The Citadel Preview: Ready or Not

By Sandlapper Spike

It's time for The Citadel's 2013-14 hoops season, ready or not

 

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- The Citadel's 2012-13 record: 8-22, 5-13 in the SoCon (next-to-last)
- Chuck Driesell's record at The Citadel (three seasons): 24-68, 14-40 in the SoCon
- Biggest positive from the 2012-13 campaign: The Citadel swept Furman!
- Possibly related development: Furman hired a new basketball coach
- Negatives from 2012-13: Horrific defense, and an offensive turnover rate that was almost as bad

 

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After a 6-24 season in 2011-12, there was a belief that The Citadel would substantially improve on the hardwood last year. That didn't happen.

 

While there was a modest two-game upswing in both The Citadel's overall and league records, that was largely due to a slightly softer out-of-conference schedule and a down year in hoops for the Southern Conference as a whole. Make no mistake, last season was a significant disappointment for the Bulldogs.

 

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Note: the statistics in this section do not include the two games The Citadel played last season against non-D1 opponents.

 

The Bulldogs had enormous defensive problems. Per KenPom, The Citadel ranked 346th in adjusted defensive efficiency last year, ahead of only one other Division I team, Grambling State (which had a historically awful season).

 

The numbers on defense were bad across the board. The Bulldogs could not control the defensive glass (bottom 25 nationally), had no shotblocking presence (bottom 25 nationally), and weren't particularly good at forcing turnovers as a team, all of which led to an opponents' eFG of 55% (bottom 10 nationally).

 

Teams shot well against The Citadel from inside (53.6%) or outside (38.2%). Most of the damage, though, was done in the paint.

 

Not surprisingly, when the Bulldogs defended fairly well, they were much more likely to win. The Citadel's three best defensive performances against D-1 teams all resulted in victories. The Bulldogs only won once when they finished a game with well below-average defensive numbers (a ludicrous comeback victory at Furman).

 

The Citadel's offensive numbers weren't good, either, almost entirely because of an alarming tendency to throw the ball away. The cadets committed 436 turnovers last year in their 28 games against D-1 competition, averaging 15.6 per game, a particularly high number given the number of possessions involved (less than 65 per contest).

 

Almost one out of every four Bulldog possessions ended in a turnover. Only thirteen teams in the entire country had a worse turnover rate.

 

It wasn't just about the amount of turnovers, either. The types of turnovers committed hurt the Bulldogs too. The Citadel was victimized by steals at a rate higher than all but three other teams in Division I. That clearly had an impact on the defensive end, as teams were often able to convert those steals into easy transition baskets.

 

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The Citadel will now begin a new season without its best player over the past two years, Mike Groselle. Someone (or multiple someones) will have to replace his offensive productivity (including an eFG of 57.4% while taking almost 28% of the team's shots).

 

The other senior on last year's squad was graduate student Stephen Elmore. In spot duty (13.7 minutes per game), Elmore provided a little muscle and some defensive rebounding.

 

The Bulldogs suffered a very tough blow with the loss of junior forward P.J. Horgan, a solid presence in the frontcourt whose basketball career has officially ended because of back problems. Horgan would have been a sure-fire starter if he had been healthy.

 

There is also a possibility that The Citadel will be without the services of 6'7" forward C.J. Bray, who missed almost all of last season with an ankle injury. Bray now has nerve damage in his arm.

 

If Bray is unable to recover, the Bulldogs would be essentially bereft of experienced frontcourt players. For a team that already struggled to defend the post, it could be a recipe for complete disaster.

 

That is what can happen when a program struggles with attrition issues. There are no seniors on the Bulldogs' roster this year (not counting Dylen Setzekorn, an academic senior who from a varsity athletics standpoint is a redshirt sophomore). Every recruit signed by Ed Conroy as part of his last recruiting class at The Citadel is gone.

 

Also no longer at The Citadel are two of the four post players signed by Chuck Driesell in his first class -- and of the two who stayed, one is no longer on the roster (Horgan) and the other is injured (Bray). Driesell did not sign a PF/C type for his second class.

 

Lawrence Miller (who had just completed his sophomore campaign) and Janeil Jenkins (a freshman last year) also left school after the 2012-13 season. Both of them were guards.

 

While they won't be missed as much as the frontcourt players, their absence will certainly not help. The Citadel only has eleven players on its roster this season (and that includes Bray).

 

As a result of those personnel losses, this year's freshmen will be expected to contribute right away. I think it's tough to ask true freshmen (particularly at The Citadel) to take on such a significant load, especially those who will have to match up against older, bigger players close to the basket. Driesell has no choice, however.

 

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Let's take a look at the players who will actually suit up for the Bulldogs this season...

 

- Marshall Harris III returns as the starting point guard for the Bulldogs. Harris did a fine job distributing the basketball last season (a top 60 assist rate nationally) but committed too many turnovers, particularly for a pass-first PG (Harris had more assists than field goal attempts last season).

 

If he can cut down on the turnovers and elevate his shooting percentage (a woeful 29.9% last year), Harris could be a major plus for the Bulldogs. That possibility isn't out of the question, as his totals improved markedly from his freshman to sophomore seasons.

 

Harris averaged an assist every 7.8 minutes and a turnover every 9.2 minutes in 2011-12; in 2012-13, he picked up an assist every 5.8 minutes while committing a TO every 11.9 minutes. He also managed to get to the foul line on a regular basis, one of the few Bulldogs to do so.

 

- Raemond Robinson missed the first eleven games of his freshman season while recovering from a broken foot. That may have set him back a bit last year, but he still had his moments.

 

If The Citadel is going to outperform its projections this season, it will need surprising performances from several players, and Robinson is as good a breakout candidate as any. In limited action, he shot 43% from beyond the arc. The former Goose Creek High football/basketball star is a solid passer and is also capable of picking up a few steals here and there.

 

Like most of the Bulldogs, he needs to lower his turnover rate. I would also like to see a bit more boardwork from Robinson (and The Citadel's guards in general, as the backcourt players did not get their fair share of rebounds last year).

 

- Ashton Moore leads all returning Bulldogs in career points, with 394. Last season, he started exactly half of The Citadel's 30 games, and played just over half of the minutes available. Moore and Mike Groselle were the only rotation regulars to post respectable turnover rates.

 

Moore is more of a scorer than a shooter, and to be successful this season he needs to get to the foul line a lot more often than he did last year. Some observers believe that Moore would be at his best providing an offensive spark in a sixth-man role, a la Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson or Jason Terry.

 

One somewhat curious factoid about Moore: he had fewer fouls per forty minutes than all but five players in the country last season. He only picked up three fouls in a game once. That happened at Furman, and it was arguably Moore's best game of the season.

 

- Quinton Marshall was a late signee for Chuck Driesell last year. The native of Raleigh showed off his athleticism at times during his freshman season. He's not afraid to dunk.

 

Marshall is a big guard with the ability to score inside. If he can develop a specialty, perhaps becoming a defensive stopper, Marshall could see more playing time (he appeared in 23 contests last season, averaging 11 minutes per game).

 

- Dylen Setzekorn redshirted during the 2011-12 season, but that doesn't mean he wasn't busy. In his freshman year at The Citadel, Setzekorn took 40 hours of classes over two semesters.

 

Forty hours as a knob is...a lot. Last year, Setzekorn took 46 hours -- and also played in 28 games for the Bulldogs, averaging 10 minutes per contest.

 

He's a slender 6'7" jump shooter who will light it up in a hurry if someone don't get a hand in his face (11 points in 13 minutes against Furman, 13 in 18 minutes versus Wofford). He's not an ideal one-on-one defender, but Setzekorn can help the Bulldogs in certain matchups, particularly if he can take advantage of his height and collect a few more rebounds.

 

- Warren Sledge is one of four freshmen on the Bulldogs' roster. A 6'3" guard, his bio on the school website states he was "known for his solid defensive presence" in high school. If true, he could break into the rotation sooner rather than later.

 

One thing Sledge has going for him is that he is a native of Keller, Texas. The Citadel has had a lot of luck with players from the Lone Star state in recent years. Among the Texans to have played for the Bulldogs: Cameron Wells, Zach Urbanus, and Mike Groselle.

 

- Matt Van Scyoc occasionally struggled last season, like a lot of freshmen. He would sometimes take bad shots. He had three games in which he committed 5+ turnovers.

 

When the dust cleared, though, Van Scyoc had put together an excellent first year, and was named to the SoCon's all-freshman team. He had an eFG of 53.7%, helped by shooting 37% from three-point land. The 6'6" swingman wasn't afraid to hit the boards, blocked a shot every now and then, and had just a bit of an edge to his game.

 

This year, Van Scyoc should be the main man for the Bulldogs. The better he is, the better off the team will be.Van Scyoc needs to shoot more free throws, avoid high-turnover games, and grab a few more offensive rebounds. There is a good chance he can, and will, do all those things and possibly more.

 

In the middle of last season, Van Scyoc was asked during an interview why he chose to attend The Citadel. His answer:

I really wanted to go someplace where I could make a difference. The Citadel is one of the few schools that has never been to the NCAA tournament. Winning hasn’t happened a lot here, and to be able to help them do that, that would be big for me.

I like that quote. I like it a lot.

 

- At this point, the status of C.J. Bray for this season is uncertain. It would be a big lift for the Bulldogs if he is able to contribute.

 

Two years ago, Bray started 18 games for The Citadel and was particularly effective on the defensive glass. He also showed flashes of a nice inside-outside game. Bray is athletic enough to have been offered a football scholarship by Arkansas.

