SoCon Didn't Issue "Deadline"

On Tuesday, the SoCon released a statement saying it did not give a deadline to some of it's member school that are being courted by the CAA.

“Additionally, despite numerous published reports citing a July 4th deadline, the conference office has not issued any ultimatums to its member schools regarding conference affiliation.”

A Burlington Times-News article sums it up this way ...

While there certainly never was any sort of established deadline, the Southern Conference had hoped its member schools in play with the Colonial Athletic Association would reach their decisions by Wednesday.

I personally just love how the writer of this entry on the blog App State Nation (great site by the way) put it ...

How did the rumor get started? Well basically, the Burlington Times reported it citing unnamed sources. The Charleston Post & Courier cited the Burlington Times. The Virginia Gazette cited the Charleston Post & Courier. Then the Winston-Salem Journal cited the Virginia Gazette.

Where do I think this whole "deadline" idea got started? Message boards. I read a ton of message boards and have a ton of very quiet sources who let me know about stuff well in advance. However, I try to wait until an actual news group or journalist published something. I always try to link to the source and quote it as much as possible as well. That way you can go read the story for yourself. If I've misrepresented what was written, you guys can leave a comment telling me as much. In this case it seems like a tweet got changed by a message board and picked up by another paper and then ... BOOM ... it was on. I still love Twitter, though.

As for an actual SoCon-CAA timeline, it seems UNCW Chancellor Gary Miller (who is chairman of CAA's Council of Presidents) expects another 6 months before things begin to really take shape.

"Christmas is a realistic goal," he said of a time frame for announcing new members.

"It's a difficult question to answer, because the schools we want to talk to have time constraints, they're in conferences already, they have exit strategies. We would like to see some things happen quickly – and definitely by next year."

Apparently, this saga will go on for quite a while.

App Still Looking at C-USA

App State is still wanting to get an invite to Conference USA. The question is will they get one. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, C-USA is still looking to expand.

The conference currently has 14 members, including recent additions UNC Charlotte and Old Dominion, both of which will begin playing football in C-USA in 2015.

Appalachian, which is among a few Football Bowl Championship members still seeking an invitation to an FBS league, still has significant interest in possibly joining C-USA — a move that would offer a connection to traditional rivals East Carolina and Marshall.

Spartans Come Up Just Short

UNCG 67 - Wake Forest 69

News & Record
Winston-Salem Journal
UNCG Athletics
Wake Forest Athletics

Positives
ACC Foe - UNCG has played a lot of big named teams over the past several years. Last year Wake had a much better team and still barely escaped the Greensboro Coliseum with a win. This year, UNCG took them down to the final shot. Hopefully the guys can carry momentum over from this game.

Turnovers - I was fun to see UNCG turning dumb give aways into easy baskets. This has not been the case through most of the season.

Kyle Randall - That basket near the end of regulation was unbelievable. You can see the maturation of the sophomore guard happen right before your eyes. I think he has real potential to be SoCon POY material in the next 2 years.

Negatives
Kyle Randall - Just breath and make some free throw. Have some faith in yourself. We all believe that you can make them.

Rebounds - as Much as turnovers have hurt UNCG this year, rebounds normally haven't been a problem. Even playing bigger opponents, UNCG has done a good job of holding their own on the boards. That didn't happen in this game (23-38).

Wrap Up
It's a mixed bag for me personally. I was super angry right after the game because G let a great opportunity get away from them. But I guess the positives outweigh the negatives by a long ways. Now, let's not kid ourselves that Wake is a really bad team. UNCG is not nearly as bad as the record indicates, thanks in large part to a brutal schedule. SO, let's just hope the guys can grab hold of the positives and let the negatives go.

Go Spartans !!!

Recap Action

Massive apologies for getting so far behind blogging. I've had the flu this week and it has really kicked my ass. Today is the first day in a while that I've had the energy to sit at the computer. So, let's get to looking at the last couple of games.

UNCG 59 - Wofford 77

News & Record
GoUpstate.com
UNCG Athletics
Wofford Athletics

I didn't get to see or hear any of the game because I was out of town. From the look of things on the stat sheet, UNCG really wasn't too competitive in this game. Wofford shot 57.7% from the floor. Ben Stywall lead UNCG with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Kyle Randall scored 10.

UNCG 69 - App State 75

News & Record
Winston-Salem Journal
Watauga Democrat
UNCG Athletics
App State Athletics

In a very close game, it was UNCG that went cold at the end. The Spartans managed to hit just one field goal over the last 7 minutes and App State surged ahead to the win. Kyle Randall continued his good play as of late by scoring 18 points. Mikko Koivisto added 16 points, but shot just 3-13 behind the arc to get those points. The Spartans defense did a good job on App State guard Donald Sims. However, they were forced to put him at the free throw line at the end of the game, where he is almost automatic. UNCG did a solid job of holding on to the basketball (7 turnovers). However, the Mountaineers out rebounded the Spartans 35-25 and got several big offensive rebounds when the game was on the line. Ben Stywall did not make a single shot from the floor.

