UNC-Greensboro (SoCon Tourney)

Despite Appalachian’s spirited play today, Greensboro should be favored in this game, but they may not be. Appalachian covered a big spread at home against Greensboro in December. At the game in the Greensboro Coliseum, Appalachian was spotted a point and a half and led by as many as 17 points in the first half. Greensboro charged back and forced overtime as Appalachian faltered down the stretch and won by four points. Several people are saying this is a good matchup for Appalachian and there are rumors of an injury keeping a certain Greensboro player out of the lineup. We could see a very small spread either direction. Greensboro lost their final three games of the regular season.

I could not find a line for the game so a pick could not have been made. I was told later that Appalachian was a 2 point favorite, which was just about what I was thinking the night before. I would have most likely taken the Mountaineers, but I cannot count this against me without knowing before the game.

Appalachian State Basketball: 2/21/2012 Updated SoCon North Standings

The only game in the Southern Conference on Tuesday night was Wofford visiting UNC-Greensboro. Wofford is the one team I cannot figure out. After getting smacked around by Charleston Southern on the road in the BracketBusters, they easily take care of the Spartans in the Greensboro Coliseum, defeating them 68-56. After winning its previous three road games, UNCG lost at Georgia Southern this past Saturday, and has now lost by 12 at home after defeating Charleston by fifteen points in its previous home game. Appalachian visits The Citadel tomorrow in the only Wednesday SoCon game.

UNCG      10-7       @Elon

Elon             8-8      @Dav, UNCG

Samford       8-8     @WCU, @UTC

App St          7-9     @Cit, @WCU

WCU             6-10   Sam, App St

 

Appalachian State Women’s Basketball: Appalachian State vs. Elon 2/13/2012

02/13/2012

Appalachin cruised to a nineteen point victory over the UNC-Greensboro on Saturday afternoon in front of 952 fans at the Holmes Convocation Center. The win gave Appalachian its third twenty win season in as many years. Nothing else really changed around the conference as teams who were expected to win did which is keeping the conference race very tight with two weeks remaining in the regular season. The top six teams have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, and Appalachian’s schedule down the stretch is as tough as it gets. Appalachian hosts sixth place Elon tonight, with road games at third place Chattanooga, second place Davidson and fourth place Samford on the horizon.Sandwiched between those games is a home game against fifth place Furman. So, yes you read that correctly. Appalachian will face teams second through sixth place in the SoCon in the next five games. A top three seed in the SoCon tournament seems to be a lock with 4.5 games separating Appalchian and Samford.

Appalachin went on the road and defeated Elon five weeks ago, 72-58. The Mountaineers had a twenty four point lead on three occasions in the game before Elon mounted a second half comeback. Elon pulled with five points early in the second half, but the Mountaineers put the Phoenix away with a late run. With a win tonight, Appalachian guarantees itself a top three seed in the SoCon tournament.

SoCon Standings

Appalachian         15-1

Davidson                13-2

UTC                           12-3

Samford                   9-5

Furman                    8-6

Elon                           8-7

 

Appalachian State Women’s Basketball: Appalachian vs. UNCG 2/11/2012

Appalachian welcomes UNC-Greensboro to the Holmes Center Saturday afternoon for a SoCon matchup. The Spartans have been struggling this season having lost seven straight games and the road does not appear to get easier facing league leading Appalachian. The Spartans are only 1-11 on the road, their lone road win coming at NC Central in November 2011. Tipoff follows the Appalachian/Wofford game which tips off at 2pm Saturday.

Saturday’s game is a part of the annual Play4Kay game to benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Research Fund.

Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian vs. Wofford 2/11/2012 Pre-Game

Previously on a six game win streak, Wofford has now lost three games in a row, while Appalachian broke their own three game losing streak with a road win at Furman. In addition to the Appalachian win, league leading Elon lost on the road to SoCon North celler dweller Chattanooga. UNC-Greensboro also came back on the road to defeat Samford. That puts UNCG and Elon in a tie for the SoCon North lead at 8-5 while Samford is 2 games back in third and Appalachian is 2.5 games back in fourth place. This brings up a critical game on the schedule tomorrow afternoon when Wofford comes to to Boone.

Appalachian was led by GJ Vilarino’s career high 13 points and 9 rebounds while Mike Neal also contributed a career high with 18 points and 5 rebounds. Neal was 12/14 from the free throw line while Omar Carter chipped in 8 points and 7 rebounds. Ike Butts, Nathan Healy and Andre Williamson all fouled out for the Mountaineers.

During the three game losing streak for Wofford, they lost control of second place in the SoCon South, while Georgia Southern has vaulted to 10-4 in conference play with a two game lead over the Terriers. Elon visits Samford tomorrow while UNCG hosts Chattanooga.

