Syndicated Radio Show at UNCG

Taylor Zarzour will be doing his syndicated radio show, Sports Drive, from UNCG this Thursday from 9-12. You can hear this show on 620 AM in the triangle or the triad sports network (1200 AM, 1230 AM, 1320 AM) in the triad. The show can also be streamed over the net here.

Spartans Selected 4th by Coaches; 6th by Media

The SoCon coaches picked UNCG to finish in 4th place of the North Division in their preseason poll. App Sate, Western Carolina and Chattanooga were picked to finish ahead of the Spartans. Elon and Samford were picked to finish behind UNCG. Wofford was the choice to win the South, followed by College of Charleston, Davidson, Citadel, Furman and Georgia Southern. Charleston's Andrew Goudelock was selected preseason player of the year.

The SoCon media picked UNCG to finish 6th in the SoCon North Division in their preseason poll. App State was picked to finish first in the North, followed by Western Carolina, Chattanooga Elon and Samford. In the South division, Wofford was picked to finish on top. College of Charleston was picked to finish second, followed by Davidson, Citadel, Furman and Georgia Southern.

Wofford is the defending Southern Conference Champion. This season's champion will be decided during the first weekend in March in Chattanooga, TN.

The Spartans lost 6 scholarship players from last year's team due to graduation or transfer. That team finished the season 8-23. The 2010-2011 Spartans open the season at VCU on Friday evening.

Jackson Transfers

I have received quite a few emails asking me what happened to DeAngelo Jackson on this year's roster. Well, I came across this a long time ago, but completely forgot to post it.

According to Jeff Goodman, Jackson transferred to College of Idaho.

DeAngelo Jackson, 6-8, F, Soph., UNC-Greensboro – COLLEGE OF IDAHO

You'll remember that this is same school that hired assistant coach Rod Jensen this off season. So, I want to take this opportunity to thank DeAngelo for his effort while being at UNCG and wish him luck in the future.

5 Days and Counting ...

With the season starting Friday night in Richmond against VCU, I will be posting quite a bit this week. It's time to get back into the swing of blogging and I appreciate everyone that keeps up with the site (or that even checks in very infrequently). I know that blog updates have been erratic over the summer and the early fall. However, I've got my infant son on a good schedule and will be able to posts lots of updates in the evening. So, check back often.

Thanks again, and ...

Go Spartans !!!

UNCG gets 2011 Commitment

According to ESPN.com, 6'-7" F Nick Paulos (Salt Lake City, UT) has committed to play for UNCG starting next season. Paulos is attending prep school this season at Noth Hampton in New Hampshire. UNCG assistant coach Wes Miller also attended this school. He was also looking at Northeastern, Boston College, Utah State, St. Mary's and Creighton.

- ESPN has Nick graded at an 83.

- Here are 2 articles from the New England Recruiting Report. The first article is discussing the talent at North Hampton.

Paulos, a 6’7” forward from Utah, has been one of the team’s most impressive players this fall. Not only does he have an effortless shooting stroke with deep range, but he handles and passes the ball with equal efficiency.

- The second atricle is discussing his recruitment and commitment to UNCG.

“On my visit I had a chance to meet with all of the coaches and I felt really comfortable with the way they’re running things down there,” Paulos told NERR on Thursday night. “They’re starting to allocate a lot of time and money into the basketball program and really making an effort to turn things around.”

- This Deseret News article discusses Paulos and his relationship with former UCLA coach Jim Harrick, who advised Nick to go to prep school to add some weight and mature his game.

- Here are some YouTube videos of Nick.

From Utah Sports



Shooting


Passing


It appears that Nick has a very good stroke from the outside and is very excited to join the UNCG basketball team.

Welcome to the Spartans, Nick !!!

UNCG's "Secret Scrimmages"

According to Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports, The Spartans will be holding "Secret Scrimmages" against UNC and Radford. Find his entire list is here ...

*I've listed other SoCon games and other teams of interest.

SECRET SCRIMMAGES

Fri., Oct. 29
Samford at Kennesaw State

Sat., Oct. 30
Clemson at Georgia
Virginia Tech vs. Georgetown
Wake Forest at College of Charleston
George Mason at Richmond
VCU at La Salle
High Point at East Carolina

Sun., Oct. 31
UNC at UNC Greensboro
UT Chattanooga at Ole Miss
Wofford vs. Belmont at Maryville College

Fri., Nov. 5
Radford at UNC Greensboro

Sat., Nov. 6
Charlotte at Virginia Tech
Liberty at Appalachian State

USA Today Preview

The USA Today has posted a preview of the Southern Conference. Here is a portion of the UNCG section that article. For a good overview of all of the conference, give it a read.

It's a scary thought for UNCG fans. No longer in uniform is All-Conference forward Ben Stywall. Yet even with the conference's leading rebounder and eighth-leading scorer, the Spartans still finished 8-23.

That's exactly the detriment coach Mike Dement is facing in his 10th year in Greensboro. And without a turnaround this season, 2011-2012 may include a new coach.

No coach in the league has a hotter seat than Dement, a coach whose teams have struggled for consecutive seasons despite having some very good pieces to work with.

It led Dement to take a slightly different approach this offseason.

"We have done a lot of defensive fundamental work in the early individual workouts," he said. "But we still may have to be a little simpler in terms of that we put in and how quickly we put it in during this preseason."

The simplistic approach may be a good idea. UNCG has just one senior, fifth-year player Brandon Evans. The junior class is a little beefier, but essentially it consists of Elhanan Bone and a couple of junior-college transfers.

So it appears Dement is building a bridge for the future. Exactly how long he's a part of it, though, remains to be seen.

Not sure I agree with the article's assessment that Dement had plenty of pieces to work with the past few seasons. I think there were certainly some good Spartan players over the past several seasons. However, one the best UNCG teams in recent memory was derailed due to being in a conference with "Elite 8" qualifier Davidson. Also, Dement was forced to deal with some APR issues that were partially not of his fault.

I think it's important to point out to people that it takes several years to get mid-major programs in a position to even make an NCAA Tournament run (with the exceptions of a few places like Winthrop, Gonzaga, etc). After those good teams move on, coaches have to almost completely rebuild. Hopefully this Spartan team has the talent in place for it to be one of those tournament run seasons at UNCG.