Dr Pepper Classic Participant: Middle Tennessee

Nickname: Blue Raiders
Conference: Conference USA
Enrollment: 24,192
Record: 8-4
Last in NCAA: 2013
Head Coach: Kermit Davis
Record at School: 208-139

Middle Tennessee is 8-4, but their last two wins have come against non-D1 competition. They have lost three straight games against D1 competition heading into the Dr Pepper Classic. The five best teams they have played were Florida (lost by 20), Belmont (lost by 12), Ole Miss (lost by 9), Cincinnati (lost by 21) and Akron (won by 7). This is a team that was 28-4 last year prior to losing their last two games and finishing 28-6, including a loss to Saint Mary's in the NCAA Tournament and return three starters from that team. They have moved up to Conference USA this year, which will start on January 11.

Middle Tennessee is an odd team. They are not a remarkably big team, but they have just one player that plays regularly plays that is not between 6-4 and 6-8. That means they are roughly an average height team on the national scale. According to KenPom, they are the tallest team in the Dr Pepper Classic, ranked 82nd in the country. (By comparison, the Mocs are ranked 229th in the country out of 351 teams.)

This is not a Blue Raiders team that wins by shooting threes. Just 21.5% of their points come three point range. Kerry Hammonds II has made 20 of 57 threes on the year and Jaqawn Raymond has made 16 of 40. They are the only two to have made double digits in the number of threes. Hammonds is averaging 11.9 points per game, third on the team and 2.6 assists per game, second on the team. He also leads the team in minutes.

Shawn Jones is shooting 61.9% from the field. He leads the team in scoring, with 13.4 points per game. He also leads in rebounding with 7.7. Neiko Hunter is averaging 12.8 points per game. Tweety Knight leads the team in assists at 4.8 per game. He commits 2.6 turnovers per game.

They rank 51st in OR% and 108th in DR%, which makes them a very good rebounding team. They commit way too many fouls, but opponents are only shooting 45.7% from two point range.

OUTLOOK

Middle Tennessee is the clear favorite in this tournament. They should dominate Maine in the opening game of Dr Pepper Classic. The second day will be more interesting. Grand Canyon is a capable opponent, but would have already beaten Chattanooga on their home court and then have to beat Middle Tennessee. If Chattanooga beats Grand Canyon, they will have home court advantage and be hungry to beat the best out of conference team to play in McKenzie this year. That would be a challenge. They are the favorite to beat the Mocs for sure, but they could lose that game.

They have an interesting team, and are the best defensive team in the field. That's why Maine will have virtually no shot of beating them in the first game. They are likely to finish either first or second, and while Grand Canyon and Chattanooga are virtually equal teams, playing the Mocs in McKenzie would be tougher than playing Grand Canyon. They are the favorite and fans should get out and watch this team.

Daily Dribbles- 12/23/13

--Check out the Scanning the SoCon Midseason Awards if you missed it. Tonight, the questions will
be answered from everyone, including why they voted the way they did for Player of the Year and who they think will play in the SoCon Championship Game.

--Last week was downright respectable for the SoCon. There were: 1) no losses to non-D1 teams. 2) no true blowout losses- every game was a game in the second half. 3) a 7-10 record against D-1 teams. If the SoCon had played like that all year, they would probably have an RPI closer to 20 than to their 30 that they currently sit at (out of 32 conferences). Big South is 29th. The SoCon's are closing quickly on them.

--One of the respectable losses this weekend was from UNCG against Wake Forest. Dash has his thoughts here.

--No games until Saturday for the SoCon. But have no fear. I'll have Daily Dribbles up every day and hopefully some pretty good articles up in the mean time. Hope everyone checks in daily.

Dr Pepper Classic Participant: Grand Canyon

Nickname: Antelopes
Conference: WAC
Enrollment: 40,001
Record: 5-5
Last in NCAA: Never
Head Coach: Dan Majerle
Record at School: 5-5 (first year)

The Grand Canyon Antelopes are 5-5, with three wins over non-D1 competition. But that is not to say that they have struggled. In fact, they have played some very close games against D1 teams. They beat Lamar and Savannah State on a neutral floor, and get one neutral court game in this tournament. They lost by three against Loyola Marymount, eleven to San Diego, two to Northern Arizona and one to Tulsa. Of course, there was a 25 point loss to Utah in there too, but basically, the Antelopes have been playing close games.

Killian Larson is going to be one of the best players in the Dr Pepper Classic. The 6-9, 268 pound senior is averaging 15.2 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. He is shooting nearly 55% from the floor. Of course, his numbers drop 12.9 and 12.0 against D1 teams. That does include six points and five rebounds against Utah. He had 17 rebounds against Savannah State and 16 rebounds against Lamar. He is going to be a beast to handle for any team in the Dr Pepper Classic.

Demetrius Walker is actually the Antelopes leading scorer. Ironically, he missed the two wins against Lamar and Savannah State. He is a 6-2 senior. He had 26 points and 17 rebounds against Vanguard. He is averaging 18.1 points per game and shooting 29.8% from three point range. This is the third different university he has been at. He started at Arizona State, then moved onto New Mexico before coming to Grand Canyon this year as a graduate student. He was a decent three point shooter at New Mexico, shooting 36.6% in two years there, including 40% last year.

Jerome Garrison is also averaging 12.6 points per game.

The Antelopes rank in the Top 100 in defensive rebounding percentage in the country. They actually are a pretty good defensive team. They are not a great offensive team. They have not allowed more than the 79 points in any game this year (against Utah). They also don't force many turnovers and commit a turnover on more than one out of five possessions. They shoot 35.0% from three point range, good for 125th in the country.

