[Chris Lang]

The three Big South teams competing are:

Winthrop
Radford

and


... Presbyterian



I mean, there are no brackets for Presbyterian to bust. This is a team that's ineligible for an NCAA tournament berth for the next two seasons. Seems like an odd choice for the Big South/ESPN to make, if indeed the goal of the event is to showcase the sort of teams that can make some noise in March. I suppose PC is eligible for the CIT, so there's that.

Anyway, I just found that odd.

[ToTheLeft]

Wow, that's ridiculous. Enjoy your terrible matchup, ESPN.

[g-webb1994]

I know G-W had that Saturday vacant on the schedule....the PC choice makes no sense whatsoever.

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

Maybe their coach has some connections ?

Nibert, a 1979 graduate of Marietta College, began his coaching career at Rice University where he served as an assistant coach under Mike Schuler, who would later earn NBA Coach of the Year honors with the Portland Trailblazers.

[UNCA Alum]

That makes absolutely zero sense. Unless they were the only squad that had that Saturday open.

We are going to be better than Winthrop this year, but I understand wanting to get Winthrop just for the name value and their reputation as being an actual.. you know.. bracket buster.

[flames1971]

Wow. There are more idiots in the world than I thought.

[pcguy09]

and we're redshirting probably our 3 best players

[olldflame]

and we're redshirting probably our 3 best players

Exactly............ which makes this selection even more senseless. With all of their resources, you would think ESPN could do a bit better on their research. I can see someone losing their job over this one.

[prototype]

Why does this surprise anyone??? Kyle probably pushed for it. He wants to please his prized Big South School After all, Presby is the future of our conference...especially when all the respectable schools jump ship in a few years.

Once we finish our 5 year expansion projects - conferences will be beating down our doors to join - they will not be willing to make the same mistake everyone else did with Notre Dame, and it sure looks like Doc's plan is taking place - We are becoming for Baptist, what Notre Dame is for Catholics and BYU is for mormons. With the facilities, the TV commitments, the national marketing power, the 15K+ on Campus, 50K DLP program... (come on - the BSC is not growing at the same speed, are they?)

[Liberty4Life]

I'm not going to say that LU deserved to be in that spot -- certainly not -- but yeah, Presby is a questionable pick because, as Lang noted, they cannot even bust into a bracket until early next decade.

And no, the BSC has not grown over the last few years. Teams have gotten better -- at times, and only in some sports -- but largely, the conference has not.

[LUconn]

Was Liberty even allowed to be in it this year? We're hosting ODU as a result of last year's participation.

[Realist]

There is no limit on how often you can be in it. Winthrop has been in it every year since its inception.

The Presby pick is definitely weird.

[pcguy09]

Why does this surprise anyone??? Kyle probably pushed for it. He wants to please his prized Big South School After all, Presby is the future of our conference...especially when all the respectable schools jump ship in a few years.

Once we finish our 5 year expansion projects - conferences will be beating down our doors to join - they will not be willing to make the same mistake everyone else did with Notre Dame, and it sure looks like Doc's plan is taking place - We are becoming for Baptist, what Notre Dame is for Catholics and BYU is for mormons. With the facilities, the TV commitments, the national marketing power, the 15K+ on Campus, 50K DLP program... (come on - the BSC is not growing at the same speed, are they?)

Prototype, most schools don't want to grow at the rate Liberty did, and is. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but all liberty wants is bodies. Some schools arent willing to sell out for bodies by sacrificing academic standards.

[LUconn]

admission has been confused for academic standards for far too long.

[Liberty4Life]

admission has been confused for academic standards for far too long.

There certainly is a loose correlation.

[rueful]

Why does this surprise anyone??? Kyle probably pushed for it. He wants to please his prized Big South School After all, Presby is the future of our conference...especially when all the respectable schools jump ship in a few years.

Once we finish our 5 year expansion projects - conferences will be beating down our doors to join - they will not be willing to make the same mistake everyone else did with Notre Dame, and it sure looks like Doc's plan is taking place - We are becoming for Baptist, what Notre Dame is for Catholics and BYU is for mormons. With the facilities, the TV commitments, the national marketing power, the 15K+ on Campus, 50K DLP program... (come on - the BSC is not growing at the same speed, are they?)

Prototype, most schools don't want to grow at the rate Liberty did, and is. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but all liberty wants is bodies. Some schools arent willing to sell out for bodies by sacrificing academic standards.

But also, alot of schools who say this and are small, are destined to be small forever. Even if schools like that got rid of all standards or requirements to get accepted, they still wouldnt have a chance of growing like LU has.

[prototype]

Why does this surprise anyone??? Kyle probably pushed for it. He wants to please his prized Big South School After all, Presby is the future of our conference...especially when all the respectable schools jump ship in a few years.

