We have quite a few links today after an extended long weekend/hiatus. If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Top 25 Games

• #2 Ohio State 85, Indiana 67: “Peeking at the numbers, it sounds a little silly to say Indiana brought it this evening. After all, the Hoosiers allowed Ohio State to shoot a blistering 60.5 percent from the floor (23-of-38) and 68.4 percent from three (13-of-19). They lost by 18. But this Ohio State team is so strong, so lengthy, so crisp, so, well, good. Undefeated through 14. Ranked No. 2 in the nation. Selfless and experienced — with a freshman phenom in Jared Sullinger to boot. No one will be surprised if the Buckeyes find themselves in the Final Four this spring. They are that good. They can outclass a team like Indiana with relative ease.” (Inside the Hall: Recap, Post-Game Interviews, and Breaking Down Jared Sullinger; Eleven Warriors: Recap)
• #3 Kansas 83, Miami (OH) 56: “Four days ago the Jayhawks played a bit of a lackluster style in an easy but somewhat sloppy win over Texas Arlington.  Following the game Bill Self made the statement that practices were about to get interesting for the Jayhawks and he followed that up by stating he wouldn’t know the starters for this one until gameday. For coach Self basketball boils down to great effort and intensity on the defensive end.  He’s said it time and time again that offense takes a night off, but great defense does not.  Sunday night Kansas finally seemed to get back on track and heed that message.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Recap and Statistical Analysis)
• #4 Syracuse 70, #16 Notre Dame 58: The Orange had one of their most important wins of the season over a Notre Dame team that had just knocked off Georgetown a few days earlier. (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• #8 Villanova 78, Temple 74: “When #25 Templa faced #8 Villanova at the Pavilion on Villanova’s Main Line campus the national media touted the match up as a “1 in 220” game — the last time two nationally ranked Big 5 teams faced off in a City Series game. But for the 6,500 fans who braved the December cold to watch Villanova beat back four Temple second half rallies to preserve their 78-74 win, it was just another night in the Big 5. Desipite taking a commanding eight point lead, 76-68 inside the last minute, the Wildcats watched the Owls record six points in the last 18 seconds to close the final margin to four points.” (Villanova by the Numbers)
• #8 Villanova 81, Rutgers 65: “‘Tough’ was the theme in the post game interviews — two technicals and a player ejection can refocus a storyline in that way. Rutgers Head Coach Mike Rice was asked where on the toughness meter did his team play the Wildcats. The toughness meter? I have heard of turnover meters and foul meters, but not toughness meters.” (Villanova by the Numbers)
• #9 Purdue 82, Northwestern 69: The Boilermakers had a solid win over the Wildcats to get them to 2-0 in the Big Ten and have a few more relatively easy games before they get into the heart of the Big Ten schedule. (Boiled Sports)
• #10 Kentucky 78, Louisville 63: Buoyed by the play of Brandon Knight and Josh Harrellson the Wildcats knocked off their intrastate rivals with relative ease. (Recap: A Sea of Blue and Card Chronicle)
• #10 Kentucky 86, Penn 62: “If not for Josh Harrellson, this game might have been lost.  That’s a strong statement, but there is a defensible argument to be made that Kentucky was ripe for a major upset tonight, and Josh Harrellson was a big reason why that didn’t happen.” (A Sea of Blue)
• #11 Georgetown 86, DePaul 75: “There is an old adage in golf that there are no pictures on the scorecard, meaning that it doesn’t matter how one gets a score, as long as it is good.  That adage does not apply to Georgetown basketball today.  Sure, we got our first Big East victory today over an improving Depaul squad.  But for 30 minutes, the Hoyas were lifeless, apathetic, and defenseless in an 86-75 victory.  Austin Freeman seemed to be the only player aware that Georgetown played today, pacing the team with 21 crucial points on 12 shots. Jason Clark and Chris Wright continued to struggle shooting the basketball, but were able to find other ways to score, netting 21 points and 17 points respectively.” (Casual Hoya)
• St. John’s 61, #11 Georgetown 58: “In a hard-fought Big East basketball game that recalled the heyday of the Hoyas – St. John’s rivalry, the Hoyas dropped to 1-2 in Big East play after a 61-58 defeat at the hands of the suddenly surging Red Storm.  Hollis Thompson led the Hoyas 16 points, and that alone should tell you all you need to know.  The vaunted ‘Hoya Trinity’ of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark combined for 20 points on 7 of 26 shooting from the field (2 of 14 from three point range).  Georgetown fans have long wondered what would happen if all three of the Trinity had off nights and that picture clearly isn’t pretty.” (Casual Hoya or for a St. John’s perspective: Johnny Jungle or The East Coast Bias)
• #15 BYU 90, Buffalo 82: “More than 5,800 fans packed Alumni Arena on the campus at the University of Buffalo anticipating an All-American performance. The UB Bulls nearly stole the show. All-American Jimmer Fredette recovered from a sluggish first half scoring 28 of his game-high 34 points after the break to lead the 16th-ranked BYU Cougars over the University of Buffalo Bulls 90-82 in non-conference action Thursday night.
  More than 5,800 fans packed Alumni Arena on the campus at the University of Buffalo anticipating an All-American performance.The UB Bulls nearly stole the show. All-American Jimmer Fredette recovered from a sluggish first half scoring 28 of his game-high 34 points after the break to lead the 16th-ranked BYU Cougars over the University of Buffalo Bulls 90-82 in non-conference action Thursday night.” (Pickin Splinters)
• #17 Illinois 69, #19 Wisconsin 61: “Demetri McCamey is the sort of guy I would hate if I were a fan of any other team. Just when you think you have locked him down and he can’t get a clean shot, he starts dishing to players and racking up assists (six in the first half) and just when you let up on him to keep his passing down, he lights up the score board (17 points in the second half.) He is crafty, an excellent ball handler and a frightening player to go up against. Demetri McCamey took the Illini over in the second half once again today, and proved again that this team will go exactly as far as he takes it. When he plays like this, or like at Iowa, he can take them far. The Illini do not win, however, when Demetri is the only person getting his production, and thankfully that was not the case today.” (Hail to the Orange)
• #22 Washington 74, UCLA 63: “If this year’s edition of UCLA basketball needed any reminders why it’s important to play the full 40 minutes, this should be it. It is a shame that such reminders are needed at this stage in the season against one of the better opponents we’ve faced this year.” (Bruins Nation: Part 1 and Part 2)

