The Mercer roster is out with no surprises. There's still 2 available scholarships.

All 2019-2020 SoCon rosters are out now. I've plugged links for all rosters into the SoCon summary, the first post in this thread, which I have continued to edit as rosters have changed, as well as links to last year's stats for all teams.

I guarantee that Coaches with open roster slots like Mercer's Greg Gary and Samford's Scott Padgett are working the JUCO and transfer circuits hard. The wheel has not yet stopped spinning for SoCon rosters.

Mocs roster as seen on gomocs.com is not complete. They are doing a "roster reveal", showing a new one every few days. There are several more to go.

(07-22-2019 07:54 AM)MercerFan Wrote:  The Mercer roster is out with no surprises. There's still 2 available scholarships.

Dang, I'm gonna miss Bob.

(07-23-2019 01:03 PM)BucDoctor Wrote:  

(07-22-2019 07:54 AM)MercerFan Wrote:  The Mercer roster is out with no surprises. There's still 2 available scholarships.

Dang, I'm gonna miss Bob.

It definitely won’t be the same! He delivered a ton of big wins and injected the program with life. As a side note I never saw him take a seat on the bench. There was never even an empty seat for him. I thought that was cool.

(07-22-2019 08:13 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  I guarantee that Coaches with open roster slots like Mercer's Greg Gary and Samford's Scott Padgett are working the JUCO and transfer circuits hard. The wheel has not yet stopped spinning for SoCon rosters.

I’m excited to see what happens here.

(07-26-2019 04:58 AM)MercerFan Wrote:  It definitely won’t be the same! …. As a side note I never saw him take a seat on the bench. There was never even an empty seat for him. I thought that was cool.

Hence the "Sit down Bob!" chant from ETSU fans!

He was a character. I'd be surprised if a guy that passionate about his work doesn't wind up on the bench (make that NEAR the bench) for another team before too long.

(07-26-2019 06:00 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 04:58 AM)MercerFan Wrote:  It definitely won’t be the same! …. As a side note I never saw him take a seat on the bench. There was never even an empty seat for him. I thought that was cool.

Hence the "Sit down Bob!" chant from ETSU fans!

He was a character. I'd be surprised if a guy that passionate about his work doesn't wind up on the bench (make that NEAR the bench) for another team before too long.

That’s funny I never put 2 and 2 together on that chant.

UNC-Greensboro Athletics place on probation for sports betting: Bettin' on G

(07-26-2019 12:26 PM)Flippmb Wrote:  UNC-Greensboro Athletics place on probation for sports betting: Bettin' on G

Yeah, this came up in the Schedule thread in a post by James Wilson. As he says, it's kind of a nothing deal with no penalties affecting the program in any significant way - no loss of post season opportunity, or scholarships, or practice time. And a $15,000 fine which is also pretty meaningless.

(07-26-2019 04:29 PM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 12:26 PM)Flippmb Wrote:  UNC-Greensboro Athletics place on probation for sports betting: Bettin' on G

Yeah, this came up in the Schedule thread in a post by James Wilson. As he says, it's kind of a nothing deal with no penalties affecting the program in any significant way - no loss of post season opportunity, or scholarships, or practice time. And a $15,000 fine which is also pretty meaningless.

Kingsport Times News (page B2 in the print edition) reported this also included a 15 year show cause for the former assistant coach and a 3 year probation for the UNCG athletic department?

I'm writing mostly as a basketball fan, considering whether any of these penalties will impact the UNCG basketball program's ability to perform on the court.

IMHO, they won't.

As to whether the 3 year probation significantly affects the University or the Athletic Department, I'll remain agnostic and leave it to others who may have more knowledge of what a 3 year probation actually means.

(07-27-2019 06:17 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  I'm writing mostly as a basketball fan, considering whether any of these penalties will impact the UNCG basketball program's ability to perform on the court.

IMHO, they won't.

As to whether the 3 year probation significantly affects the University or the Athletic Department, I'll remain agnostic and leave it to others who may have more knowledge of what a 3 year probation actually means.

Probably not much. We have been on probation the past year and still have 1 more to go I think.

(07-26-2019 12:26 PM)Flippmb Wrote:  UNC-Greensboro Athletics place on probation for sports betting: Bettin' on G

I read this article and the SI article in the schedule thread.

The NCAA really doesn't have much power to get evidence. The assistant coach decided he wasn't going to play anymore and the NCAA was powerless to compel him to do so. It illustrates to me the disadvantage to schools who play straight.

I thought it interesting that the names of the individuals punished were not in either article. The NCAA is not even allowed to publicly name who ran afoul of their laws?

"Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases." from the NCAA article. So the NCAA, who relies greatly on self-reporting for enforcement cannot use this case to levy greater penalties in the future for failure to report? I guess they wanted to get to a settlement, but, again, just illustrates the disadvantage of playing it straight.

I don't think that staff members gambling grants any competitive advantage to the program and the punishments seem appropriate. It's just interesting how little the NCAA can do.

