Monday, March 08, 2010
Kellen Brand, the most veteran player on Appalachian State’s team with 126 games played, did not get off to the start he wanted for his senior season.
Midway through the season, Brand was averaging 8.9 points a game – well below his junior-season and team-leading average of 14.8.
He was having a difficult time find his offensive rhythm and getting shots to fall. He was barely at 40 percent by mid season.
But things turned for Brand, and for his team.
The Mountaineers, once 7-7 overall and 1-2 against Southern Conference opponents, are 15-4 and 14-3 since.
And Brand’s numbers are up dramatically as well. Since his early-to-mid-season slump, Brand has shot 48 percent, nearly 40 percent from 3-point range, and has averaged 13.8 points a game.
Those numbers are more in tune with the ones that earned Brand All-SoCon honors last season.
Nearing the end of his collegiate career, Brand turned in his finest performance last night in the Mountaineers’ romp over College of Charleston in the SoCon Tournament semifinals.
Brand, a guard from High Point dubbed “KB” by his coach, scored a career-high 37 points. Far from the way he began the season, he made 14 of 19 field-goal attempts, including 5 of 6 3-point tries.
“It feels great to just finally explode,” Brand said after leading the Mountaineers to tonight’s championship game. “I felt really good out there. I was kind of shocked myself. I just kept feeling a boost from somewhere. It’s a blessing to be able to come out and play that way.”
Coach Buzz Peterson said: “He’s a young man that has worked hard for us every day in practice, never complained. He’s really given it all. For him to step up and have 37 points…I’m happy for KB.”
TONIGHT’S FINAL
The Mountaineers will try for their first Southern Conference championship and berth to the NCAA Tournament since 2000 when they play Wofford at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.
The teams met just once in the regular season – way back on Dec. 7. The Mountaineers won 77-76 in Spartanburg, S.C.
Both teams had similar-type victories in the semifinals last night.
Wofford romped past Western Carolina 77-58. ASU rolled over College of Charleston 77-54.
Post play was central to both team’s success. The Terriers outscored Western 40-22 in the paint, and won the rebound battle by 10. The Mountaineers outscored Charleston 40-16 inside, and had a 20-rebound advantage.
“You want to let them know early you’re going to dominate inside,” said Ike Butts, a 6-10, 285-pound center for the Mountaineers who totaled 10 points and 11 rebounds against Charleston last night. He had 11 points and 13 rebounds against the Terriers earlier this season.
“I think me, Hunter and Andre did a pretty good job of that. We came out, rebounded and scored the ball when we got it down in there. When we can do that it allows our guards to do things like KB did.”
Peterson said of Wofford: “We are facing a team we have not played in a long time. We were fortunate to win that (first game). I’m sure they’re hungry for us. They’re very physical. They’ve got good inside play, and good perimeter play to go with it.”
ASU CROWD
A crowd of 5,440 was on hand for last night’s semifinals at Time Warner Cable Arena, and most in attendance were ASU fans.
“We appreciate the support,” Brand said. “It felt just like a home game out there. We fed off the energy of the crowd.”
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Buzz Peterson is glad to have his team in the Southern Conference Tournament semifinals, but he would have rather beaten any other team to have gotten there.
The Mountaineers eliminated The Citadel in last night’s quarterfinals, but Peterson doesn’t like having to play his close friend Ed Conroy, The Citadel’s coach.
“This game is not fun at all,” Peterson said.
Conroy was Peterson’s assistant at Tulsa, Tennessee and Coastal Carolina.
“Ed Conroy has meant so much to me and my family,” Peterson said.
How good of friends are they?
“When I took the Tulsa job, he drove my 125-pound dog all the way across the country and he’s allergic to dogs,” Peterson said. “When he got out there, you couldn’t even see Ed’s eyes they were so swollen…He’s a great loyal friend.”
Donald Sims, ASU’s junior point guard and the SoCon’s media player of the year, kept pouring in the points last night. He scored 30 against The Citadel.
Peterson said that his team has adjusted well to Sims’ role as chief scorer and has done a good job of getting the ball in his hands as much as possible.
“Ever since we’ve done that things have looked better for this ballclub,” Peterson said. “They respect him. He’s not one of these kids that walks around and talks about himself at all. He really complements his teammates very well.”
Quarterfinal surprises have been the norm the last two years in the SoCon Tournament, but that wasn’t the case this year.
