Coastal Carolina

Big South Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:06:28 -0500

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Conference Rank: 29th

All-BIG SOUTH Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Amir Johnson	Radford	Jr
G	Chavis Holmes	VMI	Sr
G	Anthony Smith	Liberty	Sr
F	Charles Corbin	Winthrop	So
F	Omar Carter	Charleston So.	So
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
none		Points: Chavis Holmes 18.3 Rebounds: Kenny George 7.0 (injured) Assists: Amir Johnson 5.5

BIG SOUTH Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

104	UNC Asheville*	Big South	1	NCAA
139	Winthrop**	Big South	2
164	Gardner-Webb	Big South	3
209	High Point	Big South	4
232	Radford	Big South	5
252	Liberty	Big South	6
276	Coastal Carolina	Big South	7
295	Charleston So	Big South	8
330	VMI	Big South	9
343	Presbyterian	Big South	10

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Note: A lot has changed for UNCA since this preview was written months ago, and they would almost certainly not be our #1 pick at this time.

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Big South?

Other BIG SOUTH Content

Conference Media Poll

Big South Poll: Winthrop the Favorite

Other

Rise & Fall: Big South

State of '08: South Carolina

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:11:18 -0400

Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

SOUTH CAROLINA

CLEMSON - Amazingly Clemson made the NCAA Tournament for just the first time in a decade, losing to Villanova in the opening round. The Tigers were an NIT team the previous three seasons, but have still trumped Winthrop in RPI in 6 of 8 seasons.

WINTHROP - The Eagles simply own the Big South right now. In Greg Marshall's ten-yea reign, Winthrop has made an amazing 8 NCAA Tournaments, and a 9th is possible in '09. In '07, Winthrop also knocked off Notre Dame in the tourney's First Round.

SOUTH CAROLINA - In Dave Odom's 7-year tenure, the Gamecocks were invited to one NCAA Tournament and 2 NITs. Former WKU Coach Darrin Horn was brought in to make the program more competitive in the SEC. Not since 1998 has USC finished over .500 in conference play.

CHARLESTON - For a long-time in the 90's up until a few years ago, Charleston was one of the top mid-major programs in the country. Ever since John Kresse retired, the Cougars have lost a little bit of their lustre and last year was the first time they finally finished below .500 in the Southern Conference.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - This is has long been one of the premier programs in the MEAC.. which isn't saying much because it is the MEAC. Since their last conference title in 2003, there has been some slippage however. Last year's 9-9 conference record was their worst in a decade, and RPIs of 290 & 284 in the past two years are anything but impressive.

6. FURMAN - In the previous six seasons, Furman was consistently a .500 team in the Southern Conference. But last year the bottom fell out and the Paladins struggled to a horrible 6-14 conference record, and an even worse 7-23 overall record. However, the team was young and most onlookers expect serious improvement in Jeff Jackson's third season.

7. COASTAL CAROLINA - In 2006, the Chanticleers were just a basket away from advancing to the Big Dance. This was an an aberration for a program that otherwise has been a middling to poor Big South team over the last 10 years.

8. WOFFORD - The Terriers have had similar overall success to Coastal Carolina above, hovering around winning 40 to 50% of their conference games on a yearly basis. Last season the team shocked Purdue on the road, and played Alabama very close as well.

9. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN - Other than two years of mediocrity in '05 & '06, this has been one of the worst programs in the country for quite some time. The Bucs have only won 10 D1 games the last 2 seasons, with an average RPI of 328th

10. THE CITADEL - Avoid being in last solely because there were two D1-newcomers in South Carolina last year. The Bulldogs haven't won 10 games since 2002, which was also the last season they finished above 290 in the RPI. Brutal stuff.

11. SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE - The Spartans beat six D1 teams in its initial season, including a decent Gardner-Webb squad. Upstate also has an advantage over Presbyterian due to their affiliation with the Atlantic Sun conference.

12. PRESBYTERIAN - Not much to say here. In the program's first full D1 season, the team went 2-25 (against D1 teams) with wins over Radford and Army.

