The Ohio Valley Conference has lifted a key membership restriction -- requiring member schools to field a football team.
The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reported the story yesterday:
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/SPORTS07/801240343/1006/rss04
The OVC offices are in Nashville. All but 4 of their members are in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Is this a play to get Belmont and Lispcomb out of the A-Sun? Are they making a run at former members ETSU, Evansville, or somebody else?
We shall see. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label Lipscomb Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lipscomb Sports. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
A-Sun Women's Basketball Conference Preview
I know, I know. Conference play started last week. But I'm just now getting the numbers together. So here we go. Numbers are based on games played through last night.
Projected Conference Standings:
Jacksonville 14 - 2
North Florida 12 - 4
Gardner-Webb 11 - 5
Kennesaw State 11 - 5
East Tennessee State 10 - 6
Belmont 9 - 7
Campbell 7 - 9
Florida Gulf Coast 7 - 9
Stetson 4 - 12
Lipscomb 4 - 12
South Carolina Upstate 4 - 12
Mercer 3 - 13
Pre-Conference Player of the Year: Marlena Murphy, Campbell
All-Conference Team: Murphy, Ashlee Williams (Jacksonville), Siarre Evans (ETSU), Brittney Henderson (Kennesaw State), Brooke Sunday (Belmont)
Second Team: Margaret Roundtree (Gardner-Webb), Regina Omoite (Jacksonville), Sarah Russell (Mercer), Delia Delatorre (Florida-Gulf Coast), Virginia Gregorie (Jacksonville)
Projected Conference Standings:
Jacksonville 14 - 2
North Florida 12 - 4
Gardner-Webb 11 - 5
Kennesaw State 11 - 5
East Tennessee State 10 - 6
Belmont 9 - 7
Campbell 7 - 9
Florida Gulf Coast 7 - 9
Stetson 4 - 12
Lipscomb 4 - 12
South Carolina Upstate 4 - 12
Mercer 3 - 13
Pre-Conference Player of the Year: Marlena Murphy, Campbell
All-Conference Team: Murphy, Ashlee Williams (Jacksonville), Siarre Evans (ETSU), Brittney Henderson (Kennesaw State), Brooke Sunday (Belmont)
Second Team: Margaret Roundtree (Gardner-Webb), Regina Omoite (Jacksonville), Sarah Russell (Mercer), Delia Delatorre (Florida-Gulf Coast), Virginia Gregorie (Jacksonville)
Monday, December 31, 2007
2008 A-Sun Pre-Conference All-Conference
It's been a big year so far for the A-Sun. 5 wins against BCS conference teams (including 3 against the SEC). That said, it's a young (and, top to bottom, not very good) conference. According to Kyle Whelliston, the A-Sun has seven teams in the bottom 40, including 4 in the bottom 14. Ken Pomeroy ranks the A-Sun 28th out of 31 conferences. Gardner-Webb and ETSU are at the top in most of the computers. I'll have a complete team-by-team preview comig up later this week before conference play begins. But here are my votes for all-conference based on November and December:
Conference Player of the Year -- Jonathan Rodriguez, forward, Campbell
First Team All-Conference -- Forwards: Rodriguez, Thomas Sanders (Gardner-Webb), Kevin Tiggs (ETSU). Guards: Ben Smith (Jacksonville), Aaron Linn (Gardner-Webb)
Second Team -- Guards: Grayson Flittner (G-W), Justin Hare (Belmont), Shadeen Aaron (Mercer). Forwards: Calvin Henry (Mercer), Landon Adler (Florida Gulf Coast)
Honorable Mention -- Shane Dansby (Belmont), Brian Pfohl (Mercer), Adam Liddell (Fla-GC), Andrew Reed (ETSU), Shaun Stegall (Kennesaw), Brandon Brown (Lipscomb), Garfield Blair (Stetson), Marcus Allen (Jacksonville)
Conference Player of the Year -- Jonathan Rodriguez, forward, Campbell
First Team All-Conference -- Forwards: Rodriguez, Thomas Sanders (Gardner-Webb), Kevin Tiggs (ETSU). Guards: Ben Smith (Jacksonville), Aaron Linn (Gardner-Webb)
Second Team -- Guards: Grayson Flittner (G-W), Justin Hare (Belmont), Shadeen Aaron (Mercer). Forwards: Calvin Henry (Mercer), Landon Adler (Florida Gulf Coast)
Honorable Mention -- Shane Dansby (Belmont), Brian Pfohl (Mercer), Adam Liddell (Fla-GC), Andrew Reed (ETSU), Shaun Stegall (Kennesaw), Brandon Brown (Lipscomb), Garfield Blair (Stetson), Marcus Allen (Jacksonville)
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Lipscomb Lady Bisions Basketball
It's that time of year. Coach, computer scientist, and all-around good egg Frank Bennett rolls out the latest edition of your Lady Bisons.
