I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Mar 8: Bobby White and Chris Battle got into a bit of a scuffle during practice, but both players were apologetic and said it was just the heat of the battle, and have made up. That sort of thing isn't necessarily a bad sign, so I'm not concerned about it.

[CoachC]

Mar 9: It happened again! White and Battle both apologized again, but now I'm concerned. We don't need this kind of disharmony at this point of the season. I've put both players on a short leash.

[CoachC]

Mar 12: After the conference tournaments end our RPI has fallen to 38. Our chances of getting in are pretty small. A much smaller crowd joins us for the selection show this year, keeping their fingers crossed.

We aren't among the 4 12 seed play-ins which is already a bad sign.

The crowd is too tense to even muster much animosity for the Tarheels who are the #3 seed in the east. The Gamecocks are the 11 seed.

Last year's tournament darlings South Carolina Upstate are the 16 seed in the south. The Chanticleers are the 13 seed in the south and will play Memphis. I'm guessing Gary Williams is pretty pleased with that. Not surprisingly we don't make the field.

We get a call from the NIT minutes after the show and will be the number 1 seed in the South facing off against LSU in the opener. There is good news and bad news... Liberty and VMI both get invited to the NIT as well, but are forced to play each other in the first round as the 2 and 7 seeds in the West! I love that VMI was invited, because I didn't think they would be, but having to play each other? really? VMI getting into the NIT though cleared room for Presbyterian who, to my surprise, get an invite to the CIT and will play Florida Atlantic as the 7 seed in the west.

5 Big South teams in the post-season certainly is good news for the conference, although the NIT isn't where we hoped to be. We need to make some lemonade.

[Wayne23]

Kick some LSU butt!

[CoachC]

LSU gets into the NIT on the heels of a 125 RPI...must be nice to play in a football conference where you don't actually have to play basketball to get recognition. Still, we need to play well... offensively LSU is sharp and averages 73.4/g. They also average 7.5 stls per game, so it might be nice if Battle would stay out of foul trouble for once. Defensively the Tigers basically don't play any. They've been pretty bad on the boards as well.

we shoot 61 percent in the first half and out rebound them 17-9. the one sour note is that we turned the ball over WAY too many times (11) and that nonsense has to stop. If we play within ourselves in the 2nd half we will easily beat this team that has no business being in the postseason. Also of concern is the fact that Felts picked up 3 fouls, and Ike has 2.

at the half we lead 36-24

We went through a few periods in the 2nd half where the ball wouldn't drop, which allowed them to get as close as 4 points at one time, but the defense was solid down the stretch and we were able to pull away again. we went to the boards well and out-rebounded them 36-26. And although we were -1 on turnover differential tonight, we did have 9 steals. Getting to the line 17 more times than the Tigers was the deciding factor.

Battle led us with 22 pts, 2 asts.
Felts was limited to 21 minutes because of foul trouble and took just 4 shots. He did have 9 points, though.
Ike had a tough 3/13 shooting night and had 8 points, 1 ast, 6 rebs, 1stl, 1 blk
Moore was terrific defensively and on the glass with 2 pts, 3 asts, 9 rebs, 2 stls, and a block.
Godzilla also had a good night with 9 pts, 9 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls

Garvin Sanders was huge off the bench in this one with 13 pts, 5 rebs, and 4 stls.

Bobby White (5 pts, 2 asts in 10 minutes) also played well.


Final:

G-W 73 LSU 56

[CoachC]

Mar 15: VMI upends Liberty 80-68 in the other NIT game featuring Big South teams. Liberty had such a great season, it was sort of sad to see the Flames struggle so much at crunch time.

Our next opponent will be St. Joe's out of the A10.

[CoachC]

Mar 16: Last night Presbyterian lost in the first round of the CIT 82-77 to Florida Atlantic.

Tonight while we host St. Joseph's , VMI will be hosting Monmouth.

[CoachC]

(didn't get a scouting report for this game... weird)

St. Joe's is a decent team with an RPI of 88. They are a similar team to LSU in that they score a lot of points (74.3pg..9th), but don't play very good defense or rebound very well.

Both teams were red hot in the first half.. we shot 64.5, they shot 62.5. And although I certainly would like to see us play better defense on the halfcourt, we did rebound well at both ends, and turned them over10 times with 11 steals.

At the half we lead 52-37

Although I wasn't enamored with our defense in this one, I have to give the Hawks some credit because they shoot the ball very very well. Offensively however this was one of the better 40 minute efforts we've had in quite some time.We also out-rebounded them 33-23, 12-6.

Battle just missed a double double with 9 pts, 10 asts, 5 rebs, and a steal and just 2 TOs in 28 minutes.
Felts was hot with 27 points, 1 asts. 4 rebs. and a stl.
Ike added 22 pts, 3 asts, 5 rebs, 2 stls and a block.
Moore had 5 pts, 5 asts, 7 rebs, 2 stls for a solid all around game.
And O'Conner played well as well with 14 pts, 8 rebs, and a steal.

Brown, White, and Madison provided quality minutes off the bench.

And now it's off to the Garden.

Final:

G-W 87 St. Joe's 75

[Wayne23]

Stop in an' see me whilst youse are in Noo Yawk.

Sammy the Shot

[CoachC]

Jan 17: VMI fell to Monmouth last night 77-62.