Because of a scheduling quirk, UNCG won't play again until next Monday. The Spartans will host Western Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Late Run Dashes Spartan Hopes

UNCG 64 - App State 72

News & Record
Winston-Salem Journal
Watauga Democrat
UNCG Athletics
App State Athletics

Wake Blocks UNCG Upset Attempt

UNCG 60 - Wake Forest 75

News & Record
W-S Journal
UNCG Athletics
Wake Forest Athletics

Wake Forest ended the game on a 16-4 run to turn back the Spartan upset bid. Wake was lead by Al-farouq Aminu's 23 points and 17 rebounds. The Demon Deacons finished the game with 16 blocked shots.

Positives
- Turnovers --- UNCG has been hampered this season by turnovers. Against Wake Forest, the guards took much better care of the ball. Kyle Randall, Montel Smith and all of the other Spartans that primarily handled the ball did a fine job of navigating through Wake's tall players and trapping press.
- Big men battle --- I thought that the undersized UNCG big men did a very solid job battling (what seemed like) an endless stream of Wake big men. After Brian Cole's 3 pointer, it was fun to watch Deacs have to follow him out to the perimeter. Cole, Elhanan Bone and Ben Stywall did a tremendous job of fighting for position and tapping balls around that they couldn't coral until other Spartans could pull the ball in.
- Ben Stywall --- After a couple of "off" games for Ben, he stepped up big time to help with rebounding (UNCG 44-Wake 42) and second chance points (UNCG 23-Wake 9). Ben finished the game with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Negatives
Block party --- Wake finished the game with 16 blocks. Some of that is a product of being the tallest team in college basketball. However, some of it was UNCG players penetrating too far and not having an idea of what they were going to do when they got to the basket. Hopefully, the guys had a chance to look at the film and come up with a better idea of what they want to do the next time they are in these situations.

All-in-all it was a fun atmosphere and the Spartans brought fire to the floor Monday night. Hopefully they can recreate this energy on Thursday night to give Spartan fans something more to celebrate.

Late August Check-in

There's not been much to post over the last few weeks. Also, I've spent the bulk of my free time either on vacation or working on my company's website. However, I thought I'd check in with a couple of things.

First off, condolences to the family of former UNCG chancellor Patricia Sullivan. She lost her fight to pancreatic cancer last Thursday. The News & Record ran a very nice story about her memorial service in today's edition.

Next, the UNCG men's basketball team helped students moving into campus this past week. The athletics department website has the story here with video.

I've added some links to the page recently without pointing all of them out. The latest is The Sports Arsenal. It's a sight that is mostly devoted to the Citadel. He does have some interesting thought on a wide range of topics though. Check it out when you get the chance.

Finally, UNCG now has 2 Twitter pages. One for the university itself and one posting UNCG campus news. I must admit that I've looked at Twitter in the past and really didn't want to get involved. I hardly ever "tweet" anything myself. However, it's proved to be entertaining reading "tweets" from people within the sports field. Now I can get all my UNCG information too without having to scan through the N&R or the Winston-Salem Journal.

2 in 1 Day? (USA Today)

It's just a two USA Today related posts kind of day today. I came across this article discussing the coaching carousel.

With one more change Monday, the number of Division I schools with new men's basketball coaches for next season stands at 24. If that holds, it will be the fewest since 1966, when 24 changes also were made.

Notice that one team still searching for a coach are our friends in Boone. Buzz Peterson officially turned down the App State job last Friday. Since then, the plot has thickened. The Apps appear to have turned their attention to the Citadel's Ed Conroy. The Winston-Salem Journal reported earlier that the Bulldogs denied App State permission to speak to Conroy. Now the Charleston Post & Courier has Citadel officials saying that report was false. However, it appears the Bulldogs are working to give Conroy an extension. A more detailed version of how this is playing out is available over at the Appfan blog.

UPDATE: Now App is after Buzz Peterson again.

UPDATE x2: Isiah Thomas is the new coach of Florida International ???

Coaching Searches (Part 1)

I thought I'd write a little post updating where some of neighbors are at in their coaching searches.

Appalachain State - The Winston-Salem Journal & Charlotte Observer are reporting that they have offered their position to former coach Buzz Peterson. Peterson led the Mountaineers to 3 straight North Division titles and to the NCAA tournament in 2000. He has since coached at Tulsa, Tennessee and Coastal Carolina. He is currently an executive with the Charlotte Bobcats.