The top four seeds all advanced into today’s semifinals. The last two years, teams without a first-round bye were a combined 4-3 in quarterfinal games. This time around, they were 0-4.
And, for or the first time in SoCon history, all four semifinalists have won 20 games or more. ASU is 21-11, College of Charleston 21-10, Western Carolina 22-10 and Wofford 24-8.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
A few notes and quotes going into this weekend’s Southern Conference Tournament in Charlotte:
Donald Sims on ASU’s mindset heading into the tournament – “You have to have that swagger and confidence going into the tournament. We have that now, but I don’t think we’re crossing that line of being too cocky. We know what we can do, we know we can play with anybody in this league, we just have to go out there and do it.”
Coach Buzz Peterson on the fact that the Mountaineers have eight of their last nine regular-season games – “Our guys really came together the last few weeks of the season. As a coach you like to see your team improve and I saw that from our guys. We had our roller coaster, up and down, early but when February rolled around we started playing better basketball.”
The Mountaineers took two days off after concluding the regular-season last Saturday. A week between games – the gap between the end of the regular-season and the start of the tournament – will offer some rest for all the teams but, for a team on a hot streak, there is a risk of breaking momentum.
Peterson said that he isn’t too concerned about going a week without a game, that the confidence his team has built is still intact.
“Confidence is the biggest thing,” Peterson said. “That’s where these guys have gotten a lot better. They now believe in themselves and their teammates, and they believe they can finish games.”
Sims is not only the Mountaineers’ leading scorer, but leads in minutes play with an average of 34.1 a game. He said that some rest was nice, but that he would have been ready to go regardless.
“I’ve always believed you rest in the offseason,” said Sims, the SoCon’s media player of the year. “Two days off were good, but we’re ready to get back at it.”
Peterson took away his team’s practice jerseys to motivate them earlier this season when things weren’t going so well. But he rewarded them before last Saturday’s final regular-season game for their late-season winning streak.
He acquired some unique shoes, a Jordan brand black-and-white model with a block A on them, and distributed them among players to show his appreciation for their hard work down the stretch.
The SoCon Tournament will be in one city but two sites this year. First-round and quarterfinal games will be played at venerable Bojangles Coliseum on Independence Boulevard in Charlotte and semifinals and championship game will be downtown at Time Warner Cable Arena, the home of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Coaches aren’t making an issue of a split site for the tournament.
“It’s the same for everybody,” Bobby Cremins of College of Charleston said.
“Everyone is on the same page,” Davidson’s Bob McKillop said. “Everyone is dealing with the same situation so whether it’s Bojangles or whether it’s Time Warner…”
Peterson hopes that the close proximity to Charlotte for ASU fans will be a boon to support for his team.
“We’re expecting a pretty good crowd,” Peterson said. “I’m sure the more you win the more people will come out. Hopefully we can get a good draw from our alumni base in that area.”
Peterson hasn’t been too enamored with the number of fans at ASU home games this season. Attendance for home games has averaged 2,007 in the 8,350-seat Holmes Center.
“I wish that I could get the students more involved, bigger crowds at the game,” Peterson said. “The place is so big and the weather hasn’t been great most of the time but we’re sitting there the No. 1 team in the North Division and I just feel like the attendance could have been a lot better.
“A lot of times when we travel off the mountain we get a lot of people to see us but during the weekdays and weekends I don’t feel like we get the support we need…. That’s something that has probably disappointed me more than anything, student attendance and turnout for the games.”
Peterson has an idea that might help.
“This may sound crazy but there is a 100-spot parking lot beside the arena and they need to make that a parking deck and build a walkway into the arena,” he said. “I think you could get students to drive down there and get more people come to the games that way.
“People have to park up the street a little bit and they don’t like that walk to the Holmes Center. I hear that all the time. I think that parking deck is something that has been talked about but right now we have to have the money to build it. I think that would solve a lot of problems.”
Wofford has never won a Southern Conference Tournament title in its eight seasons in the league, but probably has its best chance ever this season. The Terriers are 23-8 and won the South Division, and many consider them the favorite.
“As far as target on our back…Fantastic, give me that,” Coach Mike Young said. “This team has adhered to the thought of, ‘The heck with you hunting us, we’re going to hunt you. We’re going to come after you and give it our best shot.’ I don’t think this weekend will be any different.”
Sims thinks his ASU team, which is 20-11 and won the North Division, has a legitimate shot.