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Kellen Carpenter is an RTC contributor.

Moneyball isn’t the founding document of sabermetrics; that honor probably belongs to Bill James’ Baseball Abstract. That said, the reason that most baseball fans know about the advanced, modern approach to baseball statistics is because of Michael Lewis’s nearly 300-page story about the Oakland A’s. Well, they know either because of the the book itself or the uproar and debate around it. In any case, Moneyball was and remains a cultural phenomenon, a true breakthrough into the mainstream. Because of Moneyball, baseball and the dialogue around baseball has gotten smarter.

Battier Represents an Efficient Player Without Huge Stats

Basketball hasn’t had a single watershed moment like Moneyball. Progress in the advanced stats movement has come in fits and starts. Unsurprisingly, the closest thing to a mainstream breakthrough for advanced statistics in basketball came from Michael Lewis. “The No-Stats All-Star” was published February 13, 2009 in the New York Times, and focused on the world of advanced stats in basketball through the microcosm of the Houston Rockets player Shane Battier and his general manager, Darryl Morey. The article introduced the larger world to lots of fun ideas like offensive and defensive efficiency and adjusted plus/minus. It had a few interesting smaller nuggets too, and today we’ll be taking a look at one of those.

According to Morey (and the research), the worst possible outcome of a defensive play is to foul. In fact, Morey mentions that they identify other teams in the NBA that make use of the modern numbers-based thinking by looking to see which teams make a consistent and radical effort to avoid fouling. It’s a simple check, but one that makes sense: of the Four Factors that contribute to defensive efficiency, opponent’s free throw rate is the easiest to control. Telling a team to not foul is an easier instruction than “rebound better!” or “reduce your opponent’s effective field goal percentage!”

