in transitioning Northern Kentucky. The most interested domino in the Atlantic Sun has to be Kennesaw State, who is looking to play football in the next couple of years. The school outside of Atlanta could be enticing to a number of suitors. The Owls could certainly help supplement the SoCon’s losses or they could help strengthen the Big South. Perhaps East Tennessee State can rejoin the SoCon after leaving the conference in 2005? Other schools of interest could be USC-Upstate or Georgia based Mercer.

It’s not clear how things go, but it is clear that it is going to be a busy summer across many league offices.

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Schedule Leaks Update 6/19

June 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

Bits and pieces of the Lancers 2012-13 Men’s Basketball schedule continue to leak out. This time it involves Big South rival VMI. The Lancers will end their regular season against the Keydets with a March 2 trip to Lexington. Longwood defeated VMI last year 110-89 in Farmville.

More updates soon…

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Longwood will Play Big South Baseball in 2013

June 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

The Big South just posted a recap from their annual meetings in Hilton Head and the most interesting part was the portion on baseball, which included Longwood. There was some speculation prior that Coastal Carolina would attempt Longwood from playing conference baseball in order to protect their RPI. Baseball will have the same divisions outlined for men’s basketball:

Division A Division B
Campbell Charleston Southern
High Point Coastal Carolina
Liberty Gardner-Webb
Longwood Presbyterian
Radford UNC Asheville
VMI Winthrop

 

The baseball schedule will feature 24 conference games. Teams will play a 3 game series against five teams in the same division and three in the other division based on the final 2012 Conference standings. I’m assuming Longwood will be penciled in as the last place for Division A from last year which means we will play Winthrop, Presbyterian, and Charleston Southern as our out-of-division schedule.

Here is some other news from the conference meetings:

Softball
Each school will have a 24 game conference schedule featuring a 3 game series versus every opponent. The top eight teams will advance to the conference tournament, which is double-elimination.

Lacrosse
The Big South said it will have an eight member conference with seven full-time members and Davidson as an associate member. This means that Longwood will be playing Big South lacrosse. The Lancers were originally slated to play Atlantic Sun lacrosse in 2013. The conference tournament will feature the top four teams in a single elimination tournament at the sight of the number one seed (unless that seed doesn’t have lights).

Soccer
For both men’s and women’s soccer every Big South team will play one another. The conference tournament will feature the top eight seeds. The men’s tournament will be held at Bryan Park in Greensboro, NC and the women’s semi-finals and finals will be held at Winthrop.

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A Look at 2012-13: The Frontcourt

June 11, 2012 — Leave a comment

Last week we previewed the backcourt for the upcoming 2012-13 campaign for Mike Gillian’s Lancers. This week we’ll move to the frontcourt where there will be plenty of new faces.

Returning Lancers

Jeff Havenstein, 6’8, Junior: Havenstein returns for his junior year as the most experienced Lancer in the frontcourt. With the injury bug hitting the Lancers hard last year he appeared in 28 games averaging 13 points per game. The downside is despite valuable minutes he didn’t produce on the stat sheet, where he averaged one point per game and just over two rebounds. So can Havenstein start? Or will one of the newcomers move into the starting role for the Lancers? Either way Havenstein will be a valuable asset for the Lancers in 2012-13.

Mark Parker, 6’7, Junior: It’s hard to classify Parker as a forward because he is more of a wing/three point shooter. He was hit be injury last year and only appeared in 13 games, averaging about 10 minutes and four points. Parker should be a valuable weapon as a shooter off the bench for the Lancers this year.

Jeylani Dublin, 6’6, Junior: Dublin is perhaps the biggest wild card on the roster, just because we haven’t seen that much of him. He played sparingly as a Freshman and played in only five games due to injury as a sophomore. While in he only averaged about four minutes and one point per game. It will be interesting to see how he will be used in the coming year.

Newcomers

Karl Ziegler, 6’5, Freshman: Ziegler is likely the most heralded Lancer recruit. He comes way of Fishburne Military Academy where he was known as a playmaker. Scouts also rave about his ball-handling, versatility, and defensive skills. He was labeled as a “glue” guy, which is exactly what this squad needs. Ziegler should make an immediate impact and be set to start for the Lancers this fall.

Anthony “AD” Banks, 6’7, Junior: AD Banks will be coming to Longwood after two years of playing at Monroe College in New York. He was originally signed by UT-Chattanooga out of high school and averaged eight points and six rebounds his freshman year at Monroe. He was hampered by injury in his time at Monroe, so his stats could be higher. He chose Longwood after turning down UNC-Greensboro, Georgia State, and Southern. Banks should be a key player in the Lancers’ rotation this upcoming year.

Frank Holloway, 6’7, Sophomore: Holloway was a Top 100 Junior College recruit this year coming from Garrett College. He actually set out this year due to injury, but was able to play in December. His coach said he felt it wasn’t fair to play Holloway and waste a year of Division-I eligibility, so Garrett’s loss is Longwood’s gain as they will have him for three years instead of two. In his freshman year he averaged 14 points and eight rebounds per game. Holloway is an athletic forward who can challenge for a starting spot this fall.

