[jcmanson]

Good news coming for @LongwoodLancers. Hearing they are set to join Big South. Announcement coming next week.

Our friend who broke the Rocco to UR story is breaking this one.

[jcmanson]

A reply to one of my tweets about this. This is from a Longwood student:

I've heard some people talk about it today. people on this campus have been waiting to hear that for so long

[jcmanson]

Longwood University
We've got a "secret"... something is coming.

[lynchburgwildcats]

Good for them, and it's about darn time they joined a conference. Being a D1 independent is 100% illogical, nothing positive can come out of it (exception: Notre Dame football).

[ballah09]

WTF.

[BJWilliams]

Good for them, and it's about darn time they joined a conference. Being a D1 independent is 100% illogical, nothing positive can come out of it (exception: Notre Dame football).

[Bigsouthking]

Reasons why:

Flames moving up and out
VMI looking at return to SoCon or Patriot League
CCU growing big

Also App St and Ga Southern moving up with LU

So Kyle has to snag some team and it's Longwood

Next team would be Queens(NC) or USC Upstate.

[jcmanson]

I'm guessing they're in the conference next year. This gives us 12 teams. I'm also assuming two divisions.

[jbock13]

Yeah... sorry guys but it doesn't really bother me. Whatever. Congrats to them.

[BJWilliams]

the double facepalm was more for the positively illogical statement our friend shuk made

[lynchburgwildcats]

the double facepalm was more for the positively illogical statement our friend shuk made

Yes, because effectively eliminating yourself from making an NCAA Tournament every year as an independent or member of a non-auto bid conference is such a great idea Their softball team, an independent, was 37-13 last year, 36-16 two seasons ago and they didn't even make the NCAA Tournament either time.

[jbock13]

Not to mention their men's basketball team would probably kick our... yeah, this year.

[flamehunter]

Gotta agree with L-wildcats or shuk or whoever he is - this is great from Longwood's perspective. A good fit for them. Kinda makes the BS look desperate though to take another non-football school. And I have fond memories of Liberty-Longwood battles on the BB court when Jerome Kersey was playing. He was fun to watch.

[thepostman]

Good for them, and it's about darn time they joined a conference. Being a D1 independent is 100% illogical, nothing positive can come out of it (exception: Notre Dame football).

BJ I know you don't like the guy but come on, his post made complete sense.

[Hold My Own]

Doesnt matter...its all in the rear view

[ATrain]

Richmond fishwrap:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/sp ... r-1625305/

[Cider Jim]

Am I the only one excited about this move? This gives the Big South perfect symmetry and balance: 12 total teams divided exactly evenly across 3 states:

4 in Virginia
4 in North Carolina
4 in South Carolina
Kallander is a genius. Okay, maybe I won't go that far, but they are at least positioned to have another Virginia team if and when LU bolts for a IA conference. And having an away game just an easy hour drive down 460 East is appealing to me as a fan.

Sure, Longwood doesn't have football, but neither does about half of the Big South schools. Geographically, adding Longwood makes a ton of sense for the conference. (And it helps our Quiz Bowl team to have another Virginia school close by for tournaments).

Any word on if their nachos are any good?

[Purple Haize]

Nachos are good. Well at least the cheeses is warm which is a step up from SOME schools. I agree that this is a good move for the BSC. It is amazing what 2 desperate parties can agree to!

[jcmanson]

This is a GREAT move for Longwood. It would be stupid to think otherwise. As for the Big South, I'm going to assume they had no other viable candidates at this point.

Great for Longwood.
The same ole thing for the Big South.
Shouldn't have a long-term impact on Liberty.

[RVAparks]

Any word on if their nachos are any good?

Our nachos are sub-par right now, but I'll bring it up at the next Athletic Advisory Board meeting

[ATrain]

Am I the only one excited about this move? This gives the Big South perfect symmetry and balance: 12 total teams divided exactly evenly across 3 states:

4 in Virginia
4 in North Carolina
4 in South Carolina
Kallander is a genius. Okay, maybe I won't go that far, but they are at least positioned to have another Virginia team if and when LU bolts for a IA conference. And having an away game just an easy hour drive down 460 East is appealing to me as a fan.

Sure, Longwood doesn't have football, but neither does about half of the Big South schools. Geographically, adding Longwood makes a ton of sense for the conference. (And it helps our Quiz Bowl team to have another Virginia school close by for tournaments).

Any word on if their nachos are any good?

I'd be more excited if I were still a student. Away games only an hour away, plus having mom either cook or take me out to eat = win win for me.

However, it's a bit late now for that.

[RVAparks]

Am I the only one excited about this move? This gives the Big South perfect symmetry and balance: 12 total teams divided exactly evenly across 3 states:

4 in Virginia
4 in North Carolina
4 in South Carolina
Kallander is a genius. Okay, maybe I won't go that far, but they are at least positioned to have another Virginia team if and when LU bolts for a IA conference. And having an away game just an easy hour drive down 460 East is appealing to me as a fan.

Sure, Longwood doesn't have football, but neither does about half of the Big South schools. Geographically, adding Longwood makes a ton of sense for the conference. (And it helps our Quiz Bowl team to have another Virginia school close by for tournaments).

Any word on if their nachos are any good?

I'd be more excited if I were still a student. Away games only an hour away, plus having mom either cook or take me out to eat = win win for me.

However, it's a bit late now for that.

Just beware brother, the ride back down 460 can be pretty long since the Flames are 0-8 when they play in Willett Hall

[jcmanson]

We've never done well playing in High School gyms. Ask UNCA and CSU.

[RVAparks]

We've never done well playing in High School gyms. Ask UNCA and CSU.

haha well we have video boards going up, so maybe that will help your luck. LU vs. LU was a pretty solid home and home, but once McKay left the series stopped. Baseball series should pretty solid, we pretty much play Liberty in everything already due to proximity and the matchups are usually very equal.

Our best sports right out of the gate will probably be Softball and Baseball. Softball is rebuilding a little bit this year, but we should've made the NCAA tourney last year but screwed by the selection committee (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/ ... id=6555358)

I think Men's Basketball will fit right in, and be a little better than people think. We should be 10-9 right now, but had some tough/close loses. It stink b/c we are losing 4 seniors, one of which, Antwan Carter, would be 1st team All-Big South in my opinion. But we have a dynamite PG coming in, who graduated HS in December and is already practicing with the team; along with three other guys including a JuCo big man.

Everyone at Longwood is excited, to say the least.

[jcmanson]

Yeah you guys should be excited. Sorry my initial reaction yesterday was to disparage Longwood. I don’t want to take anything away from them. It’s a great day for them as an athletic program. And I agree, you guys should be very competitive in most sports right away.

I just want out of the Big South so freakin bad.