Big South Offseason Update
Last week was a bit of a crazy week for Big South Basketball, so we thought we’d recap a bit of it here.
If the Creek rises, leave…
No one had a worse week in the Big South than Kevin McGeehan. The sixth year head coach saw Damontez Oliver, Marcus Banks, and Wyatt Self all transfer. Banks certainly hurts the most out of that group, as he was the Camels second leading scorer at 14.8 points per game.
The other thing lingering is that Chris Clemons has once again declared for the NBA Draft but is not hiring an agent. There is a chance that Clemons may return for his senior year, but at this point many think that he’ll opt to go pro this year regardless of the NBA situation.
Losing Clemons, the transfers, and the seniors from last year’s squad would mean McGeehan is losing over 75% of his offense.
Boom or Bust in Asheville
After Nick McDevitt left for Middle Tennessee State, the assumption was that former UNCA staff Brett Carey would get the job there. Instead Janet Cone took gamble on former Texas and VCU staff Mike Morrell. The charismatic 34 year old is known for his recruiting prowess with Shaka Smart, but is not much of an X’s and O’s type coach. The hire has created a bit of a rift among the fan base.
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Morrell won’t have it easy at Asheville as he’s already lost the league’s top player in MaCio Teague. Teague opted to transfer and is already receiving interest from just about every big name program in the country. Also junior Drew Rackley also announced that he would be transferring from the program as well.
Upstate on the upstart?
USC Upstate is fast becoming persona non grata in the Longwood fan community. First they took away Longwood assistant Ron Bradley and now they are going after former Lancer commit Jaron Williams hard.
Dave Dickerson is an interesting hire and he’s wasting no time getting busy in Spartanburg.
Other Notes
- Probably one of the most quiet groups thus far in the spring recruiting period is High Point. Whatever Tubby Smith is doing, he’s doing it pretty quietly.
- Liberty, like any other school, always has a few transfers this time of year. This year is no different as Isaiah Williams, Ezra Talbert, and Ryan Hiepler have all left the program.
- Charleston Southern has a new president and will soon have a new athletic director. Why does this matter? Many have thought the current AD Hank Small is one of the only reasons Barclay Radebaugh is still in North Charleston. Obviously a move this year is pretty much out of the question, but Radebaugh’s seat may be hotter than normal next season.
- Mark Prosser is out of the Big South, but he’s still having a ripple effect on the conference. He offered former Longwood commit DJ Myers this week and also signed Carlos Dotson, a JUCO recruit who Radford, Gardner-Webb, Hampton, and Presbyterian were all involved with.