So far, the reviews are encouraging, even if there is still work to do.
First, the obvious: Lipscomb lost an exhinition game. Again. This time, Alabama-Huntsville came into Allen Arena and walked out with a 69-68 win. This can't be a good sign. A Divison I team ought to be able to give its 9 best players double-digit minutes and carry the day over a Division II team on talent alone, especially at home and especially in an exhibiton game in November. If Lipscomb has ambitions higher than "let's hope we make the Atlantic Sun tournament," this can't happen. And for Lipscomb, who relies so heavily on home-coourt advantage, this REALLY can't happen at home. Period.
What went wrong:
Free throw shooting. Lipscomb was 6 for 19 in the second half from the free throw line. Six for nineteen. Ugh.
Tempo. The game was WAY too fast for a team like Lipscomb. 80 possessions is high for a men's game, let alone women. For the talent Coach Bennett recruits to be most effective, Lipscomb needs to be playing in the high 60's to low 70's.
Turnovers. Lipscomb must take better care of the basketball. This is a recording.
What went right:
Shot selection: Last year, Lipscomb shot 3's almost without conscience. Tonight, fewer than 40% of their attempts were from beyond the arc. Factor in the number of 2-shot free throw situations they generated, and what we see is a return to the Bennett Ball of the mid 90's. Pound the ball inside and make their big girls make a play to stop you. In a guard-oriented league like the A-Sun, I like the idea.
Defense: 21 forced turnovers, including 14 steals. Defense and lay-ups, with just enough 3's to keep the other team honest. Welcome to Bennett Ball. One might have liked a stop late, but credit UAH for making plays when they needed them.
Grit: Down 5 with 2 minutes to go (in an exhibition game at home) and generally not playing very well, the Lady Bisons stepped up in crunch time. Miriam McAlister gets an and-one (which she made) to cut the lead to 2. Then Dana Carrigan, Katie Woods, and Jenna Bartsokas each hit 3's to give the defense a chance.
The Lady Bisions open up for real at UT-Martin on Friday.
So far, the reviews are encouraging, even if there is still work to do.
First, the obvious: Lipscomb lost an exhinition game. Again. This time, Alabama-Huntsville came into Allen Arena and walked out with a 69-68 win. This can't be a good sign. A Divison I team ought to be able to give its 9 best players double-digit minutes and carry the day over a Division II team on talent alone, especially at home and especially in an exhibiton game in November. If Lipscomb has ambitions higher than "let's hope we make the Atlantic Sun tournament," this can't happen. And for Lipscomb, who relies so heavily on home-coourt advantage, this REALLY can't happen at home. Period.
What went wrong:
Free throw shooting. Lipscomb was 6 for 19 in the second half from the free throw line. Six for nineteen. Ugh.
Tempo. The game was WAY too fast for a team like Lipscomb. 80 possessions is high for a men's game, let alone women. For the talent Coach Bennett recruits to be most effective, Lipscomb needs to be playing in the high 60's to low 70's.
Turnovers. Lipscomb must take better care of the basketball. This is a recording.
