Is it time to leave the SoCon?
Again I will say, if we had won a couple of more games, we would be in at least the NIT. The conference does not control our fate. We control our own fate. Next season, we can help our fate by winning the Charleston Classic. Go Paladins!
I will quote stonemd from anther thread, something that is alarming to me:
"A10 11th best conference (kenpom) - 2 teams in NCAA , 4 teams in NIT
SOCON 12 th best conference - 1 team in NCAA
Multiple teams in NIT w lower rankings than Furman
I’d like to see a response from the commissioner on how he will fix this."
I was just copy/pasting from stonemd as well. It’s a legitimate request & one which JD should address if we don’t hear from the Commissioner.
QCGlue liked this
Not sure how you fix it. We are the only team in the conference with a legit basketball tradition, and we took several decades off. If you don’t have reputation going for you, you have to be really, really good. We just aren’t there as a team or conference. The championship game had a great last 7 minutes, but the champion shot 42% and maybe 25% from 3. Nobody reached 30 before the 15 minute mark. Non SoCon fans stumbling onto that game would not have been impressed. I’m sorry.
I don’t see any way to make the conference better. We probably benefit more if it gets worse. Then we should start winning it and getting annual first round spankings in the NCAA tourney. There is no conference to go to. The A10 seems like the only FCS conference that is taken seriously, and they are full up. Kinda seems like the whole FCS concept is sort of bogus because we aren’t really thought of as D1 basketball (except in our own minds apparently).
I don’t see any way to make the conference better. We probably benefit more if it gets worse. Then we should start winning it and getting annual first round spankings in the NCAA tourney. There is no conference to go to. The A10 seems like the only FCS conference that is taken seriously, and they are full up. Kinda seems like the whole FCS concept is sort of bogus because we aren’t really thought of as D1 basketball (except in our own minds apparently).
The A-10 is not an FCS conference because they do not have football. FCS refers to football only. SoCon, A-10, CAA, Big South etc, are plain D1 in basketballFurmanoid wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:42 amNot sure how you fix it. We are the only team in the conference with a legit basketball tradition, and we took several decades off. If you don’t have reputation going for you, you have to be really, really good. We just aren’t there as a team or conference. The championship game had a great last 7 minutes, but the champion shot 42% and maybe 25% from 3. Nobody reached 30 before the 15 minute mark. Non SoCon fans stumbling onto that game would not have been impressed. I’m sorry.
I don’t see any way to make the conference better. We probably benefit more if it gets worse. Then we should start winning it and getting annual first round spankings in the NCAA tourney. There is no conference to go to. The A10 seems like the only FCS conference that is taken seriously, and they are full up. Kinda seems like the whole FCS concept is sort of bogus because we aren’t really thought of as D1 basketball (except in our own minds apparently).
Ok how many FBS teams are in the A10?
Here are the facts. In one way this team overachieved. In another it underachieved. I think at the start of tbe year any of us would have taken a 22 win season, a win over an ACC team, high rankings and a trip to the SoCon championship game. In that regard the team overachieved. The 5 game win streak got me really excited and I really started believing in this team. What do we do? Fall flat on our face, lose 3 straight games in which all were winnable in the last minute. 11 of the losses were winnable in the last minute but all slipped away. If we just go 4-7 in those games we have 26 wins. In the SoCon tourney we looked good the first game then barely survived the second and the championship game was a nightmare in more ways than one. Its easy to get caught up in that miracle shot but should it have ever come down to that? UTC scored 16 first half points we scored only 26, a season low. Very easily could have had a 20+ point lead. Everyone knew the second half would be different and it was. All we had to do was match our low 26 point first half output. We scored 25 points the second half. We scored 6 points the first 11+ of the second half. Give the team credit for coming back and sending it into OT and for doing everything they could to win in OT. We did not lose this game in OT we lost it in the first 40 minutes, the OT should have never happened. Really enjoyed watching this team play this year and seeing it end makes me sad. November seems so far away but at my age time is going at warp speed. Will really miss seeing CG and AH play. Hoping MB and JS return and others get better in the off season. Really liked the way Hien finished the season sttong and others have shown potential and ability. Hopefully we will have another strong schedule, CBR, JS and MB return and it will be another fun year.
There is one school that plays FBS football in the A10. This is a basketball only conference with a few minor sports. Football has nothing to do with it as half of their schools don’t play football and only a couple play scholarship fb.
LB1987 liked this
I'm not sure you leave the SoCon.
We had opportunities to win more games, and didn't.
