[UNCA Alum]

Winthrop might look like the best basketball team in warmups and they might be the most athletic, but that does not equate to talent. I don't know why their fans always fall back on the "We have by far the most talented team in the Big South" argument. The most talented team in the league scores more than 61 points per game. The most talented team in the league shoots better than 28% from three point range. Who on your team is so talented? I'll give you Andre Jones and Corbin. They are two good players, but if I was picking a 12 man team out of every player in the Big South, I don't know if they'd make my roster or not. Whereas back in the WU glory days, my Big South roster probably would have included at least three guys from Winthrop in the starting lineup.

And by establishing yourself (falsely) as the most talented team in the league, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. I would rather pull for a team that overachieves, but you guys apparently can only underachieve.

As far as UNCA, we are apparently going to be going with:

PG JP Primm
SG Matt Dickey
SG Sean Smith
PF John Williams
C Eric Stubbs

Stubbs put on 15 lbs over the summer in the weightroom. Williams is the best athlete in the league. Dickey and Sean shot 38% and 46% from downtown last year, respectively. Frontcourt depth is untested as we'll have to bring in Soph Quinard Jackson and FR DJ Cunningham off the bench. Soph Chris Stepheson will be our primary perimeter player coming off the bench. He'd start for a lot of Big South teams. Played behind Reid last year and didn't really get to show too much. We also have two 6'5" frosh that play on the wing. Our backcourt is loaded.

[UNCA Alum]

I hope those guys really like Clinton, SC. I don't think they are good enough to make PC the clear favorite heading into the 2011-2012 season. Winthrop, UNCA, Liberty, and High Point will all have better teams by then. As well as VMI and Radford, assuming they keep their coaches.

But I guess anybody can get lucky and win three games in March. See UNCA, 2003.

[Realist]

UNCA Alum,

Don't ever become a coach, your talent assessment would put you in the bottom of any league.

[UNCA Alum]

Well judging by your feelings on Winthrop's talent level to go along with their results from last year.. you of all people should know that being able to assess talent does not exactly translate to the win/loss column.

Should re-word my previous comment to "If I was picking the twelve most talented players.."

If I was picking a team to try to win games, I would probably have Mantoris Robinson on my team just because of his defensive abilities, certainly not because of his talent. I'd also pick Cruz from High Point, though he's not one of the most talented either. I don't think I'd pick Jones or Corbin for either.

But I'll ask the question again. Who does Winthrop have that is so talented? And if they were a player that played last year, why did they not average in double digits? If they have improved so much in the past season, then isn't that an indication of their work ethic as opposed to their talent level?

You guys didn't have a single player finish in the Top 25 in scoring last year, yet you are far and away the most talented team in the league? Something isn't adding up.

Maybe we just have different definitions of talent. Being able to put the ball in the basket counts as part of my definition.

And, for the record, I think Winthrop could very well finish second this year. They should be very good defensively. But from a talent standpoint, the dropoff between Winthrop and the rest of the league is nowhere near what it used to be.

Back in the glory days, I think AZ Reid and Reggie Williams were the only two guys in the entire league that could have cracked your starting lineup and they are two of the league's all-time greats. There are a ton of guards right now (Lonon, Sanders, Amir Johnson, Jamarco Warren, Nick Barbour, Matt Dickey, Sean Smith, Flittner, sure I'm missing a few.. heck anybody that can hit a three pointer) that would be starters from Day One if they played for Winthrop this year. Not to mention Radford's three big men, John Williams, Joe Harris, big man from PC, etc. You couldn't make that same claim back in 2005-2008.

[whmatthews]

Looks pretty fair to me. If we had kept our team from last year, I'd expect us to be at the top. I think we'll be back up there next year.

[GoUNCA]

I have fewer concerns about Winthrop's talent as I do their coach's ability. I'm interested to see how they do this year. If they don't do well you can be sure that those UNCG comparisons will come up again.

RU is clearly the favorite, but I don't think they will steamroll everyone unless they find someone who can hit some threes. HPU, LU, CCU and VMI are big question marks this year. No idea where they will finish. I think Sanders and Ohman make LU more worrying to bet against.

[uncafan]

UNCA Alum,

Don't ever become a coach, your talent assessment would put you in the bottom of any league.

Is that all you have? As an obviously unbiased outsider in this discussion , I'd say UNCA Alum's provided some good analysis and observations and all you can come up with is "we're more talented."

We'll see in a few weeks -- but as has been said, Winthrop isn't in another league anymore. And that gap will continue to close as other school's in conference get better facilities than Winthrop and provide other opportunities and reasons for recruits to pick them.

[Realist]

Yawn.

