The Madness Hasn't Been Kind to the Regular Season Champ

Coastal Carolina Winning 2014 Big South Championship

One thing has become permanently clear in these two weeks coming up to Selection Sunday this season.  If you're the regular season conference champion, chances are you haven't likely fared too well in your conference tournament.    With Louisiana Tech losing to Tulsa last night in the Conference USA championship, that means now twelve mid major level conference regular season champions will have now have an automatic NIT bid because they lost in their conference tournament; Louisiana Tech, Florida Gulf Coast, Boston University, Vermont, Belmont, Robert Morris, UC Irvine, Iona, Green Bay, Utah Valley, High Point and Davidson.  If Georgia State loses in the Sun Belt Conference championship today, it will make it an even Baker's Dozen.

Robert-Morris-LIU 2011 NEC Championship

But it's not been just the mid major conference tournaments where the number #1 seed has gone down.  Villanova and St Louis, both #1 seeds, went down in the quarterfinals in the Big East and A-10 tournaments respectively.  Kansas lost in the semis to Iowa State in the Big 12.  Cincinnati lost in the AAC semifinals to UConn.   Yesterday, San Diego State lost to New Mexico in the Mountain West finals.  Arizona jeopardized a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament by losing to UCLA in the Pac12 finals.

Now for all those regular season championship non mid major level teams that I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the conference tournament didn't mean too much to them, since they were all guaranteed a bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Still, it likely affected several team's seedings in the NCAA Tournament, especially St Louis.

2012 CAA Tournament - George Mason v. VCU

As of this morning, only eight regular season championship teams won their conference tournament and got the automatic NCAA bid; Wichita State (Missouri Valley), Gonzaga (WCC), NC Central (MEAC), Weber State (Big Sky), Southern (SWAC), North Dakota State (Summit), Delaware (CAA) and Western Michigan (MAC).  A ninth team that won the regular season championship, Harvard in the Ivy League, got an automatic bid since the Ivy doesn't have a post conference tournament.

So why has it been so difficult for regular season champions across the board to win their postseason conference tournaments?   Well, there are several reasons.

1. Complacency on the Non Mid Major Level - Let's be honest, it's hard for some Power Conference teams that have a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament to maintain their focus and level of play.   It's also difficult for those teams when playing similarly talented teams on that level.  Case in point, Villanova and St Louis.   Both teams played decent opponents in the quarterfinal rounds of their tournament;Seton Hall and St. Bonaventure. Both the Pirates and the Bonnies needed to run the table to win, so they went all out and caught the Wildcats and Billikens napping.  It happens.
2. Quality of Opponent - On the power conference level, you have ranked teams playing each other in the semifinals, even sometimes in the quarterfinals in the conference tournament.  So there certainly is very little difference between Kansas and Iowa State, Cincinnati and UConn, San Diego State and New Mexico, and Arizona and UCLA.   Cincinnati only received the #1 seed, because they won a coin flip vs. Louisville, who ended up winning the AAC.
   
   This has also been true for some of the smaller conference tournaments.  Florida Gulf Coast, the #1 seed, lost the Atlantic Sun championship game on its home court to Mercer, the #2 seed.   The Bears were returning the favor from a year ago when the Eagles won on Mercer's home court in the A-Sun championship.  Boston U, the #1 seed, lost the Patriot Conference Championship on their home court to the #2 seed, American.  Finally, Iona lost to the #2 seed Manhattan in the MAAC Conference Tournament final, a team they split with during the regular season.
3. "Neutral Site" Tournaments - This is where many of the mid major regular season champions got tripped up.  There are a good number of mid major level tournaments that are hosted on "neutral" sites for likely monetary reasons.   In one case in particular, the America East, the first two rounds conference tournament has been held on one of the conference member sites (the championship has been held on the higher seed's home court).  In this season and last season, it was hosted by Albany.  And in the last two seasons, Albany has knocked off the #1 seed in the semifinals (2013 - Stony Brook, 2014 - Vermont).  The Great Danes have used this momentum in both seasons to win the conference tournament, knocking off Vermont and Stony Brook on those school's respective home courts.
   
   The Big South also has a "neutral site" conference tournament that's hosted by one of its schools, Coastal Carolina, with a little help from the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.  High Point lost on a buzzer beater in the quarterfinals to Winthrop, which opened the door for the host Chanticleers to win the Big South Tournament.
   
   Once conference that used to be held in Albany and was moved to a true neutral site, due to concerns about Siena's home court advantage, is the MAAC.  The MAAC Tournament has been held in Springfield, "MAAChusetts" the last couple of seasons, which is where Iona lost to Manhattan in the championship this year.  However, attendance has been so bad in Springfield, the MAAC is considering other sites, including bring the tournament back to Albany.
   
   Other conference tournaments also use true neutral sites.  Asheville hosted the Southern Conference Tournament, where Davidson got knocked off by Western Carolina in the semifinals.  The WAC hosted their tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, which is where Utah Valley lost to Idaho in the conference semifinals.   Finally the Big West was held in Anaheim, California, where Cal Poly used the momentum from knocking off #1 seed UC Irvine to beat CS Northridge in the Big West Championship.
   
