A Sea Of Red

They are scarey good for the Big South level.

They are a good team at any level. I am not just penciling them into the NCAA's though. You have to play the games. They are really good though. Jenkins is gonna be tough to stop. They have a ton of weapons.

I'm pencilling them into the NCAA tourney. If they lose a BSouth game I'll be surprised.

Bilas said during the game he didn't think the Big South would be easy for Winthrop. But I guess that's true for most conference favorites. He did make it sound like the BSC was getting much better. A nice plug from a good analyst.
Winthrop will be tough to beat, but I don't think its out of the question, but teams will probably have to beat them on the road to win the BS tourney.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=263190153

Hansbrough, Heels survive scare, rally past Winthrop


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Tyler Hansbrough had 20 points and 10 rebounds and No. 2 North Carolina rallied to beat Winthrop 73-66 on Wednesday in the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Freshmen Wayne Ellington added 13 points and Brandan Wright scored 12 for the Tar Heels, who overcame 25 points from the Eagles' Torrell Martin to advance to the semifinals next week in New York against the winner of a late game Wednesday between Gonzaga and Baylor.

North Carolina (2-0), down nine with under 17 minutes to play, went to their highly regarded freshmen class to come back. Ellington's back-to-back buckets inside and Ty Lawson's 3-pointer in a 9-0 run tied it at 45.

North Carolina took its first lead of the second half on Bobby Frasor's layup with 9:55 left, in part thanks to picking up the intensity on defense, an area coach Roy Williams has been critical of since practice began.

The freshman trio of Wright, Lawson and Ellington scored consecutive baskets and Hansbrough, a sophomore, put it away with consecutive dunks, the second coming off a Winthrop turnover, to go ahead 65-55 with under three minutes left.

Martin, who hit 6-of-8 3-pointers in the first half, made just 1-of-7 after halftime. Michael Jenkins had 15 points and Craig Bradshaw had 14 for Winthrop (2-1), which committed 18 turnovers.

With Martin's hot shooting early, the Eagles appeared poised to pull off another win a major conference opponent. Winthrop, which returned four starters from last year's team that lost on a last-second shot to No. 2 seed Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, have beaten Marquette, Providence, Georgia, Clemson and Missouri in recent years.

But a win against the Tar Heels would have gone to the top of the list of regular-season accomplishments for coach Gregg Marshall, who accepted the College of Charleston coaching job over the summer only to change his mind the next day.

Martin, the preseason player of the year in the Big South, hit his first four 3-pointers to give Winthrop a 19-17 lead.

The senior, who had been battling a stomach virus that forced him to get an IV at halftime of Tuesday's win over Iona, hit two more 3s sandwiched between a one-handed dunk to help the Eagles build a 34-26 advantage.

The Tar Heels, who committed 14 first-half turnovers, appeared rattled by Winthrop's pressure defense. The Eagles repeatedly sent an extra defender to Hansbrough's blind side, which twice led to turnovers.

Winthrop's lead ballooned to 38-26 on Taj McCullough's jumper with 2:45 left.

But the Tar Heels committed only three turnovers in the second half.

Were you as nervous as I was during the game? I was having Santa Clara/Davidson/CofC flashbacks.

I didn't actually watch it, but a friend called late in the game to tell me what was going on.

I watched almost the entire thing. The first five minutes I watched here and then the rest I watched at Ham's.

I don't know how you can pencil anyone in at this stage. Winthrop has virtually the same team as last season and they had to have a buzzer beater to beat Coastal. Folks in the Big South are very familiar with Marshall's system. Conference games are usually tougher than non conference games because of scouting and familiarity along with complacency on behalf of the favored team. Winthrop lost late in the season to a down Liberty team on the road. Coastal beat them twice. They will NOT run the Table but they WILL be a tough out. Going to the Winthrop Coliseum and winning a tournament game will be really, really tough but it is not impossible.

agreed SCAR...you can't pencil anyone in yet. a player could get injured, and we are talking about 18-19 yr olds. they will certainly be a tough out, and are clearly the best in the big south.

I realized I didn't say this on here but rather the WU board:

IF Winthrop plays like they did last night, they won't lose. That's a big if though.

We all know that is a big "IF". No team, regardless of how talented they have been has ever run the table in the Big South. IT is just so hard to do. Familiarity, injuries, letdowns etc. I have not looked at WU's schedule, but if they were to play a non/low D1 this weekend, it is possible to even lose that game becasuse of a let down after last night. There are so many things that go into a college basketball season that may or may not be related to on the court things that have a great affect on the actual games themselves.
That being said, it is pretty stupid to pick anybody but Winthrop to win, but they will definately not coast to the BS Championship.

at large anyone??

They could get an at-large, but they will have to beat at least one of the "high"-majors they play on their schedule since they are playing so many. They can't put up a goosegg in all of those games.

well, I am sure they will win at least one. Remember WU beating Marquette last season, and almost Alabama?

I think they will too, but until they do...

Yes, I have a question. Didn't essentially the same team get beat by the 2nd worst team in the league last year? Thanks in advance.

Did that loss to the second worst team in the league stop Winthrop from winning the conference last year, LUconn? For anyone with commen sense who watched them play against UNC, it would stupid to say anything else but the championship goes through Winthrop.

Everyone knows the Championship goes through Winthrop until someone shows us something different. They are very talented and well coached to go with seasoned veterans. They are far, far, far from unbeatable though and I don't necessarily think they will win the Big South Tournament. You guys all know how conference tournaments can go. The big south has the home court thing that works in the favor of Winthrop but having coached 2 teams that lost championship games on it's home court, I can say that anything can happen. Or should we not just play the season and crown Winthrop champs? "We knew what they were. We had em and we let em off the hook! If you want to Crown em, Crown EM!" Sorry I was channeling Denny Green for a moment.

hurricane fan wrote:Did that loss to the second worst team in the league stop Winthrop from winning the conference last year, LUconn? For anyone with commen sense who watched them play against UNC, it would stupid to say anything else but the championship goes through Winthrop.

You answered my question with a question. But really it was an illustrative question showing you exactly how beatable they are. They could have beaten UNC but all it takes is 1 loss for them to not be the BSC champs. They're good but it's pathetic to start groveling at their feet after 2 games.

I'm not groveling, just stating that they are the team to beat. They proved they are capable of being really, really good. I've never said that they will go undefeated. To the common sports fan, it's obvious that they are the best team in the Big South. I know anyone can be beat on any given night....ask Kansas.

I have a question for the haters...with WU playin as well as they are right now and if we knock them off yall willing to give RD a 3 year extention???

Hold My Own wrote:I have a question for the haters...with WU playin as well as they are right now and if we knock them off yall willing to give RD a 3 year extention???

Good question. Yeah--let's hear from you!
(this should get good)

I don't see us winning a game in Rock Hill, and I don't see us getting the luxury of playing them at home in the BST. One game doesn't matter. If we have a successfull season before that game then maybe we should pass out some kool-aide. But a poor season and a win over Winthrop does not merit an extension. The win over them last didn't matter, and unless somehow Brewington brings some basketball fairies along with him to magically improve our team, a win over them this year doesn't matter. RD would be shall we say Done-ton