The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina’s men’s basketball team rose another two spots to number six in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll this week  — despite having had the week off for finals — and resumes action tonight at AP no. 24 Clemson.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times the Catamounts will be one player short, due to a practice injury over the weekend, but the WCU coaching staff did not divulge which player would likely miss tonight’s game.

Western has been off since its Dec. 12 win at Louisville.

Sports Network preview here.

CULLOWHEE–The Asheville Citizen-Times’s Keith Jarrett reports that Western Carolina University head football coach Dennis Wagner has turned down an offer to join new Kansas coach Turner Gill as an assistant coach.

Wagner said he was offered the job as offensive line coach and assistant head coach by Gill, the former Nebraska quarterback who left the head coaching job at Buffalo to take over the Jayhawks.

“Turner offered me the job Saturday night and I turned it down Tuesday morning,” Wagner said.  “I told him it was in my best interests to stay at Western Carolina.”

Blog post here.

CULLOWHEE–Ryan Fagan of the Sporting News has a long question-and-answer session with Catamount senior forward Jake Robinson.

Here’s a snippet:

SN: You guys received a couple of votes in both the AP and coaches poll after beating Louisville. Is that pretty exciting for the school?
JR: It is. The students and faculty are really buying into what we’re doing now. The last couple of days here at school, everywhere I go, it’s “Oh, what a great win guys, you guys are unbelievable,” or, “We saw it on TV.” It really is good for the school, for the recognition. It’s not historically a great basketball school or a great basketball program, so for us to get some recognition and some attention is good.

Here’s the piece.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina’s red-hot basketball team has ridden a nine-game winning streak and Saturday’s upset of Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals to a number eight spot in the most recent CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, released Monday night.

The Catamounts are up from 15 the week before.

Western has also risen to number 10 in the national RPI rankings.

A variety of national polls are reflecting the success of coach Larry Hunter’s team. Read more here from the university’s sports site, catamountsports.com.

Read a feature from Tyler Norris Goode in Tuesday’s Asheville Citizen-Times here.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina built a 17-point second half lead, then fought off a strong rally from the Atlantic Sun Conference’s Campbell Camels to record a 66-59 win before some 2,700 fans at the Ramsey Center.

Junior college transfer Mike Williams, a guard, came off the bench to lead Western with 16 points.

The win was the eighth straight for WCU, which is ranked 15th in collegeinsider.com’s mid-major poll, and 23rd in the national RPI standings.

Western’s team, which was stuck in Peoria for a day-and-a-half after Monday’s win over Bradley because of weather delays, has played four games in eight days, and adds another — at Louisville on Saturday — before breaking for final exams.

Here’s a game story from the Asheville Citizen-Times’s Tyler Norris Goode.

An excerpt:

One of the flashy banners hanging above the pep band for the first time Thursday night listed off Western Carolina’s short list of success as a Division I men’s basketball program: Two Southern Conference division titles (1996, 2009) and a SoCon tournament title and an NCAA tournament appearance in 1996.

Thursday’s win won’t be commemorated on the banner, but WCU is off to its best start since opening the 1958-59 season with a 15-1 mark.

[Western's Jake] Robinson also reached a personal milestone with his 1,000th career point when his 3-pointer gave the Cats’ a 59-50 edge with 3:33 to go.

All the X’s and O’s here from catamountsports.com.

STATEWIDE–The Charlotte Observer reports that state health officials now say Lyme Disease can be contracted in North Carolina. For years, officials thought the tick-borne ilness was unlikely to be contracted here.

An excerpt:

Based on the new evidence, Dr. Megan Davies, state epidemiologist, said the state is now working to get the word to doctors, who for years were reluctant to even test patients for Lyme because it wasn’t considered much of a possibility.

“What we’re trying to communicate to physicians is that it’s possible to acquire Lyme in North Carolina, so don’t hold to an old belief,” Davies said, noting that she and others are meeting with infectious disease doctors at the state’s medical schools to get the word out.

Read the story here from the Observer.

CULLOWHEE-Western Carolina hosts Campbell tonight in a clash of two teams off to banner starts.

