BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[allsky7]

When is Tom Austin gonna win the big one?  All this talk about how good his teams are year in and year out, when is he gonna do it?  Methodist should consider Joe Torre once he gets fired from the Yankees.  All those wins and no national championship to show for it.  Somehow this is going to come back and bite me but seriously, win the tournament, the regional, and the world series, then maybe you can beg for at large bids.

     Many good coaches go through a career and never win the "big one". Don't know Coach Austin and am not a Methodist fan but not sure what his past accomplishments or lack there of has to do with him trying to get this years team in the NCAA tourn.

[Jim Dixon]

When is Tom Austin gonna win the big one?  All this talk about how good his teams are year in and year out, when is he gonna do it?  Methodist should consider Joe Torre once he gets fired from the Yankees.  All those wins and no national championship to show for it.  Somehow this is going to come back and bite me but seriously, win the tournament, the regional, and the world series, then maybe you can beg for at large bids.

     Many good coaches go through a career and never win the "big one". Don't know Coach Austin and am not a Methodist fan but not sure what his past accomplishments or lack there of has to do with him trying to get this years team in the NCAA tourn.

My vote is for Abe Naff to advance.  I am not sure there has is a team who has been to the playoffs the most with not making the Championship round.  Austin can try next year, Naff cannot.

[Jim Dixon]

Not to take away from the point that it is a very good conference, but playing so few conference games helps the overall record (assuming you win a lot of non-conference games). If they played 18 conference games, Greensboro probably wouldn't have a winning record, for example, and the lack of pitching depth for an Averett or Shenandoah might show up more as well (not that Averett would have a losing record against their schedule).

It makes more sense to play a limited conference schedule if playing more out of conference games get you more playoff teams.  The conference standings just seeds the teams for the tournament.

There was no dominante team this year as nobody won all but 1,2 games.  I expect narch will tell me this is typical.

[NCWC]

The last post was meant as a joke...the guy is great...but joe torre needs to realize that phil hughes is not better than matt desalvo who is sitting on deck for the the triple A affiliate, check it out, desalvo has better #'s

[allsky7]

The last post was meant as a joke...the guy is great...but joe torre needs to realize that phil hughes is not better than matt desalvo who is sitting on deck for the the triple A affiliate, check it out, desalvo has better #'s

     Sorry NC....guess I misread your body language and voice inflection. 
 
     I'm with you Jim. being a Ferrum grad, I would love to see Abe go out with a good run.  8)

     

[Spence]

The problem may be that the Yankees just aren't sure what they're getting with DeSalvo right now after the very rocky year he had last year. He's got some trust to build back up.

But the point may be near at which they have no choice but to give him a shot.

[narch]

The last post was meant as a joke...the guy is great...but joe torre needs to realize that phil hughes is not better than matt desalvo who is sitting on deck for the the triple A affiliate, check it out, desalvo has better #'s

hughes pitched pretty effectively against major leaguers tonight, going 6 1/3 without allowing a hit...i think joe torre knows what he's doing

and tom austin hasn't won a national championship yet, but i don't think it takes anything away from his accomplishments...there are a LOT of great coaches who haven't won a national championship

[A.G.]

For the doubters...

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/115357

Ferrum to host baseball regional

Ferrum College has been selected to host an NCAA Division III baseball regional May 16-20, the school announced Tuesday.

The Panthers clinched an automatic bid last month. This is the first time Ferrum's ballpark has been awarded an NCAA regional. Pairings will be announced May 14.

[Spence]

The last post was meant as a joke...the guy is great...but joe torre needs to realize that phil hughes is not better than matt desalvo who is sitting on deck for the the triple A affiliate, check it out, desalvo has better #'s

hughes pitched pretty effectively against major leaguers tonight, going 6 1/3 without allowing a hit...i think joe torre knows what he's doing

and tom austin hasn't won a national championship yet, but i don't think it takes anything away from his accomplishments...there are a LOT of great coaches who haven't won a national championship

Hughes has great talent, no question. It's the injury to Karstens that might push DeSalvo up.

[narch]

hornets19 - thanks for the scoop - i understand that ferrum's bid was the only bid not contingent upon their team being selected (since they already had locked up a pool a bid) - it's too bad the ncaa can't wait until the selection process is complete to evaluate each bid, for lots of reasons - A) fc could be a #5 seed yet get home field advantage and B) there are places that are more appropriate venues from an accomodations/eateries/accessibility standpoint than rocky mount, va

and for the record...i wasn't doubting...just looking for confirmation

[Spence]

Not to mention that Rocky Mount is 12 miles from Ferrum (20 minutes probably). There is practically nothing in Ferrum itself.

Yeah I'm not a big fan of a lower seed being a host either, but it happened last year in the Central.

[A.G.]

There were years when Ferrum wanted the regionals over the past 15 years...
1.  Told they could not get it b/c of no lights...so they got lights
2.  Told hotels were an issue...Rocky Mount built a couple of hotels.
3.  No excuse this time.

Perhaps this is a "lifetime acheivement award and going away gift" to Naff.  It certainly is appropriate.

[Spence]

Very possible that you may be right on the reason for giving it to them. I didn't really think of that. I just hope it doesn't end up being a decision to regret.

[NCWC]

I have some kinda b.s. esp that allows me to see hughes getting hurt last night, saltamachia coming up this week to the braves, the yankees s&c coach getting dumped, the brew crew winning the series and desalvo getting called up...  Quick question for you guys, what happened between ferrum and bridgewater this year, or did they play?

[NCWC]

The last post was meant as a joke...the guy is great...but joe torre needs to realize that phil hughes is not better than matt desalvo who is sitting on deck for the the triple A affiliate, check it out, desalvo has better #'s

hughes pitched pretty effectively against major leaguers tonight, going 6 1/3 without allowing a hit...i think joe torre knows what he's doing

and tom austin hasn't won a national championship yet, but i don't think it takes anything away from his accomplishments...there are a LOT of great coaches who haven't won a national championship

Narch settle down again buddy, the first was meant as a joke, the second was a shameless plug for a former d3 standout, Joe knows baseball and so does Tom, its just got to suck looking at Charlie and Ernies ring every conference tournament dinner