The SoCon Lowdown: The paladins of the court
Plus: Intriguing play-in games, quarterfinal setups, and three great coaches
In the end, the debate didn’t involve Ques Glover, who finished last season on a tear but couldn’t put it together this year and missed significant time to injury. It didn’t really involve Jake Stephens, either, due to his own injury around Glover’s return in the middle of the regular season. (Stephens is, by the way, back in practice, but questionable for the conference tournament opener against VMI.) The likes of Logan Dye, BJ Mack, and Keyshaun Langley all made the all-conference first teams, but there could be nobody for Player of the Year aside from the Paladins’ pair of stars.
Many expected Mike Bothwell to win it, and you can’t blame them. Furman marched into Pete Hanna Center to take on first-place Samford, and they would’ve gone scoreless for nearly ten minutes and fallen behind 12-0, were it not for his staggering 18-point run. He departed with three fouls and the rest of the offense came alive, but he later returned to build on his total, finishing with the second 35-point game of his career. It would make a tidy bookend to an exceptional season for the fifth-year senior, pairing with his coming-out party against Stephen F. Austin (36 points, 12-for-14) back in mid-December.
There was one player better, though. Though not as much of a scorer—he averaged 15.7 points per game to Bothwell’s 17.9—Jalen Slawson was fully deserving of the award, and both the coaches and media chose him over his teammate. As ever, he was the lynchpin in a Furman defense that desperately needed his talents, and his deft rebounding and ball movement helped spark the offense. Perhaps he feels like a lesser version of Stephens, building his POTY case on his versatility and overall talent, but he’s an exceptional player in his own right. Now it’s time to see what he and Bothwell can do with a chance to snap the Paladins’ 43-year tournament drought.
Depth has been a huge factor in the SoCon this season, and it’s a key reason Furman has been the most consistent team in the conference. Having two POTY candidates is obviously an excellent foundation, but the Paladins have also succeeded in part because most of their bench can step up with big games as well. Against Samford, it was JP Pegues (20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Marcus Foster (16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) who stepped up alongside Bothwell. Furman earned a one seed with a huge statement win at the Pete; now they’ll take the short trip over to Asheville in a bid to convert it into a tournament title.
The season’s not over for Samford, which is important to keep in mind after a loss that has the potential to loom over them entering the tournament. It’s important to remember that the Bulldogs took Furman to overtime in Greenville and swept UNC-Greensboro this season; despite the blow of a 93-79 home loss, they’re still fully capable of coming around in the conference tournament. Ques Glover reaching full strength, as he did in a 27-point performance against the Paladins, is good reason to be optimistic about what Samford can do when they’re clicking.
UNCG didn’t have any postseason seeding to play for in the regular-season finale, so it makes sense that they dropped a road game against a far more desperate ETSU team. Still, it’s a bummer to miss out on a tie for the regular-season title, which would’ve been their fifth as a SoCon team and fourth since 2017. More interesting is the Spartans’ first-round matchup, where they’ve drawn Wofford—the same team that, just over two weeks ago, they blew a seven-point lead to in under a minute before scraping out an overtime win at home. Nothing will come easy in the tournament, but if you’re looking for an upset of the top three, there’s clear intrigue with the Terriers.
The Catamounts’ fourth-place finish is an understatedly brilliant job by Justin Gray, who handily beat preseason expectations and doubled their conference win total. It’s a bit surprising he didn’t earn either pick for Coach of the Year, though UNCG’s Mike Jones (coaches) and Samford’s Bucky McMillan (media) both did excellent jobs in their own right. Earning that four seed is key for more than just validation of WCU’s improvement, though; it also means they’ll get a relatively cushy first-round matchup against ETSU, with their first real test awaiting in a potential semifinal against Furman.
Speaking of ETSU, where did they come from? The Buccaneers backed their way into a coveted top-five seed to an extent—they made it despite going 8-10 and by beating only one team ranked above them, that season-ending game that didn’t matter to UNCG’s seeding. But they did largely win the games they were supposed to, and while they were deeply inconsistent for much of the conference slate, they really seemed to find a spark in the final two weeks. The Bucs were able to take WCU down to the wire in Cullowhee at the start of that stretch; now they need to take the next step and win outright in Asheville.
Wofford’s defense currently ranks 344th in Division I, according to Torvik. That’s worse than 5-25 Mississippi Valley State (326th), 6-21 Delaware State (320th), 6-25 Monmouth (297th), 5-27 Presbyterian (288th), and 5-24 Tulsa (287th), among many, many others. They’re one of exactly two teams in the nation, alongside Cornell, which has both shot and allowed 55% or higher inside the arc. In that metric, they’re better than Alabama on offense and worse than Long Island, the literal worst team in D1, on defense. This imbalance is largely a consequence of youth—the Terriers are co-led by Freshman of the Year Jackson Paveletzke, who earned the award entirely with offense, and have only three upperclassmen. If they want to punch up and surprise UNCG, as it’s always been this season, they’ll need the shots to fall.