Like I said before, keep WU out of the dance for more than 2 years then talk. No one has been able to do it in a decade.

WU has more talent than anyone and will continue to have it. That talent was young and in some cases injured last year. They'll make a run at the league this year and most likely will dominate it next year.

As for facilities, no one comes close to matching WU's except LU and no one is building anything that will come close.

[jcmanson]

I miss you during the offseason Realist (No HOMO)

[UNCA Alum]

Once again, which players on your team allow you to call yourself the most talented in the league? By far? Bradshaw, Williams, Martin and Jenkins aren't on the roster anymore.

And essentially the whole league (save Radford) was young last year so I don't buy that excuse.

[uncafan]

Yawn.

Like I said before, keep WU out of the dance for more than 2 years then talk. No one has been able to do it in a decade.

WU has more talent than anyone and will continue to have it. That talent was young and in some cases injured last year. They'll make a run at the league this year and most likely will dominate it next year.

As for facilities, no one comes close to matching WU's except LU and no one is building anything that will come close.

Actually Asheville is... Its not as big in terms of seating, but its far more modern and a much nicer place to watch games. And trust my, having seen the building it is far more impressive than that hill you guys built down there in Rock Hill. And its going to have all the modern amenities and features that are lacking in older building like the Coliseum and Gardner Webb's cave... Campbell is also joining the conference and they just opened a brand new arena... Again a bit smaller seating wise, but its modern and has a lot of the technology and expensive toys that weren't even around when you guys built your building. No offense... But most guys I know would rather play in front of a packed house of 3500 in a gorgeous modern facility than something bigger that lacks the intimacy & modernity.

But I digress... Did you just say your more talented? Again?

[LUconn]

Actually Asheville is... Its not as big in terms of seating, but its far more modern and a much nicer place to watch games. And trust my, having seen the building it is far more impressive than that hill you guys built down there in Rock Hill. And its going to have all the modern amenities and features that are lacking in older building like the Coliseum and Gardner Webb's cave... Campbell is also joining the conference and they just opened a brand new arena... Again a bit smaller seating wise, but its modern and has a lot of the technology and expensive toys that weren't even around when you guys built your building. No offense... But most guys I know would rather play in front of a packed house of 3500 in a gorgeous modern facility than something bigger that lacks the intimacy & modernity.

But I digress... Did you just say your more talented? Again?

Are you talking about the ski lodge looking place with the hoops fixed to the wall? What's so modern about it? Did you guys get rid of the vending machine where you pull the knob and get a pack of cigarettes?

[jcmanson]

Actually Asheville is... Its not as big in terms of seating, but its far more modern and a much nicer place to watch games. And trust my, having seen the building it is far more impressive than that hill you guys built down there in Rock Hill. And its going to have all the modern amenities and features that are lacking in older building like the Coliseum and Gardner Webb's cave... Campbell is also joining the conference and they just opened a brand new arena... Again a bit smaller seating wise, but its modern and has a lot of the technology and expensive toys that weren't even around when you guys built your building. No offense... But most guys I know would rather play in front of a packed house of 3500 in a gorgeous modern facility than something bigger that lacks the intimacy & modernity.

But I digress... Did you just say your more talented? Again?

Are you talking about the ski lodge looking place with the hoops fixed to the wall? What's so modern about it? Did you guys get rid of the vending machine where you pull the knob and get a pack of cigarettes?

http://www.uncabulldogs.com/ViewArticle ... ID=3715258

[LUconn]

oh. ok. that makes a lot more sense.

I'm still curious as to what modern amenities that it will have that weren't available when the other buildings were built.

[PAmedic]

I think he meant the metal roll up doors over the concession area.

Or maybe they have doors like the ones at the grocery store that open automatically when you approach. Not the kind w/ the rubber mat, though. The eye thingy.

That would be sweet. Esp if you were carrying packages. Like a cold beverage or two.

PS: I <heart> REALIST as well. Can you imagine how obnoxious he'd be if they had football? That would be the greatest.

[UNCA Alum]

As far as best arenas, I would have to go with VMI. I know we've had this discussion before, but it's really just a great place to play and a great place to watch basketball. The Keydets create a great environment and their floor is really nice. (Radford and Coastal, as of three years ago, had the worst floors in the conference by far.) VMI's visiting locker rooms are ridiculously bad though.

1) VMI
2) Liberty - usually a good crowd, nice floor.. shooters gym. visiting locker rooms are probably the best in the conference (they also serve as the women's volleyball team's locker room), nice scoreboard, nice big screens. Could easily make a case for #1.
3) Winthrop - seats need to be upgraded
4) Radford - terrible floor, cold, have to walk like three miles and go up two flights of stairs to get to the court from the locker room

[uncafan]

oh. ok. that makes a lot more sense.

