A November To....Puzzle About

What do you think about November? What does anyone think about November?

It's hard to completely evaluate at this point. For one thing, the Mocs were without four players for most of the month. Dante Harvey came back for the last three games, but was clearly not himself. Troy Cage, Ty Patterson, and Chris Early are all still out.

What did I expect before the month began? I expected 3-3. That's exactly where we are. So, why the disappointment? Mainly because when I said 3-3, I had the Mocs losing to ETSU and beating Texas-Pan America.

Once the Mocs beat ETSU, it was hard to not expect 4-2. We all thought that the Mocs were on their way.

They have not played well away from home yet. But this team is young. As these players come back, the Mocs will continue to improve all the way up until January. So their struggles were not completely surprising.

Still, Keegan Bell did not dominate the way many thought he would. He has yet to turn into the true offensive force that he probably needs to be to have this team be very successful. It is also obvious that Jeremy Saffore has some offensive shortcomings at this point. DeAntre Jefferson is a better offensive weapon, but he has shown a little bit of an effort problem at times that has had him sitting on the bench more than he would like. Ridge McKeither has been as good as advertised offensively, but appears to be struggling a little bit on the defensive end. Ricky Taylor has been off for the most part until the win over Longwood.

The biggest problem I saw over the course of the two games in San Padre Island was on the boards. They were outrebounded by two teams that were significantly smaller than them. That signals an effort problem to me. That's not good. That's the thing that I don't like to see. I hope the Mocs can get that turned around.

Can the Mocs turn it around? Absolutely. For the one millionth time (probably literally), there are a lot of injuries and suspensions, and ETSU has beaten College of Charleston, Appalachian State, and Arkansas. The Mocs beat the Bucs, so we should have no reason to fear any team in the SoCon. That being said, the Mocs are a long way from being where they need to be.

But if we have learned anything from John Shulman over the years, it is that they will be playing good basketball by March. This team will grow, and they will be a good team come March, even if they aren't there right now.