What went right:
Shot selection: Last year, Lipscomb shot 3's almost without conscience. Tonight, fewer than 40% of their attempts were from beyond the arc. Factor in the number of 2-shot free throw situations they generated, and what we see is a return to the Bennett Ball of the mid 90's. Pound the ball inside and make their big girls make a play to stop you. In a guard-oriented league like the A-Sun, I like the idea.
Defense: 21 forced turnovers, including 14 steals. Defense and lay-ups, with just enough 3's to keep the other team honest. Welcome to Bennett Ball. One might have liked a stop late, but credit UAH for making plays when they needed them.
Grit: Down 5 with 2 minutes to go (in an exhibition game at home) and generally not playing very well, the Lady Bisons stepped up in crunch time. Miriam McAlister gets an and-one (which she made) to cut the lead to 2. Then Dana Carrigan, Katie Woods, and Jenna Bartsokas each hit 3's to give the defense a chance.
The Lady Bisions open up for real at UT-Martin on Friday.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Lady Bisons Win!
The Lispcomb Lady Bisons soccer team got its first-ever conference win last Friday, defeating USC-Upstate 1-0 on a goal early in the second half.
Statistically, it was their best game of the year, as they mounted 23 scoring chances to Upstate's 21. This marks the first time all year the Lady Bisons have had more scoring chances than the opposition. Their two previous best performances came against Jackson State (a 1-0 OT win where they were out-chanced 14-12) and Central Arkansas (a 2-1 loss where UCA had 23 chances to Lipscomb's 18).
I guess there's something to say for confidence -- and defense -- considering that Lipscomb was coming off a dreadful North Carolina trip where they escaped with a 1-0 loss and a 0-0 tie depsite giving up 86 scoring chances in two games while mounting only 16. The 86 chances doesn't say much about Lipscomb's ability to possess the ball in the midfield, but the one goal is a credit to goal-mouth defense.
The Lady Bisons' all-time Atlantic Sun record improves to 1-38-3 with the win.
Statistically, it was their best game of the year, as they mounted 23 scoring chances to Upstate's 21. This marks the first time all year the Lady Bisons have had more scoring chances than the opposition. Their two previous best performances came against Jackson State (a 1-0 OT win where they were out-chanced 14-12) and Central Arkansas (a 2-1 loss where UCA had 23 chances to Lipscomb's 18).
I guess there's something to say for confidence -- and defense -- considering that Lipscomb was coming off a dreadful North Carolina trip where they escaped with a 1-0 loss and a 0-0 tie depsite giving up 86 scoring chances in two games while mounting only 16. The 86 chances doesn't say much about Lipscomb's ability to possess the ball in the midfield, but the one goal is a credit to goal-mouth defense.
The Lady Bisons' all-time Atlantic Sun record improves to 1-38-3 with the win.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Basketball Schedules Out
Lipscomb has released its basketball schedules for the Bisons and Lady Bisons. Highlights:
-- 10 road games. The men only play 3 of their 13 nonconference games at home. That'll help the conference RPI. My first look gives them about 6 wins, but with road games valued the way they are in the RPI everyone will look better.
-- Men's road games at Vandy and tournaments at Iowa State and MTSU. App. State is in the MTSU field.
-- Divisional play. The A-Sun now has 12 (!) teams, so Lipscomb only plays home-and-home with Belmont, ETSU, Gardner-Webb, Campbell, and USC-Upstate. The rest of the conference only plays once.
-- The women get to go to Hawaii again. They kicked off their NCAA run with a couple of big wins in the islands 4 years ago. Unfortunately, the likelihood of history repeating itself is slim unless they get a lot better at winning away from Allen Arena.
-- The women are at Vandy and at TSU. They also travel to Arkansas in November. Best case for the Lady Bisons? Assuming their tall girls are healthy (which is so rare as to be laughable lately), they are capable of going 7-7 out of conference. That said, if they have the injuries again (especially if those injuries force Coach Bennett to play a perimiter-oriented game instead of the post-play style he likes) and they play on the road the way they have the last 2 1/2 years (3 wins total since February '05), we could be looking at 2-12.
