Scanning the SoCon- Week Three

Welcome to Scanning the SoCon. We've scoured the internet hunting down fans from around the SoCon. There are people from school newspapers, message boards and bloggers. We've come together once again to try to provide a weekly comprehensive look around the SoCon. This is our third year of Scanning the SoCon. Hopefully, it will be the best year yet.

SCHEDULE

Monday

Elon vs. Drexel in Piscataway, NJ (NIT Season Tip Off)

The Citadel at Tennessee (Battle for Atlantis) (FSS)

Samford at UL-Monroe (Roundball Classic)

Tuesday

Elon vs. TBA in Piscataway, NJ (NIT Season Tip Off)

Kennesaw State at Chattanooga
Lees-McRae at Appalachian State

 

Wednesday

Greensboro College at UNCG  (Gulf Coast Showcase)

 

Thursday

Georgia vs. Davidson in Charleston, SC (Charleston Classic) (ESPNU)

The Citadel at Wake Forest (Battle 4 Atlantis) (ESPN3)

Georgia Southern at West Virginia (Cancun Challeneg) (ESPN3)

Western Carolina at Kent State (Coaches vs. Cancer)

Samford at ETSU (Roundball Classic)

Friday

Davidson vs. TBA (Charleston Classic) (ESPN Family)

Chattanooga at Nevada (Las Vegas Invitational)

Niagra vs. Western Carolina in Kent, Ohio (Coaches vs. Cancer)

Appalachian State at North Carolina Central (Global Sports Shootout)

Saturday

Georgia Southern at Old Dominion (Cancun Challenge)

Furman at College of Charleston

USC Upstate vs. Western Carolina in Kent, Ohio (Coaches vs. Cancer)

Samford at Western Kentucky (Roundball Classic)

Sunday

Davidson vs. TBA (Charleston Classic) (ESPN Family)

Wofford at High Point

Chattanooga at UCLA (Las Vegas Invitational) (Pac 12 Network)

POWER RANKINGS

1)      Elon 92 (4)

2)      Western Carolina 85 (2)

3)      Davidson 75 (2)

4)      UNCG 56

5)      Georgia Southern 54

6)      Samford 51

7)      Chattanooga 47 (1)

8)      Furman 41

9)      Wofford 38

10)  Appalachian State 32

11)  The Citadel 23

GAME OF THE WEEK VOTING

Furman at College of Charleston- 2 votes

Others Receiving Votes: Elon vs. Drexel (1 vote), Wofford at High Point (1 vote), Samford at ETSU (1 vote), Georgia vs. Davidson (1 vote), Chattanooga at UCLA (1 vote), Georgia Southern at Old Dominion (1 vote), Western Carolina at Kent State (1 vote)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK VOTING

Stephen Croone, Furman (3 votes)

Jelani Hewitt, Georgia Southern (3 votes)

Others Receiving Votes: Tre Bussey, Georgia Southern (1 vote), Tevon Saddler, UNCG (1 vote), Tom Tankelwicz, Western Carolina (1 vote)

QUESTIONS

Sum up your team.

Chattanooga- The Mocs have beaten who they should have beaten, and rather convincingly, taking down non-D1 Covenant and Montreat. The road loss to Radford was expected before the season. There appear to be real problems with the defense, as Radford (one of the worst shooting teams in D1) shot over 50% from the floor. The good news is that the offense appears capable of scoring in bunches. Z Mason and Gee McGhee are as good as advertised in the new system. Greg Pryor has been a pleasant surprise at point guard so far. The Mocs need to force turnovers to play good defense right now. That will improve as the year goes on. I’m very interested to see how this team responds this week against Kennesaw State before heading out on the West Coast to play Nevada and UCLA, then battling Morehead State and either IUPUI or Gardner-Webb in Las Vegas. Big game Tuesday against Kennesaw State.

Davidson-  Davidson is off to an 0-3 start. There is no shame in losing to Duke, especially the way they shot the ball that night. Losing to UWM was a surprise. Davidson looked pretty good at 44-55 and had a late 1 point lead. Losing to the Panthers again this season was a shock. The Panthers were big, athletic, and did a great job of getting to the free throw line. Virginia is ranked #25. Davidson pulled to within a point early in the second half, but Virginia extended the lead and won by 13. The Cavaliers dominated the paint in scoring and rebounds. Davidson is small this season. Sophomore forward Jake Belford looked really good in the preseason and in the Duke game, but has missed the last two games with an injury. The Wildcats need Jake to make a full and speedy recovery. Davidson's two freshmen forwards will both be very good. Until Belford is back and the freshmen get more experience, the other guys on the roster will have to pick it up.

UNCG- UNCG started out the season by defeating the preseason pick to win the Big South, High Point. G found balanced scoring by putting 4 players in double figures. Forwards Kyle Cain and Kayel Locke led the way with 21 and did a good job matching up with High Point's strong front line. On Tuesday, the Spartans jumped out to a 15 point lead on East Carolina and looked to be on their way to win number two. Unfortunately, a turnover and two somewhat questionable foul calls in the last 30 seconds allowed ECU to escape with an 85-84 victory. In both contests, the young Spartans struggled to put the game away even though they held comfortable leads in the last few minutes. I feel like this could be a re-occurring problem as the season continues. However, the Spartans left fans with hope that this team could really make some strides forward this season. This coming week, UNCG should not be tested as they play non-D1 opponents. Hopefully, these games will give the team a chance to work out some of the chemistry issues and expand their bench.

Signing day has come and gone. Tell us something about your schools’ signees.

Appalachian State- App State signed two players. First was promising G Kendrick Flomo from North Forsyth in Winston-Salem. Also coming in is F Rasheed Worrell from Sispey Valley HS in Coker, Alabama. Too bad they won't be playing for Capel next year.

Chattanooga- The Mocs got some really solid signees. Brandon Maxwell is the son of Vernon Maxwell, and appears to be a very good player. Shaquille Preston was recruited by West Virginia and UTEP and wound up signing with the Mocs. He is a great signee, and they will both aid the backcourt with their length, athleticism and fast motors. Duke Ethridge is a nice JUCO find, and will be counted on to replace Z Mason next year. Jacolby Mobley is another JUCO who will come in and immediately contribute in the backcourt. Combine these guys with the transfer Justin Tuoyo from VCU who will be eligible next year, and the Mocs roster will have a big upgrade.

Davidson- Davidson added a very talented forward named Peyton Aldridge, and two fine local guards--Jordan Watkins and Rusty Reigel. Jordan committed to the Wildcats last year. Rusty is the younger brother of Will Reigel.

UNCG- UNCG picked up commitments from players that it desperately needed. CJ Coleman is a shooter from Indiana. Right now the Spartans are full of point guards that can get to the rim, but really only have 2 players (Paulos, Byrd) that can be considered pure shooters. Coleman will add another to the mix. Quadree Smith (6'8" 290 lbs) and Lloyd Burgess (6'10" 280 lbs) add more size and depth to a UNCG front line that is starting to look like the strength of the team. Smith is ranked as the #6 player in Virginia and is another DMV area connection that UNCG has tapped into the last few season (Kayel Locke, Tevon Saddler). I'm really starting to get excited about the talent level that Wes Miller is bringing to UNCG. I feel like it's been a definitely upgrade over the past 2 seasons.

With Davidson’s loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and 0-3 start, is there anything wrong with Davidson that experience won’t fix?

Chattanooga- There’s two problems for Davidson. One is that replacing Jake Cohen is proving harder than they anticipated. Cohen was a nice player down low, and DeMon Brooks is too, but Brooks isn’t as good without his running mate, it appears at this point. Now at some point, who knows? Maybe he will get used to it. The second thing is that regardless of how talented the new faces are, they just aren’t playing together yet. That will come with experience. Sometimes it takes a full year for it to come together. Sometimes it comes together quickly. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next month or so before we really get an idea of where the Cats are going to be this year. This week in Charleston will be very interesting.

