Found this on the ETSU message board, its a really good breakdown of all 10 SoCon teams, written by 'swvabucsfan'
https://csnbbs.com/thread-911005.html
FURMAN (25-7, 15-3)
With Matt Rafferty gone Furman dropped just a bit last year, but were still an excellent mid major team. Wofford had their number though, beating them twice, coming within a buzzer beater of 3 wins, and preventing the ‘Dins from reaching the conference finals. They lose leading scorer Jordan Lyons, a streaky player who could make them all but unstoppable when he was on, but who was a one dimensional scorer. Also 6-5 205 defensive scrapper and rebounder Tre Clark, who was an offensive liability. But this team returns its top 5 players after Lyons. That group has been playing together at a very high level for 2 or 3 years.
At Guard, they return 5-11 Sr. Alex Hunter (8.9 ppg on .352 from 3, 3.3 rpg, 3.7 apg) and 6-3 Jr. Mike Bothwell (10.9 ppg on .377 with 46 makes from 3) who was moved into the starting lineup midway through last year. They will try to replace Lyons with 6-4 Rs-Fr with a 7 foot wingspan Marcus Foster, who is a better defender but not nearly the scorer that Lyons was. Bob Richey has said Foster would have been in the rotation the last half of the year if he hadn’t decided to keep the redshirt. Richey also says that 6-0 Maryville TN freshman Joe Anderson will see time – an undersized, fearless dead red 3 point shooter with guts and great court vision that has Richey reaching for a “SoCon Steve Nash” comparison. 6-0 Jr Jaylon Pugh has not made the progress that they would like, but can get hot (2.2 ppg on .429 from 3).
The strength of the team is in the front court with 2 projected all-conference players with a range of skills in 6-8 Rs-Jr Noah Gurley (14.3 ppg on .407 from 3 and 4.6 rpg) and 6-8 Sr. Clay Mounce (13.2 ppg on .391 from 3, 6.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists). The third starter is 6-7 Jr. Jalen Slawson (6.9 ppg, .265 from 3, 5.1 rpg) who is limited offensively, but is a hustling defender and rebounder. As Richey says, when Slawson is scoring, Furman usually wins.
Furman adds couple of promising young front court players: 6-10 205 Rs-Fr Jonny Lawrence (a good 3 point shooter) and 6-9 205 Fr Garrett Hien who Richey sees as having some of the perimeter skills of Mounce and some of the post skills of Rafferty. That could give them a deeper front court. But although Richey says he wants to play 9 players this year, he usually has only gone about 7 deep. He seems to like staying with his very best on the floor. He is the rare coach that has studiously avoided both the JUCO ranks and the transfer portal.
In a year where most everyone in the SoCon has suffered major losses, the Paladins lose the least. They are a balanced and experienced TEAM with 5 guys that have more time playing together than anyone else in the conference. The whole is more than the sum of the parts here. Expect that they’ll look much the same as last year with a balanced offense that is better than UNCG’s. They don’t press like the Spartans’ but their defense is almost as good (#83 Kenpom ; and 7th in turnover margin in D1), as they are effective in the half court physically pushing the opponent out so they have to set up further on the perimeter than they would like.
They deserve the top preseason ranking, until someone proves that they are better.
UNCG (23-9, 13-5)
It was a strong season but the Spartans finished with disappointing losses to Furman and UTC, then got beat again by the Mocs in the first round of the tournament. Wes Miller has not forgotten, especially the 2 losses in a row to Chattanooga: one to end the season and one to bow out in the first round of the tournament.
At guard they lose chippy, physical 6-3 195 defender Malik Massey who was not a strong scoring threat (5.7 ppg), but started anyway. But they return super athletic defensive whiz and penetrator 6-0 Isaiah Miller (17.8 ppg but only .235 from 3, 5.0 rpg, 3.3 apg and 2.8 steals), the likely SoCon POY. Other strong guards include rangy athletic 6-4 Rs-Jr Kaleb Hunter (10.3 ppg but only .308 from 3 with 4.4 rpg) who is developing nicely but is injury prone and needs to improve his perimeter shot. Also athletic 6-1 Freshman of the Year Keyshaun Langley (6.6 ppg on .382 from 3, 1.9 apg) and 6-3 Rs-Jr Michael Hueitt (5.8 ppg on .361 from 3).
