Scanning the SoCon- Week Fifteen

DavidsonCats- Davidson fan.
MocsMania- Chattanooga fan.
TheSportsArsenal- Citadel fan.
UNCGBasketballFan- UNC-Greensboro fan.

SCHEDULE

Wednesday
Samford at Davidson
College of Charleston at UNC-Greensboro
Elon at Wofford
Chattanooga at Appalachian State

Thursday
The Citadel at Western Carolina

Saturday
Western Carolina at Elon (SoCon Sports Network/ESPN3)
Furman at Samford
The Citadel at Chattanooga
UNC-Greensboro at Georgia Southern
Wichita State at Davidson (ESPN2) (BracketBusters)
Winthrop at Appalachian State (BracketBusters)
College of Charleston at Kent State (BracketBusters)
Wofford at Charleston Southern (BracketBusters)

POWER RANKINGS
1) Davidson 48 (4)
2) Georgia Southern 43
3) UNC-Greensboro 38
4) Wofford 36
5) Elon 34
6) College of Charleston 27
7) Samford 26
8) Furman 17
9) Appalachian State 15
10) Chattanooga 13
11) Western Carolina 12
12) The Citadel 4

QUESTIONS

Sum up your team.

DavidsonCats- This was another very successful week for the Wildcats. Got the huge home win over Wofford, jumped to a 30-8 lead at The Citadel, lost a tough one at CofC. The Wildcats are now 13-2 and have secured a bye. Brooks and Czerapowicz led the scoring for the Wildcats this week. The team gets a nice rest before the big game against Samford on Wednesday. We then step outside of conference play to host a superb Wichita State team on Saturday. After that, it is Elon, GSU and the tournament.

MocsMania- The Mocs win over Elon to break the losing streak at seven games was very good for the Mocs. Then came Saturday, and a return to so many of the things that went wrong during the losing streak- not coming up with the clutch basket, not coming up with the clutch defensive stop, not getting the loose balls at the right time, etc. The one point home loss, after blowing a double digit early lead, then coming back from a double digit second half deficit and taking a four point lead into the closing minutes really hurts. The team is close. But close isn't enough right now. A home against The Citadel awaits next Saturday. A road game at Appalachian State would be a great time for the Mocs to break their season long road losing streak.

TheSportsArsenal- The Citadel lost two more games this week, to Davidson and Georgia Southern. The loss to Davidson wasn't as horrific as the earlier meeting, thanks to a decent second-half performance. For the second time this season, the Bulldogs lost in overtime to the Eagles, not helped by the typically sketchy officiating on a SoCon Saturday and a flurry of second-half turnovers. The team is getting better, I suppose. It is still not winning games, however.

UNCGBasketballFan- UNCG won a pair of HUGE road games this weekend. I was very worried that the team could go winless on the trip and they did the exact opposite. Again, the team did it by the narrowest of margins (2 points at Samford, 1 points at UTC). I was very impressed with UNCG being able to withstand the "ambush game" at Chattanooga. The Mocs had a big crowd and made it one of their marque games. Plus, they punched the Spartans in the mouth hard at the start. However, G regrouped and responded several times to get the win. Trevis Simpson has been on an absolute tear. He is really making a hard push for SoCon POY. The next 3 Spartan games are going to be very interesting. G plays the middle of the South Division. They need to continue to win in order to make the season finale at Elon important.

Which game are you looking most forward to that does not involve your team?

DavidsonCats- Many of the games are interesting this week. A Mocs team that can't win on the road against a struggling Mountaineer team looks fun. CofC at UNCG looks good. I guess I'll go with UNCG at GSU on the 18th.

MocsMania- College of Charleston's trip to UNCG is the game I picked for this week. The Cougars are battling for third in the South, and the Spartans are fighting for first. Plus it's a great revenge game. Sounds like a great game to me.

TheSportsArsenal-Davidson gets a home game against Wichita State, but UNCG-Georgia Southern is more important in terms of teams fighting for conference tourney byes.

UNCGBasketballFan- Samford at Davidson will be interesting for a couple of reasons. First, Davidson wants revenge for the loss in Birmingham. Second, Davidson just lost in Charleston. Third, a Samford loss would put UNCG another step closer to picking up one of the North Division byes.

What do you think of playing a BracketBuster game right in the middle of the conference schedule? What about the idea of mid-majors beating up one another, and possibly keeping them out of NCAA bids at this point in the season? In other words, what are your thoughts on BracketBusters?

