Playing the smaller schools can help and hurt

By Gary McCann - gmccann@heraldonline.com

It seems like the subject comes up every year, so here we go.

Big South Conference teams are once again padding their overall records with wins against non-NCAA Division I programs.

Through Wednesday, the league was 22-0 against those teams, and there are still seven games against those lesser opponents on the schedule.

Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Liberty and VMI are playing the maximum number of games allowed against non-DI schools, four. Gardner-Webb, High Point and UNC Asheville are playing three, Winthrop and Radford two, Presbyterian one.

Through Wednesday, the league was 13-38 in non-conference games against NCAA Division I competition, with the league's best wins owned by Coastal Carolina. The Chants have beaten College of Charleston at home and Georgia Southern on the road. Next best? Charleston Southern over The Citadel.

Kyle Kallander, commissioner of the Big South, told the (Myrtle Beach) Sun News he thinks it would be a good idea for the league to limit the number of games against non-DI schools, perhaps to one per year. But the coaches have bucked that idea in the past. The league once had a limit of two.

Playing more Division I schools would help the league's overall RPI, which was No. 22 out of 31 conferences this week.

But, really, what does it matter?

A higher conference RPI only benefits you if your league is getting more than one bid to the NCAA tournament. The Big South is a one-bid league and that's not going to change.

Also, Big South teams must play guarantee games to raise money for their programs. Presbyterian, for example, will rake in a bunch of a cash (and losses) by playing Clemson, Illinois, Bradley, North Carolina, Ohio State, Dayton, Marquette and Florida.

Being allowed to play some cupcakes along the way offsets those brutal stretches. Kudos to the Blue Hose for playing just one.

What big-name schools are going to visit a Big South venue, most of which aren't much bigger (if at all) than a good high school gym? Some props to College of Charleston for going to Coastal Carolina.

It's not that coaches aren't trying to get good home games. They just have few takers.

So, don't expect things to change.

MAGIC NUMBERS — Winthrop coach Randy Peele looked at the stat sheet from Wednesday's win at USC Upstate and circled his team's 27-for-35 numbers at the free throw line and also the team's 35 percent shooting.

“How many times,” he wondered, “have we done that?” His point was shoot less than 40 percent but get to the line a bunch and win.

In the past five seasons, the Eagles have shot less than 40 percent and more than 20 free throws 16 times. Their record is 12-4, with the four losses coming to West Virginia and Missouri State in 2007, Davidson in that rout last year and at Liberty in 2006.

Peele also likes to play an inside-out game and get to the line. In the past five years, when the Eagles have gone to the line, the numbers are startling.

When they have shot 10 or fewer free throws, they are 3-17. When they have shot 11 to 19 free throws, they are 36-23. So, when shooting fewer than 20 free throws, the Eagles were 39-40 from the 2005-06 season to now.

When they shot 20-29 free throws they were 36-6. Shooting 30 or more free throws, they are 15-2. That's a stunning 51-8.

They have gone to the line more than 20 times five times this season, and they are 4-1, the only loss at Clemson.

REGGIEMANIA — If you think Winthrop point guard Reggie Middleton has been playing well the past three games, you are correct.

His numbers in the past three games: 25 minutes per game, 16 points, 15-of-30 field goals made, 7-of-10 3-pointers, 11-of-14 free throws, four rebounds per game, 2.5 assists, with just four turnovers and five steals.

DAY OF FIRSTS — VMI sophomore Steven Sargent made his first career start in the Keydets' 134-107 loss at Seton Hall on Saturday.

The 7-footer is the tallest player in school history. He had eight points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

The 134 points allowed were the most in VMI history. Seton Hall hit 20-of-35 3-pointers, with Jamel Jackson hitting 12 and scoring a career-high 40 points.

Seton Hall had 33 assists on 48 field goals.

MARTIN OUT — Radford has lost 6-foot-6 senior Phillip Martin, at least until early January, with a broken rib.

Martin, who had been starting at shooting guard, was injured in the first half when he tried to help on defense and took a knee in the ribs from Kansas center Cole Aldrich, who is 6-11 and 260 pounds.

TIP-INS — Liberty sophomore Jesse Sanders became the first player in school history to score two triple-doubles, when he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 99-39 rout of Kentucky Christian ... UNC Asheville beat Montreat 100-49 on Sunday. The 51-point margin was the biggest for the Bulldogs since they beat Voorhees 103-44 on Nov. 25 1988 ... Presbyterian's Chase Holmes scored a career-high 29 points and tied the school's NCAA Division I single game record in a 103-64 loss at North Carolina ... Radford center Art Parakhouski has reached double figures in points and rebounds in all the Highlanders' eight games ... Coastal Carolina's 9-2 start is its best since the 1981-82 season, when the Chants started 11-2. With games against non-Division I teams Savannah State and Cornell College (Iowa) ahead, it looks like the Chants will equal that start.