In any case, Morey’s observation made me curious as to which teams in college basketball make use of that mantra and consistently avoid fouling. To make sure that I didn’t wrongly consider a fluke year, I looked at the average team opponent free throw rate from 2006-10. For those keeping score at home, free throw rate is calculated by dividing attempted free throws by attempted field goals (and multiplied by 100 to get a slightly friendlier percentage). The average free throw rate for Divison I schools over the past five years comes in at 37.1%, while the fouling-est team registered a 54.3% and the best, least-fouling-est team managed a mere 23.3%.  [the complete and fully sortable list is located here as a Google Doc] Now, to name names: The top four teams who foul the least in order: Ohio State, Siena, Connecticut, and North Carolina. Three of these teams are perennial championship contenders and Siena is one of the most successful mid-majors of the past few years. The rest of the teams near the top of the list are a little more scattered. The top thirty teams on the list are an odd admixture of regular contenders (Syracuse, Florida, Arizona), mid-major spoilers (College of Charleston, George Mason), and middling teams of all sizes (Central Connecticut, Samford, Notre Dame, Boston College). So that’s interesting, but inconclusive.

But, what about the bottom of the list? Is there any discernible trend amongst the teams that foul the most? Well, here, the picture is clearer. The bottom seventy-five or so teams are almost exclusively small conference schools that have had middling success at best, though the true booby prize goes to Central Michigan, who, from 2006-10 averaged an opponent free throw rate at an astonishing 54.3%. So while it’s unclear that rarely fouling is the true mark of a great team in college basketball (though it does appear to have helped some very good teams), fouling a lot seems to be the mark of pretty bad to thoroughly mediocre teams.

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Kevin Doyle is an RTC contributor.  For an introduction to this series, please click here.

Introduction

It is finally here. After a 216-day hiatus, crowds are again filing into the 345 arenas throughout the country—ranging from the colossal Carrier Dome (33,000) to the small, but quaint Charleston Southern Field house (790)—coaches are berating their players and the officials, the zebras are whistling while they work, and the student-athletes are providing us, the fans, with numerous drama-filled and gut-wrenching college basketball games. Is there anything better in the world of sports? I think not. I know I got butterflies in my stomach when the ball went up on November 8.

Now that many schools have a few games under their belts, I am pleased to release my Top 20 rankings of the “Other 26;” everyone likes rankings, projections, and predictions. There is a reason why virtually the second after the National Championship has concluded projections for next year’s Tournament are already being drafted up. There are, of course, always the preseason rankings that give people an idea of who the top teams are heading into the coming season. Suffice it to say, I am behind in the game by releasing my top 20 rankings of the “Other 26” after the season has begun. But, without further adieu, here are your top 20 after the first full week of action:

What team impressed the most?

I have placed four teams from the Mountain West conference in the top 10 as this is one of the most underrated conferences in America. BYU, UNLV, New Mexico, and San Diego State were all quite strong last year and all four made it to the NCAA Tournament. It is apparent that the top half of the Mountain West is  stronger than the upper echelon teams in the Pac-10. San Diego State demonstrated how strong of a conference this is by defeating Gonzaga 79-76, and in doing so they had the best week of any of our “Other 26” teams. The two-headed monster of Kawhi Leonard and Billy White up front will pose lots of problems for the opposition. One needs to look no further than how they carved apart Gonzaga’s defense by combining for 48 points, 21 rebounds and four steals. The Aztecs are legitimate and should be taken very seriously by the rest of the Mountain West and the NCAA Selection Committee.

Best Individual Performances

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Your Watercooler Moment.

There really wasn’t going to be any question tonight, was there?  Pe’Shon Howard announced his presence to the college basketball world by spinning, driving and fading his way into a 12-footer from the right side that dashed the dream of College of Charleston earning a statement ACC road win to use as a shiny gold star on its postseason resume.   What — we’re talking about postseason resumes on only the second night of the season?  Of course we are.  For SoCon schools like Bobby Cremins’ club, there are limited opportunities available in a season to notch the marquee win that could give the Cougars a shot at an at-large NCAA bid (or a nicer seed if the auto-qualifier), and Howard’s play down the stretch of this game may have single-handedly eliminated that possibility.  CofC will have more opportunities with games at North Carolina and Tennessee plus a home date versus Clemson, but it’s unlikely that the Cougars will stumble into the same perfect storm of a turnover-prone home team that goes 5-18 from the line and makes only two treys during the entire game.  If Cremins’ team looked up the phrase “missed opportunity” on the Google, we’re pretty sure they’d see a mirror image staring back at them.