 

- The Citadel's basketball team traveled to Canada in August and played three exhibition games against Canadian universities. Perhaps the most intriguing performer in those three contests for the Bulldogs was freshman forward Brian White.

 

White is only 6'6", 180 lbs., but early returns suggest he plays "bigger" than his size. As Van Scyoc noted, White "doesn’t look the part but he can get it in there and mix it up".

 

- Another freshman post player who will get a chance to show his stuff is 6'8" Dutchman Tom Koopman. I don't know anything about him, but Chuck Driesell says Koopman "enjoys playing defense", so he has that going for him, which is nice. Total consciousness for Koopman is sure to follow.

 

- Nate Bowser is a 6'9", 210 lb. forward/center from Fort Worth. I am not sure if the original plan was to redshirt him (or Koopman) for this season, but the loss of Horgan probably ended any chance of that happening.

 

Like Sledge, Bowser is from Texas, so there is decent karma potential for The Citadel. Also, "Nate Bowser" is a great name for a menacing power forward. To become truly menacing, however, he probably needs to gain some weight.

 

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The Citadel's non-conference schedule includes road games against BCS opponents Nebraska, Tennessee, and Wake Forest, along with two in-season tournaments. The Bulldogs will again compete in the All-Military Classic, a non-exempt tournament featuring The Citadel, VMI, Army, and Air Force. This year, VMI is hosting that event.

 

Towson is hosting the "mainland" portion of the Battle 4 Atlantis. That tournament struggled to find D-1 opponents to play in the side event, which means the Bulldogs will play a neutral-site game against West Alabama, a Division II team.

 

Other teams of note that The Citadel will play out of conference: Navy and Radford (both on the road), and College of Charleston, Presbyterian, and Gardner-Webb (with those three schools coming to McAlister Field House).

 

West Alabama is one of four non-D1 squads that The Citadel has on its schedule, which is at least two non-D1s too many. It should be noted, however, that the military college is far from alone in filling out its home slate with such teams.

 

SoCon schools are playing a total of 32 non-D1 opponents in 2013-14, averaging just under three per school. Last season there were only 18 such matchups in the league (not including the CofC).

 

Clearly, the increase in non-D1 scheduling is partly about trying to fill out a home schedule as a low-major, with the reduction of the SoCon's league schedule to 16 games probably a factor. I do wonder, though, if the conference is trying to "game" the RPI to a certain extent.

 

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The Citadel was picked to finish last in the Southern Conference by both the league's coaches and media members. It is hard to argue with that collective assessment.

 

The Bulldogs lost their top scorer and rebounder from a team that finished next-to-last in the league last season. There is a possibility that the Bulldogs' 4 and 5 spots will be manned almost exclusively by freshmen.

 

In addition, the defensive woes for last season weren't just a blip, but a pattern. The Citadel has been very poor on defense throughout Chuck Driesell's tenure at the school, ranking 314th, 294th, and 346th nationally in defensive efficiency (per KenPom) in those three seasons.

 

Best-case scenario for the Bulldogs: the team's turnover rate recedes to the national average. Matt Van Scyoc becomes an elite SoCon player, and at least two of his teammates become major offensive forces as well. The freshmen prove to be tougher-than-expected interior defenders, and The Citadel's defensive eFG declines dramatically, falling to 48%.

 

A raucous crowd at McAlister Field House cheers on the cadets to victory after victory. Whenever Tom Koopman scores, the Bulldogs' radio play-by-play man Danny Reed yells, "Koop with the hoop!" as love-struck CofC co-eds throw tulips in the air to show their appreciation for the Dutch sensation.

 

Worst-case scenario for the Bulldogs: the team remains unable to stop opponents from scoring at will. C.J. Bray is unable to play. The Citadel struggles in and out of conference play, and its win total from last season is cut in half, from eight to four.

 

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I think it's fair to say that The Citadel's fan base is skeptical that the best-case scenario outlined above will come to pass. That is completely understandable.

 

However, games aren't played on paper. The Bulldogs have an opportunity to prove a lot of people wrong.

 

Let's see what happens.

Z Mason is the Man.....

Z Mason is a potentially dominant force in the SoCon. Talk has been that he hopes to be among the leaders nationally in rebounds. He is a physical presence, even if he is undersized. He can play powerfully, but he can also step back and shoot the three.

In fact, Z has been shooting more threes in the preseason than previous years. Given Coach Will Wade's three point system, don't be surprised if Z Mason is shooting a lot more threes this season, and making a decent percentage.

But the thing that Z Mason has to provide is he has to be the heart and soul of this team. He needs to be the one that is the emotional leader and the physical leader of this team. I truly think he was only scratching the surface last year. I am so excited to watch Z Mason play this year.

On a team that is lacking senior leadership, Mason will be the senior leadership. On a team lacking any experienced physical presence (TJ Williams really needs to work out), Mason will be the experienced physical presence. That's why he's so important.

If the Mocs have a special season, Mason will almost certainly be one of the main reasons. He will be in the discussion for Player of the Year in the SoCon. He already was on the preseason All SoCon team (a ten player team). He is one of the most respected players in the SoCon as it is.

If this season goes the way Moc fans are hoping, he may be even more than that.

It's a shame. I truly believe that Mason is one of the best players to come through Chattanooga in a while. If the Mocs do not put together a magical season this year, Mason's career will go largely unappreciated by many without a SoCon ring. That's what makes this season so important from my perspective. I hope Mason goes down as one of the better Mocs players in recent years. To have that happen, he probably needs to be part of a memorable team. Can this team be that memorable team?

It's almost time to start finding out.

From right now, about 450 hours until tip off.

GO MOCS!

Elon & Davidson the co-favorites- Mocs 7th?

In the SoCon preseason poll that was released this past week, Elon was considered the favorite, but Davidson was right on their tail. Virtually, the two are considered co-favorites.

The Mocs were all the way down at seventh in the SoCon.

Look at the Mocs. This team finished seventh in the SoCon last year. They lost Drazen Zlovaric, who, while sometimes productive, was not the difference maker he was expected to be in his senior year. Dontay Hampton also is gone- but he was injured for most of the year. The Mocs should not be expected to experience much of a drop off from last year's production, talent-wise.

College of Charleston is gone from the league. That means that from the returning teams, the Mocs finished with the sixth best record a year ago.

So the Mocs get a new head coach, after most people viewed John Shulman as someone who was not getting the most out of the Mocs program. Will Wade has injected excitement into the program. Many people expect him to make a game or two difference right off the bat.

If that's true, the Mocs could easily be picked to finish fourth or fifth in the SoCon, and that's without doing anything truly outlandish in assumptions. The Mocs should be able to finish that high just with a few breaks going their way.

I think the Mocs are underrated in the preseason rankings. Maybe not. We'll all find out together. Should be a fun day.

GO MOCS!

Appalachian State Preview: Time To Compete

The 2013-14 Appalachian State Mountaineers are a team that will have more expectations and more hopes this season than before. With how the season ended on an uptick last March, there will be the hope that the team can pick up the school after the drop off this fall on the gridiron. There's also the ever-present cloud of Jason Capel's contract being up after this season. With a 44-49 record in three years to go along with falling APR scores, constant turnover and the Sun Belt move upcoming, there's an uphill battle for this coaching staff. However, there are factors that will play in their favor such as a core returning unit, a favorable schedule, a strong freshman coming in and Capel's improving coaching abilities that could help this team surprise some people.

 

1) Returning players

Capel's Crew returns most of the team from last year. Gone are all-around contributor Nathan Healy and strong sixth-man Jamal Trice. Also gone is project-turned-viral-sensation Brian Okam who graduated and is playing his final year of eligibility at Winston-Salem State. Also gone from the team are last-man-on-the-bench Bennett Rutherford and Jonathan Frye, who never quite got over his concussion and didn't played a minute.

The biggest question is who will pick up the productivity left by Healy, who led the team in rebounds, three-pointers made, minutes, shots made, steals and blocks? Most importantly, who will be the leader that Healy was? Expect everyone to pick up some of the lost productivity here and there, but a single player has to step up and be that leader.

The best returning player is small forward Jay Canty who will need to pick up some of Healy's numbers this year and control the game on both ends. He's probably the best player App has right now.

 

One of the potential surprises is point guard Chris Burgess, who struggled early in his freshman year but developed very well. He's the only true PG and will be vital against the pressing teams, especially since other teams saw how the press worked at times last year against App State.

Then you have the joined-by-fate guard duo of Tab Hamilton and Mike Neal. Neal should be the shooting guard who can also be the second point guard. Hamilton has his flaws and could be in for a rude awakening if he's beaten out for a starting spot by Burgess, but can still contribute as a pure shooting guard.

The lone senior on the squad is forward Tevin Baskin, who is in his second year with the program after transferring in. Last year he played in every game but didn't start once. This year Baskin looks to be a starter and needs to pick up the productivity left behind by Healy that Canty doesn't. He needs to cut down on the fouls and average 24-28 minutes a game this season as his post presence and leadership will be needed.

The returning player that could be the most exciting in sophomore power forward/center Michael Obacha. He is listed at 215, but that is no longer true and he is even more muscular now. If he can compliment Baskin down low, the two could be a dominant force in the paint. Like Baskin, he needs to cut down on the fouls as he averaged 3.7 a game. At times it seemed like a race between Obacha and Baskin to see who got to four fouls first.

The other returning players are sophomore guard Frank Eaves, sophomore forward Rantavious Gilbert and forward Tommy Spagnolo. Eaves and Spagnolo will have a hard time breaking into the rotation, but Gilbert has the size (6'8”, 235) to come in and make an impact as a power forward/center.

