College Basketball
ACC Still King
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We’re heading in to the second week of March Madness and so far, it has been exciting. We have the usual upsets like 12 seed Murray State beating Marquette, a five seed. \
The ACC is known as the best basketball conference and to some extent, they proved it. They also have raised some questions with the overall performance after the first weekend. They have sent the most teams (5) to the next round.
Duke is the number one overall seed in the tournament and top seed in the East. They are the only clear-cut favorite to win it all but they struggled in the round of 32. The opponent was No. 9 seed Central Florida and they won a nail biter, 77-76.
This game was much closer than anyone expected and the Blue Devils took the lead in the final minute. I’m not sure if this is a cause for concern for Duke or just a close game that can happen during the tournament.
For instance, 5th seed Auburn beat 12th seed New Mexico State by one point in the first round. Then they turned around and beat Kansas.
The Sweet 16 opponent for Duke is an ACC team, 4th seed Virginia Tech. The Hokies beat Duke at home last month. That was a game without Zion Williamson and the Blue Devils went 0-3 during that stretch. Duke is a completely different team with Zion so Va Tech cannot put much stock in their previous game.
We did not expect UCF to almost beat the Blue Devils so anything can happen. I do believe this will be a very close game but Duke should win.
No.1 seed Virginia has rebounded well after last season’s debacle. They became the first one seed to lose to a 16 seed in last year’s tournament. They appeared to be headed in the same direction this year. Gardner-Webb led Virginia by as many as 14 points in the first half. They went into the half leading by 6.
UVA came back in the second half and won71-56. In the second round, they beat Oklahoma. I have little faith in the Cavaliers because of what they did last season.
They play 12 seed Oregon in the next round. The Ducks lost their best player, Bol Bol for the season back in December. Virginia should win easily.
Florida State is the 4 seed and they play the top seed in the West, Gonzaga. These teams have recent history since they played in the tournament last season.
The Seminoles won easily, 75-60. You know Gonzaga is looking for revenge and that will make this the must watch game of the Sweet 16.
FSU is a team full of tall and athletic players that can defend. With that said, I think the Bulldogs are a better team this season and they should walk away with the win.
North Carolina is the top seed in the Midwest and they will face off against 5 seed Auburn.
The Tigers are a very good team and they won the SEC tournament. They are not a traditional powerhouse in basketball but Coach Bruce Pearl has turned that program around.
UNC is too talented though and I think they will win the national championship. That means I’m picking the Tar Heels to win the game.
SEC Best Basketball Conference In The Country
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For years the SEC has been known as a football conference, and with good reason.
The start of the basketball season was just viewed as the beginning of the countdown until spring football games; each passing game meant fans were just one day closer to the start of the gridiron season.
Over the past few years SEC basketball has slowly crept up the rung of high powered basketball conferences. With four teams participating in this year’s Sweet Sixteen, they may have finally arrived.
I’ve joked in the past how outside of John Calipari the rest of the SEC had basically become the “Land of Misfit Coaches”. Names like Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, Tom Crean, and Ben Howland; all on their own personal reclamation journeys after being dismissed from more prestigious jobs.
While it’s still too early in Crean’s tenure at Georgia, the other hires have undoubtedly exceeded expectations. Throw in other coaches like Kermit Davis and Mike White, and suddenly the SEC coaching tree is as strong as any in the country.
(Up until a few weeks ago I would’ve included Will Wade on that list with Davis and White. I do think Wade is a good coach, but I’d be shocked if he coaches another game for LSU.)
The conferences strong showing in this year’s tournament, and the increasing possibility of having at least one Final Four team, can only bolster their upward projection.
Barnes’ Volunteers did their best to help run his consecutive tournament appearances without a trip to the Sweet Sixteen to eight, but low and behold they were able to break the streak. Now, they are probably the favorite to come out their region.
North Carolina is still the favorite to come out of the Midwest, but Auburn is as dangerous as any remaining team with their ability to stretch the floor and propensity for hitting the three.
Kentucky will need PJ Washington back in order for them to have any legitimate shot of beating Houston, and either UNC or Auburn. Still, that doesn’t mean the Wildcats will be a pushover.
And as a Duke fan, if the Blue Devils are lucky enough to get past Virginia Tech, I do not want any part of LSU. The Tigers, along with Tennessee, have arguably been the best team in the SEC this season.
