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

I. Inside SoCon Hoops

The college basketball season is well underway and in six weeks we’ve found a lot about teams in the Southern Conference. While Chattanooga is still the favorite, I’m not convinced they will run away with the league like so many pundits predicted. ETSU has been very impressive in the early going. The Bucs are 7-2 with their lone losses on the road to UNCW and the Dayton Flyers (winning in UD Arena is darn near impossible).
Mercer has been up and down in the early going, but has shown me enough to convince me they have plenty of talent and coaching to compete against the very best. UNCG has jumped out to a 7-3 record, although three of those wins have come against non-Division I competition. Still, the Spartans look confident and gave Wake Forest all they could handle last week. Samford has also been a pleasant surprise and are led by UMass transfer Demetrius Denzel-Dyson, junior Christen Cunningham and sophomore Wyatt Walker who is averaging a double-double!

It’s too early to make the call on the Wofford Terriers as they have had a difficult non-conference schedule. My guess is they will be a team to be reckoned with come mid-January as Eric Garcia, Fletcher Magee and Ryan Sawvell are simply too tough, too experienced and too talented. Western Carolina is also in the middle of a brutal stretch having eight of their first ten games on the road in places like Miami (Fla.), Ohio State, Marquette and West Virginia. Hopefully, this will help Larry Hunter’s crew come conference play. As for Furman, the Paladins have won four of their last five and are holding opponents to just 39.8 percent shooting from the field. Their top six have enough talent to win most nights they take the floor. The Citadel is 7-4 and is averaging a whopping 105.4 ppg, which leads the nation. They still need to prove they can do it against all SoCon teams, but this is a fun team to watch! And even though VMI is just 1-7, they have QJ Peterson and Julian Eleby who will keep them in most games. The Keydets will be a tough out in conference play, especially inside Cameron Hall!

It’s important to note that the SoCon is 33-9 (.785) 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. Speaking of non-Division I games, SoCon teams are a combined 18-0 thus far.

Yet, even with all that 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 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 (Western plays College of Charleston, Mercer hosts LaSalle and ETSU plays Tennessee at Freedom Hall to name just a few) as well as on the road (key games include Wofford at Coastal Carolina and Georgia Tech, Chattanooga at Vanderbilt and UNCG at Georgetown).

All that said, I don’t know yet if the league is significantly improved from a year ago, but it does look to have great competitive balance. In fact, I think there seven teams that could (key word “could”) challenge for the top spot. That should make for a very fun couple of months in league play.

II. Did you Know?

• While Southern Conference coaches have again recruited well, many of the top performers are upperclassmen. A quick look at individual stats in the league show upperclassmen lead all major categories except rebounding where sophomore Wyatt Walker (Samford) leads at 11.7 rpg

• The Citadel’s 146 points and 27 steals against Johnson University (Fla.) on November 13 are the highest single-game totals in the NCAA this season

• Five transfers rank in the top ten in SoCon scoring. They are Ria’n Holland, T.J. Cromer, Demetrius Denzel-Dyson, Justin Tuoyo and Tre’ McLean

• Mercer’s Ria’n Holland played at Wichita State for two seasons when Steve Forbes (ETSU) was an assistant coach

• Wofford’s Fletcher Magee is one of the best shooters in the league, but he has already missed five free throws this season (29-34, .853). Last season, he lead the nation in free throw percentage (.925) while missing just seven (86-93)

• The Citadel’s Zane Najdawi averaged 7.2 ppg last season. He is currently second in the Southern Conference at 20.1 ppg!

• The men’s basketball rules committee implemented several changes last year (shorter shot clock, bigger restricted arc and tighter whistles). They have all have created a more free-flowing game. But did you know rules changes are made on a two-year basis? Therefore, the committee didn’t have any big decisions to be make last summer

• With the NBA, FIBA and NFHS (high school) having had the four-quarter system for many years and now women’s college basketball playing four, 10-minute quarters, only college men play in halves!