“We’ve done a lot, but we’re not done yet,” Sims said. “We still have goals to accomplish. To go to Charlotte and not come back with a championship will be disappointing.”
Players from past all-tournament teams (first and second team) in this year’s field: Bryan Friday of Samford (2009); Andrew Goudelock (2009), Jeremy Simmons (2009) and Tony White Jr. (2008 and 2009) of College of Charleston; and Sims (2009).
SoCon titles per team (year last won): Chattanooga 10 (2009), Davidson 9 (2008), Furman 6 (1980), Appalachian 2 (2000), College of Charleston 1 (1999), UNC Greensboro 1 (2001) and Western Carolina 1 (1996).
Top single-game performances this season: Points – Sims, 44 vs. Davidson; 3-pointers – Antonia Hanson (Georgia Southern) 9 vs. Elon; Rebounds – Ben Stywall (UNC Greensboro) 19 vs. Samford.
Memories of what Stephen Curry did for Southern Conference basketball, most notably his amazing scoring prowess and leading Davidson to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, will linger for a long time to come.
But Donald Sims of Appalachian State did what he could this season to, at least in part, offset the SoCon’s loss of such a dynamic player.
Curry certainly did more overall and for a longer period, but Sims’ season has been rather amazing in its own right. And some similarities in Sims’ style of play to Curry’s in terms of offensive proficiency don’t make comparisons totally null.
In fact, references to Curry by SoCon coaches – from UNCG’s Mike Dement, Samford’s Jimmy Tillette to Davidson’s Bob McKillop – after witnessing Sims’ performances were frequent this season.
Sims displayed similar confidence and shooting ability.
“It’s definitely humbling to hear some of those comparisons, considering the things (Curry) did in our conference and with what he’s doing now,” said Sims, who followed two-time winner Curry by being named the SoCon’s player of the year by media today.
“To be mentioned in the same breath is humbling. I’m not saying I’m the same type of player he is, but I’ve always had confidence in my game and can do some of the same things. He definitely inspired me to work hard and be the kind of player I am.”
His 44 points at Davidson earlier this season certainly conjured up some images of Curry.
Sims, nearing school records for 3-pointers in a season and career, is averaging 20.4 points this year. His 95-percent accuracy from the free-throw line (151 of 159) leads all Division I players, as does his 102 3-pointers made. Sims is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range.
Curry, a catalyst for his team leading the Wildcats to 75 wins in three seasons as well as two SoCon titles and the memorable NCAA Tournament run, led the SoCon in scoring all three of his seasons and he also piled up an impressive number of steals.
His peaks: 28.6 points a game as a junior; 251 free-throw attempts as a sophomore, and an 89.4-percent accuracy rate; and 44 percent from 3-point range as a sophomore when he set an NCAA record with 162 3-pointers. He also led the SoCon in assists as a junior.
Sims has one season left to play.
“That’s huge,” Sims said. “Of course, now I’ve set the bar for myself. It will be challenging for me to go into next season having the type of year I’ve had this year. The bar has definitely been raised.”
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Paul Mance totaled 348 victories, the most in Southern Conference history, in his 33 seasons as wrestling coach at Appalachian State.
Last season was his final one as coach. He still attends matches, and is helping with fund-raising and ASU’s wrestling camp, but he said it’s been an adjustment.
“It’s a whole lot different sitting in the bleachers watching than it is on the bench,” said Mance, who guided the Mountaineers to eight regular-season and five Southern Conference tournament titles.
“It’s a funny feeling walking into the gym and not coaching after so many years. But everything ends at one time or another.”
He said he didn’t really want it to end.
“I think in my heart I would have liked to coach forever,” Mance said. “I was ready to retire as far as…letting go to someone who is a lot younger and is an eager-beaver. But it’s hard. Do I feel like I could still do it? Yeah, I feel like I could have done it for quite a while longer but I also want to do other things in my life so it’s good to be able to do that to.”
More free time is an upside, he said.
“The fun part is coaching wrestlers out there on the mat, and just working with the kids being with the team,” Mance said. “I miss that. But the recruiting part was never as much fun. You do a lot of work and don’t get the kid a lot of times. It’s not always easy.”
Among his career highlights are coaching Olympic wrestlers Ike Anderson and Dale Oliver, and establishing a thriving wrestling camp.
“Our camp has become so large that we now have literally 100s of guys that wrestled for us that now bring their kids to camp,” Mance said. “That’s very rewarding, knowing you hopefully had something to do with developing and influencing young lives. It makes you feel like you’ve done something useful.”