Last: Pennsylvania - Next: Tennessee

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

Big South Preseason All-Conference Team

Press Release — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:32:51 -0400

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – High Point University senior Arizona Reid (Gaffney, S.C.) has been voted the Big South Conference 2007-08 Preseason Men’s Basketball Player of the Year by the League’s Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors and media panel, it was announced today at the Conference’s annual Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord, N.C. This year’s preseason All-Conference team features four players who were named to the League’s All-Freshman team in 2004-05.

Reid was the Conference’s Player of the Year in 2006-07, after leading the Big South in rebounding (9.5 per game) and finishing second in scoring (21.0) – the first player in League history to average 20 points and nine rebounds in one season. He was an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press last season and received All-District honors from the USBWA and the NABC. Reid also was fourth in the Big South in field goal percentage (.509), 10th in free throw percentage, tied for 13th in blocks per game, fourth in offensive rebounds and first in defensive rebounds. In League play last year, Reid increased his totals to 26.0 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. He also scored in double figures in 29 games, including 19 straight, surpassed the 20-point mark 19 times with five 30-point outings, and brought down a Big South single-game record 25 rebounds against VMI in late February. Reid received 21 first-place votes and finished with 134 points in the voting to earn a spot on the preseason All-Conference team.

2007-08 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team

Arizona Reid, High Point, Sr., F
Reggie Williams, VMI, Sr., F
Michael Jenkins, Winthrop, Sr., G
Jack Leasure, Coastal Carolina, Sr., G
Chris Gaynor, Winthrop, Sr., G

Williams, who received six first-place votes and 106 total points, became the first player in Big South history to lead the nation in scoring last year with his League-record 28.1 points per game average. He was named NABC All-District 4 second-team, ranked in the top four in the Conference in points (1st), rebounding (4th), field goal percentage (3rd) and assists (3rd), and also ranked ninth in free throw percentage and 10th in steals. Williams set new Big South and VMI records for most points in a season (928), became the first player in Conference history to log three 40-point games in a career and topped 40+ points in four games last season. He had nine double-doubles, scored in double figures in 31 games last season and had 15 30-point games. Williams needs just 351 points to become the Big South’s all-time leading scorer.

Jenkins enjoyed a breakout season last year for the Eagles as he earned First-team All-Conference honors as well as All-Tournament team accolades in his first year as a starter. He developed into one of the team’s top scoring threats as well as being a defensive stopper on the perimeter. He led Winthrop in scoring with 14.8 points per game and surpassed every single season individual career best last year. Jenkins led the Big South in three-point shooting percentage (41.5 percent), scored in double figures 27 times and tied a school and Big South record for three-pointers in a game with 12 vs. North Greenville. He led the Eagles to a 77-66 win over Missouri State in the ESPNU BracketBusters with his 25-point performance and seven 3-pointers, and posted seven rebounds and 11 assists in Winthrop’s 74-64 NCAA Tournament win over Notre Dame.

Leasure has been a Conference honoree all three seasons at Coastal Carolina – All-Freshman in 2005, First-team All-Conference and Player of the Year in 2006 and Second-team All-Conference in 2007. He led CCU to its second .500-or-better season last year for the first time since 1993-94, and became just the 14th player in CCU history to reach 1,000 points in his career (currently at 1,424). Leasure enters his senior year third all-time in Big South history with 300 career three-pointers. In 2006-07, he led Coastal and ranked seventh in the League at 15.6 points per game. He also ranked in the top 10 in the Conference in three pointers (3.0 pg), three-point field goal percentage (.372), assists (3.6 pg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8). He scored in double-figures in 12-of-14 League games last year and 25-of-30 games overall.

Gaynor was named Collegeinsider.com’s National Mid-Major Most Valuable Player in 2006-07 after helping the Eagles to a 29-5 overall record, 14-0 Big South mark and NCAA Tournament first round win. He has started all 95 games of his career at Winthrop (out of 98) and has been the Eagles’ floor general since his freshman season. He ranked first in the Big South last year in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.16) and was fourth in assists (4.39), while adding eight points a game. Gaynor saw his career games started streak end due to an injury in early December, but he still led the squad with 46 steals and ranked among the Conference leaders in the steals category. He scored a career-high 19 points vs. Liberty on Feb. 6 to help fuel a 80-76 come-from-behind win. He enters his senior season in fourth-place on the Winthrop all-time assist list with 427.

