Back in Asheville

— Chris Lang

Ah, the Justice Center. My home away from home for the next two weeks. UNC Asheville’s tiny on-campus gym plays host to tonight’s Big South men’s tournament semifinals (Winthrop is handling High Point in the first game, as we speak). The women’s tournament will be here next weekend, so I’ll surely be racking up some nice mileage checks.

Liberty will face top seed UNC Asheville in the second game. The winners meet Saturday, either in Rock Hill, S.C. (if it’s Liberty and Winthrop) or here at UNCA’s gym if the Bulldogs win.

First off, my thoughts on the tournament setup: It’s awful. And that’s the Big South Conference’s fault, not UNC Asheville’s. The place seats a touch more than 1,000 fans, so Winthrop, High Point and Liberty each were allotted about 100 tickets for their respective games. Really? This is how you want to run your showcase event? I don’t blame UNCA a bit for wanting to maintain its home-court advantage. The Bulldogs won the league and earned the right to host.

Imagine how bad this thing would be if Charleston Southern ever got to host it? You’d play your league’s tournament in a 789-seat gym? In the words of one Gob Bluth, “Come on!”

The conference is in a tough spot, though. If you play it at a neutral site like Greensboro or Roanoke, who would actually show up? I don’t know how much demand there is for Big South basketball in those markets. But for schools like Winthrop, Liberty and VMI that actually travel well in terms of fans, this is a no-win proposition. Getting tickets to tonight’s semifinals was close to impossible.

The only solution seems to be to play it at one of the four schools (Liberty, Winthrop, VMI, Radford) with decent-sized arenas. But I doubt the coaches will go for that. They like the home-site format, and I do too, in the respect that it rewards a team for the work it does in the regular season.

Now, to break down tonight’s game by matchup:

PG — UNCA’s K.J. Garland vs. LU’s TeeJay Bannister

Garland is extremely streaky as a shooter and he’s a bit of a hothead. So is Bannister, who has never found a foul he didn’t like. The one who keeps his cool will thrive. Bannister really took his game up a notch Tuesday night against VMI, and I expect that will continue tonight. Advantage: LU.

SG — UNCA’s Bryan Smithson vs. LU’s B.J. Jenkins

One is an all-conference performer, one is a wildly inconsistent sophomore who can look brilliant some nights and lost on others. Smithson torched Liberty in the first meeting here, hitting shot after well-defended shot on his way to 31 points. LU coach Ritchie McKay doesn’t like the tag applied to Jenkins, but he is absolutely the Flames’ X factor. When he plays well, so does Liberty. Advantage: UNCA.

SF/SG — UNCA’s Vincent James vs. LU’s Anthony Smith

James is sort of the unsung hero for UNCA, the guy who defends well and quietly scores in double figures most times out. Smith, though, has been on another planet lately with his play. That will continue tonight. Advantage: LU.

SF — UNCA’s Garrett Moles vs. LU’s Kyle Ohman

Moles doesn’t do much for the Bulldogs aside from defend in the post. I can’t imagine Ohman will hit seven 3-pointers again tonight, but as long as he plays his game, he’s a valuable asset for Liberty. He needs to stop with the dribble-drive penetration and stick with what he’s best at — hitting 3s, rebounding and scrapping for 50-50 balls. Advantage: LU.

PF — UNCA’s Reid Augst vs. LU’s Alex McLean

McLean has been soft lately, no one will deny that. And Liberty needs a big effort from him, especially when Kenny George isn’t on the floor. Augst has really come on in the season’s final month, and he’s shown a touch from the outside that he didn’t early on. Advantage: LU.

Bench — UNCA’s Kenny George, Sean Smith, John Williams vs. LU’s Rell Porter, Jeremy Anderson, Justin Holland

George is the ultimate game-changer, and he’s fairly well-rested. Smith has been a solid outside shooter and Williams blocks his fair share of shots. Liberty has gotten little from its bench this season, aside from solid long-range shooting from Anderson. Advantage: UNCA.

I have no prediction for the game, though I suspect it will be fairly tight throughout, unless Bannister picks up quick fouls. If that happens, Liberty could be in deep trouble.

Big South tourney time

— Chris Lang

Third verse, same as the first. I’m sure the Flames and Keydets are sick of seeing each other at this point, but there’s a little extra buzz for this Big South tournament quarterfinal game. VMI has beaten Liberty two straight times at the Vines Center by a combined three points, including last year’s conference tournament quarterfinal.

Liberty, strangely enough, has won during its last two ventures to Cameron Hall. The Keydets are 5-2 on the road in Big South play this year, so I doubt they’ll be intimidated.