 

SOCON North Standings

Elon           8-5

UNCG       8-5

Samford    6-7

App St        6-8

UTC            4-9

WCU           4-9

02/13/2012

Appalachian State Women’s Basketball: Appalachian vs. Wofford 2/8/2012

The Lady Mountaineers had a dominating performance against Wofford in the Homles Convocation Center on Wedensday night. The Terriers took an early lead at 7-3 before Appalachian turned on the defensive pressure and eventually forced Wofford into thirty turnovers on the night. For the third straight game, Appalachian’s defense was stifling in the second half, only allowing 21 second half points to the Terriers. The Mountaineers recorded four players with 5 or more rebounds with Courtney Freeman leading the charge with eight rebounds. Anna Freeman led all scorers with 16 points and also added 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 5 assists. It was the eight straight win for the Mountaineers(19-3, 13-1) who will host UNCG on Saturday afternoon, who lost to Davidson 71-52 last night.

Appalachian State            13-1

Davidson                          12-2

Chattanooga                    11-3

Samford                             8-5

Elon                                    8-6

Furman                              8-6

Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian vs. Elon 1/28/2012 & SoCon North Roundup

As the SoCon North standings now show, the loss to UNCG on Thursday was huge for both teams. UNCG now sits alone in first place, a half game in front of Elon and a full game in front of Appalachian. It appears that the race for the two tops seeds in the SoCon tournament will come down to these three teams. Fourth place Samford might have something to say about this as they host a struggling College of Charleston team on Monday night before making the trip to Boone on Thursday. Samford could vault themselves into a tie for third place before tipping off against the Mountaineers. It is a big two games for Samford this week. If they can win both, they will split the season series with Appalachian and jump into third place all alone, while, if they lose both, they will have lost both games to Appalachian, and most likely end their hopes of getting a bye in the SoCon tournament.

Appalachian got a huge home win against Elon in a game where they shot the lights out and dropped Elon out of first place in the SoCon. Of Appalachian’s five conference losses, three have been to the top 3 teams in the South, Davidson, Wofford, and Georgia Southern, and the other two were on the road, one of them in overtime. In the two games they lost on the road to Chattanooga and UNCG, Appalachian held leads late in the ballgame and gave them up.

SoCon North

UNCG         6-4

Elon            5-4

App St        5-5

Samford     4-5

WCU            3-6

UTC             3-7

Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian @ UNC-Greensboro 1/26/2012

Expecting Appalachian to be favored here by 3.5 to 5.5 points.

Very surprised this morning to wake up and see Appalachian being spotted 1.5 points on the road to a team they have already defeated this season and covered their largest spread on the season against. Appalachian beat UNC-Greensboro 78-64 and covered a 9.5 point spread at home on December 1st, 2011. Greensboro has won four games in a row against Samford, Chattanooga, The Citadel and College of Charleston. Samford and The Citadel are holding the cellar down in their respective divisions, and Chattanooga has yet to win a game on the road. College of Charleston is underachieving due to poor shooting and lack of consistent guard play. The loss of Andrew Goudelock is really hurting them. The Charleston win was what kick started this winning streak for the Spartans.

This is the one game this season, where I picked the opposing team and I got burned. I am not going to make the same mistake again. Appalachian is playing better, and should have a decent crowd in the Greensboro Coliseum where they have not lost in their last two trips. I think the handicappers are giving the Spartans too much credit, so I will take the Mountaineers to cover this spread, mainly because they are going to win straight up.

Final: This game went to overtime and Appalachian could not keep up with UNCG’s hot shooting once Jamal Trice fouled out in overtime. I lost for the second time in three games and my record fell to 8-6 on the season. I picked the wrong team both times Appalachian and UNCG played.

Appalachian State Basketball: 1/23/12 Men’s and Women’s Socon Update

UNC-Greensboro picked up a big win over Samford on Sunday afternoon. Not that beating Samford was a momumental win, as they are last in the SoCon North Division, but it was the Spartans fourth win in a row, after starting the season 2-14. Greensboro is now 4-4 in SoCon play, tied with Appalachian for second placein the SoCon North. Thursday’s game in Greensboro is now even bigger. A win for Appalachian would give them a season sweep and separate themselves from UNCG by a full game in the standings, and would require UNCG to finish ahead of Appalachian in the regular season in case tiebreakers came into play for seeding in the SoCon Tournament which will be held March 2-5 in Asheville.

Tonight is a big night as far as the SoCon women’s race in concerned as well. First place Chattanooga (8-1) continues its road trip in the Old North State with a trip to third place (7-2) Davidson. Appalachian limited Chattanooga to 26 points over the final 30+ minutes of the game on Saturday evening. UTC star Whitney Hood was contained quite well on the inside. Second place Appalachian (7-1) hosts fourth place Samford (6-3) in what is a must win game for Samford if they plan on contending for the conference title. Appalachian will look to get revenge from last year’s defeat to the Bulldogs in the Southern Conference championship game. Samford defeated Davidson on Saturday. Appalachian and Samford tipoff tonight at 6pm at the Holmes Center.

Appalachian State Men’s Basketball: Appalachian vs. UNC-Greensboro 12/1/2011

When the Spartans came to town, Appalachian had just defeated a marginal Milligan squad in unimpressive fashion. UNCG had won the previous year on Appalachian’s home court when their record stood at 0-15. The Spartans were being spotted 9.5 points in their SoCon opener. I was not feeling the Mountaineers covering such a large margin, but they did and then some. Appalachian won, and rolled to a 78-64 win, but my pick left me sitting 1-2 on the season.