Spartans Get Another NC Player

According to recruiting analyst Evan Daniels (and multiple other outlets now) 2013 PG Diante Baldwin (6'-0" High Point NC/High Point Christian Academy) has became the third in-state player to agree to play for UNCG next season. Baldwin picked UNCG over App State, Winthrop, UNC-Asheville and Wofford.

- Baldwin is a two star rated by player ESPN Recruiting and is ranked as the #24 player in the state.

- Basketball Elite listed Baldwin as the #6 PG in the state of NC. The website also posted this about Diante after a local summer tournament ...

Quick/strong guard who can get to the rim and finish with a variety of moves. Highlight reel maker with the ball on a string- quick crossover dribble move. Athletic. Good body control in the air.

- The recruiting blog Phenom Hoop Report posted several evaluations of Baldwin this past fall.

Baldwin has “sneaky” athleticism and has exceptional ball handling and passing skills. He sees the floor really well. Baldwin does have good strength and athleticism and even had a few nice dunks in transition. Overall, Baldwin is a very active PG that has good fundamentals and basketball IQ.

- Baldwin participated in Dave Telep's Carolina Challenge.

-Now a couple of videos.





- Also, here is a link to another video from this summer's Peach Jam.

Welcome to the Spartans, Diante !!!

UNCG on TV Seven times

Spartan basketball will have 7 games shown on various television networks. This is the most ever for UNCG men's basketball. Below, I have listed the game and network ...

11/14 FSU @ UNCG FSN-South & FSN-Florida
11/21 Va Tech @ UNCG Comcast SportsNet & NESN
12/8 UNCG @ Maryland Comcast SportsNet
12/15 UNCG @ Wake Forest ESPNU
12/19 UNCG @ Clemson FSN-South
12/29 Duke @ UNCG ESPNU
2/19 UNCG @ Elon SportsSouth

Secret Scrimmage

According to Fox's Jeff Goodman, UNCG will be scrimmaging High Point on Saturday. Here's the list from his blog. SoCon teams in bold.

Friday, Oct. 30
San Diego at Long Beach State
Montana vs. Washington State in Spokane
San Jose State at Sacramento State
Illinois-Chicago at Chicago State
Northwestern State at Louisiana-Monroe

Saturday, Oct. 31
Villanova at George Washington
Northeastern at Boston College
Western Kentucky at Georgia Tech
Arizona State at Texas Tech
Davidson at Texas
South Carolina at Wake Forest
Boston University at UMass
Saint Mary’s at Nevada
Virginia Tech at Charlotte
East Carolina at Richmond
La Salle at VCU
UC Irvine at Stanford
Penn State at Duquesne
DePaul at Bradley
Colorado at Utah
Winthrop at UNC Wilmington
Hofstra at Bucknell
UT Arlington at Lamar
Murray State at Lipscomb
Cal State Fullerton at Pepperdine
Buffalo at St. Bonaventure
New Orleans at Southeast Louisiana
Toledo at Youngstown State
UNC Greensboro at High Point
Jackson State at Middle Tennessee State
Rider at Columbia
Savannah State at Georgia Southern
UC Davis at San Francisco
Hartford vs. Towson at Stevens Tech
Northwestern State at Louisiana-Monroe
Lafayette at Cornell
Hampton at James Madison
Norfolk State at William & Mary
Bowling Green at Oakland
Drake at UMKC
Stephen F. Austin at SMU
Jacksonville at College of Charleston
Charleston Southern at Furman
Central Connecticut at Stony Brook
Presbyterian at USC Upstate
Niagara vs. Robert Morris in Erie

Sun, Nov. 1
North Carolina at Vanderbilt
St. John’s at St. Francis (NY)
Marquette at Virginia
Georgia at Clemson
LSU at South Alabama
Kansas State at Wichita State
Michigan at Eastern Michigan
San Jose State at California
Iona at Rutgers
Baylor at TCU
Wyoming at Fresno
Marist at Long Island
Albany at Colgate
Southern Mississippi at Samford
Quinnipiac at Penn
Wofford vs. Belmont

Another UNCG Game on TV

Add another UNCG game to your TV listings. The Southern Conference announced it's TV lineup for the 2009-2010 men's basketball season today. In addition to UNCG's games with Duke, Clemson & NC State, the Feb 20th game at the Citadel will also be shown. Here's the full schedule.