   Many people, including myself, don't think neutral site championships are fair on the mid major level. It's one thing where Power Six conferences or next level conferences like the Mountain West and A-10 can hold neutral site tournaments based on crowd attendance (it even works with the Missouri Valley to a lesser extent).  But at the Southern, WAC or Big West levels, a neutral site doesn't really draw a large crowd to justify a neutral site.  And in the case of the skewered America East host school "neutral site" tournament, it certainly doesn't justify that.
   
   To me and others, it doesn't reward all the work that regular season championship teams have done to finish in first and it also often doesn't put the best conference team in the tournament.   That's why I think the Ivy League has no post season tournament.  The regular season champion that was consistently best all season earns the automatic bid.
   
   It's my opinion that mid major conferences either go to an Atlantic Sun/NEC based tournament, where the higher seeds host the conference games throughout the various levels of the tournament or move to a Horizon League Tournament, where the #1 seed hosts the first two rounds of the tournament and the championship is held on the highest remaining seed's court.  Thus teams will be rewarding for a regular season accomplishment.  But...
    
4. Even With Home Court Advantage, Some Schools Can't Stand Prosperity - Even with the home court advantage, four regular season champions fell by the wayside in their conference tournament.  Green Bay, the Horizon League Regular Season Champion, again lost to Milwaukee on its home court in the conference semifinals.  The Phoenix lost at home to the Panthers earlier in the season.   As noted, Florida Gulf Coast lost at home to Mercer in the A-Sun finals.  Finally, Robert Morris lost at home in the NEC finals to Mount St Mary's.

2011 CAA Tournament - VCU v. George Mason

It's been the craziest conference tournament season I can ever remember.  And as a result, a lot of NIT hopefuls will be now scrambling for bids to the CIT and CBI, Defiantly Dutch's favorite tournament.  This season has shown, now more than ever, with rare exceptions, the regular season doesn't mean a thing.

I love conference tournaments, especially considering all the years I have been to the CAA Tournament, let alone NEC and Big South championship games.  Some of my favorite memories have come from sitting in a usually cold Richmond Coliseum, especially the 2011 and 2012 #CAAHoops semifinals.  There's nothing better than a sold out, raucous crowd during a conference tournament.  I will always remember fondly sitting in the Blackbirds' student section during LIU's overtime win over Robert Morris in the 2011 NEC Tournament final.

But sometimes, on the fairness level of conference tournaments and regular season champions, I think the Ivy League knows best.

Coastal Carolina Wins the Big South (Recap of Winthrop v. CCU in Big South Championship Game)

The day after a very successful Trenholm Little League Opening Day Ceremony, I ventured out and made the 2 1/2 hour trip from Columbia to Conway to see a guaranteed state of South Carolina team in the NCAA Tournament as Conway's own Coastal Carolina "hosted" Rock Hill's Winthrop in the Big South Championship game on Sunday.

I have to give credit to my fellow Mid Majority 800 Games Played writer Matt Cayuela for getting me out to the gorgeous HTC Center on the stunning campus of CCU on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  He had tried to get me out to the Big South Championship last season, but as I noted in my previous article, I needed to coach my older son at baseball practice that day.  This season, both my teams practice on Saturdays, so Sundays are now free and I can't pass up an automatic bid championship to the NCAA Tournament.

As I parked my car in a spot marked "Visitor" in front of what might have been the Admissions building on campus near to the HTC Center, I was struck by the Palmetto trees, the water fountain in front of the HTC Center and the general newness of the campus.  As I got up to the entrance of the HTC Center, there was a battle of the pep bands going on with a nice crowd gathered to soak in the music.

After I went to will call and got to my seat in Section 107, Row I, seat 7, I was quickly greeted by Matt and Ian McCormick, "The OmniPresence of South Carolina Hoops".   Matt, Ian and I were the top three 800 Games Played writers as far as number of recaps and since I moved to Columbia in August 2012, all three of us are South Carolina residents.   We caught up for a few minutes and we posed together for a picture.  Matt, known as Myrtle Beach Happy Hour on Twitter (@MBHH), since he reviews Myrtle Beach restaurants and bars, went back to his seat on the other side of the arena.  Since I had an extra ticket due to my older son wanting to stay home, Ian joined me for the championship game.

The section we were sitting in was behind the Winthrop bench, near the side of their basket with the band, cheerleaders and mascot.  The person who took our picture happened to be Devin Prescott's father.  Prescott is a freshman forward that comes off the bench for the Eagles. Prescott's mom was also there and his parents were featured twice in the Kiss Cam segment feature during a media timeout.

Big South has an interesting way of player introductions.   Instead of announcing each team's starters, they announce a starter for each team, one for Winthrop, one for Coastal Carolina.  It makes it seem like a heavyweight match-up and it's pretty cool.

The Chanticleers came out pretty strong led by guard Warren Gillis, their second leading scorer on the season, who scored the first four points of the game.  Coastal Carolina would extend the lead to 12-6 on a three pointer by Josh Cameron, the team's third leading scorer on the season.

But Winthrop would respond with three pointers from "Keon Squared", as Keon Johnson and Keon Moore hit from beyond the arc to tie the game at twelve.  After Cameron hit two free throws to put the Chanticleers up two, 16-14, Andre Smith joined the Eagles long distance club, nailing his own three pointer to give Winthrop their first lead, 17-16.

