Atlantic Sun Basketball

 Andy Enfield is the head coach of Florida Gulf Coast University. In just its second year as a Division I program, Florida Gulf Coast earned its inaugural NCAA tournament berth by winning the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. Enfield’s Eagles, who beat Miami early in the season, earned the No. 15 seed in the South region. Florida Gulf Coast (24-10) plays No. 2 seed Georgetown on Friday in Philadelphia.

It’s exciting that we have made it here so quickly. It’s only our second year with the program at Florida Gulf Coast. We never had a timetable as a coaching staff. When I first got the job in April 2011, I just told my staff I have a five-year contract and there’s no pressure to win right away, but we need to make improvements in this program quickly. I expect our staff to show up every day and every week just trying to make this program a better place, whether that’s with recruiting, academics, getting involved with the community or the student body, player development on the court or our team development.

@claytravisbgidAndy Enfield and family. twitter.com/KennyLockhart1…

— Bubba Lockhart (@KennyLockhart15) March 20, 2013

This week will be special. None of our players have been to the NCAA tournament so we’ll try to get them ready mentally, but when we get there, I want them to have fun and enjoy the experience whether we win or lose. However far we advance or don’t advance, it’s something I want them to remember for the rest of their lives and take with them.

We have a great challenge in front of us on Friday when we go up against Georgetown, but I believe our players are prepared.

We had a challenging schedule early in the year. We played VCU, Miami, Duke, Iowa State and St. John’s. Georgetown is a tremendous basketball team. They have great players and an excellent coach. We understand how good the Hoyas are, but we’ve also played against teams just like Georgetown early in the season.

I think the way we played in the Atlantic Sun Tournament gives us confidence. We won 12 out of our last 14 games, played exceptionally well down the stretch. The Miami win, which many people will talk about with our team, was a long time ago. It seems like years ago even though it was a couple months ago; however, we understand we can beat a top-tier team in the country if we play well and Georgetown is no exception.

We were fortunate enough to play a team very similar to the Hoyas in our conference championship. Both Mercer and Georgetown are top 10-15 in the nation in scoring defense. Their styles are similar with their defense and their offensive execution.

Georgetown likes to slow the game down and we’ll try to push it, but the Hoyas are great at what they do. Only four teams all season have topped 70 points against them. Mercer gave up 57 points a game and we scored 88. If we can speed the tempo up and run at opportune times, that will be very important for our chance to win the game.

In the half court, we don’t have any back-to-the-basket big men like an Indiana or Duke. Our big men are tall, athletic, they’re fast, they jump, they have long arms, but we’re not a physical back-you-down team that’s going to score in the paint over people. We’re going to use our speed and our athleticism kind of like a Tyson Chandler mode. We’re looking to run our style and we’re not going to change. This is who we are. We’re built for an up-tempo style of play. If it takes us a little longer to get a good shot off, that’s okay as long as we get open shots.

The one player I’ve been asked about lot this week is Otto Porter, and it’s hard to prep for Otto Porter. He’s the Big East player of the year. He’s a potential lottery pick in the NBA Draft. We just have to understand that they have four other guys on the court who are pretty good too. You can’t just concentrate on one player. You have to look at their whole team and try to play team defense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaw-8yqkaiM

We are ready for the moment. We didn’t know how long it would take for us to be successful. The fact that it happened in two seasons I’m ecstatic about for our players and our university, but our staff hasn’t changed. We’ll continue to have the same mentality going forward.

Florida Gulf-Coast (11-6, 3-1 A-Sun) at USC Upstate (8-7, 2-0)

Jan. 10, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Spartanburg, S.C., G.B. Hodge Center (1,000)

History Of The Rivalry

SPARTANBURG, S.C.--Thursday night offers an opportunity for the USC Upstate men's basketball program to offer a good showing with a victory in its first home conference game in front of what promises to be a healthy turnout of students and alumni packed inside the cozy confines of the G.B. Hodge Center Thursday night.

The opponent—Florida Gulf-Coast—also offers the Spartans what may be the most rewarding of opportunities in sports—redemption. 

Let's rewind to Feb. 23, 2012, with the venue being the same one in which the two teams will duke it out on Thursday night. 

Plenty was on the line for both the Spartans and Eagles.

Upstate had a chance to clinch a seed and a bye in the opening round of the 2012 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tournament. FGCU was just looking to qualify for the postseason tournament and, like Upstate, ended up doing so in its first season of eligibility following the NCAA's mandated four-year transition from Division II to Division I.

Preseason Player of the Year Torrey Craig's tomahawk jam as time expired set off wild celebrations in the crowd, as Upstate posted an 87-74 win over the Eagles to move on to the conference tournament in its first season of eligibility. Meanwhile, FGCU would have to wait on its status. After Mercer upended Lipscomb that same night, the Spartans knew they would be making the trip to Macon, GA., for the 2012 A-Sun Tournament. 

The Spartans had already claimed another meeting between the two earlier in the 2011-12 season, an 80-75 win at Alico Arena in Fort Myers. This time they used a school-record—in the Division I era—15 triples. Craig and eventual A-Sun Freshman of the Year Ty Greene each had career-high nights, with 30 and 22 points, respectively, thereby helping the Spartans to the 13-point win. 

As fate would have it, and despite losing their final two conference games, FGCU received some help in other league games, and the Eagles garnered the No. 6 seed for the tournament. This meant the Eagles would open the tournament in a Thursday night clash against No. 3 seed USC Upstate, setting up the unique scenario of two conference tournament rookies facing each other in the quarterfinals of the league tournament.

On Mar. 2, the Spartans and Eagles laced up once again as foes on the A-Sun hardwood, only this time there was much more at stake. This time it was a different FGCU team the Spartans encountered, and one that was tenacious on the defensive end of the floor. The Spartans simply sizzled from the perimeter en route to a 71-61 win at Mercer's Hawkins Arena/University Center. 

It was the beginning of a memorable tournament run for the Eagles, as the league tournament newbie made its way to the title game before running out of gas against former league power Belmont. It was a bittersweet end to what had been the most remarkable turnaround story in Division I college basketball in 2011-12, with the Spartans bowing out of the tournament with a 20-12 mark.

Upstate would, of course, get an invite to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, where it opened with a win over Kent State before bowing out in the next round with a loss at Old Dominion. 