Mance was presented a plaque for his accomplishments with the ASU wrestling program a week ago before ASU’s final regular-season match. He will be honored for his Southern Conference accomplishments during this weekend’s league tournament at Davidson.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Appalachian State, playing its final home game of the season, kicked off Senior Day with a special touch.
Josh Hunter, a senior forward for the Mountaineers, sung the national anthem.
He said that Wes Berry of ASU’s marketing and promotions department asked him to do it. Hunter reluctantly obliged, and did a fine job.
“He found out I could sing last year,” Hunter said. “He wanted me to do it last year at the last home game, and I told him I’d do it my senior year – just messing around with him. He said he had me down for it and I couldn’t back out. I decided I might as well go out with a bang.”
Hunter said that he had never sung in public before, but isn’t afraid to knock out a tune in earshot of friends.
“You can’t shut him up in the locker room,” teammate Kellen Brand said. “But he’s talented.”
Hunter said that he was a bit nervous, so he had the Mountaineers’ other four seniors stand with him at midcourt while he sang.
“I’m just thankful that the other four didn’t chime in,” said Coach Buzz Peterson, who didn’t know that Hunter planned to sing the anthem.
“I didn’t know he could sing like that. But that made for a special afternoon.”
Brand said: “It gave me chill bumps…. I knew he was going to sing it. I’m just glad they didn’t ask me to.”
Friday, February 26, 2010
Twenty-win seasons have long been a benchmark for success in college basketball, although it’s a feat more readily achieved in recent years with a slightly increased number of regular-season games.
Still, it’s an accomplishment.
Only once in the history of the Southern Conference, which was established in 1921, have as many as four league teams won 20 or more games in the same season.
It could happen again this season.
In 1952-53, the SoCon had four 20-game winners: N.C. State (26-6), Wake Forest (22-7), Furman (21-6) and Richmond (20-7).
The SoCon has two this year – Wofford (22-8) and Western Carolina (20-10) – and could add two more by season’s end.
Appalachian State (19-11) and College of Charleston (19-10) have at least two games remaining. The Mountaineers will play Samford and the Cougars will play Furman in regular-season finales on Saturday, and both have the SoCon Tournament remaining.
Barring upsets, the SoCon will have four 20-game winners for the first time in 57 years.
For the record, Western Carolina has won 20 games for the first time since 1971-72. Wofford is a 20-game winner for the first time since 1993-94. Both have won 20 games for the first time since becoming a Division I program.
Charleston won 27 games last season. Appalachian last won 20 in 2006-07.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Appalachian State is now as close as it can get to the No. 1 seed in the Southern Conference’s North Division without actually having it wrapped up.
Western Carolina’s 73-56 loss to The Citadel last night dropped it to 1½ games behind the Mountaineers in the North.
Because ASU owns the tiebreaker as result of its two regular-season wins over Western, the only way for ASU to lose the top seed would be to lose its three remaining league games and for Western to win the two it has left.
The Mountaineers need only one win – they play at Elon (7-19) on Monday, and close the regular season at home against Chattanooga (13-14) and Samford (10-16) – or one loss by Western. The Catamounts have home games against Samford and Chattanooga remaining.
So, barring a bizarre turn of events, the Mountaineers seem set for the No. 1 seed, which means a 2 p.m. game against the winner of No. 4 South vs. No. 5 North in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament on March 6 at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte.
SoCon South
It’s also a two-team race for the No. 1 seed in the South Division.
College of Charleston has a half-game lead over Wofford. Those two teams play on Thursday in Spartanburg, S.C.
Charleston won the first meeting 70-68.
Charleston has one other game remaining, at Furman (12-14). Wofford has a game at Georgia Southern (7-20) and a home game against The Citadel (15-12) left.
Momentum
Wofford, which has never won a SoCon championship in men’s basketball, solidified its status as a prime contender early this season with impressive non-conference wins over Georgia and South Carolina. The Terriers also gave Pitt a run, and played relatively well against Michigan State and Illinois.
Wofford’s loss at College of Charleston is their only one since Dec. 29. The Terriers have won seven straight games, and 13 of their last 14.
Other teams that are playing well nearing tournament time are The Citadel (five straight wins), Charleston (winners of five of its last six) and ASU (which had a four-game winning streak snapped in a one-point loss at Charleston on Wednesday).