This team shot a weak .324 from 3 last year, 220th in D1, missing Francis Alonso. Now they lose their best 3 point shooter in 6-8 Kyrin Galloway. They need to do better, and perhaps 6-3 Fr A.J. McGinnis or 6-4 Rs-Fr from Lithuania Arnas Adomavicius might help.
They had the highest rated defense in the SoCon by KenPom at #58 and the best turnover margin in D1 at 6.4. Offense was weaker at #160.
They also need better passing, as they finished 217th in D-1 in assists with 12.6.
In the front court they lose longtime leader 6-10 James Dickey and best 3 point shooter in 6-8 Galloway. Junior Mohammed Abdulsalam (3.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and 6-10 Sophomore Bas Leyte (2.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg) didn’t do much last year. But now they finally get to suit up 6-8 225 Rs-Fr athletic stud ‘Ricco Williams, who Wes Miller calls the best physical player they’ve seen in their gym – a dominator last year in practice. And 7-1 220 Arkansas State graduate transfer Hayden Koval is picked by Blue Ribbon as SoCon Newcomer of the Year. Last year he scored 12.2 ppg, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks, 4th in D1. He will try 2 or 3 three’s a game, hitting .340 for his career. 6-8 205 Fr Jarrett Hensley could also be useful.
Wes Miller was not happy that the team failed to mount its usual strong season finish last year. The guards should be fairly solid with strong defense and have experience playing together now. Hunter and Langley might be ready for a big step forward. But they need better shooting from 3 and better assists. The front court is a question mark, but there is great potential with Koval and Williams. These guys deserve the second slot preseason, and with ‘Ricco and Koval playing as predicted and some better perimeter shooting, could take it all.
ETSU (30-4, 16-2)
“Opportunity”. That’s the watch word this year. It’s the flip side of “uncertainty”.
Anybody ready to make an impact in D1 basketball? Here’s your opportunity! Because all of the Bucs top 8 players are gone, along with Coach Steve Forbes.
Pretty much all of us fans are just plain guessing about the Bucs this year, since we haven’t seen much of them, and what with Covid and quarantine, they haven’t seen as much of each other as they would like.
Only 1 guy from the rotation returns: 6-4 Sr Swingman Vonnie Patterson (16.6 minutes, 3.0 ppg, 3.2 rebounds, and fierce defense). 6-9 Soph Charlie Weber saw action in 16 games, averaging 7.3 minutes, 2.3 ppg on a great .417 from 3, with 1.5 rpg. He was an excellent shooter and passer with fine court vision and could block shots. He played better help defense than on-the-ball defense. Hope he’s muscled up a bit.
Rs Fr 6-6 225 Damari Monsanto spent a redshirt year working with the Bucs. He’s a remarkable long range shooter, one of the best on a team of fine shooters in practice last year and refuses to be intimidated. His physique and scoring ability reminds me a little of 6-6 Kevin Easley at Chattanooga.
6-5 R-Jr swingman transfer Ledarrius Brewer was one of the better young players in the OVC, a former All-Freshman. He spent a year on the Bucs bench working hard with the team. Supposedly he would have been one of the best players on a great Buc squad if he had been eligible. He should challenge for All-SoCon. His brother, 6-9 210 Jr. Ty Brewer is a remarkable athlete with real potential, picked by the coaches for All SoCon.
6-8 245 NKU GR transfer Silas Adheke from Nigeria has apparently become eligible. Tough, with a high motor, he’s got more skills than he was able to show at NKU. In 2 year at Northern Kentucky he was . He graduated with a degree in mathematics – the guy’s got smarts. He’s probably the key to our front court success.