After Joab Jerome hit one of two free throws to put the Eagles up 18-16, the Chanticleers responded with a 12-0 run over the next five minutes.  Cameron was responsible for seven of the twelve points, including a three pointer.  His two point jumper capped the spurt and put Coastal Carolina up 28-18.

By this time, the HTC Center was raucously loud.  So loud that when Winthrop Head Coach Pat Kelsey furiously tried to call timeout, none of his players, who were setting up a play on the other end of the court, nor the referees could hear him.  Finally, one referee turned around and notice Kelsey frantically giving the timeout signal and gave him the timeout.

Whatever Kelsey said in the timeout worked, as the Eagles scored the next six points.  Prescott capped the mini spurt with an emphatic dunk off an assist by Jerome.  The dunk brought a roar of approval from his parents, as well as the rest of the Winthrop fans and cut the Chanticleers lead to four, 28-24.

But again, Coastal Carolina would respond, scoring the last six points of the half, including four by Gillis.  His layup put the Chanticleers up ten at halftime, 34-24.  Gillis had ten points and four assists in the first twenty minutes of the game.

Halftime at the HTC Center is full of fun.  First, there was the Winthrop students vs. the Coastal Carolina students in a game of "Musical Chairs basketball".  The student contestants dribble a ball walking around the chairs while the music is playing.  When it stops, whatever basket they are facing, they must dribble to the basket and hit a layup, then dribble back to get an open chair. Two students are eliminated at a time. It came down to two CCU students and one just barely beat the other to win the game.



If that was just it, that would be pretty good halftime entertainment.  But the Coastal Carolina games are also known for "The Interlude", which is about a two minute dance segment towards the end of halftime, where the entire crowd goes through various dance routines while the PA plays the musical interlude.  It's fun, entertaining and inventive.

The second half started with Winthrop's Jerome hitting a three point play to cut the lead to seven, 34-27.  But Coastal Carolina's leading scorer, freshman Elijah Wilson, who sat most of the first half due to foul trouble, came alive and started another CCU run. Wilson first tipped in a miss of his own layup, then buried a three pointer off another Gillis assist.  After Gillis hit one of two free throws, Cameron hit a layup to finish an 8-0 spurt and give the Chanticleers a commanding 42-27 lead.

Pat Kelsey could not wait for the Under 16 media and called a timeout.  It seemed to work as "Keon Squared" went to work with Moore making a jumper, then Johnson burying a three pointer to cut the Chanticleers lead back to ten, 42-32.  But the Eagles could not break the lead into single digits, staying within eleven, 47-36 on a Prescott jumper.

Looking to put the game away, CCU outscored Winthrop 10-3 over the next three minutes.  Gillis, as he had been all game, was in the middle of the spurt with a layup and two assists.  Wilson's jumper made it 57-39 with 9:42 left.  The Chanticleers would basically hold serve over the next three and half plus minutes.  A Cameron layup put CCU up seventeen, 61-44 with about six minutes left.

I turned to Ian and said this is about over, Ian called a run for Winthrop.  Sure enough, the Eagles would score the next eight straight points.  Smith's three pointer cut the lead to ten, 61-51 which resulted in the Winthrop section's loudest ovation of the night.   After Johnson hit one of two free throws, the CCU lead was finally down to single digits again, 61-52 with 4:36 left, plenty of time to complete the comeback.

But the host team, or better yet, the home team would not allow that to happen. Cliff Ellis' team would score six straight points, capped by a Gillis dunk, and the Chanticleers were up fifteen, 67-52 with 2:45 left.  The CCU students started to swell closer to the basket in their section, knowing the end was near.  The Eagles would get only as close as thirteen the rest of the way.  After Brandon Vega hit two free throws for Winthrop to cut the lead back to fifteen, Gillis and company ran out the final thirty five seconds.  The buzzer sounded and the CCU students rushed the court as the Chanticleers won the Big South Tournament 67-52.

Gillis was the man for Coastal Carolina on Sunday.  The Tournament MVP scored twenty three points on nine of fifteen shooting and added seven assists. Cameron added nineteen points while Badou Diagne sneakily added seventeen points and Wilson had twelve points for the Chanticleers, who shot fifty eight percent from the field.   Moore led the Eagles with nineteen points and Jerome was the only other double figure scorer for Winthrop with thirteen points.  CCU held Winthrop to thirty two percent shooting from the field.

Coastal Carolina won their first league championship since 1993 and clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  With their four top scorers on the day returning next season and the HTC Center hosting another Big South Tournament next year, its final year of a three year deal, the Chanticleers could very well be dancing again.

But as the students celebrated mid court, all they could think about is the now.  And that means a NCAA Tournament game in less than two weeks.  That's what March Madness is all about.

A Change in Life, A Change in Priorities

Two years ago this weekend, I was in Richmond, Virginia, sitting on press row as I was "covering" the 2012 CAA Tournament for my site as well as for the Mid Majority's 800 Games Played Project.  The CAA Tournament was responsible for ten of my fifty nine Division One games I covered that season.