My only concern for LSU entering the tournament was how they would handle all the off court distractions. After two good, but not overly impressive wins, I’m not sure they’ve quite answered that question yet. However, they are long, athletic, and talented enough to beat any one of the other remaining teams.
There was a four to five year span where SEC basketball consisted of Kentucky, and that was about it. The remainder of the league basically took turns at mediocrity, with the occasional surprise tournament run.
The SEC is still viewed as a step below conferences like the ACC and Big Ten when it comes to all around talent and depth, but they’ve made up a lot of ground in a short period of time.
The league may be full of coaches on their second or third chances, but they have all but turned the corner on being “reclamation projects”.
Basketball will never be as big as football in SEC country, but with some consistency and a few deep tournament runs, those three to four months may be actually be referred to as “basketball season” and not just “football’s offseason”.
Panthers Wearing The Glass Slipper?
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When you think major college basketball in my home state Georgia Tech and Georgia come to mind.
Both of those programs did not do well this season and they are not playing in the NCAA Tournament. Surprisingly, the only team from the Peach State in the Big Dance is Georgia State.
Head coach Ron Hunter led the Panthers to the tournament two previous times in 2015 and 2018. In 2015 as a No. 14 seed they upset No. 3 Baylor. They have tournament experience, so they should not be intimidated.
The Panthers finished 24-9. They are a very balanced team with five players that average double figures. Junior guard D’Marcus Simonds is the leading scorer with 18.4 points per game. He also averages 5 rebounds per game and 4 assists.
Senior forward Malik Benlevi leads the team in rebounds with 6 rpg. The Savannah native also averages 12 ppg. Senior guard and Alabama transfer Devin Mitchell also averages 12 ppg.
Sophomore guard Kane Williams and senior forward Jeff Thomas both average 11 ppg. Thomas is the only starter that’s not from Georgia.
The Panthers played two SEC teams and beat both of them. They trounced Georgia in the Cayman Islands Classic 91-67. They defeated Alabama on the road 83-80.
GSU got to the tournament by winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Their conference record was 13-5 so they finished the regular season with the best record.
There were some upsets in the Sun Belt tournament so they played UT Arlington in the championship game. The Mavericks finished fourth in conference play but their overall record is only 17-16.
Georgia State won the game 73-64. UTA went on an 8-0 run in the second half, cutting Georgia State’s lead to 64-60 with less than two minutes to play.
Junior guard Damon Wilson broke up the run with two free throws, and Williams extended the lead back to eight with another two free throws. UTA missed multiple 3’s in an attempt to come back, and with 56 seconds left, Simonds converted a free throw to make it a 10-point game.
“We weren’t the greatest free throw shooting, and I couldn’t understand it because we shoot the ball so well,” said Georgia State coach Ron Hunter. “But we have been great at the end of the game with five minutes left. With five minutes left in the game we’ve been tremendous free throw shooters.”
“I knew when we get it inside five we were pretty locked in at that particular time, and that’s when you have to make them.”
The Panthers are the No. 14 seed in the Midwest region. They will play No. 3 seed Houston (31-3) in the first round. The Cougars had a great season and finished the regular season in first place in the AAC. They lost the conference tournament championship to Cincinnati.
They are led by head coach Kelvin Sampson, who previously coached at Oklahoma and Indiana.
I think that there is a very good chance of GSU pulling an upset. I thought Houston was an elite team prior to losing to Cincy. I think they may have been exposed in that game.
The game is Friday March 22nd at 7:20 pm. We will see how it plays out.
The Madness Begins
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
These next three weeks are my favorite time of the sporting year. No offense to the Super Bowl or College football playoffs, and I mean no slight to the NBA Finals
or World Series, but nothing is better than the unpredictability and difficulty of the NCAA Tournament.
It’s the best sporting event of the year, with no shortage of interesting matchup and intriguing storylines.
That said, without bringing up snubs or seeding issues, here are a few things that stick out heading into the opening round.
1- Duke was the overall number 1 seed and their region reflects that. Michigan State has been really good this season, but I don’t think they match up well with the Devils and Izzo’s lack of success against them in years past does not instill confidence.
LSU has the length and athleticism, but with their off the court distractions and lack of experience in this type of atmosphere they are primed to be upset early.
Virginia Tech beat Duke a few weeks ago, but that was in Blacksburg, with no Zion.