Some nuggets and thoughts about the game, and other topics:

* On the all-Big South voting … Four spots on the first team were no-brainers. Arizona Reid is one of three players in the country to average 20 points and 10 boards a game. Reggie Williams is the state’s all-time leading Division I scorer. Alex McLean was in the top five in the Big South in scoring and rebounding. Bryan Smithson was the top scorer for the league regular-season champ.

So who deserved the final spot? Jack Leasure or Chris Gaynor? Both have flawed resumes this season. Gaynor leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio and steals, but his scoring numbers and assists totals were middling. Leasure is the Big South’s all-time leader in 3-pointers, but he disappeared for entire games this season. To name either to the fifth spot would feel like you’d be giving out a career award.

Leasure got the nod. It’s hard to argue with either player in that spot. My biggest problem with the final voting was that Kenny George was named to the Big South’s second team. Sorry, but he missed five league games and huge stretches of others. I’m fine with him being defensive player of the year. His 7-foot-7 presence alone was enough to force teams to scrap their entire offensive schemes. Both Liberty’s Anthony Smith and High Point’s Mike Jefferson had better resumes than George.

* Now for some keys to the game. Liberty will win if its point guards penetrate and create and Alex McLean gets going inside. That’ll open up some shots for Smith, Kyle Ohman and Jeremy Anderson. VMI will win if it shoots the way its accustomed to from the outside. The Keydets won here last week despite hitting only five 3s, a ridiculously low number for them. Also, Reggie Williams is going to get his. If Liberty can limit VMI’s secondary scorers, the Flames will have a good chance at earning its first Big South tournament victory in four years.

* This rivalry has gotten a bit chippy of late. VMI’s Chavis Holmes spent much of the last meeting yapping at Liberty’s players, and the Flames gave it right back to them. I say good. Two teams in the same league 50 miles apart should have some animosity between them. Makes it more fun.

* The whole Curry family is around tonight at the Vines Center. Former Virginia Tech star Dell Curry brought his sons to Lynchburg for a night of hoops. One of those sons, Stephen, will likely earn All-American honors this season for his play at Davidson. The other son, Seth, will join the Flames next season.

The Buc Dome?

— Chris Lang

OK. Whatever. I get it Charleston Southern. You’re trying to make your gym sound more menacing. But the Buc Dome? First off, it’s more like the Buc Barn. The CSU Field House, where the Buccaneers and Liberty will do battle tonight, seats about 789, which is slightly more than Campbell and slightly less than E.C. Glass High School. There are five rows of seats behind press row, nine rows of bleachers on the other side of the court, and then there’s the “Buc Wild Zone,” which sits in what appears to be a converted stage behind one of the baskets.

I’ve been in some small gyms before, but having hit both CSU and Campbell in the same year, I think I’ve stumbled on some sort of strange jackpot of low-level college basketball. The only thing worse for CSU is when they play in the North Charleston Coliseum and the same 700 people show up to games there. Cozy indeed.

I used to cover games at Cal State Northridge, which has a junior college gym that they dub “The Matadome.” That’s about the same level of ridiculousness. Or ridiculosity? Is that a word? Probably not.

Fun fact, though, is that they filmed the basketball scenes for National Lampoon’s “Van Wilder” at the Matadome. That movie featured Tek from the Real World Hawaii and also was probably the last time Tara Reid actually looked cute.

Quick thoughts on tonight’s game:

* This really is a huge opportunity for Liberty, one it desperately needs to take advantage of. It was about this time last season that the Flames actually started looking like a decent road team, winning its last two league games at VMI and Radford. Ritchie McKay’s assessment is spot on. I know he sounds a lot like Joe Morgan by bringing up the word consistency a lot, but the Flames have shown little of it in recent weeks. To win back-to-back road games would be a step in the right direction.

* CSU doesn’t have a lot of size to counter Liberty forward Alex McLean. After McLean was limited to nine points Saturday at Coastal, I’d expect him to get plenty of touches tonight.

* The CSU pep band is rocking Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie.” Great job!

Half – Liberty 25, Coastal Carolina 21

— Chris Lang

Kimbel Arena might be the first college gym I’ve been in where they played Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious.” I mean, that’s just awesome. Words can’t express how happy that makes me.

Liberty led 25-13 with 3:12 left, but Coastal scored the final eight points of the half, including a 3-pointer from Jack Leasure, his first in three halves against LU this year.

The Flames have been outstanding defensively and have hardly gotten anything from Anthony Smith (1-for-7, 2 points) and TeeJay Bannister (seven minutes, two fouls). Per usual, the first four minutes of the second half should set the tone for the rest of the way.

Quick notes:

* Rell Porter (sore knee) and Bannister (coach’s decision) didn’t start. Bannister came in at the first media timeout, Porter came in at about the 10-minute mark.  Jeremy Anderson and Kyle Ohman started in their place.

* Coastal is shooting 29.2 percent (7-for-24) and is only down four points. Not a good sign for LU. Coastal won’t continue to shoot this poorly.

