USA Today Southern Conference Report

From the the USA Today's Southern Conference report ...

It took a little longer than hoped, but the Spartans finally capped off their first Southern Conference north division title since it moved into the league in 1997-98. UNC Greensboro had to wait until the second-to-last games of the regular season to earn the division title after leading by three games with two weeks of regular-season play remaining. The team lost back-to-back conference games Feb. 18 and Feb. 21 to prolong the championship, and continued to back into the division crown when it lost a third straight in the regular-season finale.

Mid-Major Report

Via ESPN ...

Southern

After Davidson (13-2) beat Kansas in December, it was hard to envision the Wildcats losing -- even one game -- in conference play. They've lost two, both on the road. But they won't face much danger in their last four conference games, especially with only one more road game. They'll win the South unless Georgia Southern (11-4) catches them down the stretch. Beyond the regular season, however, Davidson has proven to be a mature team with the poise to score an upset in March Madness. UNC-Greensboro (9-5) is on top in the North. But Elon (8-6) and Samford (7-7) are in the mix.

Via USA Today ...

UNC GREENSBORO

--The Spartans have completed their run to the top of the Southern Conference north division. Now it's time to see if they can stay there. With their Feb. 11 victory at Chattanooga, UNC Greensboro completed a run in which they won nine of 10 games and went from last place in the division to first.

Staying there, however, will have to include three of the team's final four games coming against south division opponents. The Spartans' lone remaining game against a north foe is the regular-season finale against Elon, quite possibly a game that will determine the division crown.

--Like many of the teams in the league, UNC Greensboro is finding that it better be ready for close games. The Spartans' Feb. 9 win at Samford and Feb. 11 win at Chattanooga were each decided by one basket. In the latter, guard Derrell Armstrong connected on a lay-up with 16 seconds remaining to give Greensboro the victory.

--It's not hard to see how UNCG Trevis Simpson took over the league's top scorer spot. Since his "down" game against Samford on Jan. 22 -- when he scored 15 points -- the sophomore scored at least 23 points in each of his next six contests. Heading into the team's Feb. 15 game against College of Charleston, Simpson was averaging 18.1 points per game, a full point more than The Citadel big man Mike Groselle.

UNCG Press

From WFMY News 2's DigTraid page, here's an interview with UNCG Coach Wes Miller. Also, there are interviews with Trevis Simpson, David Williams and a video of practice.

USA Today posted their weekly SoCon update with some interesting notes about UNCG.

--The carnage that was the January schedule of games in the Southern Conference has produced plenty of good basketball, but it's come at the majority of the league's expense. Entering the final month of the regular season, only Davidson, Wofford, Furman and College of Charleston will have winning overall records. The best overall win tally in the north division is Elon's 10-10 record.

--The league is about a month away from voting for its top coach, but barring some unforeseen changes, it may very well come down to Davidson's Bob McKillop and UNC-Greensboro interim coach Wes Miller. The latter, who took over for Mike Dement in early December, coached his team to six straight victories to close out January. Miller's team was atop the north division standings entering the final month of regular-season play.

McKillop, who has his team on top of the south division standings, has his team at 9-1 entering February an in line to win the regular-season title.

--As far as the Player of the Year honors go, the decision may be a bit harder for the coaches and media. The Citadel big man Mike Groselle enters the final month of play as the Southern Conference leader in both points (17.3 ppg) and rebounds (9.6 rpg). However, many may not vote for a player on a team that has struggled so much. The Bulldogs won just one of their first one of their first 10 league games. Others to keep an eye on are UNC Greensboro guard Trevis Simpson, College of Charleston senior Antwaine Wiggins and Georgia Southern's Eric Ferguson. Ferguson is the only other player in the league in the top five in both points and rebounds.

There was an article this past weekend in the Raleigh News & Observer about Wes Miller and App State coach Jason Capel and their unique relationship as head coaches in the same conference.

Also, I believe Wes Miller is scheduled to be on WFNZ's (Charlotte, NC) syndicated afternoon sports radio show "The Drive" hosted by Taylor Zarzour and Marc James. The show airs from 3-7 EST. I will post the time he is going to be on the show when I find out. The show can be heard on UNCG's flagship station WCOG 1320 AM in the triad, on ESPN Radio in the triangle and on WFNZ in Charlotte. The show is streamed over the Internet here, here and here.

UPDATE: Wes will be on at 6 pm EST.

UPDATE x2: The interview can be heard here.

VCU Previews, Scrimmage Notes and Dement's Comments

Sort of a weird grouping of things to post tonight. We've got less than 24 hours before the season gets underway. So let's start with some previews of opponent #1, Virginia Commonwealth.

