Each
week, twelve bloggers/message boarders (one representing each team) all will
vote on a Game of the Week and Power Rankings. At least four will answer a
series of questions on their team and around the SoCon. Don't forget to check
back Monday through Friday to read Daily Dribbles from around the SoCon here on
MocsMania.CONTRIBUTORS
Appalachian State- Yosef's Cabin T-Dog
Chattanooga- Mocs Mania- JohnMoc
College of Charleston- King Kresse CougarSurf11
Davidson- Davidson Cats Message Board David Sink
Elon- Elon Pendulum Student Newspaper- Zachary Horner
Furman- The UFFP Message Board- Hawg
Georgia Southern- GSU Fans Message Board half-n-half
Samford- Samford Bulldogs Message Board AP
The Citadel- The Sports Arsenal- Sandlapper Spike
UNC-Greensboro- UNCG Basketball Fan DashSpartan
Western Carolina- Purple & Gold Jerry Love
Wofford- Terrier Fans Message Board
Sunday
Rutgers at UNCG
Gonzaga vs. Davidson (Old Spice Classic Championship)
Furman at Mercer
Wednesday
Duquesne at Appalachian State
North Carolina A&T at UNCG
Elon at Georgia Southern
Winthrop at Wofford
Western Carolina at Furman
College of Charleston at Charleston Southern
Florida Gulf Coast at Samford
Saturday
Georgia Southern at Samford
Furman at Loyola-Chicago
Appalachian State at Missouri
The Citadel at UNCG
College of Charleston at Elon
Western Carolina at Eastern Kentucky
Davidson at Chattanooga
POWER RANKINGS
1) Davidson 119 (9)
2) College of Charleston 111 (1)
3) Elon 100
4) UNCG 76
5) Wofford 72
6) Western Carolina 64
7t) Chattanooga 62
7t) Georgia Southern 62
9) The Citadel 43
10) Furman 33
11) Appalachian State 21
12) Samford 17
SOCON MONSTER GAME OF THE WEEK
College of Charleston at Elon- 5 votes
Others Receiving Vores: Gonzaga vs. Davidson (3 votes), Davidson at Chattanooga (1), North Carolina A&T at UNCG (1)
QUESTIONS
1) Sum up your team since the last time you wrote about them.
Chattanooga- Oh, those crazy Mocs! They have played better on the road than they have at home. They were up twelve in the second half at Kansas, and were up twenty at Kennesaw on Saturday. They lost to Kansas, but beat the Owls by fourteen. They also beat Tennessee Temple. Their other three games were three disappointing home games against SE Missouri, Troy, and Louisiana Tech. However, the Mocs have been playing hard, and not been playing that bad. They are one of the better rebounding teams in the league, and are turning into a decent shooting team. Their defense has been questionable, and they turn the ball over too much, but they are really playing hard. This team will only get better.
Furman- Injuries have caused the early development of a freshman point guard, and he has played pretty well, but has some difficulty with turnovers being too high. We have seen minutes where we had five freshmen on the floor, and have seen several players taking a few turns at the point. Also have some injuries affecting other positions. Getting improved play and minutes from a slimmer Colin Reddick; interested in seeing if he will be able to continue that improvement in conference play.
Georgia Southern- It's been a rocky road for Georgia Southern since my preseason preview. The hope for a second inside presence to go with Eric Ferguson has not been there and it's hurt GSU big time. The Eagles are last in the conference at a -6.8 rebounding differential after being outrebounded 49-25 against Maryland. Ferguson is averaging 14.4 points a game, but the rest of the post players combined are averaging 11.3 points combined. GSU has found a point guard in CJ Reed. After sitting out last year, the senior got off to a slow start but had his best game yesterday against Maryland finishing with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. He is starting to look to be more of an offensive threat and the Eagles need that.The three keys I mentioned for GSU in my preseason preview were improving turnovers, field goal % defense, and scoring more points at the free throw line. Unfortunately the turnover rate and FG% defense haven't improved at all. But the Eagles are shooting a solid .725 from the line which is 3rd in the conference and a vast improvement from the .665 of last year. Overall the good news is that GSU has improved since the first game. And freshman Cleon Roberts is playing like a senior scoring in double figures in his first 4 games as an Eagle. The bad news is that the opening game was such a setback that I still don't think the Eagles are even back to where most people thought they would be when the season started. Wednesday's matchup with Elon is going to tell us a lot about where GSU stand.
