Ain't Nothin' But a Family Thing

I first discovered college football when I was 7.

I'm sure I had seen games before that, because I knew the rules and followed the action fairly easily. But the first game I remember watching -- really watching, start to finish -- was the 1982 Orange Bowl. My dad grew up in Nebraska, but as a military family the only time we got to watch the Cornhuskers play was when they played a) Oklahoma or b) in a bowl game. In our house, the Nebraska-Oklahoma game had its own batch of traditions -- the "guys vs. girls" division of rooting, Mom putting her Sooners hat on top of the TV. But the first time I really noticed how much fun college football could be was New Year's Night, 1982. Clemson vs. Nebraska. Mom & Dad both watched the game and, for the first time, let me stay up all the way to the end.

Pretty cool when you're seven.

Over the years my college football fandom has been what could be best described as a "lovers' quarrel." There's a lot not to like, most of which centers around the letters E, N, P, and S. You can probably guess what order those letters belong in. From the MNC -- "Meaningless National Championship" -- to all manner of Heisman Trophy controversies to the sham that is the BCS, the sport makes it hard to be a fan if you don't have a rooting interest in one particular team. In 2007, I set a record for fewest games watched in a season -- three.

But that said, I still love the game. Thanksgiving wasn't as interesting this year as it was in the Switzer-Osborne days, but I still found myself holding my breath when Nebraska launched that 57-yard FG to beat Colorado. Vanderbilt's first trip to a bowl game in 26 years has made for an interesting season watching their fans. In fact, I have the Music City Bowl open in another window right now as I'm writing this. The Big XII South controversy, though, reminded me why I didn't miss the game last year.

Now to be fair, college basketball has a lot of problems, most of which (again) stem from those four letters. Money teams from money conferences dominate the game. Period. They draw eyeballs to TV's. They sell tickets. And they get the vast majority of the spots in the NCAA tournament. Last year, schools that spent $2 million or more on men's basketball got 32 of 34 at-large bids.

But Sunday night, none of that mattered.

Sunday night, I was the Dad, introducing the team I love playing the game I love to my own 6-year-old. My daughter Erica had seen enough basketball to understand the basics; players try to put the ball in the hoop, how far away you are determines how many points you get, and the team in white usually wins. Erica has had her moments with basketball before. Last year she picked Memphis to make the national championship game, and when they did, she won our annual family basketball picking contest.

But Sunday night, for the first time in four years, Erica and I were in front of a TV while Lipscomb was playing on the screen.

Speaking of lovers' quarrels. When Lipscomb made the move to NCAA Division I, I was among many alumni who sounded the alarm that this might not be the best of ideas. In the last eleven years, the entire athletic department has produced maybe half a dozen winning seasons. Lipscomb, once a small-college athletic juggernaut, had jumped into the deep end and was constantly getting its head pushed under the water by the bigger, cooler kids. Even in the section of the pool reserved for the little guys, Lipscomb was a punching bag. Sure, there was the occasional highlight (taking Belmont to overtime in the conference title game the NIT year, volleyball and baseball making the NCAA tournament), but for the better part of the last decade being a Lipscomb fan has not been too terrible much fun.

But like it or not, Lipscomb is my school. I met my wife there. Her parents both went there. In college, I helped out making game tapes for the women's basketball team. Lipscomb basketball is in my blood, and in Erica's DNA.

Sunday night, Lipscomb played at Indiana. The game was on the Big Ten Network, and since we were visiting my parents in Arkansas we got to watch the game live. We cmae home from church expecting to see the typical major vs. mid-major score, only to find Lipscomb ahead -- ahead, I tell you -- early in the second half. The last fifteen minutes of the game, neither team led by more than four. That is, not until Jimmy Oden hit two free throws to put the Bisons up 5 in the last 10 seconds.

I remember being a seven-year-old, seeing how excited my Dad was to watch his team play in a bowl game. Even though Nebraska lost the game -- forcing my Dad, the writing staff of Jeopardy, and the rest of Husker Nation to wait another 12 years for their MNC -- I'll never forget what it was like to watch my Dad as his team took the lead on Clemson in the second quarter. It's a memory I will treasure until the day I die.

Sunday night -- when the final horn went off, my hands went in the air, and I yelled loudly enough to set off the Christmas tree -- a six-year-old little girl got to see her Daddy celebrate. Maybe one day she will look back on that night the same way I remember that Orange Bowl.

Even though the guys in the white shirts lost.

Four! Four Transylvania! Ah, ah, ah . . .

Lipscomb 74, Indiana 69.

I still can't believe I just typed that.