III. Home Court Advantage

Home court advantage. It’s something that is talked about every season in every sport. But in college basketball it seems to be more relevant for a variety of reasons. College basketball coaches are always talking about the rigors of winning on the road. So, should we say, why is it so hard to win on the road or seemingly easier to win at home? Regardless, let’s look at some of the factors that go into making a home court a true “home court advantage.”
1. Home crowds: The noise home crowds produce in basketball arenas simply make it more difficult to concentrate for the visitors. Simply put crowd noise, especially the student sections in college basketball, can make a difference
2. Intimacy of the arena: This is especially true in the Southern Conference where most facilities are smaller than Power 5 conferences and in more intimate buildings where the crowd is right on top of you
3. Playing on the Road: True, players are used to playing on the road as many kids have played all around the country with travel teams and even high school teams, but it’s simply not the same. While kids jump on planes and play all over the country, generally those environments are not as stressful and in a more relaxed setting
4. Travel: Players are just not in the same rhythm. Traveling by bus or plane, staying in a hotel room (research suggests that athletes do not sleep as well in hotel beds) and not eating your regular meals can throw off even the most focused athlete
5. Ancillary Things: The basketballs, the rims and other ancillary things are just different on the road. While this shouldn’t be a big deal, in some cases it can affect shooters and ball handlers

But event with all the above items mentioned, maybe the biggest reason is simply talent. A look at last year in Southern Conference league play shows that the best teams had the best home records (listed in order of regular season finish):
1. UTC: 8-1
2. ETSU: 8-1
3. Furman: 9-0
4. Wofford: 8-1
5. Western Carolina: 7-2
6. UNCG: 7-2
7. Mercer: 6-3
8. Samford: 3-6
9. VMI: 4-5
10. The Citadel: 2-7

So, regardless of what helps make a home court advantage, coaches at any level would be wise to worry about having talent before worrying about what cheers the student section may produce.

IV. New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions have been made for 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 2017:

The Citadel – Keep buying into the process. The Bulldogs have bought into Duggar Baucom’s system of play in year two and have some quality wins to show for it. Now they need to do the little things in league play

ETSU – No serious disruptions. Steve Forbes has the Bucs off to a terrific start and are a serious threat to win the regular season. They don’t need any off-court distractions

Furman – A healthy and productive Matt Rafferty. Rafferty started 30 games as a freshman while averaging 8 ppg and 6.7 rpg. He is fully cleared from off-season surgery and is a key for the Paladins moving into 2017

Mercer – Smooth out the highs and lows. The Bears have talent. And with their coaching staff and home court advantage, I feel confident they will be fine come conference play, but they would be well served to learn to play for 40 minutes with a bit more consistency

UNCG – Road toughness. The Spartans have been very good at home thus far, but with 11 of their remaining 20 games on the road, they will need to be strong away from Greensboro

Samford – A fan base to believe in this team. This Bulldogs team is for real, yet they are averaging just 1,000 fans per game

UTC – Cut down on the turnovers. The Mocs are playing well – and staying healthy – so there’s really not much that needs attention. That said, they would be well served to cut down on the turnovers come league play

VMI – A better inside game. The Keydets are small and while they fight hard every night, their post players needs to be better, particularly at the defensive end

Western Carolina – A better shooting touch. 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 start shooting better. They are currently shooting just 33 percent from the floor as a team

Wofford – Stay the course. Much like last year, the Terriers have had a difficult non-conference slate and it will continue through the end of the year (Coastal Carolina and Georgia Tech on the road before Christmas). But regardless of the results, they need to stay the course and remember the prize is determined in league play

We will start the SoCon Ladder as well as talk about happening in the Southern Conference as well as college basketball in our next edition of “The Dean’s List” on January 4, 2017. Happy Holidays to all!

Follow me on twitter: @DeanKeener1