(07-26-2019 06:00 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  He was a character. I'd be surprised if a guy that passionate about his work doesn't wind up on the bench (make that NEAR the bench) for another team before too long.

You were right SWVA, Bob Hoffman hired as Central Oklahoma (DII) head coach. https://bronchosports.com/news/2019/7/31...coach.aspx

(08-02-2019 06:13 AM)MercerFan Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 06:00 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  He was a character. I'd be surprised if a guy that passionate about his work doesn't wind up on the bench (make that NEAR the bench) for another team before too long.

You were right SWVA, Bob Hoffman hired as Central Oklahoma (DII) head coach. https://bronchosports.com/news/2019/7/31...coach.aspx

Good to see that Bob found a spot to land. Not surprised that he would accept a DII position. This guy doesn't want to be without a gym and a whistle. Since I don't have to see him on (or near) the opposing bench, I hope he does well.

Let's say Forbes decided for greener pastures after this season. Would you consider Bob Hoffman as a candidate? How much fun would those games be?

(08-02-2019 05:33 PM)squeak Wrote:  Let's say Forbes decided for greener pastures after this season. Would you consider Bob Hoffman as a candidate? How much fun would those games be?

Not a chance

(07-22-2019 07:06 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  ... it's worth noting that the 'Dins were 1-1 with the Bucs last year, swapping home game blowouts (79-56 and 61-91) and tied with ETSU in the SoCon standings.

From those teams, Furman loses more: they lose their leader in scoring, rebounding, steals and assists, 6-8 215 Matt Rafferty, and tough 6-4 212 glue guy Andrew Brown, their 6th leading scorer.
ETSU loses less: 6-10 240 Mladen Armus was tough, but not the key player that Rafferty was. The Bucs have no other significant loss.

ETSU also has a proven replacement for their loss: a player with solid D1 production in 6-7 215 graduate transfer Joe Hugley (21.3 min., 12.3 ppg, 5.2 rebounds), who is a much better offensive player than Armus, though not as strong a rebounder.
Meanwhile Furman is relying on unproven underclassmen: 6-7 206 sophomore Jalen Slawson (6.0 minutes, 0.7 points, 1.5 rebounds), or freshmen Jonny Lawrence or Ben Beeker.

Furman returns four (4) players who scored between 8.8 and 16.2 points last year (Lyons, Mounce, Gurley and Hunter), but nobody else who averaged over 3.9.
The Bucs have seven (7) players who scored between 8.8 and 12.2 points last year (Boyd, Good, Hodges, Williamson, Rodriguez and Tisdale return and Joe Hugley joins in). And add a tough 6-4 195 JUCO Junior in Vonnie Patterson with 15.2 points a game and 7.3 rebounds on the JUCO level.

Furman has rebounding (1.1 rebounding margin) that Bob Richey acknowledged was a problem area before leading rebounder Matt Rafferty graduated.
The Bucs return most of the rebounding (10.1 rebounding margin) that put them second in D1 in rebounding margin last year.

Furman does deserve an edge in defense. We'll see how much without Rafferty.
Also 1.9 fewer turnovers (12.3 to 14.2 for ETSU), although replacing Mladen with Hugley reduces that by 1 per game.

So there's not much statistical basis for it, but rank them ahead if you want. It's something that the Bucs might want to remember.

College Sports Madness continues its daily reveal ranking Furman #91 overall just ahead of Pitt, Northeastern, ODU, Iona and Murray State. And #2 in the Socon. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/17684


That's not an unreasonable overall ranking for Furman, which had a great season last year and returns 4 starters. But which loses team leader Matt Rafferty and glue guy Andrew Brown. For reasons which I set out above, ranking them ahead of ETSU makes too many assumptions about the performance of unproven freshmen and sophomores.

But the really odd thing about these rankings is that College Sports Madness ranks another team above Furman, ETSU and UNCG. Probably Wofford, which was great last year, but which loses perimeter leader Fletcher Magee (20.3 ppg), front court leader Cam Jackson (14.5 ppg, 7.6 rebounds) and 6-9 225 starter Keve Aluma (6.9 ppg, 6.8 rebounds), as well as coach Mike Young.

Or maybe even Samford? Which went 6-12 in the SoCon: 0-3 against UNCG last year, 0-2 against ETSU, 1-1 against Furman, stealing a win on a freak 3 by freshman power forward Robert Allen. Heck, they went 0-2 against Mercer. And they lose their 7-0 240 stud post player Ruben Guerrero (13.5 ppg on .611 FG%, 2.1 blocks, 8.4 rebounds).

Just a weird SoCon ranking. Stick with ESPN's Joe Lunardi for a more intelligent early pick (ETSU #1 in the SoCon and a 13 seed in the NCAA's). http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketb...acketology

Does Jeromy Rodriquez have a legit shot for an NBA career if he has a better season than last?

(08-07-2019 12:21 PM)squeak Wrote:  Does Jeromy Rodriquez have a legit shot for an NBA career if he has a better season than last?

I highly doubt it due to his age.