OUTLOOK

An interesting situation. This team is good enough to beat any team in the Dr Pepper Classic in the right situation. That being said, they are going to have a difficult time beating both Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee (the presumed winner of Maine on the first night) on back-to-back nights in virtual road games.

The Antelopes play New Mexico on December 23. They have a long way to come across the country, and playing two schools from Tennessee on back-to-back nights could be challenging. If they lost to Chattanooga, would they beat Maine? More than likely. There is a small chance of a fourth place finish, and a small chance of a first place finish due to the challenge of two straight nights in road games. So, their place of finish likely comes down to if they beat Chattanooga or not on the first night. That game is going to be very difficult to predict. Not sure how the Mocs handle Larson. So a second or third place game is the most likely finish for Grand Canyon.

Scanning the SoCon- Week Eight: The Midseason Awards

Scanning the SoCon is in the third year. This week, ten of us respond to the questions. We also have  all of our normal voting, including midseason awards. This will be released in two parts. The first part is all the voting and we’ll have some midseason questions that will be answered in the second part tomorrow.

SCHEDULE

Saturday

UNCG at Virginia Tech (ESPN3)
Samford at Marquette (SportSouth)
Georgia Southern at North Carolina A&T
Furman at California (Pac 12 Network)

Sunday

Davidson at Wichita State
College of Charleston at The Citadel
Grand Canyon at Chattanooga (Dr Pepper Classic)

POWER RANKINGS

1)      Elon 101 (3)

2)      Davidson 99 (7)
3)      Western Carolina 91
4)      UNCG 72
5)      Georgia Southern 70
6)      Wofford 56
7)      Samford 52
8)      Furman 45
9)      Chattanooga 40
10t) The Citadel 17
10t) Appalachian State 17

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Stephen Croone, Furman (5)

Others Receiving Votes: Brian Sullivan, Davidson (2 votes), Tim Williams, Samford (2), Sebastian Koch, Elon (1)

GAME OF THE WEEK

UNCG at Virginia Tech (3.5)

Others Receiving Votes: College of Charleston at The Citadel (2 votes), Samford at Marquette (2), Elon at Florida Atlantic (1), Grand Canyon at Chattanooga (1), Furman at California (.5 votes)

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Z Mason, Chattanooga (3)

Others Receiving Votes: Stephen Croone, Furman (2.5 votes), Lucas Troutman, Elon (2.5), Trey Sumler, Western Carolina (1), Withholding vote due to poor performance (1)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Brian White, The Citadel (8.5)

Others Receiving Votes: Withholding vote due to poor performance (1 vote), Isaac Williams, Samford (.5)

COACH OF THE YEAR

Mark Byington, Georgia Southern (5)

Others Receiving Votes: Matt Matheny, Elon (2 votes), Bob McKillop (1), Niko Medved, Furman (1), Withholding vote due to poor performance (1)

Dr Pepper Classic Participant: Maine

Nickname: Black Bears
Conference: America East
Enrollment: 10,901
Record: 1-9
Last in NCAA: Never
Head Coach: Ted Woodward
Record at School: 92-144

The Maine Black Bears are just 1-9 on the year, without any wins over a D1 team. Their closest loss against a D1 team was to NJIT at home by 6, their second closest a road loss to NJIT by 9. Army beat them by ten. Quinnipiac (who is better than you think) beat them by 41 at Maine. Ouch.

Xavier Pollard is the Bears best player. He played just nine minutes against Fisher, the teams lone win. He sat out three others with an injury. In the remaining games, he played 32.7 minutes per game. He is averaging 18.8 points per game in those six games, to go along with six rebounds and 3.3 assists. He is 6-3, but only 1 of 12 from three point range. He is a scorer and a solid contributor. He is also the teams leading rebounder. He is second in assists to Shaun Lawton, who averages 4.8 assists per game and 9.0 points per contest.

The Black Bears are not a good three point shooting team. They are shooting 33.2% from three point range, worse than that against D1 teams. Zarko Valjarevic is shooting 44.8% from three point range on the year. Over the last five games, he is shooting 53.1% from three point range. He is another player that normally scores in double figures. He has done that in every game except for two. He's averaging 13.4 points per game.

Dimitry Akanda-Coronel is averaging 13.7 points per game, but wow have his numbers dropped off in the last five games. He is averaging just 5.4 points in those five games, while averaging 19.6 in the first five.

This Maine team is one of the worst rebounding teams in the country. They rank 337th in OR% and 335th in DR%. Ouch. That's really bad. Their eFG% defense is ranked 316th in the country. Again, not good.

OUTLOOK

The Bears have some scorers, but not a ton of height. They are among the smaller teams in the country. They also are one of the youngest teams in the country- with no seniors. They rank 334th in experience according to Pomeroy. That's really young. The Black Bears are the team most likely to finish last in the Dr Pepper Classic. Of course, that doesn't mean that they will. They have enough scorers to present a threat to the Mocs or Grand Canyon on the second night. I have no reason to believe that they can compete with Middle Tennessee on the opening night. This is not a very good team that is still learning how to win. Like I said, they could put it together on night two and win, but that opening game on Sunday night in the Dr Pepper Classic looks like the least competitive game of the entire tournament.

SoCon Monster Game of the Week: Western Carolina at Georgia

Georgia concludes their tour of the SoCon (beat Wofford, Chattanooga and Appalachian State, lost to Davidson) by hosting Western Carolina on Saturday evening. The Bulldogs are one of the SEC's lesser teams, while Western Carolina joins Elon and Davidson as the tri-favorites in the SoCon. Will the SoCon leave Georgia with two losses, or will Georgia survive with just one SoCon loss?

