As promised (not like anyone is reading this, but still), it's time for women's postseason awards. Before we begin, congratulations to Tara Davis on getting pegged for the Atlantic Sun first team.
I'd also like to say that I FIRMLY disagree with the choice of Briana Williams as Freshman of the Year. People will immediately point to Williams' 18 points per game and use that as justification, but I can point to almost any other statistic for Destiny Mitchell - or shucks, even Sarah Hansen at Florida Gulf Coast - and Williams comes out on the losing end.
Destiny has as many assists, one more block and 33 more steals than Williams in five fewer games. Her efficiency numbers (16.29/21.42) are far superior to Williams' (5.66/7.98). Her true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage are eleven points better than Williams', and she also grabs rebounds far more frequently than Williams does. My only guess as to why Mitchell didn't win Freshman of the Year was due to her missing five conference games, which is a really flimsy reason; she was the runaway candidate as it was.
The best revenge is living well, though: Mitchell will still have three more years to show why she should have won it, and likely at least a couple of first-team all-conference selections to go with it.
We'll have to do the SparkNotes version of the All-Conference selections, since they're well overdue. For the process I used, see my previous post about the men's postseason awards. I added an additional category (assist percentage, due to the larger number of point guards) for the women to make a nice even 20
Atlantic Sun First Team All-Conference
C - Haley Nelson, Belmont
PF - Chelsea McMillan, USC Upstate - Player of the Year
SF - Destiny Mitchell, ETSU
SG - Kelsey Jacobson, Florida Gulf Coast
PG - Tara Davis, ETSU
6th - Taneske Richardson, Jacksonville
Atlantic Sun Second Team All-Conference
C - Sametria Gideon, Kennesaw State
PF - Sarah Hansen, Florida Gulf Coast
SF - Tonisha Baker, Campbell
SG - Tee'Ara Copney, USC Upstate
PG - Victoria McGowan, Stetson
6th - Shannon Murphy, Florida Gulf Coast
Atlantic Sun All-Freshman
C - Sarah Hansen, FGCU
PF - Destiny Mitchell, ETSU - Freshman of the Year
SF - Sasha Sims, Stetson
SG - Molly Ernst, Belmont
PG - Brianna Williams, Mercer
(If you're wondering why my AFT is the same as the actual AFT, it's not because I'm lazy - it's because I completely agree with all of those choices, except Williams as FotY.)
Postseason Awards Scoring (not used for All-Freshman Team)
Chelsea McMillan, USCU - 51 points
Destiny Mitchell, ETSU - 30
Haley Nelson, Belmont - 29
Taneske Richardson, JU - 28
Kelsey Jacobson, FGCU - 22
Tara Davis, ETSU - 19
Tonisha Baker, CU - 18
Sarah Hansen, FGCU - 15
Sametria Gideon, KSU - 15
Victoria McGowan, Stetson - 13
Tee'Ara Copney, USCU - 11
Shannon Murphy, FGCU - 9
Anna Bowers, Lipscomb - 7
Angie Smith, KSU - 6
Briana Williams, Mercer - 6
Brittany Kirkland, UNF - 6
Brittnee Hazel, Mercer - 6
Gigi Thomas, JU - 4
Jenna Bartsokas, Lipscomb - 3
Tierra Brown, Stetson - 2
Now that the postseason accolades are done and dusted, let's get to the actual games.
WOW!
The first round held some great basketball for those that turned out. The River City Rumble matches were both down to the wire and really helped fan the fires on one of the A-Sun's best rivalries (the other naturally being the Battle of the Boulevard) ETSU-Lipscomb was very much worth tuning in for. The Lady Bucs nearly messed around and got beat, but they made those last-second free throws that took all the drama out of their 83-75 win. In a game that was so nip and tuck, I really have to tip my hat to Gwen Washington, who stepped up and gave the team a real spark from the bench. Even with the great second half TD had, there's now way we're ever in this game if Gwen doesn't turn it way up.
