Eric Moyer is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference and Atlantic Sun Conference and a contributor to the RTC SEC Microsite. You can follow him on Twitter @EricDMoyer.

Reader’s Take

Looking Back

• Bye Bye: Davidson and UNC Greensboro secured first-round byes into the SoCon Tournament as top seeds of the South and North Division, respectively. The last remaining spots will be decided until after Saturday’s finales.
• Busted: In BracketBusters, the SoCon split its four games as College of Charleston and Appalachian State scored victories but Davidson and Wofford dropped their respective contests.
• Academic Honors: Student-athletes earned spots on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Team. Wofford senior guard Brad Loesing was named to the first team, while Davidson junior JP Kuhlman garnered third-team honors.

End of Year Honors

Since this edition is the last “Checking In On” for the SoCon before the end of the season, no time seemed more appropriate than now to dole out some hardware (hardware not included).

• Coach of the Year: Charlton Young, Georgia Southern: After winning a total of 14 games in his first two years in Statesboro, Young guided the Eagles to a second-place showing in the South Division and achieved the second-biggest win improvement in SoCon history winning 12 league games after winning just one in 2010-11.
• Freshman of the Year: Karl Cochran, Wofford: On a Terrier team that faced major overhaul from the past two seasons in which they claimed NCAA Tournament bids, Cochran has paced all SoCon freshmen in scoring (11.0). In addition, he ranks in the top three in rebounding, assists, steals and blocks.
  

  Eric Ferguson Is The RTC Southern Conference Player of the Year (Georgia Southern Athletics)

• All-Conference Team: De’Mon Brooks, Davidson (15.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 53.1 FG Pct); Eric Ferguson, Georgia Southern (14.9 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 57.0 FG Pct); Mike Groselle, The Citadel (16.6 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 59.2 FG Pct); Andrew Lawrence, College of Charleston (12.9 PPG, 5.7 APG, 1.8 SPG); Brad Loesing, Wofford (14.6 PPG, 5.6 APG, 38.6 MPG).
• Player of the Year: Eric Ferguson, Georgia Southern: Ferguson has been at the front of the Eagles’ ascent up the SoCon standings. He ranks in the top six in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage. He increased his shooting percentage to 46.2 percent and increased his scoring by almost three points per game.

Power Rankings

1. Davidson (21-7, Previous Ranking: 1): The Wildcats secured their tenth 20-win season under head coach Bob McKillop and won their eighth division title in the last 12 years. 98 percent of the WildCats’ scoring and 96 percent of their rebounding comes from juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
2. Wofford (18-12, Previous Ranking: 4): The Terriers extended their streak of 10-conference-win seasons to four after beating Elon on Feb. 15. Wofford improved to 15-1 when leading at halftime. Against UNC Greensboro, Brad Loesing surpassed the 1,000-point mark. Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Moyer is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference and Atlantic Sun Conference and a contributor to the RTC SEC Microsite. You can find him on Twitter @EricDMoyer

Reader’s Take

Looking Back

• Davidson created some separation in the South Division, besting Charleston, 87-69, on Saturday. The Cougars then lost at Georgia Southern on Monday to fall behind the Eagles, as well as Wofford, in the South standings. Jake Cohen led the Wildcats as he matched his career-high with 29 points (24 coming in the first half).
• In the North Division, Elon remained in first place, defeating preseason favorite Chattanooga, 88-87, on Monday.

One for the Record Books

In the final scheduled non-conference game in the SoCon (four will play on Feb. 18 a part of the 2012 BracketBusters event), Western Carolina put itself in the company of Texas, Purdue and Long Island, becoming just the fourth school to ever defeat an opponent by at least 100 points. The Catamounts defeated Toccoa Falls 141-39.

From the Notebook

• College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins owns 226 wins at a SoCon school (100 at Appalachian State from 1975-81; 126 at College of Charleston) to move into a share of fifth place on the SoCon win list. He matched Duke’s Eddie Cameron (the namesake for Cameron Indoor Stadium) against Elon on Jan. 14. He will take a temporary leave of absence for a non-life threatening health condition beginning this weekend.
• In its last three games, Samford’s starting five of Tyler Hood, Drew Windler, Jeffrey Merritt, Raijon Kelly and Will Cook has combined to score 70.3 of the team’s 75.7 points per game.
  

  Davidson's J.P. Kuhlman Reached The 1,000-point Milestone

• Davidson’s J.P. Kuhlman joined the 1,000-point club on January 14 at Appalachian State, the eighth active player in the league to reach that milestone.
• Wofford’s Brad Loesing leads the nation in minutes per game at an even 39.0 MPG. He has played in 819 of the team’s 845 minutes this season.

B.M.O.C.

UNC Greensboro’s Derrell Armstrong averaged 27.7 points and six rebounds in the Spartans’ last three games (wins against Chattanooga, Samford and Appalachian State). The junior, who prior to this stretch had averaged 7.9 points per game on the season, notched a season-high 29 points against the Mocs. He hit a season-best five three-point field goals. He followed that performance up with consecutive 27-point efforts.

Power Rankings

Last week’s ranking in parentheses:

1. Davidson (15-4) (1): The Wildcats remained undefeated in SoCon play thanks to Nik Cochran’s free throw at Chattanooga with 1.2 seconds remaining. Davidson joins Oral Roberts, Middle Tennessee and Saint Mary’s as the only schools in the country with conference records of 9-0 or better. Read the rest of this entry »

Eric Moyer is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference. You can find him on Twitter @EricDMoyer.

Reader’s Take 

Looking Back

• In the only regular-season meeting between Western Carolina and Davidson, the Wildcats established SoCon supremacy by beating the Catamounts, 88-67, in a contest between the early division leaders on Thursday. Jake Cohen, who entered averaging 12.4 points per game, torched the Catamounts for 26 points and connected on all four of his three-point attempts. Davidson has now won 13 of its last 14 SoCon regular-season games, dating back to last season.
• Meanwhile, College of Charleston – who entered Thursday one game behind Davidson in the South Division – suffered a shocking home defeat at the hands of UNC Greensboro.

Non-Conference Recap

• Despite the strong non-conference showings by Davidson and College of Charleston, the conference has ranked weaker than in years past. CollegeRPI.com rates the conference 23^rd. A year ago they ranked 19^th and haven’t finished a year as low as 23^rd since 2005-06.
• In spite of the low rankings, the conference did enjoy a successful non-conference season, at least in terms wins against schools from the BCS leagues. Southern Conference schools picked up five wins against BCS schools highlighted by Davidson finally getting revenge against Kansas, taking down the Jayhawks in Kansas City.

Jake Cohen (15) and Davidson Remain The Class Of The SoCon (AP)

South Rising Up

Led by the Wildcats and the Cougars, the South Division has emerged as the power half of the league. The Cougars picked wins against Clemson and Tennessee and have approached the RPI top 50. The six South Division teams own a 33-11 record at home while the six North Division schools are just 26-16 at home.

Worth Noting

• College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins owns 224 wins at a SoCon school (100 at Appalachian State from 1975-81; 124 at College of Charleston) to move within one victory of fifth place on the SoCon win list. He can tie Duke’s Eddie Cameron (the namesake for Cameron Indoor Stadium) on Saturday against Elon.
• Davidson and the Wildcats’ Nik Cochran pace the nation in free-throw percentage. Cochran sits atop the leaderboard at 93.8% and as a team, the Wildcats connect at an 81.1% clip.

Read the rest of this entry »