In the A-Sun quarterfinal matchup between the two last season, in which the Eagles got their first Division I conference tournament win, FGCU placed five players in double figures and shot 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from beyond the arc, while holding Upstate to just 31.9 percent (22-of-69) from the field and just 23.8 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range. 

After seeing Craig post a career-high 30-point effort against them a little over a week earlier, the Eagles limited the A-Sun Player of the Year to just 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 from three-point range. The Eagles were also able to frustrate Greene, who was held to 10 points on 3-of-14 from the field and just 1-of-6 from three. Greene had come into the contest leading the A-Sun in three-point field goal percentage, hitting at nearly 44.0 percent entering tournament play.

Meanwhile, FGCU was able to spread the wealth offensively in that quarterfinal win. The European connection of Christophe Varidel and Filip Cvjetcanin combined for 23 points (Varidel: 14 pts, Cvjetcanin: 11 pts) off the bench, including hitting six of the team's nine triples in the contest to give the Eagles offense a huge lift. 

Though the Spartans went on to extend their season with another first for the program, the sting of defeat in the opening round of the league tournament didn't wear off during the offseason. 

That Feb. 23 matchup last season was a vivid reminder of what college basketball is all about, complete with rowdy hecklers right behind the FGCU bench and their head coach, Andy Enfield.

Thursday night's A-Sun clash offers that opportunity for a team to right a previous wrong against a rival. That chance is summed up in one word: redemption.

Thursday night will offer the first of two opportunities this season for Upstate to capitalize on this opportunity, and 24 hours from now, we will know if redemption is indeed the order of the evening, or if the Spartans will again suffer defeat by an encore performance by the Eagles.

Notes You Need to Know

• Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast will be facing each other for the 11th time in series history, with FGCU holding a narrow 6-4 edge. 

• FGCU was picked to finish third in the preseason media and coaches' polls, while Upstate was picked to finish second in both.

• FGCU's only loss was against league-favorite Mercer, which downed the Eagles 77-70 in overtime, avenging a 2012 A-Sun Semifinal Tournament loss (62-58) to the Eagles. 

• FGCU claimed one of two wins for the league against ACC competition from the Sunshine State this season. The Eagles were 63-51 winners over Jim Larranaga's Miami Hurricanes. The other win for the A-Sun against a Sunshine State ACC foe was Mercer's 71-56 win over defending ACC Tournament champion Florida State.

• FGCU head coach has a familiarity with ACC basketball, having served as an assistant under Leonard Hamilton for five years at Florida State and helping the Seminoles advance to the Sweet Sixteen twice during his time as an assistant coach in Tallahassee.

• The Spartans are led in scoring by reigning and preseason A-Sun Player of The Year junior forward Torrey Craig (17.0, 5.9 RPG), who ranks second in the conference in scoring to Kennesaw State's Markeith Cummings and his 17.2 PPG average. In the season opener against Saint Louis, Craig became the fastest player in school history to 1,000 points, completing the feat in just 65 games.

• Craig enters Thursday night's clash with the Eagles having scored in double figures in 32 of his last 36 games. He has scored double digits in 65 of his 79 career games.

• Northern Kentucky completed the rare feat of holding Craig under double figures this season, becoming the only team to make that claim, as the Norse held the junior from Great Falls, S.C., to just six points. 

• Craig has scored in double figures in 34 of 41-career games against conference foes. Two of the seven times Craig has been held under double figures scoring have come against FGCU. The only other current conference foe to hold Craig under double figures more than once in his career is Lipscomb. Craig also established one of his two career 30-point scoring performances in the 13-point win over the Eagles last season. He established a new career high with 31 points in a win earlier this season at the Hodge Center over Texas-San Antonio.

• All-conference guard Ty Greene is the only other Spartan averaging in double figures in the starting five, posting 11.3 PPG, and his 31 triples this season rank him sixth in the league in three-pointers made. Craig ranks just behind Greene with 30 trifectas on the season, and the lethal perimeter-shooting duo have combined for 61 of the team's 97 three-point field goals through the first 15 games this season.

• Upstate junior forward Ricardo Glenn has been a monster on the boards, as he comes in averaging a league-best 8.5 RPG this season. Glenn is also on the cusp of averaging in double figures, at 9.6 PPG. Glenn has four double-doubles this season to lead the club in that category, with his top performance being a 15-point, 12-rebound game in a late December win against Coastal Georgia. Glenn also ranks second in the A-Sun in field goal percentage, connecting at a sizzling 59 percent (59-for-100) this season.

• Upstate has one of the deepest teams in the league, with the likes of Adrien Rodgers, one of the league's top sixth men, averaging 9.9 PPG. Forward Jodd Maxey (6.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG) has been the model of consistency since transferring in from South Carolina State a couple of years ago, and his athleticism and intangibles have been a vital part of the team's successes in that time. Maxey currently ranks second in the A-Sun with 22 blocked shots this season.

• FGCU counters with a talented core of players of its own, including point guard Brett Comer (6.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG) and perimeter threats Bernard Thompson (14.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG ) and Sherwood Brown (14.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG). Forward Chase Fieler (10.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG) rounds out the Eagles' trio, averaging in double figures. Comer ranks second in the A-Sun in assists, dishing out 5.9 helpers-per-game, while Thompson leads the league in steals, with 3.9 thefts-per-game.  

• Forward Eric McKnight (7.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG), who transferred into the program from Iowa State, is one of the most athletic players in the Eagles' lineup, and he comes into the matchup ranking third in the league with 24 rejections (1.4 BPG). Forward Filip Cvjetcanin (6.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG) ranks second in the league in three-point field goal percentage, having connected on 37.3 percent (22-of-59). 

• Upstate has won 12 straight wins at the Hodge Center, spanning a full calendar year, with the last home setback occurring early last January against Mercer. The winning streak currently ranks fourth in the nation. 

• Upstate and FGCU are the top two scoring teams in the A-Sun, with the Eagles leading the league by posting 71.6 PPG, while Upstate is just behind in second, averaging 70.9 PPG.

Final Prediction: Upstate 76, FGCU 72

Were college great Kenny Anderson and former Georgia Tech guard Jon Babul set to be a part of Kennesaw State Basketball?  According to Bobby Cremins' former assistant Kevin Cantwell, this Tech trio was set to take over the KSU program. He had even began unofficially recruiting the area.  

