And it wasn't that close.
UNF shot exactly zero free throws. They scored 42 points despite missing 42 shots. Their team PEP was an anemic .439, compared to Lipscomb's 1.535.
Get this: Lipscomb won by 30 on a night when Eddie Ard made only one basket.
Across town, Belmont beat Jacksonville 84-78 to move into a tie for the league lead. This makes the Lipscomb-Jacksonville game Saturday absolutely huge. If the Dolphins get swept in Nashville, it raises a question about whether this team can win here in March.
Granted, the A-Sun North is a much tougher division. If Upstate can beat Stetson tonight, the whole division will be .500 or better. Since the last five games are in division, North Division teams can cannabilize each other while Jacksonville rolls through the South again and locks up the 1-seed and NIT berth. Even with a loss on Saturday, don't be surprised to see Jacksonville come to Allen Arena for the conference tournament with a 13-3 or 12-4 record.
But a 3-3 mark against the North raises the question of whether the new unbalanced A-Sun schedule has adequately prepared Jacksonville to run a North-heavy gauntlet in March. Jacksonville is the only team in the South Division with a record against the North over .500. As a division, the South is 10 games under .500 against the North -- and that's including Kennesaw's sweep in Nashville and Jacksonville's sweep in North Carolina. Going into tonight, the North has won 14 of the last 16 against the South, the only two losses coming at the hands of the Dolphins (against GW and Campbell).
And when conference tournament time rolls around, there will be 5 North Division teams in the field, but only 3 from the South.
Stay tuned.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Coming Up in the A-Sun
Big events this weekend:
Jacksonville comes to Nashville. If they can go home with at least a split, I'll be convinced. If they get swept, that might be that.
The Jumble. Right now there are six -- SIX -- teams tied for fifth place with a 4-5 conference record. Mercer playes two of them, GW & Campbell.
Best game -- Upstate @ Stetson. Campbell v. Mercer shoudl be pretty good, too.
Best women's game -- Gardner-Webb @ Kennesaw.
Jacksonville comes to Nashville. If they can go home with at least a split, I'll be convinced. If they get swept, that might be that.
The Jumble. Right now there are six -- SIX -- teams tied for fifth place with a 4-5 conference record. Mercer playes two of them, GW & Campbell.
Best game -- Upstate @ Stetson. Campbell v. Mercer shoudl be pretty good, too.
Best women's game -- Gardner-Webb @ Kennesaw.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
A-Sun Week in Review
This might be the jinx the rest of the conference is looking for, but I'm prepared to say that Jacksonville just might be the real deal.
After a sub-par pre-conference run, even for an A-Sun team, Jacksonville has won 8 of 9. This weekend they swept G-W and Campbell at home. Up to this weekend, I pegged the A-Sun race as a 2-team battle between Belmont and ETSU. I still like Belmont as the favorite, but Jacksonville has earned their spot as the third team in the hunt.
And all hail Kevin Tiggs. Jonathan Rodriguez is far and away the best player in the league, but Tiggs is the best player on one of the top 3 teams. Against Stetson, he went off for 26 points and 12 boards. Of the ten best single-game performances this year against D-1 competition, Tiggs and Rodriguez have 4 each.
On the women's side, ETSU and Kennesaw lived up to the hype. The Lady Bucs came out on top 81-77, but they had to shoot 70% and hold KSU under 30% in the second half to get there. Siarre Evans had a huge second half, scoring 13 points on 4-5 FGs and FTs, plus 5 boards and 2 assists. In the second half. In this league, that's a good night.
The best question -- Now that Jennifer Bowen is back, will North Florida play like they did earlier? Bowen, UNF's leader in points and minutes per game, missed 8 games in December and January, returning to play 34 minutes off the bench in the Osprey's loss to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago.
The results haven't shown up in the Win column yet. UNF was 5-3 in games Bowen missed, but only 1-5 since her return. Still, you can't help but believe getting one of your best players back should help.
UNF was one of the teams I picked early on to challenge Jacksonville for the conference lead. They are really well balanced, play a slow, deliberate pace, don't shoot a terrible lot of 3's, and at 0.72 PEP they guard the daylights out of you. They should be better than 4-5 in conference.
Especially this conference.
After a sub-par pre-conference run, even for an A-Sun team, Jacksonville has won 8 of 9. This weekend they swept G-W and Campbell at home. Up to this weekend, I pegged the A-Sun race as a 2-team battle between Belmont and ETSU. I still like Belmont as the favorite, but Jacksonville has earned their spot as the third team in the hunt.
