FARMVILLE, Va. – The opening tip was nearly one hour away when Roy Nunnally, a long-time fan of Longwood basketball, walked through the doors at Willett Hall on Jan. 5. And the Rice resident from Prince Edward County certainly dressed the part, as he wore a Lancers' baseball hat, blue jeans, Longwood scarf and Lancers T-shirt under his jacket.
Nunnally was among local fans, students, faculty and former staff who were in attendance Saturday afternoon for a part of history, as Longwood played its first men's basketball game in the Big South Conference against Coastal Carolina.
"It is a great opportunity. I have been waiting for them to get into a conference," said Nunnally, a season-ticket holder since 2000. "I think it will help them get better players." Nunnally's sister, Shirley, graduated from Longwood and is a retired school teacher.
James Whitlock, a lawyer in Farmville, echoed those sentiments in that the Lancers can attract stronger players as a Big South member. "At least they are in a conference now," he said.
Also on hand was Jamie Bishop, who came from Dinwiddie and was joined by his wife, sister-in-law and niece. Bishop's daughter, Ashton, is a freshman on the dance team at Longwood and his nephew, Jason Wolfrey, is a Longwood graduate who is now an attorney in Roanoke.
"I am very excited," Bishop said 30 minutes before tipoff. "I am happy to be in the Big South. It is Division I. They have played Top-25 (caliber) teams already this season" at Creighton, Georgetown and VCU, he said.
While Longwood students were not back in session, which drastically cut down on the home court advantage against Coastal Carolina, junior Joshua Dutton of Blackstone attended the Big South opener with his grandfather.
Dutton, who is studying history, said being in a conference means the Lancers can experience March Madness in a conference in which the league champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. "Just to (possibly) be able to go to the NCAA tournament is a big deal. We can get a few more wins by playing more home games," said Dutton, well aware the Lancers have previously been road warriors as a Division I independent.
One person in attendance at the first Big South opener who can understand what the Lancers have gone through is Pete Gillen, the former University of Virginia head coach who has become friends with Longwood mentor Mike Gillian.
Gillen has attended games and practices in Farmville the past two years when he is free from his duties as a television game and studio analyst for the CBS Sports Network. "Thank goodness he finally got into a league," Gillen said of Gillian, whom he knew as an assistant at George Mason.
Gillen is also the former head coach of Xavier and Providence and from 1976-78 was an assistant at VMI, which like Longwood, is in the Big South. "He is a terrific coach. He has done an excellent job. He is a nice person and has done things the right way," Gillen said of Gillian, while sitting courtside during the game against Coastal Carolina.
Also in attendance was Dr. James Gussett, a retired math teacher at Longwood who has been following athletics at the school since he arrived in 1966 after teaching high school math in Georgia. He retired after 32 years in 1998 but is still a regular at Lancers' basketball and baseball games.
"In the past, coach (Gillian) said recruiting was a problem. That is a big plus now with conference affiliation,” Gussett said. Gussett is no stranger to big-time athletics: he was high school baseball teammates in Cincinnati with Don Zimmer, who went to become a player and manager in Major League Baseball. Another prep teammate at Western Hills was Jim Frey, a former coach for the Baltimore Orioles and the manager of the Royals and Cubs in the 1980s.
While fans and alums are happy with conference affiliation, the same could be said of the only senior on the Longwood men's team this year.
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Stephen Shockley remembers talking to Gillian after his freshman year and asking the head coach about the status of joining a conference. On Jan. 5 he got his answer, even though the Lancers fell in the closing seconds 80-72. A former walk-on, Shockley came off the bench to score two points with an assist in five minutes in front of his parents, who made the trip from Leesburg. "One year of actually being in a conference makes it worth it for me," Shockley said.
Many on hand, be it community members, alums or students, felt very much the same way. But the good thing for fans of the Lancers is there is more to come, including the Big South Basketball Championships in Myrtle Beach March 5-10.
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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