Weber we’ve mentioned. Paul Smith is a big question mark: powerfully built, out of one of the country’s premier prep programs at DeMatha, he struggled with injuries and did not get much playing time. Very limited videos seem to show a below the rim player without high athleticism. Some powerfully built players have made a below the rim game work awfully well in the SoCon though (Carlos Dotson and R.J. White come to mind)
6-9 215 Fr Richard Amaefule from the UK is an athletic stud with offers from LSU and TCU before a season ending ankle injury last year. Word was that passport difficulties had prevented him from getting here this summer as early as we’d have liked. He should get playing time this year.
6-4 175 Jr transfer Serrel Smith from Maryland rated 3 or 4 stars coming out of high school and will be eligible. He never made his mark in the Big Ten, but how many times have we seen guys like Guyn, Deuce Bello or Tevin Glass turn that around at ETSU? Hopefully Serrel can make that kind of move here.
At point guard the Bucs got a boost on appeal when the NCAA granted eligibility for 6-2 180 Sr. K State transfer David Sloan. As a Junior point guard at Kansas State, he averaged 19.2 minutes, 5.3 points and 2.3 assists. The Bucs hope he steps up and improves those stats in the SoCon the way that Ge’lawn Guyn did. One reason to hope is his stellar JUCO career. Sloan was a JUCO teammate of Vonnie Patterson at John Logan College making honorable mention JUCO All America and conference POY. Sloan’s JUCO stats: 14.1 ppg, 9.8 apg (1st in NJCAA), 4.6 rpg and 1.1 steals, ranked him as a top 5 JUCO point guard. It would be nice if he and Vonnie got a chance to work together again. Vonnie can be a heckuva complimentary player of course. He muzzled his offensive game last year while being one of our top defenders. He should be able to show us more this season.
The Bucs also have 2 very promising freshman recruits at the point: 3* 6-2 180 FR PG Marcus Niblack who originally signed with Ole Miss, and had 6 other offers looks ready to claim some pt. In the Bucs scrimmage he led one side while Sloan led the other. And 6-1 Fr Pg Truth Harris who has the best athleticism of the three.
Early talk around the Bucs is that they can score, but that defense is a work in progress. We’ll need toughness from the team, and a little patience from the fans as they put this together. Covid has already interrupted practice time and made it harder for the team to hang out and get to know each other off the court.
Mercer (17-15, 11-7)
Former Purdue assistant Gary did a solid job in his first year despite the loss of Ross Cummings to injury. They started the SoCon season 0-4, but finished with an 11-4 streak, giving ETSU one of only 4 losses all season.
At guard this year Gary gets 5th yr Senior Cummings back (17.4 ppg 2 yrs ago), although he loses his top 2 players in Djordje Dimitrijevic and Ethan Stair. That is made up for in part by the addition of 6-2 Fairfield transfer Neftali Alvarez (11.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.3 apg in 2018-2019, making Metro Atlantic all rookie team). 6-2 So Kamar Robertson returns with 6.8 ppg on .403 from 3, 3.1 rpg) and 6-4 Rs-Jr Jeff Gary, the coaches nephew, (11.5 ppg on .390 from 3, 2.3 rpg) whose addition at midseason helped to spark last year’s turn around.
Up front they add 6-9 253 South Carolina Rs-Jr transfer Felipe Haase (6.3 ppg on .413 with 1 make from 3, 3.8 rpg). 6-11 255 Rs-Sr Maciej Bender is back (7.0 ppg, no 3’s, 5.4 rpg) with a nice passing touch and some shot blocking. They are looking for improvement from athletic physical 6-6 210 So. James Glisson (6.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg), and perhaps some help from 6-7 185 Fr Andrew Thomas
WOFFORD (19-16, 8-10)
Jay McAuley spent last preseason insisting to anyone who would listen that Wofford was fielding as much talent as they ever had. And they did knock off UNC in Chapel Hill again in a good OOC season against the strongest competition that any SoCon team had. But then they went out and struggled through an 8-10 SoCon season (although coming within a last second shot of beating Furman 3 times). Going into the SoCon tournament not many of us were believing the upbeat schtick as Wofford fell to a first night seeding.
