The regulars for the roll call are all here.
DavidsonCats- A fan of the Wildacats.
MocsMania- A fan of the Mocs.
TheSportsArsenal- A fan of the Bulldogs.
UNCGBasketballFan- A fan of the Spartans.
SCHEDULE
Tuesday, January 17
TocCoa Falls at Western Carolina
Thursday, January 19
Samford at Elon
UNC-Greensboro at Chattanooga
Appalachian State at Wofford
College of Charleston at Davidson
Georgia Southern at Furman
Saturday, January 21
Western Carolina at Appalachian State (SoCon Network/ESPN3)
Wofford at Furman
The Citadel at Davidson
Chattanooga at Elon
College of Charleston at Georgia Southern (ESPN3)
POWER RANKINGS
1) Davidson 48 (4)
2) College of Charleston 44
3) Wofford 36
4) Chattanooga 31
5t) Western Carolina 30
5t) Elon 30
7) Appalachian State 27
8) Georgia Southern 25
9) Furman 17
10) UNC-Greensboro 12
11t) Samford 6
11t) The Citadel 6
Sum up your team.
DavidsonCats- 11-4 and 6-0 now after Week 10 wins over WCU and ASU, two teams which beat the Wildcats last year. The ASU win was very difficult. The Wildcats had significant foul trouble, lost a player to injury, and lost the lead for the first time in the game in the last few minutes. And responded with a 10-0 run by two players with 4 fouls, De'Mon Brooks and Jake Cohen. For the two games, Jake had 47 points and 13 rebounds, De'Mon had 27 and 11, and Chris Czerapowicz had 26 and 10. The Wildcats have CofC and The Citadel coming to Davidson this week. The Wildcats split with those two teams last year.
MocsMania- That was an odd week for the Mocs. The Mocs beat Wofford in Chattanooga on Thursday, and appeared to be on the path to a highly successful season. Then, Saturday's disappointing loss at Samford happened, and suddenly there are even more question marks about the Mocs. The Mocs have not won a road game yet this year. Will they be able to this week when they head to UNCG and Elon? They need to get at least one of those if not both of them. On a positive note, Z Mason appears to really be developing into a solid contributor. On the down side, Keegan Bell is in a slump, and the injuries to Omar Wattad and Ricky Taylor are lingering, though not devastating.
TheSportsArsenal- The Citadel followed up a disappointing loss to Elon with a crushing, last-second loss to UNCG. It's hard to lose a game like the latter, especially when opportunities to win are limited. The Bulldogs now must prepare for two road games, including a difficult matchup against Davidson. Mike Groselle has continued to be productive, although he has had to work harder as teams focus on stopping him.
UNCGBasketballFan- UNCG finished off a successful trip to low country by winning a game that they probably shouldn't have over the Citadel. The Spartans blew a 9 point lead to the Bulldogs before making a miraculous alley-oop to Trevis Simpson with .5 seconds left. It was truly one of the best endings to a game in UNCG history. Two nights earlier, the Spartans gave coach Wes Miller his first win at College of Charleston. UNCG went against a season trend and actually seized a win in the last 5 minutes. The common denominator in both wins was very good second half defense. David Williams has really been the ring leader in that department. Also, Aloysius Henry has recently come to life.
What game are you most looking forward to this week other than your own team's games?
DavidsonCats- Can't wait for the rivalry games on Saturday. WCU at ASU, Wofford at Furman, and CofC at GSU. Those teams/schools/fans just don't like each other.
MocsMania- The clear cut game of the week is Charleston's trip to Davidson. These are the two best teams in the conference. If the Wildcats win at home, they will find themselves up three games on the Cougars. That could be a near insurmountable deficit for the Cougars to come back from. The next best game of the week is probably the Cougars trip to Georgia Southern. Do the Eagles want to get a bye from the SoCon South? They need to beat the Cougars on Saturday in Statesboro.
TheSportsArsenal- College of Charleston at Davidson is easily the biggest game on the board this week. If the Cougars have any hopes of winning the South division, they probably have to win this one. That won't be easy.
UNCGBasketballFan- Charleston-Davidson for obvious reasons. It'll be interesting to see which Charleston team shows up.
Why are the Charleston Cougars playing such inconsistent basketball in recent weeks?