As for Gary Williams’ Terps, it’s clear that they still have some things to figure out.  But don’t be fooled — we’ve watched Maryland teams that looked like they belonged in the MEAC in November playing as well as anybody in the country by March.  RTC Live was courtside for the Terps’ 75-74 win tonight, and our correspondent Rob Dauster writes that “the Terps need a point guard and a leader… [despite] a dominating, 26/15 performance from their star center, Jordan Williams.  They have other holes — perimeter shooting, depth up front — but in two games they now have 47 turnovers. Is Howard the answer? Right now, he looks like it. He’s an excellent passer, a talented penetrator, and a capable shooter. But perhaps the more telling sign was his poise and confidence at the end of the game. He wanted the ball in his hands with time winding down. And he succeeded. That kind of leadership is what Greivis Vasquez provided.”  And it’s true — in merely two games, Howard is 8-11 from the field with 12 assists and five steals.  Throw in the ability to finish ballgames as he’s already done once, and Gary Williams definitely has another star in the making on his bench.

The Tournament That Isn’t.  Right, it’s actually a “Classic.”  Not a tournament, remember.  The 2kSports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic played three other games tonight that at first blush appeared to be tournament-style, but actually were just glorified fixes (average margin = 37 points).  #5 Pittsburgh “moved on” with a 97-54 win over Illinois-Chicago behind dominant performances from Ashton Gibbs (24/7 assts), Brad Wanamaker (17/6/9 assts) and their glass-eating corps (+22 rebs), while Bruce Weber’s #16 Illinois squad “advanced” with an overpowering 47-18 first half en route to a 39-point victory over Toledo.  Texas also looked impressive in another destruction at home, this time over Louisiana Tech 89-58 to “survive.”  In two games this year, the Horns are proving to be a second-half team, breaking open both games by wide margins in the second stanza.

Next Week in NYC.  With tonight’s wins, the four regional hosts now move on to face each other in next week’s semifinals in Madison Square Garden.  Unlike this week’s games, though, next week’s contests are not already predetermined past Thursday night’s double-header of Pittsburgh vs. Maryland and Texas vs. Illinois.  The winners and the losers will play each other on Friday night for the right to claim the championship, and based on what we’ve seen thus far, those should be two pretty great matchups.  More next week on that, of course.

Tonight’s Quick Hits & Misses.

• The Pitt Backcourt.  In two games, Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker are averaging 44/7/14 APG on 60% shooting with a ridiculous 4.6:1 assist to turnover ratio.
• Andrew Goudelock. His jump shot was ripping the Maryland nets with such exceptional rotation that it was actually changing the trajectory of the ball as it zipped through.  Goudelock’s 27/10 (although with eight TOs) showed everyone why he’s the projected SoCon POY.
• Olu Ashaolu’s Breakaway Dunk.  This was fantabulous, from one of the best names in the game today.
• Jordan Hamilton.  Hamilton, so smooth on Monday night, didn’t look nearly as good this evening, too often settling for the three-ball (1-6) when it clearly wasn’t dropping.
• Peterson Events Center.  Pitt’s home court has witnessed 134 wins versus only 11 losses in its nine years, for a winning percentage of 92.4% in that span.
• Terps Fans. Ok, it’s one thing if Texas fans can’t be bothered to show up; but Maryland?  Not only is UMCP unequivocally a basketball school, but the Terps were playing a solid mid-major (as proven by the close finish).  There better have been a reason we’re not aware of for such a lackluster fan showing.

Tweet of the Night.  Tonight’s best tweet comes from SI.com’s Andy Glockner, a fella who captured what the rest of us were thinking as we watched the Andrew Goudelock Show turn into the Announcement of Pe’Shon’s Presence.

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.

