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The Pilot Friday, November 3, 2006 Page A3 Opinions No. 2 is where you want to be in A-Sun By Matt Tessnear This is the perfect time to take a look at the 2007 Atlantic Sun Confer ence men’s basketball season. While coaches can’t comment on what they think will happen until the season plays out, now is a great time to exam ine what could happen over the next four months. Who will win the regular season league championship? Who will the major players be? What team will hoist the title trophy and punch their ticket to the NCAA tourney on March 4, in Johnson City, Term.? Read on, and you’ll find out. First of all, forget about the im pressive non-conference match ups that involve A-Sun teams in 2006-07. While they may bring eyes to some of the conference schools, they mean nothing when the conference schedule gets under way. I’m sorry, Gardner-Webb fans. Our road games at N.C. State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Wiscon sin may make our schedule impres sive, but they won’t win us a confer ence championship and get us into the NCAA tournament. Anybody who pays attention knows that one A-Sun team will get a bid into the field of 65. If Belmont beats Michigan State and Illinois, or if Jacksonville knocks on defending champion Florida, neither will matter unless a conference tour nament championship also appears on the resume. So who will win the league and get that bid? First of all, let’s eliminate a few teams. Stetson must replace its top two scorers, E. J. Gordon and Anthony Register. Mercer must replace senior leaders Will Emerson and Jacob Sko- gen. Jacksonville has nothing positive to look forward to, besides the oppor tunity to enjoy a trip to Gainesville for that match up with Florida. Those three schools won’t even come close to contending for the league title. It’s likely the champion of the league will have more regular sea son wins than all three of these teams combined. Several other schools aren’t likely to win the championship, but with a spark, they may contend. Kennesaw State won nine games in its first Divi sion I season last year, and return its top four scorers firom that squad. Se nior guard Roimell Wooten is a decent No. 1 scoring option, and the school may have enou^ to finish in the top half of the conference. Like KSU, East Tennessee State University returns three out of its top five scorers. However, the Buccaneers face the task of replacing A-Sun scor ing champion Tim Smith. The guard put up 22 points per game last year, and it’s always tough to lose a scor ing champion. With Smith, the Bucs posted a 12-8 record last year. They’ll Tessnear be hard-pressed to win 12 this "season, and likely can’t win the A-Sun. North Florida will rely on the in- side-outside combination of Rashad Williams and Chris Timberlake. Those two returning starters were impres sive in UNF’s first Division I season, in which the Ospreys won three games, but it’s unlikely they can win the conference this year. Regardless, I think North Florida may be the big riser in the league this year. I believe it can put together seven or eight conference wins. Finally, I believe our Gardner- Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs will have a tough season. The professional col lege basketball ratings magazines have GWU finishing between sixth place and last place in the 10-team league. I’m optimistic that the Bulldogs can have a good year, but the cupboard is somewhat bare. Coach Scruggs kept GWU fi'om having an anemic roster by bringing in the No. 49-ranked recruit ing class in the country, but it’s hard for any team to replace seven of its top 10 scorers. All-conference starters Brian Bender, Simon Conn and Tim Jennings are gone. Those two players put together 27 conference victories the past two seasons. Chris Gash and Ricky McPhee will be called upon to step into vital scor ing and leadership roles for GWU this season, but they have quite a few new faces to lead. My prediction for the Bulldogs is nine conference wins. The talent is there, but the experience is not. I would say the win total would be lower, but the conference is weaker this year than it was the past few years. So, three teams remain in the chase for the championship. One of those is defending tour nament champion Belmont. While the Bruins were slammed by even tual Final Four participant UCLA in last year’s NCAA tournament, they put together a solid 15 wins in A- Sun play. Justin Hare will be a repeat all-conference selection this season, while Boomer Herndon will be the most dominant big man in the league. Add swingmen Andy Wicke and Josh Goodwin to that duo, and the Bruins will be strong enough to capture third place in the league this season. Across the city of