{"id":4737,"date":"2014-03-10T09:33:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T13:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4737"},"modified":"2014-03-11T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T13:18:08","slug":"2014-ctc-the-socon-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4737","title":{"rendered":"2014 CTC: The SoCon (FINAL)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The days of Steph Curry are over, yet people, for some reason, still think this is a mid-major conference.\u00a0 It is not.\u00a0 It is not close.\u00a0 This is low-major basketball, and this might be the season that most exemplifies that.\u00a0 This was an incredibly shaky year up and down the SoCon as evidenced by the fact that an untalented Chattanooga team can go 12-4 and finish second place.\u00a0 Just look at the tempo-free stats, which puts SIX SoCon teams that couldn’t crack the top 290 teams in the country.\u00a0 Even Davidson, who won another regular season title, had a down year, winning just\u00a03 of 13 noncon games against D-1 opponents.\u00a0 When you see Davidson as a 16-seed (or another SoCon team in the First Four) on Selection Sunday, don’t fall into the trap of thinking they’re underseeded.<\/p>\n

Davidson is the overwhelming championship choice in the CTC, as 20 of the 25 took the ‘Cats.\u00a0 A couple people believed in The Citadel as the surprise of the opening round and GA-Southern as the surprise semifinalist.\u00a0 #6 UNC-Greensboro is the lowest selected finalist.\u00a0 Bry is trying to defend his 2013 SoCon championship.\u00a0 He, Lynch, Stri, and GrossJr all have the chance to become the first multiple-time SoCon winner, as we have had 6 winners in 6 years in this league.<\/p>\n

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 10th – 18 points)<\/h1>\n

#3 Wofford vs #5 Western Carolina<\/strong>
\nNot exactly the SoCon championship people were expecting – at least the WCU part.\u00a0 It is hard to believe that the SoCon title won’t have either Davidson or Elon.\u00a0 Western Carolina has certainly earned this spot here, slipping past Elon in the quarters and then winning an OT thriller over Davidson in the semis.\u00a0 Wofford, on the other hand, has had the one of the cushiest paths to a title that I can remember, as everything has broken their way.\u00a0 That said, they are still a very good team, who should be considered the favorite here on Monday.<\/p>\n

Only two people have anything to gain here in this one.\u00a0 No one even had WCU reaching the finals, let alone winning it, so a Catamount title (which will be a very impressive run) will zero out the SoCon championship.\u00a0 Colton and PapaCim are the only two with Wofford and stand to gain a quick 30 points on the rest of the field if the Terriers take care of business here.\u00a0 With a Wofford win, PapaCim will win his second CTC conference title of 2014 (having already secured the MVC).\u00a0 If WCU wins, the current standings will hold, which means Lazarow will back into the title based on an excellent performance in the earlier rounds.<\/p>\n

Wofford 56 – Western Carolina 53<\/em>
\nI guess the future is now for this incredibly young Wofford team.\u00a0 Ranked 301st out of 351 D-I teams in experience, the young Terriers took advantage of a ton of breaks throughout this tournament and are going dancing.\u00a0 The grizzled veteran, JR Karl Cochran led the team with 23 in an ugly game that felt just as sweet.\u00a0 Former walkon and now WCU’s leading scorer, Trey Sumler, had an incredible tournament and led a big comeback in this game, but just rimmed-out a three that would have tied it at the end of regulation.\u00a0 It is hard to believe that Wofford punches a Dance ticket after beating The Citadel, Georgia-Southern, and Western Carolina, but that’s exactly what happened.\u00a0 You can only play who is in front of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Colton and PapaCim picked up a free 30 points on the rest of the field with this win.\u00a0 It also clinched PapaCim’s second CTC conference title of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 12 points)<\/h1>\n

#1 Davidson vs #5 Western Carolina<\/strong>
\nBoth teams in the first SoCon semifinal are coming off impressive quarterfinal performances.\u00a0 Davidson in a blowout win over Samford; Western Carolina in a nice win over a solid Elon team.\u00a0 Now, they meet for the right to play in a game on national TV for all the SoCon marbles.<\/p>\n

No one has WCU here.\u00a0 Lazarow, Scoot, and Stumpf have already lost it.\u00a0 The other 22 all have the Wildcats, including an incredible number of 20 that have them winning the tournament.<\/p>\n