According to an article by USA Today, Cantwell was offered the KSU job in February of 2011 by his next-door neighbor and close family friend Daniel Papp, who is the president of Kennesaw State.

Cantwell is claiming that the offer took place in Dr. Papp's living room on February 16, 2011. It was later withdrawn unexpectedly during a conversation in April at their mutual property line as Cantwell was doing yard work.  

The 14-year former Tech assistant coach is now suing the Board of Regents over the reneged job offer.

He said he had already begun gathering a staff of former Georgia Tech stars, including Kenny Anderson and Jon Babul.     

The specific damages of the suit have not been outlined, but Cantwell claims he was offered $340,000 in salary for himself and assistants, and he claims that he had even begun recruiting the area prior to being officially hired, which, if true, would be an NCAA violation.

 "I kept Dan informed of what I was doing on behalf of Kennesaw State, and not once did he tell me to slow down," Cantwell said about his pre-employment recruiting period.  

Cantwell also told reporters that he "didn't want to do this to the school or [Coach] Lewis, but I had no choice. This put my wife and I in a serious financial bind." 

A statement on the incident has yet to be released by Kennesaw State University or by Dr. Papp.   

The Shakedown

The Atlantic Sun Conference tournament has much to offer this year. The Belmont Bruins grabbed the No. 1 seed, but it's the No. 2 Mercer Bears who will have the home-court advantage. Aside from those two schools, there are several other contenders looking to dance their way into the NCAA tournament.

Let's take a look!

The Breakdown

1. Belmont 24-7 (16-2 Atlantic Sun)

While the regular-season title guarantees them an NIT bid, the Bruins have much higher goals. Belmont has won 11 straight games and has an impressive resume. The most memorable game may have been a one-point loss at Duke earlier this season.

While Belmont is the favorite, the Bruins will be playing at Mercer this week, a place where they won by one point this past Saturday.

2. Mercer 21-10 (13-5 Atlantic Sun)

The Bears are in a great spot. Due to the rotating location of the tournament each year, they get home-court advantage. Mercer does have some concerns, however, having lost three of its past four games.

The one-point loss to Belmont last Saturday was a thriller. We all would be lucky to get that rematch.

3. USC Upstate 20-11 (13-5 Atlantic Sun)

USC Upstate has done a fantastic job with its move to Division I. In just its second year in the conference, Upstate has earned the No. 3 seed.

Upstate has an opening-round matchup with Florida Gulf Coast, a team it defeated twice this season. Should they get past that, the Spartans will face Mercer, a team that has given them trouble this season.

I love the progress the USC Upstate team has made, but I think they will be done in the semifinals.

4. East Tennessee State 16-13 (10-8 Atlantic Sun)

The Bucs of East Tennessee State come into the tournament riding a three-game win streak. While they are a favorite in their first game against North Florida, the Bucs will have a tough time getting past Belmont in the semifinals.

The Bruins have defeated East Tennessee State twice this year by an average of 18 points per game.

I love the athleticism of the Bucs squad, but winning three games in a row would be a tall task for this team.

5. North Florida 16-15 (10-8 Atlantic Sun)

The North Florida Ospreys win the award for the coolest nickname in the conference. They are the No. 5 seed and are riding a three-game win streak. North Florida looks to build on its win over Mercer last week. 

Their first focus, however, is an East Tennessee State team that beat them twice this year.

I like the future of North Florida, but this year will most likely be a one-and-done in the conference tournament.

6. Florida Gulf Coast 13-16 (8-10 Atlantic Sun)

Florida Gulf Coast might be in the worst shape heading into tournament play. The Eagles have lost five of their last six games and have a tough first-round matchup against USC Upstate. Florida Gulf Coast has lost both regular-season games against Upstate and will need a complete turnaround before Wednesday night.

7. Lipscomb 13-17 (8-10 Atlantic Sun)

The Bisons of Lipscomb have the No. 7 seed. Lipscomb has lost four of its last five and would need to pull off an unlikely upset against the host team, Mercer. Lipcomb's nine-point loss to Mercer last week was surprisingly competitive, giving them some hope heading into Wednesday night.

8. Jacksonville 9-20 (6-12 Atlantic Sun)

The Jacksonville Dolphins won the tiebreaker for the last playoff spot in the Atlantic Sun. While most people wouldn't take a second look at this team, it is important to note that the Dolphins have won four of their last six games.

Jacksonville has plenty of fight as well. After starting the season 2-15, Jacksonville has been impressive while going 6-5 the last few weeks of the season. The Dolphins are a long shot and most definitely not a favorite. But it is that time of year when anything can happen.

9. Stetson 8-21 (6-12 Atlantic Sun)

* Did not qualify for conference tournament

10. Kennesaw State 3-28 (0-18 Atlantic Sun)

* Did not qualify for conference tournament

The Takedown

Here is how I see the Atlantic Sun tournament playing out.

First Round

No. 1 Belmont over No. 8 Jacksonville

No. 2 Mercer over No. 7 Lipscomb

No. 3 USC Upstate over No. 6 Florida Gulf Coast

No. 4 East Tennessee State over No. 5 North Florida

Semifinals

No. 1 Belmont over No. 4 East Tennessee State

No. 2 Mercer over No. 3 USC Upstate

Championship

No. 1 Belmont vs No. 2 Mercer

Atlantic Sun Champion: Belmont Bruins (27-7, No. 15 Seed in NCAA Tournament)

The Final Buzzer

I'm pulling for a Belmont vs. Mercer rematch. Yesterday, Mercer lost to Belmont by a single point at the University Center. The controversy over the No. 2 team getting to play at home against the No. 1 seed would be a great story line and an epic atmosphere. I think in the end, Belmont is just too good not to win the conference tournament.

On a bigger scale, look out for Belmont in the tournament. They lost by one poinr at Duke earlier this year and play true team basketball, a recipe for success in March.

The Tennessean is reporting that Lipscomb University's leading scorer, Jordan Burgason, has apparently been dismissed from the school for violating team rules.  

Burgason not only led the Bisons in scoring, but had the top three-point percentage shooter in the nation at the time.  

