MBB: USA South Conference

[kickerdad]

Congrats to the Averett University mens basketball team.

[CNU85]

What a fun day. I wish there was a different outcome for the men's game. AU is a tough team with their 6 seniors. CNU didn't have enough depth. I think they only played 7 guys. Starters were tired and Barton and Blasingame got into early foul trouble and the Cougars took advantage of it and won the game. Brumley looked like he was struggling....he shot 5-16.....but he finished with 19 points and was named MVP. I think he sunk 6 FT at the end. Clutch player. Hey Brumley, good luck in tournament. I stopped and chatted with your parents. I was the guy in the CNU Football hat....I told them to pass along that I'll be cheering the Cougars on during the NCAA.


Davon Barton - his career ended today. Congrats on a great 4 years. He finished 7th in D3 all-time assists. Whinett.....thanks for 2 good years. You were fun to watch.

Interesting info on post game show I listened to on way home. Found out one player was off team this year due to grades and hopefully will be back next year. Also, a comment was made about Conley Taylor possibly being back on the team next year. Not sure what that was about.

Congrats to Lady Captains. They handed GC their second loss all year. Both teams should be in NCAA. Schweers is unbelievable.

[narch]

congrats to the cougars...they certainly deserved the championship this year, although through the season, i personally thought the captains had more overall talent and depth

[CNU85]

congrats to the cougars...they certainly deserved the championship this year, although through the season, i personally thought the captains had more overall talent and depth

Narch,

At the very beginning of the year I was optimistic CNU had depth. But it became very clear that the coaches felt we were about 7 deep. I still haven't looked at the box sore yet - partly because the CNU site doesn't have the link activated (or it wasn't last night). I'm going to go look at it in a little while. My only concern for next year is the PG position. Wow - talking about next year already.

[CNU85]

I was right - CNU only had 7 play.

[CNU85]

CNU won 86-70. Starting lineup (if I remember correctly since I can't find a box score yet)

Going
Blasingame
Baker
Green
Whinett

Barton did not start. Doc just cleared him to play this week. Overall the team played well as a team. The chemistry was there. Nice to see. Everyone on team saw action in both halves.

Going....much more confident. Had good minutes. A nice backup for Barton when he gets back into starting lineup.

Blasingame....He's Baack!! 3 blocked shots and changed many more. He looked winded at times as if he missed a season of hoops......Oh yeah, he did. Once he gets back into game shape he will be 100%. I put him at 95% right now. Much better than I expected. I bet he's totally in rhythm by this weekend.

Baker. He played like he did his Freshman year, which was better than last year. He hustled more than I can remember.

Green. WOW. What a game he had. 21 points and a rebounding monster tonight.

Whinett. Hitting 3 pointers!!! His game is totally different now that Blasingame is back. Keep an eye on him for POTY.

Barton. Played well when he was in. Had a knee brace and an arm sleeve/pad in first half. Took off the arm thing in second half.

Barbosa. He's the shooter. Made his first ever college shot....3 pointer.

Faris. Playing as a kid in the driveway with his All-American dad helps. He is bigger than Blasingame and more physical. He was beating on So Va #24 like a rented mule! Also hit a three!!! He's 6-8, looks bigger. He will give Blasingame needed breaks. Faris does not play like a Freshman. Creates depth for CNU in the middle.

Ayala - seems to be a crowd favorite. Played well. Small and quick. Will be able to provide minutes at the 1or2 positions and give others time to rest.

Hermann - WOW. Does not play like a freshman. He's tough inside and can rebound. Adds even more depth for CNU. He should see ALOT of playing time. Very impressive.

Patterson. Another crowd favorite. Seemed improved over last year. Had good time on the floor.

Reid - Did not dress due to injury.

Russell - played well. Much better than last year. So Va caused him some problems in his passes. He adjusted.

This team is deeper than most CNU teams in the past 5-6 years. The 4 Freshman didn't play like it. I don't see much drop off when starters take a seat. This could mean fresh legs for the entire game. I know it was one game, but I liked what I saw. Let's see how they fare against a ranked team Tuesday night - Va Wesleyan.

Those were my thoughts after game 1. I figured a recap is in order now that the season is over:

Barton - he did not start that first game. The first few games he was at times rusty. Davon finished with a fantasic season and completed a great career at CNU. I'll have to look, ut I am told he finished 7th all time in assists in D3. Yet - I don't think he finished #1 at CNU. I'm not sure about that. I have some research to do. Also - unless CNU has an answer for his replacement, his graduation could mean many many wins.

Going - gave Barton some good minutes off the bench. But as we say last night when Barton had to sit with 4 fouls - Going is not going to be the guy to play 35 minutes at PG.

Blasingame - what can I say - he's the reason CNU went from 10-16 to 18-9. Someone posted way back before the season that Blasingame will mean 10 wins.....very good prediction.

Baker - played better this year. I hope he has a great senior yr next yr.

Green - a great year for Green. Glad he made all-tournament team. He hustles more than anybody on any team I've seen this year. He plays much bigger than he is. Loves to bang inside.

Whinett - had a hot and cold type of season. Played his 2 yr CNU career with intensity in the majority of games.

Barbosa - a very good shooter. I noticed he was often the 8th guy into the game. With Whinett graduating, he may see more playing time. But I don't see him starting next year.