Hello everybody, welcome back to another thrilling edition of Boom Goes the Dynamite.  If you haven’t noticed, we’re at the point of the season where every game has a little more intensity, a little more pressure, a little more edginess, as each team tries to attract the eye of the fickle Selection Committee.  Whether in an attempt to lock up a high seed or simply to make the darn thing, the next three weeks will present ample opportunities for every team to make its case, for better or worse.  As always, we’ll be right there with you throughout the day, checking in on the big games and others of varying importance.  While today isn’t a blockbuster day in terms of key games, there are always going to be a good number at this time of year.  Below are the ones we’ll be keeping an eye on…

11 AM: Siena @ #13 Butler on ESPN2 – RTC Live
12 PM: Florida @ Ole Miss on CBS
12 PM: Seton Hall @ #8 West Virginia on ESPN
12 PM: Morgan State @ Murray State on ESPNU
1 PM: Louisiana Tech @ Northeastern on ESPN2
1:30 PM: #22 Baylor @ Oklahoma State on ESPN360
2 PM: #17 Texas @ Texas Tech on ESPN
2 PM: Georgia Tech @ Maryland on ESPN360 – RTC Live
2 PM: Xavier @ Charlotte on CSS
4 PM: Illinois @ #4 Purdue on ESPN
4 PM: UTEP @ Tulsa on CBS CS – RTC Live
4 PM: Colorado @ #1 Kansas on ESPN360
6 PM: #2 Kentucky @ #19 Vanderbilt on ESPN
6 PM: #7 Kansas State @ Oklahoma on ESPNU
8 PM: Charleston @ George Mason on ESPN2
9 PM: UCLA @ Washington on ESPN
12 AM: Wichita State @ Utah State on ESPN2 – RTC Live

11:02: And we’re live with another BGTD. Interesting decision by ESPN to keep GameDay at 11 AM with the Siena-Butler game on ESPN2. We already have someone doing a RTC Live for the Siena-Butler game so we’ll focus more on GameDay than we otherwise would. Definitely check out our RTC Live of the game though.

11:07: The ESPN analysts are really going out on a limb saying the Big East Tournament will be the best of the conference tournament. Digger breaks with the group and goes with the Big Ten. Surprisingly Bobby Knight calls out the Big Ten saying the Big East would beat them head-to-head.

11:09: In another surprise, Jay Bilas goes against Coach K by saying that the conference tournaments effectively act as a huge NCAA Tournament and if you win you are into the real NCAA Tournament. Digger agrees with him while Hubert Davis attempts to make a ridiculous argument against the automatic bid saying it penalizes teams like Siena that dominate their conferences, but might choke in the conference tournament. Personally I think if you’re that good you can earn an at-large bid with your play throughout the season. Knight holds the coaching fraternity party line saying that he wants to expand the tournament. Translation: Nobody gets fired ever.

11:15: Just flipped over to ESPN2 where the announcers were comparing Gordon Hayward to Mike Dunleavy Jr. I’m not sure if they are talking about their games or the way they look. Where is the college basketball Spike Lee who will call out these announcers for comparing the two only because they are white guys who look fairly similar? For the record their games are pretty similar. Feel free to call me out in the comment section. . .

11:20: Knight wants “The Committee” to get an ex-coach on there (like him?) and the team’s last 18 games. I have no idea how he decided on 18. Why not 20? The other talking heads rip the RPI. Davis wants to take the strength of schedule component out of the RPI and wants to use an “eye test” to replace it. I’d like to see Professor Davis come up with a quantitative way to come up with the “eye test” score.

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Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Updated Standings:
NORTH    (CONF/OVER)

1. Western Carolina     6-3    16-5
2. Appalachian State   6-3    12-8
3. Chattanooga              4-5    12-10
4. UNC Greensboro      4-6    5-16
5. Samford                       3-6    9-12
6. Elon                               2-7    4-16

SOUTH    (CONF/ OVER)

1. Charleston                  8-2    13-8
2. Wofford                        6-3    14-8
3. Davidson                     5-4    10-11
4. Furman                        4-5    10-10
5. Citadel                          4-5    10-11
6. Georgia Southern     3-6    6-16

Quick Hits — Only half of the conference season has been played in the Southern Conference and we are starting to see which teams will contend for the championship come March. Four teams have clearly put themselves above the rest of the conference as WCU, Wofford, Charleston, and Appalachian State have emerged as the favorites to make the NCAA tournament. One of those teams should come away with the automatic bid. In the next couple of weeks the schedule puts most of the top teams against each other, providing for some very interesting scenarios.