That’s not to say neither of these teams can win, or that another team couldn’t pull the upset, but the number one overall seed should have the easiest path, and you could argue Duke has it.
2- John Calipari could be in a region with fifteen Division III teams and he’d still complain. Kentucky has the most difficult road to the Final Four. This year, he has a legit argument. North Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn, and Iowa State are all talented enough to make it to Minneapolis. Even the lower seeded teams could cause problems.
3- Do yourself a solid and make sure you get in front of a tv for the Marquette/Murray State game. I have no idea how the actual game will play out, but you may not see two more exciting players at one time than Markus Howard and Ja Morant.
Imagine how painful a potential Virginia/Cincinnati matchup would be and then envision the exact opposite; that should be Marquette and Murray State.
4- Florida State is poised to make a run- outside of Michigan I think they’re the second best team in their region- which means they’ll probably go down to Vermont.
5- Tennessee may have wanted a number one seed, but they couldn’t have asked to be in a better spot than they are. They are by far the best team in their half of the bracket and I would favor them against Virginia. I’ve stated this before, but the only question mark is Rick Barnes. He’s done less with more, and hasn’t advanced past the opening weekend in his last seven tries.
6- There always seems to be one double digit seed that makes it to the Sweet Sixteen; my bet this year is Belmont. They get a Temple team they should beat, a Maryland team they could easily beat, and probably an LSU team they will give fits to.
Had Belmont won their conference championship they could easily be an eight seed. This is a talented, disciplined team that could make it to the second weekend.
There are numerous other story lines and matchups that could easily top any of the things I just mentioned, which is the beauty of this tournament.
We all think we know how this will play out, but if past tournament brackets have taught us anything, the only thing predictable about the NCAA Tournament is it’s completely unpredictable.
The Broken System
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As a kid, I remember the countless hours of classroom and homework time that – come March – was totally abandoned for the sanctity of brackets.
Beginning with the conference tournaments and stretching into the NCAA ‘big dance’, I was constantly overwhelmed and obsessed with drawing out the brackets and playing out all of the scenarios in my head.
Whether it was charting a course to a championship for my favorite teams or trying to figure out where the surprises would spring up, there was something about the mystique of the endless possible outcomes of the bracket that had me in a daze until April.
The annual NCAA tournament still provides thrilling moments and memorable storylines each spring, but the magic seems to be wearing off.
Sure, anyone who makes it into the tournament field still has a chance to cut down the nets, but recent seasons have taken away the one thing that made March Madness a pillar of sports watching – the unknown team that can win.
These unknown teams shouldn’t be confused with the upsets that are also synonymous with the tournament. There will always be lower seeds that notch huge wins against heavily-favored opponents, but those upsets are now just as likely to come from a big-name school in a big conference with a huge budget as opposed to previous years where the tournament was flush with more schools from smaller conferences trying to make their mark.
The latest projections for this season’s NCAA tournament guess that 34 teams – exactly half of the 68-team total for the field – will come from the five richest conferences in Division I.
The NCAA mandates that the winners of all 32 conferences participating in Division I receive a bid to the tournament. That rule gives schools in smaller conferences more of a shot at a national title than non P5 schools will ever have at a national football title, but the bias is still evident.
Doing the quick math, the latest projections see the tournament spots being taken up by the 32 conference champs, along with 29 non-champion schools from the ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac 12 and SEC. That leaves a grand total of seven at-large bids to be had by the roughly 250 Division-I schools who aren’t part of those five richest conferences and who won’t win their conference tournaments.
That’s hardly fair.
Yes, most teams from the bigger conferences have better track records and dominate recruiting rankings.
Yes, the teams in smaller conferences who don’t win their tournaments don’t play the same amount of quality teams in their yearly schedule.
And yes, the broadcast might suffer a bit if analysts are forced to talk about a school they’ve barely heard of.
But it’s called March Madness for a reason.
In an NCAA basketball landscape where even middling power conference teams are mostly fueled by one-and-done players, why not reward more smaller schools who have built up a starting lineup full of three and four-year starters?
In a time where most early round games are played in half-empty arenas, why favor schools with nine-figure athletic budgets when they don’t play or draw better than an upstart squad that hasn’t been to the tournament in a decade?
Even the biggest NCAA hoops fans can’t tell you who the sixth and seventh teams from the ACC were in last year’s tournament, but they can tell you all about UMBC, Florida Gulf Coast and countless other ‘nobody’s’ who seized their moment on the big stage.