Buzz Peterson Leaves Coastal Carolina for NBA

Jeff Borzello — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:14:23 -0400

Buzz Peterson Interview: Part II

Bill Kintner — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 14:21:40 -0500

Continued from Buzz Peterson Interview Part I. In Part II.. Buzz talks about his time at Tennessee, Pat Summitt, scheduling and recruiting at Coastal Carolina.

BK: If my meager math skills don’t fail me, you made more at Tennessee than the entire budget of the basketball program at Coastal Carolina. Put that in perspective for me. How did that work out?

BP: Yeah that was true. I had four years left on my contract at Tennessee. I thought if I didn’t get the job done in five years, they needed to make a change. I loved the place. My father went there, I had a lot of family there. I would have stayed there and worked so that they wouldn’t have to pay me the balance. I would then have had three years left and I would have just worked to help raise money and help the next coach out or help anybody out in the athletic department. They decided they wanted to make a change real quick. I also talked to Coach Smith, Coach Williams and Coach Fogler. The question we talked about was, how good do you think you would be your fifth year or whoever was going to take over? I think the team was going to be pretty good. I think they had a good chance because it was (C. J.) Watson, and (Chris) Lofton, they had a chance to be pretty good. Coach Smith goes, “You know what, I would get out of there. It is going to be hard for your family because someone is going to come along with that team and win. Get out of town, because I bet you can get another job out there.” That is when this job and several others called.

I think in this situation (Coastal Carolina) if they would put a commitment to it, like they did at Appalachian State, this could be a winning program. The President said for me to give him a list of 12 things you need here to be successful. When I came here one coach was making $30,000, one coach was making $10,000 and the other was getting paid zero. I needed to have a good staff. Now the assistants, well let’s put it this way, there is no one in this conference or at this level that can touch what they are making now. So they made a commitment.

As far as the Tennessee thing, I told my wife that I don’t have to coach. I have been doing it a long time. I can do other things.

BK: Did you list a few of the other things you could do?

BP: (Buzz laughs) I said I really can do other things and we don’t have to move. We talked about it. My 14 year old who was 12 at the time said, “Dad, we want you to coach.” I said okay. So that is when we looked at this opportunity and decided it was right. It took them awhile to move. They were pretty set in their ways at Knoxville. I told Jan (wife) that with the buy-out money that we had, that it was yours. If you want to build a home for the kids, that was fine. You can do whatever you want to with it. She has the buy-out money and she is going to build us a house.

BK: So are they building it right now?

BP: Yes we are in the process of looking at something’s right now.

BK: In Conway?

BP: Right across the street. I want to be able to get in the golf cart and come to work. The golf course is right there (points to his left). I can go to work, golf course and then home. (he mimics steering a golf cart with his hands).

BK: You were at Tennessee for four years. Why didn’t you get it done, at least to the level that you had in the past?

BP: I am asked that a lot, why didn’t we get it done? We had some tough breaks. I don’t like to look back and say I didn’t have the staff. That wasn’t the problem. It is all in the head guy. When I got the job they dismissed two guys on me right away. Terrance Woods, who led the country back to back years in 3-point shooting, as well as three point field goals made per game at Florida A & M and Harris Walker, a point guard who would have been a starter. They were my two guards. Then Marcus Haislip was ineligible the first semester. He became an NBA Lottery Pick for the Bucks after half a season. Then Ron Slay gets hurt. I think I fought injuries the whole time, that first year. The second year, we were 15-6 at one time and one of my players, John Higgins had signed up for four 400 level math classes and they advised him not to do it. Then he only passed one of the four classes, which made him ineligible. We find out right before the tournament that he can’t play, our starting guard. We got down to the SEC tournament and lose in the first round. We had the third best record in the league and still didn’t get in the NCAA Tournament. I was disappointed we didn’t get in. In the third year we had some young players and we were just fighting to get back. The last year I thought we would be pretty good but (Scooter) McFadgon gets hurt and when he gets back (Jemere) Hendrix gets hurt. We also had some chemistry issues that hurt a little bit. I took over a situation where Jerry Green had done well. If he lost his job something is going on., something is not right. I found out what it was, there were a lot of things that had to change. The mindset had to change with some of the players, academics and all that stuff. That league is tough, it is tough to get a break.

