Can SoCon basketball make a comeback? Good, traditional schools. Do they have the leverage in this day and age to pick up on recruiting and get better teams on the floor? What will it take for SoCon basketball to crank it up a notch or two?

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/...-downward/

Make no mistake, the SoCon is abysmal in basketball right now. It doesn't help that it is going to be without two of its traditionally stronger basketball programs after this year(CofC is already gone and Davidson next season). Mercer and ETSU will certainly help make the league a little stronger, but how much so? Hopefully UTC can get its program back where it needs to be and we can build from there.

Many posters on this Board love to rag on the A-Sun but, at least in the very short run, we are taking a slight step down in basketball moving to the SoCon. Chattanooga is typically good (although not now) and Western has a coach with with well over 600 career wins. Other than that for the remaining schools there is not a lot of basketball tradition. ETSU and Mercer should be right at the top when they join.

Socon needs to add another good basketball school. I'd love for it to be Belmont but I know that won't happen.

Belmont is currently in a better conference, one that we should be in.

Yes, Bartow has always said that the SoCon is not a step up in basketball. I sense alot of disagreement between him and Sander on that- I agree with Bartow. I think that ETSU and Mercer will be very good additions- but hopefully the Southern Conference is just a stepping stone for us.

I'd love for the SoCon to add Coastal Carolina, and maybe even Winthrop too. Think it'd be a perfect fit.

Even though they stink right now, I think Kennesaw State is a school with a lot of potential and would be a good addition down the road. It would be the largest school in the conference by far.

Coastal would be a very nice addition. Road trips to Myrtle Beach!

When ETSU joins full time (assuming no other movement in the interim), the SoCon will have 4 state schools (ETSU, Western, Chatt and UNCG), 4 true private schools (Mercer, Wofford, Furman and Samford) and the 2 military academies. That is an interesting mix. If they added Coastal they would probably want to add a private school such as Charleston Southern to keep the balance.

Good point. I'd be cool with Charleston Southern over Winthrop.

I personally am fine with Winthrop. (It still amazes me that we are so close to them, both have been good (for the most part) at hoops for the last 20 years and we had never played them until this year.) However, if the SoCon wants to build back its football brand I doubt they will be looking at many non-football schools though. The loss of App State and GA Southern is GIGANTIC to the football status of the conference. It's like Michigan and Ohio State leaving the Big 10. 5 years ago the SoCon was either #1 or #1A in football (with the CAA being the other giant). Now the SoCon will clearly be behind the CAA, the OVC, and the Big Sky at a minimum. Of course all it takes is a couple of strong programs going deep in the playoffs and beating 1A schools consistently (hopefully ETSU is one of them) to change that.

ETSU and Mercer could well be the best basketball programs going into the SoCon in 2014-15. The best competition they'll get from the SoCon's holdovers is Wofford.

(01-05-2014 08:41 PM)Mister Consistency Wrote:  ETSU and Mercer could well be the best basketball programs going into the SoCon in 2014-15. The best competition they'll get from the SoCon's holdovers is Wofford.

SoCon isn't even close to competitive. It is so bad right now.

(01-05-2014 10:20 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  

(01-05-2014 08:41 PM)Mister Consistency Wrote:  ETSU and Mercer could well be the best basketball programs going into the SoCon in 2014-15. The best competition they'll get from the SoCon's holdovers is Wofford.

SoCon isn't even close to competitive. It is so bad right now.

Agreed. SoCon is sandwiched between the HBCU's. A-Sun is in the top 20. Here's the latest RPI conference basketball rankings. For ease of comparison, I highlighted the A-Sun, OVC, Big South, and Southern:


Rank / Conference / Rating / Top Team / Last

1 Big Ten 0.593 Wisconsin (15-0) 1
2 Big East 0.580 Villanova (13-1) 2
3 Pac-12 0.578 Colorado (13-2) 3
4 ACC 0.570 Syracuse (14-0) 4
5 Atlantic 10 0.550 U Mass (12-1) 5
6 American 0.544 Cincinnati (13-2) 6
7 Mountain West 0.537 San Diego St (12-1) 8
8 Big 12 0.537 Kansas (9-4) 7
9 SEC 0.518 Florida (11-2) 9
10 MVC 0.515 Wichita St (15-0) 10
11 MAC 0.511 Toledo (12-1) 11
12 Horizon League 0.498 WI-Grn Bay (12-3) 12
13 Summit 0.489 N Dakota St (11-4) 13
14 Sun Belt 0.489 LA Lafayette (9-5) 14
15 CAA 0.488 Drexel (8-5) 15
16 MAAC 0.478 Manhattan (11-2) 16
17 Patriot 0.462 Boston U (10-6) 17
18 CUSA 0.454 S Mississippi (13-2) 18
19 Atlantic Sun 0.449 Mercer (12-5) 19
20 Northeast 0.445 Bryant (8-7) 20
21 Ohio Valley 0.444 Belmont (10-6) 21
22 Big Sky 0.442 N Colorado (8-3) 22
23 Big West 0.440 UCSB (9-4) 23
24 Big South 0.437 NC-Asheville (6-8) 25
25 WCC 0.435 Gonzaga (14-2) 26
26 SWAC 0.433 Jackson St (5-9) 24
27 Southern 0.427 Elon (8-8) 27
28 MEAC 0.425 NC Central (8-4) 28
29 America East 0.423 Albany (7-7) 29
30 WAC 0.417 N Mex State (12-5) 30
31 Ivy 0.412 Harvard (13-1) 31
32 Independents 0.398 NJIT (7-10) 32
33 Southland 0.296 Oral Roberts (7-8) 33

Just this year, if you drop App State from the Southern (they stink) and add ETSU and Mercer then the SoCon and A-Sun are probably pretty close.

The thing you don't take into consideration is that overall Mercer will be in rebuild mode because it will be losing 7 seniors and ALL five starters. So counting on the SoCon getting a Top 100 RPI team is probably not happening. Turning over half your roster is never a recipe for immediate success.

Don't forget you will also be dropping Davidson (A-10) who has the second best RPI (136) in the SoCon (Elon has a 134). The other thing that will be interesting is to see what the A-Sun does with its extra FOUR non-conference games. If they add a bunch of wins, that will only push schools like North Florida/USC Upstate/FGCU further into the Top 150.

Its going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Agreed. Elon is also leaving for the CAA.

You know I don't know what the rest of the Socon looks like for next year, in terms of Seniors returning but you'd think ETSU would have a decent shot of winning it with Mercer losing a lot of guys, but then again we've been down that road before. I remember when we moved to the A-Sun we all thought we'd dominate right out of the gate and instead it took us until our 4th season to win the A-Sun.