Archives For Big South Tournament

Gameday Preview: vs UNC Asheville (16-15,10-6)

March 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

Can Longwood keep Big South 1st-Teamer Jeremy Atkinson in check?

Where: HTC Center (Conway, SC)
When: Tuesday March 5, 2PM
TV: Big South Network

LancersBlog GameThread

Longwood will play their first conference game in decade on Tuesday as they gear up for UNC Asheville in the first round of the Big South Tournament. These two teams first met on January 19 match up in Asheville, a 68-65 win for UNCA. Before that game Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach compared Longwood to Lenior-Rhyne a Division II school in North Carolina.

Longwood played well in the first match up against Asheville. David Robinson was hot in that game scoring 20 points and going four for six from behind the arch. Michael Kessens also had a big day with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The first match up with Asheville was also Lucas Woodhouse’s first Big South start. Despite Longwood’s play, poor clock management and questionable coaching decisions unraveled Longwood’s chances. Here was our summary from the last part of the game:

With 35 seconds left the Lancers were down 66-65 with a chance to win the game when things became questionable. Longwood had the ball and a difference of .03 seconds between the shot clock and game clock, simply put Longwood could take one shot to win the game. Mike Gillian instead opted for an early drive to the bucket by Lucas Woodhouse, which missed. Longwood then fouled and Asheville hit both of their free throw, Longwood had two timeouts left. The first timeout was taken by Gillian with 16 seconds left then another was taken when Woodhouse crossed half court with 14 seconds left. From there a play was drawn up which ended up with TT Carey missing an off balance three and Asheville escaped with a three point win.

So what has changed since the January match up in the mountains? Mike Gillian spoke of the positive momentum of the Asheville game, but apparently Longwood could not harness it losing their next five games after that one by an average margin of 22 points. Obviously though LU has been playing better of late winning four out of their last six conference games.

Asheville is known for rising to the occasion this time of year, but the Bulldogs have been in a bit of a funk lately. Their win against Longwood triggered a seven game win streak, but since then the Bulldogs have lost five of their last six games with their only win coming against Presbyterian. UNCA is still a two-headed monster lead by Big South 1st-Teamer Jeremy Atkinson, who finished the season averaging nearly 18 points and 7 rebounds per game. Keith Hornsby is the other primary scorer for the Bulldogs and finished the season averaging 15 points per game, although he has been a bit hobbled lately. Lastly, Will Weeks has developed into a nice player and made the All-Freshman team averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds per game this year.

For the Lancers to win they are going to have to get Tristan Carey heated up. He has struggled the past two games, but showed signs of life in the second half versus VMI. Perhaps UNCA will key in on David Robinson after the first game, leaving Carey open for more opportunities? Longwood’s biggest advantage has to be inside with Michael Kessens and Jeylani Dublin. Asheville is a smaller team and Kessens could have another dominant performance in the paint.

On defense Longwood is currently ranked 341st in the country and has given up an average of 91 points per game in their last four contest. The Lancers will need to buckle down and play some defense if they want to beat the Bulldogs. To pull off a win they will likely have to keep the game in the 60s or 70s like the first match up, a tall task for Mike Gillian’s squad.

This game is set for a 2PM tip after the shuffling of the tournament schedule. The game can be watched on the Big South Network and 92.9′s website will have the radio feed, as always.

 

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Big South Switches Tournament Times

March 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

BSCTNeedless to say, I was excited about Longwood joining a conference. Even more needless to say, I was even more excited to see Longwood play in their first ever Division I conference tournament. Simply put, this tournament has been one debacle after the next.

First, when booking a hotel I was told that the Longwood rooms were all booked. ALL 325 OF THEM! What? Really… Second, the Big South said ticket books would be mailed out in mid-February. Ticket books were not mailed out and an email was sent out two days before March basically saying…tough luck. Now this…

The bracket for the championship this year has been posted for months, along with game times. The #6 seed from the North was set to play the #3 seed from the South at 8PM Tuesday night in Myrtle Beach (as the picture to the right shows). That would mean Longwood vs UNC Asheville at 8PM Tuesday, perfect for those travelling or watching from home. Well all I have to say to those people….TOO BAD.

In one of the most unethical moves that I’ve ever seen a conference or a professional organizations make, the Big South has shifted the game times on the last day of the season so Coastal Carolina takes on Liberty at 8PM on Tuesday, thus bumping Longwood to 2PM.

It’s bad enough that the tournament is being played at Coastal, a move that many viewed as an act of appeasement to keep the Chanticleers in the conference, but now Kyle Kallander and the Big South has decided to basically pee on the notion of neutrality by switching the bracket so Coastal could play at a time where more local fans could see the Chants. It’s obviously a money grab and a move that shouldn’t be looked at as anything more than unethical.

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Longwood and the Big South Tournament

February 11, 2013 — Leave a comment

Can Longwood get into rhythm before the Big South Tournament?

It’s been a season of firsts for Longwood this year. The young squad has to finally be feeling a little better about themselves after a 62-56 road win at Winthrop Saturday. There wasn’t much to be excited about during Longwood’s fourteen game skid and one thing that hasn’t been touched on is the Lancers status for the upcoming conference tournament.

Every North Division team has played eleven games thus far with the exception of VMI. Here is where the division currently stands:

1. High Point: 8-3
2. VMI: 6-4
3. Campbell: 5-6
4. Radford: 5-6
5. Liberty: 4-7
6. Longwood: 1-10

If the season ended today Longwood would be playing in the 8PM game against Gardner-Webb in the Big South Tournament’s first round. Five conference games remain for Longwood and both the top seeds are virtually out of reach, obviously. But is there a chance Longwood could get hot and make up a lot of ground? Sure there is…but it’s not likely. Longwood had opportunities against Asheville, Coastal, Campbell, Gardner-Webb, and Radford but did not capitalize. If Mike Gillian’s squad just could’ve came away with one or two of those wins then we’d be right in the thick of the seeding race in the North Division.

