February: Mission Impossible

The longest, toughest stretch of the season awaits the Mocs in February. They have to play five road games over a seven game stretch, and also will play two home games against teams that have already beaten them by more than 25 points. They will also play an ACC team on the road.

This is the Mocs mission, if they choose to accept it: Go out and win this month. Accomplish the team goals that have been set out for the Mocs. They set them for themselves. They have raised the stakes with their play. They have set a lot of goals for themselves.

Easiest Game: Georgia Southern, February 3. The Mocs are playing a team who is winless in SoCon play, even though their lone D1 win was over Georgia State, who beat the Mocs in the Dr Pepper Classic Championship Game. The Eagles are not a particularly good team, and they are ranked 340th in the RPI out of 345 teams. The Mocs should be able to handle this team if they come focused and prepared.

Toughest Game: at Georgia Tech, February 16. This game is not really important in the whole scheme of things....and that makes this a terribly dangerous game. The Mocs have not shown up for several games this year, and this is an OK ACC team on the road, in an out-of-conference game with very little on the line. The Mocs have the potential to get absolutely mauled in this one...and it won't mean one thing. Remember the BracketBuster game against Creighton? A blowout loss that meant nothing. Remember the two games against Western Carolina and Appalachian State to end the 2008 season? The Mocs lost both of them (possibly costing themselves a 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament)- and then won the SoCon Tournament. This game reminds me of those.

Biggest Game: at Western Carolina, February 10. This is the team closest to the Mocs in the standings in the SoCon North. If the Mocs win this game, it will become a much simpler route to winning the North Division. They will own the tiebreaker over the Catamounts. A loss, and suddenly, the tiebreaker is not guaranteed, and the Mocs lead would be trimmed by one game with their very difficult schedule still ahead of them. This game is critical.

Predicted Record: 4-4. The Mocs will beat Georgia Southern, and beat Samford in the season finale. In between, they will split the home games with Furman and Wofford, and go 1-2 in the road games against Davidson, Western Carolina, and Appalachian State. Also, there will be a loss to Georgia Tech. That's how they get there. What does that mean for them. It means that the Mocs will finish with a 12-6 SoCon record. I'm hoping that the Mocs will exceed my expectations again.

What do I want out of this month? A 6-2 mark would match my preseason hopes for this team. That would give them 19 wins, 17 against D1 teams. That would mean that if they won the three SoCon games- they would have 20 D1 wins. And that would probably be enough to get us a 15 seed- and maybe even a 14 seed. That's what I want. A 6-2 mark might also put them in a position to get a CBI invitation even if they can't don't get the automatic NIT bid, or the automatic NCAA bid. That would be huge.

GO MOCS!