Day Two Preview

Day two will bring all the rest of the teams into action. How will the favorites handle having had a day off to prepare for these games? That's always one of the great questions of the quarterfinals. Should be another exciting day.

UNC-Greensboro (1N) vs. Appalachian State (5N) (12:00, ESPN3)

The Story: Trevis Simpson may be the best player in the SoCon and he has been nursing a sore toe over the final weeks, which is one of the reasons that the Spartans struggled down the stretch. Yes, Derrell Armstrong has been very good for the Spartans, too, but this team revolved around Simpson. How will they handle the three-headed monster of Omar Carter, Isaac Butts, and Andre Williamson? Those three were great against Charleston on Friday afternoon, and they got help from Tab Hamilton and Mike Nealy as well. If they all play like that, then the Mountaineers are going to be very difficult for anyone to beat. Simpson scored 24 and Armstrong scored 27 against the Mountaineers in their overtime win the last time these two met.

The Pick: UNCG 81, Appalachian State 79. This will be a war throughout. These two teams are very evenly matched. If Appalachian State comes with their full focus like they did on Friday and have the energy needed to come up with that kind of effort, the Mountaineers will win. They may win without all that if Simpson is not 100%. If Simpson is 100%, the Mountaineers won't be able to bring quite that much energy to the game because of how much they had to use to beat the Cougars on Friday. Spartans eek one out.

Wofford (2S) vs. Western Carolina (3N) (2:30, ESPN3)

The Story: The Catamounts beat Wofford by ten in Cullowhee, while the Terriers won by 26 in Spartanburg. The Terriers are a solid defensive team, and Western Carolina did not play well on the defensive end against the Bulldogs on Friday afternoon. Still, the biggest weakness for the Catamounts is their lack of size, and the Terriers rely heavily on the perimeter game with Karl Cochran, Kevin Giltner, and Brad Loesing. They can beat the Catamounts inside if they go that way. The most important player for the Terriers is Cochran. If he is hitting his threes, this team becomes such a dangerous club. He had hit a bit of a wall late in the season, scoring 10 or less in five straight games before breaking out for 22 against Furman in the finale.

The Pick: Wofford 69, Western Carolina 60. Mutombo will have a solid game, but Sumler will probably be guarded by Loesing, which will make him ineffective. The Terriers are too good defensively to allow the Catamounts to win this one. As the two time reigning champs, the Terriers know what it takes to win in this sort of match-up.

Davidson (1S) vs. Furman (5S) (6:00, ESPN3)

The Story: Davidson beat Furman by 21 in Davidson and by 18 in Greenville. The Wildcats are a very efficient offensive team- one of the most efficient teams in the country. They are so good. Furman relies on playing solid defense. If the Paladins hope to have any chance in this one, they are going to have to take the air out of the ball, and hope that they can force enough turnovers to hang around. They need to hope that Davidson comes out tight and struggles from three point range. Finally, they need to find a way to prevent the Wildcats from dominating them on the boards. Furman did very well on the glass against Samford on Friday night. They will need to do that again, because the Cats are very good on the glass. Davidson has lost three straight SoCon Tournament games, so they will need to excorcise some demons in this one.

The Pick: Davidson 78, Furman 64. The Paladins do not have the offensive firepower to win this one. Davidson has been waiting to get a win in the SoCon Tournament for a while. My bet is that they come out relatively loose in this one, while they will probably play tight in one of the next two games. The Wildcats are the best team in the SoCon, and they will likely show it here.

Elon (2N) vs. Georgia Southern (3S) (8:30, ESPN3)

The Story: Georgia Southern beat Elon by six in January at Elon. Jack Isenbarger was not starting for the Phoenix back when they played, and he scored 17 points to lead the Phoenix. Lucas Troutman scored 16 with nine rebounds. Freshman Austin Hamilton scored 14. Eric Ferguson scored 21 points with fourteen rebounds. He was a force. How Elon controls Ferguson will be the biggest factor in this game. Of course, the second factor could be this. The Eagles had to expend a lot of energy on Friday night to come back multiple times from double figures down to win the game. Will they have anything left in the tank to take on this Elon team that plays a very tough, physical brand of basketball?

The Pick: Georgia Southern 72, Elon 68. The Eagles are the better team, and Elon has lost five of six to wrap up the regular season. The biggest question in this one is how much energy the Eagles are able to bring. If they bring a normal amount of energy, they will come up with the win. If they don't, they will probably get beat. This should be an interesting game.