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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Change in the Air

What a time to be a fan of sports at Longwood. Aside from the women’s basketball losing streak, there are plenty of reasons for Lancer fans to be optimistic about the next few months of Longwood Athletics.

For starters, the men’s basketball team recorded perhaps its biggest win in program history on Saturday, upsetting Winthrop on the road 62-56. The shorthanded Lancers held the former Big South powerhouse Eagles to 56 points, the fewest points allowed this season for the Lancers. If that wasn’t enough, it’s rivalry week.

While High Point isn’t a big rival in the eyes of most in the Longwood community, there are a couple of interesting storylines associated with tonight’s game. It’s the 21st meeting between the schools; the Panthers hold a 14-6 advantage in the series after beating LU 88-60 in late January. One of the most memorable games in recent Longwood history was three years ago in Willett Hall, as Kevin Swecker hit a late three to tie the game, and two clutch free throws each from Aaron Mitchell and Dana Smith finished the comeback and sealed the 70-66 final score. With any luck, tonight will feature a performance like that and the Lancer Lunatics will be able to rush the court again.

Radford is next on Saturday, and former Lancer greats such as Jerome Kersey will be in town as LU takes on RU. Saturday also has a couple other pretty important events — opening day

in Farmville for the softball and baseball teams. Softball is already 2-0 after sweeping North Carolina Central yesterday, and host La Salle for a 12:30 p.m. first pitch at Lancer Field. 30 minutes later, the baseball team will start its highly- anticipated 2013 campaign with a doubleheader against Saint Peter’s. Longtime head coach Buddy Bolding is in his last season in that role, having announced his retirement in November. A rivalry basketball game, two baseball games, two softball games and two tennis matches — it’s safe to say that Saturday will be fun.

On Sunday, the action won’t stop as the women’s lacrosse team hosts Howard at the Athletics Complex at 1 p.m.. The Lancers were picked third in the pre-season poll a couple of weeks ago as the Big South Conference starts its first season of women’s lacrosse.

Being a “retired” lacrosse player myself, I’m also going through a bit of a change — this is the first spring since 2007 where I haven’t laced up and spent my February in cold evening air to get ready for the season, praying that my stick doesn’t break (it only did once). There’s no question that I miss the game so much, and I won’t rule out the possibility of playing again if time allows it. I’ll probably be living vicariously through the men’s club team and the women’s club team. I’ve left the game, but it hasn’t left me.

Tuesday features a game that most of Lancer Nation has been waiting for all season: the men’s basketball game against Liberty next Tuesday night. The 74-47 defeat a few weeks ago is a thing of the past, and I anticipate a capacity crowd in Willett Hall as the 27th edition of the “Southside Showdown” takes place. It’s also Senior Day, where Stephen Shockley will be honored for his four years on the team, three of which were spent as a walk-on before he earned a scholarship this year.

The next week will feature no shortage of exciting matchups, whether they’re on the hardwood, diamond or field. I’ll cover all the bases (see what I did there?) to the best of my ability. Having said that, there is one more thing that I will discuss over the rest of this column. Over the past three months, I’ve been the beat reporter for the men’s basketball team. Really, my coverage of the team started well over a year ago when I wrote the preview for last season. Whether writing that, a column on Shockley back in September or countless other pieces on the team, I’ve worked my heart out to give this team the best coverage I can.

For reasons I’ve chosen to not publicly discuss at this time, I’m not covering the team in an official capacity for at least the remainder of this season. While I understand and appreciate the reasons for this occurrence, I am naturally disappointed and even a bit angered. Even though my emotions may have gotten the best of me in this space over the past few weeks, I won’t apologize for what I’ve written.

My critique of the team as “mentally weak” last week was admittedly harsh, but at the time, I saw it as accurate; I’m also glad that that assessment was proven wrong on Saturday. I have attempted to be as professional as possible since I took over in this position last April, and that professional attitude I take toward this labor of love won’t change until I graduate from this first-class institution, come hell or high water.

*** This editorial is an opinion stated by the writer and does not represent the views of The Rotunda or Longwood University.

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