The Lady Blazers are ready to tip-off the opening season. VSU opens their regular season in the Surcheros Lady Blazers GSC/SIAC Basketball Challenge. They’ll play Fort Valley State on Friday and Albany State on Saturday. It will be the first competitive games for Lady Blazers head coach Deandra Schirmer. They wrapped up their preseason going on the road to play ...

There’s a high chance that guard Zach Sinclair will spend much of his freshman season buried on the edge of the Blazers bench on game days. If the team gets a big enough lead late in games, Sinclair could come in during garbage time. That would be sweet, much like his jumper that he so eloquently demonstrates in practice. None ...

For the first time in his three years at VSU, Clay Guillozet is the guy. Guillozet was overshadowed primarily by the three-point tandem of Beau Justice and Winston Morgan, who have both since graduated last season. He has received respect from the Gulf South Conference, receiving All-Conference first team honors. It was unexpected. “I was a little surprised,” Guillozet said ...

The Blazers basketball team began the start to the upcoming season with their first official practice in the VSU Complex on Tuesday evening. Head Coach Mike Helfer enters his 17th season at the helm and will continue to operate under the run-and-gun system that has made the Blazers feared in the Gulf South Conference. But there’s one caveat. There are ...

Former VSU Blazer guard Chris Longoria has signed with Pro Team Galitos-Barreiro out of the Portugal Basketball League, announced by the team on Wednesday. The contract is a one-year deal with the team. The amount has not been announced. Longoria credits the deal to his agent Andre Ajipa of AGV Illicit Sports. “I’ve played pro for 3 years and with ...

The Lady Blazers rebound nicely. VSU Athletic Director Herb Reinhard announced May 4 of the hiring of Deandra Schirmer as the next women’s basketball coach at VSU. Schirmer replaces former head coach Carley Kuhns, who recently took the vacant head coaching position at Division I Samford University. For the last five years, Schirmer has been an assistant coach at Eckerd ...

Bent down, usually at the end of the Blazers’ bench, is an observant. Observing the screens, cuts and movements of his team, head coach Mike Helfer is a student of the game. For 14 years, Helfer has coached the Blazers, averaging 20 wins a season. Since 2017, the Blazers have made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. In the Gulf ...

As March Madness comes to a close, fans of the VSU Lady Blazers basketball team are left wondering about the team’s future as it sits out this year’s NCAA tournament. The snub follows the Lady Blazers’ loss in the GSC tourney to Lee University at the Gulf South Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. The Lady Blazers put up a strong fight ...

Different year, same result. For the third straight season the Blazers won the regular season Gulf South Conference championship. And for the third straight season the Blazers left the GSC tournament empty handed along with being eliminated in the first round of the national tournament. Now with seven seniors graduating, including star guard Beau Justice, the Blazers’ future is in ...

Year in and year out, the Blazers are one of the supreme squads in Division II hoops. The fine basketball acumen of Head Coach Mike Helfer coupled with a typically elite roster should be the ultimate mix for a national title. It’s not. On March 16, the Blazers lost 95-87 to West Alabama in the first round of the NCAA ...