Georgia began the year 1-4, with three losses and an eighth place finish in the Charleston Classic. The losses were to Davidson, Temple and Nebraska. Not particularly bad losses, but still three losses. Since that time, the Dawgs have reeled of four straight wins against Appalachian State, Chattanooga, Lipscomb, and Gardner-Webb. They have games at George Washington and at Colorado before the beginning of SEC play.

This is the third time we've covered a Georgia game in this blog. The previous two were Appalachian State and Chattanooga.

Nemanja Djuristic is averaging 11.6 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per contest. He is shooting 58.2% from the floor, including the most threes on the team. He has made 13 of 24 from three point range on the year. At 6-8, he will be a beast for anyone on Western Carolina to cover. Charles Mann is averaging 13.5 points per game, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He leads the team in points and assists. Donte Williams leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per contest. This Georgia team is not particularly big, but there bigs have been playing OK.

Western Carolina relies on Trey Sumler. He leads the team in scoring with 17.8 points per game. He is second on the team in assists with 4.4 assists per game. He is third on the team in rebounding with 4.4 rebounds per game. The senior has been playing very well since he came back from an early season suspension.

Tom Tankelwicz has made 35 threes on the year. He is scoring 11.1 points per game. He was my favorite Catamount a year ago, and remains so. He is a real threat to make a lot of threes. Brandon Boggs and Tawaski King are the two leading rebounders. Both are guys that can do dirty work when necessary.

This Catamounts team is a team that shoots a lot of threes. They also have not won two straight games against D1 teams. They beat Charleston Southern earlier this week, so this would be two straight wins if Western Carolina could get it. They only have one game against Milligan before they get into conference play. They are 6-7 on the year. A win in this one would more than likely mean an 8-7 record heading into SoCon play, along with a very positive three game winning streak.

PREDICTION

This is a team that Western Carolina likely matches up with pretty well. They don't need to be huge....and they aren't. They need to be shooting lights out from long range, and they are capable of that. Yes, Djuristic is going to be a tough match-up for anyone on the Catamounts to cover. That being said, I smell an upset. Sumler and Tankelwicz shoot lights out and give Western a huge upset. Western Carolina 76, Georgia 75.

Daily Dribbles- 12/20/13

--Missed this earlier this week. Sebastian Koch of Elon was named Player of the Week. He scored 27
 points against Colorado on 9 of 14 shooting from three point range. Elon lost 80-63.

--Elon defeated Central Penn on Thursday night,  126-78. They scored 56 in the first half and 70 in the second half. That's a good game a lot of the time. They took 87 shots, collected 61 rebounds. Thirteen Phoenix scored. Andres Batte for Central Penn did score 31 points.

--In preparation for Jay Canty's return, AppHoops was fired up. Then, the return didn't happen. Needless to say, he's less than pleased that he discovered this thirty minutes before gamtime on Canty's Twitter account.

--"That was the most complete game UNCG has played this year." And that opens the summary of UNCG-James Madison by Dash.

--Georgia and Western Carolina hook up in the SoCon Monster Game of the Week on Saturday. Purple & Gold has a preview.

--A shameless (shameful?) plug for a post that I've been wanting to write for two weeks but haven't had time about things I learned from two forays into coaching basketball, separated by ten years.

Everything I Need To Know About Coaching Basketball I Learned From Five to Seven Year Olds

I don't have basketball coaching experience. Not really. I don't know about the rigors of recruiting or of watching countless hours of film.

All my basketball coaching experience has come over the course of two separate teams. The first was WAY back in my senior year of college (roughly ten years ago now) when I coached my intramural basketball team. The second was this year when I coached my seven year old boys YMCA basketball team. We had one practice all year for my intramural team, and had only thirty minutes before each game to practice with the YMCA team. So practice time was at the minimum for both.

What could I possibly have learned from these two divergent coaching experiences? Well, actually plenty. I'm not saying Will Wade, or any professional coach, needs to learn any of this, but I found it interesting none the less.

1) Recruiting is what matters most. I didn't get to recruit in my YMCA league obviously, but I did for the intramural team. I had been on a senior laden team during my junior year that had been OK. My senior year there was no one left. I threw together a team at the last minute. I got some tall people, and some people who I knew loved basketball that were uncommitted to a team, and then anyone else I could find.So many people played intramural basketball at my school, so I figured my team was probably just going to be relatively average players. Turns out, I was wrong. My recruiting efforts had fallen flat. We were not a talented team.

2) Terminology is key. In the intramural league, it turned out I had very few guys that knew anything about basketball beyong the absolute basics from watching it. In the YMCA league, I had a lot of kids who had never learned to play basketball. In both cases I said, "We'll play man to man." In the YMCA league, everyone wears a colored wristband, and each person is supposed to guard the player on the other team that is wearing the same colored wristband. In both cases after one game, I discovered that many of the players didn't get the word "guard" or "man to man." Both resulted in total blowout losses. So I tried a new strategy after that. In the YMCA league, I said, "Stay so close to the person with the same colored wristband as you that you can smell what they had for breakfast on the breath." Everyone laughed and occassionally I had five to seven year olds telling me what they thought the person they were guarding had for breakfast. In the intramural league, I said, "I want you to stay so close to the man you're guarding that you tell me if he's wearing boxers or briefs after the game and what kind of deodorant he's wearing." Everyone laughed, and I had several people walk up to me during the game saying things like "Old Spice" with a smile on their face. Was it a perfect way to teach defense? Probably not. But people didn't understand what I was saying when I said "man to man" and "guard." So I had to make it simpler.

