Friday, January 6, 2012

SoCon Saturday Is Back....and Better than Ever!

The SoCon Saturday should be incredible this week. A day's worth of games that every game is worthy of attention. Five games- all of them super competitive.  It should be a great Saturday- especially thanks to Georgia Southern's upset of Elon and College of Charleston's loss to Wofford.

Let's briefly look at each game.

College of Charleston at Furman

The Cougars are a great team. At least, I thought they were. Then losses to George Mason and Wofford happened in the last two games. Suddenly, I have to at least ask a few questions about how good the Cougars are. Furman is one of the better defenses in the SoCon. They do not have elite offensive production. They will struggle to keep up with the Cougars offense. However, with the game in Greenville, this game could be a problem for them. The Paladins will need to produce better on offense to win, but with the way Wofford performed against the Cougars on Thursday, I don't put it by them. A Furman win would make both teams 2-2 in SoCon play.

Georgia Southern at Davidson

The Eagles are unbeaten in SoCon play. The Wildcats are also unbeaten in SoCon play. They are the only two remaining unbeaten teams in SoCon play. People thought Davidson would be here. Few thought Georgia Southern would be here. They have athletes and have played very well so far. Davidson has to play smart to be able to win. They are not quite as athletic as many other teams, but they play smarter and harder than most other teams. Their dominante performance against UNCG on Thursday showed what they are capable of. This is the game on the SoCon Sports Network/ESPN3 at 3:00. Everyone should be watching.

Appalachian State at Chattanooga

Don't want to go into too much detail here, because there will be a full preview later on the Mocs-Mountaineers game. But let's just say that the Mountaineers are 2-1 in SoCon play and have a chance to jump into first in the North Division with a win and a Western Carolina loss. If the Mocs win, they would move to .500 in SoCon play and move ahead of Appalachian State (and possibly Western Carolina) based on tiebreakers. They were the top two teams in the SoCon North in the preseason predictions.

Wofford at Western Carolina

Western Carolina has been good at times this year. They are undersized on the inside, and were dominated on the boards by the Mocs on Thursday night. Now they return home, hoping to jump into first in the North with a win and an Appalachian State loss. But they will be playing a Wofford team that has suddenly turned into a team that looks like a world beater. Their dominating win over College of Charleston (that was closer than the score indicated) was very impressive and served notice that they were a contender to win their third straight SoCon Tournament title. The Terriers and Catamounts both need to win this game in their bye races. The Georgia Southern-Davidson game may be the better game on paper, but it's hard to imagine that game could be more interesting than this one. This should be a great game.

Samford at The Citadel

Both Bulldogs are winless in SoCon play. It's not like this game really matters to winning the division or anything, but these teams need to come up with a win just to get going in the right direction. Can Samford, who has only lost by a total of nine points in their two SoCon games, come through with a big win against The Citadel? This is interesting just because both teams need a win so badly. A loss by either team would really be devastating to the fan base of that team.

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