SoCon The Week Ahead

MONDAY
Davidson at Georgia Southern 7:00

WEDNESDAY
Western Carolina at Elon 7:00
Appalachian State at UNC-Greensboro 7:00

THURSDAY
Georgia Southern at Chattanooga 7:00 (Battle of North vs. South)
Wofford at College of Charleston 7:00 (ESPNU) (SoCon Monster Game of the Week)
Furman at The Citadel 7:00
Davidson at Samford 8:00 (Battle of North vs. South)

SATURDAY
Samford at Georgia Southern 1:00 (SoCon Saturday on SportSouth) (Battle of North vs. South)
UNCG at Western Carolina 2:00
Furman at College of Charleston 4:00 (CSS)
Chattanooga at Davidson 7:00 (Battle of North vs. South)
Appalachian State at Elon 7:00
Wofford at The Citadel 7:00

ANALYSIS

The Battle of North vs. South could be interesting this week, as there are four match-ups. Two of them feature currently winless in the SoCon Georgia Southern. Once they are at home- once they are on the road. The other games have Davidson, the current fifth place team in the South, even though they have beaten Furman and College of Charleston. The South leads 16-11 right now, but it could tighten up if the South teams have bad weeks this week.

The Wofford-College of Charleston game is very interesting. If CofC wins, they will own the tiebreaker over Wofford, and be in some control of the division. That is particularly true if they follow it up with a win over Furman. If Wofford wins, then the division, which I have been assuming would go to CofC, suddenly becomes open to the top three, and if Furman stuns CofC a few days later, then the Cougars have to start worrying about not even getting a bye in the conference tourney. Win both, and CofC will look like they are in great shape for a bye and will be in good shape for winning the division.

The battle for the byes in North could be intersting this week. Chattanooga still looks like they are in good shape for a bye. Battling for second is the rest of the division. Western Carolina and Appalachian State have long been the favorites for the bye spot. UNC-Greensboro and Elon look like they could steal the bye from Western or Appy. UNCG and Elon battle Western and Appy at home. This is a great chance for the Spartans or the Phoenix to get into position to get the bye. The Spartans are playing the best basketball of anyone in the division (possibly excluding the Mocs), and are right in the thick of the bye race. Win two this week and the Spartans would be .500 in the conference and in second place in the division. Given their 0-15 overall start and 0-5 conference start, this is impressive. They are really coming around.

The Citadel has an outside shot of jumping to third in the division, but they need to beat Furman this Thursday, and they could get back in the bye race with a win over Furman and Wofford this week. This is the week that defines The Citadel's season.

Every week just seems to get more interesting right now in the SoCon. Right now, the intrigue in the conference is just getting higher and higher.

GO MOCS!