SoCon Men's Basketball Telecast Schedule
Nov. 13 UNC Greensboro at Duke 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Nov. 20 Clemson at UNC Greensboro 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Dec. 14 Georgia Tech at Chattanooga 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Dec. 31 NC State at UNC Greensboro 7:00 p.m. FOX Sports South
Jan. 9 Appalachian State at Davidson 2:00 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 16 College of Charleston at Chattanooga 2:30 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 23 Davidson at Georgia Southern 2:00 p.m. SportSouth
Jan. 30 Furman at Wofford 3:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 6 Samford at College of Charleston 4:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 13 The Citadel at Elon 6:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 20 UNC Greensboro at The Citadel 1:00 p.m. SportSouth
Feb. 27 Chattanooga at Western Carolina 3:00 p.m. SportSouth
March 7 Conference Tournament Semifinal 6:00 p.m. SportSouth
March 7 Conference Tournament Semifinal 8:30 p.m. SportSouth

3 Games on TV (at least)

Yesterday, 3 UNCG games were picked up by FSN South. The season opener at Duke (11/13), the home opener against Clemson (11/20) and the New Year's Eve clash with NC State will all be shown on FSN. So, not only has the move to coliseum helped UNCG in recruiting and scheduling, but now in TV exposure.

SportSouth has yet to announce it's game lineup for "SoCon Saturday". I would expect at least 1-2 UNCG games to appear there. Last season, SS showed 2 games (College of Charleston & Elon). I also expect ESPN-U to look at picking up another Spartan game too. Last season UNCG's game at Princeton appeared on the network.

It's pretty nice to see that we're talking about 5-6 UNCG games appearing on TV. Now, we need to pack the coliseum.

Transfers, Rule Changes and the APR

Even though most of us have realized that UNCG would be losing a couple of players, here is some official notice from Fox Sports blogger Jeff Goodman.

TRANSFER ADDITIONS Aaron Austin, 6-3, G, Fr., Radford Landon Clement, 6-1, G, Soph., UNC Greensboro Tony Dennison, 6-3, G, Jr., Hofstra Kyle Desmarais, 6-2, G, Fr., Central Connecticut StateAaron Garriott, 6-3, G, Fr., SIU-Edwardsville Aaron Hall, 6-3, G, Soph., Central Connecticut State Jacob Iati, 5-11, G, Fr., High Point Khalil Mumford, 5-11, G, Soph., St. Peter’s Jake Nielson, 6-3, G, Fr., Southern Utah Daniel Oliver, 5-10, G, Soph., UNC Greensboro Kevin Payton, 6-5, G, Jr., Minnesota C.J. Reid, 6-4, F, Fr., St. Peter’s Mark Socoby, 6-5, G, Jr., Maine Ryan Staker, 6-7, PF, Jr., UC Irvine Anthony Thomas, 6-5, F, Fr., Howard Torrance Timothy, 6-5, G, Fr., Howard Isiah Tucker, 6-1, G, Soph., Winston Salem State Omar Wattad, 6-5, SG-SF, Soph., Georgetown Barry Wellington, 6-0, G, Jr., SIU-Edwardsville Joey Rodriguez, 5-10, G, Soph., VCU

Here's another good article written by Goodman discussing the ramifications of a new rule that the NCAA has implemented for this season.

The NCAA instituted a ridiculous and baffling rule recently in which college coaches are no longer able to watch players at AAU events in April.

It would seem that, like every other NCAA rule, this one started with good intentions. However, the unintended consequences will cause coaches to really have to go out of their way to see players or taking players that they never see play in person. That will undoubtedly lead to more transfers.

Finally, congratulations are in order for 2 UNCG teams. Women's basketball and women's tennis earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for ranking in the top 10 percent of APR in their respective sports. Individual scores will be released on May 6. UNCG fans should be looking closely for the APR scores in men's basketball and baseball. Those 2 sports fell below the NCAA mark and were penalized this season.