Western Carolina is struggling, having lost four of its last five games.
Another hot streak
Donald Sims, ASU’s junior guard, continues to have amazing success at the free-throw line.
Sims, who leads the nation in free-throw percentage, has made 130 of 136 free throws (95.6 percent). He is well on pace to set a school record (88.4 percent by Ronnie Christian in 1988-89) and Southern Conference record (94.4 by Bunny Gibson of Marshall in 1977-78).
The Division I record for a season is 97.5 percent, held by Blake Ahearn of Missouri State, who made 117 of 120 attempts in 2003-04.
Sims has made his last 32 attempts, his longest streak of the season.
By Tommy Bowman at 11:34 AM
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Friday, February 12, 2010
Buzz Peterson has issues with the shot-clock buzzer at Holmes Center.
It apparently isn’t loud enough to be consistently heard, and the lack of volume would have been even a bigger issue if Appalachian State had lost to Davidson on Thursday night.
The Mountaineers had built some momentum with a 7-0 run in the first half when Ben Allison of Davidson took a 3-point shot that might or might not have left his hands before the shot clock expired. Referees, trained to watch a shooter’s hand – not the clock – and rely on the buzzer, never heard the buzzer.
Allison missed the shot, but, with no shot-clock violation signaled, Bryant Barr of the Wildcats grabbed the offensive rebound, hit a 3-pointer and ignited an 8-0 run that gave the Wildcats the lead at halftime.
Peterson wasn’t happy.
“I’ve complained about that thing from Day One,” Peterson said of the buzzer. “It’s never had a loud buzzer since I’ve gotten here. It’s quiet. When there are people in the place making noise you can not here it.
“I don’t know if you can go back on replay and see if (the shot left the hands in time) but all I know, and I trust my assistants, that zero hit when it was in his hands. They missed the shot, but got the rebound and scored and that made me even madder.”
Kellen the Brand
Fans attending Thursday’s game at Holmes Center were given plastic construction-worker hats to wear in honor of hard-working and hard-nosed senior Kellen Brand.
A sticker on the yellow hats read: “Kellen the Brand.”
The blue-collar Brand didn’t disappoint, scoring 10 points and taking at least one tumble to the floor.
“He made a heck of a play one time with a save and I turned and looked and we only had four against five,” Peterson said. “I was thinking where in the world is (Brand). I figured he was probably in the stands, or knocked himself out.
“One thing I can say about KB is that he brings it every night. He works his tail off.”
Nearing a first-round bye
ASU improved to 9-4 in Southern Conference play with the victory over Davidson. That stretched its lead in the North Division to a full game over Western Carolina and, perhaps more importantly, increased its lead over third-place Chattanooga to four games with five left to play.
The top two teams in the division will get a coveted first-round bye in the SoCon Tournament.
Strange season
The Mountaineers are 15-10, but don’t seem that far removed from what could have already been a 20-win season.
In retrospect, the Mountaineers could have and perhaps should have won several of the games they lost – to Division II King College; at home to 11-13 Furman and 13-12 The Citradel; close losses on the road at 13-13 Chattanooga and 13-12 East Tennessee State; and in overtime at Arkansas.
Of course, the Mountaineers can feel fortunate with a notable victory at 18-8 Wofford, and do have a nice set of victories over Western Carolina and Davidson as well as wins over conference-leaders Morgan State and Robert Morris.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Signing-day notes and other items:
Appalachian State’s quarterback situation heading into the post-Armanti Edwards won’t become clear until later this year, but it is beginning to take form.
Coach Jerry Moore said yesterday that Tavaris Cadet, the top backup for Edwards last season, will indeed be moved to full-time receiver in spring practice, which will begin in three weeks. And DeAndre Presley, the former backup who was moved to receiver last season, will go back to quarterback.
The top candidate, however, is most likely Jamal Jackson, a 6-3, strong-armed prospect who was red-shirted last season.
And freshmen Elijah Adamiak and Kalik Barnes, both of whom were among the Mountaineers’ class of 15 signees today, could be counted on for a supporting role next season if needed. One of the them will likely be moved to another position, and conventional wisdom would seem to be that Barnes, two inches taller than the 5-10 Adamiak, might be the favorite to stick at quarterback.
So, heading into the fall, the Mountaineers plan to have Jackson, Presley and one of the freshmen in place at quarterback. Cadet, a proven running threat, will focus on settling in at receiver.