I'm still curious as to what modern amenities that it will have that weren't available when the other buildings were built.

I mean does this scream modernity to you?

Just things that are pretty 'basic' now in Arenas... Video Boards on both ends of the building (although with the way he budgets are, who knows if those things will get cut), Loge/Private box(s) above seating bowl area, modern locker-rooms, flat screens above the concession stands, advanced lighting (you can turn off the lights for intros)... I know you all at Liberty have had stuff like this for a while But we're a bit behind... I'm sure Winthrop will be making updates soon -- but that building was built 27 years ago? If I'm not mistaken? So UNCA is able to build in a lot of features and technologies that didn't even exist when the Coliseum was built.

[UNCA Alum]

I guarantee you that our new arena is going to be very green.

Heard rumors that the lights and everything else will run off of energy created by recycled rain water and the smugness that lingers in the air following Dennis Kucinich's annual on-campus speech.

Going by the above picture, it looks like Winthrop Coliseum did get some new seats. So I retract that comment.

[PAmedic]

I guarantee you that our new arena is going to be very green.

Heard rumors that the lights and everything else will run off of energy created by recycled rain water and the smugness that lingers in the air following Dennis Kucinich's annual on-campus speech.

Going by the above picture, it looks like Winthrop Coliseum did get some new seats. So I retract that comment.

HAH

very droll- I approve

[LUconn]

actually, we still don't have a lot of that stuff. The concession stands aren't blocked off from view of the court so no need for flat screens. Although I wish they were blocked off. I thought I remember we got new lighting but I think it's still the old it-takes-10-minutes-to-warm-up lighting. Maybe we never did get new stuff though. And no box seats. I really don't think we have a market for box seats though. But we do for football so who knows. I didn't know you guys were getting video boards. I'll be pretty impressed if those come to fruition. Does UNCA broadcast their games? If not those are going to be some mighty expensive boards with the additional costs associated with using them.

[jcmanson]

This supposed expansion to the Vines will include luxury suites.

[TDDance234]

UNCA's "new" gym still looks like a high school gym.

[uncafan]

UNCA's "new" gym still looks like a high school gym.

Dynamite drop in TDDance...

Currently they don't broadcast games on TV. They do have the equipment needed to do the ingame boards and stuff because of the Big South broadband broadcasting. I was actually involved in 'broadcasting' some of those first games and the athletic Dept does have 3 or 4 pretty nice Digital (i believe) HD cameras with tripods and enough equipment to probably run a decent little production. Its the same stuff they use for their web-casts of games, but if your spending a bunch of money on video boards (as they claim they will) you might as well upgrade everything.

As for the 'green' aspects of the building...Yes the Kucinich thing, dunno how that affected it... But they are loudly proclaiming the 'green' technologys. Somehow they are using reclaimed water from the roof to use to water the athletic fields...Various high efficiency and low power use systems. Some fancy new lighting crap in the classrooms and athletic offices. Actually over half the building is for classrooms, weight rooms, extra gym, and new athletic officies...and I guess all that stuff is going to be super hi-tech green. Gotta keep the hippies happy after we cut down lotsa trees to put the building in.

[flamesbball84]

Actually Asheville is... Its not as big in terms of seating, but its far more modern and a much nicer place to watch games. And trust my, having seen the building it is far more impressive than that hill you guys built down there in Rock Hill. And its going to have all the modern amenities and features that are lacking in older building like the Coliseum and Gardner Webb's cave... Campbell is also joining the conference and they just opened a brand new arena... Again a bit smaller seating wise, but its modern and has a lot of the technology and expensive toys that weren't even around when you guys built your building. No offense... But most guys I know would rather play in front of a packed house of 3500 in a gorgeous modern facility than something bigger that lacks the intimacy & modernity.

But I digress... Did you just say your more talented? Again?

Are you talking about the ski lodge looking place with the hoops fixed to the wall? What's so modern about it? Did you guys get rid of the vending machine where you pull the knob and get a pack of cigarettes?

http://www.uncabulldogs.com/ViewArticle ... ID=3715258

That is nice, but come on now, Hope College is a D3 school and they have an arena just as nice if not better than that.
http://www.hope.edu/pr/campusdev/devos.html

[Schfourteenteen]

UNCA's "new" gym still looks like a high school gym.

Dont tell me you aren't a t least a little impressed. Sure, it's not the greatest spectacle, but any upgrade is a good upgrade. The luxury boxes will help with some income, and having them on tv wont be as embarrasing as it used to be.

For what they do on the court they certainly deserve something better than that lodge.