Battle of the Boulevard, Part 1

Men -- Belmont 99, Lipscomb 91 (2OT). Since Lipscomb joined the A-Sun, 5 of the 10 Belomnt games have gone to overtime.

Lipscomb came from 15 down in the final 9 minutes to take a 75-72 lead into the final seconds. Andy Wicke then hit a 3-ball with 8 seconds left to tie it, then banked in a 60-footer that got waved off because it was after the buzzer.

In overtime, it was Lipscomb's turn to pull off the last-second heroics. LaKory Danies got loose in the corner for a tying 3-ball with 3 seconds left. But the second overtime was all Bruins. Belmont went on a 9-1 run in the first two minutes of the second overtime to put the game away.

The only dark spot was Belmont's star senior guard Justin Hare, who was "not with the team due to personal reasons." That's too bad. I'm a Lipscomb guy, but Hare has become such a central character in the rivalry it's a shame he had to miss his last regular season game at Allen Arena. Whatever the "personal reasons" are, I hope they get resolved soon so he can rejoin the Bruins.

Women -- Belmont 47, Lipscomb 43.

The less said abot this game, the better. Ugh. After 50 minutes of fabulous, hard-nosed basketball, the building itself was exhausted and the teams played like it. Lipscomb shot 6-22 from 3-point range, made only 58% of their free throws, and was 7-32 (21.9%!!) from inside the arc. And they still had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 6 seconds left.

Each team had 65 possessions, and they combined for 90 points. 0.95 points per possession is the standard of mediocrity in the men's game, 0.85 for women. This game they combined for 0.69. 1 out of every 3 possessions ended in a turnover.

Here's hoping this turn around for both teams. Quickly.

A-Sun Upset of the Year (so far)

USC-Upstate 73, Gardner-Webb 59

For GW, Sanders was his usual really good self, but Flittner and Linn combined to shoot 6-22 from the field, 2-9 from 3, and 5-9 (!) from the FT line. As a team they shot 5-13 FTs in the first half. Ugly.

Upstate answered with a balanced attack, with 5 different guys taking 8 shots and nobody going over 10. They also shot the ball well late, hitting all 7 FG attempts they took in the last 6:50. 2 turnovers in the last 9 minutes also helps, as does a 68-possession game against a team accustomed to 75.

Good stuff.

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)

Three Questions for Presidential Candidates

1. Title IX Reform

Right now the primary argument against paying college football and basketball players is that they are "getting a free education" and that "revenues subsidize the rest of the athletic department."

Setting aside the ethics of coaches known to stand in the way of players getting the education promised, there is the question of who else benefits, specifically women. Since Title IX, basketball, golf, soccer, softball, and volleyball teams have sprung up like weeds as schools try to comply with the law.

But where do they find the players to fill these new women's teams?

Very little talent evaluation of high school recruits happens at schools. Mostly college coaches watch players at summertime, club-based invitational tournaments around the country. What that means is that for players to be seen by college recruiters, they have to have both the talent and the money to travel to and play in these tournaments.

So these are mostly middle- to upper-middle-class white women on these new teams.

And their college scholarships are being paid for by the labors of (mostly) lower- to lower-middle-class (mostly) black men.

So, Mr(s). Presidential Candidate -- Should rich white women go to college at the expense of poor black men? If not, how would you fix Title IX to correct this inequity?

2. Electoral College Reform

Minnesota has sent Democrats to the Electoral College every election since 1972. It was the only state never to cast an electoral vote for Ronald Reagan. This is despite the heavily-conservative, reliably-Republican rural area outside the Twin Cities.

Likewise, Alabama has voted for exactly one Democrat since 1960, despite one of the highest per-capita (reliably Democrat-voting) African-American populations of any state.

Despite these divisions, both states (and 46 others) still use a winner-take-all system for allocating electoral votes.

There is a better way. Nebraska and Maine count votes for electors on a (Congressional) district-by-district basis, with only 2 electoral votes assigned based on state-wide totals, giving them the potential to be "purple states."

So, Mr(s). Presidential Candidate -- Since many states are more purple than blue or red, would you support a constitutional amendment banning state-wide winner-take-all electoral vote assignments in favor of the Nebraska Plan?

3. Disaster Recovery

Measured by loss of life and economic impact, the biggest event of the Bush Presidency was not 9/11 or the Iraq War. The most significant impact was Hurricane Katrina.

Two years before Katrina, southern California was ravanged by wildfires. Two years after Katrina, it happened again.

More federal and private dollars were spent in Katrina recovery than in response to both fires combined. Yet three months after the second round of fires, life in LA and San Diego is pretty much back to normal.

On the other hand, we're 2 1/2 years out from Katrina, and parts of New Orleans are still uninhabitable.

So, Mr(s). Presidential Candidate -- What are you going to do to find out where the money went? What lessons should the folks in Louisiana have learned from California's disaster response? And what are you going to do to make them learn?

If anyone connected with a Presidential campaign wants to respond, I'm all ears.

How Lipscomb Can Win

Last night's overtime win at Campbell provides a textbook example of how Lipscomb can do well in the A-Sun this year.

1 -- Play good defense. Lipscomb is the best defensive team in a very offense-oriented league. They were the only team to allow less than 1.0 points per possession in the pre-conference schedule. The league average was 1.03. In terms of PEP-allowed, Lipscomb had a 1.01 rating in a conference that allowed 1.16. While Campbell actually shot better against Lipscomb than they did against their pre-conference opponents, they were 1-for-13 in the last 5 mintues of regulation and overtime. Lipscomb wins with defense. In an offense-minded league, that's a formula for success.

2 -- Play their pace. Lipscomb plays the second-slowest tempo of any team in the A-Sun, fully 2 possessions slower per 40 minutes than the conference average. Last night they played 75 possessions in 45 minutes, taking Campbell completely out of their up-tempo game, second-fastest in the league.

3 -- Get production from LaKory Daniels. The year they went to the finals of the conference tournament, LaKory Daniels emerged as a viable threat, making second-team all-tournament. Other than that weekend, Daniels has been largely invisible. Until last night. Eddie Ard and Brandon Brown are the best players Lipscomb has, but to be successful they need someone else out there to force the opposition to defend three threats instead of two. With all due respect to Michael Lusk and Jason Hopkins, Daniels is the best option to be that third guy.

Oh, and Eddie Ard had 35, including a tying 3-ball at the buzzer. Good stuff.

All this said, the key to success in the Atlantic Sun is how you play in March. To win in the conference tournament, you have to be able to play three solid games in four days. That means depth. Last night does give Lipscomb one concern -- only 6 players played 12 or more minutes. To win in March, Lipscomb is going to need quality minutes from somebody off the bench (Adnan Hozdic, Jimmy Oden, Devon Seaford, etc.)

All in all, a good win. Let's see if they can keep it going.

2008 A-Sun Conference Preview, Teams

Based on the stats available at the Atlantic Sun website, here is my projection of the final standings. Remember, each team plays 16 games -- 10 against divisional foes and 6 against the other division. Tournament seedings are based on overall record. Teams ineligible for the conference tournament are marked with an asterisk (*).

Belmont: 12 - 4
East Tennessee State: 11 - 5
Mercer: 10 - 6
Gardner-Webb: 10 - 6
Lipscomb: 9 - 7
*Florida Gulf Coast: 8 - 8
Campbell: 8 - 8
Jacksonville: 8 - 8
Stetson: 6 - 10
*USC-Upstate: 6 - 10
*Kennesaw State: 5 - 11
*North Florida: 3 - 13

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)