-- Speaking of Allen Arena, Lipscomb is the host school for both the men's and women's conference tournaments this year. The tournaments will be played concurrently with the top 8 qualifying. Three points on this: 1) See above about the importance of Lipscomb's women playing at home. Since January 29, 2005, they are 14-17 at home and 3-36 on the road. 2) Finishing with a top 2 seed will be vital to winning this thing, since they will likely put the 1-8 and 2-7 games on Day 1 and the 3-6 and 4-5 game son Day 2. The extra day of rest will be huge, especially for a team like Lipscomb who tends to play with a short bench anyway. 3) I am so there. I'll be looking for tickets as soon as they come available.
-- 10 road games. The men only play 3 of their 13 nonconference games at home. That'll help the conference RPI. My first look gives them about 6 wins, but with road games valued the way they are in the RPI everyone will look better.
-- Men's road games at Vandy and tournaments at Iowa State and MTSU. App. State is in the MTSU field.
-- Divisional play. The A-Sun now has 12 (!) teams, so Lipscomb only plays home-and-home with Belmont, ETSU, Gardner-Webb, Campbell, and USC-Upstate. The rest of the conference only plays once.
-- The women get to go to Hawaii again. They kicked off their NCAA run with a couple of big wins in the islands 4 years ago. Unfortunately, the likelihood of history repeating itself is slim unless they get a lot better at winning away from Allen Arena.
-- The women are at Vandy and at TSU. They also travel to Arkansas in November. Best case for the Lady Bisons? Assuming their tall girls are healthy (which is so rare as to be laughable lately), they are capable of going 7-7 out of conference. That said, if they have the injuries again (especially if those injuries force Coach Bennett to play a perimiter-oriented game instead of the post-play style he likes) and they play on the road the way they have the last 2 1/2 years (3 wins total since February '05), we could be looking at 2-12.
-- Speaking of Allen Arena, Lipscomb is the host school for both the men's and women's conference tournaments this year. The tournaments will be played concurrently with the top 8 qualifying. Three points on this: 1) See above about the importance of Lipscomb's women playing at home. Since January 29, 2005, they are 14-17 at home and 3-36 on the road. 2) Finishing with a top 2 seed will be vital to winning this thing, since they will likely put the 1-8 and 2-7 games on Day 1 and the 3-6 and 4-5 game son Day 2. The extra day of rest will be huge, especially for a team like Lipscomb who tends to play with a short bench anyway. 3) I am so there. I'll be looking for tickets as soon as they come available.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Lipscomb Sports Update
So.
For the second consecutive year, Lipscomb's baseball team is one of 23 to be docked scholarships for lack of academic performance. Lipscomb is the only school in the Atlantic Sun to incur any penalty of any sort under the NCAA's Academic Progress Report.
Granted, the penalty is less than last year's (1.01 scholarships, down from 1.07). But still. And if things don't get better next year, the whole athletic department can be placed on probation.
But they're winning, so I guess all is forgiven?
In the interest of equal time, credit to Frank Bennett and the women's basketball program for earning a citation from the NCAA for outstanding academic performance, long a hallmark of Bennett's program dating back to the NAIA era.
Alma mater hail.
For the second consecutive year, Lipscomb's baseball team is one of 23 to be docked scholarships for lack of academic performance. Lipscomb is the only school in the Atlantic Sun to incur any penalty of any sort under the NCAA's Academic Progress Report.
Granted, the penalty is less than last year's (1.01 scholarships, down from 1.07). But still. And if things don't get better next year, the whole athletic department can be placed on probation.
But they're winning, so I guess all is forgiven?
In the interest of equal time, credit to Frank Bennett and the women's basketball program for earning a citation from the NCAA for outstanding academic performance, long a hallmark of Bennett's program dating back to the NAIA era.
Alma mater hail.
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