2) New faces

Easily the biggest new face is 6'8”, 250 lb true freshman Mike Kobani. He will not be redshirted barring injury and very well could break into the 8-man rotation that Capel seems to favor.

Also eligible this year is Hartford transfer Dustin Clarke. It's somewhat unlikely he'll break into the rotation unless he blows people away at point guard. Then you have freshman guards Ty Toney and Adam Scott, who won't see the court much this year.

Someone to keep an eye on for in the future is Purude transfer Jacob Lawson, who could fit right in at forward after Baskin's graduates.

This is one of the first years in while that the list of new players is smaller than the returning players.

3) Schedule

Since next season App goes to a conference that has standards when it comes to non-conference scheduling, they got as many sub-D1 teams as the SoCon would allow and more. It really is quite embarrassing to have four of the six non-conference home games be non-counters. There was anger when the schedule was announced.

One good thing about the schedule is a home game on Sunday, December 8th against Charlotte. These two teams really should play every year as there's legit bad blood and the schools are only 100 miles apart.

The Apps are playing in the exempt Global Sports Shootout, which basically gives the mid-major teams involved road dates at NC State and Cincinnati and then a round-robin against each other. The NC State will be interesting because of the Devonte Graham saga (nothing has changed on that front since) which blew up at the end of September. App State hosts Campbell and travels to NC Central as a part of the festivities. Elsewhere on the schedule has trips to Georgia, Winthrop, Presbyterian and Duquesne before conference play kicks off.

There was a gaffe involved where App had a home date with UMKC scheduled as a return leg from last year's game, but the Kangaroos opted out of the date and App couldn't get a replacement because there were already four sub-D1's on the schedule.

The conference schedule giveth early in that there's Davidson and Elon in early January before the students come back, where App has a history of pulling of wins in Belk and should help considerably in the cramped Alumni Gym.

The conference schedule taketh away late in the season when the season ends with three road games, at Furman, at Samford and at Chattanooga. That season finale in the Roundhouse could be a big game with massive seeding implications place like it was last year in Boone.

4) Best case/worst case

Best case for this team would be that Burgess becomes a solid true point guard, Obacha and Baskin dominates down low without foul trouble, Canty works his magic all around and Capel coaches the team up to a 22-7 record, 12-4 in SoCon play and guaranteed post-season play. The SoCon Tournament last year had an inspired performance against Davidson which almost ended in a massive upset and should send some good vibes into 2013-14.

Wost case is that App gets demoralized from the non-conference schedule, gets fat on the cupcakes and then crashes early in January against Elon, UNCG, Davidson and UTC. A losing season would be a massive disappointment. Anything between 16-20 wins would borderline. If the the worst happens, Capel will know he's a dead-man walking and the season will become a lame duck with the Sun Belt move upcoming.

5) Overview/Prediction

There's a solid core of six guys right now (Burgess, Neal, Hamilton, Canty, Baskin and Obacha) who will start and probably will be joined by Kobani and the remaining sixth-man guard is up for grabs to make the eight-man rotation. As far as a season overview, App has a really solid chance to finish high up in this conference. Anything less would be a disappointment. Davidson and Elon will be the favorites and after that, it's a free for all. Capel knows this. He also knows it's contract year and he has the hottest seat in the SoCon by far. Last year did have him coach more than in his first two years combined and inspire the team late in the year to a decent finish after a horrendous start. After two years of APR free fall, which I documented this summer, there should be an uptick next spring but most of those dice have been cast.

If I have to give a prediction on this season, I'd have to go 17-12 and 10-6 in SoCon play for a fourth/fifth place finish and a spot in the quarterfinals against the other fourth/fifth place finisher in a game no one wants to play (since CofC is gone, it's an 11-team conference this year). That wouldn't be good enough for a CIT/CBI berth. That would set up the SoCon Tourney as a lynch-pin for the Capel Era.

SoCon Preview 2013-14

October 18- Appalachian State
October 21- The Citadel
October 22- Chattanooga
October 23- Georgia Southern
October 24- Elon
October 25- Wofford
October 28- Western Carolina
October 29- Davidson
October 30- UNCG
October 31- Furman
November 1- Samford
November 3- Scanning the SoCon Season Preview: Awards
November 4- Scanning the SoCon Season Preview: Question & Answer
November 5- The New Kid on the Block: VMI

And So It Begins.....

For the next 146 days (at least), there will be at least one daily post on this blog. (Of course, my calculations could be completely wrong.)

The college basketball season is here. Here at last. While my little corner of the college basketaball universe is covering Mocs basketball most intensely, and SoCon basketball more broadly.

There are some exciting columns from new columnists coming this year. I really think you will all enjoy it. I think it should be fun.

It begins tomorrow with a preview of Appalachian State. Each Monday-Friday next week and the following week, there will be one SoCon team previewed. On Sunday, November 3 we will have a Scanning the SoCon with a full SoCon preview. So that is what you should get excited about in the immediate.

In the mean time, there will still be all the previews and reviews of the Mocs games, along with additional articles about the Mocs. Basically, everything you've gotten used to about this blog. When the new features are firmed up, you'll see them.

It should be a great year. This year, as we look ahead to the SoCon, four teams prepare to leave (Appalachian State, Davidson, Georgia Southern and Elon), while three teams prepare to join (ETSU, Mercer, and VMI). With all the change in the air, there is something that is staying the same, and that is that Davidson is right at the heart of the mix for the SoCon title. What will Furman, Georgia Southern and Chattanooga look like with new coaches? How will UNCG react in Wes Miller's second year and all their new faces? Can Elon handle being the official preseason favorite? Western Carolina, Samford and Appalachian State return a lot of talent- where do they fit into the mix? Wofford had a down year last year- can they rebound? The Citadel lost Mike Groselle to graduation and now PJ Horgan to injury. Do they have anything in the tank to move up? The SoCon is full of intriguing storylines this year.

The one thing I can promise you is that we will be with you all the way through. It should be a wild ride. So buckle up.

Here. We. Go.

A Modest Proposal: Messing With the Bubble

Beginning June 17,  a series of  articles titled "A Modest Proposal" will be appearing every other Monday. The dates are June 17, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, September 9, September 23, October 7, and October 21. The ten part series will include ideas for ways to increase attention to the SoCon, Mocs basketball, NCAA basketball, or mid-major basketball. This is part one. Here's a link to all the articles.

As a college basketball fan,  as I discussed in the previous edition of "A Modest Proposal," I want the regular season to mean something. I proposed in that article that we should change up the format of the conference tournaments, so that the best teams were rewarded more fully for their regular season accomplishments.

So what annoys me more than anything else?

When a ninth place team wins a national title- like Connecticut in 2011.

I think there should be a limit on the number of teams per conference that are allowed into the tournament. Think about it. There are 32 Division 1 conferences (unless I am missing something). For 68 teams, that means 2.125 teams per conference in the dance.

I am not proposing two or three teams per conference in the dance, though.

Think about college football. As the sport moves to a four team playoff, most fans seem to think that all four teams should be conference champions that make it. There are some people who think that the four team playoff should consist of the "best" four teams, but most people even recognize that one of those factors should be if they won their conference or not. So why is the discussion not at least somewhat similar in college basketball?

To me, where you finished in your conference should matter. I have no problem with the conference tournament champion getting an invite to the NCAA Tournament (so you're back in Connecticut, 2011!), but I don't understand why we want to see seven, eight, nine teams from a conference in the tournament. Let me ask a question- did Davidson prove more last regular season or did Tennessee or Kentucky (popularly considered the first teams to have missed the tournament last year)? I think they absolutely did. They were 17-1 in the SoCon and deserved a bid to the tournament even if they had not won the SoCon Tournament. Kentucky and Tennessee did not deserve a bid. Yes, they won more games against Top 50 teams. They also got a lot more opportunities. It's not really fair to bash Davidson for the conference they are in. Yes, it's also not fair to just reward a team for playing in a weak conference.

Also, I realize that Davidson made the tournament and  Tennessee and Kentucky did not, but if Davidson had lost in the SoCon Tournament, they would not have been invited. They would not have even been in the discussion.

However, I think that a team that wins their conference has proven more than a team that has finished either just above or right at .500.

I believe that the tournament should have the most deserving teams- not the best teams, necessarily. It's a subtle difference. But it's a huge difference, too. The best teams may not be the most deserving team. Again, I think that a team that wins their conference is more deserving than a team that finishes seventh in their conference. That does not mean that the seventh place team would not beat the first place team head-to-head. It just means that the first place team is more deserving, in my opinion.

So, I'm not sure if the number is correct. But I think that no more than five teams per conference deserve a bid to the tournament. That means that if the committee wants to take a ninth place team in a conference, they are more than welcome to. However, they will still only be able to take a total of five teams in that conference.

That does not guarantee every regular season champ will get in. It just means that a second team from a smaller conference could get a chance to get in, because the nine teams from the Big East won't be getting in. This would hurt conferences that are huge...but maybe they deserve to be hurt a bit.

Who really believes that a ninth place team is the best in the country? That's my question. So why do we want them to compete for the national championship? I have a difficult time accepting anyone outside of the top two or three in a conference being the best team in the country. But I also know that the tournament won't go under 68 teams, so you have to be able to get more teams than that in the tournament. That's why five is a good number. If we disagree on the number, propose another one and I would be happy to consider it.

In reality, I realize that I should probably pick just one of the two between the conference tournament set up and this proposition. I think that these two would put a lot of meaning on the regular season. However, I think only one could reasonably pass. I'm not sure which one I prefer. What about you?