BK: How did your academic people who work with your kids let a player take four upper level math courses?

BP: I can remember to this day talking to them and they said, “We don’t think John should do this, but coach you can’t tell a young man what to do because that is academic fraud.” I asked John about taking four 400 level math classes, but he wanted to do it and he is a good student. The head of the math department talked to him and so did his advisor.

BK: Now just so I understand, 400 level are senior classes?

BP: Yes, tough classes.

BK Was he an engineering major?

BP: Yes, I think he was just trying to get out of there and he needed those classes. He should have taken two and some other electives. Then take two more in summer school. We would have paid for it for five years. It just didn’t work out and some of that was just tough luck. It all happened when I first got there. I went back to Tulsa for two weeks to get my family moved back and that is when it all happened. But you can’t look back.

BK: What is Bruce Pearl doing to make it work? Is he doing anything special or could any good coach have walked in and won with those players?

BP: I am a big believer whether it is a corporation or sports team, I think that sometimes a change will bring confidence and new life to people. Just like with Pete Strickland (prior basketball coach at CCU) he had great kids. Pete probably beat them down a little bit, like I beat those kids down at Tennessee and someone comes in and gives them that extra life, extra confidence.

BK: Now you started out real slow last year. I kept checking the scores and as the season progressed you guys started to get on a roll.

BP: Yes, we won 14 of our last 16 and at one point we won 12 in a row. That was the third highest winning streak. It was Gonzaga, Memphis, then us.

BK: What did you walk into here?

BP: Oh, it was great kids. There were no problems academically, no troubled kids or anything. They just needed confidence and they needed something positive. I think Bruce has done that same thing at Tennessee. I thought we had some talent there. Heck in one class we had two Parade All-Americans. They just needed some new life and he has given it to them. Bruce works extremely hard and he will do a great job there. It is a great job.

BK: Was it hard getting the players switched over to your system?

BP: I told them it may seem hard now, but if you listen to me and do what the coaches tell you to do, we will get this thing turned around. We can’t point fingers at people, you have to stay positive. But we are going to stay strong, fight through this and get better. The only thing that matters to me is that as we get down toward the of conference play is that we are playing our best and we can win the tournament. These kids believe in us, they kept fighting and pushing so that we ended up winning 14 of the last 16 games.

BK: You talked a little about the difference in recruiting at big schools versus smaller schools. What is your recruiting philosophy at Coastal Carolina?

BP: First of all I am going to treat you as a human being first, student second and an athlete third. They are going to go to class and graduate. If you don’t want to do that this is not the place for you. We always try to lay that out there first. We are playing a style that is open-post, passing game, so we need people who have pretty good skills. For us to get the big, big kid, let me tell you Bill, it is hard. If you get that then maybe you have something where you can’t keep up with everybody, so we have to be very selective in terms of what we do inside. I would love to have a big guy, but the way we are playing I am going to need a big guy that has pretty good skills. If the big guy has skills he’s not coming here, he’s going to Cincinnati. He may be so good he goes to Cincinnati for just one year and then he goes off to the next level. We just try to find people with good skills, you know pass, catch and people who are love the game….gym rats.

BK: What is Coastal Carolina known for? What are the selling points when you recruit players?

BP: First of all we are five or six miles from the beach. Then in addition to the location there is the warm climate. We have the number one Marine Biology School in the country. It is a growing, booming university. The enrollment is going up over 10,500 and it is just going up every year. You can get a good solid education at Coastal Carolina.

