NCAA Upset: Mercer Beats Duke, No Really, They Did (Update at bottom)

God bless the NCAA Basketball tournament, in College Football, games and upsets like this would never happen.

The Mercer Bears from Macon, Georgia made tons of casual College Basketball fans happy and sad at the same time after they beat the mighty Duke Blue Devils 78-71 in their NCAA Tournament opener.

The Atlantic Sun champs kept the game close all the way through and actually began to pull away from a very cold shooting Duke team as the game progressed.

We should note that as happy as many fans who hate Duke are, there are now tons of NCAA Tournament Bracket challenges that can be thrown away because quite honestly, how many people picked a #14 seed to beat a #3 seed.

The Bears were led by Jakob Gollon with 20 points and the team shot 56 percent on the game. By contrast, Duke shot 35 percent.

Here's the ending...
((HT: NCAA March Madness/SnappyTV))

Check out Mercer's Kevin Canevari's celebration dance:



CBSSports.com gives us reaction from Mercer coach Bob Hoffman and others:


***UPDATE***---We feel like this should be mentioned: We give Duke grief for being the New York Yankees of College Basketball, but it should be noted that coach Mike Krzyzewski took time after the game to go to the Mercer locker room, congratulate them and say "If we got beaten, at least we got beaten by a hell of a basketball team". Nice...

Now We Know Why This Earned A Helmet Sticker, An Incredible Pick 6

((HT: Andy Stabell/Mercer Football))

The only thing the HQ can say is:

This is how you make national television... a double-deflection, running 100 yards east-west-north-south, and slipping a handful of tackles before getting into the endzone for a pick-6 of 35 yards (officially)...

Alex Avant gets the credit for all that as he gave Mercer a defensive touchdown in their 31-17 Pioneer League debut win over Drake at Henderson Field in Macon in front of 8,000 Bears fans...


Avant's pick was good for a 17-0 lead in the second quarter at the time...

"Well we did a corner blitz and the quarterback checked the pass because he saw me blitzing so I knew I had to jump right once he threw it," said Avant following the game. "So I jumped up, tipped it, it bounced off another linebacker and then the ball fell in my hands and I just tried to score. I caught it and then I went left and then remembered I was probably about to just go out of bounds and I was like I might as well go ahead and try to score. I guess somehow I ended up in the end zone."

Avant is part of a defense that ranks Number 1 in the country FCS total defense, allowing just 241.5 yards per game. The Bears are also Number 6 in the nation in rushing defense and Number 8 in first down defense.

Here's Head Coach Bobby Lamb postgame...

First-Timers On The Field: Mercer, Berry, and Reinhardt...

The HQ has always been one of those places where we like to hidden gems, stories that are cool, just off the trail, and a champion for those places that have their niches...

Is it "Nitch" or "Neesh," we digress...

And having been in the circles of a few places over the past few weeks, it's fun to see new shiny things as the HQ hopes the novelty doesn't quite wear off when the newness does...

First stop was Mercer University in Macon- the first time that football would be on campus in 70-plus years. They played Reinhardt University. Mercer is a developing Division I program coached by Bobby Lamb that is in the Pioneer League this year as they move forward into Division I-AA next year. Reinhardt is working their way in the NAIA ranks in the Mid-South Conference in football and the AAC in every other sport.

The Eagles brought in long time Georgia high school head coach Danny Cronic who went to Reinhardt when it was a junior college. He has a roster that is full of Georgia kids (only 6 are not from the state) in their roster of 130 athletes. The first game for both was a 40-37 shootout in front of a crowd of just under 13,000.

Here's their recap, thanks to FOSG Andy Stabell...
((HT: Mercer Bears))


Reinhardt moved on from there to have their home opener against Lindsay Wilson in Waleska.


So, if you look at Berry College, Reinhardt, and Mercer...

You see three schools in varying degrees of business (which is what athletics are these days) and hoping they all move their audiences to being around on a consistent basis.

They'll all be royal pains to their more experienced squads they have on their schedules this season- and all the coaching staffs are solid and know what will put people in the seats...

Home grown talent... something the HQ notices is lacking in their larger brotherhood...

Sometimes, it's guys like Lamb, Cronic, and Kunczewski that could teach Division I power conferences a thing a two about building their fan bases...

And that's the cool part- in addition to being entertaining...
See you on the field...

Galactic Realignment Continues: SoCon's Turn To Steal

((HT: Mercer University their own selves))

It's time for Level Two of Galactic Realignment to rear its ugly head...

After the loss of the College of Charleston to the Colonial and Davidson to the Atlantic 10, SoCon commissioner John Iamarino is not sitting idly by to figure out what to do.

He's bringing in Mercer, East Tennessee State, and VMI starting on July 1, 2014. ETSU and Mercer are leaving the Atlantic Sun Conference who has already lost Belmont. VMI is in the Big South Conference and will be SoCon full-time now in all sports. VMI is expected to formally ratify joining the league Friday when its Board of Visitors meets.

Mercer is in the Pioneer League in their first year of football, so in essence they get a mulligan year to figure things out before the SoCon and ETSU will be hitting the ground running with Phillip Fulmer as their fearless leader in 2016.

"The past several years have been a tumultuous time in intercollegiate athletics. Conference realignment has affected traditional rivalries and disrupted the geographic integrity of conferences across the country. Mercer's affiliation with the Southern Conference will, however, restore historic rivalries and reduce travel burdens on our student-athletes," Mercer President William D. Underwood said in one of those prepared statements. "We look forward to continued competition with our colleagues in the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2013-14. We have enjoyed close relationships with a number of outstanding academic institutions within the A-Sun that we anticipate will continue beyond our change in conference affiliation."

"We're honored to have Mercer become a member of the Southern Conference," said Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino "The combination of outstanding facilities, successful athletic programs and undeniable academic excellence makes Mercer a great fit for us. We're delighted they've accepted our invitation."

Here was Mercer's first-ever spring scrimmage as they get ready for season one...
((HT: 13WMAZ-TV))