Once we finish our 5 year expansion projects - conferences will be beating down our doors to join - they will not be willing to make the same mistake everyone else did with Notre Dame, and it sure looks like Doc's plan is taking place - We are becoming for Baptist, what Notre Dame is for Catholics and BYU is for mormons. With the facilities, the TV commitments, the national marketing power, the 15K+ on Campus, 50K DLP program... (come on - the BSC is not growing at the same speed, are they?)

Prototype, most schools don't want to grow at the rate Liberty did, and is. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but all liberty wants is bodies. Some schools arent willing to sell out for bodies by sacrificing academic standards.

But also, a lot of schools who say this and are small, are destined to be small forever. Even if schools like that got rid of all standards or requirements to get accepted, they still wouldn't have a chance of growing like LU has.

I'm proud of the growth and don't believe your school PC - they want to grow, they just can't. I would argue that academics have improved over the past 5 years of growth. Our academics facilities are top notch, we have one of the best Nursing programs in the state, one of the best seminary programs in the country, a top accredited Law School, an up and coming engineering school, one of a very few aeronautical schools w/ helicopter programs and over 30,000 people are studying through our distance learning program all over the world. Those people have a choice to and can go anywhere. Just because you grow, doesn't mean quality has gone down - the standards of learning are only getting tougher at Liberty.

[El Scorcho]

Prototype, most schools don't want to grow at the rate Liberty did, and is. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but all liberty wants is bodies. Some schools arent willing to sell out for bodies by sacrificing academic standards.

You're not saying it's a bad thing? Isn't that like insulting someone but prefacing it with "No offense, but..."?

Our admissions standards are not as high as many other schools. We don't hide that. It's been a part of our philosophy from the start and it doesn't have anything to do with growth. It has to do with everyone getting a shot, which was a part of our founder's philosophy when he started the place. (At least as I understand it, anyway.) Hanging in once you get here is another story. Some paths are easier than others (as they are at any university), but academics at LU are not as soft as they're made out to be. Not by a long shot.

Listen, beside all of that we're turning plenty of people away right now. If we were all about the bodies, that would definitely not be the case.

[pcguy09]

there is no room to go. PC's goal isn't to be a 5 or 7K student academic institution. The one thing that attracts people to PC is what we call the PC bubble, you know everyone on campus by name. I wouldn't have gone to PC if it was a 5-7K student college and i know that the size of PC is one reason alot of ppl attend PC. and yeah El Scorcho i'm not saying its a bad thing, i know thats the type of place LU is but just because LU is doing it doesn't mean its the right way for all institutions to grow as prototype has said. anyway back to the topic on hand. While i'm glad about PC being in the bracketbuster, it is most likely going to be pretty ugly.

[WinthropEagleFan]

While i'm glad about PC being in the bracketbuster, it is most likely going to be pretty ugly.

Not necessarily...there are usually 100 (give or take a few) teams in the Bracket Buster, and not all of them will be good (or even close to it). Even if PC is really struggling this year (a good possibility given the redshirting and general inexperience of the rest of the roster), they'll get matched up with another team that is struggling just as bad...Only 12 of the 50 or so matchups get on tv anyways, so the other 30+ games are just basic non-conference games against a team that is of a similar caliber and that you'll get to have a return game with the following year...

Some of the thrilling matchups from last year's bracketbuster included:

Eastern Illinois (RPI 289) @ Western Michigan (302)
Fairleigh Dickinson (314) @ Central Michigan (299)

and the almighty blockbuster matchup of...
Northern Illinois (330) @ SE Missouri State (339)

So PC will get a team of equal strength to play against...

[pcguy09]

yeah i knew PC wouldn't have a shot in the world at getting on TV, but i didn't realize there were that many teams in the bracketbuster. hopefully the espn gods will smile on us and give us a decent matchup, but who knows.

[g-webb1994]

PC gets a road game against a CAA or Atlantic Sun opponent, then gets a nice return home game the following season when the good players are back off of redshirt....pretty much win-win.

JMU comes to G-W this fall as a return. Nice considering the road games against Duke, UNC, and Texas loom....

[GoEagles]

That makes absolutely zero sense. Unless they were the only squad that had that Saturday open.

We are going to be better than Winthrop this year, but I understand wanting to get Winthrop just for the name value and their reputation as being an actual.. you know.. bracket buster.

That's a laugh. Thanks.

[UNCA Alum]

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Our backcourt is going to be filthy and it's looking like we might actually now have a big man that can come in and make the occasional layup. You guys are still going to have trouble scoring.

[grm]

Sad about how things go.... (Very nice looking site these days.)

Should be an interesting year, & I look for positive vibes amidst what was placed in the hands of Coach.