In a statement from Philip Hutcheson, the school's Athletic Director, it was revealed that "he [Burgason] broke university rules that he knew he was breaking. We had clearly advised him, and he was aware of the consequences of making a bad decision.”

The senior guard was in the midst of yet another fantastic season, leading his team in three-point shooting and averaging over 16 points a game.

In a statement, after his dismissal, Burgason said “I want to thank Lipscomb for the unbelievable opportunity that it has given me. The whole university has showed so much grace to me. But despite that, my actions have not shown a respect for the university and its policies and for that I am sorry. I'll never forget the memories that I've made here. Thank you for the love and support that everyone has shown throughout my time here. You will always be family to me.”

Notes:

CBS Sports named Burgason the preseason No. 24 shooter in America for 2011-12 and still owns the Lipscomb NCAA-era record for three-pointers with 282.  

First-year head coach Lewis Preston has had a really tough season at Kennesaw State.  Under his command the Owls are now 3-22, and are currently on a 13-game skid with in-state rival Mercer up next on the schedule.  

Coach Preston doesn't lack big-time coaching experience.  He has been an assistant at Coastal Carolina, Notre Dame, Florida and most recently Penn State, and played his college ball at VMI, so he's not a stranger to big-time basketball.  

The Owls remain winless in the competitive Atlantic Sun Conference, and the teams around them only seem to be getting better.  Preston's KSU squad needs to finish strong to salvage the season in what has been an ugly rebuilding campaign so far.  

Kennesaw State has six games left, with four of those on their home court, and they need to win at least half of those games to finish their current disaster on a higher note.

The A-Sun Tournament will not be an option for the Owls this season as they have already been eliminated for inclusion in the event in Macon. 

The Owls will take on Mercer at the KSU Convocation Center on Friday night (Feb. 10) at 7p.m. in what has become an outstanding in-state rivalry.  A large crowd is expected, and a win would go a long way for the Kennesaw program going forward.  

Notes:

Lewis Preston was hired after the 2010 season to replace the popular Tony Ingle.  He became only the fourth head coach in KSU history and the first hire since the Owls moved into Division One.  

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—"He wears No. 23 and he's the great one from Great Falls, S.C., he's T.C. Torrey Craig."—Brian Rushing, Public Address Announcer, USC Upstate. 

That introduction could not be more fitting by esteemed public address announcer Brian Rushing, who along with several others, has been able to watch one of the best kept secrets in college basketball for the past two seasons.

Now 51 games into his career and donning the Green and Black of USC Upstate, Craig has lived up to that Hodge Center introduction each time he has taken the hardwood in his brief, but decorated collegiate career to this point.

Craig, the 2010-11 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year on a Spartan ball club that finished just 5-25 a year ago, has blossomed into one of the top talents that no one has heard about in Division I college basketball.

To give you an idea of how much Craig has met to the Upstate basketball program over the past 51 games, he has scored in double figures in 42 of 51 career games and 20 or more points 16 times in his career to date.

He has also led the Spartans in scoring in all but 17 games in those 51 outings.

Sure, the Atlantic Sun knows about Craig, who put up 14.4 PPG a year ago to garner his postseason citation as the league's top freshman, but few took the time to take a look at the 6'5" small forward at USC Upstate.

It was more a case that the Spartans struggled than the fact that they weren't interested in Craig's talents and scoring ability.  

In a state where football is king, it's hard to be noticed if you're a prominent player in the Palmetto State of South Carolina, even if you're a talented player. But fans seem to take notice when you start playing basketball and fans flock to arenas when you win basketball games, even in the Palmetto State.

One has to only look as far back as last season to notice that trend.

At Wofford, fans flocked to see one of the state's big men, in Noah Dahlman, while College of Charleston had one of the most dynamic scoring guards in the history of the state, as Andrew Goudelock had fans all over the state and southeast interested in his performances, and thus, the Cougars. Furman, which won 20 games for the first time in two decades, sold out Timmons Arena on at least two occasions last season, as fans were interested to see human highlight film Amu Saaka and the Paladins.

Even at Clemson, a player like point guard Demontez Stitt, though not the scorer that the aforementioned players are, captivated fans with his ability to dictate a game with his play at the point. Of course, we can't forget about Coastal Carolina's Desmond Holloway, who led the Big South in scoring and nearly led the Chanticleers all the way to the NCAA Tournament, before a late-season extra benefits scandal involving Holloway and three other Chanticleers caused Coastal to finish the season with only eight scholarship players.

Even former Low Country product Omar Carter, who transferred to Appalachian State from Charleston Southern, where he was the Big South's Freshman of the Year in 2008-09, was so impressive in his first season at Appalachian State, that he was the Southern Conference's selection for Preseason Player of the Year. So, you get the idea. There were plenty of good basketball players in the Palmetto State that captivated audiences last season in what was a solid season for Division I college basketball in the state last season. 

But Craig and the Spartans are making there own noise this season, and in a season when the state hasn't seen the success it experienced a year ago, it's Craig and the Spartans that are beginning to steal the show. Craig's short jumper with .07 remaining on Saturday helped the Spartans to a proverbial shot heard round the state, as the Spartans defeated two-time defending A-Sun champion Belmont, 79-78, on Saturday afternoon at the Hodge Center. It wasn't something that was uncommon to Craig in just his second season in the Hub City. After all, it was Craig's acrobatic lay-up with less than 20 seconds to play and the shot clock winding down that allowed the Spartans to post a 50-48 win over Ohio Valley Conference participant Jacksonville State earlier this season. 

Craig was held to a meager five points in the opening half against the Bruins, but exploded for 17 second-half points to help Upstate to the one-point win. He finished the contest going 7-for-11 from the floor (4-6 3FGs) and connected on 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Additionally, he added six boards to his complete effort in the victory.   

Craig leads the Atlantic Sun averaging 17.9 PPG and ranks second in overall rebounds per game, grabbing 7.9 caroms per contest.Craig put in a workman-like effort for the Spartans in Tuesday night's 60-51 victory over Lipscomb, which helped the Spartans grab sole possession of second place at the midway point after being selected to finish ninth in the preseason in a poll conducted by the league's coaches, as he posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 boards. It marked his sixth double-double of the 2011-12 campaign. 