Nashville, Lip scomb University will bring back a trio of standouts that will lead it to second place in the regular season race this year. Seniors Trey Williams and Brian Fisk, and junior Eddie Ard, provide the best scoring tandem in the conference. All three are slashers, all three are extremely physical and all three showed me last season that they can win games when they count most - except for that 22-point collapse in March in Porter Arena here in Boil ing Springs. Add in Auburn transfer Ryan Daniel and the Bisons will have a tough squad. Campbell won nine league games last year after winning a total of two the previous two seasons. That im provement may have rested on the broad shoulders of first team All-A- Sun forward Maurice Latham, who graduated. The Camels must find a replacement for him up front. Sophomore Oladapo Fagbenle and junior college transfer Jonathan Ro driguez will be a start, but it may not be enough to avoid mismatches on the fi-ont line. Regardless of that issue, CU has a stick of dynamite waiting to ex plode in A-Sun arenas near and far. The Camels return guards Le- dell Eackles, Eric Smith, Ruell Prin gle, Reggie Bishop and Jake Wohlfeil. Those five combined to lead the con ference in three-point shooting last season, with Smith leading the confer ence with 3.82 three-point field goals made per game. The bottom line is that this group can light it up fi'om behind the arc, and they will use that weapon as their roadmap to finding first place in the regular season race. Johnson City will be the site for the conference tournament semifinals on March 3, 2007. No. 2 seed Lipscomb will defeat No. 3 seed Belmont that day, using the most of their dynamic scoring trio. No. 1 seed Campbell will then de feat No. 5 seed Kennesaw State with an onslaught of 3-pointers and a fiiri- ous offensive attack, setting up a No. 1 versus No. 2 match-up for the champi onship. If history is on my side, and on the side of the Lipscomb Bisons, No. 2 will defeat No. 1 again. Last season, Belmont was the benefactor of the No. 2 slot. Two years ago, two seed Central Florida knocked off regular season champion Gardner- Webb. This season. No. 2 Lipscomb will bring Campbell’s run to an end, and punch their ticket to Brackett- ville. So, there it is. I’ve laid my prog nosticating life out on the line to give you the inside track on this season’s Atlantic Sim Conference men’s bas ketball race. My e-mail address ap pears in each edition of The Pilot. You can e-mail me on March 4 to either laugh at me, or congratulate me on my predictions. My inbox waits with 121 days to go. 1. Campbell 2. Lipscomb 3. Belmont 4. Kennesaw St. 5. ETSU 6. North Florida 7. Gardner-Webb 8. Jacksonville 9. Mercer 10. Stetson Tournament Champion: Lipscomb Jake and Jack Debate the Issues Let’s be sensible about tradition of toilet-papering By Jacob Conley Many colleges have tra ditions on game day to help their respective football teams win. Clemson has Howard’s Rock and Notre Dame slaps the “Play like a champion” sign in its locker room. Gardner-Webb has a tra dition, too, though it is not weekly as with the other schools. We students toilet- paper the campus on Home coming Friday. To some people this may seem extreme and de structive, while others think the mayhem should include maple-syrup-filled balloons, shaving cream (in balloons and sprayed) and stuffing a Lake Hollifield goose in a trashcan. Toilet-papering the cam pus is harmless fun that is now sanctioned by the imi- versity. There was a time when this was not the case. In 2002, my freshman year, toilet-papering the campus was strictly prohib ited. As is human nature, students did just enough to break the rules. Now that toilet papering has been le galized, students push fijr- ther and fiirther to achieve that elusive rush of rebel liousness. Along with the goose and the trashcan incident, someone has shot off a po tato gun filled with Skittles. What’s next? Will stu dents try to shoot the goose out of the potato gun? I ask this question in an attempt to act as a moderator between those in favor of and those opposed to toilet-papering privileges. Toilet-papering the cam pus is harmless fim and is also a tradition that other schools have as well. For example, Auburn University toilet-papers the campus every year if it beats Alabama University, with the mayor and the univer sity president throwing the first rolls and yelling “War Eagle!” Therefore, not only does the school endorse it, but lo cal government officials do also. If Auburn, Ala., does it, why not Boiling Springs, N.C.? On the other hand, stu dents need to understand that putting a goose in a trash cans goes far beyond fim and into the realm of an imal cruelty. If caught, you could be prosecuted. As for the syrup and