January: Goals Defined

The Mocs just completed a 6-3 month. Not bad for a month that I originally predicted would be 4-5. The Mocs find themselves sitting at 9-2, tied for the best record in the SoCon, and three and a half games ahead of the second place team in the North.

The Mocs beat College of Charleston, and did not lose a home game during the month, going 4-0 at home. They won two conference road games, going 2-3 on the road in the month. Omar Wattad was voted SoCon Player of the Week. Ricky Taylor set a McKenzie Arena record with 41 points. Legends Weekend was a rousing success.

And yet, you can't help but be left wishing for a bit more. The Mocs lost three road games- all of them by more than 25 points. If those games had been just a bit closer, there would be nothing to complain about this month. But the blowouts still leave a bit of a sour taste in the fans mouth. Also, in their last two games, the Mocs blew a 20 point lead, only to survive in double overtime, and a 17 point lead, only to pull back away for a nine point win.

In the end, though, the Mocs have defined what they are setting out to accomplish. They plan to win to lock up a bye. They plan to win the North Division. They plan to finish with the best record in the SoCon and lock up a postseason bid to no worse than the NIT. They plan to get to the NCAA Tournament, and then make some noise.

And these are reasonable goals- even if I don't believe all of them are going to happen. The Mocs have laid the groundwork for all of these goals to be in play as the calendar turns from January to February. They can now conceivably hope to accomplish all those goals.

The loss to Austin Peay to start the month was about as low as I could get as a fan. Losing was not bad- but getting pounded badly was not what I had in mind. I was concerned that the Mocs might not find themselves in a position to win the SoCon North after all.

But they followed that up with much better than anyone realized wins over UNCG and The Citadel- the teams that have been the two hottest teams in the conference since those losses, pretty much. Then the Mocs came home and beat Samford, and then came the monumental win over College of Charleston. Suddenly, I was through the roof and thought the Mocs would never lose another game.

Then came the soul crushing losses to Furman and Wofford. After getting utterly destroyed, the Mocs came home. The losses left me low again. I wondered if the Mocs were going to roll over and die, or come back fighting. They came back fighting, playing two pretty good games, beating UNCG and Elon, to take complete control of the North Division, for the time being anyway.

The Mocs get a solid grade for the month. They played well for the most part, and they certainly left themselves in a position for their goals to be accomplished.

It's time to go out and accomplish them.

It's go time.