Where Do the Mocs Fit in the SoCon Race?

A rash of SoCon games start this week, and the Mocs are wasting no time in jumping right in with both feet. They play the league favorite Davidson at home on Saturday night in a game that will tell us a lot about where the Mocs are right now in the SoCon race.

But where do the Mocs fit right now?

The most important thing for any SoCon team hoping to advance to the NCAA Tournament is to win the SoCon Tournament. Considering that no team has ever won the tournament playing four games in four days, that means that they need to get a bye. This year, the tournament format has changed, and the winners of each division will receive a bye, and then the next two best records in the tournament will receive a bye. That means that it is going to be difficult to predict which teams are going to receive the byes without looking seriously at which division is going to be tougher.

The South is probably the favorite to be the top division again. But I am a little bit less convinced that a third team from the South will get the bye. So, if we assume that two teams from each division get a bye, let's move forward.

The North's top three teams in the preseason were expected to be Elon, UNCG, and Western Carolina. So far this year, Western Carolina has underperformed (at least a little bit), and UNCG has probably been a touch worse than expected. The Mocs, on the other hand, have shown me flashes of a team that is going to be good once they have a little bit of experience under their belts. So, I believe the Mocs have closed the gap some on the top three teams in the SoCon. I also believe that Appalachian State and Samford have each played at least as poorly as expected, though remember that Samford is young, and Appy has injury problems. So the Mocs have created a little bit of a gap there.

So where do the Mocs fit in in the North race? I think they could finish anywhere from second to fourth based on the current play of the teams. If they finish second, then they are a legitimate contender to get to the NCAA Tournament (assuming they get the bye that I am projecting goes with finishing second). If they finish fourth, they probably aren't (although who would want to play a team getting more experience as they head into March if they can get in on any kind of hot streak?).

The Mocs are a long way from that. This week, it starts sorting itself out. It all starts on Wednesday night when Georgia Southern hosts Elon and Western Carolina goes to Furman. This is a huge chance to figure out where some of the top teams in the North sit, and where the Mocs really stand. By about 10 PM Saturday night, the Mocs will know even more based on their performance against Davidson.

It's awfully early to be worried about where the Mocs are in the SoCon. But this week's games will be sticking with the Mocs until March.

It's time.

GO MOCS!