Scanning the SoCon- Week Six

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 Cody Cooper

 

SCHEDULE

Sunday
Presbyterian at Furman

Tuesday
Chattanooga at LSU

Thursday
Anderson at College of Charleston

Saturday
Elon at Massachusetts
Western Carolina at Georgetown
Georgia Southern at Virginia Tech (Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic)
UNC-Wilmington at Davidson
The Citadel at Gardner-Webb
Furman at Auburn
Sam Houston State at Samford

POWER RANKINGS

1) Davidson 131 (10)
2) College of Charleston 120 (1)
3) Elon 111
4) Wofford 91
5) Western Carolina 87
6) UNCG 84
7) Chattanooga 56
8) Georgia Southern 47
9) Samford 45
10) The Citadel 34
11) Appalachian State 30
12) Furman 22

GAME OF THE WEEK

Elon at Massachusetts- 7 votes

Others receiving votes- Western Carolina at Georgetown (2), Chattanooga at LSU (1), UNC-Wilmington at Davidson (1)

QUESTIONS

Sum up your team since the last time you wrote.

Davidson- I last wrote about Davidson following the losses to UNM and UWM. Since then the Wildcats went 2-1 in Orlando, 2-0 in conference games, and lost to Charlotte. The win over Vandy avenged last year's home loss. De'Mon Brooks led the Wildcats with 19 points. Fans were very excited by Jordan Barham's 9 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes of play. Next was a win over West Virginia. Chris Czerapowicz led the way with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Gonzaga won the tournament title by 14 over Davidson. Nik Cochran had 17 points and JP Kuhlman returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering an ankle injury at UWM. The Wildcats then opened conference play at Chattanooga. The 81-55 win was the largest ever for the Wildcats in Chattanooga. Tyler Kalinoski led the way with 15. As a team, the Wildcats made 14 of 29 3-pointers. The Wildcats then played their first home D1 game of the season on 12/5. 5267 were present to watch a hotly contested game. Davidson led by 3 with the ball at the under-4 timeout, but lost to a still-undefeated Charlotte team by 4. Last night the Wildcats moved to 2-0 in conference play with a 7 point win over Wofford.

Elon- Elon has fared well since the last time I wrote. Wins over Florida Atlantic (to cap off the EA Sports Maui Invitational Regional Games championship), South Carolina, Georgia Southern and Dartmouth have given the Phoenix a great deal of confidence, only slightly tempered by tough losses to VMI and a heartbreaking finish to College of Charleston in arguably the best conference game so far this season. If Elon had been able to pull out a victory over the Cougars, it would be a nice and safe 2-0 in conference play. Non-conference games against U-Mass Dec. 15 and Duke Dec. 20 should be good holiday tests for the Phoenix. Lucas Troutman has played spectacular and should be considered an early favorite for first-team all-SoCon the way he’s playing for one of the better teams in the conference.

Samford- It will be a long December and we’re looking for reasons to believe that, maybe, this year will be better than the last. Samford is dealing with injuries, attrition, and losses. Tyler Hood injured his hand during a really bad home loss to Florida Gulf Coast and is out until at least the start of conference play. Although he had not transitioned well to being a #1 or #2 option, Hood is a very good player and a great leader. He needs to be on the floor. Gregg Wooten, who was out for the 2011-12 season with an Achilles injury, remains on the sidelines in street clothes and can’t get healthy. Levi Barnes, the only player other than Tim Williams listed at 6-5 or taller, is no longer on the roster, so Samford will be forced to play incredibly small even though Barnes was largely a non-contributor. Samford took some bad losses in Atlantis on the Mainland (to Toledo and, in overtime, SWAC member Alcorn State), came back from a bad first half against UT-Arlington to lose by 7, and then got drilled by A-Sun member Florida Gulf Coast at home. The Bulldogs briefly bounced back by beating Georgia Southern (first place in the SoCon!). The Bulldogs them promptly got drilled at Kentucky. Coach Bennie Seltzer called them "the worst Kentucky basketball team ever" (or something similar) in a pep talk. That comment, and Coach Calapari’s reaction to it, made PTI. On Saturday, a 10-point halftime lead evaporated during a 34-9 second half-run by Bowling Green. Samford lost that game 57-42. Williams and Raijon Kelly continue to play well, but they’re getting no help from the rest of the roster. Samford is allowing more than 1.1 points per possession (but only allowed 0.91 against GaSou), which is mildly troubling for a coaching staff that preached a defense-first philosophy. There are, however, lots of (apparently) bad SoCon teams. More than half the league is rated worse than 250 on both BasketballState.com and KenPom at this point. Coming into the year, no one believed that Samford (or any SoCon team) would receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, so experimentation with lineups and looks hopefully will pay off during SoCon play and the SoCon Tournament—when the games really matter.

The Citadel- It has been a tough stretch for The Citadel, which has lost three straight games and looked bad in the process. The Bulldogs played poorly in the first half of all three contests. Against Radford, The Citadel turned the ball over repeatedly, while the losses to UNCG and Charleston Southern featured terrible defense, especially in defending the three-pointer. The Bulldogs shot the ball fairly well, but that was the only real positive.

Now that the early conference games are complete, what four teams do you think will get the byes in the SoCon Tournament? (This year, each division champ gets a bye, and two other teams with the best conference record will get a bye.)