It was the two things that Craig did in Saturday's win that will start getting the attention of NBA scouts if not already, as he followed Adrian Rogers' potential game-winning shot, grabbed the carom off the front of the rim, and put in the short jumper to easily deliver Upstate's biggest RPI win in now its fifth season as a  Division I member.

Craig's athleticism and perimeter shooting rival any player in the state. Through two seasons at Upstate, Craig has knocked down 119 triples through his first two seasons and he sits 137 behind the school's all-time career mark of 255 treys set by Nathan Norman (1993-97) in 111 career games. His 51 triples this season ranks him second in the league to Lipscomb's Jordan Burgason, who has 63 triples this season.

Going into Friday night's game against East Tennessee State, Craig ranks second among Division I players in the state of South Carolina in scoring. Winthrop's Andre Johnson currently tops the state's Division players in scoring, averaging 18.0 PPG for the 8-13 Winthrop Eagles. Craig went for a career-high 29 points earlier this season against East Tennessee State and has scored 20 or more points in 

For his efforts over the past week in helping Upstate to those two monumental league wins against Belmont (79-78) and Lipscomb (61-50), Craig was selected as the Atlantic Sun's Player of the Week. He helped Upstate become the first team to pick up back-to-back wins against the tandem of Belmont and Lipscomb since Jacksonville accomplished the rare feat back in the 2009-10 season. He finished the memorable week in Spartan lore nearly averaging a double-double, as he posted 18.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG in the two wins. 

A Look At Friday Night's A-Sun Game of the Week:

East Tennessee State (10-9, 5-4 A-Sun) at USC Upstate (12-9, 6-3 A-Sun) 

Over the past three games, USC Upstate has faced a trio of opponents, that coming into the week, was a combined 3-22 all-time against teams from the Volunteer State (Belmont, Lipscomb and ETSU) portion of the Atlantic Sun slate, however, with a win on Friday night against East Tennessee State, the Spartans could equal that previous four-year win total in one week. 

ETSU enters Friday night's game, which can be seen regionally on Comcast Sports Soutesast (CSS) as the Atlantic Sun's Game of the Week, having lost back-to-back games to its Volunteer State counterparts, Belmont (70-82) and Lipscomb (65-73). Both of those losses for Murry Bartow's Bucs came on the home floor of the mini dome (aka MHSA Center).

The successive homecourt setbacks broke up a five-game winning streak by the Bucs, and dropped ETSU from tied for second to third place in the league standings, now a full game behind USC Upstate, who sits in sole possession of second as a result of its back-to-back wins coupled with the consecutive losses by the Bucs.

The two teams have already met once this season, with the Bucs taking an 88-73 win over the Spartans at the MHSA Center back on Jan. 4. ETSU led from wire-to-wire in the win, racing out to an 18-point halftime lead and never really were threatened the rest of the way. ETSU played one of its most complete games of the campaign, shooting 56% from the field, 50% from three-point range, and created 24 Spartan turnovers, including 12 off steals. 

Six Buccaneers reached double figures in the meeting back in early January, with junior guard Sheldon Cooley leading the way with 20 points, while senior point guard Adam Solazzo contributed 18 points to the winning cause. Solazzo and Cooley were joined in double figures by junior center Lukas Poderis (14 pts), junior guard Jarvis Jones (11 pts), junior guard Marcus DuBose (10 pts) and senior combo guard Tommy Hubbard (10 pts).

Upstate was led by Craig's career-high 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, including 5-for-11 from three, while connecting on 6-of-8 foul shots. Craig was joined in double figures by junior forward Jodd Maxey and freshman shooting guard Mario Blessing, who each scored 11 points, while freshman point guard Ty Greene added 10. 

The last time these two met at the Hodge Center (Dec. 5, 2010), Upstate recorded a program milestone win, with a 60-59 victory over the visiting Bucs in a packed Hodge Center for the dedication of the renovation project of the on-campus facility, recognizing Mrs. Dolores "Dodie" Anderson for her dedication of $4 million dollars. The win marked Upstate's most-significant league win to-date and also remains the lone win in nine previous meetings with the Bucs. 

It's a matchup between a team looking to establish a tradition, in USC Upstate, and one that already has an established one, in East Tennessee State. The Bucs have participated in nine NCAA Tournaments, been ranked in the nation's Top 10 (1990-91 season), and have won a pair of Atlantic Sun titles (2008 and '09) since joining the league in 2005-06 after a long tenure in the Southern Conference where the program originally made its mark. However, it's Upstate that enters the contest with the higher RPI, as the Spartans are 25 spots higher (Upstate-170, ETSU-195) in the RPI as of Wednesday night, according to realtimerpi.com. 

The Spartans continue to be led by Craig, who is averaging 17.9 PPG, 7.7 RPG, while he is joined in double-figure scoring average by point guard Ty Greene, at 10.3 PPG. Greene has been a key addition at the point, where he leads the club with 47 helpers on the season.Ricardo Glenn, a second-year player just like Craig, has made his presence known in the paint this season, and ranks second on the team in field goal percentage this season, connecting on 51.5% from the field.

Craig and teammate Babatunde Oluyiwima (6.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG) have both been key on the defensive end this season, with each having blocked 24 shots,as the duo is tied for eighth in the league in blocks this season. First-year players Jodd Maxey (7.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG), Mario Blessing (4.8 PPG, 46 assists/second on team) and Adrian Rogers (7.3 PPG, 1.9 APG) have all been key in helping the program improve its 2010-11 win total by seven games, with nine games remaining in the regular season.  

ETSU enters the contest led by four players averaging in double figures, with Adam Solazzo leading the way, averaging 15.7 PPG. Solazzo has picked up plenty of the slack this season, and has become the team's offensive leader with the graduation of 2011 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Mike Smith. Solazzo has been solid this season, and is beginning to put himself in an elite class of former ETSU greats that ran the point, such as Keith "Mister" Jennings (1988-91), Courtney Pigrim (2006-09) and Tim Smith (2002-05). Solazzo comes into Thursday night's contest averaging 4.9 assists-per-game to rank third in the Atlantic Sun this season. 

Joining him in double-figure scoring average entering Thursday evening's important league tilt are: Marcus Dubose (11.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG), Tommy Hubbard (10.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG) and Isiah Brown (10.5 PPG,6.3 RPG). Sheldon Cooley (9.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG) leads the league in steals this season, with 44 thefts total on the campaign, averaging 2.2 SPG. 

