Archive for March, 2012

Richmond, Va. — There are many, many good big men in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Tonight, two of the conference’s best will go at it when Georgia State’s Eric Buckner squares off against George Mason’s Ryan Pearson at 8:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament. The winner will advance to the semifinals and keeps alive hopes of winning the tournament and earning the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Buckner, who finished second in the league’s defensive player of the year voting, against Pearson, the league’s player of the year.

The last time the two faced each other the Patriots won 61-58.

In the battle within the war, Buckner had 11 points, six rebounds and one block. His season averages: 11.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.48 blocks.

Pearson had 10 points, all on free throws, and six rebounds. His season averages: 17.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

If Buckner’s performance in Friday’s 85-50 victory over Hofstra is any indication, expect a fun, fun …

Continue reading Buckner vs. Pearson in CAA quarterfinals »

Georgia State rolled over Hofstra 85-50 on Friday in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

Eric Buckner scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Panthers. Devonta White added 13 points.

The Panthers set a school record for points in the CAA tournament, breaking the previous record of 72 set against Towson in 2005-06. It was also the most points the Panthers have scored against a CAA team this season. It was also the largest margin of victory in CAA tournament history.

Here’s the good and bad of the victory:

GOOD

Eric Buckner. The senior may have turned the disappointment and not being named the conference’s defensive player of the year on Friday into emotional fuel.

Free-throw shooting. The Panthers hit 20 of 24, which is a rare occurrence this season.. Hunter joked that he hoped no one would bring it up after the game.

Defense. The Panthers forced the Pride to shoot 34.8 percent, including 28.6 percent in the …

Continue reading The good and bad of GSU’s win in the CAA tournament »

Georgia State coach Bill Curry will interview five more candidates for the defensive coordinator position, and hopes to have a hire made by March 9.

Curry has interviewed Anthony Midget, who is on staff as the Panthers’ special teams coordinator and safeties coach. Curry said that interview went well. When asked, Curry said he will also interview former Old Dominion defensive coordinator Andy Rondeau. Curry declined to name the other candidates. Rondeau declined to comment.

Curry said his interview with Midget went very well.

Rondeau was not retained by coach Bobby Wilder after the 2011 season. He had been in charge of the Monarchs’ defense for five seasons. ODU had the third-best run defense in the CAA last season (143.7 yards per game) but were 10th in pass defense  (242.4 ypg). They were seventh in scoring defense (27.8). Before ODU, Rondeau worked at Maine in 2006 as special teams coordinator. He was also the asst. defensive coordinator in Buffalo (2004-05) and the …

Continue reading Curry on GSU’s DC search — updated with another candidate »

Because it doesn’t yet have a defensive coordinator, Georgia State will move the start of its spring football practice to March 14. It will end Friday, April 6.

Spring practice was originally scheduled to run March 6-24.

However, John Thompson’s decision to resign and take the defensive coordinator job at Arkansas State has forced coach Bill Curry to change his plans. He said that the team could hold spring practice without a defensive coordinator, though he said it wasn’t ideal.

Practice will include a scrimmage at the team’s practice facility, as originally planned, on March 31.

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If you missed it last night, here’s the list of award winners at the Colonial Athletic Association’s basketball awards banquet. Georgia State had  three players honored.

Also, Georgia State will need defense and Eric Buckner to win the CAA tournament.

– Doug Roberson, AJC. Please follow me on twitter, I’ll be tweeting from tonight’s game, …

Continue reading GSU will move spring football practice back a week »

A trio of Georgia State basketball players were honored at the Colonial Athletic Association awards banquet on Thursday in Richmond, Va.

Jihad Ali earned third team All-CAA, All-Academic first team and shared the Dean Ehlers Leadership Award. Ali is is studying sports administration in graduate school at Georgia State. He averaged a team-high 13 points with 5.8 rebounds per game. Ali is the first Georgia State player to earn the Ehlers Award, which “embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship in conjunction with his academic athletic achievement.”

Eric Buckner earned several honors, including third team All-CAA and All-Defensive team. Buckner, who averaged 10.8 points per game and led the CAA with 106 blocks, finished second to Old Dominion’s Kent Bazemore in the defensive player of the year voting. Bazemore received 19 votes to Buckner’s 15.

James Fields was named to the All-Academic second team.

Georgia State coach Ron …

Continue reading Trio of Georgia State players honored with CAA awards »