Western Carolina 99 – Davidson 97 (OT)<\/em>
\nMADNESS!\u00a0 First of all, I have to reference the preview I wrote for the Wofford game, where I predicted a WCU 7-overtime win.\u00a0 I was only off by 6 overtimes, but still – what a break for Wofford!\u00a0 But, this is all about the Catamounts here, as they snapped a 13-game winning streak by erasing a 15-point deficit.\u00a0 Davidson – a huge favorite to win this tournament – went 15-1 in the SoCon this season and yet are NIT-bound, despite shooting 55% from the floor on this day.\u00a0 There just wasn’t enough defense in this game.\u00a0 The loss ends the great SoCon career of De’Mmon Brooks and is probably the biggest shock of the day on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not a single person got this one right, but Lazarow, Scoot, and Stumpf are thrilled to have this game completely zeroed out.\u00a0 Also, PapaCim and Colton – who have Wofford winning this tournament – are now the only two left with any shot at getting the SoCon champ right.<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 Wofford vs #7 Georgia-Southern<\/strong>
\nCould Wofford have caught any better breaks?\u00a0 They finish in a three-way tie for 3rd and win the tiebreaker, which means the other two had to play each other in the 4\/5 game on the same side if the bracket as Davidson.\u00a0 Whereas, Wofford gets the 3-seed on the opposite side and gets 11th-seeded Citadel after an upset and now 7th-seeded GA-Southern after another upset.\u00a0 Chances are WCU will beat Davidson in like 7 overtimes and have nothing left for the final.\u00a0 But, I guess don’t sleep on GA-S, as they do have some talent, though they didn’t come within 10 points of Wofford in two regular season meetings.<\/p>\n

8 people (Alexi, GrossSr, Lohse, Primm, RDoc, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) have already lost this game with either Chattanooga or Greensboro.\u00a0 No one has GA-S winning this game, and the other 17 all have Wofford, including Colton and PapaCim, who have the Terriers winning this tourney.<\/p>\n

Wofford 71 – Georgia-Southern 57<\/em>
\nLike I said, this is working out incredibly well for Wofford, as they got the bye, then rolled over 11th-seeded Citadel and now they easily handle 7th-seeded GA-Southern playing their 3rd game in 3 nights.\u00a0 And, the early game was an overtime win for WCU (it wasn’t 7 overtimes, like I predicted, but wow was I eerily close!).\u00a0 Now, the Terriers are a win away from making the Dance with a good, but young team.<\/span><\/p>\n

17 people got this right, including Colton and PapaCim, who now have the inside track towards a really nice championship pick.<\/span><\/p>\n

QUARTERFINALS (March 8th – 6 points)<\/h1>\n

#1 Davidson vs #8 Samford<\/strong>
\nBob McKillop just gets it done.\u00a0 Many mid- and low-major programs bubble up on the backs of a stud that fell through the cracks or a perfect combination of seniors or an elite coach passing through on their way to a major conference.\u00a0 But, very few are consistent winners.\u00a0 Davidson didn’t just come up when they somehow got Steph Curry to go to a school of 1,200 kids.\u00a0 Davidson has stayed relevant for a decade now.\u00a0 In the era of Gonzaga, that might not seem all that impressive, but it is.\u00a0 Butler and VCU are big schools with a lot of resources.\u00a0 Wichita State and Creighton have long histories and a whole lot of money invested in athletics and play in stadiums 8 times the size of the entire student body of Davidson.\u00a0 But, the Wildcats just keep getting it done.\u00a0 Led this year by the stud, D’Mon Brooks, the ‘Cats went 15-1 in conference, with the only loss coming in overtime to an Elon team that was actually picked to finish ahead of them in the preseason by many prognosticators…not smart ones, obviously.\u00a0 McKillop’s squad opens the quarterfinal quadruple-header against 8th-seeded Samford, who took care of App State on Friday.<\/p>\n

All 25 people have Davidson winning here to go to the semis.\u00a0 Everyone except Lazarow, Scoot, and Stumpf have the ‘Cats going to the finals.\u00a0 And, everyone except those 3 plus Colton, PapaCim, and WaTers have them winning the championship.<\/p>\n