Davidson- I don't think so. Davidson is small in the frontcourt right now. When Belford returns and the freshmen are ready to contribute more, the Wildcats will have adequate size. Fortunately, Southern Conference play doesn't start until January. The Wildcats will be ready for conference action.

UNCG- Davidson has lost to two Top 25 ACC opponents. I don't think anyone could fault them for those losses. The home loss to UWM was the only one that was surprising. In that game, the Wildcats were plagued by an ill-timed case of stagnant offense. Honestly, it's the kind of thing you would expect of a team that is trying to replace the players like Kuhlman, Cochran and Cohen. I don't think that this team will struggle all season, though. By January, I assume that most SoCon teams will not like to see Davidson appear on their schedules.

What should an ideal SoCon schedule look like?

Appalachian State- I would only schedule sub-D1's as pre-season games. With App State,I would schedule Lees-McRae and Lenoir-Rhyne as pre-season games as they're close by and would bring crowds. With a 16-game conference schedule, that is 14 potential non-conference games. I would go on the road for four money games. I would get in a tournament that would be three or four games. The rest would be straight-up home and homes with half local teams and half challenging mid-majors from not in the immediate area. One thing about the Sun Belt is that they have standards when it comes to scheduling. Only one sub-D1 (two this year due to scheduling problems) and only so many money games. I do think non-conference scheduling will get easier in the future as the SunBelt has a 20-game schedule we can get half the SoCon on the schedule. I believe sub-D1's have no place on a regular schedule and it's only done by penny-pinchers, which includes the team I root for.

Chattanooga- You’ve got play two money games at least. Then, it would be nice to get into a relatively good eight team tournament and play three games there against quality teams. That leaves you with about ten out of conference games. I think ideally there would be no non-D1s, but maybe there could be one. In the remaining nine games, they should be six with quality mid-majors home and home. The remaining three games should be two home and one road against low majors. The RPI wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be a quality RPI and there are also some likely wins in that scenario.

Davidson- For years, I've advocated a limit of 1 non-d1 game each year. Though my team is leaving the conference, I'll continue to follow the Southern and would like to see it improve. After the membership stabilizes, I hope that the schools will work together to improve the schedules and limit the number of non-D1 games.

UNCG- I  know that non-D1's are just a part of life as for a lower level D1 program. These programs need home games, to build in a few wins into their schedule and to develop younger players. It's the same reason that high major programs schedule "guarantee games". If I got make my ideal schedule, it would probably consist of 3 money games, 2-3 low major games (mix of home and away), 1 big name home game, a good mix of home-away mid-majors and an exempt tournament. I think every team should be an exempt tournament every year. Having said that, I know that last minute buy outs put schools in a position where they have to bring in non-D1's from time to time. I'm not a fan of having a bunch on the schedule. If I was forced to schedule in order to fill out a home schedule, though, I would definitely do it.

 

 

Daily Dribbles- 11/18/13

--Friday night was utterly disappointing. Western Carolina had a shot against Virginia Tech pre-game, but did not show up. Furman and Elon were up late against Florida Gulf Coast and Charlotte, but both failed to pull it off. Very disappointing evening, particularly for Furman and Elon.

--Drexel-Elon in Piscataway is a huge showdown in the Preseason NIT. In fact, it may be the best opening round game of the whole Preseason NIT. Elon has a real shot at getting to New York and playing in the NIT Final Four. Drexel thinks the same thing. This is going to be very interesting for the Phoenix.

--One bright spot from the weekend? Western Carolina beating Liberty on Saturday night. The Catamounts have looked pretty good so far. Something else that helps? UNC-Asheville (one of the Catamounts victims without Trey Sumler) beat College of Charleston.

--UNCG (and the rest of the SoCon) took care of business against non-D1s over the weekend. UNCG beat Chowan on Sunday night.

SoCon & Mocs OOC Opponents Scores- 11/15-11/17

SoCon

UNC-Charlotte 83, Elon 69
Florida Gulf Coast 70, Furman 69
Virginia Tech 79, Western Carolina 61
Indiana 105, Samford 59
Virginia 70, Davidson 57
Cincinnati 77, Appalachian State 49
Iona 76, Wofford 55
Chattanooga 108, Montreat 51
Western Carolina 68, Liberty 63
The Citadel 83, North Greenville College 53
Georgia Southern 104, Toccoa Falls 50
UNCG 97, Chowan 58

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Georgia Tech 80, Georgia 71
Xavier 79, Morehead State 56
Nevada 92, San Francisco 90
SE Missouri State 76, IUPUI 68
Middle Tennessee 80, Akron 73
Radford 105, Brevard College 57
San Diego 75, Northern Kentucky 44
Gardner-Webb 87, Jacksonville 78
Eastern Kentucky 74, High Point 67
Grand Canyon 91, West New Mexico 41
Morehead State 102, Marshall 94

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/17

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Chowan University at UNCG 2:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Marshall at Morehead State 2:00

Mocs 108, Montreat 51

Yes, the Mocs did what they were expected to do in the first half against Montreat on Saturday evening. But it was what they did in the second half that really impressed me.

The Mocs were ahead 55-34 at halftime, a comfortable 21 point lead. But that doesn't really tell the tale. Montreat is a very good shooting team that had scored over 85 points against every team they had played. They had also shot well over 50% from the floor for the season. In the first half, the Cavaliers shot 47.6%. Considering what Radford had done shooting-wise against the Mocs, I was concerned about the Cavaliers shooting. I wanted to see the Mocs defense dominate as much as possible, and not just with steals and forced turnovers, but with attitude and field goal percentage.

The second half, the Mocs locked down on Montreat. The Cavaliers shot a mere 29.2% from the floor in the second half, and missed all three of their three point attempts. In other words, the Mocs defense showed they were more than flash and dash, but were also able to step up and played some tough defense when necessary.

Admittedly, it was only against Montreat, so who knows how important it really is to play that kind of defense against them, but I was impressed nonetheless. The Mocs came up with twenty steals and forced 28 turnovers for the game. That was good.

Gee McGhee was again the Mocs leading scorer, with sixteen points. Z Mason had 15 points and twelve rebounds. The Mocs made 43.5% of their threes in this one, which means they have improved each and every game from three point range. The starters even made two out of five from downtown. The starters have been struggling to make threes, but made a decent percentage (on very few attempts) against the Cavaliers. Mason and Greg Pryor each made one. That was Pryor's only made basket of the night. He had his worst game of his Mocs career. He scored just one basket and had just one assist. Still, he had no turnovers, so it's hard to be too upset.

Alex Bran knocked down three threes and scored 13 points. Eric Robertson added two threes. TJ Williams scored nine with five rebounds and three blocks. He showed his athleticism on a block and dunk during the game.

The biggest concern for the Mocs in this one was their free throw shooting. They made only 20 of 30 or 58% from the line. That's not good. They have been good from the free throw line this year prior to this one, so maybe this was a one time thing. We can hope so. Stokes went 1 for 4 and Mason went 2 for 4. Casey Jones went 2 for 6.

That being said, Jones had a very solid game. He scored 12 points and had seven rebounds. Jones continues to show his growth as a player.

The Mocs performance was good, especially on the defensive end in the second half. It was against Montreat, but defending your home court and doing that is huge. Now they get Kennesaw State on Tuesday at home. It's a big game to find out where the Mocs are before their West Coast swing. They have played the Owls the last three years and the home team has never won. We'll see what happens. Hope there's a big crowd there.

GO MOCS!