BK: Down here you are not buying games, so your scheduling philosophy is a little different than it has been at other schools. Can you tell me a little about it?

BP: When we had 27 games I would say we need to have at least 14 at home. Now I say we need 15 at home out of 29. If we can get all Division I games, that is what I want. But it is so hard for us to get all Division I games because the following year I would have to travel so much I would go over my budget. I have to be careful and watch that. So the athletic director told me go play two (money games) and get me some money off of the two. So we went to Xavier this year and Florida State. Next year our football team will play a big opponent and which will bring in a couple hundred thousand dollars, he doesn’t care then with all that money. I will still do it to give our kids a chance to play somebody in a top six conference. My philosophy is that home games are very important so I want to get 15 of that 29 at home. If we get all Division I games then we hit a home run but it is so hard.

BK: You started the season on almost a death march. You go to Xavier, a very good team that just beat Villanova, then go play a very good Campbell on road and finally you come home to play a decent Wright State team, who I guess was the pansy of that group. That is a very tough way to open a season.

BP: I knew Xavier was good, they gave us a good amount of money, $65,000. We had played them at Tennessee my last year and were supposed to play them again. Shaun (Miller) had called me and said, “Hey they are not playing us, do you remember the details.” I told him I didn’t have the contract but they have to give you the money, why don’t you give us some of that money and we will come up and play. So that is what we did. With Campbell we were doing a home and home, so we had to go on the road to play. It is a tough place to play. The court is not even regulation. Instead of the regular 94 feet it is only 90 feet. So it is not even a regulation court they play on. Then Wright State, I will tell you what motivated our guys so much is that they just won at Miami of Ohio. So that kind of got our guys attention a little bit.

BK: Let’s talk RPI. It is a whole new ball game now in terms of RPI than when you played a SEC schedule. Would you rather play a low Division I team like Prairie View A & M or a Division III team like Asbury College? Asbury won’t hurt or help your RPI, but a win at Prairie View might lower your RPI.

BP: At the Big South level, when you are a one-bid conference I don’t think RPI means anything. Unless you are really good like Winthorp. They may want to look at it a little bit. I don’t mess with it. Once you get into league play you are not going to get yourself up there.

BK: You coached at Tennessee next to a woman’s basketball legend, at a school where woman’s basketball is big. It is only big in a few places. What was it like coaching next to a legend?

BP: I thought it was a privilege to have someone like Pat Summitt being right next door. I remember when I got the job Roy Williams told me to do him a favor. He wanted me to cultivate her and spend time with her. I would ask her questions. She has a tremendous mind for the game. And that is what I did and I learned a lot from her. I asked her a lot of questions and got to know her very well. The families did too. I miss her a lot. Her fan support and the men’s is totally different. It is a different crowd. With 30 some years of success and she gets it started every year.

BK: When we were talking earlier you told me you called her up when you moved into your office here. What did you tell her?

BP: I said you are going to be jealous. I have my own shower and bathroom. She was like, “Ahh, I can’t believe that!”

BK: You had one of the biggest offices I had ever seen, but no bathroom?

BP: No bathroom. You leave your office to use the restroom after a big win or big loss it would take you twenty minutes to get back in there.

BK: So you had to walk down the hall and talk to everyone?

BP: Yes, it took a lot of time.

BK: When you looked at this job to saw good kids and potential? Did you also know about the new arena they were going to build?

BP: I knew about it. The president told me he was 80 percent sure that it might make it. He did not guarantee it. As time has gone on it has come together. A company gave $3.6 million to put their name on it. So it is coming and it is probably two years away. It will be something nice to have . It is going to have ECHL hockey in it.

BK: Do you see the arena as a catalyst for growing the budget and the program?

BP: Yes, right now the seating in the new arena can go anywhere from five to seven thousand. To me the smaller the better. Any coach will tell you, a place packed is better than a big facility. You get the home court advantage that way. I will have practice courts, weight rooms, it will be really special. I think that helps in recruiting. Everybody wants something new.

BK: What are the upper limits of what you can draw in this market?

