Big Sports Day

Battle of the Boulevard is tonight. A Belmont win will all but wrap up at least an NIT bid, as that would leave them at least one game up on Jacksonville with the North Carolina teams coming to town next weekend.

Of course, a Lipscomb win will put them in prime position to get the 4-5 game. Right now that would set up a match-up with Stetson in the quarters, with Belmont or Jacksonville likely waiting in the semis. Lipscomb's best draw would be to face teams from the south division in the first two rounds, then face the survivor of a Belmont-ETSU semifinal. A win tomorrow would go a long way.

I have no idea what's going on at Mercer. They have good players. They post good numbers. But they just don't win. In all honesty, they should have been the class of the South Division, what with James Florence and Shadeen Aaron. Brian Pfhol and Calvin Henry are solid players, too. Four of their losses have been by 2, but so have 2 of their wins. They have lost twice to Stetson by a total of 4 points. According to Ken Pomeroy, they've been somewhat unlucky, but not overmuch. Lipscomb's luck has been worst in the conference. This team should simply be better than 6-8 in conference.

There has been some talk lately about conference shifts, especially now that the Ohio Valley Conference has dropped their football requirement. People in Nashville are all a-buzz about the possibility of Belmont and Lipscomb jumping.

I'm not so sure.

For one, Belmont and Lipscomb are virtually a package deal. Lipscomb sells about 20% of its total ticket sales to Belmont games. Belmont typically quadruples their average ticket sales when Lipscomb plays. Maybe TSU or Austin Peay can generate that kind of rivalry, but I doubt it.

Also, Lipscomb is clearly not ready to move up in conference. The A-Sun is one of the weakest conferences in the country in most sports (baseball being the glaring exception). But even against relatively easy competition, Lipscomb rarely puts up a winning record in anything. Lipscomb shouldn't be trying to beat Murray State until they prove they can handle Kennesaw State.

Plus, if you're the OVC, the school you want is ETSU. For one, they are restarting their football program. Plus, they are far and away the highest-grossing school in terms of basketball ticket sales. They lead the A-Sun in both home and road attendance. ETSU would be a perfect fit in the OVC.

Speaking of baseball, today is college baseball Opening Day. Stetson is the team to beat in the A-Sun, but Lipscomb has a couple of really good players. the question for the Bisons is whether the supporting cast is good enough to keep up.