In regular-season play, the Bucs have not dropped three-straight games to Atlantic Sun opponents in the same season since ETSU's inaugural season as a league member in 2005-06, when the Bucs lost four consecutive regular-season games to close the campaign: Gardner-Webb (64-69), Florida Atlantic (87-93), Lipscomb (56-76) and Belmont (78-99). 

Where Craig Stands In The Palmetto State (As of Jan. 25, 2012)

Top Five Division I In South Carolina In Points Per Game

1. Andre Jones, Winthrop (18.0 PPG)

2. Torrey Craig, USC Upstate (17.9 PPG)

3. Mike Groselle, The Citadel (17.4 PPG)

4. Antwaine Wiggins, College of Charleston (16.6 PPG)

5. Kevin Giltner, Wofford (16.1 PPG)

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Doing justice to Saturday afternoon's USC Upstate-Belmont clash in the Atlantic Sun is going to be hard to do with words, but here goes. 

To understand Saturday's 79-78 win for USC Upstate on its home floor, you have to rewind the clock back to Dec. 5, 2010, when the first glimpse of success at the Division I level for USC Upstate was ever-present.

On that early December Saturday afternoon, and in front of a raucous crowd which filled the Hodge Center to capacity, as USC Upstate went in search of its first win over another team that hailed from the Volunteer State, as East Tennessee State came to the Hodge Center looking for its seventh-straight win as a league member over Upstate in front of better than 900 fans, mostly students, on-hand to take in the contest.   

Upstate had always been tough on the Hodge Center floor, but it had never quite been able to get over the hump against the league's perennial powers. But that Saturday was the first peek at what has become two outstanding recruiting classes against some of the league's elite, but it also gave the USC Upstate administration a chance to recognize a huge $4 million donation made by Mrs.Dolores (Dodie) Anderson, which helped the Upstate basketball program make some significant facilities upgrades, and that in-turn has enhanced the recruiting.

Though young, the Spartans went on to show the veteran league titan Buccaneers that things were slowly, but surely changing atop the Atlantic Sun power struggle, posting a 60-59 win on that evening. It was a contest which also introduced the Atlantic Sun to a player that has become the most dynamic scorer in the league this season, in Torrey Craig.

The Great Falls, S.C., native posted a game-high 18 points to lead the Spartans to the one-point win. Sophomore Chalmers Rogers, who hadn't seen much action all evening, came up with his only basket of the night—a lay-up in the paint with three seconds to-play—to help the Spartans forge a huge win over one of the league favorites and a team that won back-to-back A-Sun Tournament titles in 2008 and '09. 

The atmosphere was laying in wait, with new video scoreboards, new video equipment, lights, chair-back seats and a new home locker room, it was all up to Eddie Payne's young Spartans to comply and make the Hodge Center one of the toughest places to play in the Atlantic Sun, as well as helping the Upstate, a relative newbie to the Division I ranks, a major contender in the league title race.

The Spartans of course showed fans and those around the league that it could jump up and bite the league's elite from time-to-time at home, but finishing just 5-25 last season, few outside the USC Upstate basketball program figured the Spartans to be much of a challenge to the league's elite, or to factor in to a top-eight finish in the league standings and a subsequent tournament berth in its first season of eligibility.

But after being picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the preseason poll, the Spartans figure to be closer to an appearance in Macon, Ga., the first weekend in March rather than getting a head start on recruiting for the 2012-13 season.

Much like that December Saturday 416 days ago, USC Upstate headed into a game against a team from the Volunteer State that was one of the established "gold standards" of the up-and-coming league, and was a team the Spartans head yet to experience the thrill of victory against (0-8). When Belmont joined the Division I ranks in 1996-97, it was a solid basketball program at the Division II level, but most knew it as an institution with one of the best music curricula in the nation, rather than a school noted for its play on the hardwood.

With eight championships (four A-Sun Tournament Titles and four A-Sun Regular-Season crowns) since 2006, however, Belmont has made noise nationally with its string music rather than that of the conventional sort. The Bruins will likely mostly be remembered for that epic performance against Duke in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, which saw the Bruins drop a 73-72 game to the No. 2-seeded Blue Devils only after Josh Hare's desperation 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer just go awry.

The Bruins have become such a staple of success, a large majority of the "so-called" college basketball experts had the Bruins sending Bo Ryan's Wisconsin Badgers packing in a first-round matchup in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. That of course did not happen, but everywhere the veteran head coach Rick Byrd and his Bruins go, there's no doubt they garner respect.

After all its eight championships since 2006 ranks the program with some of college basketball's elite, and only two Division I college basketball programs have claimed more titles in that same time-span, and those two are pretty recognizable, in Kansas and Gonzaga.  

The 2011-12 Bruins came into the Hodge Center with that same swagger that they had in past seasons, and rightfully so, having won six of their last seven, and took the Duke Blue Devils to the wire early in the season at Cameron Indoor Stadium as part of the Maui Invitational, before dropping a heartbreaking 67-66 contest. 

The atmosphere was there on Saturday, as was Dodie Anderson. It was a loud, early-arriving group of students that did their job of trying to heckle the the visiting Bruins during warm-ups, and there was even a new "pump-up" video for the introduction of the starting lineups. It would now be up to the Spartans, who entered with a Division I record 10 wins, to try and comply with that backdrop. 

It was the "swagger" of the Bruins that dominated the Spartans in the opening half, deflating an atmosphere and a crowd ready-made for a Saturday night celebration, taking a 43-27 lead into the halftime locker room. Upstate was out-gunned in the opening half, as the Bruins connected on 55.6 percent from the field, and also held advantages in rebounding (14-10), free throw percentage (90 percent-69.2 percent) and forced 11 Spartan turnovers, while committing only six.

The Bruins also held a substantial advantage in points in the paint, out-scoring the Spartans 22-12 in that particular statistical category. Maybe most important of all, the Bruins had held the A-Sun's leading scorer to just five points, and he was saddled with two early fouls.

With so much in its corner, it was hard to see a way the Bruins swagger could be knocked off course in the second half by the homestanding Spartans. However, the one advantage that Upstate entered the game with--it's athleticism--ultimately helped it not only get back in the game in the second half, but would also enable the Spartans to garner arguably its biggest win as a Division member, as Upstate outscored the Bruins, 52-35 in the second stanza to come up with the 79-78 win. 