On the men's side, it's all about Mike Smith, which is a compliment to Mike Smith, but nobody else showed up:
Tubbs - 1/6
Williams - 3/8
Brown - 3/12 (In fairness, Zeke earned his PT with excellent defense. More on that later.)
Sollazzo - 1/2
Smith took more than half of the team's three point attempts. The only other player to hit a shot of that variety? J.C. Ward. He was rewarded with 11 minutes. Ward always seems to really get up for the tournament and play his best basketball, so maybe that should change. I'm not saying he should start - the starters need to get it together, and should have a good opportunity to tune themselves up for the title game against UNF - but he should get far more than 11 minutes when he's clearly on form. Let him spell the starters and let them rest up for Belmont or... well, let's be realistic, Belmont will beat Mercer. I suspect it could be ugly.
Needless to say, Smith saved our bacon, and that's before he robbed Hartley in the lane. North Florida are hardly world-beaters, and they're likely drained after what is always an emotional contest against Jacksonville, but what happened against Campbell can't happen again if they want a shot at any kind of postseason basketball.
Meanwhile, a Buccaneer *not* named Mike Smith is chasing a piece of history. After adding four blocks last night, Isiah Brown now sits just seven swats shy of Zakee Wadood's single-season record. Zeke is at 134 total, the fifth most in school history, with a season still to play. That total is just 49 shy of the school record. Barring injury, I think he'll hit that next year, and I can't wait to see it. Zeke the Lesser could also catch Zeke the Greater on the single-season mark for blocks per game: Wadood's record is 2.27, and Isiah currently sits at 2.00. Just something to watch tonight. Zeke also sits at a whopping 227 offensive rebounds, putting him 8th all-time, and putting the all-time mark within his reach.
Other Bucs looking to get their names in multiple places in next year's media guide:
Sollazzo's 261 career assists ranks seventh all-time, just four shy of Greg Stephens. If he keeps this up, he could potentially catch CP by the end of next year, but he won't catch Tim Smith, and I don't think anyone will catch Mr. Jennings. His 134 assists this year give him the 9th best single-season total, just four shy of Pigram (138, 08-09), and 11 shy of Tim Smith (145, 05-06) who sits up in 6th. Jennings holds the four best single-season totals, though - 183, 202, 297, and a downright ridiculous 301 his senior year. That's pretty freaking tough to do. The Flying Cannoli is also climbing the assist/turnover ratio rankings; his 1.31/1 mark is 6th all-time, just behind Eric Palmer
Mike Smith - Smith sits at 758 rebounds, 6th in school history, just ahead of Jerald Fields and behind - guess who? - Zakee Wadood (which is fine by me, because I never get tired of typing his name). His 190 offensive boards rank 10th all-time; he needs just two to pass Dillion Sneed. Smith will also get into the record books along with Micah Williams for minutes per game in a single-season, clocking in at 34.2 (10th) and 35.5 (6th), respectively. Smith is already in the books for career minutes played, sitting at 5th all-time at 3,959; if the Bucs play three more games (counting tonight), he should catch Greg Dennis in third, but the team would have to play ten more games for him to catch Mr. Jennings, and eight for him to catch Tim Smith, so it looks like his ceiling is well-established. Smith is also now the all-time leader in games played for ETSU, passing Brad Nuckles' 131 mark with 135 games played. Williams is tied with Calvin Talford, Marty Story, and Alvin West at 126 right now and will pass them tonight; if the Bucs win tonight, he will finish his career third all-time, or second if they make it beyond the first round in any kind of postseason competition.
Speaking of Micah, he sits at 1,141 career points, 23rd all-time, but he can very easily jump into the top 20 if he hits his scoring average. If he has a pair of 20 point games tonight and tomorrow (assuming they win tonight), he could jump into 19th ahead of Wes Stallings, and could still potentially pass Kevin Tiggs at 18th with a postseason berth for ETSU.
I'll do a full recap of the record books at the end of the season.