Montreat: Four Factors

eFG%
Mocs- 62.9%
Cavaliers- 38.9%
Advantage- Mocs

TO%
Mocs- 15.2%
Cavaliers- 35.3%
Advantage- Mocs

OR%
Mocs- 51.4%
Cavaliers- 20.0%
Advantage- Mocs

FTRate
Mocs- 48.6%
Cavaliers- 62.2%
Advantage- Cavaliers

3P%
Mocs- 43.5%
Cavaliers- 20.0% 
Advantage- Mocs

Steals-
Mocs- 20
Cavaliers- 6
Advantage- Mocs

Possessions- 79

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/16

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Virginia vs. Davidson 12:00 (at Charlotte, NC)
Wofford at Iona 2:00
Montreat at Chattanooga 7:00
North Greenville College at The Citadel 7:00
Western Carolina at Liberty 7:00
Appalachian State at Cincinnati (Global Sports Shootout) 7:00
Toccoa Falls at Geogia Southern 8:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Southeast Missouri State at IUPUI 1:00
Akron at Middle Tennessee 3:00
Brevard College at Radford 4:00
San Diego at Northern Kentucky 7:00
Jacksonville at Gardner-Webb 7:30
High Point at Eastern Kentucky 8:00
West New Mexico at Grand Canyon 10:00

Montreat Preview: Time To Get Well?

The Mocs lost to Radford on Monday evening. Since then, they have had time to look at the tape, and try to figure out where to go from here. They have been working on getting better. The tape would be invaluable to them....and I'm sure it has been.

Now the Mocs come home. I've talked about the importance of this two game home stretch for the Mocs season. They play an NAIA DII school Montreat and Kennesaw State, two winnable games. To win both, they've got to win the first one, making his game important to the Mocs. It also gives the Mocs a chance to get the fanbase energized by their performance. This is a critical game.

It also comes after the Samford-Chattanooga football game in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon. My bet is that the attendance will be down due to the football game. It could be a celebratory crowd if the Mocs have won, clinching the SoCon title. It will be a down crowd if the Mocs have lost.

Montreat is high scoring, good shooting (particularly from three point range) and very good rebounding team. La'Bris Adams the 6-3 senior guard is averaging 24.5 points per game. He scored 25 in each of his last two outings. He is shooting 59.7% from the floor and 7 of 15 from three point range. He is also 73.9% from free throw range. He is also averaging 3.8 rebounds per game.

The Cavaliers as a team are shooting 51.5% from three point range. Now they only shoot 13.6 threes per game from the floor. They shoot 53.2% from the floor. They are a very good shooting team. They are averaging 88.6 points per game. Those are very solid numbers, and could create problems for a Mocs defense that allowed Radford (one of the worst shooting D1 teams a year ago) to shoot over 50% from the floor.

Kerigan Farley and Josh Foster are each averaging in double digits. Farley is 5-10 and Foster is 6-2. Farley is averaging 13.6 points per game, while shooting 62.9% from the floor and 56.3% from three point range, and also is averaging 4.2 assists per contest. He is also averaging 3.8 turnovers per game. Foster is averaging 11.6 points per game. He is shooting 56.4% from the floor. No one else averages in double figures.

The Cavaliers are outrebounding their opponents by 8.8 boards per contest. Opponents are shooting 42.5% from the floor and 36% from three point range. Melvin Irvin and Lamar Seymore is averaging six rebounds or more per contest. They are 6-4 and 6-3. Ryan Bethoney is 6-5 and Shaquille Seymonte is 6-6. Those are the tallest players on the roster.

The Cavaliers have not played a team as tough and physical as the Mocs. TJ Williams collected double digit rebounds against the last non-D1 the Mocs played. He should be big enough and physical enough to play like that again. Z Mason will be the biggest physical presence they have faced. The pressure defense could cause some real havoc to gusy like Farley who turn the ball over a lot.

The Mocs offense, which has been better than many (including myself) expected it to be this year, should have a pretty good day. The Cavaliers are giving up 77.6 points per game. The Mocs should be able to score points against the Cavaliers. Gee McGhee, Greg Pryor and Casey Jones should be able to score points against this team. I'd like to see a little bit better three point shooting from this squad- particularly the starters.

The question is if the Mocs can slow down the Cavaliers. This is going to be difficult. This is a good shooting team. The Mocs need to prove that they can slow down a team that is a good shooting team.

PREDICTION

The Mocs will force a ton of turnovers. That will be how they slow them down. Remember that Covenant turned it over 34 times. Similar numbers should be expected here. Mason will also play very well, and expect the Cavaliers to struggle with the quickness of Pryor and McGhee. Also, Anthanee Doyle should be making his Mocs debut. The offense will explode, the Mocs will outrebound the Cavaliers, but the intrigue really comes from how they will do defensively. We'll see. Mocs 98, Cavaliers 71.

GO MOCS!

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/15

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Elon at Charlotte 4:00
Florida Gulf Coast at Furman 6:00 (CSS)
Western Carolina at Virginia Tech 7:00
Samford at Indiana 7:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Georgia Tech at Georgia 7:00
Morehead State at Xavier 8:00 (Fox Sports 2)
Nevada at San Francisco 10:00

SoCon Monster Game of the Week: Samford at Indiana

The Samford Bulldogs head to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Big Ten's Indiana Hoosiers, one of the most historic programs in the country. It's a chance for Samford to take down a Big Ten team and add a huge out of conference win to their resume and to the SoCon's resume in general. Yes, the Bulldogs are a very good team. One of the best in the SoCon, the Bulldogs will be carrying the banner for the conference against a team that only beat LIU-Brooklyn by one their last time out. Can the Bulldogs accomplish even more? After their disappointing showing at UT-Arlington earlier this week, they have a lot to prove.

Samford is lead by Tim Williams, the big sophomore for the Bulldogs. He's looking to build on a solid freshman campaign with an even better sophomore season. So far this year, he's averaging 14 points and 14 rebounds per game. Williams is only shooting 39.1% from the floor through two games, so he is struggling a bit to find his range so far this year. He needs to get better looks and knock down more shots for Samford to be successful.

Raijon Kelly is one of the top point guards in the SoCon. He leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 16.0 points per game, is second on the team with 4.5 rebounds and leads the team with 4.5 assists. I know all these stats are small sample size and all, but Kelly is one of the most impressive players the Bulldogs have. He shot over 40% from three point range a year ago. He will need to be hot on this night in Bloomington for the Bulldogs to have their best chance at success.

Isaiah Williams is a freshman for the Bulldogs, and so far has been doing well, scoring nine in the loss to UT-Arlington following 16 in the opener. He's made 5 of 12 from long distance and looks like he can be a shooter than opens up the defense a bit. He's also coming up with 3.5 assists per game. That's pretty solid for a freshman.

Michael Bradley is someone the Bulldogs were hoping to get more from. The Chattanooga native that is a Connecticut transfer only scored two points with one rebound against UT-Arlington in nine minutes. In 18 minutes against Martin Methodist, he only scored 4 points with five rebounds. That wasn't that impressive either considering the competition. He is working his way back into basketball shape.

If you feel like you need a roster to identify most of these Indiana players after watching them for much of the last couple of years, well, you'd be right. No longer is Victor Oladipo there to save the day. This is a new team searching for a new identity. They have five players averaging in double figures at this point, two games in.

Will Sheehy is a senior who contributed a lot last year. He is averaging 14.5 points per game and eight rebounds per contest so far. He had 19 and 7 against Chicago State, before dipping to 10 and 9 against LIU-Brooklyn. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he will be a very valuable contributor to the Hoosiers this year.

Noah Vonleh is a 6-10 freshman that looks to be a tremendous player for the Hoosiers. In his first two collegiate games, he has recorded double doubles in both. Not a bad way to start off a career. He collected 14 rebounds against Chicago State, and then back that up with 17 points against LIU-Brooklyn. He could be a monster in this game.

