FARMVILLE, Va. – Basketball tournament season is here, and Longwood men's hoops will open play on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. as the sixth seed in a hypercompetitive Big South for the quarterfinals of the 2025 Hercules Tires Big South Tournament in Johnson City, Tennessee.
 
The Lancers, who are 18-13 on the year, picked up their fourth straight winning season this year, a mark not met since the early days of the program. The 85 wins in four years also eclipse any four-year stretch in team history.
 
That run includes two of the past three Big South Championships, two NCAA Tournaments, and a burgeoning reputation as a tough-minded team that competes for every possession under head coach Griff Aldrich. Aldrich, by the way, has tied for second in program history with 127 career wins, matching Ron Carr, and he is nine away from equaling the all-time wins leader, Cal Luther, at 136.
 
One player that has been a mainstay in Longwood's rise over the past four seasons is Michael Christmas, who leads the Lancers in scoring this year. Christmas, a fan and Farmville favorite, sat down and had a chance to reflect on the past four years and how the program has grown and continues to grow heading into Friday night's matchup.
 
Hard to believe, this is your fourth Big South Tournament!
Mike: That's crazy. It's really crazy.
 
What's it like, year four of the league tournament?
Mike: It's something I'm comfortable with now, especially since this is the same amount of time it would be for a regular senior going through four years of college. I feel real comfortable and excited to get to it, the last one.
 
Think about four years ago, and the four years that have followed. A lot of success. You came in on that ground floor. What stands out?
Mike: The teams and teammates I've had, and how much I've seen Longwood grow over that time. We've really turned into a winning program, and I feel like I was a part of the reason why a lot of people want to come to Longwood now because of the winning atmosphere we have now. It's great to have that as a part of my legacy here.
 
What helped create that growth into a winning program?
Mike: I think the character of the people that we've had on the team over the past four years I've been here. Coach Griff has tried to develop us as young men and on the floor too, how we handle ourselves, and that has showed up in the way we've been playing and the way we've won in the past years.
 
What was the vision when you were being recruited to come here?
Mike: The vision was to make Longwood a winning program and really be a part of the progress of being a good and getting people to be scared to play us. That's happened now. So just building a program.
 
What is it like to be on the flip side where people have expectations now?
Mike: I kind of like expectations. It puts more pressure on you and I feel like for me, at least, when I have more pressure, I raise my level a lot more. I want to succeed more after having that pressure and having people expect you to do this and wanting you not to succeed.
 
Coinciding with Longwood's rise as a winning program, the Big South has also become a very competitive league to the level that this year, the league feels as competitive and talented, top to bottom, as it has ever been. What's it like to play in that?
Mike: Definitely. I feel like there are a lot of teams that are really good this year and anybody can be beat as we've seen all year with how the standings have been crazy. Everybody's beatable. That gives us more confidence going into the Big South Tournament, knowing that we can play with anybody. We feel like we have the most talented and best team going into it.
 
What's it like competing in that night in and night out?
Mike: It makes it more so you don't underestimate your opponent. You know every game is going to be a battle, especially the road games. The road games were very tough, and we battled through all of them. Knowing that you won't have a walk-through cake game every game is good because me personally, I don't like having cake games. I like being competitive, having competitive games going back and forth. That's what I love to play basketball for.
 
What do you feel like you have to do going into #MountainSouthMadness?
Mike: I feel like we have to keep building on what we've been doing the past couple of weeks and really play as a team, play together and just leave it all on the floor. Stick together, stay the course.

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