To me, I wasn't "covering" the CAA Tournament, I was really more soaking in the CAA Tournament, a part of a sold out Richmond Coliseum crowd.  It was the year after three CAAHoops teams made the NCAA Tournament, fulfilling the hashtag dream of #3Bids4CAA. I was there among good friends, either super fans, bloggers or writers;Defiantly Dutch, aka my "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" partner in crime, my good friend Jerry Beach, Mike Brodsky, Joe Suhoski, Tom Block, GheorgetheBlog, Batogato,VCUPav, Mason Fanatic, Geoff Sorensen, Josh Verlin, Matt Cerilli, Rob Canady and Brian Mull.

It was one of the most awesome, fun, rewarding experiences of my life.

Two years later on a Friday night in Columbia, South Carolina, instead of watching my alma mater, Hofstra face UNCW on "Pillow Fight Friday" in the first round of the CAA Tournament, I spent five hours helping clean up a rain mired Little League Field for an Opening Day Ceremony that next day.  I ended up soaking in dirty rain water as several of my fellow Trenholm Little League board members, volunteers and I dried off the field to get it ready for over three hundred kids to parade around it on Saturday.

It was one of the most awesome, fun, rewarding experiences of my life.

So what changed?  Isn't this The College Hardwood?  Shouldn't I be in Baltimore, Maryland, among several of my CAAHoops friends to take in the first CAA Tournament outside of Richmond in like forever?

Life changed.

In August, 2012, as my loyal readers, aka "The Few, the Proud, the Followers of my site" know, I accepted a position at the University of South Carolina Law School.   The job has been terrific and I have never been happier than I am today in both my job and my life outside my job.

But I didn't fully comprehend that moving down south also results in seasons becoming longer and starting sooner.   Well, actually I sort of did know.  The main reason I am down here is because my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew, signed off on coming down here.  Despite moving away from several dear school friends, all of them who I coached in Little League up in North Bellmore, Matthew was looking forward to playing baseball ten months of the year.

And that really is the baseball season here.  From February to November, you are practicing and playing baseball.  Spring Season starts here the first week of February with our baseball evaluations and draft.  And you are playing till fall ball till mid November.  Literally, my year of baseball ended on November 14 when we lost in the winner take all Minors Fall League Championship game.

Up in New York, Little League baseball season doesn't start until late April.  Thus, you can fully involve yourself in March Madness. You can spend your first weekend in March from 2003 to 2012 going to the CAA Tournament in Richmond, Virginia when you live in New York (I missed the 2010 CAA Tournament due to my younger son's kidney surgery).

The past two years, I have spent my first weekend in March being a part of Opening Day at Trenholm Park in Forest Acres, South Carolina.  And there's no other way I would rather spend it.

As much as I love college basketball, I love coaching Little League even more.  I was coaching Matthew in Little League in North Bellmore, New York for two years before I moved down here.  Now I am coaching both Matthew and his younger brother, Jonathan, and have been since spring of 2013.  I am the head coach of a Jonathan's tee ball team and the co head-coach of Matthew's minors team.  And when I am not coaching, I am umpiring, scorekeeping or announcing Little League games.

As much as I "experienced" live college basketball, I am experiencing baseball even more.  And it's not just me, it's also my wife Michelle.  Chelle is my bench coach on my tee ball team and has been for the past three seasons.  She keeps the kids organized and ready to bat in the dugout, she assists with practices, she even made the banners for both my teams for the parade on Saturday.  Chelle has even advised me on my tee ball practices this season.  And in her spare time, she even works the canteen at Trenholm Park when I am not coaching/umpiring etc.  Plus, she makes one hell of a baseball banner.

Baseball has very much become a family affair for us.   Just about all my friends down here are from Little League and it's a family affair for them too.  Little League baseball has now become my passion, above college basketball.  And it's something I truly share with my entire family

Last March, after Opening Day on Saturday, I still had a chance to go to the Sunday Semifinals of the 2013 CAA Tournament in Richmond, likely the last ever CAA tournament held in Richmond.  Matthew had Coach Pitch Baseball practice that next day on Sunday.  I was an assistant coach on his team, but I figured I could miss one practice and make the trip up to Richmond.  I asked Matthew if he would be OK if I went to the CAA Tournament and missed practice.

My college basketball loving son, who accompanied me on many games during the 2011-12 college basketball season, thought for a moment and said "Dad, I want you at practice there coaching me."  It's all he had to say.

And that was enough for me.

So I missed the 2013 CAA Tournament.  And Saturday, while my alma mater played gallantly but lost to Delaware in the second round of the CAA Tournament in Baltimore, I was at Trenholm Park, on a beautiful sunny day with 300 plus kids, their parents, local dignitaries and guests like University of South Carolina Hall of Famer and current Gamecock football announcer Todd Ellis.  Our Opening Day ceremony was fantastic and was even covered by local media.

That doesn't mean The College Hardwood is going away any time soon or that I no longer will cover college basketball in March.   I will be at the Big South Conference championship game today and I will be attending the second and third regional rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Raleigh on March 21 and 23.  You can be sure that I will be writing about both of those.

It's just there has been a change of priorities.  And often, that's a good thing.

Cheryl Crow was right.  "A Change Will Do You Good".

A Night in Charleston (Recap of UNC Asheville vs. College of Charleston)

In November 2008, my friend Tony Terentieff and I took a trip down to Charleston to see Hofstra play in the inaugural Charleston Classic.  I quickly fell in love with a city full of history, culture, character, wonderful southern architecture and of course, terrific food.  It was truly one of the best vacations in my life.