Yogi Ferrell also had his moments a year ago.  He scored 7.6 points per game. This year, he has been in double figures in both games. He will be looking to score more this year as the Hoosiers rely on him more. He can put up big chunks of points.

PREDICTION

Samford will have a very difficult time handling Sheehy and Vonleh inside the paint. They have Tim Williams, and it would be very useful if Bradley were ready to start playing a bigger role on this team. I don't think Bradley is quite there yet. The Hoosiers are not as dominant of a team as in recent years, giving the Bulldogs a shot in this one, but after losing against UT-Arlington, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly how Samford wins this one. They keep it close and hang around, but don't pull it off. Indiana 78, Samford 69.

Daily Dribbles- 11/15/13

--Jelani Hewitt did win SoCon Player of the Week a year ago averaging 25.0 points per game. Next year, he's going to be able to play beside Eric Ferguson....in the Sun Belt. Hewitt and Ferguson are both good. Georgia Southern will not be particularly hurting without Ferguson because they have
Hewitt back this year.

--The SoCon is 4-3 against the Big South so far this year and has not played the CAA. Those are the conferences that I care the most about. This weekend, there is one game against either conference, with Western Carolina visiting the Big South's Liberty. On Monday, Elon plays Drexel from the CAA. That is a virtual toss-up.

--Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana (two Sweet Sixteen teams from a year ago) both battle SoCon teams on Friday. FGCU battles Furman. Indiana hosts Samford. It would be a big night for the SoCon to grab one of those.

--Charlotte is coming of blowing a big lead against College of Charleston and will be hosting Elon on Friday in what amounts to an important game to both schools and where they stand right now.

--Saturday's biggest games are Davidson against Virginia in Charlotte, Western Carolina's visit to Liberty and Wofford going to Iona. We'll se if the SoCon can come up with any wins.

SoCon Dork Tour 2013-14

SoCon Dork Tour #1- Davidson vs. Duke
SoCon Dork Tour #2- Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Davidson
SoCon Dork Tour #3- East Carolina at UNCG
SoCon Dork Tour #4- Davidson at the Charleston Classic
SoCon Dork Tour #5- Virginia vs. Davidson
SoCon Dork Tour #6- The E-Dork Tour
SoCon Dork Tour #7- The Non-Tour
SoCon Dork Tour #8- Davidson at Charlotte
SoCon Dork Tour #9- James Madison at UNCG
SoCon Dork Tour #10- Drexel at Davidson
SoCon Dork Tour #11- Davidson at North Carolina

Mocs Signees Highlight Where We're Going

The Mocs have signed three in the early signing period, and are expected to ink at least one more that we know of before the period ends.

Shaquille Preston was one of the Super 16 in the state of Louisiana. The players ranked around him in the state of Louisiana were signing with major conference schools. In fact, Preston picked the Mocs over West Virginia and UTEP, among others. Those are both schools from bigger conferences. He is a wonderful find for the Mocs. He's a shooting guard. The Mocs need shooters, and hopefully Preston is one of them.

Brandon Maxwell is the son of Vernon Maxwell. He is a point guard. He too is supposed to be a great shooter as well. He should be an outstanding player. The Mocs need more athletes. Preston and Maxwell will help in that regard. Think about it- these guys will be making the Mocs depth chart that much better in the future.

Jacolby Mobley is the other signee. He is also projected as a point guard. He is a junior college signee. He too adds to the Mocs depth. The Mocs need depth and Mobley adds to it. He will only be with the team for two years. He chose the Mocs over Middle Tennessee and North Texas. The Mean Green are an FBS school, Middle Tennessee is too, and the Blue Raiders are one of the top programs in the state of Tennessee (behind Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Memphis, and roughly equal to Belmont).

Anthony "Duke" Etheridge has not signed yet, but he is 6-6 and a juco forward. He is the sort of match-up problem that Will Wade wants to have on the roster. He is long athletic, and people say that he could be Z Mason once Mason is gone after this year. He'll only be around for a couple of years, but this guy could be a golden find for the Mocs as well.

Put it all together and the Mocs have four signees that could easily bring a lot for the Moc fans to look at. These players are going to be a big boost to getting the Mocs back to the top of the SoCon.

SoCon Dork Tour- ECU at UNCG

After enduring two Wildcat losses, it was time for a stress-free stop on the tour. It was the first hoops game for JAM, son of dorp. Mrs. Dorp was also in attendance. She is an ECU grad, so while I generally root for SoCon teams in out-of-conference play, I had to pull for the Pirates.

The Spartans jumped out to a quick 10 point lead, and had a lead as large as 15 early on. Apparently Saddler was lighting it up, but I wasn't paying attention in particular to the stats. The 34 points for Saddler was good enough to have him listed at the top of ESPN.com's top performers, although in a losing effort was much like Steph's night in MSG last season.

Not a chance the beer will be $2 at the Davidson game on 1/18/14.

Yes, that's a Pirate on his shirt.

I'm putting my name in for the Davidson banner at the coliseum.

As it came down to crunch time, it was a mistake by Saddler which cost the Spartans the game... A long pass attempt downcourt which was intercepted.

00:20 GOOD! LAYUP by CAIN, Kyle [FB/PNT]  84 - 80 UNCG

00:20 ASSIST by PARKER, Drew

00:13 MISSED 3 PTR by RICHMOND, AKEEM

00:13 REBOUND (OFF) by WHITE, CALEB

00:12 FOUL by CAIN, Kyle (P2T12)

00:12 GOOD! FT SHOT by WHITE, CALEB 84 - 81 UNCG

00:12 GOOD! FT SHOT by WHITE, CALEB 84 - 82 UNCG

00:09 TURNOVR by SADDLER, Tevon

00:05 STEAL by RICHMOND, AKEEM

00:04 FOUL by PAULOS, Nicholas (P3T13)

00:01 GOOD! FT SHOT by RICHMOND, AKEEM  84 - 83 UNCG

00:01 GOOD! FT SHOT by RICHMOND, AKEEM  84 - 84 TIED

00:01 GOOD! FT SHOT by RICHMOND, AKEEM  84 - 85 ECU

Wardrobe: 

Dorp- running shirt. Mrs. Dorp- ECU t-shirt. JAM- ECU Pirates onesie.

Dance team: The losses to graduation from last season are not missed.

Distance traveled: 1 mile. Season total: 281 miles.

Attendance:  Dorp 3. Graveline 1. Mrs. Dorp 1. JAM 1.

Next up:  Riding the train down to Charlotte with some DTF's (Dork Tour Friends) for the game vs. Virginia.  Go Cats.

SoCon & Mocs OOC Opponents- 11/15/13

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Mississippi State 78, Kennesaw State 55
UAB 81, Troy 69

No SoCon games tonight.

SoCon Dork Tour- UW-Milwaukee at Davidson

After the 34 point loss on Friday, the Wildcats were back at it on Monday night for their home opener versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It was intended to be a payback game- the Wildcats gave the Panthers their best win of the season in Wisconsin last November. The Dork Tour was in Milwaukee for that game.

Ticket from the 2012 game.

The pregame was like many in Davidson, at the Brickhouse Tavern, with graveline sitting this one out.  Brick Red was the pregame brew of choice, as usual.

New Glarus Spotted Cow, a delicious brew from Wisconsin

They might be related to this Panoske guy.

The first half saw Brian Sullivan and Tom Droney play well for the Wildcats, as they went into the locker room with the lead.  In the second half, Davidson seemingly went away from what had put them in the lead from the first half. UW-Milwaukee hit many free throws and protected the ball, ultimately winning the game.

The freshmen sure look young these days.