Davidson 77 – Samford 54<\/em><\/p>\n

#4 Elon vs #5 Western Carolina<\/strong>
\nAs I mentioned above, a lot of preseason predictors picked Elon to win the SoCon over Davidson this year.\u00a0 And, in their defense, it did look like “their year,” and Davidson was rebuilding – at least for that program.\u00a0 But, I personally never bought into it even when Davidson was going 4-10 in the noncon, and Elon was beating the likes of Georgia State, Marist, and VMI.\u00a0 In the end, Davidson won the SoCon handily and Elon was left picking up the scraps.\u00a0 But, the Phoenix are almost certainly the second-best team in the league, but as the 4-seed in a conference that has 5 good teams, Elon is stuck playing a really tough quarterfinal before a probable semifinal date with #1.\u00a0 Western Carolina is like the forgotten contender in the SoCon this year.\u00a0 Davidson is the alpha; Elon is the runner-up; Wofford is the solid program coming back to\u00a0contention; Chattanooga is the out-of-nowhere\u00a0contender.\u00a0 What is WCU?\u00a0 They are\u00a0a very talented team that is flying completely under the SoCon radar.\u00a0 This should be easily the best SoCon quarterfinal with the winner probably on a collision course with Davidson in the semis.<\/p>\n

7 people (Alexi, Caleb, Colton, Dave, GrossSr, Primm, Teddy) took the minor upset of WCU here, though none of them have the Catamounts going to the finals.\u00a0 The other 18 all have Elon, with Lazarow, Scoot, and Stumpf all picking the Phoenix to make the finals.\u00a0 Lazarow has them winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

Western Carolina 66 – Elon 64<\/em><\/p>\n

#2 Chattanooga vs #7 Georgia-Southern<\/strong>
\nThe Moccasins of Chattanooga were picked towards the bottom of the league and, while their tempo-free numbers aren’t pretty, they just flat-out won games.\u00a0 12-4 in the conference and 18-13 overall and the Mocs earned the 2nd-seed here in the tournament.\u00a0 Their first hurdle is a GA-Southern team that hammered Furman in the opening round.<\/p>\n

7 people (Bry, Chris, Lazarow, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, Stritts) went with a decent upset pick here with GA-S.\u00a0 The other 18 all have Chattanooga here.\u00a0 Only 6 (Alexi, Lohse, Primm, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) have the Mocs making the finals, with the latter 3 all picking them to win it all.<\/p>\n

Georgia-Southern 62 – Chattanooga 55<\/em><\/p>\n

#3 Wofford vs #11 The Citadel<\/strong>
\nThe surprise of the opening round here in Asheville\u00a0was\u00a0the last-place Citadel taking out UNC-Greensboro with relative ease.\u00a0 They now have a shot at a Wofford team that is a legit threat to\u00a0anyone in this league right now.\u00a0 And, there are few teams anywhere\u00a0that have\u00a0come as far as Wofford over the course of the season.\u00a0 The Terriers are very <\/em>young, and the\u00a0future\u00a0is very bright, but they are focused on the now, and, like most good, young teams, they are playing their best ball here in the later\u00a0part of the season.\u00a0 From January\u00a020th to February 20th, the Terriers went 9-0.\u00a0 Then, they lost a close one at Davidson before going on the road to beat Elon.\u00a0 They finished the regular season with a head-scratching loss to UNC-Greensboro, but after back-to-back road games against the top 2 teams in the league, the young squad was due for a letdown and better then than now.\u00a0\u00a0And,\u00a0if it was matchup-based,\u00a0Wofford dodged a huge bullet, as Greensboro\u00a0was due to face them here in the quarters, but they were taken out by\u00a0The Citadel, winners of just 2 conference games all year\u00a0(though, they did take\u00a0the Terriers to OT in one of their two\u00a0meetings).\u00a0 With Davidson and Elon both on the other side of the bracket, and\u00a0Greensboro getting upset,\u00a0it seems to be breaking right for a\u00a0potential Wofford run here – or maybe they\u00a0just have to wait a year for these young’ins to mature.\u00a0 They will be very good.<\/p>\n

Alexi, GrossSr, RDoc, Scoot, Stumpf, and WaTers have all already lost this game with Greensboro.\u00a0 The other 19 people all have Wofford, including Colton and PapaCim, who have the Terriers winning this tournament outright.\u00a0 15 people besides Colton and PapaCim have Wofford making the finals, but losing, so another Citadel upset would be a huge bracket-buster.<\/p>\n

