Scanning the SoCon Week #6

Scanning the SoCon - Week #6

Power Rankings
1. Davidson
2. Elon
3. Western Carolina
4. Ga Southern
5. Furman
6. Wofford
7. UNCG
8. UTC
9. Samford
10. App State
11. Citadel

Game of the Week
Drexel @ Davidson

Player of the Week
Tom Droney

Sum up your team since the last time you wrote.
Since the last time I wrote for "Scanning the SoCon", UNCG has gone 3-4. The Spartans whipped up on two non-D1's (Greensboro College, Chowan) before heading down to Naples, Florida to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase. At that tournament, the Spartans ran into a buzzsaw called Louisiana Tech before dropping their second game to a very good San Diego team. UNCG won the 7th place game against Stetson. This past week though, has been a disaster for UNCG. They were thoroughly beaten at home by a bad Presbyterian team and dropped a game to Carolina that was never close. The theme to all of these games have been UNCG's inability to get off to anything that resembled a good start. Also the Spartans have just repeatedly turned the ball over. Kyle Cain has been very good all season, but the youth at the guard positions has really been the tough spot. In order for UNCG to get better, they are going to need the team to step up and value the ball more. Also the defense hasn't been very good at all. That will definitely need to get shored up moving forward.

The SoCon would have a slightly better RPI more than likely if ETSU, Mercer and VMI were in the conference and Davidson, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Elon were gone. Long term, what are your thoughts on the SoCon's future?
I really like what the new teams will bring to the SoCon. Obviously, losing Davidson really hurts from a basketball standpoint. Losing Elon and App State hurts UNCG form a rivalry standpoint. However, I like the idea of the Southern Conference getting back into Virginia with VMI and I think Mercer will bring a strong across the board athletics program to the conference. ETSU should have always been in the SoCon. So to me they seemed like a "no brainer" as far as adding them back to conference. When looking at the SoCon's future (as regards to basketball) with the new teams, I think things will be about the same. It should be slightly more competitive with no Davidson in the conference. However, this year looks to be very competitive even with Davidson in the league.

With the Big Ten-ACC Challenge fresh on your mind, what conference would you like to see the SoCon have a conference challenge against?
Based on how the SoCon has played against OOC competition, I think a SoCon-CIAA challenge would be a good one. In all seriousness, I think it would be fun to see an OVC-SoCon challenge. The SoCon already plays a bunch of Big South & Atlantic Sun teams. So, I think it would be nice to see the Southern Conference play OVC teams. But that just a personal preference. I think the SoCon playing any mid or low major conference in one of these challenges would be a good thing.