Western (8-1) and Campbell (5-1) both moved up to Division 1 competition in the mid-1970’s, and both are off to their best starts since that move.

Campbell, which is 0-15 in Cullowhee over the years, has beaten East Carolina and North Florida this year, and lost by 11 to Virginia Tech.

Western jumped from 31st to 23rd in the national RPI ranking after its Monday night win at Bradley, and moved to 15th in the collegeinsiders.com mid-major poll Monday afternoon. In addition to the win at Bradley, the Catamounts have topped Duquesne and SoCon foes Furman and Wofford.

Western meets Rick Pitino’s Louisville squad Saturday in Louisville.

More on tonight’s game from the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Sanford Herald.

COLUMBIA–Wayne Tolleson, perhaps Western Carolina’s last two-sport star, played baseball and football for the Catamounts in the seventies.

He went on to a ten-year major league baseball career with the Rangers, White Sox and Yankees.

Tolleson, a Spartanburg native, has been named a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2010.

2009-12-08 – Slam Online’s Joey Whelan’s take on Western’s win at Bradley:

Western Carolina out of the SoCon took down Bradley last night, significant because the MVC is looking stacked this season and because the Catamounts are now looking pretty at 8-1, their only loss coming to Texas. The rest of the early season schedule includes the aforementioned win over the Braves, solid victories over conference opponents Furman and Wofford and the win to hang your hat on for now, an 83-77 squeaker over Duquesne. This is an offense by committee with six players averaging between six and 11 points and five averaging been four and six rebounds. It’s always hard to gauge how these hot starts can carry over into the near year, but with the type of balance Western Carolina is showing, I like them in the SoCon to make some noise.

2009-12-08 – WCU beats Bradley.

2009-12-07 -Western Carolina’s mens basketball team enters tonight’s game against Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, with six straight wins in its back pocket, and a 7-1 overall record.

The Catamounts rose today to 15th in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll.

The Cats are coming off of consecutive league victories over Wofford and Furman, and Western is ranked 97th in the Sagarin college basketball rankings from USA Today. Bradley, which competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, is 93rd. On the other hand, the Cats are 32nd in the national RPI rankings, Bradley 86th.

Western is playing a steady — and luxurious — ten-man rotation, and has had six different high-scorers in eight games. The Catamounts have shown flashes of potential on offense, including a record-setting night from three-point territory in a victory over Duquesne, but have hung their hats on their defense. Western is forcing 21 turnovers per game, good for a nationally fifth-best turnover ratio of 7.8. The Catamounts are ranked eighth in steals.

Tonight’s game is the first of a three-year three-game series with the Braves; two in Illinois, one in Cullowhee.

2009-11-29 – WCU at #52 in the national RPI, one spot behind Bradley, who Western plays next week.

2009-11-29 – Western Carolina forced 29 turnovers in a comfortable 75-59 win Saturday at Gardner Webb. As the the Shelby Star reported, Western beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs at their own up-tempo game. Brandon Giles, a senior all-conference selection, had 24 points after a quiet start to his season. This was Larry Hunter’s first win in four tries against Gardner Webb.

2009-11-26 – WCU tops Duquesne (post)

Baseball

2009-12-09 – Baseball early signees.

2009-12-06 – The College Baseball Blog on Catamount team visit to Elida Home.

2009-07-10 – Asheville Reynolds standout picks Western.

2009-07-07 – Nice feature on pitcher Corey Martin (drafted by the Cubs) from the Yadkin Ripple.

2009-07-07 – Complete rundown of Catamounts in the minors from Catamountsports.com.

2009-07-07 – Former Catamount and recent Arizona Diamondbacks draftee Brent Greer jackin’ em in Yakima.

2009-07-07 – Ross Heffley, rising sophomore, recorded an odd stat line for the Orleans Firebirds in the prestigious Cape Cod League during a recent 9-3 win over Bourne. Heffley registered just one official at-bat, going 0-for-1. But he had three sacrifice bunts and a sacrifice fly with two RBI.