Western Carolina- The Catamounts are 2-4 at this point in the season. WCU always seem to have problems on the road early in the season, and this year has been no different. To start the season, the Cats traveled to Asheville, and promptly dropped a 10 point loss to mountain rival UNCA, due to poor shooting and even worse free throw percentages. After rolling over DII Mars Hill 95-68 at home, the Cats took to the road again for the Cancun Challenge. Two games were played stateside, and two played in Cancun, Mexico. WCU went 1-3 in the tournament, picking up their lone win against Howard in the final game. The Cats had a 16 point loss to Wichita State, a 11 point loss to Western Kentucky, and a one point loss Austin Peay in the tournament. On Wednesday, the Cats will open conference play at Furman.
2) UNCG was the preseason favorite in the North, Elon was second, and Western Carolina a very close third. After a couple of weeks of action, who is the favorite in the North now? Why?
Chattanooga- Elon is the favorite right now. They have been the most impressive team in the North. But UNCG and Chattanooga are not far behind. Western Carolina is taking a while to come together, and the Catamounts will eventually be right in this race. But Elon is the favorite. It’s the Phoenix division to lose- everyone else is chasing them.
Furman- Elon. They have had a mostly up early season.
Georgia Southern- I still think UNCG is the favorite in the North, but Elon is going to be nipping at their heels all season. At the end of the day UNCG's athleticism makes them a little better than Elon. This race will come down to the wire though.
Western Carolina- At this point, I’m leaning toward Elon even though I think they had a bad loss at VMI on Saturday. The Phoenix victory over South Carolina looms large, and I think it’s going to take a little more time for both Greensboro and Western to jell with their current rosters to be able to challenge Elon for the North championship. Chattanooga might be the dark horse in the race.
3) What is the best win for a SoCon team so far this year? Why?
Chattanooga- It has to be College of Charleston’s win over Baylor on the road on Saturday night. Beat a ranked team on the road? That’s really impressive for the Cougars. Davidson’s win over West Virginia might be second on that list. That’s two really good wins for the SoCon in the last couple of days, after Elon beat South Carolina for the second consecutive year and Davidson beat Vanderbilt. Not a bad week for the SoCon, overall.
Georgia Southern- It looked like Elon over South Carolina was going to be the best win of the season and then I was ready to give the nod to Davidson over West Virginia. But not to be outdone Charleston goes out and beats Baylor last night. So I have to give the nod to Charleston based on Baylor being ranked, but overall it was a good week for the SoCon.
Western Carolina- Clearly it was Charleston’s win over #24 Baylor Saturday night. It’s not every day that a SoCon team picks up a top 25 win on the road, and Charleston did it with solid shooting from the field and 60% free throw shooting.
4) This week, there will be a handful of SoCon conference games. What do you think about the SoCon playing conference games in December?
Chattanooga- I don’t particularly like it. If you are going to have two divisions, might as well play ten games against your division and six games against the other division. That’s sixteen games, which would take the priority of the two games in December off the list. That being said, people want the SoCon teams to play tougher schedules. I’m not sure taking the conference schedule down by two games does that, forcing teams to find two more out of conference games to schedule. So, I understand the need, but these games matter.
Furman- I have strong feelings that are not universally shared. While I would rather see conference games grouped at the end of the schedule, I believe that we should play home-and-home against ALL conference members. That would be 22 conference games, and with that number, December games would be a must.
Georgia Southern-I like having a couple early season conference games. Everybody plays different out of conference schedules so it's tough to judge how the SoCon teams stack up against each other just by looking at the records. These games give an indication of where your team stands and what needs to be worked on the rest of the out of conference schedule.
UNCG- I hate this. Always have. It really puts too much emphasis early in the year on teams that are developing. Last year, UNCG quickly went out and lost a few games in December before finding themselves by the New Year. It seems silly as important as these games are, to be playing them so early. I wish the conference would stop it.
Western Carolina- League play is starting to get earlier and earlier. We’ve been playing at least two conference games in December for the last few years, and this season, the Cats are playing one of those two games December games in November. It’s just too early in the season for conference games, each and every one is too important in the standings to play this early in the season. I’d like to see conference play start no earlier than January each season.
5) If you had to pick one head coach in the conference to coach your team, who would it be?
Chattanooga- Got to take Bob McKillop from Davidson. He has been so successful for so long, it’s hard to imagine a better overall coach in the SoCon. If I was forced to pick someone else, it would probably be Mike Young from Wofford. He has done so much over the last few years to prove that he belongs among the elite in the league. Matt Matheny at Elon is quickly trying to join these ranks.
Furman- Bob McKillop, Davidson.
Georgia Southern-There are some good coaches in the SoCon making this a tough choice. Wes Miller and Charlton Young are a couple young coaches who are very good on the recruiting trail, but there are still questions about their coaching. I think the top 2 are Mike Young at Wofford and Bob McKillop at Davidson. While I don't think you can go wrong with either, I'd have to go with Coach McKillop.
Western Carolina- There are several good to excellent coaches in the SoCon, however I think that Larry Hunter is the best fit for the Catamounts in the league.
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