Lipscomb 74.

[deep breath]

Indiana

[deep breath again]

69.

Sunday night I was in Arkansas at my parents' house. We came home from church in time to catch the second half on the Big Ten Network, part of my parents' AT&T TV package. By the time I got the TV turned on, Lipscomb had rallied from a 21-point first half deficit, using 11-0 and 18-0 runs to take a 3-point lead. Michael Teller had the best game (PEG of 27, including 19 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists) but Adnan Hozdic was the hero, scoring twice in the last 2 1/2 minutes to give Lipscomb the lead. Jimmy Oden also came up huge, making several big plays on defense (including a memorable one against the Big Ten Network broadcast table) and hitting the icing free throws in the final minute.

When the game was over I yelled so loudly I set off my Mom's motion-sensitive singing Christmas egg.

BALL GAME!

Too happy to type.

Lipscomb 74, Indiana 69.

Indi-freakin'-ana.

Transylvania report when I get home from vacation Wednesday.

WOO HOO!!!

It's Over! It's Over!

I usually don't say much about non-conference games win or lose unless it's a BIG win, but this is huge. The seventh seal has been opened. Odin has declared Ragnarok. Marvin Martian has pulled the lever. Make peace with your maker. Do whatever it is you do when the end of days is as hand.

North Florida won a road game.

In their fourth year as an NCAA D-1 school, in "only" their 55th attempt, the North Florida Ospreys finally won their first game away from home. Last night, they knocked off Furman 77-66. Eni Cuka was the hero of the night, pouring in 27 points on 8 of 12 shooting for a PEG of 24. Stan Januska added a 22 PEG night of his own. But this was a team win in every sense of the word. In addition to shooting an uncharacteristically-high 81.8% from the foul line (including 19 of 24 in the last 5 minutes), the Ospreys hit 12 of 17 FGs in the second half. Throw in the team's best defensive first half of the year (possibly ever) and you have all the ingredients of a road win.

Yet another reason to love the Atlantic Sun: The Ospreys spent game day in the hotel lobby playing what UNF media guy Shawn Lafata called -- wait for it -- "a massive chess tournament." No word who won, but come on now. How cool is that?

Speaking of big games, get a load of tomorrow's line-up:

Lipscomb @ N. C. State
Gulf Coast @ Butler
Belmont @ Tennessee
Stetson @ Missouri
Upstate @ Fresno State
Mercer @ UCLA

If you Google "Transylvania" Sunday and end up here, I'm probably a happy man.

Why I Do What I Do

I'm not a journalist. I don't even play a reasonable facsimile of one on the Intergoogles. I've never "covered" a game. Because of where I live, financial and family obligations, a day job, etc., I haven't even been to a game in 5 years.

I'm just a guy who went to a small school that suddenly finds itself on a big stage. Jim Rome thinks we're the reason the NIT sucks. Verne Lundquist said our name on CBS Saturday (one of Indiana's upcoming opponents). In my world, that's a big deal.

I'm not a Professional Journalist. Nor am I a comedian. If you're looking for Grantland Rice-ish ambiance, Recapbot game stories, rabid fandom, or body part jokes, go somewhere else.

I simply love my school, basketball, and playing with numbers.

Lately, I have also fallen in love with the teams my school plays. There are some great stories there for someone with enough time, access, and talent to dig them out. I know about a few of them -- Bob Hoffman being exonerated by the NCAA after it imposed show-cause orders on some of his former co-workers, the under-the-radar class of the Lipscomb-Belmont rivalry, the general awesomeness that is Jonathan Rodriguez. But lacking any of the above (time, access, awesomeness), I rely on what I can glean from media reports, and write what I see in the numbers.

Hence, the Atlantic Sun Blog.

Maybe there is a market out there for fan-jabbering about a small conference of small schools in the middle of Nowhere-midmajor-vania. If so, I hope somebody good fills it -- and not with Deadspin-ish blather about who has the hottest cheerleaders, either. But for right now, aside from newspaper beat writers and SID's (who are paid to be there) and Kyle Whelliston (also paid, only less so), there's just me.

So I write for me. And that's fine. I'll never be a correspondent for the WWL. I don't pretend to believe that anybody else cares about me or my subject. I'm perfectly content to use the ASB as an online diary, my own way of enjoying a season I wish I could get closer to but choose not to for reasons listed above. If Junard Hartley's mom happens by and sees the nice things I wrote about her son, that's cool too.

And if some of those "paid" professionals like what they see -- or are at least encouraged to keep doing what they're doing simply because I am out here and exist -- then I've done more good than I set out to do.