DavidsonCats- I love the Bracket Buster event. Through it, Davidson has gotten games with Winthrop, Presbyterian, Butler, and Wichita State. It is nice to have that guaranteed return game in the following season.

MocsMania- Personally, I love BracketBusters. People complain and say that it can knock teams out. It can. I don't really like that. But that being said, the SoCon needs help scheduling out of conference games. This provides two games a year (considering the return trip the following year). So, the SoCon needs to schedule the first set of conference games on Wednesday, and then make every team play in the BracketBuster on the Saturday, and not schedule any more conference games until the following Wednesday. This way, teams do not have a disadvantage of playing Thursday-Saturday-Monday/Tuesday potentially flying back and forth across the country. Do it the right way, I think every SoCon team should be forced to play in the BracketBuster. I love watching the BracketBusters as much as any day of college basketball all season long.

TheSportsArsenal- I'm not a fan of BracketBusters, and I am glad that my school is not a participant. The only value I see in it is if your school gets a game on TV. This year it works out for Davidson in that respect. However, very few teams get that lucky TV game. What BracketBusters seems to have done lately, in my opinion, is hurt teams that were hopeful of potential at-large bids, which is basically the opposite of what was originally intended. Another problem, of course, is it results in a home-or-away game for the next season that often isn't in a school's best interests. The start-and-stop aspect to the league season for participating teams isn't such a good thing, either.

UNCGBasketballFan- It's kind of hard to really buy into the idea that losing one of these games will "bust" a team out of the tournament. It does seem like a great idea to get a border line team a chance for a signature win (see: Murray State). Every year only 2 or 3 mid-major teams have a legit shot at an at-large bid. So, this series is more about giving mid-major programs national TV time. That's never a bad thing, regardless of what time of the year it's played.

How do you think the SoCon will perform this year in the BracketBusters?

DavidsonCats- I'd love to see the Southern get a split this year. 1-3 looks more likely. I'm really hoping that we'll win the two games against the Big South teams.

MocsMania- I believe that a split would be good for the SoCon. Wofford could beat Charleston Southern, Appalachian State (if engaged) should beat Winthrop, and it would not surprise me in the least if Davidson beats Wichita State. College of Charleston could beat Kent State if they keep on playing like they have recently. I'd say Appy wins, and Davidson wins, and either Wofford or CofC wins for 3-1, which would shock virtually everyone.

UNCGBasketballFan- This is a pretty tough draw for the participating SoCon schools. I think all 4 are "toss up" games at best. If the SoCon can get a split, I think it'll be a good performance.

What role do you believe that blogs and message boards play in a basketball program? What role should they play? Is their role too big or too small?

DavidsonCats- The best thing that the Davidson board has done is to keep distant fans tied in to the program. Passionate fans need a central place to follow the action, celebrate the successes, and vent about the failures. The boards provide this central place. Some people (coaches, players, administrators) should avoid the boards. We are fan sites.

MocsMania- Oh, the million dollar question. I do believe that there is plenty of negativity on message boards, and that is OK. They are for honest discussion. Coaches and players should do everything they can to avoid the message boards, because they serve no good purpose for them. I think their roles have become too big in many cases, because many of the questions that get asked of the coaches and players are driven by the blogs and message boards.

TheSportsArsenal- I know there are people who say that recruits read message boards, etc., and that negative posts can impact recruiting, and I suppose the case could be made that blogs have an effect as well. I'm a bit dubious about all that, at least with regards to schools in the SoCon. There really aren't that many fans on those forums. At any rate, it seems to me that these days players/recruits are more likely to be directly engaged via twitter than message board or blog posts. Blogs really shouldn't play any role in how a basketball program operates -- with the exception of my blog, of course. Alas, I do not believe the denizens of the hoops program hang on every word I type. For shame, for shame.

UNCGBasketballFan- I could probably write a book on this subject. Obviously, UNCG fans have had some first hand experiences with this exact question this year. I think that there is always a line that the message board/blogger fans flirt with between being critical and just being mean. These players are just kids that have a lot on their plate and we (me included) forget that sometimes. However, I think these sites all serve a great purpose. They allow fans to meet and interact regardless of the university/fanbase size. So, in that respect, I think these sites should be embraced by the school for the impact they have on the program and the "buzz" they can generate.