Davidson- I feel pretty confident about Davidson, Elon, and CofC getting byes. I think that WCU and UNCG will battle for second in the North, but I like Wofford to earn the final bye. I think Wofford can build a solid record against GSU, Furman, and The Citadel. I think that they can get to 11-7. It'll be tough for the 2nd team in the North to get to 11-7.

Elon- Davidson, College of Charleston, Elon, Western Carolina.

Samford- Davidson, Elon, Charleston, and probably Western Carolina. It’s still too early to tell definitively though.

The Citadel- Davidson, College of Charleston, Elon...and I'll say Western Carolina.

Davidson does not have as good of a record as many people thought they would at this point in the year. What (if anything) do you think is wrong with Davidson? Is it merely that their schedule needs to ease up? Or is it something more serious?

Davidson- Davidson is 4-4 in D1 games and 5-4 overall. I thought the Wildcats would be 7-2 or 6-3. The only really puzzling loss is the one at UWM. Davidson fans have varying theories on the season thus far. After last night's game, some of us couldn't even agree on what we'd just seen. We've heard of injuries to Nik and JP, illness from De'Mon, and Czerapowicz was still recovering from off-season surgery. Strength of schedule is certainly a factor. Pomeroy rates Davidson's OOC schedule as the 14th toughest in the nation so far. The team is still adjusting to some personnel changes. Oft-injured Frank Ben-Eze gave the Wildcats a 4th big body last year. Will Reigel provided some excellent leadership and seemed to be a steadying influence for his teammates. And assistant coach Landry Kosmalski left to become the head coach at Swarthmore. The Wildcats only have 3 games between now and the early January game against Duke. UNCW, Drexel, and Richmond provide some opportunities to get better. I think we'll see a smoother, more focused group of Wildcats by the time we resume conference play.

Elon- I’m not all caught up with what Davidson has done so far. I know they’ve played a tough schedule, but I have a feeling that once they get deep into conference play, they’ll get back on track. I’m not prone to worrying about Bob McKillop’s club. I watched their win over West Virginia and was thoroughly impressed.

Samford- Davidson has had close losses to good teams. They’re a very, very good basketball team. Nothing is wrong with them that I can tell. In close games, someone’s going to lose. They’re a top 50 team in the country at this point and just haven’t gotten the breaks that you need in close games.

The Citadel- Davidson has one "bad loss" (Milwaukee). I don't think the rest of its season has been that disappointing. Statistically, Davidson's biggest problem is probably the number of free throws attempted by its opponents, although the New Mexico loss accounts for quite a bit of that. Davidson has probably lost any opportunity it may have had for potential at-large consideration (unless it beats Duke), but should still be heavily favored to win the SoCon.

College of Charleston is leaving in the fall of 2013. Who would you like to see replace them? What should the SoCon’s approach be to expansion?

Chattanooga- I tend to think that I would love to see the school expand to fourteen schools. ETSU, Northern Kentucky, Mercer Murray State, VMI, Kennesaw State, and East Carolina would all be wonderful adds. That’s seven schools. Surely the SoCon can weasel away a handful of those. If not, I can imagine a situation where the SoCon fades away and every school leaves in the next 36 months.

Davidson- I'd love to add East Carolina for all sports except football. It would give us another large public institution and move us into the rumored, but rarely seen, eastern part of North Carolina. If not them, I'd like to see UNCA or ETSU if we aren't adding a football school or the return of VMI if we want a football school. I hope that the conference leaders are talking to these schools and several others. We need to have contingency plans for losing several other conference members.

Elon- Just add one school. I think the 12-team system with the playoff byes and everything works very well right now and doesn’t necessarily need improving.

Samford- I think the SoCon needs to undertake targeted expansion to reach fourteen or sixteen like-minded institutions, but the league office already has squandered an opportunity to seal off the southern flank of the CAA. Generally, I think SoCon members need to have a long-term commitment to FCS football (if they play football), aggressive mid-major basketball, and (ideally) a very competitive academic profile; they also need to be located in attractive TV markets and have committed alumni bases. Because the SoCon is losing a non-football member, replacing CofC with a non-football school maintains equilibrium. My first choice would be Belmont, which is a good geographic and cultural fit. Belmont has a competitive academic profile, great basketball program, high-APR athletic department, and would add the #29 television market in the country. Assuming that no present CAA members will scale their million-dollar Berlin Wall to exit the league, other possible candidates would include Kennesaw State (on the verge of becoming one of the largest schools in Georgia), Mercer (strong academics, improving athletics), or VMI (strong academics, athletics in need of a major upgrade). App State and Georgia Southern, which could have opportunities to join FBS leagues in the very near future as a result of trickle-down realignment, would necessitate a different acquisition profile. Rather than risking relegation to a low-major status or depending on “up-and-coming” target schools, the SoCon may need to explore allowing upper-tier athletic programs to join the SoCon in less than all sports. Unfortunately, because the SoCon has been reactionary, rather than aggressive, it likely will not end up a stronger league in 12 months than it was a year ago.

UNCG-I have said repeatedly that I want schools similar to UNCG to get into the SoCon. So I'd love to see Winthrop or ETSU get in the league. But I'd actually like to see a smaller league that allowed for round robin games in basketball. So not replacing Charleston would be fine with me. However if ASU and/or GSU leave in the next few weeks, the league will have to look to add new teams.