Wardrobe:
Dorp- Red Davidson basketball dry-fit shirt. Long sleeve Davidson shirt with new Wildcat logo. Red Davidson jacket. The beginning of a beard, although not really tied to this Movember thing. Might keep it going until we win a game.

Dance Team/cheerleaders: See picture above. One comment about the actual Davidson dance team- I'm no (insert name of famous fashion designer), but the tops look a little loose, and are prone to sweat in unfortunate places.

Miles traveled: 168 miles.  Season total: 280 miles.

Attendance:  Dorp 2, Graveline 1.

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/14

All Times Eastern

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Troy at UAB 8:00
Kennesaw State at Mississippi State 8:00

Daily Dribbles- 11/14/13

--Trey Sumler was reinstated late Wednesday. This is nothing but good news for Western Carolina. The charges were dropped. Josh Mendenhall remains suspended as the charges are still pending against him.

--Sumler played last night at Oregon as Western Carolina trailed by just two at halftime at Oregon before falling to the Ducks. It was a pretty good showing early in the game across the country for the Catamounts, who looked OK.

--Dash has plenty of reaction to UNCG's loss to East Carolina on Tuesday night. Yes, that's three links in one sentence. Click 'em all.

--This may be a football preview, but it is also contains a brief mention of the Bulldogs basketball, and notes that a football ticket gets you in a game between The Citadel and North Greenville on Saturday for free. Enjoy, those in Charleston.

--No games tonight, before a shocking twelve games in three days this weekend. Every SoCon team will be in action at least once, and Western Carolina will play on both Friday and Saturday. Furman playing host to Sweet Sixteen participant Florida Gulf Coast and Samford's trip to Indiana are two of the more interesting battles. Should be very interesting.

--I just went out to Pomeroy and looked at Davidson game predictions in the coming weeks. Pomeroy predicts a loss to Virginia, before the Charleston Classic, where Davidson is the lowest ranked team of any team there. In other words, Pomeroy is saying Davidson would lose three games there. Then, against Stetson, Davidson is favored. Then a trip to Charlotte is a predicted loss. The game against Johnson & Wales is a predicted win. Then games against Drexel, Wichita State, Niagra and North Carolina are all predicted to be losses, before the game against College of Charleston is a predicted win. That's a pre-SoCon record of 3-11, with one win over a non-D1. That's not good. Of course, Pomeroy is picking things using percentages, and so in reality, Davidson is not expected to lose ALL of those games. But Davidson is the underdog in those games per Pomeroy. That schedule is very tough, but no Wildcat fan is expecting their team to go 3-11 pre-SoCon. That being said, Pomeroy is still predicting an 11-5 SoCon record, which is good for second in the conference (behind Elon). That's what happens when you lose to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on your home floor.

SoCon and Mocs OOC Opponents Scores- 11/13/13

SoCon

Oregon 107, Western Carolina 83

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Eastern Kentucky 114, Warren Wilson 45
Middle Tennessee 77, North Florida 70

How To Rebuild A Program

The Mocs basketball program was harmed. It was not dead, but it was not doing well. A lot of what has happened since the 1997 Sweet Sixteen run is not necessarily any one coaches fault, or one administrator, or one player. There are many things to blame for the problems. That may be a discussion to be had at some point, but it is not a discussion to be had today.

Today, we want to think about what we hope the program is advancing toward. To understand where we are in the process, it's time to look at the steps it takes to rebuild.

Step 1. Have an AD willing to do dedicate resources to the basketball program and give the coaching staff as much freedom as allowed by school and NCAA rules in allowing kids into school.

Step 2. Hire an hard-working basketball coach with a plan. It doesn't matter if he wins the fans over immediately or how energetic he comes off. If the program needs to be rebuilt, the fans will be excited to have a new face regardless of who it is- eventually. If he is hard-working, the energy will come into the fanbase regardless. The plan is the key. If the coach has a plan, then that plan will capture the fanbases imagination.

Step 3. Recruit, recruit, recruit. This seems obvious. But this helps give the fanbase something to feel good about before the season ever begins and gives them something to point to as a sign that things are indeed getting better.

Step 4. Get out and meet the fanbase. This, too, will energize the fanbase and get them in the coaches corner, creating some real positive momentum, before a game has ever been played.

Step 5. Win the games you're supposed to win. In other words, no losing to Gardner-Webb in your second game if you are Kentucky. Call this the Billy Gillespie Corollary.

Step 6. Develop a home court advantage. Hey- the fans are excited about the new guy. Win the games you should win at home. Maybe even pull a major upset at home. Give the home crowd some things to really get excited about.

Step 7. Stay competitive with the best teams on your home court- all the time. This obviously goes hand in hand with Step 6, but stop being blown out at home, regardless of who you play.

Step 8. Stay competitive with every team, regardless of home or road. Once you've started being competitive at home, it's time to be competitive on the road as well. Stop losing to teams in your ballpark by 30 points.

Step 9. Breakthrough win. There's always a moment where the program has been keeping it close, but finally breaks through with the big win that changes the trajectory of the program. Think Mocs football and how they have been struggling to come up with that breakthrough win for years, until this year, when you could argue any number of breakthrough wins (Appalachian State or Wofford are the two easiest to identify).

Step 10. Win win win. Now is the time to reap the benefits. It's time to win at the highest level that your school can deliver.

You always have to continue recruiting and you can't give that up. Obviously, the first steps can take the least amount of time, but they may be the most important steps in the whole process. You can't get to those later steps without first doing the earlier steps.

So let's think about where the Mocs basketball program is at the moment.

Step 1 seems to have been completed. David Blackburn has been named the AD and he has been nothing if not supportive of the basketball program to this point. He announced that the basketball program would be allowed to recruit junior college players again. That had been discouraged in the past.

Step 2 seems to be done. Will Wade seems to be one of the hardest working people in all of college basketball. He was not universally loved by the fanbase immediately, but he has become so because of his wortk ethic and the desire for the fans to embrace the new coach. He has a clearly defined plan- "Chaos." That gives the fans plenty to get excited about.

Step 3 seems to be going on. Wade has been recruiting like crazy. Justin Tuoyo joined the Mocs from VCU. Greg Pryor was a late recruit and is starting for the Mocs. There are four future Mocs lined up to sign this weekend- Brandon Maxwell, Shaquille Preston, Anthony Ethridge and Jacolby Mobley. They appear to be a notch above many of the Mocs recruits in the past. We'll see. There certainly seems to be recruiting momentum.

Step 4 was a big part of Wade's plan from the beginning. I got to interview him this summer. He went out and did a lot of meetings and did every interview his schedule would allow. He said that he would never turn down an interview opportunity if he had the ability to do it. He passed this with flying colors.

We don't know where we are from that point forward. What we do know is that attendance was over 4600 for the opener against Covenant. If attendance continues at that spiked level, the Mocs will have a distinct home court advantage, it would appear.

But that is exactly what makes these next two home games against Montreat (on Saturday) and Kennesaw State (on Tuesday) so important. Montreat is definitely about winning the games you are supposed to. Kennesaw State is about ensuring the devlopment of a home court advantage.  Remember- last year, the Mocs went 9-9 at home, which is all part of what was not acceptable. Kennesaw State and Montreat are very important to re-establishing a home court advantage. These are two semi-important games this early in the Wade era.

GO MOCS!

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/13

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Western Carolina at Oregon 11:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Warren Wilson at Eastern Kentucky 7:00
North Florida at Middle Tennessee 8:00

Daily Dribbles- 11/13/13

--Welcome to the world of advanced stats, Dash! For everyone else, this is a beautiful summary of these basic advanced metrics that I include for Mocs games every time, and like to look at whenever I do a preview of any team or game. This explanation is as good and concise as any.

--A nice post about what college basketball can mean to all of us- from a Davidson fan. Nicely done.

