by Hunter Patterson | Jul 23, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s center Adnan Hodzic took home several awards last season, including the Atlantic-Sun’s Player of the Year title. Last season, Hodzic really showed the nation what he was capable of. This season, though, he hopes to show the rest of the country what he can do. An article broke this morning from Rivals.com asking who the most underrated player in the nation was. One writer thinks that player is none other than Bosnia native, Hodzic. The following is an excerpt from the article which can be read in full here. At the College Basketball Roundtable each week, we ask each member of the coverage staff for his opinion about a current topic in the sport. We have two questions this week, one today and one Sunday. Today’s question: Who is the most underrated player in the nation? David Fox’s answer: I can’t claim I’m fully impartial on my pick of the most underrated player in the nation. This guy plays a few miles from Rivals.com headquarters, and we’ll be writing a story on him in the coming weeks. I’m going to go with Adnan Hodzic of Lipscomb. He’s the nation’s returning leading scorer at 22.7 points per game, and he’s not too far off from averaging a double-double, with 9.1 rebounds. Lipscomb shared the Atlantic Sun regular-season title before being bounced in the conference tournament, so his efforts aren’t for nothing. What’s most impressive to me, though, is his performance out of conference. Often, the top players from low-major leagues dominate their conference competition and get shut down by big-name teams. Not Hodzic. Last season, he scored 18 points...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 20, 2010 | Sports
During the spring and summer months Lipscomb Lady Bisons basketball players are out of the sight of the coaches for the most part, but they are seldom out of their thoughts. Lady Bisons coach Frank Bennett will return a team that features three seniors, guards Jenna Bartsokas and Miaca Bowman and wing Valerie Bronson. A trio of juniors, guard Anna Bowers, wing Leah McAlister and post player Brittany Duerk, also bring experience. A quartet of sophomores, post players Chelsea McMeans and Kaitie Fritts, and wings Hannah Phillips and Morgan Faulkner, return after seeing a large amount of playing time as freshmen. Newcomers to the team are guard Haley Nelson, post-wing O’Neisha Smith and post player Jess Reece. Bennett is expecting Bartsokas to finish with her strong season ever as a Lady Bisons. Bennett isn’t sure if Bartsokas will play the point or the No. 2 spot. Nelson has shown a knack for being able to find players open everywhere on the court due to her excellent vision. Nelson could get playing time at the point. Bowers and Bowman also will be on the court as well. “We will see how the other girls develop and compete,” Bennett said. “I think that Jenna played a lot of last season at an All-Conference level. With our record not being that good she didn’t get the recognition. In the last five games she played at a very, very high level averaging 17 to 18 points during that stretch. “She is by far the hardest worker we’ve got. She is very self-motivated. She really spends a lot of time working out, shooting and...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 18, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
Coach Scott Sanderson has proven in his time as the head coach of the Lipscomb Bisons that he is not afraid of assembling a challenging schedule. He may have outdone himself this year as the Bisons are scheduled to play North Carolina, Baylor, Alabama and Memphis. Rounding out the non-conference opponents are Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, Stillman College and Tennessee-Martin. Only two of the non-conference games will be played at home. The other seven are on the road. “I thought last year when we played Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati and Arizona was the toughest schedule we had ever played,” Sanderson said. “This one is tougher than that one. There are no easy games on our schedule. “It’s not even close. It is even more demanding than last year. But I have always tried to schedule according to our talent level that we have coming back. You can bury a team with this type of schedule. It should be very challenging for us.” The Bisons will open the regular season in Chapel Hill Nov. 12. They will play Baylor, expected to be a top 5 to top 10 team, in Waco, Texas Nov. 22. “North Carolina had a down year last year based on their standards as a top five to top 10 team year in and year out,” Sanderson said. “There will be a lot of publicity on that game.” The final game before Christmas break will be Dec. 21 at Tuscaloosa against Alabama. The Bisons will be in Memphis Dec. 30 to take on the Tigers. “All these games give you notoriety that you can’t buy,” Sanderson said....
by Hunter Patterson | May 25, 2010 | Sports
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — There were tears. Lots of tears. Hugs abounded. There was a prayer circle and one last speech from Lipscomb Lady Bisons’ coach Kristin Ryman. And before they left the field Sunday at the Alabama Softball Complex there also were some smiles. The Lady Bisons didn’t win the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional, but they advanced to the finals, losing to Alabama’s Crimson Tide 6-0 in front of more than 2,100 fans. It was the first trip to an NCAA Regional for the Lipscomb softball team, which won both the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and tournament titles. “Overall, I am extremely proud of our team with the fight and the resiliency they have shown all weekend,” Ryman said. “This is the closest any Lipscomb softball team has ever been, and I think that is in large part due to our seniors and what they have done in leading this team. “I don’t think we ever came into this postseason wanting to just be happy to be here. I think we came in wanting to win it. We knew that was going to be an extremely tough task, but that’s what we were here for. These girls never stopped from an effort standpoint and I couldn’t be more proud of them.” In the Saturday, May 22, 5-2 win over the Lady Bisons, Alabama relied on bunts and infield hits to produce runs. The next day home runs made the difference with four of the six runs coming off of three home runs. “They beat us with their short game Saturday and today they came out and relied on the long ball,”...
by Hunter Patterson | May 25, 2010 | Sports
MACON, Ga. – The Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship begins Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. at Dugan Field at Marsh Stadium on the campus of Lipscomb University. FGCU enters the championship as the No. 1 seed after claiming it third consecutive A-Sun regular season title. The Eagles open the A-Sun Championship at 11:00 a.m. CT Wednesday against in-state rival Stetson. The Eagles feature one of the top pitchers in the country in left hander Chris Sale. Sale, a junior, enters the week leading the conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts. The Lakeland, Fla. native sits as the national leader in strikeouts and a candidate for several national awards including the National Pitcher of the Year and Golden Spikes Awards, given to nation’s top player. Sale sits eighth in the conference single season record books in strikeouts with 135, the most by an A-Sun pitcher since Justin Pope of UCF sat down 158 in 2001, while his ERA ranks T-13th best. The Eagles own the conference’s top team ERA by nearly a half run, while boasting a balanced offense with all but one starter featuring a batting average over .300. Mikel Alvarez leads the Eagles in batting average with a .398 mark. Tim Roberson and Zach Maxfield provide the power in the FGCU lineup with the pair each having reached double figures in home runs and collecting at least 56 RBIs. The balance helped the Eagles finish seven and half games clear of the A-Sun field in the regular season standings. While FGCU claimed the A-Sun regular season title two weeks ago, Stetson needed a win in the final game of...
