Mark Zerof/US Presswire

Gardner-Webb put itself on the hoops map with a stunner over Kentucky in Rupp.

Can't avoid the Kentucky upset talk

By Kyle Whelliston
ESPN.com

No matter how hard he tries, Rick Scruggs can't get away from the "K" word.

"They're still talking about Kentucky," said the Gardner-Webb head coach. "Just the other day, I was standing in line at the grocery store, and there was a guy next to me. … That's all he wanted to talk about. We can't get away from it. Everywhere we go, everybody wants to talk about Kentucky."

A desire to flee the program's greatest victory, an 84-68 shocker at Rupp Arena last Nov. 7, isn't sending Scruggs into the Wildcat-beater's Protection Program. But Gardner-Webb has moved on, readying itself to tackle its next big challenge: a new conference address.

"We're putting down Big South logos on our floor instead of the Atlantic Sun logos," said Scruggs. "Last season, we tried to play as many Big South schools as we could play so we could get a feel for the league. We tried to get as much tape on those teams as we could get our hands on. This move is going to be hard, and it might take a few years for us to get settled, but we're doing as much as we can to prepare."

Those scouting reports always come back to one thing: Winthrop is really good. The Eagles are the four-time defending tourney champions and have eight NCAA bids in the last decade. Winthrop won the conference's first Round of 64 game in 2007, an 11-over-6 upset against Notre Dame. Until further notice, the road to the title goes through the campus that's just an hour southeast of GWU's Boiling Springs, N.C., home.

"I'm looking forward to playing those guys twice every year," said Scruggs. "They give us a goal to shoot for. Winthrop is definitely the team to beat. … Until somebody can top them on a consistent basis, they're going to be the kings of the court in the Big South. And they ought to be; they deserve it. They've been beyond spectacular."

And you can be sure that the champs are sniffing out their new, and potentially dangerous, league-mates.

"I know that Gardner-Webb lost their leading scorer," said Winthrop head coach Randy Peele. "But they have six of their top seven leading scorers coming back. I know that what they try to do is try and spread you out defensively, and they really rely heavily on their ability to shoot the 3."

That lone departed leading scorer was Thomas Sanders, the only senior to graduate from a team that finished 16-16 overall (9-7 A-Sun) a season ago. With 18.1 ppg and a conference-leading 10.8 rpg, he earned player of the year honors in the Atlantic Sun. Sanders earned 20 double-doubles during his senior year, including a 21-and-10 performance in that infamous Kentucky game.

"Can we pick up his points? Probably so," said Scruggs. "As for getting his rebounds back, I don't know yet. But the good news is that every one of our returning guys wanted to come back [to campus] early. We haven't had that problem in a long time; usually they wait until the last minute and take as long as they can."

Another thing that hasn't happened for a long time concerns league matchups. This conference is made up primarily of Division I members who used to toil in the lower classes. The Runnin' Bulldogs, a Division I program for just eight years, once maintained fierce rivalries with a number of current Big South teams, back when they were still members of the Division II South Atlantic Conference.

"Our fans, they have long memories," said Scruggs, entering his 14th year at Gardner-Webb. "They'll remember Presbyterian coming in here. They'll remember High Point, [UNC] Asheville, all those people. They'll be fired up."

And those long memories mean one more thing: Scruggs will be drawn into conversations in the checkout line about Kentucky for the rest of his life.

Five Things To Watch in '08-09

By Kyle Whelliston
ESPN.com

• Soaring Eagles
When Gregg Marshall left for Wichita State after a breakthrough NCAA first-round win over Notre Dame in 2007, he didn't take all the Winthrop magic with him. After longtime assistant Randy Peele was granted a promotion last summer, the Eagles won their fourth straight Big South tourney championship and its corresponding autobid, their eighth in 10 years.

As a No. 13 seed at the NCAA tournament, Winthrop battled to a tie at halftime of its first-round tussle with Washington State before being blown out in the second half for a 71-40 loss. It was only the eighth time all season the Eagles gave up 70 points or more. Over the course of last season, the Winthrop Wall yielded only 58.5 ppg, stopped two ACC teams (Georgia Tech and Miami) and held opponents to 39.6 percent shooting.

Despite the losses of four key seniors, the team commitment to defense will remain.

"We're a team that's been built on our ability to guard," said Peele. "That's not going to change; that's our primary staple. We're going to work hard at it every single day, because that's what we're all about."

• Big man on campus
UNC Asheville's Kenny George received a lot of attention from national media and opposing coaches last season. In a league where 6-foot-6 centers are not altogether uncommon, the 7-7, 370-pound Chicagoan was often head, shoulders and chest above the man guarding him. He turned inbounds plays under opponents' baskets into chess matches, as teams tried (usually in vain) to prevent an easy lob and layup. Finishing the season with 12.4 ppg on NCAA-best 69.6 percent shooting, George has developed into the most dangerous set-piece weapon since David Beckham.

But during his junior season, mechanical malfunctions kept George from staying on the floor for long stretches of time. His knees were not always up to the task of transporting his huge frame up and down the court. He was only able to average 20 minutes per contest in 2007-08, but Bulldogs head coach Eddie Biedenbach says that continued strength training should help his center's endurance.

"I think at his time, he's in the best physical health he's been in since he was high school," said Biedenbach. "Bigger, stronger, more mature as well. Going into the season, we can have the best possible outlook about what to expect from Kenny. Right now, I'm very optimistic."

• Welcome the Blue Hose
Gregg Nibert has coached Presbyterian College for 19 seasons, leading the program from the NAIA through Division II. Last season, the school played its first Division I schedule, finishing 5-25, and will become a Big South member in 2008-09. The Blue Hose will have to wait until the 2011-12 season to compete for the conference tourney championship.

As a D-I independent in 2007-08, the Blue Hose traveled far and wide and lost all 23 of their road games, picking up over $650,000 in guarantee money in the process. But league opponents are warned that the Templeton Center offers no easy wins. In its five home games, Presbyterian was a perfect 5-0, including victories over Army and new league-mate Radford.

"We're not used to losing here," said Nibert, whose team went 20-9 in its final year at D-II. "We get great community support, and our fans help make it a very tough place to play. And now we have nine guaranteed home games per year from the Big South."

• March madness
Parity-wise, the NFL playoffs have nothing on the Big South tournament. The annual battle for the conference's single bid, usually one of the first to begin (sometimes even in late February), has not played out according to seed in 10 years. The 2008 edition was the first without a first-round upset since 1999, and only the fourth to feature a No. 1 vs. No. 2 final over that stretch.

Over the last decade, the regular-season champion has survived the tourney only five times, and there have been a total of 21 low-seed upsets. So when No. 2 Winthrop won at No. 1 UNC Asheville to knock the chalk, it wasn't that much of a surprise to the league's fans.

• Out with the old …
With mass graduations at Winthrop, as well as at regular-season champion UNC Asheville, the conference is as wide-open as it's been in years.

Among the first and second team all-conference players from 2007-08, eight of the 10 have graduated. Seven of the league's top 10 scorers from a season ago are gone, as are seven of the top 10 assist distributors. Names familiar only to those who follow the conference on a daily basis are all over the returning leaderboards. Chavis Holmes of VMI (18.3 ppg) will enter the season as the league's returning leading scorer, and Radford's Amir Johnson collected 5.5 apg to lead returnee point guards.

"It's a tremendous amount of turnover across our entire league," said Peele. "It's going to make things very exciting."