New Recruit Looking at UNCG

According to this blog article, Kyle Randall (#29 PG - ESPN.com) spent Sunday on campus checking out UNCG. His father hinted that he could commit to the Spartans if all goes well this weekend. Randall would be great addition at a position that could really use some help.

UPDATE: ScoutHoops.com is reporting that Randall has given UNCG a verbal commitment. There won't be an official announcement of this by UNCG b/c they can't comment until a LOI (Letter of Intent) is signed. This can't happen until the middle of April. I'll post the link here when it happens.

In the meantime, congrats to Coach Dement and staff.

Welcome to the Spartans, Kyle !!!

UPDATE x2: ESPN.com has this little blurb on their site about Kyle's commitment.

Update x3: Kyle was named Pennsylvania Player of the Year in Class A by the AP.

4 SoCon Teams Play On

Four SoCon teams received bids to continue playing in the postseason. Chattanooga (SoCon Tournament Champs) and Davidson (SoCon Regular Season Champs) were already guaranteed bids. College of Charleston and the Citadel got bids to play in 2 of the newer tournaments. Here are the match ups (with TV listed where available).

NCAA Tournament
#16 UT-Chattanooga
#1 UConn
Thursday, March 19 3 pm (CBS)
Philadelphia, PA

NIT
#6 Davidson
#3 South Carolina
Tuesday, March 17 7 pm (ESPN2)
Columbia, SC

College Basketball Invitational
College Of Charleston
Troy
Wednesday, March 18 8 pm
Troy, AL

CollegeInsider.com Tournament
The Citadel
Old Dominion
Thursday, March 19 7 pm
Norfolk, VA

UPDATE:
UConn 103 - Chattanooga 47
Davidson 70 - South Carolina 63
Davidson 68 - St. Mary's 80
College of Charleston 93 - Troy 91
College of Charleston 72 - Richmond 74
Citadel 59 - Old Dominion 67

UTC Wins SoCon Title

UTC defeated College of Charleston at McKenzie Arena to claim the SoCon Tournament and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This year was similar to the last time the tournament was held in Chattanooga, in that College of Charleston beat Davidson in the semi-finals (like UNCG did in 2005), only to fall to the host school the next night. The wrap up of this season's tournament can be found over at SoCon fans.

Chattanooga's record all but assures them a #16 seed in the "Big Dance". If you looking for some interesting discussion, try the forums at Davidson, UTC and College of Charleston.

In other news ... Elon's Ernie Nestor and High Point's Bart Lundy will not be returning to coach the schools next season.

UPDATE: App State fired Houston Fancher as well.

That's all Folks

UNCG 56 - College of Charleston 69

News & Record
Charleston Post & Courier
UNCG Athletics
Charleston Athletics

College of Charleston jumped on UNCG 33-15 and never really let up. UNCG fought back to make it a 10 point game with about 10 minutes left, but could get no closer. That was all for UNCG at the SoCon Tournament in Chattanooga.

The Good:
- Ben Stywall 21 pts & 11 rebs.
- Pete Brown had his second straight double figure game and set his career high with 12 points.
- UNCG only turned the ball over 11 times.

The Bad:
- 32.3% shooting. Offense has been a big part of the Spartan's problem all season and things were no different on Friday afternoon.
- It took 17:48 for a guard to score for UNCG. With good shooters like Toney and Mikko, that's a tough stat to read.

The Ugly:
- Rebounds: UNCG 34 - Charleston 45
- Offensive rebounds: UNCG 14 - Charleston 21

So, that's it for the season. It's been a rough one. As fans, we must remember that suffering through the bad times makes the good times that much better. Hopefully the good time aren't that far off.

I'll post a end of the year wrap up later this weekend (or maybe the first of next week).

#6N UNCG (5-24) vs #3S College of Charleston (23-7)

When: Friday, March 6 ~4:30 pm
Where: McKenzie Arena (11,218) Chattanooga, TN
TV: None/ Spartan All-Access

Previous Meetings:
12/6 - UNCG 62 - Charleston 77 (@ Fleming Gym)
1/29 - UNCG 73 - Charleston 89 (@Carolina First Arena)

College of Charleston Athletics
College of Charleston Forum

Spartan Notes:
- UNCG closed out its regular season with a 74-66 win over Elon. Ben Stywall scored 23 points and pulled down 6 boards to lead the Spartans.
- The win will be UNCG's last in Fleming Gym for a while. Next season, the Spartans will call the Greensboro Coliseum home.
- UNCG finished up the SoCon regular season with a 4-16 record.
- Damian Eargle was named to the SoCon All-Freshman team. Eargle averaged 9.5 points and 5.6 rebounds and led the league in shots blocked (57).
- Mikko Koivisto leads UNCG in scoring (12.5) and assists (2.4). Ben Stywall is averaging 11.4 points and a team best 8.3 rebounds.
- For the season, UNCG is shooting 40.1% from the field, 31.6% from behind the arc and 64.8% from the free throw line.

Cougar Notes:
- Last time out, College of Charleston used a 15-4 run after halftime to cruise to a 69-58 win over Furman. Donavan Monroe scored 15 points and Jermaine Johnson had a double-double (10 pts & 10 rebs) to lead the Cougars.
- Charleston finished the season on a 5 game winning streak. Their record away from home is an impressive 11-3.
- College of Charleston finished with a 15-5 conference record. Their signature win was a victory over Davidson in Belk Arena.
- Andrew Goudelock lead Charleston in scoring (16.9). Tony White Jr. is averaging 10.8 points and team best 2.9 assists. Jermaine Johnson is averaging 10.1 points and team high 7.7 rebounds.
- For the year, College of Charleston is shooting 47.9% from the field, 38.0% from 3 point range and 67.3% from the free throw line.

My Thoughts:
It's a new season. Win 4 games in 4 days and go to the NCAA tournament.

UNCG is playing a team that it had some success against. Other than a couple of spurts in both games, UNCG played close to even with the Cougars. Let's hope that Saturday's win will carry over into the game tomorrow.

Go Spartans !!!

Lady Spartans Win

The UNCG women's basketball team live to play another day in Chattanooga. The Lady Spartans beat Wofford 83-64 on Thursday evening. Next up they face #2 seed Samford on Friday morning at 9 am.

UPDATE: The Lady Spartans fell to Samford 58-49 Friday morning.

Pre-Tournament Post

With a little down time between end of the regular season and the start of the tournament, I figured I post a few links to some interesting and useful information.

- The UNCG women's basketball team will open SoCon tournament play on Thursday as the #7 seed (the women don't use the 2 division format like the men). The Lady Spartans will take on the #10 seed Wofford around 5:30. The Spartans finished the year 12-17 overall (9-11 conference). Wofford brings in a record of 5-23 (3-17 conference). UNCG defeated Wofford twice during the regular season. The bracket for the Women's tournament can be found here.

- Monique Floyd was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Year.

-UNCG alum Kyle Hines was named MVP of his Italian league (Lega Due) team's mid season tournament, called the Vanoli Cup. Hines is averaging 17.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 2.5 steals in 22 games.

- The teleconference for all SoCon men's basketball coaches can be found here. Let me help by summing things up. Every coach answers at least 1 Stephen Curry question. Coach Dement's is relatively short. He opens by talking about the game against Elon. He then answers his token Curry question. He complements Stephen's basketball IQ and talks about him listening to conversations with Dement and his players trying to pick up on called plays. He finishes by talking about the 2 previous match ups with College of Charleston.

- Here are the match ups for the men's basketball tournament. UNCG will play on Friday around 4:30. I'll have a better preview tomorrow.