Wofford 68 – The Citadel 51<\/em><\/p>\n

OPENING ROUND (March 7th – 3 points each)<\/h1>\n

#8 Samford vs #9 Appalachian State<\/strong>
\nSamford was one loss away from making this a matchup of 20-loss teams.\u00a0 The sad part is that both of these teams were picked in the top 5 in preseason projections.\u00a0 App State was actually picked 3rd behind Davidson and Elon, but they were just awful all year.\u00a0 Samford wasn’t much better, and whoever gets through this should be no match for #1 Davidson in the quarters.<\/p>\n

Only 10 people (Alexi, Caleb, Chris, Dave, Gersh, Lazarow, Lynch, Primm, Scoot, Teddy) went with favored Samford here.\u00a0 No one has either of these teams beating Davidson on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Samford 70 – Appalachian State 56<\/em>
\nAfter a back-and-forth first half, Samford took control in the second half and sent App State off to the Sun Belt with a ho-hum 14-point victory.\u00a0 They will now take a shot at #1 Davidson on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

10 people got this one for a whole 3 points.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

#7 Georgia-Southern vs #10 Furman<\/strong>
\nGA-Southern actually looked semi-decent at times this year, but that might be because they got to play teams like Furman all through this pathetic season in the SoCon.\u00a0 These two teams just played on Thursday, with GA-Southern going into Furman and beating the Paladins on their home floor.\u00a0 The winner of this game will take on the 2nd-seeded Chattanooga Moccasins in the quarters.<\/p>\n

Only Caleb, Dave, Gersh, and GrossJr\u00a0went with Furman in an upset here, though none have them going any further.\u00a0 GA-Southern could bust some brackets with a loss here, as 7 people (Bry, Chris, Lazarow, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, and Stritts) have them beating Chattanooga in the quarters.<\/p>\n

Georgia-Southern 65 – Furman 50<\/em>
\nGA-Southern dominated a really bad Paladin team in every way.\u00a0 The Eagles shot 50% and held Furman to 36%.\u00a0 They forced 16 TOs to only 12 of their own.\u00a0 They outrebounded Furman 34-23.\u00a0 This game was never in doubt.\u00a0 GA-S now moves on to Saturday’s quarterfinals to take on 2nd-seeded Chattanooga.<\/span><\/p>\n

4 people missed out on an upset pick here, while 7 others keep alive a nice upset in the next round.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

#6 UNC-Greensboro vs #11 The Citadel<\/strong>
\nThe worst of this bad league, The Citadel, actually showed some promise and had a really tough-luck season (not that that means they’re any good).\u00a0 Of the 14 conference losses, 1o of them were by single-digit margins, and two were in overtime.\u00a0 One of those OT losses was at UNC-Greensboro in the only matchup these two had in the regular season.\u00a0 As crazy as it sounds, The Citadel might actually be a live underdog here.\u00a0 If they can pull it off, they will face off with the other team they took to OT, 3rd-seeded Wofford.<\/p>\n

Bry, Doogan, Lazarow, and Lynch all swung for the fences with The Citadel here.\u00a0 None of them have them any further.\u00a0 A Citadel upset would be most devastating to GrossSr’s and RDoc’s SoCon brackets, as they have Greensboro reaching the finals.\u00a0 Scoot, Stumpf, and WaTers all have Greensboro beating Wofford in the quarters.<\/p>\n

The Citadel 86 – UNC-Greensboro 76<\/em>
\nIn one of the more surprising results of the week, The Citadel moves on to the quarterfinals to face 3rd-seeded Wofford.\u00a0 The winning side of this game wasn’t as much a surprise as the thorough domination that the Bulldogs put on the Spartans.\u00a0 The last-place Citadel went up early and never relinquished the lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bry, Doogan, Lazarow, and Lynch all hit a really nice upset pick here.\u00a0 GrossSr and RDoc got hit hard with this result, as they lost a finalist.\u00a0 Scoot, Stumpf, and WaTers also took a hit here, as they had Greensboro in the semis.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

CTC UPDATE<\/h1>\n

Championship Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n