When I accepted a position at the University of South Carolina School of Law in August 2012, one of the things I quickly looked forward to was being able to go every so often to Charleston.  Last basketball season, I was able to see Towson play College of Charleston, but due to time constraints, I didn't have much of a chance to enjoy one of my favorite cities.

However, late this summer, I brought my family to visit Charleston for an overnight trip.  My wife and my kids immensely enjoyed this city by the water, as we took in the Aquarium, visited a plantation (with a swamp full of alligators!) and walked through Waterfront Park, The Battery and went by many historic homes.  My family quickly became fond of the second largest city in South Carolina.

When my friend, Tony Bozzella, became head coach of the Seton Hall women's basketball team, he let us know that they were playing at South Carolina on Sunday, November 17.   It also happens to be the weekend of South Carolina hosting Florida in football.   So, a group of us put plans in motion for a weekend of sports, circled around seeing our good friend, Coach Bozzella.  It was also a reunion of my Hofstra basketball trio as I would get to see Tieff and Mal.

The original plan for the sports weekend was for Mal and Tieff to fly down on Friday morning and I would show them around Columbia.  But it just so happened that the College of Charleston was hosting UNC Asheville last night.  So I had a better plan;  a night of hoops in "The Holy City".

After picking them up at Charlotte airport, I drove them back to my house here in Forest Acres, a town inside Columbia.   We then had a tasty lunch of South Carolina barbecue at my home. Afterwards, I took Mal and Tieff to check into their hotel.  Then we made the now familiar two hour drive down to "America's Most Friendly City" (as noted by Conde Nast Traveler).  

I parked in the same garage by the downtown Hampton Inn that we used for my family trip in late summer and made our way through the streets of Charleston.  After a quick dinner at a local establishment, we headed out to what my Google Maps thought where the arena was located.  We quickly realized that it was not the right direction, so thanks to a couple of helpful, female College of Charleston students, which once again proved that Charleston is "the most polite and hospitable city in America", we got to TD Arena fifteen minutes before game time.

The John Kresse Court at TD arena is nestled into the heart of the College of Charleston campus.  It opened in November of 2008 and seats 5,100 people.  The TD Arena will be hosting its sixth Charleston Classic on November 21.   The Cougars will be one of the eight teams in the tournament.  Strangely, this only the third time that the College of Charleston will have played in the tournament on its home court.  The Cougars played in the first Charleston Classic and in last season's tournament.

It was a good crowd for a drizzly Friday night.  Tieff was hoping that there was no rain this time, unlike 2008.  During the first day of action in the brand new arena, it was raining in Charleston.  And the TD Arena roof had its first leak.  It just so happened the leak was right above where Tieff was sitting and sure enough, TD Arena, sort of speak, christened Tieff.

There was one difference between last night and the previous times I had seen the College of Charleston play on John Kresse Court.  That was the CAA logo at both baskets.  The Cougars just joined the Colonial Athletic Association this fall after years of being in the Southern Conference.

Early in this college basketball season, so much has been made of the impact of freshmen like Duke's Jabari Parker, Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and Kentucky's Julius Randle.  But its not just the big name schools that have impact freshman.   UNC Asheville and College of Charleston each have a freshman leading their team in scoring.   The Bulldogs have guard Andrew Rowsey, who came into the game averaging 18 points per game. The Cougars have Rick Barry's son, Canyon Barry.  Canyon put up 36 points in a win over Charlotte.

From the outset, both freshmen made their presence known on the court.  Barry hit a layup to give Charleston a 2-0 lead.  It would be the only lead the Cougars would have for the next thirty plus minutes of game action.  After D.J Cunningham, otherwise known as "Mr. C" the rest of the night (Google it), tipped in a rebound to tie the game at two, Rowsey went to work.  He assisted on a layup, then buried a three pointer and then hit another jumper to put UNC Asheville up 9-4.  A little bit later, Rowsey hit a layup and then buried another three pointer to extend the Bulldogs lead to ten, 16-6.

After the Bulldogs went up by 13, 21-8 with about nine minutes left in the half, Barry went to work.  He would score eleven of the Cougars next thirteen points with an array of three pointers, layups, dunks and of course, trademark Rick Barry underhanded free throws.  The kicker was that entering the game, Barry was only one of seven from the free throw line.  Tieff and Mal believed that Barry had been shooting his free throws overhand in those two games and that his Dad called him to say "Us Barrys shoot their free throws underhand, son.".  Barry would go six of six shooting underhand free throws on the night.

But despite Barry's scoring prowess, the UNC Asheville lead would continue to grow.  The Bulldogs were up 31-17 with two and a half minutes to go in the half.  This was a result of largely two things.  One, Rowsey creating offense either with a long three pointer or in one case, driving to the basket, then using an old school, rec league ball fake that resulted in a defender jumping up, leaving his man open for an easy layup. The other was "Mr. C" constantly getting post feeds and backing into his man for easy post shots.  Time after time, Cunningham was able to get an open look and there were no Cougars helping out to double team the six foot ten senior center.