The second example was during the first game in the YMCA league I kept on prodding my team with the word, "Rebound!" after every missed shot. Let's suffice it so say that my team collected exactly zero rebounds in the first game (outside of maybe one or two by my kids). After the game, I asked, "Do you guys know what I mean when I say rebound?" They all looked up at me and shook their heads. I said, "It means I want you to grab the ball after a shot is missed." They all went, "Oh....." So I was an idiot that didn't get that my team didn't know what rebounding was until after it was over. So the next game when I yelled, "Rebound!" they knew exactly what I meant. And believe it or not- they did it!

In college basketball, coaches all have their own terminology that players need to learn and understand. Normally, those words are not "Rebound!" or "Man to man!" but the language can be just as confusing until it is learned. It is very important to learn the terminology and understand it.

3) Players that work on their own improve the most. In my YMCA league this year, I had a girl on the team. The first game, she could not dribble particularly well. She could not shoot particularly well. She could not rebound particularly well. But she was eager. She wanted to throw the ball in every time, and wanted to participate fully in the basketball game- more than almost any other kid on the team. Given how little practice time we had, I wasn't expecting a ton of improvement. Our second game, she was slightly better. Prior to our third game, she walked up to me when she first got there, a basketball in her hand, and she looked up at me and said, "I've been practicing." She then, still looking at me, started dribbling the basketball. Then she said, "A lot." Yep- she had been practicing a lot. She proceeded to become one of our best dribblers, one of our best rebounders, and one of our best scorers. She practiced on her own and improved more than I had ever dreamed. Now, the NCAA is not limited by thirty minutes of practice a week like the YMCA does, but there is practice limitations. The players have to work on their own. That is how they will see the most improvement.

4) Role players are just as important as star players. In the intramural league I coached, I quickly discovered that we did not have any true star players. We had two players (me and one other guy) that were solid players. I was afraid that would be the end of our team. In the end, what I discovered was that I needed to find everyone's role and  put them in situations to succeed. Virtually the same thing happened in the YMCA league. When I watch most YMCA leagues, every team has one star player. When my team started practicing, I realized quickly that there was no star on my team. Eventually, I discovered that they all had roles that I could put them in to help them succeed. Forming role players is one of the most important things a basketball coach can do. If you can find at least one star player to be surrounded by role players that the coach is putting in a position to succeed, your team can be highly succeeded.

In conclusion, how did my teams do?

Not well. Early in both seasons things were disastrous. Absolutely awful. But you could see the team improve as the year went on in both leagues. Both times, we played the team we played in the first game (and were absolutely hammered, about 80-25 in the intramural league and 24-2 in the YMCA league) again in our last game. In the intramural league, we lost 27-23, and in the YMCA league we won 8-6. So neither team was successful and my overall coaching record would not get me any jobs anywhere else. But in both cases, my teams improved drastically. Why?

Mainly because of two of the things I listed above: teaching terminology and learning how to put role players in a position to succeed. Recruiting is critical at the beginning and getting the players to work in the gym is critical as well.

Another lesson? Teams change and improve as the year goes on.

Does this shed light on anything? Probably not. But it just was interesting and provides me food for thought as I watch college basketball this year.

Daily Dribbles- 12/19/13

--SoCon went 4-2 on Wednesday night. On top of that, Appalachian State battled Presbyterian
relatively close and the Mocs were within single digits against UAB in the final three and a half minutes before an 11-2 Blazers run blew it open. In other words, the SoCon was really respectable on Wednesday night. On Tuesday night, the SoCon was respectable in two losses to VCU and Georgetown. All in all, this has been a good week for the SoCon.

--Z Mason was still out on Wednesday against UAB, and boy could the Mocs have used him. He'll probably be back in time for the Mocs next game in the Dr Pepper Classic on December 29.

--This is a recap of Elon's loss to Georgetown on Tuesday night.

--Tonight, Elon plays a game against a non-D1. Should be an easy win for the Phoenix. We'll see if they can.

--Friday through Sunday will be busy days, but then there will be a week off.

UAB 67, Mocs 52

The Mocs were without Z Mason yet again, but that did not deter them from keeping up with the high powered Blazers for much of the game.

The Mocs were within single digits with under four minutes left against the second best team they have played this year. The Blazers then went on an 11-2 run to put the game away.

The Mocs could not shoot. They took 62 shots on the night and a full 30 of them were from three point range. Given that there was no Z Mason, that was not particularly surprising. The Mocs are not a good three point shooting team. If the Martynas Bareika that showed up against Northern Kentucky had shown up tonight, the Mocs may have won. Instead, Bareika made 3 of 14 from the floor and 2 of 8 from three point range, while scoring 11 points after the 29 against the Norse. The Mocs desperately needed someone to be red hot. Instead, Bareika and Eric Robertson each scored 11 and no one else scored in double figures.

The Mocs were down in rebounding 28-12 at one point. In the end, they were only outrebounded 46-30. That means that they matched the Blazers in the last 28 minutes at 18, which, again, is respectable considering the size of the Blazers.

Truthfully, it may have been one of the Mocs best defensive performances of the year. They held UAB to just 67 points. They held them to 38.2% shooting in the first half from the floor. In the second half, the Blazers drove more to the basket, and shot 57.1% from the floor.

Chad Frazier was forced to play 40 minutes and Rod Rucker played 38. That the Mocs forced the Blazers to play a lot of minutes was rather surprising and pleasing. Casey Jones and Gee McGhee each played reasonably well, scoring 8 points each.