BP: I would think if we are playing well and playing a good team I would think 5000 people. We could play University of South Carolina right now on a weeknight and I don’t know if we could get 5000. A lot of people leave this area in the summer, so they come back for the winter. You can draw room some of those people.

BK: Well coach thank you for taking an hour of your time today.

BP: Any time Bill.

Return to Part I

Leasure is Big South Player of the Week

Press Release — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 03:00:00 -0500

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coastal Carolina guard Jack Leasure (Rochester, N.Y.) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for games played Jan. 2-7, while High Point guard Eugene Harris (Pittsburgh, Pa.) received New Balance Freshman of the Week honors, it was announced today by the League office.

Leasure broke through last week with his best back-to-back games of the season, averaging 22.0 points in leading the Chanticleers to two wins. He scored a season-high 24 points, going 7-of-11 from the field, 6-of-8 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, along with three assists and two steals in Coastal’s win over McNeese State. He followed that with 20 points, hitting 6-of-11 treys, as well as three assists and two steals in Saturday’s win over Charleston Southern. Leasure tallied 11 of his 20 points -- including three triples -- in the closing seven-and-a-half minutes to seal the win. On the week, Leasure was 14-of-26 from the field ( =53.8), 12-of-19 from long range ( =63.2), 4-of-4 from the line ( =1.000) and tallied 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 rebounds.

Harris helped the Panthers to a 2-0 record on the week, including a League-opening win over Radford. He scored 10 points in his Big South debut, hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the closing minute to help secure the High Point win. He also handed out four assists and posted two steals against the Highlanders. On the week, Harris averaged 7.5 points, 66.7 percent from the field (4-of-6) and 75.0 percent from the free throw line (6-of-8), in addition to 1.5 steals per game.

Other Player of the Week nominees for Week 8: Arizona Reid (High Point), Larry Blair (Liberty) and Martell McDuffy (Radford).

Other Freshman of the Week nominees for Week 8: Amir Johnson (Radford).

Leasure is Big South Player of the Week

Press Release — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 03:00:00 -0500

Other Player of the Week nominees for Week 8: Arizona Reid (High Point), Larry Blair (Liberty) and Martell McDuffy (Radford).

Other Freshman of the Week nominees for Week 8: Amir Johnson (Radford).

Buzz Peterson Interview: Part One

Bill Kintner — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:57:13 -0500

CONWAY, SC -- Seated at his desk, Coastal Carolina coach Buzz Peterson is all smiles as he leans back in his chair and reflects on his life as a basketball coach on the lower end of the NCAA Division I basketball world.

His basketball office located just 40 feet from the court, outside the gym at Kimbel Arena, on the campus of beautiful Coastal Carolina University, is probably a quarter of the size of his giant office he occupied for four years as coach at Tennessee.

His compensation package his last year at Tennessee was larger than the entire basketball program budget at Coastal Carolina. But as he proved it a few days earlier, money doesn’t win basketball games, players do, as his team eased by Wright State in double overtime 70-63. Wright State’s basketball budget is about twice the size of Coastal Carolina’s.

Gone are the days of flying to games on charter jets or hopping on a private jet after practice to fly out to see a recruit, returning at home in the early morning, getting a few hours sleep and getting up to do it all over again. Now he actually gets to spend a little time with family. He even can occasionally make it to his children’s games.

Buzz Peterson is a man who has been through and seen it all in college basketball. He coached for four years at Appalachian State located 3333 feet above sea level on top of a small mountain in North Carolina . He spent a successful season, well it turned out to be 288 days at Tulsa, leading the Golden Hurricanes to a NCAA appearance. Then off to the big office and high pressure of the SEC at Tennessee, where he finished with a 61-59 record in four seasons, but no NCAA trips.

And finally he is at Coastal Carolina located about six miles from the beach in South Carolina where his team plays in tiny 1200 seat Kimbel Arena. So he went from the Thompson-Bowling Arena at Tennessee which is the largest on-campus arena to one of the smallest. That is quite a journey in anyone’s book.