Meanwhile, outside of Barry, the Cougars struggled on offense.  They only shot 8 of 29 from the field in the first half and if they weren't missing a shot, Cunningham or the Bulldogs' Jaleel Roberts were blocking them.  Cunningham had six blocks in the game and Roberts added three of his own.   UNC Asheville went into the locker room up 31-21 at half.

The College of Charleston needed to change things up to start the second half.  And the Cougars' Athletics Staff  provided the student section with the necessary arsenal to distract the Bulldogs' free throw shooters; inflatable props, consisting of palm trees, blue whales, bricks and turtles.  I think the props distracted the students more than it did the free throw shooters.  Still, it was a neat touch.

Through the first three minutes of the second half, UNC Asheville maintained a double digit lead, 37-26.  Then a Barry three pointer ignited a 16-2 run, capped on layup by Joe Chealey, another talented Cougars' freshman.   College of Charleston had its first lead, 42-39, since ninety seconds into the start of the game.

Rowsey would answer with four straight points, his first points since seven minutes left in the first half and the Bulldogs went back up 43-42.  Chealey would respond with a three pointer to put the Cougars back up two, 45-43 with ten minutes left.

It was then that Bulldogs' senior Jaron Lane offensively got on track.  Lane, a redshirt senior due to an ankle injury last season and who averaged 11.5 points per game in 2011-12, had a horrible first half as he went 0 for 6 from the field, missing badly on all of his three point attempts. In fact, Lane had missed on his first seven three pointers of the season.  But over the span of nearly six minutes, Lane accounted for nine of the next eleven points UNC Asheville scored, including a three pointer that put the Bulldogs up 54-49 with 3:20 left in the game.

The Bulldogs looked like they were going onto victory as the Cougars had not hit a field goal since eight and a half minutes left in the second half.   But some teams can't stand prosperity and the Bulldogs went away from their Rowsey dribble drive/Cunningham post game and went into a stall, with either Rowsey or Corey Littlejohn dribbling at the top of the key and Cunningham all the way over into a corner.  Their possessions ended up in badly taken shots, or in the case of Lane, a turnover.

As a result, UNC Asheville would not score another point the rest of the second half.   However, the College of Charleston barely took advantage.  First, Anthony Thomas hit a jumper to cut the lead to three, 54-51.  After missing on two consecutive possessions, the third time was the charge as Chealey setup Willis Hall nicely for a game tying three pointer with thirty five seconds left in the game.   The Bulldogs failed to score on their last possession and the game went into overtime tied at fifty four.

In the overtime period, the Bulldogs went back to the offense they unwisely had abandoned late in the second half.   On post plays, Cunningham, sorry, Mr. C hit two consecutive jumpers to put UNC Asheville up 58-54.  Adjehl Baru, who had a double of twelve points and thirteen rebounds, hit a jumper of his own to cut the Bulldogs lead to two, 58-56.  But on the next Cougars' possession, Baru missed a possible game tying jumper.  Rowsey responded with a jumper to put UNC Asheville back up four, 60-56.

As was the case for most of the game, the Cougars were ice cold from the floor down the stretch and Chealey and Thomas both missed easy layups that could have cut the deficit to two points.  From there, the Bulldogs iced the game hitting seven of eight free throws.  Meanwhile, Chealey had the last two points for the Cougars, but missed on two shots to end the game.  The Bulldogs got their first win of the season, a hard fought 67-58 overtime win.

The Bulldogs shot forty six percent from the field and fourteen of fifteen from the charity stripe.  Rowsey led all scorers with twenty three points on eight of eleven shooting from the field, including three of six from beyond the arc.  Lane scored thirteen points after the first twenty minutes.  Mr. C had a double double of twelve points and ten rebounds to go with his six blocks.

The Cougars had eighteen more field goal attempts than the Bulldogs, due to only six turnovers and forcing fourteen Bulldogs' turnovers.  Yet Charleston hit two less shots than UNC Asheville (22 to 24).  The Cougars were also a frigid five of twenty seven from beyond the arc.  Barry led Charleston with eighteen points, but he was only five of seventeen from the field, including two of nine from beyond the arc.  Baru had his double double and Chealey added ten points.

We said goodbye to "The Holy City" and made the two hour trip back to Mal and Tieff's hotel in downtown, Columbia.  Day one of our sports weekend was complete.  Day two is just beginning.

Welcome to the Big South (Recap of Campbell v. Coastal Carolina)

I got a message Thursday night from Matt Cayuela, writer for the Mid Majority and otherwise known as @MBHH, Myrtle Beach Happy Hour.  He's the man who knows all the happy hour places in the Myrtle Beach area.  Matt sent me a message Thursday night saying he had an extra ticket for Saturday night's Campbell v. Coastal Carolina game.  It took me all of five seconds to say "Count me in. I will buy dinner."

Immediately after South Carolina's win over Arkansas, I hopped in the car and took the 2 1/2 hour drive from Columbia to Coastal Carolina, which is located in Conway, a few minutes from Myrtle Beach.  The route is basically I-77 to I-20 East through Florence, to US 76 and then Route 501 where Coastal is located.  Along the way, I stopped for gas and a banana shake at a Pilot/Dairy Queen. Sadly I was driving, so I didn't have time for a Blizzard.