DavidsonCats- CofC lost Goudelock, Monroe, Simmons, and Hall from last year's team. They were #1, #2, #3, and #6 respectively in minutes/game and accounted for 57.8 ppg. CofC currently has an RPI of 86 and a Sagarin of 121. That's very impressive and would lead the conference in many years. They are depending on some inexperienced players and are getting better as the season progresses. I'm impressed more by their achievements than by any inconsistency.
MocsMania- To me the inconsistency flows from poor shot selection. They fall in love with the three point shot and don't pound the ball inside nearly enough. I think with Stitt out, the inconsistency could only get worse. Truthfully, they have regressed a bit as the season has progressed, but they set expectations very high with their performance in the first two months. If they come up with a split this week, they'll still be in good shape for a bye.
TheSportsArsenal- I'm not sure inconsistent is really the word to describe the CofC. The three recent losses were to A) a good team (George Mason), B) a team that has Bobby Cremins' number (Wofford), and C) a team that never should have beaten the Cougars. The Stitt injury surely affected that game. The CofC may struggle some going forward, though, with Stitt out. I will say that the Cougars are not a good offensive rebounding team, and when a team that takes as many three-pointers as the CofC isn't making shots, it can be a long night.
UNCGBasketballFan- I think they are playing a little like what I expected of them in the preseason. Replacing so many players, I assumed they would be a little more erratic than they were at the first of the year. I also think they tend to forget how good their inside players can be and fall in love with shooting quick 3 pointers.
This article from the Post and Courier talks about things the SoCon needs to do to improve. What do you think the Commissioner needs to do to help improve the conference?
DavidsonCats- Conference teams currently need to request a waiver to play more than two non-D1s. I'd like to see this changed. How about this-- you can play one non-D1. If you want to play a second one, you submit a request for a waiver and a check for $100,000 to be divided among the schools who schedule zero non-D1 teams. The commish keeps the check, but only grants the waiver if he can't find you a D1 game. What that would mean is that no school would request the waiver. They'd find D1 opponents, even if it meant playing other Southern Conference teams, or just leave a game off of the schedule.
MocsMania- Personally, I think the commissioner needs to help with the scheduling- namely two sets of conference challenges (how about the Big South and the OVC?) and each team plays at home in one, and on the road in the other during the season. Then, the following year, they play return trips. (I stole that one from ChattanoogaMocs on the MocFans message board.) I also think that requiring teams to play in the BracketBuster (with a return trip the following year) will be huge. That would be four games each year out of conference right there. Put those on the Mocs schedule this year, and they would not have had to play a single non-D1. Same is true for everyone else in the conference. But, there also needs to be an influx of money spent on basketball to up recruiting budgets and to hire better coaching staffs. I don't know where that influx of money comes from. But that is where the biggest deal will be.
TheSportsArsenal- I am dubious as to how much the league can emulate the CAA. As the article points out, you're talking about bigger schools with larger arenas, with generally more resources (and in most cases without having to use those resources for football). Improving the league is probably less about adjusting the way teams schedule, but more about hiring better coaches and recruiting better players.
UNCGBasketballFan- I personally like the ideas of needing waivers to play non-D1 opponents. Our conference does it way too many times. I would really like him to get involved in getting A-Sun, OVC, MVC and CAA teams to play our teams in home-and-home games. Also, some kind of mid-major challenge series would be interesting.
Which player from around the conference has surprised you the most with his performance this year?
DavidsonCats- Drew Windler from Samford. He's had a few huge games lately, including a career high in yesterday's win over Chattanooga. He's increased his average from 6.2 ppg last year to 12.8 this year.
MocsMania- I read TheSportsArsenal this preseason, and read the words saying that Mike Groselle would be very good. I believed it to some degree, but he has exceeded my expectations. Groselle is a borderline candidate for SoCon Player of the Year. He would be if the Bulldogs were just a little bit better. Groselle has been a pleasant surprise to me.
TheSportsArsenal- De'Mon Brooks may be the league's biggest surprise, in that.he's a legitimate player-of-the-year candidate. I don't think anyone was expecting that at the beginning of the season.
UNCGBasketballFan- Mike Groselle from the Citadel. That guy has been an absolute beast. If you asked me for my preseason 1st team All-SoCon, I wouldn't have put him on it. But now, I think he is a lock.
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