by Jeremy Keck | Nov 4, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
For the first time in 10 years, Lipscomb will be taking on former rival Trevecca Nazarene in an exhibition game Thursday night at Allen Arena. With so much time having passed since the last time these two teams matched up, some people say this installment might not match up to the storied games of yesteryear. Former star player and current athletic director Philip Hutchinson thinks differently. “A lot of people who go to school in Nashville stay in Nashville,” said Hutchinson. “There [are] a lot of loyalties to both schools. A lot of Lipscomb and Trevecca fans in Nashville were around whenever the rivalry was at its peak; this game should be a lot of fun.” Mark McGee, Lipscomb instructor and sports information director, who covered the games for Lipscomb when the rivalry was at its peak and Hutchinson both described the battles as “intense.” “It was every bit of the Belmont rivalry we have today and then some,” said Hutchinson. “A lot of the players grew up playing against each other, so bragging rights were always at stake each time we faced them.” “The fans were not ugly,” said McGee. “But it would get so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think. The Lipscomb-Trevecca rivalry was edgier and grittier back then in some ways than Belmont games get today.” Andy Lane, who broadcast the Lipscomb basketball games during the 1980s, proclaims the meeting between these two schools was “The Game.” “Back when the games were played in McQuiddy, each time Trevecca would come to our place it would get packed,” Lane said. “It was a hot, loud, crowded atmosphere. The games would be...
by Hunter Patterson | Oct 15, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
MACON, Ga. – A year after sharing the regular-season crown, Lipscomb emerged as the favorite in both the Atlantic Sun preseason men’s basketball coaches’ poll and media poll. The Bisons senior All-American Adnan Hodzic garnered unanimous preseason Player of the Year honors. Hodzic and fellow unanimous preseason All-Atlantic Sun performer Josh Slater look to lead the Bisons to a first NCAA appearance. Last season the pair represented the highest scoring teammates in the conference, averaging close to 40 points per game. Hodzic paced the league at 22.7 points per game, the highest average in the conference in 20 years in earning the Player of the Year award. He enters this season carrying the nation’s longest active streak of scoring in double figures, at 57. Since the start of 2000, the streak ranks as the ninth-longest in nation. Last season’s General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Champion, ETSU, took second in both polls. The Buccaneers made their ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament by beating Mercer in the A-Sun title game. The Bucs return with the MVP from last year’s Championship, Micah Williams, and Second Team guard Tommy Hubbard and welcome back Mike Smith ¬– who missed all but four games last season. In ETSU’s 2008-09 championship season, he averaged 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. All three landed on the preseason All-Atlantic Sun squad, giving the ETSU the greatest representation on the team. Belmont, one of the league’s four co-champions a season ago, placed third in both preseason polls. The Bruins return 11 letter winners and four starters from last year’s 19-win team headlined by last year’s Freshman...
by Jeremy Keck | Oct 15, 2010 | Sports
The time has finally come for the Lipscomb Bisons men’s basketball team to officially begin practice. However, due to the Nashville Symphony using Allen Arena this weekend, the Bison will be begin practice out of town at the University of the South at Sewanee. The first practice will be held on Friday night with two to follow on Saturday. The weekend will wrap up with a practice on Sunday before the team heads back to Nashville. “I want there to be an emotional attachment among each other,” said Bisons’ coach Scott Sanderson. “That’s why on opening weekend we’re going to go out of town and practice and do some team bonding type of stuff.” Coming off of a 17-13 regular season and having won a share of the conference championship last year, many would feel that Lipscomb has accomplished a lot. However, Coach Sanderson feels differently. “In my opinion, and in the players’ opinions, we really haven’t done anything,” Sanderson said. “A lot of teams might be satisfied with winning a conference championship. Now obviously that’s exciting, but as you keep winning, your goals get higher and higher. “We have a lot of motivation and our preseason has shown that we have a lot of motivation to continue to go that one step further.” The players will be staying at a hotel on Sewanee Mountain. They will spend every moment of the weekend with each other, both on and off the...
by Cecelia Ramsey | Oct 4, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
For the first time, Lipscomb University proudly received the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic Trophy in 2010 with 185 of the 258 Bison student-athletes achieving All-Academic honors. Frank Bennett, now entering his thirty-first season as head coach of the Lady Bisons Basketball team, likes to believe that his players define the term student-athlete. “Some people think it’s one or the other—academics or athletics—but I believe they go hand in hand,” Bennett said. The Lady Bisons are an example of the success that Lipscomb sports teams are having on an individual and team level, competing in the classroom as well as on the court. This past season, the Lady Bisons ranked ninth in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll with a 3.452 average GPA. The retention rate is also impressive. Every student-athlete who completes their fourth year of eligibility graduates. It’s important to realize that academic success has not been limited to the basketball court. Lipscomb proudly had seven spring teams with at least 70 percent of the student-athletes achieving a 3.0 grade-point average or higher , earning the All-Academic trophy. To what does Lipscomb owe the successes of its sports teams? “It begins with recruiting good students,” Bennett said. “And we try to emphasize an attitude of excellence.” Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson likes to refer to the athletic department as the “front porch” of the University. “There are many people on campus excelling as students and achieving great things without any public recognition,” Hutcheson said. “Whether right or wrong, athletes are the ones receiving public attention.” Hutcheson went on to talk not only about academics,...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 29, 2010 | Sports
A week ago I posted an excerpt from Rivals.com writer David Fox who declared Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic the nation’s most underrated player. Today, the story that Fox hinted about became public. The story in its entirety can be viewed after the jump. It is a magnificent piece about the struggles that Hodzic dealt with as a child in Bosnia and his journey to Lipscomb. From David Fox, Rivals.com college basketball staff writer NASHVILLE — Some memories of Adnan Hodzic‘s early childhood come to him only in flashes. Hodzic, a forward at Lipscomb who is the top returning scorer in the nation, never had a plastic basketball hoop or an orange foam basketball growing up. He rarely even went outside to play. Instead, Hodzic remembers running through the streets of Sarajevo with his mother with bullets flying. Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic is the nation’s top returning scorer. “It’s really hard to remember, man,” Hodzic says. “I remember a lot of war stuff. You know — bombs, gun shots, hiding. I also remember a loving family. Beautiful country. Granted, a lot of stuff I remember is bad.” Hodzic, who averaged 22.7 points per game last season and won Atlantic Sun player of the year honors, was the first in his family to touch a basketball. For a time, neither Hodzic nor his family knew if he’d have the opportunity to do even that, much less that his mother, father and older sister Amina one day would be able to drive a few hours to watch him play college basketball. Hodzic is 21. He was 3 when Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the...