* They’ve bleeped a lot of words out of this Eminem song they’re now playing. They should go back to Stevie Wonder.

Liberty-Coastal Carolina pregame

— Chris Lang

Hola from the land of the Beach Chickens. Lovely 75 degrees here today in Conway, S.C. Makes me want to head down to Myrtle Beach right now. Then again, I don’t want to scare children away with my ridiculous whiteness. Actually, that happens every time I try to recreate ODB’s “Got Your Money.” Note to self, stay away from the karaoke bar at Broadway at the Beach.

Big game today for both Liberty and Coastal Carolina, which enter today in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings. If Liberty loses, it’s going to need a lot of help to host a Big South tournament game. Liberty’s loss Tuesday to Winthrop gave the Eagles a season sweep of LU, and because Coastal and High Point both own wins over Winthrop, they would win any tiebreaker with Liberty down the line. Unless UNC Asheville finishes first and beats Coastal at home, then Liberty would own the tiebreaker against CCU because it would have a win over UNCA.

Of course, Liberty can clinch the tiebreaker with Coastal today with a win, since it would own a series sweep over the Chanticleers.

Couple of other random notes:

*  I can see why Coastal wants a new arena. Kimbel “Arena” has an official capacity of 999 and is slightly nicer than the gym at Brookville High School (better seatbacks). From all I’ve heard, the Coastal arena project is still stalled, so the Chants will be in Kimbel for the time being.

* CCU students are wearing “Cliff Dwellers” t-shirts, in deference to coach Cliff Ellis. Well played.

* Props to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for finishing the stretch of U.S. 220 around Ellerbee and Norman. That cut 30 minutes off the trip. I’m sure it’s been done for some time, but I haven’t been down this way since July of last year, so it was a nice surprise on an early morning drive.

* Song of the day on the trip down: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder.

* Coastal has moved freshman Anthony Breeze into the starting lineup ahead of senior Phil Wallace at forward. Interesting, considerng Wallace was about the only player who did anything in the first meeting between the teams, a 78-59 LU win Jan. 21.

* Liberty held CCU senior Jack Leasure to four points in the first meeting. Won’t happen again. Prediction: Leasure scores at least 20 today.

Liberty-High Point MBB pregame, and some football nuggets

— Chris Lang

A long day that started in Liberty football coach Danny Rocco’s office at 1 p.m. today continues in North Cackalacka tonight. Today is a pretty big day for LU sports fans. Football signing day is always an event. The men’s basketball team plays High Point in a pivotal Big South game here at the Millis Athletic Center. The women’s basketball team heads to Radford to play the team that truly had its number last season. And the football schedule was released.

To address every point:

* Football signing day: There were some real gems in Rocco’s third signing class, including local product Ryan Jackson from Brookville. Jackson seemed to be on the track to grab a scholarship from an ACC school before a knee injury derailed his senior season at BHS. As often happens in recruiting, the big boys simply went away. There are too many good players out there for BCS-level schools to take chances on injured players, unless they are truly, top-100 player in the nation special.

To Rocco’s credit, his coaching staff stuck with Jackson and nabbed a commitment. It’s funny. I wrote a feature on Jackson when he was a sophomore at Brookville, and I broached the subject of him potential trying to wrestle at Liberty when its program got started. He almost chuckled, like Liberty wasn’t an option. Not for football either. But he said today that the transformation in attitude at facilities at Liberty has been nothing short of amazing, making it much easier for him to want to sign there.

Also, a random note: Defensive back Brandon Robinson is the son of former NFL standout Eugene Robinson, who unfortunately is best known for some off-the-field, ahem, transgressions, the night before his Atlanta Falcons faced the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

* Men’s basketball: If Liberty can somehow sneak out a win at High Point tonight, it will have the inside track for either the No. 2 or 3 seeds in the Big South tournament, which is a huge deal. You don’t want to be the No. 4 and have to play UNC Asheville on its home floor in the tournament semifinals. (Yes, I’m giving the regular-season title to the Bulldogs. They’re that complete of a squad. They’ll lose a game or two in league, but they won’t lose the top spot in the standings.)  With a win tonight, Liberty would have a chance to win its next two at home (where it is 10-0) and move to 7-3 in the league standings.

* Women’s basketball: Liberty has pointed toward this matchup all season long. If the Flames win at the Dedmon Center tonight, I don’t think they’ll lose the rest of the year. Radford has some weird losses (Longwood? Charleston Southern?), but the Highs are still dangerous and experienced. And they’re the one team in league with the size to challenge Liberty.

