Is it time to leave the SoCon?

[Affirm]

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."

SO WOULD I.
HIS JOB SHOULD BE IN EXTEME JEOPARDY IF HE CANNOT DEFEND HOW THIS HAPPENED AND CONVINCINGLY SAY HOW HE WILL FIX IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN.

[DungeonRealm]

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.

CofC only won the SoCon one time, their first year in the league
Furman is a better program than CofC nowadays

[Affirm]

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.

CofC only won the SoCon one time, their first year in the league
Furman is a better program than CofC nowadays

True. May it continue to be so.

[apaladin]

The SoCon has had a lameduck commisioner for as long as I can remember. We need a commish that actually cares about the teams in the SoCon. What a great job he has, do nothing and make way too much money.

[Furmanoid]

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.

CofC only won the SoCon one time, their first year in the league
Furman is a better program than CofC nowadays

They were good in the '18/19 and won the CAA. Last couple of years have been rough.
But to Jackal's point, the only current SoCon team to ever make much of a basketball splash has now been dormant for about 42 years. There are plenty of teams out there who get a boost from reputation. That ain't us and won't be anytime soon. We're gonna have to do it the old fashioned way and get good. Not just good enough to maybe squeak in every 10 years, but good enough to trash this pitiful conference every year.

First thing I would do is hire a big man whisperer. At AU (local DII) we have an old volunteer guy who turns 7 foot clutz's into really good future pro players (in China and Europe). FU needs a guy like that. As it is now, when our 3's aren't going in we are sort of lost.

[Affirm]

Somewhere on here tonight, perhaps a different thread (I’d respond there if able to find it again), someone has stated “we need to dominate this conference”.
That is so true, especially if we’re never going to leave SoCon basketball.
SoCon’s motto could be “If you’re not in first place, you’re nowhere, “ or “If you’re in second place or below, you’re nowhere.”

[apaladin]

Somewhere on here tonight, perhaps a different thread (I’d respond there if able to find it again), someone has stated “we need to dominate this conference”.
That is so true, especially if we’re never going to leave SoCon basketball.
SoCon’s motto could be “If you’re not in first place, you’re nowhere, “ or “If you’re in second place or below, you’re nowhere.”

“If you’re not first, you’re last”.

[jesse174]

If we won the championship game vs Chattanooga, they would have gotten an at large bid....but i feel someone should be lobbying for a second bid using this season as an example. There is no question we should have gotten an at large bid or at least an NIT bid. If we don't get a push from this conference, then we should consider leaving it. Why get stuck in a conference that doesn't believe in itself? Hopefully others agree....

[apaladin]

If we won the championship game vs Chattanooga, they would have gotten an at large bid....but i feel someone should be lobbying for a second bid using this season as an example. There is no question we should have gotten an at large bid or at least an NIT bid. If we don't get a push from this conference, then we should consider leaving it. Why get stuck in a conference that doesn't believe in itself? Hopefully others agree....

I don’t think we need to leave the SoCon but we need a change of leadership, Get a person that has SoCon ties and cares about the league. The current commish obviously doesn’t care.

[FUBeAR]

If we won the championship game vs Chattanooga, they would have gotten an at large bid

Don’t know…but don’t think that is accurate.

The ESPN Announcers, employed by ESPN (one of the networks that are actually in control of NCAA D1 collegiate athletics) said on the broadcast…about 50 times… ‘…the SoCon is a 1 bid league. It’s win tonight or go home. The loser of this game will not be playing in the Big Dance’ (etc., etc., etc.)

Besides winning more games…that’s the BS that has to change…it’s the same kind of BS the SoCon has dealt with in the FCS Football Playoffs since 2014.

FUBeAR is ready to lead the bellhops to fire on Ft. Sumter…or whatever we (the SoCon) need to do to initiate secession from the anachronism known as the NCAA

[Affirm]

If we won the championship game vs Chattanooga, they would have gotten an at large bid

Don’t know…but don’t think that is accurate.

The ESPN Announcers, employed by ESPN (one of the networks that are actually in control of NCAA D1 collegiate athletics) said on the broadcast…about 50 times… ‘…the SoCon is a 1 bid league. It’s win tonight or go home. The loser of this game will not be playing in the Big Dance’ (etc., etc., etc.)

Besides winning more games…that’s the BS that has to change…it’s the same kind of BS the SoCon has dealt with in the FCS Football Playoffs since 2014.

FUBeAR is ready to lead the bellhops to fire on Ft. Sumter…or whatever we (the SoCon) need to do to initiate secession from the anachronism known as the NCAA

Amen!
With you!
Etc.
Unless you are not meaning what you say about secession, which I suspect in this case, unfortunately.

[paladinfan12]

There are times in the past where a SoCon team would've gotten an at-large if they didn't win the tournament: Wofford with Magee, Davidson with Steph.

The NIT and other tournaments prefer big schools for fans and money, and honestly that bid doesn't mean too much. The NCAA takes the 68 best teams. I really don't think the SoCon's lack of an NIT bid or two NCAA bids has anything to do with the conference, but more with each individual team's performance. If Furman had beaten UNC, Belmont, Mississippi State, and Chattanooga once during the season I think they would've had a pretty good shot for an NCAA at-large.

[Furmanoid]

If we won the championship game vs Chattanooga, they would have gotten an at large bid

Don’t know…but don’t think that is accurate.

The ESPN Announcers, employed by ESPN (one of the networks that are actually in control of NCAA D1 collegiate athletics) said on the broadcast…about 50 times… ‘…the SoCon is a 1 bid league. It’s win tonight or go home. The loser of this game will not be playing in the Big Dance’ (etc., etc., etc.)

Besides winning more games…that’s the BS that has to change…it’s the same kind of BS the SoCon has dealt with in the FCS Football Playoffs since 2014.

FUBeAR is ready to lead the bellhops to fire on Ft. Sumter…or whatever we (the SoCon) need to do to initiate secession from the anachronism known as the NCAA

I heard the same thing all through the game. And the fact is, UTC looked awful in that game, so I’m not so sure they would have been bailed out if they lost.

But what happens after you secede? 160 years ago a sane South Carolinian lamented that SC was too small to be a country and too large to be an insane asylum. Later half the conference seceded with them so it worked out (sort of). If we and Citadel seceded, where would we go? The conferences with more bids are perceived to be better. If the perception is right, we’d have a much harder time placing high in the conference. It might be better to go to a super crappy 1 bid conference that we can always win. The SoCon is sort of the worst possible deal. Not good enough to get an extra bid, but good enough that the tournament will always be an adventure- unless we get better and modify our approach somewhat.

[DungeonRealm]

There are times in the past where a SoCon team would've gotten an at-large if they didn't win the tournament: Wofford with Magee, Davidson with Steph.

The NIT and other tournaments prefer big schools for fans and money, and honestly that bid doesn't mean too much. The NCAA takes the 68 best teams. I really don't think the SoCon's lack of an NIT bid or two NCAA bids has anything to do with the conference, but more with each individual team's performance. If Furman had beaten UNC, Belmont, Mississippi State, and Chattanooga once during the season I think they would've had a pretty good shot for an NCAA at-large.

All speculation, until its a thing its not, we do know that we got robbed of an NIT bid, we do know UNCG got robbed of NCAA at large bid a couple years ago, we do know Steph missed NCAA tourney his junior year (after elite eight run), ect. ect.
So going off what we know its not a good look for the SoCon at all, to this point it has been a major problem for the league

[DungeonRealm]

Just think of how much money we are talking about over the course of many years, just one extra bid per year equates to a ton of money