Despite driving past our meeting point, I quickly u-turned and parked at Tongy's Schmackhouse, a very good sports bar/restaurant located in the University Commons, a mall located right across from the university. I met Matt and he drove us over to the HTC Center, the Chanticleers new arena.

The HTC Center, which just opened this season, seats 3200, about the same occupancy of Rose Hill Gym. It reminds me of LIU Brooklyn's Wellness Center. It's a very nice arena and you best like teal, which is the Chanticleers' team color. Our seats were located in the last row of Section 114, which is dead center court. The HTC Center is the home for the Big South Tournament for the next three years and it's a worthy home for the Tournament.


Now when you are playing on the level of the Big South, you have to be creative in recruiting players. That's because there are a significant number of colleges in the North and South Carolina area, with many schools at higher D1 conferences. And both Campbell and South Carolina are very creative when it comes to recruiting.

In the case of Campbell and coach Robbie Laing, it's welcoming transfers, whether JUCOs or transfers from higher level Division I schools. Campbell has from my count five JUCO/community college players and four Division I transfers - forward Antwon Oliver (Iowa State), Darius Leonard (Kent State), Reco McCarter (VCU) and Darren White (James Madison). White was Campbell's leading scorer until he went down with a season ending injury. Campbell's style of recruiting is working as they entered the game 5-1 in conference.

In the case of Coastal Carolina and Cliff Harris, it's recruiting foreign players. The Chanticleers have five players from foreign countries - El Hadj Ndieguene and Badou Diagne (both from Senegal), Michael Enanga (Cameroon), Uros Ljeskovic (Montenegro) and Tristian Curtis (Bahamas). And having foreign players results in humorous banter. During the game, Ljeskovic, a freshman, turned over the ball. Matt commented to me "You know how freshmen are, especially Montenegran freshmen."

The Chanticleers jumped out quickly to a 12-4 lead as Kierre Greenwood hit a three point play. But the Camels responded with a 9-2 run as McCarter buried a three pointer to cut the CCU to one, 14-13 with eleven minutes left in the half. But the Chanticleers extended the lead back to five 18-13.

The Camels responded again with another 9-2 spurt. Darian Hooker hit a three pointer and was fouled. He made the free throw, then later hit another three pointer to tie the game at twenty. Andrew Ryan capped the spurt with a jumper and the Camels had a 22-20 lead with 5:45 left in the half.

The Chanticleers would respond by ending the half on a 9-0 run led by their three leading scorers on the season, Anthony Raffa, Greenwood and Warren Gillis. Gillis tied the game at 22, then Raffa buried a three pointer to put the Chanticleers up three. Greenwood would score the last two baskets and CCU went up at the half 29-22.

During halftime, CCU honored its over 250 student athletes that had a 3.0 or higher for the previous semester, including five students who had a perfect 4.0. Then right before the start of the second half, as Matt had warned me at the start of halftime, the PA system played "The Interlude". It's a video of the Chanticleer doing various dance moves to a song, which includes "The Robot", and the fans are welcome to follow along. Matt did his part and got up and danced. I just watched in amusement.

The second half started exactly as the first half left off with the Camels in a scoring drought. Perhaps it was "The Interlude" that affected them as Campbell failed to score for the first six plus minutes of the second half. The Camels had not scored in close to twelve minutes until Trey Freeman hit a layup with 14:52 left in the game. Fortunately for Campbell, CCU had only scored six points in the second half and was only up 35-24.

But that was as close as the Camels would get in the second half as the Chanticleers outscored them 15-6 over the next five and half minutes. Tristian Curtis started the spurt with two jumpers and Greenwood capped it with two free throws to put CCU up 50-30 with nine minutes left in the game.

Since most of my coverage on my blog the last several seasons has been the CAA, I have got to know the VCU Rams and their media/fans through Twitter extensively. Coming into last season, Reco McCarter was a highly thought of recruit who had been recruited by several major schools and ended up going to VCU. Because of VCU's incredible depth of talent, McCarter barely played. In fact, McCarter became famous among the VCU fans on when he played, which was mostly in blowouts.

Not surprisingly, McCarter transferred to Campbell, close to his home, received a waiver to play this season and currently starts for the Camels. You can see why VCU originally recruited him. He is six foot six, very athletic, can drive to the basket and hit the three. As Matt noted, the Camels have a lot of those type players, what you would call tweeners. Not big enough to play the #4 on the major college level and bigger than your average #2 guard. In fact, Campbell has nine players on the squad that range six foot four to six foot six. With the exception of the injured White and Ryan, they are all listed as forwards.

I was hoping for a good game from McCarter. But outside of the three pointer in the first half, he somewhat struggled. He missed an open layup, then fumbled a pass on what would have been an easy layup. In the second half, McCarter missed two free throws. Things were so rough for McCarter that on one play he got the ball and had an open lane for a layup. But Coach Laing called timeout as he started his drive. McCarter would end up with eight points on three of ten shooting in twenty seven minutes.

With the Chanticleers up twenty and the game no longer in doubt, the last several minutes were highlighted by the strong performance of the Camels' Leek Leek, one of their "tweener' forwards. He scored twelve points in the last nine minutes of the contest, hitting jumpers, layups, free throws and even a three pointer. Leek ended up scoring fourteen points more than double his season average going into the game.