High Point - The Panthers hired former North Carolina player Scott Cherry. Cherry had previously served as an assistant coach at South Carolina, Western Kentucky, George Mason and Tennessee Tech.

Elon - Elon hired longtime Davidson assistant Matt Matheny. Matheny had been an assistant at Davidson for 16 years.

Georgia Southern - Eagles coach Jeff Price resigned March 30. Two days later, the Savannah Morning News reported that the NCAA is investigating Georgia Southern's basketball program.

That's all for part one. I'll post another update with some of the national coaching searches and their ripple effects.

Model of Inefficiency

I've made it a habit of not veering off course with this blog. I talk about UNCG basketball, Southern Conference basketball and college basketball in general.

However, I couldn't help but make a post that deals with this Winston-Salem Journal story. The newly renamed Winston-Salem Dash (Class A - Chicago White Sox) are in the process of building a beautiful new stadium right beside of Business 40 in downtown Winston-Salem (my hometown and current city of residence).

The stadium was supposed to be ready by their opening day, April 23. However, the stadium really only appears to be about half finished as of right now (April 3). I'm really thinking that this whole situation is going to go down in the encyclopedia under "what not to do when building a stadium". It looks like there is plenty of blame to be spread around. Either way, it's ridiculous and the public is the big loser here.

They're Called "Free" Throws for a Reason

UNCG 69- App State 70

Winston-Salem Journal
News & Record

An ASU 3 pointer with less than 30 seconds remaining sent App State on to victory. UNCG has now tied it's school record for losses in a season (22). Unless they can make a run to the national championship, they will set a new record for losses in a season. But this was the closest UNCG has came to winning a home game since beating Webber Interantional in the very first home game.

- Kendall Toney (18 points), Mikko Koivisto (13 points) and Ben Stywall (17 points & 8 rebounds) led UNCG.
- App State out rebounded UNCG 41-25 (16-11 offensive).
- Free throw shooting killed UNCG. 19-35 (54.3%) Awful. Just awful.

Victory !!!

UNCG 85 - App State 83 (OT)

News & Record

W-S Journal

Watauga Democrat

UNCG Athletics

App State Athletics

I'm not really interested in doing my normal recap. I've raked the team over when they've played bad, by refusing to call anything good or bad (only ugly). Well, after their performance in Boone, I'll just say that everything was good. However, here are some things that jumped out at me during the game.

- Damian Eargle is slowly turning into the prospect that everyone heard about. All of his 25 points and 11 rebounds were needed. Without Elhanan Bone, the UNCG big men are being stretched a little thin. But all of them are playing better and not trying to do too much. I hope that this is just the first of many impressive nights for the "lanky lefty" freshman.
- Daniel Oliver found the "on" switch. Even though he had 4 of the team's 10 turnovers, he played very well in the face of full court pressure. He also shot the ball well when he was left open.
- Mike Dement. I've ripped that guy several times this year. However, this time he deserves some credit. His defensive strategies have worked all year. He just couldn't get any offense to go with the good defense. It's amazing how much better of a coach he looks like when good defensive strategy is paired with a team that puts the ball into the basket.
- 10 team turnovers. See you can win games when you don't give the ball away.
- 51.7% from the field. UNCG has played very good defense all year. What they've really failed to do is put the ball in the basket. The Spartans shot 46% in Cullowhee and now this in Boone. Hopefully, this is case where confidence is breeding more confidence.
- And finally ... I put up the Braveheart picture b/c watching UNCG get this win felt like a damn epic movie. There were 3 times yesterday that I thought UNCG had the game wrapped up, only to watch ASU do something to keep the game going. The Spartan players deserve a ton of credit for not giving up after Sims sent the game to overtime with a shot that shouldn't have went in.

OK, it's 1 win. Let's hope this is the start of something good in the second half of the season and not just a one time thing.

Spartan Salvation

I decided I'd compile a list of preseason articles. Here are a few articles previewing the new look Spartans basketball team and a few other just interesting articles.

- Greensboro News & Record preview.

- Winston-Salem Journal preview.

- SoCon Preview from the USA Today.

- And the there's this awesome line from the blog The Grand National Championships ...

"UNC-Greensboro: It's a new era in Greensboro. Your threats
from the inside have disappeared from the graduation of Kyle Hines. It's time
for some long distance action. You know who it's time for? Mikko Koivisto.
He is your Spartan Salvation."

- The recap of the Blue-White game.

- This is a Q&A with new UNCG chancellor Linda Brady.

- There was this random opinion piece talking about UNCG's possibility of starting up a college football program.

- Kyle Hines' Italian blog 1, Italian blog 2 & Italian blog 3.

-Then there's NCAA and the penalties they handed UNCG.