The Spartans turned the tables on the Bruins by connecting on 60.6 percent (20-for-33) of their shots in the second half, while cutting their turnovers by five in the second half, from 11 in the first, to only six in the second.

The Spartans were on a furious comeback trail from the outset of the second stanza, cutting the Bruins' advantage to 10 (43-33) from the 16-point deficit at the half, as the Spartans wasted just 87 seconds to accomplish that feat, prompting a Rick Byrd timeout.

It was transfer forward Jodd Maxey, who scored a career-high 19 points for the Spartans, that set the tone that he would maintain throughout the remainder of the game, seemingly hitting big shot after big shot to help the Spartans back into the game.

During that 6-0 run out of the locker room, it was Maxey that scored four of those points to get the once deflated Hodge Center crowd interested. Part of the aforementioned athletic advantage for the Spartans was personified in Maxey's leaping ability in the second half, as the Bruins had little answer for keeping the quick-jumping Maxey off the offensive glass. It was also a Maxey slam dunk that brought the Hodge Center crowd to a collective crescendo in the final two minutes.

The Spartans would get the game into single digits shortly thereafter, following a lay-up by Belmont forward Blake Jenkins. It was Craig, who scored only five first-half points, that made Jenkins pay as he beat him down the floor in transition and drained a wide-open triple to make it a 45-36 contest with 17:22 left to play.

It looked as if the Bruins might be ready to usurp the momentum from the Spartans moments later, as Belmont stretched its advantage back to double digits (49-36) on back-to-back baskets by Trevor Noack in transition with 16:36 left to play.

From there, however, it would be a 16-4 run by Upstate, which cut the Bruins advantage to a single point (53-52) with 12:18 to play, preventing the momentum from ever settling into hibernation on the Bruins side for the remainder of the afternoon. Craig's second trifecta of the half sparked the run.

It would be the Bruins that would seem to control the next three minutes, but despite stretching its lead back out to eight points, at 61-53, following a Kerron Johnson free throw with 9:33 to play, the Bruins could not completely put the Spartans in the rear-view mirror the rest of the way, and were never able to again establish a double-digit lead in the contest. 

The deficit would remain at eight moments later, as the two teams traded three-pointers, making the score 66-58 with just over eight minutes to play, and that would be the largest lead the Bruins would own the remainder of the game. 

An acrobatic lay-up by Johnson gave the Bruins a 70-64 advantage, as the game approached crunch time inside the final five minutes. It would be at this point, in which the Spartans took control of the game, out-scoring the Bruins 15-8 at the game's most-crucial point. Three straight buckets by Ricardo Glenn, Babatunde Olumuyiwa and Mario Blessing were part of a mini, 6-1, spurt by the Spartans, as Upstate found itself within a single point once again, at 71-70, with 3:39 left.

True to its championship pedigree, Belmont pushed back, looking to deliver the fatal blow as had become routine so many times before against A-Sun opponents. First Ian Clarke converted a lay-up, and then the sharp-shooting Mann drained a three-pointer to answer a Craig lay-up at the opposing end to give Bruins a two-possession advantage (76-72) with 2:45 play. 

Lesser opponents have folded at this point in the game plenty of times before against the Bruins, and it would have been easy for the Spartans to have patted themselves on the back and taken home a "moral victory" and chalked it up as another building block on a long drawn-out process.  That wasn't the scenario Payne's resilient Spartans chose, however. 

Upstate's tenacious defense created the most crucial of the 12 Bruin turnovers on the afternoon, and that would lead to a transition dunk for Maxey, inciting a roar in unison for the raucous, jam-packed Hodge Center crowd, cutting the Bruins' lead to a deuce (76-74) with 2:03 to play. Johnson answered on the other end with a lay-up to put the Bruins back up four (78-74) with 1:50 to play. 

Johnson's lay-in would be the final basket of the game for the Bruins, and would set the stage for Craig to score the most important five points of his young career. Following the Johnson bucket, Craig would waste little time in stepping up to make a monumental trey from straight-away just seconds later, making it a one-point deficit (78-77) with 1:33 left. 

Back-to-back missed threes by Mann and Clarke on the ensuing possession set up the last-second heroics for the Spartans. Maxey secured the basketball off the Clarke missed triple with 31 seconds left and the clock reached 14 seconds before the Spartans took a 30-second timeout to set up the final play.

The game would initially end up in the hands of guard Adrian Rogers, with Craig tightly guarded, and it was a clear-out. Rogers began to penetrate to the basket with seven seconds to play, but his shot caromed off the front of the rim, however, Craig crashed the boards and rebounded the ball and put in the baby five-foot jumper from straight-away with seven-tenths of a second to play, giving the Spartans a 79-78 lead.

Belmont tried a length-of-the-court pass, but the last-ditched Bruins heave was broken up by Glenn, setting off a wild celebration at the Hodge Center and gave the Spartans its first win over Belmont in nine tries. 

Craig scored 17 second-half points to lead four Spartans in double figures, with a game-high 22 points, while Maxey added 19, while point guard Ty Greene and Glenn chipped in 12 and 10 points respectively.

Johnson led the Bruins with 18 points, while dishing out eight assists, while veteran Mick Hedgepeth posted 16 points and seven boards in the win.

Upstate's dedication to using its superior athleticism, as a result of utilizing transition opportunities in the open court, as well as being aggressive off the dribble to force the physical Bruins into foul trouble, were two major factors in allowing Upstate to solidify itself as a major player in the A-Sun race in 2011-12 with the one-point win.  

One thing is for sure, the combination of commitment, funding and talent have found themselves in perfect concert for the Spartans in 2011-12, and Upstate will look to continue its recent run of success on Monday night against another team that hails from the Volunteer state and has been a thorn in the proverbial side of the Spartans in its short Division I tenure pays a visit to the Hodge Center on Monday night, with Lipscomb visiting the Hub City.

USC Upstate reached uncharted territory on Saturday night with its 69-62 win over 2011 A-Sun Tournament runner-up North Florida in a key Atlantic Sun tilt at the UNF Arena in Jacksonville.