O'Neill, Baker Hold Off Campbell

Somehow I overlooked this gem of a game from the weekend:

Gulf Coast 72, Campbell 68. Reed Baker and Derrick O'Neil each post PEGs over 20 (Baker 27, O'Neil 24) for FGCU. The game was fast but sloppy; 77 possessions per team led to a combined 44 turnovers and 8 of 31 3-point shooting. Both teams best players had off nights -- Jonathan Rodriguez had only 12 points to go with 6 turnovers, and FGCU's Delvin Franklin turned the ball over 7 times to post a PEG of 0 despite scoring 14 points. That's hard to do.

The game turned on an intentional foul call with less than 5 minutes to go. Up by 5, FGCU got the ball back when Derrick O'Neil picked Junard Hartley's pocket, then was fouled by Preston Dotson. O'Neil hit both free throws, then found Ed Rolax for a lay-up to put the Eagles up 9. 4 Gulf Coast turnovers in the final 81 seconds gave the Camels a shot, but they couldn't quite get there at the end.

Three To Go

Former Lipscomb basketball coach Don Meyer posted career win #900 Saturday.

If you don't know the story, read the articles from ESPN and Spots Illustrated. Buster Olney and Grant Wahl give the chase for Bob Knight's record the professional treatment it deserves, far better than I could.

So we're in the eleventh season since Lipscomb joined Division 1. Five years ago, I asked which would come first -- Lipscomb beats a BCS-conference team or Don Meyer breaks the all-time coaching wins record. On December 28th, Coach Meyer goes for win #901, one short of Bob Knight. That same day, Lipscomb plays at Indiana. And even better -- the senior point guard for Northern State is from Bloomington.

Weird.

Fun with PEGs

Perhaps my favorite "accident" related to calculating PEG scores is how they have pointed out remarkable performances that would otherwise be overshadowed in the box score.

Case in point, Junard Hartley.

Who? I'm glad you asked. Junard Hartley is a 6'3" sophomore guard for Campbell. He started 24 games at point guard for the Camels last year, but playing in the substantial shadow of Jonathan Rodriguez, didn't post a lot of numbers. Now a sophomore, Hartley has only taken 17 shots in 8 games (making 9 of 11 two-pointers), and despite being an 80%+ FT shooter, only gets to the line twice per game. Basically, he's a good player who knows his role and fills it well. Campbell doesn't need him to shoot every possession. They need a point guard who hustles on defense, takes care of the basketball, and creates opportunities for Rodriguez and Vejraska.

Last night against Stetson, Hartley did his job well enough to post a game-high PEG of 20. His 11 points came with only 1 missed FG (a 3) and one missed FT. He only had one assist, but also only one turnover. He also pulled down 8 defensive rebounds and nabbed 2 steals. He was also part of a team that held Stetson's solid back court duo of A.J. Smith and Garfield Blair to 7-19 shooting and more turnovers than assists.

The bad news for Campbell is that they are 0-2 in conference. The good news is that they went on the road and played Stetson even (team PEGs wee both 62 in a 66-possession game). If the Camels can just keep doing what they're doing, watch out.

Hi, I'm Mike Smith, and I'll Be Your Player of the Night

In a 20-point win over Mercer, the ETSU junior shot 50% from the floor en route to 20 points and 8 boards for a PEG of 24. This game also saw the first ejection of the A-Sun year, as Bears coach Bob Hoffman was tossed midway through the second half. Daniel Emerson continues to be Mercer's best player, putting in 20 points on 7-9 shooting against ETSU.

Mike Smith's performance Friday night was matched by Jacksonville's Ben Smith Saturday afternoon. The Dolphin point guard made 7 of 9 shots and added 5 assists to post a 24 PEG as Jacksonville knocked off Lipscomb. Jacksonville put the game away early in the second half, when they went on an 8-minute scoring binge making 9 of 10 shots, including a 5-possession stretch where they scored 14 points. Lipscomb? Defense? Not so much. Jacksonville shot the lights out, hitting 15 of 22 2's and 6 of 9 3's in the second half. Jacksonville also rebounded well, picking up 50% of the possible offensive boards.

Across town, Belmont had no problem with North Florida. The Ospreys were able to hang tough for about 8 minutes, but a 3-point Bruin lead at the second media timeout was 10 four minutes later, 16 at half, and hit 34 before it was over. Belmont's bench played 100 minutes, a season-high for a team whose starters only average 24 minutes per game anyway. Potential sign of trouble: Belmont shot under 60% from the foul line. We expected that with Justin Hare graduating Belmont's FT % would drop, but this is not good.

