Sunday, July 29, 2007
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, July 12, 2007
What I'm Up To
For the last three weeks, I've beetn writing the Jeopardy! message boards Summer Hiatus Challenge. The game debuts July 30th.
17 categories down, 67 to go.
I've also been experimenting with a new individual basketball stat. It's tempo-free and can compare performances across positions. Preliminary testing indicates it will end up looking something like Slugging Percentage. I'll roll it out as soon as I finish tinkering.
Between that and our Gospel Meeting which just finished and the camp presentation I'm making at church Sunday night and the Future Preachers Camp we're trying to get planned for next summer and soccer camp tomorrow and and and . . .
Well, stay tuned. Or not.
17 categories down, 67 to go.
I've also been experimenting with a new individual basketball stat. It's tempo-free and can compare performances across positions. Preliminary testing indicates it will end up looking something like Slugging Percentage. I'll roll it out as soon as I finish tinkering.
Between that and our Gospel Meeting which just finished and the camp presentation I'm making at church Sunday night and the Future Preachers Camp we're trying to get planned for next summer and soccer camp tomorrow and and and . . .
Well, stay tuned. Or not.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Atlantic Sun Spring Sports Recap
More detail when I get back from camp, but here we go:
Outstanding Team -- East Tennessee State Men's Golf. Conference championship and a trip to the national tournament, finishing 18th. Nationally ranked all year, #14 going into nationals.
Runner-Up, Outstanding Team -- Stetson Baseball. Ranked in the low 20's all year. Won the conference regular season title going away. Earned an at-large bid to and won a game in the NCAA tournament, the only one awarded to a conference team in any sport all year.
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Team -- Jacksonville women's track. Sent two individuals to the NCAA's.
Outstanding Player -- Rhys Davies, ETSU golf. He's going to the U. S. Open. Yes. The U. S. Open. Sure, he won a conference title, was once ranked #1 in the country earlier this season, and did a good job in the NCAA's, but he's going to the U. S. Open. Dude.
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Player -- Corey Kluber, Stetson baseball. Conference pitcher of the year, 4th round draft pick by the Padres. Sam Tilley, Campbell men's track. Won a spot at the NCAA's in the long jump by finishing 5th at regionals. Natasha Harvey, Jacksonville women's track. 5th place in the regionals in the women's long jump, going to the NCAA's.
Outstanding Team -- East Tennessee State Men's Golf. Conference championship and a trip to the national tournament, finishing 18th. Nationally ranked all year, #14 going into nationals.
Runner-Up, Outstanding Team -- Stetson Baseball. Ranked in the low 20's all year. Won the conference regular season title going away. Earned an at-large bid to and won a game in the NCAA tournament, the only one awarded to a conference team in any sport all year.
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Team -- Jacksonville women's track. Sent two individuals to the NCAA's.
Outstanding Player -- Rhys Davies, ETSU golf. He's going to the U. S. Open. Yes. The U. S. Open. Sure, he won a conference title, was once ranked #1 in the country earlier this season, and did a good job in the NCAA's, but he's going to the U. S. Open. Dude.
Honorable Mention, Outstanding Player -- Corey Kluber, Stetson baseball. Conference pitcher of the year, 4th round draft pick by the Padres. Sam Tilley, Campbell men's track. Won a spot at the NCAA's in the long jump by finishing 5th at regionals. Natasha Harvey, Jacksonville women's track. 5th place in the regionals in the women's long jump, going to the NCAA's.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
ETSU Golfer to the U. S. Open
Before we get to the complete A-Sun spring recap later this week, this event warrants its own post.
East Tennessee State golfer Rhys Davies earned medalist honors at the Rockville, MD U. S. Open qualifier yesterday, beating Joey Sindelar by 1 and Fred Funk by 2.
No word whether or not he's related to Sliders star Jonathan Rhys-Davies. How cool would that be.
East Tennessee State golfer Rhys Davies earned medalist honors at the Rockville, MD U. S. Open qualifier yesterday, beating Joey Sindelar by 1 and Fred Funk by 2.
No word whether or not he's related to Sliders star Jonathan Rhys-Davies. How cool would that be.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Go Predators. And Take Greer Stadium With You.
The Nashville Predators are being sold. The new owner is probably going to take them to Hamilton, Ontario.
As a small college sports fan, I am extremely excited about this development. If you live within 100 miles of Nashville, the Titans are king, and nothing is going to change that anytime soon. Lipscomb, Belmont, the Sounds, and the like could never compete with the NFL.
But the Predators are another matter.
If the Predators are gone, $23 million in ticket sales, corporate sponsorships (such as they are), and valuable airtime on sports radio and TV are suddenly up for grabs. The 1,800 people (I am not making that number up) in the Nashville media market who watched the NHL All-Star Game on TV will watch whether there is a Nashville team or not.
This move is good for the NHL, good for the new owner, and good for the rest of the Middle Tennessee sports community.
Coming soon -- The Atlantic Sun spring sports recap, and thoughts about Mark Cuban's new football league.
As a small college sports fan, I am extremely excited about this development. If you live within 100 miles of Nashville, the Titans are king, and nothing is going to change that anytime soon. Lipscomb, Belmont, the Sounds, and the like could never compete with the NFL.
But the Predators are another matter.
If the Predators are gone, $23 million in ticket sales, corporate sponsorships (such as they are), and valuable airtime on sports radio and TV are suddenly up for grabs. The 1,800 people (I am not making that number up) in the Nashville media market who watched the NHL All-Star Game on TV will watch whether there is a Nashville team or not.
This move is good for the NHL, good for the new owner, and good for the rest of the Middle Tennessee sports community.
Coming soon -- The Atlantic Sun spring sports recap, and thoughts about Mark Cuban's new football league.
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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