Odds are that the biggest and richest schools will still be competing once the Final Four comes around. And that’s all the reason needed to include more smaller schools and bring some more madness to March.
Best Foot Forward
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Going in to conference tournaments, I have one provocative question.
Is North Carolina a legit national title contender? That might seem like a silly question. The No. 3 Tar Heels (26-5) just beat their archrival Duke for the second time this season. They finished second in the ACC.
“It was a big-time win. It was ugly as it could be,” Coach Roy Williams told reporters. “The last six minutes, I think we made no field goals. Cam (Johnson) stepped up to the free-throw line and made two big free throws. Garrison (Brooks) stepped up and had really struggled, but made two big free throws. Cody (White) was a mess there for a while. It was hard for people to handle.”
You might be wondering why I would even question that given the outcome of this season. In the era of the one and done players, UNC rarely gets elite talent. That’s a head scratcher for a blue blood program like them.
We see other top programs like Duke, Kentucky and Kansas get top recruiting classes. North Carolina had the 14th ranked 2018 recruiting classes. I think their lack of top-flight talent is their Achilles hill.
That has been shown in most of their losses. In the Las Vegas Invitational, they lost to Texas 92 – 89. The Longhorns had the 8th ranked recruiting class.
Two games later they lost convincingly (84-67) at No. 10 Michigan. The Wolverines 2018 recruiting class was ranked 12th.
The Tar Heels also lost to No. 4 Kentucky (80-72) in the CBS Sports Classic. The Wildcats had the second ranked recruiting class. This same Kentucky team was demolished by 34 points against Duke.
I think the Blue Devils are a totally different team with Zion Williamson on the court. UNC has dodged a bullet by not having to play against him for more than 33 seconds in both meetings. I think the outcome of those games would have been different if he played.
The other two loses were at home against Louisville and No. 2 Virginia.
This is a rare season where there are several teams competing for the national championship. Duke was the clear-cut favorite prior to the injury to Zion. He still has not returned so I’m going to assume he will not play again for the rest of the season. Coach K said he practiced before the season finale but he did not suit up.
UNC will get a top seed in the NCAA tournament. That will make their path to the Final Four easier. They are not the most talented team but they do have experience. The leading scorer is senior guard Cameron Johnson with 16.8 points per game.
Senior forward Luke Maye averages 14.6 ppg. They also have some young talent with freshman guard Coby White who contributes 16 ppg and 4 assists per game.
I think the experience will help, as they get deeper in the tournament. They have shown that they can get overwhelmed against top competition but anything can happen during March Madness.
The SEC Tournament
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Most people associate March Madness with the start of the NCAA Tournament, but for most teams the madness begins the week prior, with the conference tournaments.
You’ve got some teams whose only shot at making the big dance is by winning their conference championship. Then you have those lovely “bubble teams” that need to have an impressive showing to help sway the committee to include them. And finally, you have those teams that are safely in, but can improve their seeding with a few conference tournament wins. The SEC Tournament runs the whole gamut this year.
There are seven SEC teams entering the start of the conference tournament that need to win the whole thing in order to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Out of those seven teams- South Carolina and the bottom six in the standings- if I had to pick one that could possibly make a run, I’d probably go with South Carolina. Not that I think they will do it, but if I had to choose a Jim Carrey “So you’re saying there’s a chance” team, it would be the Gamecocks.
The bubble teams get a little more interesting. Most bracketologists have Florida in, but I just don’t see it. Outside of their win against LSU, they don’t have another Top 25 win while having a few questionable losses.
They also have a worse conference record, and only more win, than a South Carolina team that beat the Gators in their only matchup, but isn’t even being considered to be a tournament team.
Ole Miss, and I guess to an extent, Auburn, are the other two that seem to be on the fringe. I think both of those have proven enough that even a first game exit shouldn’t prevent them from making the tournament. That said, getting a conference tournament win would solidify things a little more, especially for the team from Oxford.
Out of the “locks” Tennessee and Kentucky are playing for a possible one seed, but LSU is the team that intrigues me. With Will Wade’s indefinite suspension for what equates to a seven year old telling his teacher he isn’t chewing gum only to have the gum fly out of his mouth, how will the Tigers adjust?
They are deserving of a two seed, regardless of how they perform in the SEC tournament, but if they lose their first game would the committee downgrade them to a three seed?