And all hail Kevin Tiggs. Jonathan Rodriguez is far and away the best player in the league, but Tiggs is the best player on one of the top 3 teams. Against Stetson, he went off for 26 points and 12 boards. Of the ten best single-game performances this year against D-1 competition, Tiggs and Rodriguez have 4 each.
On the women's side, ETSU and Kennesaw lived up to the hype. The Lady Bucs came out on top 81-77, but they had to shoot 70% and hold KSU under 30% in the second half to get there. Siarre Evans had a huge second half, scoring 13 points on 4-5 FGs and FTs, plus 5 boards and 2 assists. In the second half. In this league, that's a good night.
The best question -- Now that Jennifer Bowen is back, will North Florida play like they did earlier? Bowen, UNF's leader in points and minutes per game, missed 8 games in December and January, returning to play 34 minutes off the bench in the Osprey's loss to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago.
The results haven't shown up in the Win column yet. UNF was 5-3 in games Bowen missed, but only 1-5 since her return. Still, you can't help but believe getting one of your best players back should help.
UNF was one of the teams I picked early on to challenge Jacksonville for the conference lead. They are really well balanced, play a slow, deliberate pace, don't shoot a terrible lot of 3's, and at 0.72 PEP they guard the daylights out of you. They should be better than 4-5 in conference.
Especially this conference.
Friday, February 1, 2008
A-Sun Baseball Preseason Poll
Now this is odd.
Stetson is the overwhelming pick to win the conference this year. Nothing weird there.
What's strange is that the pictures on the A-Sun website are of Lipscomb players. Bisons sophomore Rex Brothers is the pre-season Pitcher of the Year, and junior Caleb Joseph is Co-player of the Year.
What's really weird is that Lipscomb is picked for finish tenth. That's right -- tenth. The best pitcher in the conference, one of the best players in the conference, and the supporting cast is good enough to rank them TENTH?
Strange.
Stetson is the overwhelming pick to win the conference this year. Nothing weird there.
What's strange is that the pictures on the A-Sun website are of Lipscomb players. Bisons sophomore Rex Brothers is the pre-season Pitcher of the Year, and junior Caleb Joseph is Co-player of the Year.
What's really weird is that Lipscomb is picked for finish tenth. That's right -- tenth. The best pitcher in the conference, one of the best players in the conference, and the supporting cast is good enough to rank them TENTH?
Strange.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
This Week in the Atlantic Sun
There is a really good women's game coming up this week: Kennesaw State at ETSU. KSU is 5-2 in conference, 10-9 overall. East Tennessee is 6-1, 10-10.
Kennesaw State is led by Brittney Henderson, who is averaging 13 points and 9 boards fr the season. Greteya Kelley has also done well in conference play, averaging 14 points a night in the A-Sun.
ETSU counters with two solid guards in Siarre Evans and Michelle DeVault, both double-digit scorers and solid rebounders and defenders. Leticia Belcher's post play has improved dramatically in conference play; in seven starts, her efficiency rate is up around 14, one of the best in the conference.
This match-up will be the classic cncflict between tempo and defense. ETSU likes to run and shoot a lot of 3's. Kennesaw makes its living creating turnovers and playing well in the half-court. Kennesaw's 22 steals helped them beat Lipscomb last week despite going 0-7 on 3's.
The game could come down to who shoots free throws better. ETSU shoots 71% as a team, while KSU is a hair under 65%. Given how they've been playing lately, I like ETSU -- especially at home -- but Kennesaw has the horsepower to give them a good game.
The other game on the women's side that looks to be close is Stetson @ Lipscomb. Neither team is in the upper echelon of the conference, but they play comparable styles and are relatively close in talent. If both teams play well, this could be a good game. But if one team lapses -- as both are prone to do at times -- the othe rhas a chance to run away and hide.
Not mchh to wrtie about on the men's side. Kennesaw is at Upstate Firday night in what looks to be the best match-up. But if Kennesaw keeps playing like they did this weekend against the Boulevard, USCU is in trouble. I don't know that Kennesaw has three straight superior performances in them, but we shall see.
Kennesaw State is led by Brittney Henderson, who is averaging 13 points and 9 boards fr the season. Greteya Kelley has also done well in conference play, averaging 14 points a night in the A-Sun.