Longwood now has an opportunity that rarely was present in prior years in playing a team for the second time around. All five of Longwood’s remaining conference games are against teams that the Lancers have seen in the last month and they are also all teams that Longwood has lost to. The good news is that three of those five games will come inside Willett Hall. Obviously Lancer fans can’t focus on seeding at this point in the season, like pretty much every other fan base in the Big South right now, but has to focus on this team playing competitive basketball going into Myrtle Beach. Saturday’s win can either be a building block or an anomaly it’s up to Mike Gillian and his team to decide.

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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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Winston-Salem the Frontrunner for the Big South Tourney?

May 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

The finalist for the Big South basketball tournament have been set and the only neutral site seems to be that of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem. The other finalist are Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, and Asheville. So with the Big South, seemingly, striving for a neutral site then Winston-Salem has to be looked upon as the frontrunner.

LJVM Coliseum holds just over 14,600 spectators for basketball and has been home to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons since 1989. The “Joel” has also hosted the CIAA and MEAC conference tournament, as well as the NCAA first and second rounds four times. A bus load of Lancers made the pilgrimage to Winston-Salem in 2005 when the Lancers took on Chris Paul and the Demon Deacons. I was on that trip and LJVM Coliseum can is a nice, large arena but can also be made intimate for a tournament like the Big South. If the tournament was to be held in Winston-Salem it would be just 3 hours from Farmville and 4 hours from Richmond.

Although Winston-Salem would seem to be ideal, the campus sits cannot be ignored. Asheville has a beautiful, new 3,200 seat arena which just hosted both Big South and Southern Conference tournaments this past March. Coastal Carolina is opening a 3,600 seat facility, which will open this year. I recently had the opportunity to tour the Chanticleers new home and it featured mostly bleacher style seating and some impressive luxury boxes. Winthrop’s 30 year old arena is the oldest of the four choices and hosted the Big South tournament three times between 1988 and 1990.  The Winthrop Coliseum can hold over 6,000 fans and is 4 and a half hours from Farmville.

The Big South is supposed to make announcement on the tournament site after the conference meetings conclude this week. Hopefully we’ll know soon where the Lancers can begin their postseason charge.

 

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Where should the 2013 Big South Tournament be?

February 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

The Big South has opened up a bidding process for the 2013 basketball conference tournament until April 15. But the real question is, where should the tournament be? Both schools and neutral sites are allowed to bid and it’ll be interesting see who wins.  Here is a list of some potential candidates.

Roanoke/Salem Area: The Roanoke Civic was last neutral site to hold the tournament in 2002. Roanoke is obviously in close proximity to VMI, Liberty, Longwood, and Radford but the facility is a dump. Built in 1969 the Civic Center can hold about 9,000 basketball fans. The Salem Civic Center is also dated but is a little nicer, and can hold about 6,000-7,000 fans. The facility currently host the ODAC tournament and the NCAA D3 Championship.

Raleigh/Durham Area: The “research triangle” region of North Carolina would be ideal for the tournament. The event could take place at an ACC venue like the RBC Center or Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum. Both hold over 10,000 people. The only downside is due to ACC play the tournament would have to be pushed back a week, which is not ideal for several reason.

Myrtle Beach Convention Center: The last time the CAA put their tournament up for bid Myrtle Beach was heavily involved. The location is really only convenient for Coastal Carolina and Charleston Southern, but hey… are you really going to complain about a March trip to Myrtle Beach? The Convention Center can hold 8,000 fans, which is the ideal size for this tournament. More fans from across the conference may be willing to travel to an area like Myrtle Beach also.

North Charleston Coliseum: The 11,500 seat arena hosted the tournament in the early 90s. Its a decent facility and could be another “vacation” draw, but Charleston is obviously at the end of the Big South geographic spectrum.

Charlotte Area: Either the Time Warner Center or the old Coliseum could be nice venues for the tournament.

Asheville: Asheville is hosting the Southern Conference tournament this year with both the 7,500 seat Civic Center and the brand new 3,400 seat Kimmel Center on the campus of UNCA.

BI-LO Center: The 15,000 seat facility in Greenville, SC could be a hidden gem to host the Big South tourney. The arena is probably more updated than some of the alternative locations.

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2013 Big South Conference Tournament Changes

February 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

Chris Lang of Lynchburg’s News & Advance just posted an article about Longwood joining the Big South. In the article Lang pointed out that the Big South tournament will be held at one, “neutral” site:

One thing is certain. Longwood will be on the floor when the 2013 Big South Tournament tips off, wherever it may be. In December, the Big South presidents and CEOs approved a new combined tournament format for the men’s and women’s events to be held at a pre-determined site, either a true neutral location or a campus site.

It seems as if the opening round will be held at campus sites and will include the following matchups between seeds: #8 vs. #9, #12 vs. #5, #10 vs. #7, and #11 vs. #6.  The winners of those games will then go to the conference championship site to play in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the conference championship.

The conference is currently taking bids up to April 15 for the conference championship site. Individual universities can submit bids. Before moving to conference sites the Big South tournament had been played at the North Charleston Coliseum, the Roanoke Civic Center, the Asheville Civic Center, the Civic Center of Anderson (SC), the Winthrop Coliseum, and the Savannah Civic Center. The last time it was played off-campus was 2002 when the tournament was in Roanoke.

This is also beneficial to Longwood because there was some prior talk that the conference would not be able to adjust their basketball schedule for 2012-13 for the immediate addition of the Lancers.

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