Thoughts on this or any of the rest in the series? Let me know via Twitter (@MocsMania), in the comments, or through e-mail (MocsBasketball97@yahoo.com).

Mocs News & Notes: July 16

--Johnny Taylor has come back to Chattanooga as a graduate assistant. This is incredible news for those of us who remember some of the Mocs best days. He was the star player on the 1997 team that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. He was drafted 17th in the NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, and has proceeded to play fifteen years in professional basketball. So he brings a lot of basketball experience to the sideline for the Mocs. In fact, he is now the oldest on the coaching staff at the ripe old age of 36. He is the senior statesman. That sounds odd.

He also is coming back to Chattanooga to complete his degree. This is really good news for him. If he wants to get into coaching, that is a necessity. He says he is interested in becoming a head coach one day. This is a great opportunity for him. But not only that- it is a great opportunity for Chattanooga basketball to reconnect to their roots and invigorate a fan base that has been apathetic in recent years. The fans that remember those days will be excited by this. It is certainly another right move by Will Wade- another right move. I'm very excited about this move.

--The 2013-14 schedule was announced on Monday morning. Is it a great schedule? I'll quote Will Wade from the interview earlier this summer. "It won't be the best schedule ever." Go check it out and then head back over.

Three non-D1s is a major problem. Covenant, Montreat, and Hiwassee are some of the non-conference games. Yuck.

However, we knew that coming in. Let's cut through those three games and look at the rest of the non-conference schedule. A trip to Radford and a home date against Kennesaw State are included with Covenant and Montreat in the first four games. Radford and Kennesaw State are not pushovers by any means. Radford was roughly equal to the Mocs last year, while Chattanooga beat Kennesaw State last year. There is a real chance to start 4-0, while Radford and Kennesaw do not provide terrible opposition early in the year. I think those are decent mid-major opponents for the Mocs to be playing, and don't have a problem with those two teams.

Then comes the Las Vegas Invitational, where UCLA and Nevada will be the first road games. The Bruins will be good, and the Wolfpack are rebuilding. It is not impossible to think that the Mocs come up with a win in one of those games that would establish in Chattanooga that the Mocs are back. That being said, the Mocs could lose both games.

In Las Vegas, the Mocs will play Morehead State on Thanksgiving and then either IUPUI or Gardner Webb the next day. This is not a great set of teams, though I like playing Morehead Stat, and IUPUI and Gardner Webb are not awful teams. I think this can be an intriguing piece of the schedule. It's obviously one of the most important parts of the early season schedule.

That tournament wraps up on Friday. On Monday, the Mocs head to Georgia. Wow. That's not an easy ten days. Trips to UCLA, Nevada, back-to-back games in Las Vegas against OK mid-majors, and a trip to Georgia.

After Hiwassee, trips to Northern Kentucky and UAB wrap up the pre-Christmas schedule. Both of those are winnable, and there is no reason to think NKU is not winnable and that UAB could not be competitive. Then, the Dr Pepper Classic features a game against new D1 member Grand Canyon. Maine and Middle Tennessee play in the other half. If the Mocs and Blue Raiders both win, there will  be an interesting showdown between two Tennessee schools- Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee.

Finally, in the middle of the SoCon schedule, Eastern Kentucky hosts Chattanooga on February 4. That should be a very interesting, BracketBuster type of game. I'm excited about battling the Colonels in this contest.

The SoCon schedule features playing these teams once: Davidson (road), Elon (home), Georgia Southern (home), The Citadel (road).

Look at the beginning of the SoCon schedule: at Furman, at The Citadel, Samford, Wofford. If the Mocs can figure out how to win on the road, and can beat two teams that are probably middle of the pack SoCon teams at home, they could start the SoCon season 4-0. That would provide a huge confidence boost as the season rolls forward. Only have to play Davidson and Elon (the preseason top two teams in the SoCon) once is an advantage in the schedule, though it does not help the RPI. They don't play Western Carolina until February 13 and 27. The Catamounts are the other team that I think is the most likely to get a bye- so playing them later could be good, because the Mocs will be used to the new system and most ready to beat the Catamounts.

It could all come down to March 1 at home against Appalachian State. Nice way to wrap up the year on Senior Day. Huge night to say good-bye to the Mountaineers in the SoCon, and could be trying to wrap up some position in the SoCon. First? Maybe. A bye? Maybe. We'll see.

I think the schedule sets up nicely to possibly win as many as 20 games. I think it's possible. It's a lofty goal, but an attainable one. If the Mocs are 4-0 heading on their trip to Vegas, that would be a huge start and really start to get the fan base to believe that real change has happened.

GO MOCS! #BelieveBig

A Modest Proposal: Changing Up Conference Tournaments

Beginning June 17,  a series of  articles titled "A Modest Proposal" will be appearing every other Monday. The dates are June 17, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, September 9, September 23, October 7, and October 21. The ten part series will include ideas for ways to increase attention to the SoCon, Mocs basketball, NCAA basketball, or mid-major basketball. This is part one. Here's a link to all the articles.

I love college basketball. I love the regular season. I love the conference tournaments. I love the Big Dance. I love college basketball.

That being said, it is easy to understand why so many fans are fair weather fans that show up after the Super Bowl ends. In a sport where a last place team can go into March and get to keep playing as long as they keep winning, it's easy to dismiss the first three to four months of the season.

And that, on the whole, is bad for the sport. In most conferences, the best team may be forced to play one less game than the last place team, but that's really not a major deterrent to finish last. Yes, I realize that in the SoCon no team that has had to play four games in four days has also won the SoCon Tournament. So there is an advantage. Still, how much of an advantage is it? It's an advantage, but I think it should be a bigger advantage.

Why would smaller conferences want to send their seventh best team to the NCAA Tournament as opposed to their best team? I understand why they want every team to be in the conference tournament. By doing so, it gets fans from every team to potentially buy tickets to the tournament. That helps create some atmosphere at the tournament. But why would they want to not do everything possible to help one of the best teams win and represent the conference?

Therefore, I believe that more of the smaller conferences should employ what I call the West Coast Conference bracket. In this format, there are only eight teams in the conference tournament, but the best two teams get a double bye. It can be done with any size bracket, though. Let's look at an 8 team bracket, 10 team bracket and 12 team bracket.

8 Team
Round 1
5 vs. 8
6 vs. 7

Round 2
4 vs. 5/8
3 vs. 6/7

Round 3
1 vs. 4-5/8
2 vs. 3-6/7

10 Team
Round 1
5 vs.10
6 vs. 9
7 vs. 8

Round 2
4 vs. 5/10
3 vs. 6/9
2 vs. 7/8

Round 3
1 vs. 4-5/10
2-7/8 vs. 3-6/9

12 Team
Round 1
3 vs. 12
4 vs. 11
5 vs. 10
6 vs. 9
7 vs. 8

Round 2
2 vs. 7/8
3/12 vs. 6/9
4/11 vs. 5/10

Round 3
1 vs. 4/11-5/10
2-7/8 vs. 3/12-6/9

In an eight team or ten team league, both of the top two seeds get double byes. In the twelve team bracket, the two seed gets one bye, while the one seed gets a double bye.

Does this guarantee that the best teams will win the conference tournament? No, but it sure helps. Also, it provides distinct meaning to later season games. Some people say, "What if the first and third place teams aren't separated by much at all? That two game difference is sure a big advantage."

I don't care. That provides all the more meaning to the regular season. Think about it. It's a twelve team league. Three teams head into the final weekend fighting for the one, two, and three seeds. How critical would those games be? Under the current twelve team format, sure they matter, but all three of those teams will receive byes in the conference tournament. So that makes those games much more important.

I like the additional meaning that having the regular season champ get an automatic invite to the NIT. I still think this could do even more for the smaller conferences. Sure, I don't think the SEC, ACC, Big East, etc. should move to this format, but a conference like the SoCon, Horizon, Big West, Sun Belt or the OVC should move to a format like this. It would add meaning to the regular season, while also helping get the very best teams in the NCAA Tournament, while not totally eliminating teams from getting hot and getting into the Big Dance.

If you have any thoughts on this and would like to discuss, feel free to comment, tweet, or send me an e-mail at MocsBasketball97@yahoo.com.

A Modest Proposal: Mid Major Friday

Beginning June 17,  a series of  articles titled "A Modest Proposal" will be appearing every other Monday. The dates are June 17, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, September 9, September 23, October 7, and October 21. The ten part series will include ideas for ways to increase attention to the SoCon, Mocs basketball, NCAA basketball, or mid-major basketball. This is part one. Here's a link to all the articles.

The proposal here is that mid-majors should each have two or three of their conference games each week of conference season on Friday night.

Why?

There are two excellent reasons. We'll start with the less obvious, but equally important reason.

Officiating. On Saturdays, mid-major conferences consistently complain about terrible referees, claiming that they have better refs on the weekdays. Why are the refs better on the weekdays? Because there are fewer games for the best refs to be at. Therefore, a higher quality of referee is working the weekday games, in general, at mid-major conferences. On Saturday, the worst (or maybe just the least experienced) refs do the games. The best refs are at the ACC, SEC, or other big conference school. This leads to more bad calls, which could influence who wins the game, and, in turn,  the conference titles. Since seeding has an impact on who wins the tournament, refs can play an impact on who goes to the tournament. Throw on top of that that the winner of the conference regular season title gets an automatic bid to the NIT if they do not win the conference tournament, and refs can have an impact on which school gets the most exposure and monetary benefit from college basketball.

Refs do not always have an impact on the outcome of the game, and I, in fact, think that it is often overrated. But it would help. Some.