SoCon teams are going to need to go on the national stage and knock off some big programs. Losing close games late or in OT isn't going to cut it long term. We've got to start winning those games.
We had opportunities to win more games, and didn't.
SoCon teams are going to need to go on the national stage and knock off some big programs. Losing close games late or in OT isn't going to cut it long term. We've got to start winning those games.
A 10 BB has a contract with the USA network to televise about 2 games per week. Excellent national exposure.
OK you only strengthen my point. They cater to FCS schools but are not FCS, so they still get some respect. A big draw of FCS is that you can have a cheaper football program, but still play basketball in March Madness. Only its a bit of a mirage, because aside from a handful of A10 and Big East teams, FCS programs get little respect. The rest of us only dance by having a good weekend in early March. The rest of the season doesn't matter much.apaladin wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:08 amThe A-10 is not an FCS conference because they do not have football. FCS refers to football only. SoCon, A-10, CAA, Big South etc, are plain D1 in basketballFurmanoid wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:42 amNot sure how you fix it. We are the only team in the conference with a legit basketball tradition, and we took several decades off. If you don’t have reputation going for you, you have to be really, really good. We just aren’t there as a team or conference. The championship game had a great last 7 minutes, but the champion shot 42% and maybe 25% from 3. Nobody reached 30 before the 15 minute mark. Non SoCon fans stumbling onto that game would not have been impressed. I’m sorry.
I don’t see any way to make the conference better. We probably benefit more if it gets worse. Then we should start winning it and getting annual first round spankings in the NCAA tourney. There is no conference to go to. The A10 seems like the only FCS conference that is taken seriously, and they are full up. Kinda seems like the whole FCS concept is sort of bogus because we aren’t really thought of as D1 basketball (except in our own minds apparently).
If we want to start going to the tournament more often, we just need to get a lot better. And specifically, we need to develop an inside game. One bad shooting night out of three and a great season will go up in smoke every year, so I wish we were built to survive those bad shooting nights.
Davemeister, bj93 liked this
Is our commish just going to remain silent on this topic like he does not give a rats??
From his twitter page it looks like he has been asleep since last Monday, ridiculous
https://twitter.com/SoCon_Schaus
He obviously is not connected and was not campaigning for our league, he looks like a waste of space to me at this point
From his twitter page it looks like he has been asleep since last Monday, ridiculous
https://twitter.com/SoCon_Schaus
He obviously is not connected and was not campaigning for our league, he looks like a waste of space to me at this point
FU69 liked this
I especially like your arena renovation and better conference question. I do not know if the answer could be yes to both, but I wish it could be.DungeonRealm wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:41 amWell here we are left high and dry
SoCon is obviously not a very highly regarded conference nationally
Can we fund a new arena renovation and get ourselves into a better conference that is going to serve us better year in and year out?
If FCS football has to be such a sacred cow for “us”, then we should play football in Pioneer League (yes, that IS FCS) and get into A-10 for all else (which Davidson does); or we stay in SoCon for all sports except basketball and get into A-10 for basketball (which Richmond does except that CAA is their all-other-than-basketball conference); or we move to CAA for all sports except basketball and get into A-10 for basketball (exactly what Richmond does); or we move to CAA for all sports (maybe not much better than SoCon for basketball, if any, but at least we would no longer be having to put up with any of the SoCon’s perpetual ineptness).
(Yes, I know that probably all of the above thoughts will be shot down by people on this board - especially those people who think that nothing other than being in SoCon would be good for Furman, and those who think it is heresy to even mention Pioneer Football League and Furman together in the same sentence or even the same breath.)
Maybe this is just me, but the SoCon has started to elevate itself as a strong mid-major basketball conference in just the last handful of years.
For what seemed like decades, there weren't but a few SoCon schools that seemed to take basketball seriously. For the better part of 20 years, the SoCon regular season champion was won outright or shared by Davidson or College of Charleston. Those two programs, I guess, decided to take their show on the road to a more basketball-friendly environment.
I get that the SoCon needs more national respect, but I also do not believe that our member schools have some sort of long track record warranting second and third looks. It would have been nice to have amped up the basketball when Davidson and Charleston were still in the SoCon.
For what seemed like decades, there weren't but a few SoCon schools that seemed to take basketball seriously. For the better part of 20 years, the SoCon regular season champion was won outright or shared by Davidson or College of Charleston. Those two programs, I guess, decided to take their show on the road to a more basketball-friendly environment.
I get that the SoCon needs more national respect, but I also do not believe that our member schools have some sort of long track record warranting second and third looks. It would have been nice to have amped up the basketball when Davidson and Charleston were still in the SoCon.