The effort was obviously there tonight. That's a good thing. The Mocs have eleven days off now as they prepare for the Dr Pepper Classic. This comes at a good time. The Mocs played pretty well and have some things to build on as they practice these next eleven days. They haven't won many games lately. But the effort is still there. The Dr Pepper Classic has been a turning point in the past. We'll see if it this year or not.

GO MOCS!

Four Factors: UAB

eFG%
Blazers- 50.9%
Mocs- 37.1%
Advantage- Blazers

TO%
Blazers- 22.0%
Mocs- 13.0%
Advantage- Mocs

OR%
Blazers- 41.9%
Mocs- 26.7%
Advantage- Blazers

FTRate
Blazers- 29.1%
Mocs- 12.9%
Advantage- Blazers

3P%
Blazers- 35.3%
Mocs- 26.7%
Advantage- Blazers

Steals
Blazers- 3
Mocs- 5
Advantage- Mocs

Possessions- 63

Daily Dribbles- 12/18/13

--Elon jumped out to a one point halftime lead against Georgetown, but the Phoenix could not hold on, as Georgetown won 85-76. John Thompson III was so not pleased he refused to allow his players to speak to the media. Maybe he should save the vengeance for that first round upset in the NCAA Tournament that's coming. (I kid, Georgetown fans! I kid! Wait- why would a Georgetown fan be reading a SoCon and Mocs blog? I have no idea.)

--Truthfully, Wofford played pretty well in a 15 point loss to VCU on Tuesday. It wasn't a win, but hey, given what I thought was going to happen on Tuesday, it was two relatively positive performances by Wofford and Elon. Maybe things are starting to turn the right direction for the SoCon. We'll know more Wednesday, when six teams play, and all but Chattanooga have a moderate chance to win.

--UNCG and James Madison hook up on Wednesday night. Dash's preview.

--A look at Appalachian State through the Perils of Every Week Existence.

UAB Preview: An Early Christmas

The Mocs could use an early Christmas present. A nice win over anyone would be good, but a win over a quality program like UAB would be huge. UAB is 8-2, having only lost to New Mexico and Temple. They have beaten the likes of Northeastern, Rutgers, Nebraska, North Carolina and the SoCon's own Georgia Southern.

Yes, this is going to be a very tough game. It is going to be very hard for the Mocs to win in Birmingham on Wednesday night. If Z Mason does not return from his toe injury (he was listed as day-to-day at last notice), then it is tough to come up with any way the Mocs can win.

UAB does not force a lot of turnovers. In fact, they are the worst team in the country at forcing turnovers. However, they are one of the best teams in the country at eFG% defense. Opponents are shooting just 26.5% from three point range, good for 12th best in the whole country. They also are 45th in the country in DR%. How the Mocs will handle the Blazers defense is going to be a real challenge. They will need to come up with some shots by the likes of Martynas Bareika (scored 29 against Northern Kentucky) and Alex Bran (another pure shooter) to hopefully open up a few lanes for the likes of Greg Pryor and Gee McGhee to drive to the basket, and hopefully open up the inside for Mason if he is playing.

Offensively, UAB is good too. They do not shoot a high percentage and turn the ball over too much. They rank 258th in the country in two point field goal percentage and 183rd in three point field goal percentage. That's not particularly good. But, the Blazers are 6th in the country in OR%. They really crash the offensive glass. That is one of the Blazers main source of offense.

Fahro Alihodzic is 6-10, and is averaging 7.4 rebounds and 9.8 points per game. He is shooting only 43% from the floor, which is not good for a player of his height who has not shot a three pointer all season.

CJ Washington is 6-8, but the best three point shooter (percentage-wise) on the team. He is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game, and is the second leading scorer at 14.1 points per game. He is shooting 41.7% from three point range.

Jordan Swing has made more threes on the year than Washington. Swing has made 11 threes on the year (compared to Washington), but is shooting just 30.4% from long range. Still, the Mocs will need to guard him, as he is the type of shooter that tends to have an explosive game against the Mocs.

Chad Frazier has made 17 threes on the year, shooting 40.5% from three point range. He is averaging 19.2 points per game to go along with 3.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He leads the team in assists, but he is committing 4.6 turnovers per game. He is 6-4 and going to be another tough match-up for the Mocs.

Rod Rucker is only 6-5, but he is the team's leading rebounder at 8.7 per game. He is the third Blazer to average in double figures with 11.8 points per game. Robert Williams is the Blazers other starter (Swing does not start), and averages 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He is yet another weapon that could easily be a problem for the Mocs on the defensive side of the ball.

PREDICTION

If Z Mason does not play, it is hard to find a position where the Mocs can really compete with the Blazers. This UAB team is very good- tremendous. Probably they are the second best team the Mocs have played outside of UCLA. The Mocs will need to find some offensive weapons in this one to try to keep up because it is hard to believe the Mocs are going to beat them with their defense in this one. If the Mocs can protect the ball (like I say every game), they can probably score some points. It is tough to imagine the Mocs keeping the Blazers off the boards, but if they do that and protect the ball and force a few turnovers, they will be in the game until the end. It won't happen this day. UAB 93, Mocs 70.

GO MOCS!

Daily Dribbles: 12/17/13

--Cleveland State slipped Western Carolina on Monday night, 66-55. The Catamounts played reasonably well, but could not come up with a win.

--Tuesday does not look like a particularly good day for the SoCon. Elon goes to Georgetown. Wofford goes to VCU. Uh-oh. These are two of the SoCon's better teams (I have Wofford 4th in my power rankings currently, and Elon second.) However, it is very unlikely that either team comes up with a win.