2009-07-07 – Western’s 24-23 win over Eastern Kentucky last season brought back memories of a 32-16 loss to Ohio State in Cullowhee almost three decades ago. I watched that one as a junior high kid, then about a decade later saw the Cats rally from about ten runs down with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to beat App.

Western Carolina’s men’s basketball team had a pretty good Monday — the Cats jumped ten spots to number 15 in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll, then jumped all over Bradley in the second half for a 75-67 win in Peoria, Il.

Western got 21 points from Jake Robinson, and after trailing 56-46 midway through the second half, tore off a 23-4 run to secure the win.

Read the game story here from the Peoria Star-Journal

Read the game blog here from the Peoria Star-Journal

Another note or two here

Mike Williams

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina’s mens basketball team got 25 points from former Pisgah star Jake Robinson and broke a record with 17 team three-pointers en route to a 83-77 win over previously unbeaten Duquesne Wednesday at Ramsey Center.

The game was the third in three days for Western in the O’Reilly’s Auto Parts CBE Classic, a subregion of which the Catamounts hosted.

Western won convincingly over Arkansas-Monticello and Binghamton in games on Monday and Tuesday.

Duquesne came in with a win over Iowa under its belt, but needed overtime to put away the Boll Weevils of Div. II Arkansas-Monticello Tuesday.

Western’s Mike Williams, a junior guard who transferred from Jackson State, was named tournament MVP.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (staffed the game)
Coverage from ESPN
Duquesne athletics writeup
WCU athletics writeup

CHAPEL HILL–Sylva native and Smoky Mountain High product Cetera DeGraffenreid, now a junior guard at North Carolina, is ACC player of the week.

From UNC:

DeGraffenreid played one of the best all-around games of her career against Coastal Carolina, scoring 20 points and adding eight assists, eight steals and six rebounds in 29 minutes of action. The eight steals tied a career-high for the junior from Cullowhee, N.C. DeGraffenreid followed that performance with a 22-point, four-rebound, three-assist outing against UNLV on Sunday. The guard was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line against the Rebels, with several coming down the stretch to secure the win.

Read more here

Cetera DeGraffenreid

CULLOWHEE–The online basketball publication SLAM features WCU sophomore Harouna Mutombo in this Sunday post.

Mutombo, nephew of NBA great Dikembe Mutombo, was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year last year, as well as to the SoCon All-Conference second team.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Playing in a mid-major conference, Mutombo’s exploits were regularly outshone by the bright star that was Stephen Curry at Davidson last season. Regardless, Harouna made a huge splash in the Southern Conference leading the Catamounts in both points (14.4) and rebounds (4.6) while placing second in assists (68), steals (56) and blocks (16) and minutes (30.4).

And it didn’t stop there. After he finished up his college season, Canada Basketball invited him to train with the National Team as they prepared for the World Championship Qualifying Tournament where he would be under the tutelage of not only Team Canada’s head coach Leo Rautins but also Raptors’ Maurizio Gherardini and Cavs assistant coach Mike Malone learning the international game, even playing a few exhibition games in Spain for Canada.

In a related matter, a Texas blogger wondered last week whether Harouna would adopt his uncle’s famous finger-wagging “no-no” after blocking an opponent’s shot. That remains to be seen, we suppose.

No-no.

NANTAHALA–Nantahala Outdoor Center has announced its title sponsorship of the 2010 Outdoor Industry Association Rendezvous in Asheville, NC. OIA’s Rendezvous is an annual leadership conference for the outdoor industry, and NOC along with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce welcome these leaders October 5-7, 2010.

“In a way, we’re welcoming home a group whose industry is a fundamental part of why the Asheville area is such a compelling destination,” said Tim Lampkin, Director of Convention Sales & Group Services at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is a region that celebrates its natural treasures, so we heartily welcome the businesses and associations that help us make our natural assets economic ones.”

Rendezvous will bring together leaders from across the country for a week of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, recreation and entertainment, capped off with a volunteer service project to give back to the host community.

“We are excited to partner with NOC for Rendezvous 2010 and look forward to bringing the industry to Asheville next fall to showcase their efforts, as well as all the density of outdoor recreation and retailers in the area,” said Ann Obenchain, vice president of marketing and member services for OIA. “NOC’s leadership as a business in the Southeast and as a retailer in the outdoor industry is paramount and we are looking forward adding more paddlesports and retail influences to the event with their help.”