Kirk Staine, 6’6, Freshman: Mike Gillian established a Long Island to Longwood pipeline by signing Lucas Woodhouse and Kike Staine this year. Staine is a very raw, but very athletic forward. He’s known for his length and shot blocking ability, and has also been working on his shooting quite a bit. By all the descriptions, video, etc. he reminds me quite a bit of former Lancer Kirk Williams.  It may take awhile for Staine to develop, but he should be a valuable asset down the road for Mike Gillian.

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Big South Announces Conference Basketball Tournament Format

June 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

The Big South announced today the format for the 2013 Men’s and Women’s basketball tournament at Coastal Carolina. The conference also announced that http://www.VisitMyrtleBeach.com is now the title sponsor for the event. Most notably all twelve conference teams will travel to Conway and both the men’s and women’s tournament will be held at the same time.

2013 Big South Tournament Schedule

Tuesday, March 5 – Men’s first round games (4 games, 9 vs 12, 11 vs 10)
Wednesday, March 6 – Women’s first round games (3)
Thursday, March 7 – Men’s quarterfinal games (4)
Friday, March 8 – Women’s quarterfinal games (4)
Saturday, March 9 – Men’s semifinals (2) and Women’s semifinals (2)
Sunday, March 10 – Men’s finals and Women’s finals

According to the Big South seeding will be determined based on divisional finishes, similar to the Southern Conference’s current format.

Get your Myrtle Beach Hotel rooms now Lancer fans!

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A Look at 2012-13: The Backcourt

June 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

Today we turn our heads to the 2012-13 season and what we can expect for the Lancers. Certainly Longwood fans have a lot to be excited about in joining the Big South and the addition of six quality players to Mike Gillian’s lineup. There is a chance that one more player could be added for next season, but the class is pretty much rounded out. Given the additions and the players set to return for the Lancers, I’d expect a lot of smaller lineups and three guard sets.  These sets certainly aren’t foreign to Mike Gillian who started last season with Jeremiah Bowman, Martez Washington, and Tristan Carey.

Returning Lancers

Tristan Carey, 6’4, Junior: TT will return for his junior year as the primary scoring option for Mike Gillian’s offense. In his first year as a Lancer the LaSalle transfer averaged 13 points and lead the team in assists. Obviously with the rash of injuries and the loss of Durann Neil and Bowman for other reasons, TT was thrown into some roles that were not ideal for him. This year should be different as primary ball-handling duties will likely be turned over to the incoming freshman and TT can flourish on the wing. TT has the best chance to be an all-Big South performer than anyone else on our roster, don’t be surprised to see him listed as a 1st or 2nd teamer at Big South media day this fall.

David Robinson, 6’4, Junior: Robinson has the opportunity to grab some valuable starting minutes last year but was derailed by injury. He did however end up being the Lancers primary scoring option off the bench, averaging over seven point per game last year. The biggest question with Robinson is, will he start? He certainly has the skillset to do so, and fans should be excited about what he brings to the table. But with the way next year’s lineup may pan out the best option for Robinson may be being the sixth man once again and bringing a spark off the bench. Some guys just seem better suited for coming off the bench (think Manu Ginobli) and Robinson is one of those guys in my opinion.

Anthony Taylor, 6’2, R-Sophomore: With injuries and departures piling up last year Taylor was forced to receive a baptism by fire. He even started seven games for the Lancers late in the season. Taylor ended up averaging just over three points per game and showed some flashes of developing into a decent role player at the latter end of Gillian’s bench. His primary downfall was taking care of the basketball, he had 43 turnovers to just 23 assists. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of role Taylor has in 2012-13 given the influx of freshman talent.

Stephen Shockley, 6’0, Senior: Shockley will find himself as the lone Senior next year for the squad. He appeared in 20 games last year, averaging about six minutes. Obviously Shockley isn’t the most talented player on the Lancers bench, but what he lacks in talent he makes up for in hustle. He will once again be able to give the Lancers some high intensity minutes off the bench, in a pinch next year.

New Additions

Nik Brown, 6’2, Freshman: Brown comes to Farmville via the Middleburg Academy and was ranked as one of the top twenty-five players in the state. The primary advantage that Brown will have is the fact he’s been with the team and practicing since December. Brown is very much a combo guard who can score and distribute the basketball. Brown is also supposed to be a solid defensive player who can guard multiple positions. I would be surprised not to see Brown in the starting lineup come November, the only question is will he be the primary ball-handler?

Lucas Woodhouse, 6’0, Freshman: The Lancers introduced Elwood recently but will be introducing LWood this fall.  Out of all the recruits coming to Longwood this season Woodhouse is the one that I’m most excited about. He’s not the biggest guard, standing 6’0, 155 lbs but he knows how to win and lead Harborfield (NY) High School to several championships over the past two years. Woodhouse has an extremely high basketball IQ and has averaged a double-double for the past two years. Woodhouse can certainly be the primary offensive facilitator for the Lancers, but the question is will he be right away? Could a three guard set featuring Woodhouse, Brown, and Carey be Mike Gillian’s best option in November?

 

Photo via Newsday

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