The second point is more obvious. Coverage. Every conference has a media deal of some kind. Some with Fox. Some with ESPN. Some with other companies. Television is dying for the one thing that is DVR proof- live sporting events. To build up that inventory, mid-major conferences could provide more of it on a Friday night.

There is very little college basketball on Friday night. There is college basketball every other night of the week. The MAAC, Ivy, and occasionally a big conference (and maybe another one that I am forgetting) plays a game on Friday night.

I think every mid-major conference should start playing games on Friday night. Pick out two or three games for Friday night. Set up TV deals with whatever station to show a doubleheader (or tripleheader, if there is a West Coast conference involved) on Friday night. Make them wildcard games. The channels can pick whatever game they want from the selections. Two weeks out, the station can pick which two (or three games) they want to show from all the mid-major selections. The rest can be shown on-line (ESPN3? New Fox website? I don't know....) and provide a feeling of mid-major Friday night. There can be a limit on how many times a conference can appear on television, so that no one conference gets the biggest advantage from this.

An example: the SoCon could pick out Davidson's trip to Elon, along with Chattanooga's trip to Western Carolina that both could be happening on the same day. Two weeks before the game, ESPN could pick out one of those games to be on ESPN2 if there was not another game that ESPN preferred instead and set the game time for 7:00 PM.  That game would air, and provide great exposure for the SoCon, and the two schools involved on a Friday night. The other game could be on ESPN3 at 7:00 PM on a Friday night.

The drawbacks are few and far between. The biggest drawback is that Friday night is a big night for college kids to go out, so attendance may be hurt. However, that's a small problem to deal with. Saturday night is also a big night for college kids to go out. So moving games from Saturday to Friday will not kill attendance. What about out of town people trying to come to the games? How much does that happen at a mid-major level anyway? Not as much as we'd like to believe. I say this an out of towner who does not get to as many games as I'd like to for my team and would prefer games to be Saturday because it is easier to get to. I would gladly trade that for more coverage of mid-major basketball. For conferences that play on Thursday (like the SoCon), this would make it almost impossible. However, teams playing on Thursday could be pushed back to Monday or something like that.  What if the games were just pushed from Thursday to Friday? Their Saturday games could be pushed to Monday. It would not change much in terms of school time missed, I don't believe. There may be some other student athlete problems that I am not fully taking into account.

It is a simple thing, and yet, it would help provide coverage to mid-majors, live sporting events for Friday night and better officiating at the biggest mid-major games. I think this is a total winner for conferences.

If you have any other thoughts on this idea, feel free to share them with me in the comments section or through e-mail at mocsbasketball97@yahoo.com

Why I Don't Think The Mocs Should "Dream Big"

Over the last decade, four mid-major teams have been to the Final Four. Butler advanced twice to the national championship game out of the Horizon League. George Mason and VCU got to the Final Four out of the CAA. Wichita State advanced to the Final Four this past season out of the Missouri Valley Conference.

It seems that many years teams advance to the Elite Eight from mid-major conferences. Even Davidson out of the SoCon advanced that far a few years back.

Florida Gulf Coast advanced to the Sweet Sixteen as a 15 seed just this past season.

If anything, the mid-majors have proven recently that it is not only possible, but doable for a team to advance far in the NCAA Tournament, no matter what seed they have.

The Mocs last advanced in the NCAA Tournament back in 1997, when they got to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to Providence, in a game they could have easily won.

Everyone talks about "dreaming big" and hoping that one day the Mocs will advance to the Final Four, championship game, or (wow) even win the national title. It would be a miracle and many Mocs fans over the years have woken up from a nice dream where something like that happened, or have daydreamed about the possibility. They've thought about it. They've dreamed about it.

Thinking big. Dreaming Big.

I'm sick of it.

You know- when I was ten years old I had a dream. I dreamed that I was Batman....and flying. This didn't make any sense, because Batman can't fly. Also, I'm not Batman. This is a shocker. I know everyone is stunned by this.

When I woke up, I knew the dream wasn't real. I knew there was no chance I was going to be able to fly. I knew there was no chance that I was going to be Batman.

It's time to stop dreaming, because dreams aren't real.

It's time to start believing. Belief is something that people really feel from within. When people believe in something, they know that it is true with every fiber of their being. There are times of doubt and struggles to believe at time. But in the end, generally people come back to believing.

From this point forward, I want everyone to start Believing Big. The players, the coaches, the fans, everyone. Give up on dreaming. Believing is what needs to be done.

From this point forward, I am going to believe that the Mocs are going to do great things. This program is destined for greatness. If VCU can do it, if George Mason can do it, why not Chattanooga? No- really. Why not the Mocs?

The recruiting will have to be superb. The player development will have to be great. The effort from the players will have to be spectacular. The gameplan will have to be perfect. The fan support will need to grow, be loud and be proud.

That's asking a lot. But it can happen. It can happen here. I'm going to Believe Big from now on. I plan on posting on a lot of my Twitter posts #BelieveBig from now on.

It's my mantra to remind me that the Mocs can get there. We can do it. We just have to put the perfect effort in from the top to the bottom of the program. It's time to get there.

With a new coach in Will Wade and new enthusiasm filling up the program, it just feels like this program is ready to explode again.

Yes, my optimism may wind up killing me here. But I am tired of just having expectations of showing up and winning some games, and getting to the NCAA Tournament sometimes. I want to believe that bigger things are possible.

Join me. I think you Mocs fans want to believe that too.

It's time to believe big.

GO MOCS!

A Modest Proposal: Mid-Major Madness

Beginning June 17,  a series of  articles titled "A Modest Proposal" will be appearing every other Monday. The dates are June 17, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, September 9, September 23, October 7, and October 21. The ten part series will include ideas for ways to increase attention to the SoCon, Mocs basketball, NCAA basketball, or mid-major basketball. This is part one. Here's a link to all the articles.

ESPN announced last winter that BracketBusters would not be continued past 2012-13. People had all kinds of reactions to this. Some praised it, saying that BracketBusters just hurt the losers and did not help the winners. Others were upset about it, saying that BracketBusters helped mid-major programs schedule semi-quality opponents, home-and-home.

There were rumors that something else would come up sparked by this quote in the linked article by ESPN:

"We'll continue to work with our conference partners to develop new, creative events to further grow the sport. Our goal is to maintain the BracketBusters brand in some fashion in the future."

Ummm....OK. So where is this "creative event" to maintain the "BracketBusters brand"?

The one thing we all agree on is that the mid-majors could use a high profile event on their schedule early in the season. So here is a new solution that could be a start to the answer to this problem.

I don't know how to pull this off. My main problem? I don't know where you schedule the event that I am talking about. Where does it get played that people would actually show up? I'm not sure. I also know that all of these conferences do not have deals with the same networks. That's a problem. I'm not sure how this gets done with that being the case. I don't care. Let's try to get it done. There are plenty of smart people out there that can figure this out.

There are quite a few mid-major conferences willing to participate in something like. To start things off, we need to narrow down what conferences are participating to just sixteen conferences.

Those conferences are the Patriot, America East, Northeast, Metro Atlantic, Southern, Big South, Atlantic Sun, Colonial, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Mid Eastern Atlantic, Southwest Athletic, Big West, Big Sky, Southland, and Summit. (If anyone wants to argue about who should participate, that's not really the point. The point is- sixteen mid-major conferences.)

Each of those conferences will pick one team to represent them. A particular team is only allowed to participate once every four years, just like any other exempt tournament.

The conferences are pre-divided up into four "regions." It's not 100% based on geography, but it is mostly. The conferences in the "regions" will rotate hosting the four team tournaments over a four year period. So each conference will get to host a four team tournament once every four years.

I think that the "Final Four" of this tournament could be a really compelling and deserves a big stage. But I don't know where you play it that people would actually be able to attend. I do think that when you play this in early to mid-November, you can attract some attention. It will give quality games to each team participating in the tournament. If ESPN, or whatever network, promoted this heavily, it could be a really big deal.

Each team at each site would play two games, including at the Final Four. It could be branded Mid- Major Madness and attract fanfare to mid-majors. It would be in the middle of football season, but could get people interested, because of March- much like Feast Week garners attention. Putting the focus on this tournament (at least the Final Four portion) as a way to see what teams could be Cinderella in March would get some people's attention- even in the midst of football season.

Also helping it would be the consistent rivalry between conferences. The winner of each "region" would have bragging rights over the other conferences in their region.

Here are the regions:

Region 1:
Patriot
America East
NEC
MAAC

Region 2:
Southern
Big South
Atlantic Sun
CAA

Region 3:
Horizon
OVC
MEAC
SWAC

Region 4:
Big West
Big Sky
Southland
Summit

I'm curious to hear other people make suggestions for ways to improve this, because I do think there are ways to improve it. I just think there needs to be a discussion about ways to make sure that mid-majors get more coverage now that BracketBusters are going away.

If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with me privately (mocsbasketball97@yahoo.com) or in the comments. Let's get this conversation started.

SoCon News & Notes

News & Notes: The Realignment Edition

Mocs Offseason News & Notes

News & Notes July 16
News & Notes June 5
Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Look Ahead

A Modest Proposal: The Full Series

June 17: Mid-Major Madness
July 1: Mid-Major Friday
July 15: Changing the Conference Tournaments
July 29: Messing With the Bubble

Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational Look Ahead

The Mocs will be playing on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after Thanksgiving in Las Vegas in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. We do not know the official match-ups yet.

Here is what we do know. The Mocs will likely play two games against teams from the "A" level on their campus. The "B" level teams will compete in a four team tournament in Las Vegas.

We also know who those teams are, their 2012-13 record and final RPI.