However, Leek's one man late second half run wasn't enough as the Chanticleers defeated the Camels 73-59. Raffa and Greenwood combined for thirty eight points, ten rebounds, five assists and five steals. Ndieguene had nine points and eight rebounds. Hooker led the Camels with fifteen points.

The Chanticleers shot forty nine percent from the field and hit twenty two of their thirty one free throws. The Camels actually shot better from three point range, ten of twenty five, than two point range, eleven of thirty one.

After the game, Matt and I headed back to Tongy's. He had the wings and I had a burger called the Bear. Both of us agreed the food was quite good. With a long drive back to Columbia, I washed down three iced teas, much to the surprise of the bartender. After the third iced tea and the bill was paid. Matt and I said our goodbyes. I told him I enjoyed my first Big South game and plan to visit the HTC Center again soon.

Maybe I will even be there for the Big South Tournament.

I Have Seen the Light - End the BracketBusters

So, if you're a mid major college basketball fan, unless you have been hiding under a rock, you should know by now the BracketBuster Pairings.

St Mary's vs. Murray State
Long Beach State vs. Creighton
Nevada vs. Iona
Wichita State vs. Davidson
Drexel vs. Cleveland State
Akron vs. Oral Roberts
Valparaiso vs. Loyola Marymount
Northern Iowa vs. VCU
Buffalo vs. South Dakota State
Drake vs. New Mexico State
ODU vs. Missouri State
UNC Asheville vs. Weber State

After seeing the pairings, I am considering hiding under a rock.  And here's why (you will see I added three non televised BracketBuster teams for comparison.  Also you can click on the image for a full sized image);

As far as the televised game team selections, I had most of the teams from my predictions yesterday; ten of the thirteen home teams and eleven of the thirteen road teams.  I completely missed out on New Mexico State, since they deserved a spot (I did say yesterday though that I had an open home team).  What I didn't figure on was Missouri State and Loyola Marymount getting televised home games.

As for road teams, I had Drake in the discussion, so I am OK with that. As I noted in my article yesterday, the road teams were much weaker than the home teams and the statistics above prove that.  You have three road teams with nine losses, one with eight losses and another three teams with seven losses.  Compare that with the home teams where only three teams had seven losses or more.

You can see the wonderful, brilliant folks (once again, sarcasm by the author) selected their teams in most part by RPI.  It's the only explanation for Missouri State, only one of two home teams lower than second place in conference and the only home team with ten losses.  I could understand that if they had a record like ODU in conference, but they are only 6-5 in conference with an equal number of non conference losses.

As for the explanation of Loyola Marymount, I simply have none. Their numbers are worse across the board compared with both George Mason and Loyola Maryland.  To not have the first place CAA team in a televised BracketBuster game is criminal. Equally as criminal is not having Loyola Maryland, tied for first place in the MAAC, in a televised game.  Missouri State and Loyola Marymount stick out like sore thumbs in the home team comparisons and should not have got televised home games.

But the most serious transgression is giving Northern Iowa a televised game.  They are 4-7 in conference. Four and freakin seven and tied for seventh in the Missouri Valley!  Yes, they have good RPI and KenPom numbers.  But to quote Dennis Green, when you are 4-7 in conference, "They are what we thought they were". Meanwhile that leaves Stony Brook the only other BracketBuster eligible first place team besides George Mason without a televised game.  ESPN has just told the mid major basketball world what it thinks of the America East.

The pairings are not the greatest either. Based on region and RPI, I would have given St Mary's to Creighton, Wichita State to Murray State, Long Beach State to Iona and Nevada to Oral Roberts.   Yes, I know Davidson won at Kansas, but if you are going to base things on RPI, then Wichita State deserved the second best game.  If you are going to give Iona a west coast team, Long Beach State is somewhat better than Nevada based on numbers.

But again to not have the first place teams in the CAA or America East have televised games and instead have three teams that have at least nine losses and are not at least tied for second place in their conference have televised games; Northern Iowa, Missouri State and Loyola Marymount is criminal.   And if you are not going to reward a team like Stony Brook that's 7-1 in conference and in first place, why include the America East at all in the Bracketbusters?

Basically what ESPN said with yesterday's pairings is that a) the third place team in the Missouri Valley, a team with equal number of losses in conference and non conference is better than the first place team in the CAA that has only one loss in conference and half the losses overall, b) the seventh best team in the Missouri Valley that is 4-7 in conference is more rewarding of a televised game then the one loss first place team in the America East and c) Loyola Marymount is the best Loyola named school in the BracketBusters despite not being in first place and having four more losses than their Maryland counterpart.

If I was a George Mason, Stony Brook or Loyola Maryland fan this morning, I would be quite upset.

I have long been the defender of the BracketBusters.  But after yesterday's pairings, the decisions were as bad as some past NCAA Selection Committees.  For all the hassle with the home and road requirements, at least if you had selected teams based on merit and pairings that made sense, I could see it being worth the trouble.  But you didn't have that yesterday. I see only three games that can really help teams as far as at large bids; St Mary's vs. Murray State; Long Beach State vs. Creighton and believe it or not, Drexel vs. Cleveland State (a road win could definitely help the Dragons' numbers).  Otherwise, ESPN didn't do anybody any favors.

I have seen the light.  It's time to end the BracketBusters.