--You ready for Presbyterian? Appalachian State is ready to see what Jay Canty does in his return. Could be a big night for Appy and the SoCon race.

--Elon-Georgetown preview over at the Pendulum.

--Rutgers-UNCG recap over on Dash's UNCGBasketballFan site. Basically, the first half was ugly, and the second half was better.

Northern Kentucky 87, Mocs 71

The Mocs were without Z Mason in this one, and that meant that there was no inside presence for the Mocs on the offensive end, and no way to control the Norse on the defensive end. Mason being out was the worst possible thing that could happen to the Mocs.

Let's start with that. Mason is day to day at this point. Personally, I would probably sit him until the Grand Canyon game on December 28th. Let's not worry about UAB on Wednesday. Hold him out, get him completely healthy, and let's see if he can stay healthy for the SoCon portion of the schedule.

The Norse shot unbelievably well from the floor, again exposing the Mocs lack of defensive prowess. They shot 58.3% from three point range and 66.7% from the floor. It's tough to win games when you allow teams to shoot that well. The Mocs defensive effort is there, but the execution is not. They simply can not guard in the half court right now. Coach Wade called off the full court pressure several times during the game trying to allow the Mocs to get set defensively and perform that way. It didn't work.

The Mocs could not cover the inside, which is not surprising. Lance Stokes, TJ Williams, Martynas Bareika are good players, but are not equipped to guard the biggest players on an opposing roster.

Of course, Bareika deserves a lot of credit. He scored 29 points on Sunday afternoon. It was truly a great performance. Casey Jones scored 10 with seven rebounds.

Jones is playing hard, as are all the Mocs. They are truly giving it all they have. They are working hard, but just can't seem to put it all together right now.

Gee McGhee is obviously good at driving the ball, but is struggling with his outside shot. Until he learns to shoot the ball better, he will have his offensive limitations. He was not shooting well on Sunday afternoon, and that limits him offensively. I am hopeful that McGhee will start making some shots at some point and gain his confidence and start scoring again.

The Mocs made 28 of 29 from the free throw line, an excellent 97%. It's pretty impressive to shoot 97% from the free throw line. That could really help them in the coming SoCon schedule.

There's real problems on this team. Hopefully, the Mocs can start to overcome some of them and win some games as the SoCon season comes racing towards us.

GO MOCS!

Four Factors: Northern Kentucky

eFG%
Norse- 74.0%
Mocs- 43.0%
Advantage- Norse

TO%
Norse- 17.6%
Mocs- 16.7%
Advantage- Mocs

OR%
Norse- 40.9%
Mocs- 27.3%
Advantage- Norse

FTRate
Norse- 54.2%
Mocs- 58.0%
Advantage- Mocs

Steals-
Norse- 6
Mocs- 4
Advantage- Norse

3Pt%
Norse- 30.4%
Mocs- 28.0%
Advantage- Norse

Possessions: 64

Daily Dribbles- 12/16/13

--A totally lost weekend for the SoCon. No team won a game this weekend. Some lost in really
disappointing fashion. Seriously, I invite all of you to try to rank the teams 4-11. After Elon, Davidson, and Western Carolina, how do you possibly rank these teams? They are all pretty bad.

--A Cleveland State-Western Carolina preview over on the Purple & Gold. That will not be an easy game for Western Carolina at all. That's the SoCon's only game on Monday.

--Drexel's 14 point win over Davidson was relatively easy for the Dragons. The word on the street was that De'Mon Brooks was going to play on Sunday, but he did not make an appearance. We really can't judge the Wildcats further until Brooks comes back.

--Z Mason was in a walking boot on Sunday against Northern Kentucky. The Mocs looked totally lost on the defensive end without him. He can't get back soon enough.

Scanning the SoCon- Week Seven

Each week, bloggers and fans from around the SoCon gather their knowledge together to come up with some of the best coverage of the SoCon available.

SCHEDULE

Monday

Western Carolina at Cleveland State

Tuesday

Wofford at VCU
Elon at Georgetown

Wednesday
Charleston Southern at Western Carolina
Brevard College at The Citadel
Kennesaw State at Georgia Southern
Appalachian State at Presbyterian
James Madison at UNCG
Chattanooga at UAB

Thursday

Central Pennsylvania College at Elon

Friday

Georgia Southern at Georgia State

Liberty at Furman

Samford at Jacksonville

Saturday

Western Carolina at Georgia

UNCG at Wake Forest

Milligan at Appalachian State

Wofford at Winthrop

Davidson at North Carolina

The Citadel at Nebraska

Sunday

Elon at Florida Atlantic

POWER RANKINGS

1)      Davidson 95 (6)

2)      Elon 93 (3)

3)      Western Carolina 82

4)      Georgia Southern 62

5)      Wofford 57

6)      UNCG 54

7)      Samford 46

8)      Chattanooga 42

9)      Appalachian State 25

10)  Furman 24

11)  The Citadel 14

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Z Mason, Chattanooga- 5 votes

Others receiving votes: Sebastian Koch, Elon (2 votes), Martynas Bareika, Chattanooga (1 vote), Abstaining due to conference lack of performance (1 vote)

GAME OF THE WEEK

Western Carolina at Georgia- 4 votes

Others receiving votes: Davidson at North Carolina (2 votes), James Madison at UNCG (1 vote), Appalachian State at Presbyterian (1 vote), Elon at Georgetown (1 vote)

QUESTIONS

Sum up your team.

