My brief take on the SoCon ladies (thought the subject deserved a separate thread):
UTC is chalk: 29-4 and a perfect 14-0 in conference. But they had to go to overtime to beat the Lady Bucs in the tournament. Sorry if you missed it – it was a good antidote to the men’s loss. Unfortunately UTC returns everyone but number 4 scorer Kavonne Townes. And her replacement is probably an upgrade – 2nd team All ASun transfer from Jacksonville, Queen Alford, 5’10” R-Jr. with fine guard skills, 13 ppg and 6 rebounds.
ETSU was a solid second place at 21-12 and 11-3. They lost twice to UTC and split 1-1 with Samford. But they lose their entire front court including such key players as Destiny Mitchell, Serena Clark, Maria Bonds and Cara Bowling. Fortunately they return their entire guard corp in Tianna Tarter, Shamauria Bridges and Chandler Christopher. Their replacements are largely brand new to us. This team could slip behind Samford. I have no clue how the new front court will be. This is the first year that Britney Ezell will be relying on her own recruits – only Chandler Christopher and Shamauria Bridges remains from the Karen Kemp years. Last year’s team was all Kemp recruits in the important positions, except for local gal Tianna Tarter.
Mercer had a pretty good team going 20-15 and 9-5. But they lost twice to ETSU and lose even more than the Lady Bucs: 4 of their top 5 players. They could drop below .500.
Samford, was middle of the road, but tough to beat in conference, 15-15 and 8-6. They also were the only team besides UTC to beat ETSU, splitting the season series 1-1. And they bring everyone back. They should probably be rated ahead of us.. for now.
Furman, middle of the road at 19-14 and 7-7, loses their number 2 and number 4 scorers, who were also their top 2 rebounders. I see no reason to rate them ahead of ETSU.
Wofford at 8-22, 3-11; Western Carolina at 11-19 and 3-11 and UNCG at 6-25 and 1-13, were truly awful and don’t seem to be much improved.
Here are the preseason SoCon polls –
SoCon Coaches Poll – Predicted Order of Finish
(First Place Votes) Total
1. Chattanooga (7) 49
2. Furman 36
3. ETSU 35
Samford 35
5. Mercer 29
6. UNCG 19
7. Western Carolina 11
8. Wofford 10
2015-16 Preseason All-Conference Team
Shamauria Bridges, ETSU
Tianna Tarter, ETSU
Whitney Bunn, Furman
Holli Wilkins, Furman
Kahlia Lawrence, Mercer
Lucy Mason, UNCG
Taylor Reece, Samford
Jasmine Joyner, Chattanooga
Alicia Payne, Chattanooga
Chelsey Shumpert, Chattanooga
SoCon Media Poll – Predicted Order of Finish
(First Place Votes) Total
1. Chattanooga (19) 159
2. ETSU (1) 122
3. Samford 113
4. Furman 103
5. Mercer 101
6. Western Carolina 49
7. Wofford 40
8. UNCG 33
http://www.etsubucs.com/wbasketball/news...all-socon/