Friday, January 13, 2006

Big South linkage

It's Big South week for ESPN mid-major traveloguist Kyle Whelliston. Any plebian who wishes to read his account of watching the Flyin' Falwells take on High Point alongside the head Flyin' Falwell can, but only Insiders get his take on Buzz Peterson's Coastal Carolina taking on High Point, and Winthrop's bludgeoning of UNC-Asheville.

If you're not an Insider, I'll sum up the points of each article for you: 1. The Big South is an up-tempo-but-chaotic-not-up-tempo-in-the-good-Bruce-Pearl-way league. ("Watching a Big South Conference contest is like pouring a huge bagful of sugar down your throat, then chasing it with a two-liter bottle of Jolt...but the Big South usually is much more crash than sugar high," he writes.) 2. Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall ain't going anywhere.

In response to article #1, I would say that since Whelliston's own site often refers to Birmingham-Southern's pace as "Excruciating" and that UNC-Asheville traditionally takes its sweet Carolina time getting up the court, I'd say he's being a bit too generalizing. Then again, even the BSC-UNCA game was 80-66 and High Point did beat VMI 100-90 just last night. So maybe he's got a point.

In response to article #2, I would say "Oh crap."

Speaking of Winthrop, stathead Ken Pomeroy lubs him some Eagles, saying they should be ranked instead of Louisville. He also repeats that they shouldn't lose a Big South game, which irks me, but which I also have no convincing argument against.

Yet another Winthrop note: Joe Lunardi seems to think the Eagles are a 14 seed, which seems awfully low for a team that has a 52 RPI, a road win over Marquette, and whose "worst" loss RPI-wise was on the road to an SEC team (Alabama). I don't agree with a lot of this guy's bracket (Iona's in?), but I think he's got Winthrop where they belong. (Also, his site's excellent even if he did make a mistake in picking the "Wacked-out Green" blogger template.)

Interesting link here, where a writer for the Myrtle Beach answers various Coastal Carolina questions submitted by readers. He says Buzzball can't just live off the buzz forever, but more interestingly he tells some jerk who think the Fakecocks are "dominating" the Big South (despite the fact that football is a toss-up, men's hoops is owned by Winthrop, and women's hoops is owned by Liberty) that a move to the SoCon will happen eventually. Uh-huh. Guys, I don't think your britches are that tight yet.

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