A Level
UCLA (25-10, 26)
Missouri (23-11, 36)
Nevada (12-19, 171)
Northwestern (13-19, 168)

B Level
Chattanooga (13-19, 292)
IUPUI (6-26, 326)
Morehead State  (15-18, 172)
Gardner Webb (21-13, 194)

So what does this mean for the Mocs? Well, rumor has it that the Mocs will be playing UCLA, Missouri on the road. That's good for the RPI. Missouri and UCLA both probably won't be quite as good as last year, but both are probably better than Nevada and Northwestern still. Winning is unlikely against either, though you never know. Still, playing them will not be a drain on the RPI, which is a very good thing.

Now, looking at the Las Vegas portion of the tournament, and where the Mocs can really hope to be competitive. IUPUI should be improved from a year ago. Gardner-Webb is losing probably their two best  players- Tashan Newsome and Kevin Hartley. Morehead State is losing their top scorer from a year ago, Milton Chavis.

So- there you go. I believe any of these four schools could win in Las Vegas and that all are going to be decent teams. All could be a moderate drag on the RPI (lower than 250) but not a terrible drag (I believe that all will be ranked in the Top 300- better than several SoCon teams).

The games last year featured Cornell, Presbyterian, Florida A&M, and Longwood. They started on the first day at 2:00 PM and 4:30 PM Eastern time. On the second day, the losers played at 3:00 PM and the winners played at 5:30. So set aside some time on Thanksgivings to watch at 2:00 or 4:30, more than likely. Schedule the turkey dinner around it. Go on and start doing that now. Or plan your trip to Las Vegas. Whichever you prefer. It does not appear that any of the games a year ago were available on ESPN3 or any network. I'm not sure if this year will be any different. Hopefully, there will be some internet availability.

I am very interested in seeing how this November tournament goes. It will tell us a lot about where the Mocs stand early in the year. The Mocs will be a more experienced team this year than they were last year. With Will Wade in the mix, how will they look? These two games will tell an early story.

The season is slowly working its way towards us. I am so ready for this thing to get started.

GO MOCS!

Interview with Coach Wade

I got the great opportunity to talk to the Mocs new head basketball coach, Will Wade, on Thursday night.

Before I get to the full transcript, let me start by saying the things that won't come across in the written word. Wade was very energetic and very articulate. He was fired up about coaching at Chattanooga. I hung up from the phone call very excited about the future of Chattanooga basketball. Even more than I had been- which is saying something. I hope that comes off in the transcript.

Below is the transcript from the phone call I had with Coach Wade on Thursday night.

Q. You said that you told Shaka Smart three years ago that Chattanooga was your top choice for job you’d be interested in. What attracted you to the job?

Wade: When I was growing up in Nashville it was Chattanooga’s heyday in the nineties. I knew there was great potential here for growth. My cousin played football here, so I knew a lot about the school and had a familiarity with it. The more I learned about the city and area, it became obvious it would be a good spot. I knew that it had been really good in the past and that my cousin loved it there and coached football there when I said that to Shaka. Now the more I found out about it through the interview process and the city- it was even better than I thought. So I just kind of had a gut feeling initially because I had more information on it than any of the other schools because of my family. The longer I’ve been here, and I’ve only been here three weeks, the stronger I feel about it.

Q. You’ve brought a renewed energy to the program. Fans are excited about Chattanooga basketball. How do you plan on keeping that energy going as you go forward?

Wade: I am an energetic guy. There are five core values in the program and enthusiasm is number two. It’s something I believe in. I want to be the most enthusiastic team every night. I want our players to be enthusiastic every day about being here and playing. I run the whole thing off of enthusiasm. I think our fans and the people of Chattanooga are going to see a blue collar team that plays really hard and is really enthusiastic about being there and playing every night. You only get 35 or 40 chances to play a year. You need to be fired up those days. You need to be fired up every day that leads to those days. I think people and fans and the town will respect a blue collar, enthusiastic, hard working team and really get behind them.

I think you keep the energy going by your style of play, and keeping enthusiasm. I’m not going to stop.  This is who I am. This is what I believe in. I haven’t turned down a speaking engagement since I’ve been here, and I don’t plan to as long as it fits into my schedule. We’re just going to keep spreading the word. Once we get them into the arena we’re going to show them a highly enthusiastic team, a highly enthusiastic coaching staff, a highly enthusiastic program that plays incredibly hard. There will be a level of respect there. That’s what you use to keep it going until it reaches a crescendo.

Q. You said the number two value was enthusiasm. What are all five of the core values?

Wade: Appreciation is number one. Enthusiasm is number two. Competitiveness is number three. Unselfishness is number four. Accountability is number five. Appreciation is the top one, but the other ones are not really in an order.

Q. You’ve been on some staffs with some great coaches- Shaka Smart, Tommy Amaker, and Oliver Purnell. What did you take from them as you’ve moved into a head coaching position yourself?

Wade: We’re not going to be all VCU or all Harvard. As an assistant, you take things you like from each guy. One thing I think Coach Purnell is one of the top guys in the country at building programs and the structure of your program. So a lot of the structure of the program and how we do things will be exactly like what Coach Purnell did at Clemson while I was there and now at DePaul. A lot of it is what we did at VCU because we both learned it from Coach Purnell. A lot of the nuts and bolts of how I structure the program will come from him.

A lot of the recruiting philosophy comes from Coach Amaker. I think he’s absolutely one of the elite level recruiters in the entire country. I learned so much just being around him, going to home visits with him, listening to him on the phone, and just the way he had a vision for that Harvard basketball program and was able to articulate that to recruits and the team. I think that’s critical, because when Coach Amaker got to Harvard, there wasn’t a whole lot to sale. They had never won the Ivy League and had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1946. It was tough sledding. He had an unbelievable vision and was able to articulate that and getting people enthusiastic and excited about the program. That’s similar to what we have to do here. Chattanooga had a lot more success more recently. But we’ve got to be able to sell our vision for this program and to be passionate about our vision for this program and get people to buy into it. I learned a lot of that from Coach Amaker.

Obviously, with Coach Smart, he’s been a phenomenal mentor for me and resource. Actually, I got off the phone with him about twenty minutes ago for some things. A lot of what we do offensively and defensively will be similar. We’ll add our own kick and twist based on certain experiences we have. A lot of the culture of our program and the building blocks of our program, from the core values, to the way we train, to the way we practice and all that sort of stuff will have a heavy influence from Coach Smart.

Q. You just mentioned that you will be similar and different philosophically from what VCU did. You have mentioned the Chattanooga Chaos defense in the past. How will that look different and how will it look the same to the VCU Havoc?

Wade:  First of all, the Chaos system will feature both offense and defense. The defense gets a lot of attention and a lot of the bite. At VCU last year, we were Top Ten in the country in scoring offense. The system is offensively and defensively oriented. A lot of times the defense leads to offense. It will be very similar. I handled all of our pressing and defensive adjustments and things like that at VCU. So it’s something that I’m very comfortable with going back to when I was at Clemson. We’ll do some different things. We’ll probably press a little more after misses than we did at VCU. That was something that I’ve studied very hard and really want to implement. We’ll probably add a different press that we didn’t use at VCU that I have a little bit of a background in. So we’ll change up what we’re doing, but the base of what we’re doing is two presses- a man-to-man press and a zone press. It will be almost the exact same as what we did at VCU.

Offensively, I think Coach Smart is one of the smartest offensive minds in all of college basketball so it would be crazy not to borrow from him. We’re going to take a lot of what we learned at VCU and get our guys going downhill and towards the rim. We’re going to shoot a lot of threes and crash the offensive glass. That’s a pretty good formula. With our style of play if we can make threes, limit the other teams threes and get a lot of steals, we’ve got a good chance to win. We don’t necessarily have to do all three. If we can get two of those three to hit our numbers, we’re going to be in really good shape to win the game. We have a formula already to figure out if we did it or not.

Q.  How do you think the current roster fits into that philosophy?

Wade: I think there’s some really good pieces for it and guys that we’ll have to adjust roles for and find roles for and tweak what we do. I’m not going to try to fit a square peg in a round hole. We might have to pre-rotate some stuff. We might have to change the way we do some things. I’m comfortable with that. There definitely are some very good pieces on the roster for pressing, and we’re going to get the most out of those guys. We’re going to find the guys who may be not the best pressers in the world or the best for the system and we’re going to find a role for them to. We’re going to find a way for them to play and find a niche that they can have on our team that contributes to winning and can help us succeed.

Q.  You kept Casey Long on the staff. How important was keeping someone with a connection to the current roster?

Wade:  It was really important. I did not know Casey very well, but I got to know him really well really quickly. I did a lot of calls on him and a lot of background on him. He came up absolutely top notch. I call him “The Mayor” because everywhere I go in town, everyone knows him. He’s got a great smile and a great personality. I thought he would be a great fit and do a great job. He’s surpassed everything I thought he would be. He’s phenomenal. He just did a tremendous job in the interim of keeping the team together, keeping the guys working out, keeping the guys on track for the most part academically. He did a really good job in really tough circumstances. I recognized that right away. He just has a way about him with people. He’s unbelievable- a caring person, has a great heart, loves the players, loves the town, loves the university, loves the basketball program. He’s been a phenomenal resource to have around. We’d be in real trouble without him. He knows his way around this city and around this university like nobody else. We’re very fortunate that he wanted to stay and that he is here. He’s worked out great.

Q. Obviously, you’re a very young guy. When you hired Wes Long, did hiring someone with head coaching experience play a part in that?

