Winthrop - Off to the Big South Championship

In case you're like me and TOTALLY forgot to watch the Winthrop vs. Radford game on ESPNU last night, you'll be happy to know that Winthrop beat Radford 61-46. They will play regular season champion Coastal Carolina for the Big South Championship. The winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

During the regular season, Winthrop split the series with Coastal Carolina losing the first game 57-47, but won the second game 67-64.

It's been a couple of years since Winthrop made it to the tournament, so you know they're hungry for it. Winthrop has been to the dance 8 times since 1999.

So if you're available, tune in on Saturday at 4pm to watch them fight for the Big South Championship!

Winthrop Dances, Again!

In case you are living under a rock and don't realize that Winthrop University is a small dynasty basketball team, then you probably didn't know that Winthrop is going to the NCAA Tournament again.

For the 8th time in 10 years, Winthrop University's basketball team has won the Big South basketball tournament. They defeated University of North Carolina at Asheville 66-48, an 18 point upset. After scoring 22 points in the first half, the Eagles were able to score another 44 points in the second half.

The win gives Winthrop their 4th consecutive appearance. Basketball fans may recall last year when Winthrop ousted Notre Dame in the first round, only to lose to Oregon in the second.

The Eagles were led by seniors Michael Jenkins who scored 33 points and Taj McCullough who scored 14. The Eagles were able to shut down 16 foot center Kenny George.

Go Winthrop!

Winthrop Moves On.org

Winthrop University, the team from the Big South who went 28-4 during the season and sweeping through their conference with 17 wins and no losses, defeated the highly favored Notre Dame on Friday. Winthrop was rewarded with their #22 ranking and 28 wins with a #11 seed, while Notre Dame was rewarded for their 24 wins in the Big East with a #6 seed.

The game was fairly close throughout the first half. Winthrop then went on a power-run and was up by at least 20 points. With a little dumb Irish luck, Notre Dame was able to close the gap and before Winthrop started lighting them up again to win by 10. Notre Dame was given extra tissues as they cried their eyes out after the game. "But we're from the Big 10" many of them were heard saying. An assistant coach for Notre Dame was over heard saying, "Maybe the Big 10 really does suck!"

Coach Marshall, who has guided Winthrop to their 7th NCAA tournament appearance said, "If that 20-point lead had evaporated and we had lost the game, I was going to be the dumbest coach in America".

Winthrop was led by senior Torrell Martin, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Craig Bradshaw, the senior from New Zealand, who had 24 points. Bradshaw, who's 6'10", towered over the leprechauns from Notre Dame.

Despite the fact that the game was being played in Spokane, Washington, the crowd could hear Regis Philbin, a 1922 graduate of Notre Dame, screaming from his hospital bed in New York after the loss. Even the sponge-bath from Kelly Ripa could not ease his pain.

The Winthrop game was the most predicted upset in the first round of the tournament. However, it is very difficult to figure out why it was so predictable. Was it because the drunk Irish just weren't that good or if it was because Winthrop is that good. No matter, Winthrop moves on to the next round while Notre Dame goes home to drink some green Miller Lite pretending that they really are Irish Catholics.

In other basketball news, Maryland narrowly escaped with a win against Davidson, Boston College proved that Texas Tech and Bobby Knight suck, too, North Carolina handily defeated one of those directional Kentucky teams, and Virginia and Virginia Tech proved that they got seeded much too low. Georgia Tech did disappoint by losing, and Duke fulfilled everyone's dream by losing.