--Back-to-back nights with jaw-droppingly painful losses for SoCon teams. Monday night it was Georgia Southern against Miami. Last night, it was East Carolina stunning UNCG with three free throws in the closing moments to win by one. UNCG played near perfect early on, but the Pirates pulled it out in the end.

--On a positive note, Furman got a nice win over Gardner-Webb at home. Winning by eleven is a nice thing at home. The Paladins may be more improved than we realized.

--Hard to call what The Citadel did against Presbyterian a quality win, but the Bulldogs won against the Blue Hose. There have been some good moments for The Citadel so far this year, as they are now 1-2. They seem a little bit better than originally expected. Combine their win with the Furman win, and the bottom of the SoCon looks better than mos tthought in the preseason.

--Campbell beat down Appalachian State 73-66. The Mountaineers came back in the second half after a very bad first half. Not particularly good home loss against the Camels.

--Samford never could come back against Texas-Arlington on Monday night in Texas. The Bulldogs loss was disappointing for the SoCon, but Samford should still be OK. Raijon Kelly scored 18 points with four assists and five rebounds.

SoCon & Mocs OOC Scores- 11/12/13

SoCon

Furman 75, Gardner-Webb 64
Campbell 73, Appalachian State 66
The Citadel 82, Presbyterian 68
UT-Arlington 88, Samford 75
East Carolina 85, UNCG 84

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Morehead State 71, ETSU 63
Evansville 84, IUPUI 78
George Washington 108, Maine 81
Furman 75, Gardner-Webb 64
UCLA 91, Oakland 60
Nevada 60, Cal Poly 58

What To Make of an Early Season Loss....

The Mocs loss to Radford was the first of Will Wade's career. It was also the first time the Mocs have faced true adversity under Wade.

So, a day later, what do we make of this disappointment?

First of all, it doesn't particularly matter. The Mocs were never going to go unbeaten. The Mocs need to be playing their absolute best basketball in March to get to the NCAA Tournament, and learning lessons early in the year will do nothing but help them in that goal.

I was very disappointed in the Mocs defense last night. They did force seventeen turnovers. But the Highlanders did shoot 51.8% from the floor and exactly 50% from three point range. That from one of the worst shooting teams in the country a year ago and not exactly hot shooters in the opener.

However, they were very hurt by the new rules, as Z Mason spent a large chunk of the game in foul trouble. With the lack of interior size on this squad, they simply can't afford to have Mason spend nights in foul trouble.

Greg Pryor looked very good as point guard. There aren't pure shooters on this team, but there are quite a few drivers. Pryor and McGhee both are excellent are driving to the hoop.

So, now that the obvious has been reviewed, what to make of an early season loss?

Quite simply- it is what it is. A Mocs win would have told us a lot more about where the Mocs are right now than a loss tells us about where the Mocs aren't. The Mocs have struggled on the road in the past. But in this one, they fought and struggled and clawed to hang around in the game. They did not give up. That was nice to see. A win would have made it obvious that the Mocs were better than was expected and told us that they were on the rise.

A loss tells us that there is plenty of room for improvement, but gives us hope that the Mocs may be able to get there by March. There is plenty of work to be done. But when you watch this team, you can see how they are still growing into the Chaos system that Will Wade is trying to implement. Once they figure out how to do this thing, they will be much improved.

A loss tells us that the Mocs are not quite ready for primetime, and the tape is going to be very helpful for the Mocs to watch and figure out where to improve.

Really, the early season loss just puts a little bit more importance on these next two games. If the Mocs can win at home against Montreat and Kennesaw State, then they will be 3-1 before their West Coast swing.

Let me begin to put a little pressure on everyone to get out to the Kennesaw State game next Tuesday. The Mocs play the Owls that night. That is the only home game against a D1 opponent until the Dr Pepper Classic on December 29. There is only one other home game between that November 19 and December 29- against Hiwassee. So if you want to get a good up close look at these Mocs in McKenzie before the Dr Pepper Classic- this is your chance. Go see the Mocs next Tuesday night!

GO MOCS!

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/12

All Times Eastern

SoCon

East Carolina at UNCG 7:00
Gardner-Webb at Furman 7:30
Presbyterian at The Citadel 8:00
Samford at Texas-Arlington 8:00
Campbell at Appalachian State (Global Sports Shootout) 8:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Maine at George Washington 7:00
Evansville at IUPUI 7:00
Morehead State at ETSU 7:00
Gardner-Webb at Furman 7:30
Oakland at UCLA 9:00 (Pac 12 Networks)
Nevada at Cal Poly 10:00

Daily Dribbles- 11/12/13

--The Tip Off Marathon is in full steam. No SoCon teams or Mocs D1 opponents are participating in
it. But there will be good basketball. Duke vs. Kansas and Michigan State vs. Duke will be fine tonight.

--Georgia Southern nearly hung an ACC pelt on the wall on Monday night. Miami had to score late to win, as the Eagles were up by one late in overtime. An Eagles win would have been huge.

--Are we concerned about Davidson now? After blowing a seven point halftime lead against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and up by eleven with fourteen minutes left, the Panthers pulled off the win, 81-77. They lost to Loyola (IL) in their first game, so Davidson was expected to win this one. The Wildcats were nearly twelve point favorites and looking to make up for last year's upset in Milwaukee. Not a good showing from Davidson. Davidson has some serious questions to ask themselves this morning. Milwaukee shot 40 free throws. Davidson shot just 15. That was the biggest difference in the game. Brian Sullivan did score 22 points.

--Western Carolina played just nine players, and one of them was not Trey Sumler. Yet the Catamounts were able to beat UNC-Asheville 74-67 in a bit of an upset on Monday night. Very good win for the Catamouns. They forced 18 turnovers, and only turned it over eleven times.

--The Mocs lost at Radford on Monday night 89-78. It was not a particularly good showing from the Mocs, who are still learning the Chaos system. It's not quite ready for primetime at this point. The Mocs will need to work on their defense to get better.

--The SoCon went 1-2 against non-BCS, D1 opponents on Monday night. I was hoping for 2-1 heading into the night. They are now 3-4 in such contests on the year. On Tuesday, the SoCon has more opportunities. Furman hosts Gardner-Webb, UNCG is at home against East Carolina, Appalachian State gets Campbell at home, The Citadel hosts Presbyterian, and Samford goes to Texas-Arlington. Can the SoCon get three wins on Tuesday night? I don't think that's unrealistic at all.

Radford 89, Mocs 78

The Mocs got beat by Radford on Monday night in an 89-78 loss that was disappointing, but was not totally unexpected. Truthfully, the Mocs should have been expected to lose this game. A win here would have been a signal that the Mocs were moving past their preseason expectations and were well on their way to a very successful season.

A loss here is not particularly troubling. The Mocs fought until the very end of this one. After falling behind by 25, the Mocs fought and scrapped to trim the lead to single digits with the ball late. The Mocs could have made things interesting with a couple of more plays.

There was a foul on Z Mason late in the first half followed by a technical foul on the bench that really turned momentum. The Mocs were within seven at the time, and wound up down fifteen at the half. Very disappointing finish to the half and a clear momentum changer. That was the moment that hurt the Mocs.

There was one major flaw that was highlighted in this one. The Mocs have a lack of size. Z Mason spent a lot of time on the bench due to foul trouble. Witht he fouls, the Mocs had trouble with a physical presence. Javonte Green scored 23 points. The Mocs were outrebounded by eleven. Mason, despite plaing just 21 minutes, still lead the team in rebounding, with seven.

