Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Updated Standings

Quick Hits – With the Southern Conference season ending on Saturday it looks like the conference champions of their respective divisions are clinched. Congratulations to Appalachian State (12-5) for winning the North division thanks to a season sweep against Western Carolina this season. Also the Wofford Terriers for winning the South division with a solid 14-3 conference record. The Terriers clinched the division title on Thursday night with a 74-68 win at home. The conference tournament starts on March 4-8, being played in Charlotte, N.C., at the Time Warner Cable arena. In my opinion four teams still have a chance to be dancing in March with Wofford (14-3), Appalachian State (12-5), Western Carolina (10-7), and College of Charleston (13-4).

Conference Tournament Champion prediction: College of Charleston – I believe they will avenge their losses to Wofford and Western Carolina by defeating the Catamounts in the SoCon championship to head to the NCAA tournament. With the way the Cougars can move the ball around the perimeter I believe they will cut down the nets in Charlotte.

Predicting Post-season Awards:

Player of the Year: Donald Sims (Appalachian State) 20.1 points per game, leads the conference in 3 pointers made (90), free throw percentage (.948) 146-154 missed eight free throws all year.

Coach of the Year: Buzz Peterson (Appalachian State) 19-11 overall, 12-5 SoCon

Freshman of the Year: Jake Cohen (Davidson) 13.1 points per game

1^st Team all-SoCon

• Donald Sims- Appalachian State 20.1 ppg
• Andrew Goudelock- College of Charleston 19.2 ppg
• Cameron Wells- Citadel 17.4 ppg
• Noah Dahlman- Wofford 17.4 ppg
• Amu Saaka – Furman 16.1 ppg 7.1 rpg

2^nd Team all-SoCon

• Ben Stywall- UNC Greensboro
• Jordan Miller- Furman
• Brandon Giles- Western Carolina
• Willie Powers- Georgia Southern
• Drew Spradlin- Elon

Final Games remaining:

• February 27^th – Samford @ Appalachian St. 3 p.m.
• February 27^th – Citadel @ Wofford 7 p.m.
• February 27^th – College of Charleston @ Furman 4 p.m.
• February 27^th – Davidson @ Elon 7 p.m.
• February 27^th – Chattanooga @ Western Carolina 3 p.m.
• March 1^st – Georgia Southern @ UNC Greensboro 7 p.m.

Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Standings (conference/overall):

NORTH

1. Western Carolina  (1-0/6-1)
2. Samford  (1-0/2-5)
3. Chattanooga  (0-0/4-3)
4. UNC Greensboro  (0-0/1-4)
5. Appalachian State  (0-1/4-4)
6. Elon  (0-1/2-6)

SOUTH

1. Furman  (1-0/5-1)
2. Charleston  (1-0/2-3)
3. Davidson  (1-0/2-5)
4. Citadel  (0-1/5-4)
5. Wofford  (0-1/4-4)
6. Georgia Southern  (0-1/3-5)

Quick Hits: Western Carolina is the hottest team in the conference right now with a 6-1 record with its only loss coming against #2 Texas.  The Catamounts are coming off a home victory over Wofford 72-67 getting a huge game from senior guard Brandon Giles pouring in 22 points and 5 rebounds to give WCU its first conference win of the season.  The Catamounts hosted part of the CBE Classic winning all three of its home games against Arkansas-Monticello (70-44), Binghamton (73-44), and Duquesne (83-77).  Western Carolina has an impressive 5-0 record at home in the Liston B. Ramsey Center.  The Furman Paladins aren’t far behind the Catamounts posting a solid 5-1 start to its season including a road victory against Appalachian State, 85-82, on Thursday December 3.  Junior guard Jordan Miller was lights out scoring 26 points going 4-5 from 3-point land.  The Southern Conference opened conference play this week with Samford, Charleston, and Davidson also earning victories.

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Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Quick look at the early standings with overall records…

NORTH

1. Chattanooga 2-0
2. Appalachian State 2-1
3. Western Carolina 1-1
4. Elon 1-2
5. UNC Greensboro 0-2

SOUTH

1. Furman 2-0
2. Wofford 2-1
3. Charleston 1-1
4. Citadel 1-1
5. Georgia Southern 1-2
6. Davidson 0-2

Some of the top storylines from the Southern Conference are Wofford playing tough basketball early after nearly defeating Pittsburgh on the road before losing 63-60.  The Terriers held a 10-point lead with ten minutes to play after junior preseason all-conference honoree Noah Dahlman scored 20 points and seven rebounds to almost shock Pittsburgh at home.

Davidson opened its 2009-10 campaign with a tough loss on the road against #10 Butler, 73-62.  The Wildcats were only down two points heading into the second half but the Bulldogs pulled away late.  Sophomore forward Ben Allison scored 13 points and had seven rebounds in the loss.

Wofford continued its solid play by defeating Georgia 60-57 on the road and really boosted the conference RPI with that win.  Dahlman was again in double figures with 11 points.

Another nice storyline to follow in the next couple of weeks is how good can Furman and Chattanooga could be after both starting the year at 2-0.

Two players from the Southern Conference who came through for their respective teams were Josh Bonney (Elon) and Jordan Miller (Furman).  Bonney led Elon in scoring for the week, averaging 16.7 PPG in three games last week against Lipscomb, Charlotte, and Coastal Carolina, achieving a career-high 24 points in that season opener against Lipscomb, a 91-86 victory.  Miller scored 23 points in the season opener against Lees-McRae in a 88-49 win, then followed up that performance with ten points against Presbyterian in a 68-64 victory.

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