So…is Stephens available? Chattanooga hasn’t been terrible without him, but there’s a reason they’ve slid into the first round in his absence. They should take care of business against VMI for a quarterfinal bid, but it’s hard to see them challenging Samford if their superstar hasn’t returned by then. As ever, Dan Earl remains enigmatic on the topic, giving away nothing beyond the fact that Stephens is practicing and could play, depending on how he’s feeling. The Mocs are capable of beating anybody at full strength, but there’s simply no good way to know if and when they’ll reach that point.
Mercer is still bound for the play-in round, but they snapped a five-game losing streak by running roughshod over The Citadel…who they now immediately play again. Supposing the Bears win, a surprisingly tantalizing matchup with Furman awaits. Mercer played perhaps their best game in the conference slate in Greenville last week, clawing back from an early double-digit deficit to test the Paladins throughout the second half in a 70-67 loss. Lightning striking twice doesn’t seem all too likely, but the Bears are certainly capable of putting up a fight against Furman if they get to that point. Nothing ever comes easy in Asheville.
If the Bulldogs don’t turn a home-to-neutral switch into a 23-point swing against Mercer, the end of their season will go down as one of the most bewildering stretches in program history. They dropped nine of their last ten regular-season games, racking up eight game scores of 20 or worse and losing five Q4 games, including to Chicago State and VMI. The win: conference champion Furman, a team that was a couple untimely losses away from having a legitimate at-large case and was in the middle of an 11-1 close to the season. Of course, if the possibility of a Bears-Paladins rematch is intriguing, the off chance that The Citadel does spring an upset and meets their rival in the quarterfinals is even more so.
In all the drama of the regular-season finale and the impending conference tournament, don’t miss this—VMI won another game! They led Wofford by close to ten points throughout most of the first half, but fell behind late and trailed 67-57 with 2:30 left in the game. The Keydets proceeded to engineer one of the most impressive, frantic comebacks of the year, scoring 16 points down the stretch with not a single missed shot or free throw. It was just enough, along with a pair of misses on Wofford’s final regulation possession, to force overtime, where Tony Felder matched the Terriers’ ten points on his own and VMI completed the comeback for an 87-83 victory. The Keydets’ youth is finally coming together; it’s genuinely exciting to see what they can do going into 2023-24.
Around the former SoCon…
Alabama clinched the SEC regular-season title and pulled off a double-digit comeback over Auburn. No further comment.
Charleston tied Hofstra for the regular-season championship in the CAA, their second since departing the SoCon.
Clemson picked up a much-needed Q1 win at NC State, their lone game score of 100 this season.
Davidson went on the road and stunned Duquesne, their first win in a Q1 or Q2 game this year.
Duke has pieced together a five-game winning streak, all but securing a spot in the tournament and setting up a key visit to North Carolina, winners of three straight.
George Washington won their fourth straight game, moving to 10-7 as the A-10 tournament approaches.
Georgia Southern completed a season sweep of Deeper Than Hate rival Appalachian State, pulling away to win 73-64 in Statesboro.
Mississippi State strengthened their own tournament case with an impressive home win over ranked Texas A&M.
Sewanee snapped Berry College’s 17-game winning streak for their second-ever SAA title, earning a bid to face North Park in the D3 tournament.
Tennessee pulled out of a lengthy slump with two dominant wins over South Carolina (85-45) and Arkansas (75-57).
Vanderbilt has quietly played its way into long-shot at-large consideration, winning seven of their last eight and knocking off Kentucky on the road this week.
Washington & Lee’s season came to an end in a thrilling quadruple-overtime loss to Roanoke, with their Robert DiSibio and the Maroons’ Kasey Draper both scoring 40+ points.
West Virginia put in an impressive performance in a narrow loss at Allen Fieldhouse, then outlasted Hilton Magic at Iowa State for a key 72-69 win.
Wofford women’s basketball won their first SoCon regular-season title and secured their first SoCon one seed in program history; the Terriers’ Rachael Rose was named Player of the Year by the coaches, with Samford’s Andrea Bailey chosen by the media. Top-seeded Appalachian State will be led by Jonathan Millner, seeking his third straight title, in March 5’s conference wrestling championship. Samford continued long conference title streaks in women’s and men’s track and field, winning their eighth and fourth straight championships respectively.