Day One in Review

It was an exciting first day of SoCon action, complete with several lower seeds winning. If you found your way here, you probably know who won. We won't get into straight summaries here. More of what it means, and why.

Appalachian State (5N) 93, College of Charleston (4S) 81

The Cougars really do underperform in the tournament consistently. Now it's in their heads. From the beginning, the Cougars played like a tight team. They didn't rebound well, and they didn't shoot well early. The Cougars may go to the CBI or CIT at this point. Their young guys can use that. Anthony Stitt scored 14 for them, and Adejhi Baru collected eight rebounds, showing there is hope for the future. Antwaine Wiggins scored 16 in his final SoCon game. Trent Wiedeman was the reason the Cougars kept it as close as they did with 19 points and seven rebounds.

The Mountaineers have a lot of talent. They just haven't always played up to their talent this year. Today, they did. Omar Carter, Andre Williamson, and Isaac Butts scored 40 points and had 34 rebounds. When those three play like that, the Mountaineers are very tough to beat. Throw in that Mike Neal scored 21 and Tab Hamilton added 17, and there really was no chance that the Cougars were going to win this game. The Cougars had been playing solid defense this year, but on this night, the Mountaineers shot over 53%. If they continue to play at this level, THIS team may be the team that is the most likely one to win four games in four days. They haven't won three straight all year, though. Hard to see it starting now.

Western Carolina (3N) 68, The Citadel (6S) 56

The Bulldogs shot 52% from the floor, and scored just 56 points. They slowed the game down, and were not able to hit from long range, or collect offensive reounds, and turned the ball over more than the Catamounts. Mike Groselle was the only one in double figures with 21 points.

Western Carolina did not rebound the ball particularly well, but they did OK. Harouna Mutombo did not want his career to end. He scored 21 points. Trey Sumler put home 18 points, while Keaton Cole scored 14. But, they will struggle against Wofford if they can not play better defense than they played in this one. Sumler and Cole are both dangerous shooters than can provide a lift, and the Catamounts won with relative ease, so maybe I'm reading too much into this, but they need to play bring better defensive intensity tomorrow afternoon.

Furman (5S) 75, Samford (4N) 66

Drew Windler scored 21 points and showed why he could have been on the second team All SoCon. Raijon Kelly and Tyler Hood were the only other Bulldogs to reach double figures. There has to be a lot of hope for the future for Samford, because Kelly and Hood are both freshman and Windler is going to be a solid performer again next year.

Furman showed several things that make them an interesting team. They dominated the glass against Samford. That makes them very interesting as they head into their showdown with Davidson, a team that likes to dominate the glass. They let Samford shoot over 48% from the floor, though. That's not a good recipe for beating Davidson. Charlie Reddick and Bobby Austin both scored 15, while Brandon Sebirumbi scored 12 points. Furman has to find offensive weapons. If they can find offensive weapons, they are capable of hanging around in games. That has been their problem all year. They have not been able to find a consistent offensive weapon.

Georgia Southern (3S) 76, Chattanooga (6N) 70

The Mocs continued to show a lack of ability to close out a game. They were up by 16 early and again by 12 later in the first half. They were up by five with under ten minutes to play in the second half. But they just couldn't close out the game. That's the thing that has beaten the Mocs all year long. It was a somewhat fitting end to a thoroughly disappointing season for the Mocs.

The Eagles, on the other hand, showed the courage and fortitude that has been missing in recent weeks. They battled and grinded out a solid win. Eric Ferguson showed that he may just be the most dynamic player in the league. He had a monster game, and kept the Eagles in the game when the Mocs were playing so well early in the game. Can Georgia Southern keep that up against Elon on Saturday night?