In the meantime, Dylan Pratt continues to impress with anothe two-run jack in a 13-5 rout of Asheville. With the USC Upstate series coming up, he has a chance to really flex those muscles and add another couple of homers to his total. Hoilman went 2/4 with a walk, a K, and three runs scored. Trent picked up three more hits, including another big homber, and Reeder jacked a three-run shot on a 2/5 day.
The pitching was the real standout here, though. Bushey goes five innings, fans seven, and gives up just one hit in the start... but didn't get the decision, because Ben Booker came in and gave up five runs (three earned) on three hits and chipped in the only two walks that ETSU's staff threw. Rissman came in and got the Bucs out of the inning, and McNally would go on to pick up the win as the staff gave up four hits the rest of the game, with an eight-run explosion - including two of ETSU's three homers and a two RBI double from Scruggs - in the top of the 8th.
5-2 to start the year. Considering that two of those wins came against a team like Rider, I'd think Skole is pretty darn satisfied with that record.
Soccer is also in action with the spring schedule under way. Their first of three home fixtures was Wednesday night, as they pummeled Tusculum 4-0. Geno opened the scoring before I got there, and Haba, Hodges, and Schoenfeld (who might have actually scored twice on the same play) got the other three.
The Standouts:
Nate Hodges - Nate was given a long leash and took full advantage of it. He made some great runs up the field and his goal was an absolute beauty to the far post as he slashed in from the left touch line. If Blaike Woodruff stays in the back, Matt Reed has himself some tough competition.
Blaike Woodruff - Speaking of Blaike, he might be the fastest player on this team. He can just absolutely fly down the wing. He does so many things well, and even when he makes a mistake, he has the speed to recover. He's also smart and extremely skilled with the ball at his feet. We may never find out of he has the touch to finish, but I can't help but think that he could play anywhere. I could spend a whole blog fawning over this guy's play, but I have stuff to do.
David Haba - Numbers don't carry the weight at the collegiate level that they do at the pro level, but Haba may earn that #10 shirt if he plays in the fall like he did Wednesday night. He was all over the place and weaved through Tusculum's defenders like road cones, especially on his goal. Haba blew right by his defender and caught the keeper totally flat-footed. Easy goal on the near post.
Redshirt Report:
Nick Dykes - I'm actually not sure Nick took a redshirt last year, but as little as I even saw him warming up, he may as well have. He played in central defense pretty much all night. He was pretty quiet, but he did get burned a couple of times. He'll likely make a good 3rd option at CB this fall.
Henry Klein - Boo played very aggressively in the attack on the wing, which kind of took me by surprise. I can't really say he stood out one way or the other, but he did have a couple of nice passes.
Craig Mitcham - Mitcham walked on last fall after playing with Geno at Dobyns-Bennett for the last few years. He played the second half and didn't really do anything to make himself stand out. I can't say I see him getting much playing time in the fall, but with respectable size and what looked like pretty solid mobility, he could be a good player to have down the bench if the injury bug strikes.
Who didn't play:
Colin Pugh
Alesi Osorio
Mohammad Bowers
Ronnie Hreha
Oddities:
Jaron Westbrook stood out because he didn't play his normal position (CB) all night. Calabrese had him out on the wing, both in defense and midfield. I would assume he just wanted to get a look at Nick Dykes in central defense, but while Westbrook had some very nice runs, he showed why he plays there when he got a chance at goal. He sent one sailing over the crossbar and put one right in the goalie's chest.
At this point, you're probably saying to yourself "wait - there are two central defenders, aren't there?" Why yes, there are, unless Calabrese gets REALLY bold and goes to a 3-4-3 (which is less advisable than Paul Hoilman pitching or Isiah Brown shooting a three). I won't give the player's name because the school hasn't released it, but I will say that I thought he looked solid. Not terribly flashy, but he got the job done and made most of the correct reads. He's not Gui Reis, but few at this level are, and he should be able to hold his own against stiffer competition.
Time to get rolling for women's basketball today, to say nothing of spring break preparations. As Jack Black would say, catch you cats on the flip-flop!
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