A few thoughts on the Big South.
Yes, the Big South.
SEE RELATED:
Somehow, this should probably warm the heart of Mike Ashley, the bringer of levity to press boxes throughout College Park and a man who knows the conference so well that he could probably offer a game-by-game analysis of Tony Dunkin’s career.
(Why is that name familiar? Dunkin only won four conference player of the year awards in a row in the early 1990s while at Coastal Carolina).
Anyway, it would appear what I like to call a pseudo-local has an excellent chance of representing the conference in the NCAA tournament. Neither VMI nor Radford nor Liberty is located particularly close to D.C., but each is an interesting story on its own – and those schools sit 1-2-3 in the Big South entering February.
VMI (last NCAA appearance: 1977) runs a frenetic system and has scored at least 80 points in all but three games.
Liberty (last of two NCAA appearances: 2004) features freshman Seth Curry and is the latest stop for basketball nomad Ritchie McKay.
Radford (only NCAA appearance: 1998) is proof good coaching and a couple good players can quickly turn the fortunes of a program. Brad Greenberg has done well in southwestern Virginia after just a couple seasons on the job.
In all honesty, it was hard to forsee all three of these teams avoiding the bottom third of the Delmarva/D,C. rankings. The Big South isn’t exactly a powerhouse, with Winthrop accounting for the league’s only round of 64 victory (in 2007 against Notre Dame) in a quarter-century of existence.
But with VMI and Liberty in particular, that total might double next month.
Here’s the 1-through-29 rundown, with records and last week’s rankings included:
|
No./Team
|
Record
|
Pvs.
|
|
1. Virginia Tech
|
14-7
|
2
|
|
2. Georgetown
|
12-8
|
1
|
|
3. VCU
|
16-6
|
3
|
|
4. George Mason
|
15-6
|
4
|
|
5. Maryland
|
14-7
|
5
|
|
6. VMI
|
17-3
|
6
|
|
7. American
|
13-7
|
7
|
|
8. Navy
|
15-7
|
8
|
|
9. Old Dominion
|
13-8
|
14
|
|
10. Mount St. Mary’s
|
13-9
|
10
|
|
11. Liberty
|
16-7
|
12
|
|
12. Morgan State
|
11-10
|
9
|
|
13. Virginia
|
7-10
|
13
|
|
14. Richmond
|
11-10
|
11
|
|
15. Loyola
|
11-13
|
15
|
|
16. James Madison
|
14-9
|
16
|
|
17. Radford
|
11-10
|
17
|
|
18. Hampton
|
10-10
|
18
|
|
19. Longwood
|
11-10
|
19
|
|
20. Norfolk State
|
8-11
|
23
|
|
21. UMBC
|
9-12
|
21
|
|
22. Towson
|
8-15
|
24
|
|
23. Delaware
|
9-14
|
20
|
|
24. Coppin State
|
6-15
|
25
|
|
25. George Washington
|
6-12
|
22
|
|
26. William & Mary
|
6-15
|
26
|
|
27. Delaware State
|
5-17
|
28
|
|
28. UMES
|
6-13
|
27
|
|
29. Howard
|
4-16
|
29
|
– Patrick Stevens