Now Peterson is content at Coastal Carolina to continue to build his team into the winners he built at ASU and Tulsa. He is enjoying the new-found time he has to spend with his family, as well as the challenge of building the Chanticleers into a consistent participant in the NCAA Tournament.

Peterson played for Dean Smith at UNC where he won a national championship. His roommate in college and his best man in his wedding was Michael Jordan. So the spotlight is nothing new to Peterson. In fact, there is probably nothing new for him at any level of college basketball.

We didn’t have time to get into any good Michael Jordan stories, that will have to wait for another time. But he did shed some light on his time at Tennessee, as well his new life at Coastal Carolina.

Bill Kintner: What is the difference between coaching at Tennessee and coaching at Coastal Carolina?

Buzz Peterson: There is really no difference once you are out there on the court coaching. You love what you are doing, You are working with 18 to 22 year old young men and you love the fact that you are out there on the floor teaching basketball. Roy Williams said the biggest adjustment will be going from playing in the biggest on-campus arena in the country to playing in one of the smallest. It kind of was, but once the game tips off, you have no idea. When our students our here, our place is full. It feels like you just have everybody on top of the court. Another difference might be getting used to bus trips, but once you sit down and get reading something the time passes by pretty quick. I am just thankful that I still have the opportunity to coach at the Division I level.

BK: Now you are not flying in charter jets either and for recruiting you are not flying the private jets?

BP: That’s right. I remember my last year at Tennessee on Tuesday nights after practice I was gone. I had my stuff there, I would change clothes, run out to the airport, jump on a plane and then be home by one or two o’clock in the morning. On Friday I would do the same thing. If the team was on the road, I would just fly in and meet them. That will wear you out a little bit. I don’t miss it that much. I do kind of miss the high level recruiting a little bit.

BK: How is recruiting different at Coastal than at Tennessee?

BP: At Tennessee or in the SEC you are trying to stay a year or two ahead of the game. You are looking at freshmen and sophomores, trying to get everything lined up there. At the Big South level or at Coastal, most kids want to hear from the ACC, SEC schools or top six conferences. They don’t want to hear from the Big South schools yet or at least early in the recruiting process. What we try to do in the early part of their senior year is if they want to sign with us fine, but what is really important for us is the late period. Someone who didn’t sign early, now they are a little concerned. We look at prep schools a lot. It is not so much now that we are looking at freshman/sophomores, it is more the juniors and seniors. You have to plan a little bit more because your budget is not as big. If you want to fly you have to see if someone can’t get on the Internet and look for some flights that are low-cost, same for rental cars or maybe for a night you can stay at someone’s house. It just takes a little more planning to recruit.

BK: Now Tulsa is kind of in the middle in terms of budget between Coastal and Tennessee, right?

BP: Tulsa is kind of in the middle. Although when I was out there I did take a private plane. At Tennessee I did that all the time. The biggest difference is my time. When Doug Dickey hired me he said if anybody from Memphis to Johnson City wanted me to speak, really try to work it into your schedule. So I kept that in mind. He said, “I want you to be competitive, Fulmer is going to win a national championship, I want everyone to know who is my men’s basketball coach.” I can remember during the spring, I spoke three times on one Saturday. I spoke in Knoxville, Johnson City and Columbia, then flew back home that night, It was like I was almost running for office. Now I don’t have to worry about that as much. I do have to speak and I do. Now I do 20, 25, maybe 30 speaking engagements. But now I get more time with my family. I would say it is paying off where I can see my wife and kids more. I find myself doing more of the honey-do stuff.

- Continue to Part II -

Wright State Falls to Coastal in 2OT

Bill Kintner — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:55:15 -0500

CONWAY, SC – At 0-2 Coastal Carolina’s coach Buzz Peterson was looking for a break so he could get his team in the win column.

He got it at with 40 seconds left in the game when Wright State’s leading scorer DeShaun Wood fouled out. With Wood gone it still took two overtimes, but Coastal Carolina pulled out a 70-63 win over visiting Wright State.