Faris - had a good first game with 5 points, then kind of faded a little. He plays hard and physical when he is in. A few games I think he had more fouls than minutes. He really needs to develop in the off season because Blasingame will need rest in games next year. This year was tough on Blasingame playing 35 plus minutes in just about all 27 games.

Ayala - a quick little guy with a nice shot. I'm not sure what his role was this year or what it will be next year.

Hermann - I'll say it again - WOW! He takes Whinett's spot in starting line up. You could see CJ playing with that line up yesterday.

Patterson - left team. no comment

Reid - should be back next year and will be able to give some rest to the big men. Reid could mean 3-4 victories.

Russell - was starting to come off the bench very well. Didn't play second semester. Hit the books!!

While I was optimistic the team would have more depth, that didn't turn out to be the case on the floor. I think it is still there and there is a good core returning and some possible surprises for next year.

My next post will have my thoughts on net year and a potential starting line up.

Excuse any typos, Narch...this post is too long for me to want to preview.

[cnububba]

Congrats to Averett on a hard fought win and good luck in the NCAA tournament.  Caps have a very good nucleus coming back, especially if Russell and Taylor return.  Would not be surprised if Conley played some point—tough kid. 

Tough for both teams last night and really hurt CNU was the officiating.  Not consistent at all.  All year could not stand the bald "Napoleon" complex white guy—unapproachable.   Hope he doesn't get any NCAA playoffs.   

[CNU85]

Thoughts about next year. Let's start with a potential starting line up

Conley Taylor  - what? I dunno. I heard something on post game last night about his return. This could be HUGE!!!!!!!
Blasingame
Green
Baker
Hermann

I like this line up if it comes togeher this way. If the Taylor thing is just a rumour, then CNU needs to go find a starting Freshman at PG. Hard to do.

Reid and Russel returning is also huge if it happens. I hope it does. Those guys remained close to the team even though they were not playing. I don't think anyone really knows how huge losing Reid was. He could have been the guy to rest Blasingame with quality minutes.

There is a kid at Tabb that wants to get in to CNU. There is some concern in the local paper about academics. He was named Bay Rivers District player of the year. Same district as Blasingame. I think he is a shooting forward. I hear he is a beast.

If Faris can develop into a guy that can give Blasingame some rest and then develop to take his spot the following year, and Reid can come back to add depth, next year will be competitive. Russell was the sixth man in a few early games and dropping in some significant points. I hope he gets it straight in the classroom.

The potential is there with a good, solid core of returning starters, some guys making back to the bench after a year's absence and a possible quality player wanting to come to CNU.

All we have to do is figure out Barton's replacement! (That's all? ugh....this one factor is the key to the off season)

That's the "World According to CNU85". Take it for what it's worth!  

[CNU85]

Congrats to Averett on a hard fought win and good luck in the NCAA tournament.  Caps have a very good nucleus coming back, especially if Russell and Taylor return.  Would not be surprised if Conley played some point—tough kid. 

Tough for both teams last night and really hurt CNU was the officiating.  Not consistent at all.  All year could not stand the bald "Napoleon" complex white guy—unapproachable.   Hope he doesn't get any NCAA playoffs.   

I'd have to say the officiating was bad, but not what cost CNU the game. The refs were bad all over the court and for both teams.....they were "Equal Opportunity Bad Refs". Yes, the one guy you mentioned has had a thing for CNU for awhile. I hope the league notices it and keeps him away from CNU games.

Oh - and i you thought these  guys were bad- you should have seent the 3 clowns at the women's CHAMPIONSHIP game...wow....and I mean WOW!!!!!! I don't have a good enough vocabulary to say how horrible those 2 guys and 1 lady were. Oh man.....awful! Pathetic! I'm running out of adjectives.

[hasanova]

Averett travels to Centre.  Guilford's in the same group playing another Kentucky team, Transylvania.

[scottiedoug]

Maryville lost two close games to Centre, once at home on a last second shot in the first game of the year and then at their place (also early), and another close game to Transy at their place.  All of this was before Maryville's young team went on its 16 game win spree, which included beating Averett.  Centre and Transy are solid, well-coached teams.  I am sure Coach Allen will have a plan!

[HSC85]

CNU85,

I was at both of the games on Sat as well.  The officiating was surprisingly awful.  I could not believe the inconsistent calls in both games.  The girls game was just missed calls and not calling the same thing everytime that they saw it.  The boys game really lookied like the officials wanted to manage the game.  It seemed at each timeout they would huddle, look at the scoreboard and make a plan on what how to call next segment.  I have seen the official that you are talking about and he has the "Napolean" concept in all the games I see him call both in the USASouth and the ODAC.  He really wants the game to be about him.

I have seen much better officiating in regular league games than what was on display in both the men's and women's tournament games.  I hope the conference will do some better scouting of the officials during the season before they decide who to "reward" with tournament games.

[larry_u]

Can someone post your NCAA team's profiles in here:

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6299.0

[pbrooks3]

Centre will provide video of the weekend games for those of you at Averett  and the USA South interested. Check the links under Lammersk's post on the SCAC board for how to access video.

[SU97]

Best of luck to AU in the NCAA Tournament!  Hope you guys make some noise for the USASAC!