The committee has shown in the past they do take player injuries and player availability into consideration when seeding; it’s not beyond the realm of possibility they could do the same thing if a team’s coach has been suspended due to recruiting violations.
As for that one seed battle between Kentucky and Tennessee, I think it depends on how Duke performs in the ACC tournament.
Gonzaga, Virginia, and UNC are all but guaranteed a one seed; if the Blue Devils were to win the ACC with a healthy Zion, I don’t think you can keep them from a one seed, either. If not, it’ll be between the Volunteers and Wildcats for that final coveted spot.
The casual fan won’t start tuning in until next week, which is a shame. For many teams their NCAA tournament has begun.
The buzzer beaters, the joy, the tears, all those things are already taking place in conference tournaments. March madness is here. Let the fun begin.
Feeling Blue
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college basketball regular season is winding down this week. Before the season began, Duke looked to be head and shoulders above everyone else.
Then they played archrival North Carolina and Zion Williamson was injured 33 seconds after tip off. We all saw his shoe explode and he’s been out with a knee sprain.
Zion is extremely explosive and he will be the top pick in the upcoming NBA draft. He has missed the last three games and we do not know when he will return. The question is can Duke still win a title without Zion?
I’ll give a quick recap of how life has been without Zion. The Blue Devils lost to UNC the game he was injured. They followed that up by getting revenge against Syracuse. Then they lost on the road to No. 20 Virginia Tech. They finally looked good against Miami, routing the Hurricanes 87 – 57.
On paper, Duke has the talent to still be a number one seed. They signed the top three recruits in 2019. RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish are also projected to be top five draft picks. The weak link has been point guard Tre Jones. Jones was five-star recruit and the No. 1 point guard in the class of 2018.
Jones averages 8.5 points per game and 5 assists per game. In the game against Va Tech, the Hokies did not guard him. They dared him to shoot and collapsed the extra defender in the paint. He has to play like the elite player he was projected to be to give the Blue Devils a chance to win it all.
Coach K has given us some updates about Zion and if he will return.
“No. He hasn’t done anything with contact,” Krzyzewski said. “But he’s moving really well. But contact makes you do things that you don’t think about. You have to get past that phase of things. We’re not in any hurry or whatever.
“The other thing with Zion, he’s an exquisite athlete. There aren’t people like him, athletically,” Krzyzewski said. “And so, he has to be 100 percent so that his body has always responded instinctively to what his mind and heart feel. And his body then, well, we’ve seen it. You can’t put him out there with any less than that. You cannot. You cannot. And we won’t. We won’t. But it’s getting better.”
The remaining regular season games are against Wake Forest and at North Carolina. The game against the Demon Deacons will be an easy win so I expect him to sit out. I think the season finale against UNC is where Zion will make his return. There is a lot on the line with that game in addition to being the best rivalry in college basketball.
UNC and Virginia are tied for first place in the ACC. Duke is one game behind them in second place. Winning the final two games will give them at least a share of the regular season ACC title.
That should be enough to guarantee them a No. 1 seed and possibly the top overall seed. This will make the path to the Final Four much easier.
The Madness Begins
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As the college basketball season winds down and teams on the outside looking in began to focus on what they can do to make the tournament, there are a handful of teams that will begin their preparation for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Below is a list of those teams I believe have a legitimate shot at cutting down the nets on April 8. Most teams will seem obvious, but there may be one or two surprises thrown in.
My Projected #1 Seeds: Duke, Gonzaga, Virginia, Tennessee
Duke- Two of their three losses this year have been accompanied with an injury to one of their freshmen (Syracuse- Tre Jones, UNC- Zion). When healthy, Duke has the most talent in the country and their best will beat everyone else’s best.
Problem is they’re as top heavy in talent as a weightlifter who has never used a leg machine. If any of the four freshmen are injured or in foul trouble, they’re vulnerable.
Gonzaga- Tell me if you’ve heard this before: “They’re an experienced team without any glaring weaknesses, but will their weak conference schedule hinder them come tournament time?” This team may be better than one that played UNC for the title a few years ago.
Virginia- Go ahead and get the UMBC jokes out of your system now, this team isn’t losing in the opening round.
They’re pace is slow and they’re not the most exhilarating team to watch, but they may be the best.