“(Cadet) did a lot a great job for us last year in lots of ways, coming in as a new player,” Moore said. “He’s a very talented player and we moved him around a lot. His attitude was super. We’re going to let him learn at receiver, and just concentrate on that and kick returns with him.
“(Presley) really wanted to go back to quarterback and it really fit us because it allows us to leave Cadet as an M back, a motion back – a running back, receiver kind of guy – and not worry him with quarterback anymore. Now that we’ve got these two guys (Adamiak and Barnes), one of them will be a quarterback and the other will be wherever we need him.”
Moore also said that a focus in spring ball will be finding a role for former quarterback prospect Jamill Lott, part of last year’s recruiting class.
“Lott is a guy that we’ll determine in the next three weeks whether he will be a defensive back or receiver,” Moore said. “He’s a very talented athlete and we’ve got to get him on the field. And we have guys like (Tony) Washington and (Andrew) Peacock and (Rodger) Walker. For example, we’re interested in seeing Peacock at running back. We have good running backs but he gives us a real speed guy.”
ASSISTANT COACH SEARCH
Moore said that hopes are to have a new defensive coordinator and offensive line coach in place in time for spring practice, and that there are a lot of candidates to replace John Wiley (now at East Carolina) and Shawn Elliott (now at South Carolina).
“We’ve been interviewing a lot for the last week and will continue this week and all of next week,” Moore said. “We have had a really special response to that, some guys from some great programs. I think some of that has to do with (our new) facilities and some of that has to do with tradition. I hate to use the word surprised, but I am pleasantly surprised with some of the people that have shown interest in these jobs.”
CHRIS AIKEN
The Mountaineers’ first signee was 25-year-old Chris Aiken, a 6-1, 310-pound defensive lineman from Austin, Texas, who played two seasons at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. He signed early and enrolled at ASU in January.
Before playing at Blinn, Aiken spent five years in the Army and served two tours of duty in Iraq. He is the third Iraq war veteran to join the Mountaineers’ program, following Wayne Norman (2005) and Brian Stokes (2005-06).
“I don’t think there is any doubt about his maturity and commitment,” Moore said of Aiken. “Chris is a great young guy. His mom is a principal of a school in Austin, Texas. He had two terms in (Afgahistan or Iraq). When we saw him on tape, he’s a guy that can run for a guy that weighs 300 pounds. He plays hard.
“We felt like one of the places we needed, where we were a little deficient in, was defensive linemen having some size and weight to them. He gives us that immediately. He’s here on campus and will go through spring practice with us.”
GEORGIA MILITARY CONNECTION
The Mountaineers signed three players from Georgia Military College – tight end Antonio Danzy and defensive linemen Derrick Shuemake and Dan Wylie. All will be juniors next season, and Moore thinks all can have immediate impact.
“You go after junior-college guys because of immediate needs, and we’ve had a great relationship with Georgia Military for a number of years,” Moore said.
Several Georgia Military players have been standouts at ASU, including Troy Albea, Jerry Beard, Malcolm Bennett, Nygel Rogers, Jimmy Watkins and Daniel Wilcox.
MORE FROM GEORGIA
Eight of today’s 15 signees are from Georgia. And 12 of the Mountaineers’ 16 incoming recruits are from outside of North Carolina.
“We don’t focus on where they’re from,” Moore said. “That said, given a kid from North Carolina and a kid from Florida or Georgia or wherever, everything being equal we’d love to have the kid from North Carolina. But if a kid from North Carolina is not that interested in us, then we’re going to go hard on that kid from Florida or Georgia or wherever.
“My philosophy about recruiting is that it’s nice to be wanted. We go out and spend a lot of time locating these players, we recruit them hard and bring them in for a nice weekend. At some point and time, I really want to know that a guy really wants to be at Appalachian State…I want to read from him that it’s really important for him to be at Appalachian State.”
NEW FACILITY HELPS
Moore said that ASU’s new athletic complex at Kidd Brewer Stadium is a definite boon to recruiting.
“This is the first year we’ve really recruited into this new facility,” he said. “This is the first year we’ve got to expose the (recruits) to everything on a game weekend. This will be a big part of the future here, having official visits on a weekend when we have a ballgame.”
And, Moore said: “I think there was a lot more interest in us this year for one reason or another. I think we had more quality players that came up during the season and experienced games here at home and I think that helped us a lot.”
By Tommy Bowman at 08:24 PM
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