But the important thing is that McAuley was so relentless that he had the Terriers themselves believing! The first night seeding was oddly favorable since it gave Wofford a warm up game against The Citadel (0-18 in the SoCon), and then fed them Furman. If you’ve been reading so far, you know that the Terriers had Furman’s number all year. After that was a good but beatable Chattanooga team. So Wofford posted 3 wins in a row to get to the finals behind the blistering scoring of senior Trevor Stumpe and opponents who did not do a good job defending the 3. Unfortunately in the finals they ran into a great ETSU team. ETSU fans sold out the building turning Asheville’s Harrah Center into Freedom Hall South while Bo Hodges shut out Stumpe and Pun Tisdale ate Storm Murphy alive as ETSU overplayed the 3, daring Messiah Jones and Chevez Goodwin to try to beat us inside.
This year the Terriers lose 6-9 225 transfer Chevez Goodwin, their only effective big other than 6-6 Messiah Jones, and graduates Nate Hoover, Stumpe and Donovan Theme-Love taking a lot of 3 point shooting. But McCauley is every bit as relentlessly upbeat this year, boosting redshirt sophomores 6-6 Messiah Jones (7.4 ppg, 0 three’s, 4.0 rpg) and 6-7 Isaiah Bigelow (5.4 ppg .388 from 3, 3.0 rpg), and claiming that freshmen bigs 6-8 200 Nick Pringle and 6-9 210 Sam Godwin are 2 of the best that Wofford has ever landed. 6-8 250 South Florida So. transfer B.J. Mack (2.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg) has been ruled eligible. He says that 7-1 JUCO Jr David Appelgren, who showed very little last year, has recovered from injury and will be a different player this time around. He will be expecting Jones and Bigelow to make the big step from role players to team leaders and go-to guys inside.
At guard, McAuley says that Storm Murphy was hampered by injuries last year, but is fully recovered and should have a stellar senior season. 6-1 Jr. Ryan Larson, a chippy player with a reputation for flopping, will have to step up to a bigger role. 6-5 190 Rs-Fr Morgan Safford is supposed to be as impactful as Redshirt freshmen Jones and Bigelow were last year.
So do we believe the upbeat McAuley talk? Or will it take another 8-10 SoCon season before he has them ready to take on the SoCon come tournament time? Blue Ribbon’s Chris Dortch believes enough to rate them 4th. That seems a stretch to me. But they will certainly be a tough out come tournament time. Front Court is the big question mark with Chevez Goodwin gone and the rest, other than 6-6 215 Messiah Jones, unproven. And you no longer have Nate Hoover or Trevor Stumpe shooting 3’s.
Where you rank Wofford preseason depends on how much of McAuley’s upbeat talk you believe,
- about improvement from Storm Murphy and Appelgren,
- about Jones, Bigelow and Ryan Larson becoming go-to guys,
- and about new bigs Pringle, Godwin, Safford and Mack contributing.
Where the team actually finishes depends on how much of it they believe.
WESTERN CAROLINA (19-12, 10-8)
Last year they had Mason Faulkner outside controlling the ball and Carlos Dotson inside wreaking havoc. But they were as bad defensively as they were good on offense. You had to be ready to score against them, because few people had any luck stopping them.
Unfortunately Mr. Inside, wrecking ball Carlos Dotson, is gone. He’s taking his scoring and rebounding dominance with him, but also his defensive weakness and a hefty physique that left him walking up the court against the Bucs in the SoCon tournament. The Cats should be longer, more athletic and better defenders in the middle with 6-9 So Xavier Cork, 6-7 So Tyler Harris and 6-8 Rs-Fr Ahmir Langlais. Not only do they lose the inside play of Dotson, but the 3 point shooting of 6-5 Forward, Onno Steger.