The Mocs need to have a more physical presence and an answer when Mason hits the bench. The other flaw that felt a little exposed in this one, even if some of it changed during the second half, is that the Mocs need a pure shooter that they can consistently rely on. Eric Robertson made three threes. In the first half, when the Mocs were desperately trying to hang in the game, the Mocs made just three of eleven threes. Alex Bran made 2 of 2 from downtown. Robertson made 3 of 9, and Martynas Bareika made 2 of 4. No one else made more than one. The Mocs shot 28, with 17 being in the second half as they tried to come back.

The good news is that the Mocs faced a team that applied a lot of pressure and only turned the ball over ten times. They forced seventeen turnovers themselves, showing that they actually have a pretty good grasp on this whole turnover thing. The Mocs did allow Radford, a poor shooting team, to shoot over 50% from the floor and exactly 50% from three point range. That's the bad news of the defense.

The Mocs made 77.4% of their free throws. This is critical. For a team that is going to need to attack the basket when the threes aren't falling, to make a high percentage of free throws as a team is huge. Gee McGhee made 8 of 9 from the stripe, after making 7 of 7 against Covenant. That's 15 of 16 from the stripe for a guy who could spend a lot of time there. He shot just 61% from the free throw line a year ago, so this is a very good development.

Greg Pryor again was impressive. He scored 17 points and had three assists with no turnovers. Let me tell you, that kind of production from the point guard spot is a very welcome development. The true freshman has played well so far.

There is work to be done, but that is far from surprising. There is also hope for this team. There is room for improvement and the Mocs can get there. They showed heart and hustle late in the game and kept on fighting until the very end. The Mocs have a home game against Montreat on Saturday before a very important home date with Kennesaw State next Tuesday. That game will teach us a lot more about these Mocs.

GO MOCS!

Four Factors: Radford

eFG%
Mocs- 44.3%
Highlanders- 57.1%
Advantage- Highlanders

TO%
Mocs- 11.8%
Highlanders- 18.9%
Advantage- Mocs

OR%
Mocs- 23.3%
Highlanders- 33.3%
Advantage- Highlanders

FTRate
Mocs- 50.8%
Highlanders- 69.6%
Advantage- Highlanders

3PT%
Mocs- 35.7%
Highlanders- 50.0%
Advantage- Highlanders

Possessions- 87

SoCon Scores and Mocs OOC Opponents- 11/11/13

SoCon

Radford 89, Chattanooga 78
Western Carolina 74, UNC-Asheville 67
Miami, FL 81, Georgia Southern 80 (OT)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 81, Davidson 77
Wofford 83, Emory & Henry 58

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Kennesaw State 92, Warren Wilson 48
UAB 79, Rutgers 76

SoCon & Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/11

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Georgia Southern at Miami, FL 7:00 (ESPN3)
Chattanooga at Radford 7:00
Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Davidson 7:00 (ESPN3)
Emory & Henry at Wofford 7:00
UNC-Asheville at Western Carolina 7:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Warren Wilson at Kennesaw State 11:00 AM
Rutgers at UAB 8:00

Daily Dribbles-11/11/13

--In case you missed it late week last week, Trey Sumler and Josh Mendenhal have been suspended indefinitely from Western Carolina. This is getting particularly dangerous for the Catamounts- it's very difficult to replace a guy like Sumler, particularly when you weren't planning on being without him. The Catamounts are not a true SoCon contender without Sumler. With him, they are.

--What did this weekend mean to the SoCon? I don't know exactly. The Citadel lost two games against other mid-majors in the All Military Classic. Brian White did look awfully good, collecting 24 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per contest. Wofford, Davidson, Appalachian State all lost to BCS conference teams. But UNCG did beat High Point Friday night in a bit of an upset. Elon hammered Marist on the road on Sunday night. That's 2-2 against non-BCS conference, DI teams. In truth, that's not terrible. There were no wins against BCS conference teams, but no losses to non-D1s either.

--Three games on Monday against non-BCS, D1 teams. Wisconsin-Milwaukee visits Davidson on ESPN3. UNC-Asheville heads to Western Carolina. After watching the first half of UNCA against Kentucky, I would think UNCA was pretty good. The second half- not quite so much. Chattanooga takes Chaos on the road to play Big South foe Radord. That's a big night for the SoCon. It would be nice for the SoCon to go 2-1 in those three games.

Radford Preview: Let the Test Begin

After a warm-up against Covenant, the real battles start on Monday night, when the Mocs travel to take on Radford on the Big South Network. The game I believe will be free on the Big South Network.  Click here for access to the game. Find the game listed, and click away.

While Chattanooga pounded away at Covenant, Radford was getting drilled by George Washington, trailing by as many as thirty midway through the second half. They wound up losing 76-54. Not a particularly good first game. Jalen Carethers and Javonte Green each fouled out and are starters. They played  a total of 23 minutes. The Mocs could use getting them in foul trouble too. Green averaged 14.6 points per game a year ago. The 6-4 junior is one of the Highlanders top scorers. With him in foul trouble, the Highlanders really struggled to find offense against George Washington.

The Highlanders finished dead last in the Big South a season ago in two and three point shooting. They were a terrible shooting team. The 33.3% shooting from the field against George Washington and 23.8% shooting from three point range shows that their offense may not have improved yet.

While RJ Price did not foul out, he shot a terrible 1 for 10 from the floor against George Washington. After averaging 13.6 points per game a year ago, this was not a good showing. When you combine Price and Green, they combined to average 28.2 points per game a year ago and scored a total of ten points on 3 of 17 shooting. An additional eighteen points from those two would have put the Highlanders right into the game against George Washington.

Ya Ya Anderson averaged 8.8 points per game a year ago. The 6-2 guard scored 15 against George Washington, the only Highlander to score in double figures.

George Washington shot 50% from the floor and 5 of 9 from three point range. They also outrebounded Radford 43-34, though Radford did come up with 15 offensive rebounds.

Mike Jones coached under Shaka Smart, just as Will Wade did. He believes in pressure defense as well, and they did force 17 turnovers against George Washington. Radford was picked to finish third in the Big South North Division this year.

Jalen Carethers and Brandon Holcombe are the two tallest starters. Carethers is 6-8 and Holcombe is 6-7. Given the Mocs lack of height, this is important. They will have to find a way to make sure that they do not get beaten on the glass. TJ Williams collected eleven rebounds in the first game off the bench. His task will be much tougher this time around. Z Mason is physical and a very good rebounder, even if he is a touch on the small side. This is a game that he needs to step up his rebounding.

One of the biggest things in this game is how Greg Pryor handles the pressure at point. I'm very interested to see how he performs. This is his first game against a D1 opponent. It will be very interesting to see how he holds up. Casey Jones and Lance Stokes are going to be important on the defensive end.

These two teams are going to bring a lot of energy and this game is going to be a ton of fun to watch. Both teams are looking to come up with a critical victory at this early stage of the season. Will Pryor hold up to the pressure? Will the Highlanders offense be able to find a way to break the pressure and score easy baskets against the Mocs? Will Gee McGhee continue to show his development? This game will tell us a lot of what we need to know about the Mocs.

PREDICTION: The Highlanders defense will prevent a challenge to Pryor and the Mocs offense. The Mocs defense will provide some problems to the Highlanders as well. This game will be fast paced, with a lot of pressure, but I'm not sure how much these two teams will be able to score. It will be a thrilling game. If this game was in Chattanooga, I'd pick the Mocs to win. In Virginia, I'm going to go with Radford in a thriller. Radford 69, Chattanooga 64.

GO MOCS!

SoCon and Mocs OOC Scores- 11/10/13

SoCon

Elon 75, Marist 48

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Youngstown 75, Eastern Kentucky 67
Maine 111, Fisher College 64
FIU 66, Kennesaw State 58
Middle Tennessee 78, Southern 75
Kentucky 93, Northern Kentucky 63

Scanning the SoCon- Week Two

Welcome to Scanning the SoCon. Each week. We've scoured the internet hunting down fans from around the SoCon. There are people from school newspapers, message boards and bloggers. We've come together once again to try to provide a weekly comprehensive look around the SoCon. This is our third year of Scanning the SoCon. Hopefully, it will be the best year yet. If you have any suggestions, feel free to e-mail me or comment.

