The Inside Track

One down, one to go.

Lipscomb did what they had to do last night, beating Gardner-Webb 83-71. Eddie Ard was huge, posting a PEG of 28. Adnan Hosdic chipped in . . . oh, nothing . . . just 24 points on 11-13 shooting and 6 boards. Lipscomb's win over Jacksonvile gives them the tiebreaker over G-W in the race for the 5 seed. If Lipscomb can take care of business against Campbell and Belmont clinches the outright conference title by beating G-W, Lipscomb will get the 5 spot.

That's huge because, as I've said before, Lipscomb wants no part of ETSU in the conference tournament. Even in Allen Arena, the Buccaneers can bring it, and after being embarassed at home the last two years coach Bartow's crew has somethign to prove. If Lipscomb gets the 5 seed, they play Stetson Thrusday night, then (probably) Belmont in the semis. Get past them and they face the winner of Jacksnoville-ETSU for the conference title.

That's a lot of "if"'s, but it's as good a draw as they could hope for.

The Wednesday match-ups for the conference tournament are set, as Belmont is the 1-seed and Jacksonville is the 2. Jacksonville gets Mercer in the quarters and Belmont will face Campbell.

And as I said yesterday, how about them Lady Eagles of FGCU! Last night they knocked off Jacksonville to move in to sole possession of second place in conference. The women have one match-up set, as #1 ETSU will play #8 Mercer Wednesday afternoon. Jacksonville is the 2 and Gardber-Webb is the 3.

The breakdown of 4-7 is a bit wild. Two teams are 7-8 and two are 6-9. Here's the crazy thing -- if Lipscomb wins Saturday, they could be the 4-seed and will be no lower than 5. This is from an 8-21 team overall.

Stay tuned.