* Liberty adds Lafayette to the 2008 home football schedule. A real nice get for the Flames, who were going to play North Carolina Central and either Savannah State or Jacksonville at home instead. NCCU bailed, leaving the Flames two openings. LU nabbed Lafayette, which has made three playoff appearances in the last four years, and filled the last spot with Glenville State. With games against Lafayette, Coastal Carolina, Youngstown State, Western Carolina and Elon on the slate, LU has the sort of strength of schedule that could be attractive to the playoff selection committee, should the Flames play well enough to warrant such consideration. The same couldn’t be said last year.

Liberty-Radford MBB pregame

— Chris Lang

I don’t know why I expected Radford students to actually show up to tonight’s game with Liberty. Maybe because it’s homecoming. Maybe because Liberty is supposedly Radford’s arch-rival. But 16 minutes before tipoff, the Dedmon Center is probably 60 percent empty. Late arriving crowd, maybe.

Couple of thoughts about tonight’s game, featuring the Flames (12-9, 4-2 Big South) and Highlanders (5-15, 0-5).

* This is a huge opportunity for Liberty. Radford is bad, but winning on the road in league is never easy in any conference. Ask North Carolina, which needed some late heroics to knock off Georgia Tech in Atlanta. If the Flames win, they finish the first half of the league schedule tied with Winthrop for second at 5-2. With a loss, they will likely join High Point in a tie for third, not a great place to be considering Liberty still has to travel to High Point next week.

* Opponents are shooting 37 percent from 3-point range against Radford this year, an encouraging sign since the Flames like to shoot the long ball. I’d expect Liberty to really challenge Radford sophomore forward Joey Lynch-Flohr tonight, going at him hard with forward Alex McLean. Teams that have continually double teamed McLean have paid recently, and Radford isn’t a good defensive team.

* The Flames last won two Big South road games in a row last February, when they beat VMI and Radford in succession. Liberty is coming off a win at VMI Monday.

* If Radford doesn’t get scoring from its starters, it’s in trouble. The highest scoring reserve is forward Phillip Martin at 3.4 points per game. Four of the five starters average double figures in scoring.

* It’s the annual Coaches vs. Cancer weekend in college hoops, so all coaches and staff are sporting sneakers on the sideline. Liberty is taking the Villanova approach, wearing warm-ups and polo shirts with the sneakers. Radford’s coaches are going with the suit and sneaker look. I like the former, myself.

I say the Villanova approach because that’s what the Wildcats’ coaching staff did today against Syracuse, leading to a great line from ESPN’s Len Elmore, who mentioned that Villanova coach Jay Wright would not wear a sneaker with a designer suit, since he usually is “sartorially resplendant.” Well done, sir.

And the Radford pep band just started playing “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba. Shoot me now.

And Baucom too

— Chris Lang

More bad news for VMI. Head coach Duggar Baucom will miss tonight’s game against Liberty. He was admitted to Lexington’s Stonewall Jackson Hospital Sunday afternoon after experiencing abdominal discomfort, and he continues to undergo tests today.

This is apparently unrelated to Baucom’s previous health problems. Baucom missed seven games in the 2005-06 season after having a pacemaker installed in his heart. Associate head coach Daniel Willis will handle all game coaching duties tonight, as he did in 2005-06 when Baucom was hospitalized.

Williams out

— Chris Lang

VMI forward Reggie Williams, the nation’s leading scorer at 27.3 points per game, won’t dress for tonight’s game against Liberty at Cameron Hall, according to Keydet assistant coach Jason Allison. Williams will also miss Saturday’s game against High Point. Williams sustained a deep thigh bruise in practice early last week and reaggravated it in the shootaround before last Tuesday’s game at Winthrop.

With Williams, VMI is one of the nation’s most dangerous offensive teams, averaging close to 95 points a game. Without Williams? Eh, not so much. VMI scored 41 against Winthrop, a score that caused one News & Advance Liberty beat writer (actually, I guess I’m the only one) to run to his laptop to see the box score.

Quinn Brownfield, who averages 2.4 points per game, will start in Williams’ place

Liberty-High Point MBB pregame

— Chris Lang

Sitting courtside at a somewhat packed Vines Center, at least on the student side. Strangely enough, there were more people here Monday for the Coastal Carolina game than for tonight’s matchup with the Panthers. Perhaps it was the allure of the Beat Coastal t-shirts that reappeared on campus, a fresh supply from what I can surmise.

(Oddly enough, Coastal hasn’t been tremendously relevant in basketball for the better part of two decades, save for the one year it nearly beat Winthrop in the Big South title game. But I digress.)

This is a big matchup for both teams, especially because it looks like UNC Asheville (4-0) and Winthrop (3-1) are both going to pick up victories tonight. The winner keeps pace. The loser sinks into the lower half of the league race.

Liberty is back to its white unis tonight, but I really can’t keep track. I hear the winner of the Project Runway competition will design a new set for next Saturday’s game at Radford.

I keed.