SCHEDULE

Monday
UNC-Asheville at Western Carolina
Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Davidson (ESPN3)
Georgia Southern at Miami, FL (ESPN3)
Chattanooga at Radford
Emory & Henry at Wofford

Tuesday

East Carolina at UNCG
Gardner-Webb at Furman
Campbell at Appalachian State (Global Sports Shootout)
Presbyterian at The Citadel
Samford at Texas-Arlington

Wednesday

Western Carolina at Oregon

Friday

Elon at UNC-Charlotte
Florida Gulf Coast at Furman (CSS)
Western Carolina at Virginia Tech
Samford at Indiana

Saturday

Virginia vs. Davidson in Charlotte
Wofford at Iona
Appalachian State at Cincinnati (Global Sports Shootout)
Montreat at Chattanooga
Western Carolina at Liberty
North Greenville College at The Citadel
Toccoa Falls at Georgia Southern

Sunday

Chowan at UNCG

POWER RANKINGS

1) Davidson 104 (4)

2) Elon 101 (5)

3) Western Carolina 85 (1)
4) Samford 77

5) Wofford 63

6) Chattanooga 58
7) Appalachian State 56

8) UNCG 52

9) Georgia Southern 27

10) Furman 24
11) The Citadel 13

GAME OF THE WEEK

Samford at Indiana - 3

Others: Elon at UNC-Charlotte (2), Western Carolina at Virginia Tech (2), Florida Gulf Coast at Furman (2), UNC-Asheville at Western Carolina (1)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Tim Williams, Samford- 2.5 votes

Others: Brian White (The Citadel)- 2 votes, Kayel Locks (UNCG)- 2 votes, Larry Wideman (Furman)- 1 vote, Kyle Cain (UNCG)- 1 vote, Lucas Troutman (Elon)- 1 vote, Jelani Hewitt (Georgia Southern)- .5 vote

QUESTIONS

1) Sum up your team’s early news and performance

Appalachian State- Got worse before it started. News came in that Jay Canty is suspended the first nine games due to academics and true freshman Aaron Scott is suspended indefinitely for a non-academic incident. The season opener at NC State was about as expected (98-77 final), although the Wolfpack scored more points that one would think. App's leader is the lone senior Tevin Baskins, who went for 24 points and 6 rebounds. Concerning news is that the junior guard duo of Tab Hamilton and Mike Neal went a combined 7-22 from the field and 2-9 from three. Perennial bench player Tommy Spagnolo played 38 minutes, which might be more than last year combined, and did decent with 10 rebounds and went 4/5 shooting for 8 points. Capel's starting off the year with an 8-man rotation.

Elon- Elon tipped off its season in style with two blowout victories over the weekend. Elon pummeled Division III Washington & Lee University, 114-64, in front of a packed home crowd at Alumni Gym on Friday night. Filling in for injured guard Jack Isenbarger, sophomore guard Tanner Samson posted 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the arc. Senior forward Sebastian Koch also connected on five three-pointers, leading all scorers with 22 points. Overall, the Phoenix knocked down 12 three-pointers and finished 20-of-23 from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Lucas Troutman had a perfect shooting day, connecting on all seven of his attempts from the field and all four of his attempts from the free-throw line. The 50 point drubbing marked the largest margin of victory during Matt Matheny's tenure as Phoenix head coach. With Isenbarger still sidelined, Samson got his second consecutive start on Sunday night against the Marist Red Foxes, recording a game-high 17 points in Elon’s 75-48 victory. Troutman added 16 points and two blocks in the victory. The Phoenix distributed the ball far better than the Red Foxes, who registered just one assist on the night in comparison to Elon’s 17 dimes.

Furman- Furman looked pretty good in spurts in their season-opening win over Sewanee, and one thing this team has shown early on against inferior competition is the ability to score points in bunches...That will obviously change soon, as the Paladins face a scrappy Gardner-Webb team and FGCU, who of course made the Sweet 16 last year, in a pair of non-conference games this week...Two sophomores that have really played well early are Stephen Croone, who posted 32 points in an exhibition against North Greenville, while Larry Wideman produced a career-high 25 points in the season opener against Sewanee. Niko Medved's young Paladins are still a work in progress, but should be much more of an offensive threat this team than the team that struggled to break 60 last season...Remember, Furman is still playing without its best player and most veteran leader, in Charlie Reddick, as well as missing Jordan Loyd, who remains sidelined with back problems.

2) Which performance was most surprising/disappointing in Week One?

Appalachian State- UNCG's win over High Point was the best of a small list. Having been blown out by HP last year, to come out and get the win this year year shows growth despite the loss of Trevis Simpson.

Elon- Davidson’s lackluster showing against the touted Duke Univeristy Blue Devils was the most disappointing performance from a Southern Conference team over the weekend. The Davidson Wildcats surrendered a whopping 111 points to the Blue Devils as freshman sensation Jabari Parker and transfer Rodney Hood were a combined 17-of-20 from the field, draining five of Duke's 13 3-pointers. Duke shot an otherworldly 70.4 percent from the field in its 111-77 trashing over the Wildcats.

Furman- Appalachian State--They were able to hang with NC State until early in the second half despite missing its best player, Jay Canty...A 21-4 run early in the second half proved to be the difference...With Canty, it might have been much closer.

3) Which current SoCon player has the most professional basketball potential?

Appalachian State- Not in this country but Tim Williams of Samford. He has a true
center presence and he can offer muscle to European teams who play a more finesse game with little defense.

Elon- Southern Conference preseason player of the year De'Mon Brooks appears to have the most potential of any player in the league. Brooks was able to showcase his talents in the Wildcats’ lopsided defeat against the Blue Devils, totaling 24 points.

Furman-De'Mon Brooks and Tim Williams...Both are decent ball-handlers, possess good athleticism, and have good mid-range games.

4) How do you think the newly emphasized rules regarding fouls and defense will impact your team and college basketball in general?

Appalachian State- I expect App State, a team who already fouls too much, to have more
issues with fouls this year. The rule helps out the floppers and small three-point shooting teams and IMO, won't help speed up the game because the enforcement will be suspect. It could effect player development toward NBA careers as it makes the gap between college and pro rules that much wider.

Elon- The new NCAA rules require officials to call all hand-checking on the perimeter. Another rule change mandates officials identify offensive attack before defensive positioning. I can’t say for sure how these new rules will impact the Phoenix, other than increasing the importance of smart defensive play. Elon cannot allow the new rule changes, however, to deter away from its aggressiveness on the defensive end.

Furman- Players are less likely to take a charge now, and it takes away the element of sacrifice for your team...For so many years the charge rule has been something bigger programs like Duke and Purdue, when it had Bryan Cardinal, have been able to rely on to change momentum of a game late...That won't be the case now with that particular call now favoring the offensive player.

SoCon and Mocs Out of Conference Opponents- 11/10

All Times Eastern

SoCon

Elon at Marist 5:00

Mocs D-1 Out of Conference Opponents

Fisher College at Maine 3:00
Youngstown State vs. Eastern Kentucky 3:00
Northern Kentucky at Kentucky 4:00
Southern at Middle Tennessee 5:00
FIU at Kennesaw State (Kennesaw Invitational) 7:00

SoCon and Mocs OOC Opponents Scores- 11/9

SoCon

Army 84, The Citadel 69

Mocs D1 OOC Opponents

Eastern Kentucky 68, Kennesaw State 60
Morehead State 107, Mid Continent College 60
San Diego 70, Grand Canyon 59