Stat of the Night: In Lipscomb's two wins this year, their opposition has shot 30.6% from the floor in the second half. In their four losses, the other guys shoot 56.7%. Saturday, Jacksonville was 21 of 31.

Tonight, Campbell takes on VMI (yes, Kentucky fans, that VMI). The big question is whether Jonathan Rodriguez will score 50. My guess is yes.

Jacksonville 65, Belmont 64

Do not -- I repeat, do NOT -- go to sleep on the Jacksonville Dolphins this year.

While Mercer has been the headline-maker this December, Jacksonville has quietly posted five near-misses against NCAA and NIT teams from last year. They opened the year with five straight losses, but in every game they have battled back from significant deficits to make the game competitive. Still, they needed a win.

Last night they got one.

Down 19 to Belmont at halftime, Jacksonville rallied, holding the typically-reliable Bruin shooting to 5-for-22 in the second half. The Dolphins also hit 22 of 26 second-half free throws, including 2 by Ben Smith in the last 10 seconds.

But the game was as strange for Belmont as it was typical for Jacksonville. For instance, Rick Byrd usually runs a 9 or 10-man rotation, with the bench accounting for an average of almost 80 minutes of playing time. Last night non-starters only played a total of 49 minutes. Belmont came in averaging 12 turnovers per game. Last night? 22. Belmont also missed the front end of a one-and-one twice in the second half, a bad sign when you're playing a good team on the road.

Player of the Night: Marcus Allen (JAX) -- 21 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals for a PEG of 24.

Other games: Lipscomb cruises to a 69-54 win over North Florida. Adnan Hozdic led the way for Lipscomb with a PEG of 19. North Florida had Stetson on the ropes and should have had the huge road upset, but 6 turnovers in the last 2 1/2 minutes resulted in an 18-0 Stetson run to turn a 13-point deficit into a 5-point win. This just in: A. J. Smith and Garfield Blair are pretty good.

Weird stat of the night: Stetson and FGCU combined for 29 offensive rebounds, but only 7 second-chance points. Another fun stat: Teams that lost last night were only 3-of-8 on the front end of a one-and-one in the second half. Winning teams were 6-of-9.

Coming up: ETSU is at Mercer tonight. The Nashville schools swap gyms in Jacksonville Saturday afternoon.

Memo to Eric Yutzy and Steve Wrigley: Take the sock out of your mouths and REPORT THE LOCAL SOCREBOARD! I'm not asking you to send 2 camera crews to Jacksonville to cover A-Sun road games in December. I'm not even asserting that a Belmont or Lipscomb (or MTSU, or Austin Peay, or whoever) game tonight is bigger news than a Titans game yesterday or tomorrow. But can we at least 7 seconds for scores, even on title cards? About the only sports reporting ESPN doesn't do is to cover local teams. Please, do your job. In this media age, it's all you have left.

Three! Three Transylvania! Ah ah ah . . .

East Tennessee State 76, Marshall 72

Somebody pull Kevin Tiggs off Marshall.

The senior posted a season-best PEG of 29, leading the Bucs to an upset of the Marshall Thundering Herd. Tiggs played all 40 minutes, posting 4 steals and 4 rebounds to go with -- oh, nothing -- 31 points. Mike Smith iced things with the last 2 of his 16 points coming at the line in the last 10 seconds.

ETSU shot lights-out all night, hitting 8 of their first 12 shots and 70% of their 2's in the first half. They will probably want to tighten up a little on defense; 72 points in 65 possessions is higher than they like to see, especially against a team that shoots as many 3's as Marshall does. By the time Belmont rolls around, that points allowed per possession number needs to be a bit lower.

But then again, if the Bucs can keep up that hot shooting touch, they will be tough for anybody to beat.

In other news, Mercer had one of its more balanced games this year in a 74-64 win over Upstate. Calvin Henry posted 16 points, 12 boards, and 6 blocks en route to a PEG score of 31. Daniel Emerson added 16 points and 12 boards, with James Florence dishing out 8 assists. This was probably one of the slowest games you'll see in the conference this year, with only 65 possessions.

Weird stat of the night: Upstate was 6-6 at the FT line, only committed 2 (!) turnovers, and lost by 10.

And We're Off

The A-Sun season got underway in earnest last night, with Kennesaw State knocking off winless Upstate 66-64. John-Michael Nickerson hit a running one-hander with less than a second left to win it. Nickerson's PEG of 24 led all comers.

Neither team led by more the 3 in the last 15 minutes.

Upstate goes to Mercer tonight. Six other teams get underway Thursday.