Great way to start for the monarchs. I think this team will get better and better. I'm glad McBride was able to contribute. I think that's the key for them. One or two of those bigs have got to be a factor, outside of radmonovic. 

Go Monarchs

Radmanovic have a chance to be all-conference this year. He is terrific on offense; shoots 3, creates his shot facing the basket.  He reminds me of a poor man Josh McRoberts from Duke. The two freshman wings Anderson and Bascom are terrrific and have a chance to be really good players for the monarchs if they stay for four years. I was really impressed by them and think once they become more aggressive they will be great compliments to radmanovic. Against Wingate the PG play struggled, but i remember Lehmann from his h.s. days and think once he gets his playing legs back that he will do a good job there along with Lane.  Hopefully a couple of the post players McBryde, Meadows, Moore, Williams, or Shuford, will step up and be a presence in the paint for them on both ends.

I don't want to overreact to the scrimmage against Wingate, because Wingate is a very good DII team with nearly everyone back from a NCAA tournament team last year. I believe the monarchs will improve alot as the season go along and will be in great shape in the USA South.

Wingate picked to win it's conference with five starters returning from NCAA tournament team. This team should be better than last years. Very athletic with two very good wings. It should be a very good test for both teams. I'll be sure to post with my thoughts.

Monarchs did a good job against GWU. The balance between the three levels is amazing. I know most will look at the final 86-68 score and laugh at me, but it was a 4 pt. game at the half.  the game had 7 ties and 11 lead changes.  You add that to the fact that the monarchs started 2 freshman and 2 sophmores and the future looks bright.  I will get a first hand look at the monarchs on saturday when they scrimmage Wingate U. I'll be sure to give you my assessment of the team. 

great to see the monarchs have some good new players. Coach Smith will work his magic and at least get a 3rd place finish out of that group.  That's a good win for NCW. Rockingham isn't the greatest of JUCO teams but they have been in the gym with their coach since the first days of class. I can't wait for the season to start.

Narch,
i would agree with that statement. Florida juco's are among the best in the country along with texas and kansas leagues.  they usually have numerous players who are high major division I talents. I know of a few of the teams who 11th and 12th men usually end up at mid-major dI programs.  I'm not saying it's impossible to recruit those guys because you know everything in life is about timing, but the vast majority of the players who are pretty good or academically eligible end up at scholarship schools. I'm glad the guys at greensboro are getting a chance to go to a good college and hope they make the most of their situation. 

I can't wait to see the monarchs varsity roster. hopefully they had a couple of studs slip in during the summer. 

swoosh the ball,
i will take it that your comment was directed at me. I never mentioned high shool players who attend d3 schools. I stated that it's very difficult to convince scholarship junior college players to attend d3 schools.  I will take it a step further by saying, recruiting players out of a league as good as the florida junior college league is very very difficult.  It's been my experience that most scholarship juco players attend those schools because of their grades and their pursuit of a scholarship at a four year college or university. Many of those players could find a d3 school to attend if they wanted to out of high school. 
i agree there are alot of players who attend d3 schools out of high school who could have gone to d1 and d2 schools. it is far less common for junior college players who have a choice to attend d3 schools rather than d1 or d2 schools.

hello narch,
life is good here, hope the same for you. convincing four juco kids to attend a d3 school is one hell of a recruiting job for the coaches at greensboro. they clearly have found a way to get some "interesting" players to join the program through the years. I don't put CNU and Greensboro in the same category when it comes to transfers. It seems to me that most of the CNU transfers were kids who grew up in the tide water area and decided to come home for one reason or the other.  It is very difficult to convince a scholarship juco player to attend a non-scholarship school. Then again i can't remember the rules for d3. Are there any academic requirements for juco transfers. I know d2 and d1 have rules for them. 
I will go out on a limb and say those four juco transfers are either not very good or they had horrible grades.

Welcome rikki,
come on guys you've been getting some rumblings from campus. who's the best team in the league this year?

Coach Smith has another tough schedule indeed.  It has been his philosophy to play a tough non-conference schedule and then use that experience to make a run at the conference championship.  I don't think anyone can argue with his success over the years, and we will see how this year team shapes up.  He usually also schedule a couple of DII's for scrimmages to better evaluate his team.  good luck monarchs and i'll see them in person this fall. 

Thanks for your thoughts. i hope the upper classman Monarchs step up this year and get it done. Radmonovich and Williams need to have a good year for us to have a chance.  Methodist always seem to come up with this player out of the woodworks. One transfer that they have should make an immediate impact in the league. hopefully he, mcdonald and lee will man the perimeter.

I guess Fisk can be an honorary member of this board, since they don't have a conference. where are the posters from other schools in the league NCW, Ferrum, Shanandoah, Averette?

I would agree with narch, that you need a good big guy to win this conference. Great guards can carry you into the top half, but you must have that balance to win the league.  this is probably the first year that i don't know much about the monarchs recruits. i think cnu will be good again and ncw has some good players returning and picked up a couple of good recruits.  the coach at averette has sone a tremendous job so i would imagine they will be near the top of the league again.  my picks would be

cnu
ncw
averette
methodist
greensboro
shanandoah
ferrum

I am using previous experience and some good old fashion guessing to come up with this prediction. As rosters are updated I will try again to give an estimated guess.

It's almost fall already and time for the new basketball season. Who will be the impact newcomers in the USA South this year and who's the favorite for the conference crown. Hopefully my monarchs are headed back to the top of the league after a little slide last season. What are your thoughts?

Now that the US team officailly can't win the world championships. Do anyone have any thoughts on things that can be done to improve the team that we send to compete. Do you think american basketball ie: NBA, college, and high schools should change to international rules?

Great to see the monarchs are dealing with some good players. I was getting a little worried because i haven't heard their name mentioned alot this year. I hear that the freshman point (barton)  that CNU had last season was looking to transfer to a scholarship school, any of you CNU guys hear this? he appears to be a pretty good player, but I hope ye stay at D3 and have a great career. I hear that Guilford College have been in fayetteville alot this year. pulled a couple of players one from e.e. smith other from 71st. hopefully that's all rumor and the monarchs will keep those guys home. hope all is well narch and have a great weekend