Wade: I was looking for someone with head coaching experience, but I was also looking for somebody who believed in our core values and exuded enthusiasm. He certainly fits the bill with that. I thought it was important for me to have someone with head coaching experience who, when I’m out of the office or handling other things, he can step in. I know and trust Wes. He’s been awesome since he’s been here as well- everything I thought he’d be and more. I knew when I got the job that I was going to hire someone with head coaching experience, but I also didn’t want to lose sight of what’s going to make us good. I really believe in those core values with every bit of my fiber, and he believes in them as well. I didn’t want to lose some of that by hiring someone who had been a head coach. He fits the mold perfectly. He left a really good head coaching job where he was. Queens has explored going Division 1 and has a brand new arena opening. They’ve got all sorts of stuff going on that’s really enticing. I’m happy that he wanted to come here, join us and be a part of it. He’s someone I can bounce ideas off of. He’s in a Chief of Staff type role within our staff. He’s been a head coach for five years and turned a program around. They were 7-21 his first year and 21-7 his last year. They won a couple of conference championships, played and advanced in the NCAA Tournament and got a lot of experience even at a relatively young age.

Q. Turner Battle came from Buffalo. Reading through his profile, there’s not an obvious connection to you. What brought your attention to him?

Wade: First of all, he’s the best guard in our program right now. He was the MAC Player of the Year in 2005. He was a really good player. He coached nine All MAC guards in six years at Buffalo. So that was very attractive. I knew him because when he was playing at Buffalo, Coach Smart was coaching at Akron. Coach Smart took a liking to him and was in touch with him. I got in touch with him through Coach Smart a couple of years ago and we spent a lot of time together at the Final Four multiple times. He’s from North Carolina. That’s an area I recruited very hard at Harvard and VCU. We’d see each other recruiting in North Carolina all the time and grab a meal. We just stayed in touch. I love what he is about, and love his work ethic. He’s great at developing guards. He was what we were looking for in the staff. His track record and character speak for themselves.

Q. News today was that you hired Brooks Savage. Tell me a little about him.

Wade: He’s a jack of all trades guy. We’re fortunate to get him. He left an assistant coaching position in the Big South to come here and be the operations guy. So he can’t go on the road and recruit for us here. There are a lot of things he can’t do. He felt strongly enough to come here and be our ops guy, which is phenomenal. He can do a lot of things. We need a versatile guy in that position. We do not have all the support staff in the world so he’s got to multi-task and do lots of different things. I’ve known him for a long time since he interviewed for a position with us at VCU. Usually when a person interviews for a position and they don’t get it, they stop talking to you. He did not. He stayed in touch and we developed a really close friendship. We stayed in close contact. He did video at Tulane and has done all sorts of statistical stuff. He’s been an assistant at a junior college national runner up and worked with Steve Forbes, a tremendous coach. He’s worked at Presbyterian. He did administrative stuff at Tennessee. He’s got a wide array of experience. He can wear a lot of different hats which is very important in that position.

Q.  You mentioned that you wanted to play more in-state teams in your scheduling. What is your overall philosophy involving money games and scheduling?

Wade: I want to play the best teams that we can that will build our program, drum up the most interest in our program, build our brand within the region and get those guys to come to McKenzie as well. We’re working hard on that. To be brutally honest, we inherited some stuff on the schedule that was tough for us to work around this season. We’ve got a scheduling four year gameplan on exactly what we’re going to do. I think by our second year we’ll be well up and running within that gameplan and have an attractive home schedule. We’ll also have a road schedule that our fans can make it to a lot of the road games. We can drum up interest in areas that we have a lot of alumni. I think it’s really important that we play Belmont, Lipscomb, Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, and Tennessee-Martin. I think it’s really important that we play those guys as much as we can. One- they’re close. Two- they’re programs that we have rivalries with. Our fans work with alumni from the other school. It’s good rivalry. We’re an hour fifteen minutes from Cookeville. I was talking to Steve Payne, their coach. We weren’t able to work anything out for this year, but in the future we were talking about working something out on an equitable date every year in November or early December to try to create a rivalry with them. We’re going to explore all those options and get as many of those guys on the schedule as we can. It just makes sense to play local teams for support purposes. I think it’s good for the fans.

Q. You want to play teams that will come to McKenzie. Should we be making plans for VCU to come anytime soon?

Wade: That’s what everyone asks. Not anytime soon. I’d have a tough time playing Coach Smart. They’re a great program. They’ll have a Top Fifteen team next year, probably even better than that. Now I’m putting pressure on him. He has a hard time playing guys he’s close with. I would too. In fact, it would be really tough on both of us. We’ll attract the best teams we can to McKenzie but I don’t know that VCU will be one anytime soon.

Q. How is the schedule shaping up for next year?

Wade: It’s shaping. We’re working on it. We spend a lot of time on it every day. We’re filling out the best we can with the cards we’ve been dealt. We’re in the process of adding a quality home game. We’re really just setting it up for future schedules. We’re clearing some things off the books so that we can get things wide open for the next couple of years to really aggressively pursue our scheduling philosophy and how we want to do things. We’re finishing it off. I’d be lying to you if I said it was going to be the best schedule you’ve ever seen. I do think there will be some exciting games. We’ve added some pop to it, which I’m excited about. In future years, it will be much, much better.

Q. When will the schedule be released?

Wade: I’m hoping by the end of the month. Lots of administrators on vacation right now, so it may not quite be that soon. We have a pretty good framework in place.

Q. You’ve signed two guys since you were hired. Justin Tuoyo played for you at VCU, so you obviously know him pretty well.  What will he bring to the table when he’s eligible in the 2014-15 season?

Wade: He’ll bring a lot of athleticism, and great shot blocking. He’s got a lot of room for growth offensively that he can develop into a great offensive player. He’s a very good shooter. He can become an excellent shooter. He’s got great size and great athleticism. He’s very long. Obviously, he won’t be able to help us on the court until 2014-15. But he will invaluable this year as well for a lot of our guys because he knows the system. He knows me as well as anybody. I recruited him for two years at VCU. I know his family. He’ll be a great resource for our guys- what I’m doing, what I’m thinking, what we’re about. I think his value on the court will be great. Down the line, he could be a tremendous player. Coach Smart had a difficult time letting him go because he knew the same thing about his potential. This year will be good for him to help him put on some weight in the weight room and continue to hone his shot, while working on his inside game as well. He can make an impact in 2014-15, but I think 2013-14, he’ll have a big impact on our team off the court.

Q. When Anthanee Doyle signed, you said you liked his shot making ability and a shooter. What else are you hoping to get out of him this year?

Wade: I think he brings three things that we need. He can handle the ball a little bit. He can shoot. He can really guard the ball. He’s long and quick. He’ll be able to hound the ball, engulf the ball, and turn the ball handlers multiple times which will give us trapping opportunities in the backcourt. He’s a great kid, a great student and has been raised the right way by his mother and father. He’ll be a really nice piece for us.

Q. Every coach has sorts of kids they look for to recruit. What are you looking for when you go out?

Wade: We’ve got a very specific recruiting profile that has twelve to fifteen attributes that we’re looking for and that we rate kids on. We put them in a formula and we can spit out some data on exactly what we’re getting. Mainly, we’re looking for guys with great stamina who have a great appreciation for being able to play at Chattanooga. We want guys who are long who have a high motor who can shoot the ball. There’s a bunch of other things in there, but that’s kind of the basis. One thing we’re never going to sacrifice on is character for talent. So we’ll take a guy who may be too skinny or too short for the height requirements for their position (which I don’t really understand), but we’re never going to sacrifice on character or get a guy who academically is not prepared to graduate from Chattanooga.

Q. Rico White played a lot of point last year, but is not a true point guard in most people’s opinion. What do you think of where he will be playing next year?

Wade: Rico can play point guard. But I also think he is really good at the shooting guard position or as a combo guard. He shot 45% as a freshman and 28% as a sophomore when he was playing more point. A lot of that was late shot clock stuff. I’ve talked to Rico in depth about that in the short time I’ve been here. He will certainly factor at point some, and so will Anthanee (Doyle). I feel confident we will be fine at that position.

Q. What are your thoughts on some of the shifting membership in the Southern Conference?

Wade: That’s just the world we live in right now. I know the Mercer coaching staff pretty well. They won the Atlantic Sun last year and will be really good again this year. ETSU is great for us. We talked about playing in-state teams and teams that our fans are familiar with. Certainly ETSU is at the top of that list in terms of having another rival. VMI is a team we have played a lot in the past. They are all three teams we have a familiarity with. I think the additions are good for the league.

One thing I will say. I really don’t care about who else is in our league, or conference alignment, or how it makes everything look. I think our job is to make Chattanooga basketball to be the best Chattanooga basketball can be. If we put all of our focus on making Chattanooga great, and put all our energy and time into being great at Chattanooga, we’re going to win no matter who is in our league. That’s just the way I feel. It’s got a lot of potential, and has a lot of great things to it. If we put all that time into our players, and focus on Chattanooga, everything else will take care of itself, regardless of who is in the league or out of the league. My sole focus is on Chattanooga and whoever is in the Southern Conference we will look forward to playing them and competing with them and developing good rivalries with them.

News & Notes: The Mocs Edition

So many news and notes to get to. Yesterday, we hit on SoCon realignment. Today it's time to hit on everything going on with the Mocs since the hiring of Will Wade.

Let's do some bullets and analysis.

--The coaching staff has been filled out. Casey Long has been retained. Virtually everyone who is a Mocs fan applauds this decision. Long is a former Moc and had been in charge of the team since Coach John Shulman left the program. Based on what we're seeing from the outside, Casey Long had been doing a good job of keeping the team together. I think Long will do a great job.