On the final day of Rendezvous, OIA attendees will give back to the community by working together to cleanup recreation areas in and around Asheville. This event will prove to be a special opportunity for leaders in the outdoor industry to make an impact on Asheville’s outdoor and paddling communities.

CHATTANOOGA–David Uchiyama at the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes about the legacy of Stephen Curry, who earned all-America stripes while leading tiny Davidson to the elite eight of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Curry left Davidson a year early, was drafted way up the NBA list, and now plays for Golden State.

Uchiyama talked to multiple SoCon coaches for the piece, which discusses Curry’s impact on the league.

A snip:

“Players like that graduate, he just went a year early,” Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said. “Somebody else is going to fill those shoes this year, next year or down the road.

“Hopefully for the conference, there will be a few and they’ll come quick.”

Read the whole piece here.

Sacramento Kings swingman Kevin Martin, a Western Carolina University product and currently the National Basketball Association’s third-leading scorer, suffered a hairline fracture of his non-shooting wrist in a collision with Allen Iverson during Monday’s win over Memphis.

Kevin Martin (PAUL KITAGAKI JR., Sacramento Bee)

Martin, who scored 48 points in that game and another 29 in Wednesday’s loss to Atlanta, must decide today whether to wear a soft cast and continue playing — risking further injury — or to treat the injury with surgery or a hard cast.

Martin wasn’t given a choice by the team, he announced Friday, and will undergo surgery for the injury. He’ll miss at least two months.

Martin’s career has been dogged by injuries, and he’s sometimes criticized for being “soft”.

Read more here from the Sacramento Bee on Martin’s response to the “soft” accusation.

CHEROKEE–Uni Watch is a nationally-popular blog that “deconstructs the finer points of sports uniforms in obsessive and excruciating detail”.

In an October 22 post, author Paul Lukas tackles the issue of Cherokee High School’s football helmet, with its mysterious — to those outside of western North Carolina — insignia.

Here’s the helmet:

Here’s Jacob Reed’s explanation:

This is the helmet for Cherokee High School in Cherokee, North Carolina. The school system is operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a sovereign governing nation (susceptible to Federal Laws, and some state laws). On their helmets, they use the Cherokee syllabary. The letters on the helmet are pronounced tsa-la-gi (roll the t and s together), so it sounds like sssa-la-gee. It means Cherokee.

Here’s the whole post (scroll down).

NATIONAL-The Raleigh News and Observer follows up today on the impact of a Raleigh basketball player’s refusal to honor her letter of intent to attend Western Carolina University.

Evans changed her mind about Western after the coach who recruited her left. The university at first refused to release her from her letter of intent, and Evans’s family initiated legal action.

The N&O’s lead:

Many of the best high school senior basketball players in the country will sign national letters of intent with colleges beginning Nov. 11.

But for those under the age of 18 who sign, the letters might not be legally binding, at least in North Carolina.

Read the entire piece here.

2009-07-23 - At Raleigh Wakefield, reports the Burlington Times News, Kelsey Evans was a member of teams with a four-year record of 108-8. As a senior, she averaged 18.5 points and 10 rebounds per game and was selected as the CAP-7 Conference Player of the Year. She signed with Kellie Harper at Western, but when Harper moved on, so did Evans. She’s now enrolled at SoCon rival Elon, but is still trying to work out a release from Western. Apparently that may or may not happen, and nobody at Western has commented.

• After a 21-12 campaign that ended with a Southern Conference tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament, Western Carolina’s womens basketball team pulled down further accolades recently by finishing in the national academic top-25 for the third straight year. The team’s combined GPA during the 2009 academic year was 3.428.

• On a different note, first-year coach Karen Middleton released Western’s schedule for the 2009-2010 campaign. In addition to a full SoCon slate, the Catamounts will tackle a lineup that includes an appearance at the Great Alaska Shootout as well as matchups with Richmond, East Carolina, James Madison, Charlotte, Western Kentucky and Florida State.