With a minute left in regulation time the raiders led 51-49 and then Coastal Carolina’s Moses Sonko got a feed from Jack Leasure and put a lay-up in to tie the game at 51-51. Neither team was able to score another basket in the last 54 seconds of the second half, so the teams went to overtime.

In the first overtime, Tyrone Scott hit two jumpers for the Raiders and for the Chanticleers both Sonko and Joseph Harris hit shots to knot the score at 55-55 and send the game into a second overtime.

In the second overtime Coastal Carolina’s Matt Brennan slammed home a dunk 54 seconds into the period and the Chanticleers never lost the lead and never looked back.

With 3:26 left Leasure was fouled by Reinaldo Smith. He made both of them to put Coastal Carolina up by four at 59-55.

Jordan Pleiman made two foul shots after being fouled by Brennnan to close within two points at 59-57 and that is as close as the Raiders would get in the second overtime as Coastal Carolina made 11 points in the remaining minutes to the Raiders three points to seal the victory.

In the overtime periods Peterson had his team concentrate on making sure they got the ball to Leasure and Sonko.

“We were looking for two guys, Sonko and Leasure. We wanted to make sure they got a touch on the ball and see if they could make a shot. I was disappointed we didn’t get better looks in the first overtime,” explained Peterson.

Some of the stats were just plain ugly. Coastal Carolina shot just paltry 37.1 percent in the game, while the Raiders managed a low 43.1 percent. Wright State committed 22 turnovers and for the Chanticleers it was 20 turnovers.

From the foul line Wright State shot just 42.1 percent and Coastal Carolina shot 69.2 percent.

Peterson knew when he scheduled these early games there would be some sloppy basketball, but he was just happy to get the win.

“I said all along that when you schedule these early games you are going to get some ugly games, both teams had over 20 turnovers. But I have been trying to tell our guys don’t worry about the offense, let’s be more concerned about the defense” said Peterson.

Wright State’s Woods thought the lack of timely shooting toward the end of the game sunk the Raiders.

“I think we did tremendously good on defense. But when you are not making shots it is kind of frustrating and sooner or later the other team is going to come up with something,” explained Wood.

With 52 seconds left in regulation time these was a clock issue, which potentially took a win away from Wright State. Coastal Carolina’s Mario Sisinni shot an air ball as time was running down on the shot clock. The guy running the clock, thought it hit the rim and reset the clock. Sonko jumped up and caught the ball under the basket. He landed, faked and put it back in for two points.

The officials called time out and initially they took the two points off the scoreboard. Then after conferring with each other, they put the two points back on the scoreboard, explaining to the coaches that they thought there were two seconds left and that was enough time for Sonko to make his lay-up.

Wright State’s coach Brad Brownell did not think the clock controversy lost it for the Raiders.

“There are plenty of other things involved in games that win or lose games. That might have been an unfortunate break. To blame a game on something like that is not fare to the kids that played very hard and played very well,” said a tired Brownell.

In the first half Coastal Carolina jumped out to an early lead when Sonko hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the game and they held the lead for most of the fist half..

Wright State finally grabbed the lead when Drew Burleson made a lay up at the 7:15 mark. He was fouled, but missed the foul shot.

At the end of the first half Coastal Carolina’s Moses Sonko was fouled by Todd Brown and made both foul shots to tie the score at 28-28.

Coastal Carolina’s Leasure led all scorers with 22 points, Sonko put in 20 points and Harris scored 12 points.

The Raiders were led in scoring by Vaughn Duggins with 12 points. Both Wood and Pleiman pitched in 11 points.

Notes:

-- Coastal Carolina now leads the series 2-0. They defeated Wright State 83-69 back on December of 1990 in the North Coast Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.

-- Wright State is staying in South Carolina until Tuesday and will be practicing at Coastal Carolina. From there they fly to Chicago where they will play Chicago State on Wednesday. They will be practicing at Loyola on Tuesday.

-- There were about 100 fans from UNCW at the game to cheer on Brad Brownell and the Raiders. Some were even wearing WSU gear.

-- Coastal Carolina plays Asbury College at home on Wednesday at 7 PM. Wright State plays Chicago State on Wednesday at 7 PM.