Tennessee- Probably one of the deepest, most complete teams in the country. Unfortunately, their coach is as allergic to winning tournament games as my teenage daughter is to cleaning her room.
In 20 NCAA Tournament appearance with Clemson, Texas, and Tennessee, Rick Barnes has made it past the opening weekend six times- none in the last seven tries. The talent is there to make a run, but is the coaching?
If the Bracket Fits: UNC, Kentucky, Michigan State
UNC- Think of a less talented Tennessee team, but with much better coaching. Obviously, I think there’s enough talent for the Tarheels to win or I wouldn’t list them here, but after their win in Durham I may be suffering more from “prisoner of the moment” syndrome than anything.
Kentucky- One of Calipari’s less talked about teams, in recent years at least. Yet, he always seems to have his players ready come tournament time, and this year’s squad is no different.
A lot is going to be riding on PJ Washington’s shoulders, but if any one of the Keldon Johnson, Tyler Herro, or Reid Travis trio can step up and play consistently, they are as dangerous as anyone.
Michigan State- I’ll be honest, I’m including the Spartans because of Tom Izzo; I just assume his team is going to make tourney run every year. If Izzo doesn’t have to face Duke or North Carolina (I’m pretty sure he’s a combined 1-2387 against them) Michigan State will probably be in the mix.
Visit from the Fairy Godmother: Marquette
Marquette- It’s not always the best team that wins, sometimes it’s the team whose best player has the hot hand. Dwayne Wade came close to pulling it off when he carried the Golden Eagles to the Final Four in 2003; could Markus Howard be that guy in 2019?
If Duke is completely healthy by the start of the tournament, they’re my pick to win it all in Minneapolis. Of course, if my past predictions are any indication, you’re better off betting the field.
Destination Unknown
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
To say that the Sun Belt men’s basketball race is wide open might not be doing things justice.
If the regular season race were put in terms of a horse race, the pack would be rounding the final turn with mud flying in all directions and no one hitting their finishing kick just yet.
With seven games remaining for most Sun Belt teams, Texas State and UT Arlington are tied for the top spot. But there are six more teams within three games of the top and no listing of the conference standings will be safe until the dust settles on March 9.
Georgia Southern is one of the huge mob of teams sitting just off the pace. The Eagles split a pair of tough road games in Louisiana last week and are currently tied with UL Monroe and Coastal Carolina at 6-5 in conference play.
A strong finish could easily see the Eagles snag a top-2 finish and a free pass all the way to the semifinals of the conference tournament, but a few more losses could force them to win as many as four games in New Orleans if they want to take home the title.
It’s been an up-and-down ride for Georgia Southern this season, but now is the time for it to show the talent and leadership that has been four years in the making.
When this year’s senior class were freshmen, they were thrown right into the fire. Guys like Tookie Brown, Ike Smith and Montae Glenn showed promise, but also had to learn lessons about the college game the hard way as they were immediately inserted into the lineup.
The trio has grown – and has soaked up plenty of help in the classes that have come after them – and knew it would have one more shot for a tournament run this spring.
Unfortunately, Smith will have to watch from the sidelines as he has been ruled out for the year with a back injury. Glenn felt that pain – literally – last season when he injured a knee during conference tournament practice and never saw the floor in New Orleans.
Brown has been the steady hand throughout his career and this is unquestionably his team, but it will take a trip to the NCAA tournament to elevate his status at Georgia Southern from great to legendary.
So, while things haven’t gone to script and the Eagles will be short-handed down the stretch, it’s also fair to say that this should be their time to shine.
The Sun Belt is as deep as it has ever been, but the Eagles have already proven that they can play with anyone in the league. Come conference tournament time, the majority of players in the lineup will have played big roles and meaningful minutes in previous trips to New Orleans.
While the win-loss record isn’t where many hoped it would be at this point in the season, the Eagles have to realize that everything important – including, hopefully, their best basketball – is still ahead of them.
For the upperclassmen on this year’s team, no refresher course is needed on what can go wrong at the end of the season. Bad breaks, fluke injuries and hot-shooting opponents have all spelled disaster for Georgia Southern in previous late-season games and conference tournaments.
They’ve learned all of the tough lessons and no one doubts their ability to be the better team when things are going right for them. But they’re out of time to worry about what obstacles might pop up in the coming weeks.
If the Eagles want to win, they’ll have to put it all together and they’ll have to start right now.
