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.