Note: The following piece was prepared by Dean Keener, who provides commentary on Southern Conference men’s basketball broadcasts.
Keener played collegiately at Davidson before embarking on a successful 20-year coaching career. He served as head coach at James Madison from 2004-08. You can follow him on twitter: @DeanKeener1
The Dean’s List
December 16, 2015
I. Inside SoCon Hoops
Hoops season is well underway and in just over a month we’ve witnessed enough to know that while Chattanooga looks to be the team to beat, the Southern Conference is going to be wide open once league play gets underway in early January. Mercer and Samford have also been impressive in the early going and while the Wofford Terriers record is just 3-6, they will be a force to be reckoned with come January.
Equally important is the fact that the league looks to be improved from last season. I say that based on the quality wins teams have already compiled: Chattanooga has won at Georgia and Illinois (I find it incredibly ironic that the Mocs also beat UGA and Illinois in the 1997 NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet 16!). They also beat Dayton on the Flyers home court which is no easy feat! Mercer has victories over George Mason and Tulane, Furman won at Appalachian State, Samford has wins over Sun Belt and C-USA opponents and ETSU has beaten Green Bay on ESPN and toppled Georgia Tech in Atlanta. These are just a few of the quality wins league members have gained in the early going this season. And as mentioned, Wofford doesn’t have a signature win against a very difficult schedule, yet it would be unwise to discount the Terriers come league play. It’s important to note that the SoCon is 32-7 (.800) in home games. While there are a number of non D-I games included in that record, it’s great to see the league is taking care of business at home!
I also love the fact that the league chose not to play any conference games in December. This gives everyone a chance to play their non-conference slate and iron out the wrinkles prior to embarking on a grueling 18-game conference slate in January and February. There are not many Division I conferences that have a full round robin schedule (a downside to realignment), which provides one true regular season champion. No more divisional champs that have played unbalanced league schedules. For the second consecutive season, every Southern Conference member plays everyone home and away.
With all the good we’ve seen in November and early December, the next two and half weeks remain critical for the league as it fights to capture key non-conference wins in order to help boost the league RPI. A look at the composite league schedule shows several opportunities for each league member to gain quality wins, both at home, on the road and at neutral sites.
Finally, it looks like Southern Conference coaches recruited well as several newcomers are making an immediate impact. Samford’s Wyatt Walker (leads the league in field goal percentage at .638), Furman’s Matt Rafferty (leads the league in rebounding at 8.8 rpg), Wofford’s Fletcher Magee (he is 19-20 from the free throw line), UNCG’s Francis Alonso and Western Carolina’s Elijah Pughsley are just a few of the rookies off to a great start. It will be fun watching them and many others as league play begins.
II. New rules anyone?
With the regular season well underway, you may have already noticed that there are several new rules in college basketball this season. The basketball rules committee recommended the changes after pressure to increase scoring as well as the pace of play, especially when timeouts and fouls seemed to make the last few minutes of a close games drag on forever.
First, the number of timeouts each team can use in the second half has decreased from four to three. The committee also changed any timeout within 30 second of a media timeout (previously occurring at the first stoppage under 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 and 4:00 minutes). This should eliminate back-to-back (double) timeouts. Coaches are no longer able to call a timeout when the ball is live (the game clock is running). Only players on the court may call timeouts.
A second change is the arc underneath the basket was also extended from three feet to four feet after several years of analysis showed that there were fewer collisions in the lane since the implementation of the arc. This helps officials determine the block/charge in a much more efficient manner.
One of the biggest changes was reducing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. The women’s game already uses a 30-second shot clock. This was done in hopes of speeding up the game, but it remains to be seen as teams may apply light pressure in the back court and fall back into a zone to “shorten” the clock?
The best change in my opinion is teams have just 10 total seconds to advance the ball past half court with just a few exceptions. Previously, if there was a stoppage, the shot clock would remain, but a fresh 10 seconds was awarded to the offense. This was a bad rule that did not reward the defense for good play.
Finally, the most popular change among fans may be that dunking during pre-game warm ups is now permitted. The dunking lines of the past have returned, so when attending games be sure to arrive early!
III. Did you know?
Several Southern Conference teams and individuals are listed among NCAA leaders in statistical categories. The Citadel leads the nation is scoring (93.6 ppg) and is second in three-point field goals per game (12.8). VMI was 23-24 from the free throw line in their December 2 win over Central Penn. They are shooting a blistering 77.5 percent from the charity stripe and currently rank 10th in the nation
Individually, Citadel guard PJ Boutte is 15th in the nation in assists dishing out 6.6 per game while Justin Tuoyo is 15th in the nation in blocks at 2.71 bpg
Furman freshman Matt Rafferty currently leads the Southern Conference in rebounding. He is averaging 8.8 per game! Can you name the last freshman to lead the league in rebounding? (answer below).
IV. New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions have been made for hundreds of years. The reason so many fail is they are unrealistic. I think I have found some pretty attainable goals for each program as we enter 2016:
The Citadel – Finding that Citadel toughness. The Bulldogs have bought into Duggar Baucom’s system of play and have some quality wins to show for it. Now they need to do the little things, be mentally tough and grind out some wins in league play
ETSU – Consistency. Under new skipper Steve Forbes, the Bucs are playing hard and have experienced some breakthrough victories, including win against Green Bay (Horizon League) at home and at Georgia Tech (ACC). That said, they’ve let a couple slip away. While it’s all part of learning a new system – with a ton of new players – they need to smooth things out come conference play
Furman – A better touch at the free throw line. The Paladins go to the line a lot (over 24 times per game), but currently rank last in the Southern Conference in percentage. If they are going to win the close one in league play, they will need to have a better eye at the charity stripe
Mercer – No serious disruptions. The Bears are off to a terrific start and look primed to hit league play in great shape. Bob Hoffman and staff are getting great play from a number of players with eight players averaging between 6.0 and 11.1 point per game
UNCG – Defensive mentality. The Spartans seem to have enough offensive firepower to be good, but need to get defensive in conference play.
Samford – Continued road toughness. So far, the young Bulldogs are 5-3 away from the Pete Hanna Center. If they can hang in through their first eight league games (five games on the road), they will put themselves in position for potential high seed come March
UTC – Keep sharing the ball. Matt McCall and staff have the Mocs off to a fantastic start. If they keep sharing the ball like they have through the first third of the season, they are going to be difficult to stop in league play
VMI – Continued re-programing. The Keydets are small and a bit thin in terms of depth, but the key ingredient to success moving forward for the program is that the players learn a totally new system
Western Carolina – Control the turnovers. As usual, Larry Hunter has challenged his team with a solid non-conference schedule. And while this will be good for their long-term success, the Catamounts must cut down on turnovers come SoCon play if they are going to be a factor in the league race
Wofford – Stay the course. The Terriers have had a brutal non-conference slate and it will continue through the end of the year (Vanderbilt, Austin Peay and Harvard all on the road before January 1). But regardless of the results, they need to stay the course and remember the prize is determined in league play
Answer: The last freshman to lead the Southern Conference in rebounding was VMI forward Brent Conley in 1996
We will start the SoCon Ladder as well as talk about turning around a program in our next edition of “The Dean’s List” on January 6, 2016. Happy Holidays to all!
Follow me on twitter: @DeanKeener1