shaving cream, the physi- calplant staff here at GWU has enough to do just clean ing up the toilet paper. Anything else used for fun during Homecoming is just something else for that staff to clean up. Therefore, I would en courage all those opposed to any form of toilet-papering to let pro-rolling students have their fim, and for stu dents to use common sense when Homecoming rolls aroimd next year. Then, all could enjoy this great tradition. Don’t let approval flush toilet paper tradition away By Jack Naish The day is Oct. 27, and I have just been informed that tonight’s Homecom ing tradition of rolling the campus has been postponed due to inclement weather. Am I the only one who feels that’s just a little bit, shall I say, missing the point? To my knowledge, this is the first year that roll ing the campus has been “sanctioned” by the admin istration. Being told not to spread toilet paper around indicates an expectation of it on the administration’s part, taking the fim out of the event. It is important that we delve into the true essence, the heart perhaps, of toilet paper vandalism. It is not something to be yearned for if it is completely allowed. For exaijiple, in my hometown of Lincolnton, every year the high school band students toilet paper the band director’s home. The director and his parents laugh and take pictures of the delighted children hav ing a good time. The-PLLot Bob Carey and Nancy-Pat Dire Faculty Advisors Matt Tessnear Editor and Chief Stephanie Kay Designer Rachel Lloyd and Katie Bryant Photo Editors Ciara Lilly Sheyahshe Littledave Copy Editors Jacob Conley Sports Editor Rebecca Clark Ali Cunningham Jack Naish Staff Writers Haley Black Ashley Carter Joseph Fluty Kayley Potter Rachel Tucker Staff Photographers Phone Number: 704-406-3533 P.O. Box 5192 pilot@gardner-webb.edu www.gwupiiot.com WISDOM ON WHEELS: Political correctness sometimes goes too far By Jacob Conley ultimate complement. I am in no way advocat ing the abolishment of po litical correctness. I’m just asking that peo ple use common sense when interacting with someone, instead of robotically re peating what society says is the right thing to say. Soci ety can be, and in most cases is, wrong in this area. For example, I was watching old “Bugs Bunny” cartoons on Turner Classic Movies the other day and noticed that the program was rated for mature audi- I know I can’t speak for everyone on this issue, but to me, most aspects of po litical correctness are so ri diculous that they are laugh able. A few weeks ago some one called me “activitively challenged,” in reference to my disability. I responded by pointing out that I am involved with tons of ex tracurricular civilities on campus, so the term “ac tivitively challenged” in no way applied to me. I know this person was trying not to offend me by using the latest politically correct terms, but, honestly, I was more offended by that term than if someone had called me a “cripple.” In fact, it’s not an un common occurrence for one of my close fiiends to see me on the quad, flash me the infamous gang symbol aiid yell, “What’s up Crip?” To me, this is not a de rogatory term. It demon strates that the person is comfortable around my dis ability, even to the point of poking fun at it and me. In my mind, that is the ences. What!? This is “Bugs Buimy,” not “South Park.” Evidently, the reasoning behind the rating was politi cal incorrectness and refer ences to drugs. I only saw two instances that could have warranted such a rating: Bugs smoked a cigar and Yosemite Sam wore a turban in the desert while looking for oil. If that’s not the essence of evil, I don’t know what is! Give me a break. What ever happened to the good ole days when George Jefferson could call See POLITICAL page 4 I recall never imder- standing such events, as toilet papering someone’s home carmot be fim unless it is to the homeowner’s extreme displeasure. Oth erwise it’s like stealing free the samples at the grocery store. Toilet papering the campus is not something that should be cancelled. It should be something that is not allowed by the adminis tration, or is at least strongly frovraed upon. That way students can have fim doing what we aren’t supposed to do, year after year. The administration be lieves that watching a mov ie and eating cookies are an adequate substitute for roll ing the campus. As students, we should not be so easily pacified! Rolling is our leg acy. It is our tradition. Let us not be so easily snuffed out. I am certain there are patriots of tradition who, boldly defending the legacy of rolling the campus for Homecoming, are prepared to do whatever they see fit sometime this evening. I sa lute them. Plk)LNov3 aooe.Indd 3 11/2AM 6:90.52 PM
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