Georgia Southern- GSU is just solidifying what we learned early on at this point, which is that the lack of size is a huge problem. The Eagles top 4 scorers are all guards and the number 5 scorer is playing the forward position despite only being 6'4. Things won't get any better as the talest player on the roster, Kam Dunnican, at 6'8 left the team last week. On the flip side though GSU has the conference's top 2 scorers in Jelani Hewitt and Tre Bussey. Part of that is obviously out of necessity but part of that is also because they are both very good scorers. The best news for the Eagles is that 6'4 junior Angel Matias had a career high 22 points last game out and posted his 4th straight game of 9+ rebounds. If he can start being a threat on the offensive end then teams can't concentrate on Hewitt and Bussey as much. We've also learned that this team needs a healthy Brian Holmes. Not only is Holmes a good player that makes the team better, but this team isn't very deep so without Holmes in the lineup the other guards are asked to play a lot of minutes. At this point I definitely expect GSU to exceed preseason expectations, but I don't think we have quite enough in the tank to win a conference championship. However if Hewitt, Bussey, Holmes, and Curtis Diamond get hot in Asheville and Matias and freshman Kyle Doyle continue to improve things could get interesting in March.

Samford- When I wrote that Samford was young and there might be growing pains, I didn't fully appreciate what the word "pain" meant. Now I know. I can feel it and it hurts like hell. Watching Samford thus far as been painful--like a root canal. There has been one bright spot--a surprising blow out of APSU. All the other D1 games have been blowouts--Samford getting blown out and not looking good during the process. Aside from poor defense, chaotic offense that at times resembles a YMCA pickup team, poor free throw shooting, abysmal three point shooting, silly turnovers and leaderless effort, we look to be poised to make a run in the SoCon. The saddest part is that Samford hasn't even been competitive in most of these D1 games. Perhaps sadder is that the non-D1 games have been very competitive. Speaking of the SoCon schedule, that is the only thing that can salvage this season. There are glimmers of hope here and there and if all this frustration we have "witnessed" in the non-conference schedule is a lesson in what not to do, perhaps this team can be one of the better teams in what has thus far been an abysmal SoCon non-conference performance. I guess what I'm saying is maybe the SoCon is so down this year that Samford can be better than some of the worst basketball teams, collectively called the Southern Conference, in college basketball. Perhaps we will get tired of losing and the hope of having teams as bad as us to play that the Bulldogs will be motivated to win. At this point, the SoCon schedule is our only hope of turning an appalling season around. The SoCon schedule can't get here soon enough. Hope springs eternal and the season begins anew in 2014.

The Citadel- The Citadel has been disappointing so far, not an easy thing to do given the expectations. Having said that, the Bulldogs have probably not been as bad as a couple of other SoCon teams (which says more about the league than just about anything). The team cannot escape the turnover bug, and recently has also fallen into the habit of falling way behind in every game and spending the rest of the contest trying to catch up. That can be attributed to a collective shooting slump. I think the Bulldogs will eventually start shooting well again, but it's hard to be confident about turnover prevention, given the last three seasons.

Western Carolina- The Cats are 5-6 this season and have not played since a 68-76 setback to Coastal Carolina on December 4th, taking last week off for final exams. As I said last week, the lack of offensive consistency from last season's scoring leaders has resulted in many games that could have or should have been wins for the Catamounts.

Who is the SoCon’s best pure shooter?

Georgia Southern- Without seeing the newcomers to the SoCon yet, I will default back to the player who I think is the best returning pure shooter in the conference and that's Elon's Jack Isenbarger. I know he hasn't shot the ball as well this year, but as he works himself back into shape I'd expect him to return to form for conference play.

The Citadel- Tanner Samson (I guess).

Western Carolina-Trey Sumler

What college basketball rules would you like to see changed?

Georgia Southern- The top rule I would like to see changed is the new hand checking rules. Some of the games early on while officials were putting a strong emphasis on it were almost unbearable. Like with the new football rules, I don't want to see college basketball turn into a game where it's tough to play defense. Last year my least favorite rule was the elbow rule so I'm glad that they went back and atleast put that under replay.

Samford- Allowing D1 teams to schedule non-D1 teams. At the very least, limit D1 schools to one non-D1 game a year. There are enough D1 teams that D1 teams should only play D1 teams.

The Citadel- I would like to see offensive goaltending (mostly) legalized, and for the possession arrow to be eliminated. Go back to jump balls.

Western Carolina- Eliminate rule 10, article 4 that took effect this season, it's resulting in excessive fouling and slows down the game. It has not improved scoring as hoped. I'd also like to see the 35 second clock reduced to 30 seconds. I think this would not only speed up the game, but could result in higher scoring games that was projected with the implementation of rule 10.

What are some things you’d like to see the commissioner do to promote the SoCon?

Georgia Southern- This is something that's going to be an all around challenge for the SoCon as a conference in whole and not just basketball. In the past my answer would have been to ride the recognition of your most known schools. Such as App St's national success in football and Davidson's basketball success. The problem with this is that the most recognizable SoCon teams in each sport are leaving the conference. So the SoCon is going to have to decide what they want their image to be and then promote that image. What that is at this time I'm not really 100% sure of though, but it's definitely going to be a challenge for the SoCon moving forward.

Samford- See my answer to the previous question. The SoCon has to up the schedule. At a minimum, it would cut down on the number of non-D1 losses the SoCon suffers. In conjunction with that, I'd like to see tie-ins with other conferences like the A-Sun, Big South and OVC that give SoCon fans a chance to see their teams play somewhat quality opponents. Samford's home out of conference schedule was more than a disappointment to its fans (those that are left), it was a travesty.