The second hire was Wes Long. He is the former head coach at Charlotte's Queens University, a Division II school. Will Wade said that he was going to be instrumental in the half court defense and working with the post players. He was successful at Queens, and should be a solid addition to the staff. It is good to have a former head coach on the staff since Wade is inexperienced in that department. Wes Long is young, but has that experience. Looks like a good hire from here.

The third hire was Turner Battle. He has been an assistant at Buffalo. He played in the NBA Developmental League after starring at Buffalo. He worked with the Bulls backcourt and recruited. He helped develop a really strong backcourt, that has featured during his time a player that lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, and one that is the Bulls single season assist leader. Very remarkable.

The coaching staff is young, but seems full of energy. I am very excited to see what this team can do on the recruiting trail and with the team next fall.

--Two new recruits that we will take one bullet at a time. Anthanee Doyle is the first one I'll discuss. He is a combo guard who played a lot of point guard in high school. He will be a freshman. The Mocs, with the loss of Jonathan Stark to this year's recruiting class and Farad Cobb from last year's team, desperately need someone who can play point guard. He was recruited by Queens prior to Long leaving and coming to Chattanooga. He is long. He can make threes, which is something Wade really values. Can Doyle push for the starting point guard spot? I'm not sure if he can as a freshman. It should be interesting. I like Doyle's 6-4 height and length. I like his shooting. Could be a really good find in the Chaos defense.

--The second recruit is Justin Tuoyo. He is 6-9 and transferring from VCU. He will have to sit out a year and will have three years of eligibility starting next year. He was ranked #84 in the country coming out of high school. He averaged a double-double as a junior and senior in high school. He came up with 7.6 blocks per game his senior year. He did not play a lot for the Rams. That being said, he should be tremendous in this situation in 2014-15. He is very long and athletic. I see no reason to think he will not succeed at Chattanooga. He will have success. Combine him with TJ Williams and Christian Kennedy (both over 6-8 and incoming freshman), and this class has a lot of size. The Mocs are going to probably be the biggest team in the SoCon if all three of those guys work out reasonably well for three years once Tuoyo is eligible. This is very exciting. He is also already familiar with Coach Will Wade and his defensive philosophies. He should be good in the Chaos defense.

GO MOCS!

News & Notes- The SoCon Realignment Edition

So many news and notes to get to. Where do we even begin? Tomorrow we'll hit on the recruits added and the coaching staff.

Let's do some bullet points with some long analysis.

--Elon, Davidson, Appalachian State, and Georgia Southern have all joined College of Charleston in leaving the SoCon. Elon is joining the Cougars in going to the CAA. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are going to the Sun Belt. Davidson is going to the Atlantic 10. What does it all mean?

From a men's basketball perspective (which, let's face it, is what I care most about on this blog), it's bad, but not as bad as you might think. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern were mediocre at basketball at best. The Eagles have been average to below average most years in basketball, even by SoCon standards. Appalachian State has been a middle of the road program for most of their existence. Elon has recently gotten good, but they have below average facilities, and have only advanced to one SoCon Tournament Championship Game (that I can think of off the top of my head).

Davidson and College of Charleston hurt. No questions asked. The Cougars have not won a SoCon Tournament except for once in their time in the league, but they were a quality program, that drew national attention because of what John Kresse had done at the school and Bobby Cremins time at the school, not to mention the "destination location" of the school. Davidson has been the most successful school nationally in the SoCon for the past decade.

That being said, Chattanooga has been down for much of the time the Cougars have been in the SoCon. There is reason to believe (and hope) that with Wade taking over the program, maybe the Mocs are ready to jump back to being a leader of the SoCon, and replacing either Davidson or College of Charleston as a program that draws national attention. If they do that, then the conference needs one more team to step up and join them to replace Davidson and College of Charleston as a consistent team near the top. Truthfully, it seems logical to me that UNCG or Wofford would be that team from the current members. Wofford is a private institution like Davidson, and has had moderate success nationally in recent years, reaching the NCAA Tournament twice and being competitive in both NCAA Tournament games. UNCG is in a major city, play a very strong out of conference schedule, and would be a nice program to get going. Samford? Furman? The Citadel? Western Carolina? Any of those would be OK, but probably would not carry the national cache of either of the other two. Samford is in Birmingham, and they are not a bad option. Furman and The Citadel don't seem like they are ready to make that leap at the moment. Western Carolina I would not mind being strong, but I'm curious if they would carry the national cache. Of course, Wofford's two NCAA Tournaments rose them to the level where I think they could, so any of these teams can get there with a couple of NCAA Tournament appearances. With Davidson (and the others) out of the picture, there is room for anyone to win the SoCon...and anyone to make that leap.

--But what of the new schools joining? ETSU, Mercer, and VMI have all formally accepted invitations to join the SoCon. They will join beginning in the 2014-15 season. What do I think about these teams joining?

I think VMI is fun to watch with their exciting offense. Watching VMI's up and down offense against the Mocs Chaos defense could be a lot of fun in years to come. But all in all, VMI does not bring a ton to the table in the SoCon men's basketball. I'm not sure they really make the SoCon a better conference. They do not hurt the conference, though. They are fine. They also provide a very nice rivalry for The Citadel, who is losing their in-city rivalry with College of Charleston.

ETSU can be a very good addition. They were not a particularly good team last year. Over the last eleven seasons, they have been to the NCAA Tournament four times. In the eight years away from the SoCon, they won the Atlantic Sun twice. They will provide a tremendous rivalry instantly for the Mocs- someone for the Mocs to hate again in the SoCon. Personally, I love ETSU coming back, and think that it does provide some bonus for the SoCon. I think that they CAN join the Mocs atop the SoCon again, and could be the second team, if the Mocs are the first.

Mercer is on the rise. They split with Florida Gulf Coast during the regular season before losing to them in the Atlantic Sun Championship Game. The Bears actually finished ahead of FGCU in the Atlantic Sun regular season by one game. That's the same team that went to the Sweet Sixteen as America's sweethearts for this year. Mercer has not been to the tournament since 1985, but won 24 games last year, and won 26 games in 2011-2012. This is a program on the rise. They are also capable of moving to the top of the SoCon.

--All in all, the SoCon movement has left me feeling like this- it's going to leave the SoCon a little bit down. But I don't think it will be down for the long haul. I think on the whole, if Furman and Chattanooga with their new coaching staffs improve, if ETSU and Mercer bring what I think they can bring to the conference, if Samford continues to improve, and if Wofford can build off of their two NCAA tournament appearances, then this SoCon will be better than last year's. Now, it would be hard to be worse than last year's SoCon. But getting the conference RPI back up into the Top 25 would be good. I think the SoCon can do that with these members. We'll see in history if I'm right or wrong.

Am I too optimistic about the Mocs chances? Few schools care as much about basketball as Chattanooga in the new SoCon. No team has as much tradition as Chattanooga. That makes Chattanooga the prime candidate to step up and take the lead in the new SoCon. Someone has to. The SoCon needs them to. Could someone other than the Mocs do that? Sure. But tradition, fan base, and facilities make Chattanooga the most likely candidate.

I'm sure every other school is saying similar things, though.

It's an interesting time in the SoCon. I'm glad to be along for the ride.

Fetch Me Will Wade.....

It doesn't make a lot of sense, but for some sense this as been running through my head all day long....

Fetch me Will Wade!

Oh well.

Regardless, here we are. Will Wade has been named the new head basketball coach at Chattanooga. You can read about Will Wade here, here, and here.

There's very little for me to add to the three different biographies there.

Regardless, not having anything to add has never stopped me before. So, here goes with my few things to add to the equation.

Wade is known best for being one of the key masterminds behind the "Havoc" defense that VCU played. Their defense got burned on a numerous occasions this year, most memorably by Michigan in their second game of the NCAA Tournament (Round of 32 or third round, depending on what you call it). Quick guards that don't turn the ball over and play disciplined as a team performed well against VCU's defense.

That sounds a little like Davidson. That being said, Davidson does not have just unbelievable guard play. It will be interesting to see the Mocs new defense go up against the Wildcats next year, Davidson's last in the SoCon. They may be a little more like Butler, who VCU dominated last year.

Do the Mocs have the ability to play this kind of defense immediately? I think they do. Quick, long players that play with high energy are how I would describe VCU's best defensive players. If that does not describe Casey Jones and Gee McGhee, I'm not quite sure what does. I think that Lance Stokes also plays like that. Rico White and Z Mason will not be unable to perform at that level, I don't think. Eric Robertson is not as long as some of the others, but he could play well. Jared Bryant? I thought he played decently in the press defense last year.

The Mocs were playing a full court press defense at times last year. It did not always work. Coach John Shulman was trying to spark the team, and it worked at times. I thought the Mocs played their best off of that pressure for much of the year. Now, they will have the opportunity to play like that all year long. I think this is nothing but good for the Mocs. It was a new idea for Coach Shulman- the idea of the press defense will not be foreign to Wade.

I have heard the one word from virtually everyone regarding Wade- whether they were positive or negative about him. They use the word "brilliant" to describe him. I truly believe that that is perfect for Chattanooga. They need someone to come in and orchestrate this thing. He may need to get some assistants with some experience to help him through some of the finer points of coaching. But I think that Wade can be a top level head coach in the right situation. I truly believe this is that right situation.

I think the Mocs have the pieces in place to be a really good team next year. Will Wade will be bringing the "Chaos" defense to Chattanooga. This is truly a great day to be a Moc fan. We'll see where we go from here.

Here's to hoping that everyone decides not to transfer from Chattanooga and that all the recruits stay on board.

GO MOCS!