It was the 28th win as a Division I member and the 681st overall as a program that gave USC Upstate basketball fans and former players reason to celebrate another milestone for a program with a storied past that includes a national championship.

The win saw the Spartans improve their overall record to 10-8, achieving a double-digit total for the first time in its fifth season at the NCAA Division I classification. Upstate hasn't been above .500 this late in the season since its last as a Division II member in the 2006-07 campaign.

The previous record for wins in the Division I era for the Spartans was established in the 2008-09 campaign, in which the Spartans posted nine victories. The ninth and final victory that season came with an 80-51 win over Kennesaw State on Feb. 28.

The Spartans were in their second season of a four-year mandatory transitional phase, which meant they were not allowed to qualify for the Atlantic Sun's postseason tournament, and the Spartans finished that campaign with a 9-21 overall mark. 

Thirty years ago, USC Upstate was on top of its classification, then under the distinction USC-Spartanburg Rifles, as the program reached the pinnacle of the NAIA mountain with a 51-38 win over Viola College in Kansas City to put the finishing touches on a magical 1981-82 season.

Thirty years later and a couple of rungs higher up the college basketball ladder, the program has a new handle (USC Upstate) and mascot (Spartans), but has the same desire to embark on that climb, now with a new, significant milestone to display in a cabinet already full of great players, memories, traditions and previous benchmarks.

The mid-January excitement at the small school with an enrollment of 5,471 is at an all-time high, as students, former players and alumni may begin to entertain visions of March Madness if the Spartans maintain their current status as one of the top eight teams in the 10-team conference—only the top eight qualify for the league's postseason festivities.

If the season ended today, not only would the Spartans find themselves part of the 2012 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Tournament, they would be one of the top four seeds to host an opening-round game.

Making this development an even more eyebrow-raising story is the fact that Upstate was picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the preseason coaches' poll, but are now in good standing to reach the tournament and also host a game in its first season of postseason eligibility.

With its 4-2 league mark right now, the Spartans find themselves tied for third in the league standings with East Tennessee State and Stetson.

Veteran head coach Eddie Payne, however, will hope his team doesn't  look too far ahead, presents a new problem for Payne: the program's recent ascension to college basketball's elite level. In the previous seasons as a Division I member, it's safe to say Upstate didn't have the luxury of looking ahead and taking games for granted.

With its vast improvement from a team that finished 5-25 a year ago, keeping his Spartans in check and focused will be a different challenge for Payne.

He is no stranger to seeing his team succeed as underdogs, and during his stint at Oregon State (1995-2000), Payne's undermanned Beavers nearly took down down the Cameron Dollar and the defending NCAA Champion, the UCLA Bruins, only to fall 68-66, as a potential game-winning three-point shot rolled around the rim and came out at the buzzer.

If the veteran coach can take a program with not much talent and nearly knock off a team of that ilk, just imagine what Payne's Spartans, who are stocked with talent in just the program's fifth season at the Division I level, can do in the future in the A-Sun.

Payne knows about pressure situations, and what he is building at USC Upstate is remarkable. 

As for the seven-point win over North Florida on Saturday night, the Spartans were able to gut out the victory in a game that featured 10 lead changes and eight ties. Atlantic Sun leading scorer Torrey Craig had to fight for everything he could get against one of the league's top defensive clubs, but all Craig did was go out and post a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards in the milestone win.  

Craig was joined in double figures by classmates Babatunde Olumuyiwa, who posted a season-high 14 points, and Jodd Maxey, who chipped in 12 points to continue his big impact in his first season donning the Spartan green and black. The win by Upstate also snaps a three-game losing skid to North Florida. 

Upstate looks to remain in the A-Sun's upper echelons on Monday night, traveling just across the street to take on the Jacksonville Dolphins at Swisher Gymnasium. The tip-off for the contest is slated for 7 p.m. 

Belmont gave Duke all they could handle on Friday night, losing 77-76 in the season opener for both teams.  A three-pointer by Andre Dawkins put Duke up four with just under 20 seconds to go, and kept Belmont from having a final possession with a chance to grab what would have easily been the biggest win in the history of the program.

On Friday night in Durham, Belmont reminded everyone of March 2008, when they nearly knocked off second-seeded Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament, losing 71-70. 

Not too much was expected of Belmont going into this game, except for them to play their role in moving coach Mike Krzyzewski within one win of the all-time Division I-record 902 wins. 

How quickly we can forget—this Belmont team returned four starters from a team that won 30 games last season and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 13 seed.  They are certainly a veteran team, starting three seniors (forward Mick Hedgepath, center Scott Saunders and guard Drew Hanlen) and two juniors (guards Ian Clark and Kerron Johnson) in the opener with Duke. 

An experienced lineup is a large part of the formula that comes with success in March, and Belmont is almost as certain a bet to be in the NCAA’s as Duke is.  Nobody else in the Atlantic Sun is within two levels of where Belmont currently is.

As for Duke, a team who lost longtime team cornerstones in Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, a slight drop-off in play early this season wouldn’t be too much of a surprise.  Freshman Austin Rivers should help ensure any drop-off is minimal.

Put the two teams’ situations together, and perhaps this result is about what we should have expected. 

Now Belmont will take the confidence and hunger from their near miss against Duke and head back to Tennessee, for another opportunity against a Top 10 team.  The Bruins will play at No. 9 Memphis in an early game on Tuesday, part of the ESPN 24-hour hoops marathon. 

A game like this could come at a perfect time for Belmont, with the performance against Duke still fresh.  However, that performance should further heighten the attention of Memphis as well.  It will be difficult to sneak up on Coach Josh Pastner’s team at this point.

After the Memphis game, there aren’t any other big opportunities out there for Belmont to get any notable non-conference wins.  Their games against Duke and Memphis are actually part of the preliminary portion of the Maui Invitational.  However, unlike Duke and Memphis, the Bruins will not get the chance to head out to Hawaii to showcase themselves even further.  Instead, they get to play Towson.  That’s not exactly an RPI enhancer.

It’s rather unfortunate.  This team could certainly compete against the likes of Tennessee, Michigan, or UCLA—a few of the other teams who will be part of the eight-team field in Maui.

This all makes the upcoming game against Memphis that much more important for Belmont.  It’s definitely a game worth watching if you’re fortunate enough to have access to a TV at noon on a Tuesday.