At guard Rs-Sr 6-2 Mason Faulkner is probably the most complete guard in the SoCon. Everything goes through him and he controls the tempo. A fine ballhandler, his 6.1 assists were 19th in D1 last year, he was 3rd in the SoCon scoring 17.7 ppg and 9th with 6.0 rpg. Former All-Freshman Kam Gibson returns from an ACL injury. In his absence So Travon McCray came on strong by tournament time. Freshman Sin’Cere McMahon was POY in the city of Indianapolis and is counted on to provide help his first year in.
Chattanooga (20-13, 10-8)
Once again the portal giveth and the portal taketh away for Lamont Paris and the Mocs. They lose best players graduate transfer Matt Ryan and transfer Ramon Villa (early exit to the pros), as well as Jonathan Scott, Maurice Commander, Rod Johnson and Justin Brown. But they also land Sam Houston St. transfer 6-10 230 Mark Tikhonenko, son of Soviet great Valeri Tikhonenko, graduate transfer 6-8 235 Nigerian Josh Ayeni and get Cleveland State transfer Malachi Smith eligible
At guard 6-1 Sr. David Jean-Baptiste returns and is picked for All-SoCon. 6-3 200 Rs-So Wright St transfer Malachi Smith, formerly Horizon League all-freshman should move right into the starting lineup.
Super athletic puzzle 6-3 Jr Trey Doomes still hasn’t found his way on the court Transfer swingman A.J. Caldwell performed effectively down the stretch.
Up front 6-9 230 stretch forward Cleveland St. transfer Sr. Stephan Kenic 6-8 235 Nigerian Gr transfer from South Alabama Josh Ayeni 6-9 physically gifted but still raw Prosper Obidiebube. 6-10 Rs-Fr Jaden Frazier will be expected to step up and help.
Samford (10-23, 4-14)
9 players left the team, leaving only 4 players (and only 1 starter, 6-8 Jalen Dupree) returning from last year’s demoralized 4-14 SoCon squad to go with 5 transfers and 6 true freshmen. Coach Scott Padgett is replaced by high school wiz 37 yr old Bucky McMillan of Mountain Brook High, who knows the Birmingham area, but is making a very big jump up to D1
McMillan’s most touted addition is 6-5 Fr. A.J. Staton-McCray from West Oaks Academy, Fl. Bucky says he should be SoCon freshman of the year and all conference as a freshman! Supposedly he’s a great athlete, shooter and defender, who runs from one end of the floor to the other without ever seeming to sweat. No word on whether he makes popcorn, too.
McMillan also brought in FAU Gr transfer Richardson Maitre to run the point (9.7 ppg on .405 from 3, 4.1 rpg). Samford is pretty well stocked at guard with former SoCon all-freshman 6-0 Sr Preston Parks, 6-6 Rs-JR ECU transfer K.J. Davis, and 6-3 Rs-Sr Myron Gordon who was the Bulldogs 3rd guard before running into academic problems and sitting out last year. 6-2 Sr. 40% 3pt shooter Triston Chambers returns to Samford after a year at Huntsville.
The big questions remain in the front court, where 6-8 235 Rs-Sr Jalen Dupree sometimes seems unmotivated and 6-8 235 Jr. Logan Dye has limited talent. 6-8 175 Fr Luke Champion, described as a long term project, is the only other player on the roster over 6-6. Injury prone Jr. 6-6 210 Stanley Henderson is the only other player on the roster over 195. Looks like lots of small ball here.
McMillan says he wants to play a deep roster with frequent subs to keep players fresh in an uptempo game.
The last 2 Bulldog coaches have been able to recruit some decent talent. But they could not keep it, bleeding talent to transfer every year. We’ll see how the new guy works out.
VMI (9-24, 3-15)
Freshman star Travis Evee transferred and tough Garret Gilkeson graduated. Still Dan Earl has a team that will fight you and is not to be overlooked.
The Citadel (6-24, 0-18)
They return 4 starters, including all freshman Fletcher Abee who led the SoCon with 2.7 made 3’s, and solid front court player 6-5 225 Hayden Brown.