ETSU counters with two solid guards in Siarre Evans and Michelle DeVault, both double-digit scorers and solid rebounders and defenders. Leticia Belcher's post play has improved dramatically in conference play; in seven starts, her efficiency rate is up around 14, one of the best in the conference.
This match-up will be the classic cncflict between tempo and defense. ETSU likes to run and shoot a lot of 3's. Kennesaw makes its living creating turnovers and playing well in the half-court. Kennesaw's 22 steals helped them beat Lipscomb last week despite going 0-7 on 3's.
The game could come down to who shoots free throws better. ETSU shoots 71% as a team, while KSU is a hair under 65%. Given how they've been playing lately, I like ETSU -- especially at home -- but Kennesaw has the horsepower to give them a good game.
The other game on the women's side that looks to be close is Stetson @ Lipscomb. Neither team is in the upper echelon of the conference, but they play comparable styles and are relatively close in talent. If both teams play well, this could be a good game. But if one team lapses -- as both are prone to do at times -- the othe rhas a chance to run away and hide.
Not mchh to wrtie about on the men's side. Kennesaw is at Upstate Firday night in what looks to be the best match-up. But if Kennesaw keeps playing like they did this weekend against the Boulevard, USCU is in trouble. I don't know that Kennesaw has three straight superior performances in them, but we shall see.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
A-Sun Week in Review
I've already written about the biggest game of the weekend (ETSU over Jacksonville), so here's a little more
Biggest Surprise, Women -- Stetson over Gardner-Webb. Stetson fell behind 13-2 right off the bat, rallied to take the lead, then trailed by 6 with 5 mintues to go. Lady Hatter Sharnesha Smith then hit a jumper with 2 seconds left to tie. Gardner-Webb then made only 1 of 6 shots in overtime and Stetson wins 71-68. Player of the Game Ayesha Barkley of Stetson led the way for the Lady Hatters, coming off the bench for 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Biggest Surprise, Men -- Kennesaw State sweeps Nashville. Ronnell Wooten earned every oounce of his A-Sun Player of the Week Award, going for 30 points at Belmont and follwoing that up with 23 more back home against Lipscomb. Wooten hit 11 of 21 3-pointers in 2 games. But to win POW, it took every bit of production to out-distance teammate Shaun Stegall, who had 21 points and 8 boards against Lipscomb after missing a Triple-Double by one assist (18 pts, 10 rebounds, 9 assists) against Belmont. Both the Bruins and the Bisons played pretty well, but KSU was just better both nights.
One note: Lipscomb is now 0-4 in conference games that end in regulation, and 2-1 in OT.
Biggest Surprise, Women -- Stetson over Gardner-Webb. Stetson fell behind 13-2 right off the bat, rallied to take the lead, then trailed by 6 with 5 mintues to go. Lady Hatter Sharnesha Smith then hit a jumper with 2 seconds left to tie. Gardner-Webb then made only 1 of 6 shots in overtime and Stetson wins 71-68. Player of the Game Ayesha Barkley of Stetson led the way for the Lady Hatters, coming off the bench for 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Biggest Surprise, Men -- Kennesaw State sweeps Nashville. Ronnell Wooten earned every oounce of his A-Sun Player of the Week Award, going for 30 points at Belmont and follwoing that up with 23 more back home against Lipscomb. Wooten hit 11 of 21 3-pointers in 2 games. But to win POW, it took every bit of production to out-distance teammate Shaun Stegall, who had 21 points and 8 boards against Lipscomb after missing a Triple-Double by one assist (18 pts, 10 rebounds, 9 assists) against Belmont. Both the Bruins and the Bisons played pretty well, but KSU was just better both nights.
One note: Lipscomb is now 0-4 in conference games that end in regulation, and 2-1 in OT.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Don Meyer Wins #880
Congratulations to former Lipscomb head coach Don Meyer, who picked up career win #880 this weekend. In his ninth season at Northern State, Meyer is 178-79, 18-4 this year. Coach Meyer won 665 games in 24 years at Lipscomb, one of whcih was for the 1986 NAIA national championship.
Among men's coaches, Don Meyer is now second behind only Bob Knight, who won #900 on January 17th. Pat Summitt of Tennessee holds the overall wins lead with 963 (at last count).
Among men's coaches, Don Meyer is now second behind only Bob Knight, who won #900 on January 17th. Pat Summitt of Tennessee holds the overall wins lead with 963 (at last count).
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