The Citadel- The league's TV deal MUST improve by about 1000%. The league MUST develop a streaming service similar to what the Patriot League has, and like the Patriot League it needs to be free of charge. For basketball, the SoCon needs to ensure more of its teams are in exempt tourneys that are televised (or at least on ESPN3.com), and the non-conference schedule in general must be strengthened. I have no idea at this point what Dave Odom is doing, if anything.  Finally, the league must make a conscious effort to have quality officials working conference games (all sports).

Western Carolina- I don't know what the commissioner can do at this point to promote SoCon basketball. The individual institutions must make a commitment to upgrade their programs, then follow through with the resources to accomplish any upgrades in the basketball product, which many of the institutions seem reluctant to do. I would like to see the conference utilize some of their funds to upgrade the streaming video in the individual member schools, something on the line of what the Big South has accomplished.

Northern Kentucky Preview: A Fork In The Road

The Mocs are at an relatively early season fork in the road. Which road are they going to take?

Prior to a Sunday evening in Los Angeles, the Mocs had shown consistent effort that made fans think that eventually they would turn the corner. They had lost close games to Nevada and Kennesaw State, beaten two non-D1s and not played too poorly against Radford. Since that Sunday in Los Angeles, they have been blown out by UCLA and Georgia, while losing in ugly fashion against Morehead State. They also won ugly against Hiwassee. They did beat IUPUI and that was nice, but the rest of their performances have been ugly since that heartbreaking loss to Nevada.

So now, with finals behind them, the Mocs have four games before the SoCon season starts. Northern Kentucky is the first in that trek. The second game is at UAB this week, before the Dr Pepper Classic in Chattanooga. This four game stretch is really big for the Mocs in terms of building momentum as we race towards the SoCon season.

So what team shows up in Northern Kentucky?

One of the interesting things about this Northern Kentucky is their lack of height. The Norse have one 6-7 player that starts, and no one else who starts is over 6-4. Cole Murray is 6-7 and plays just 20.8 minutes per game. He scores 5.3 points per game and gets just 1.5 rebounds per contest. He has made twelve threes this year, but shoots just 32.4% from three point range. In other words, he may be their biggest player, but he does not play like a big player. The Mocs have a similar problem. They are not big, but Z Mason plays significantly bigger than that.

The Norse leading rebounder is Todd Johnson, who is 5-9. Last year, he averaged just 1.3 rebounds per game, but this year he is up to 5.4. He got 11 rebounds against Purdue, eight against Kentucky and then 10 against UT-Martin. He's averaged under three rebounds per game in the other five games. He's averaging 7.4 points per game and 2.3 assists per contest.

Jordan Jackson is the Norse leading scorer, second in rebounds, and leads the team in assists. Jackson is averaging 13.5 points per game, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. Jackson is 6'2. He is shooting almost 52% from the floor, and has not made a three yet this year. Jackson is more of someone who gets to the basket. He scored 24 with 8 rebounds against Purdue, his highs in both categories this year. He was injured against Kentucky, then missed the next two games, before coming back. Since returning, he's averaged 13.5 points per game, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He is probably the Norse best player.

Tyler White is the second leading scorer with 11.0 points per game. Jack Flournoy has made 16 threes this year and is shooting 51.6% from three point range this year. Jalen Billups is not a starter and is 6-6. He is averaging 3.0 rebounds and one block per game to go along with 8.5 points per game. Jake Giesler is 6-7 and plays eighteen minutes per game. He is averaging 4.5 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Billups and Giesler are probably the two players that are the biggest and both come off the bench.

The Norse and the Mocs play two very different styles. The Norse play, according to KenPom, at the 327th fastest pace out of 351 D1 teams. The Mocs play at the 24th fastest pace. It should be very interesting to see which team can force the other one into their style. The Mocs defense has not been good, especially in the halfcourt. The Mocs eFG% defense is ranked 333rd in the country. Northern Kentucky's is ranked 339th. Wow. This is two pretty lousy defenses trying to stop the other teams offense. 

PREDICTION

The Mocs are due for a good performance. This is on the road against a 1-7 team that lost to Morehead State by 13 (the same total the Mocs lost to Morehead State by), and played good Purdue, San Diego, Kentucky and SE Missouri State teams to go along with Morehead State. They beat Tulane on the road. They haven't played a home game since November 19 against Morehead State. They also got beat by 31 by San Diego at home. Still, the Norse should be excited to be home. This is a good match-up for the Mocs. The Norse are not a lot bigger than the Mocs and they don't play particularly good defense. Z Mason should be able to score a lot of points again, though putting up 41 like he did against Hiwassee is unlikely. Casey Jones and Gee McGhee may be the key to the game. The Mocs not committing a lot of turnovers will also be key. How does this go? I truly have no idea. This is as much of a toss up as I could possibly imagine. I'll go with the Mocs. Mocs 80, Northern Kentucky 78.

Daily Dribbles- 12/13/13

--Can Elon beat Colorado on Friday night in Boulder? It's hard to imagine. The Buffaloes are a
significantly better team. But if the Phoenix are hot from three......

--Sunday features some interesting games as Chattanooga goes to Northern Kentucky, Appalachian State goes to Winthrop and Davidson hosts Drexel. All three are tough contests, but the SoCon could pull out wins in all those games too if things break right.

--A brief, thorough look at the Knight Commission's spending report. (Yes, I realize brief and thorough are contradictory, but, I did it anyway.

--At look at the current, slightly depressing state of Appalachian State men's basketball. "Fire Capel Now" is one of the key phrases in the post.