- Here is a VCU preview from USA Today. This quote is frightening to UNCG fans ...

Deep and aggressive on defense, this is a lineup that can make life uncomfortable for any opponent, no matter the NCAA classification.

- Rush the Court's CAA preview predicted VCU to finish 2nd in the Colonial and get a #12 seed in the NCAA tournament. They also selected PG Joey Rodriguez to the All-Conference team.

-VCU Ram Nation posted this game preview. It is very tough to argue with the author's logic here ...

Friday’s matchup has 2 teams each introducing 6 new players into their lineups and having lost their star all-conference player from last season. The difference is that one team went 27-9, while the other went 8-23.

Coach Dement was on Sports Drive with Taylor Zarzour this morning and talked about his concerns with having a young team and very difficult schedule. He said that the team was young and he thought they would definitely improve throughout the season.

Here is a YouTube video from the Tom Ward Tipoff Luncheon that basically echos those same comments.



And finally, Jeff Goodman had an article leaking some of the info from the UNCG-UNC scrimmage on Oct 30.

UNC Greensboro was overwhelmed talent-wise by UNC, but there were a few bright spots: Junior college big men Aloysius Henry and Aaron Brackett – as well as 6-foot-7 wing David Williams – all competed and showed flashes.

No one from the university is allowed to discuss these "closed" scrimmages. I've recieved no reports from the UNCG-Radford scrimmage (and I don't expect to hear anything about it).

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.

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 ???

Season Wrap-up (USA Today)

USA Today has posted a great SoCon season wrap-up. I'll just copy some of the key UNCG portions here. You can read the rest of it here. It's a really comprehensive article that seems pretty spot on about most of the teams. I agree with the UNCG portion 100%. Although there are obviously a few more roster changes taking place that they don't note.

UNC-GREENSBORO
Offensively, the Spartans scored just 62.9 points per game (10th in the league); they were the only team to shoot less than 40 percent from the field (39.8 percent) while hitting just 31.5 percent of their 3-point attempts (11th); UNCG also was last in assists (10.3 apg).
--On the defensive side of the ball, Greensboro allowed 73.9 points per game (ninth) and was last in the Southern Conference in scoring margin (-10.9 point differential). The Spartans were tied for last in the league in steals (5.3 spg) and were 11th in the league in turnover margin (-2.5) and last in assist-turnover ratio (0.7).

WHAT WENT WRONG: Two seasons ago, the Spartans were a team that road the Kyle Hines roller coaster, pretty much going wherever he would take them. The talented forward averaged 19.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. His departure may have single-handedly prompted the drop from a 19-12 overall record that season to the 5-25 one the Spartans suffered this year. It also contributed toward the disadvantage in knowing exactly how to approach the lineup. Coach Mike Dement used 19 different starting lineups in an attempt to find an equation that would add up to a victory. For the most part, that never happened. And now the coach has an offseason to try something else.

THE GOOD NEWS: The Spartans will be moving into a venue that should continue to help recruiting for years to come. UNCG will begin play at the Greensboro Coliseum beginning next season. The Coliseum will have a standard capacity of 7,613 for the majority of most home games, dwarfing the 1,800-person limit of the former facility, Fleming Gym. As witnessed by the Spartans' lone game at the Greensboro Coliseum this season, officials will have no problem expanding the capacity when needed. The Spartans played Davidson in the venue on Feb. 5 in front of 11,687 fans. It was easily the highest-attended Southern Conference game this season, and it brings about the possibilities for the future.

KEY RETURNEES: The Spartans roster did not include a single senior, and the only player defection to this point was a midseason withdrawal. So UNC Greensboro will have all of its top scorers returning in 2009-2010. Guard Mikko Koivisto averaged 12.4 ppg while leading the league in free-throw percentage (89 percent). Forward Ben Stywall scored 11.7 ppg and was fifth in the league in rebounding (8.4 rpg). Fellow big man Damian Eargle added 9.2 ppg and 5.6 rpg after starting 20 contests during his freshman season. Guard Kendall Toney played in all 30 games and averaged 8.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg.

ROSTER REPORT:
--UNC Greensboro inked Brian Cole, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound center from Dacula, Ga., during the early signing period. Cole played AAU ball with the Atlanta Celtics and was described by various recruiting services as a solid "role" player. With Ben Stywall coming back for another year, it will allow Cole the opportunity to ease into college basketball.
--The Spartans will have one more scholarship available for Mike Dement to recruit with during the last signing period. Sophomore guard Landon Clement withdrew from school after 18 games, opening a roster spot for another player.