Other Notes — It would take either Western Carolina or College of Charleston to both win out and make it to the SoCon finals for the league to earn two bids into the NCAA tournament. It doesn’t look like this is the year for the conference to have two teams for the first time.

Most Disappointing teams — Elon has only won two games in conference, but Samford has really been disappointing this season with its 3-6 record. The Bulldogs haven’t figured out how to win on the road.

Sizzling players — It’s all about the junior class. Seven juniors sit atop the statistics in PPG. Donald Sims from Appalachian State leads the SoCon with 19.4 PPG. Andrew Goudelock (CofC), Cameron Wells (Citadel), Noah Dahlman (Wofford), Amu Saaka (Furman), Willie Powers (Georgia Southern), and Jordan Miller (Furman) all averaging more than 14 PPG.

Upcoming Schedule/Important Match-ups:

• Sat. Jan 30 — Furman @ Wofford.  Spartanburg, S.C. 3 p.m. – Tough road contest for Furman.
• Thurs. Feb 4 — Chattanooga @ Charleston.  Charleston, S.C. 7 p.m. – Chattanooga looks to pull off another upset on the road.
• Sat. Feb 6 — Appalachian State @ WCU.  Cullowhee, N.C. 7 p.m. – The Catamounts look for revenge at home.
• Mon. Feb 8 — Citadel @ Charleston.  Charleston, S.C. 7 p.m. – In-state rivalry between the two schools.

Team Breakdowns:

• Appalachian State (12-8): On January 28th Appalachian State won its second straight game after defeating Samford 68-55 on the road. With that victory, the Mountaineers are now tied atop the North Division standings at 6-3. Just four days earlier, Appalachian State defeated Western Carolina 87-74 at home thanks to 28 points from Donald Sims. The upcoming game against the Catamounts could determine the North Division winner, with both tied at 6-3 at the moment.
• Chattanooga (12-10): The Mocs were on a four-game losing streak before defeating Western Carolina 80-67 on January 28th.  Ty Patterson led the way with 19 points in the victory and leads the team in scoring with 15.3 PPG. Recent road losses against Wofford (78-63) and Elon (83-80) have hurt Chattanooga in the standings. The Mocs still need to figure out how to get it done more often on the road.
• College of Charleston (13-8): The Cougars were riding high with a seven game winning streak until Monday the 25th when Western Carolina ended the streak with a 100-90 victory at home. College of Charleston couldn’t bounce back on January 28th, losing again on the road against Davidson, 86-71. It will be interesting to see how the Cougars respond to this recent two game losing streak, which dropped them to 8-2 in conference.
• Davidson (10-11): Two straight wins for the Wildcats puts their conference record at 5-4 heading into a key conference stretch. On January 23rd Davidson defeated Georgia Southern 91-87 on the road with J.P. Kuhlman scoring 18 points to pace the Wildcats.  Just five days later, Davidson overcame South Division leader Charleston, 86-61.  Will Archambault scored 24 points in the victory and grabbed five rebounds.
• Elon (4-16): Elon recently ended a nine-game losing streak after defeating Chattanooga 83-80 at home on January 23rd. Drew Spradlin scored a season-high 30 points in the victory to end the losing streak for the Phoenix.  On January 28th Elon lost on the road against UNC-Greensboro 62-55 with Spradlin scoring 18 points in the loss.  The Phoenix haven’t won two straight games all season and came up just short against the Spartans.
• Furman (10-10): The Paladins continue to impress at home with its 6-3 record but playing on the road has really hurt them. Furman’s record on the road is just 3-6; this will have to be rectified if they’re going to compete for the SoCon championship. On January 25th Furman defeated Samford 63-58 with Darryl Evans scoring 18 points in the victory.
• Georgia Southern (6-16): The Eagles have been playing better recently, winning two of its last three conference games. Both of those wins came at home where Georgia Southern is 6-4 overall. The Eagles defeated the Citadel 61-58 on January 28th to run its SoCon record to 3-6.
• Samford (9-12): The Bulldogs have lost two-straight games after losing to Appalachian State on January 28th, 68-55. Just three days earlier, Samford lost to Furman on the road, 63-58. Josh Davis leads the team in scoring at 11.7 PPG. The Bulldogs are just 3-6 on the road.
• The Citadel (10-11): The Citadel has one of the top players in the Southern Conference in Cameron Wells. Wells is averaging 18 PPG but doesn’t get a whole lot of  help around him; if he did, you’d wonder if Citadel would have better than a 4-5 conference record. The Citadel defeated Furman at home 70-60 on January 23rd, but lost on the road against Georgia Southern 61-58 on Thursday night. The Bulldogs have yet to win two-straight conference games this season and are trying to stay competitive in the South Division.
• UNC-Greensboro (5-16):  The Spartans have won two of their last three conference games to improve their record to 4-6 in conference. During UNC-Greensboro’s recent home stand, they defeated Chattanooga 62-49, and beat Elon 62-55 on Thursday night.
• Western Carolina (16-5): The Catamounts have been perfect at home (11-0) including a huge victory against the College of Charleston, 100-90, on January 25th. Western Carolina’s losses have all been away from the Ramsey Center. This is a cause of concern for WCU, having recently fallen into a tie for first place in the North Division with Appalachian State. Western cannot expect to lose all of its road games and still claim the SoCon championship.
• Wofford (14-8): The Terriers have been playing their best basketball of the season, led by junior Noah Dahlman. Dahlman has led the team in scoring in six straight games, and the team is 5-1 in those contests. Wofford’s only loss came against the College of Charleston 70-68 on the road. On January 25th the Terriers won 78-63 against Chattanooga; Dahlman led the way with 20 points, earning Wofford its sixth conference win.

Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Updated Standings:

Quick Hits – The Southern Conference is beginning to take shape after just two weeks into the “second half” of the 2009-10 college basketball season. The standings look awfully familiar to last season with the North led by a tie between Western Carolina (3-1) and Chattanooga (3-1). The South Division is being lead by the College of Charleston who has a perfect 5-0 conference record. The question that is starting to take shape around mid-majors is can the SoCon put two teams to the big dance this season? In my opinion, in order for the SoCon to have two invitations to March Madness the Catamounts would have to earn somewhere around 24-25 wins. The other half would be to have WCU face College of Charleston in the finals trying to convince the committee that wins on the road against Louisville & Bradley will be enough to get the Catamounts into the tournament if Charleston wins the SoCon tournament.

Other Notes — Don’t sleep on Wofford and Chattanooga who both have started to get hot in recent weeks. Wofford on a four-game winning streak and Chattanooga on a six-game winning streak.

Most Disappointing Teams — Now that Georgia Southern has gotten its first win in conference the Elon Phoenix are clearly the worst team in the Southern Conference so far this season. The Phoenix have been getting blown out almost every game and sit at just 3-13 overall.

Sizzling players — Appalachian State’s Donald Sims is playing his best basketball of the season after scoring 44 points against Davidson and has led the Mountaineers in scoring in ten games this season. Furman’s Amu Saaka has played well lately scoring 30+ in two straight games against conference opponents.

Important Upcoming Match-ups:

• Sat. Jan 16^th – Davidson@Wofford, Spartanburg, S.C. 7 p.m. – Tough road match-up for a battle of 3-2 records in conference.
• Wed Jan 20^th – WCU@Davidson, Davidson, N.C. 7 p.m. – Western travels to Davidson looking to earn a solid road conference win.
• Fri Jan 22^nd –  Wofford@College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C. 7 p.m. – Wofford looks to take down the top team in the Southern Conference on the road.
• Sat Jan 23^rd –  WCU@Appalachian State, Boone, N.C. 3 p.m. – Old time rivalry between two teams that really don’t like each other should present a solid game in Boone.

Team Breakdowns:

• Appalachian State (9-7): The Mountaineers have won two straight conference games earning them a 3-2 SoCon record. On January 9^th Appalachian State won on the road against Davidson, 78-68, thanks to a stellar performance from Donald Sims who scored 44 points in the victory. On January 13^th they defeated Elon 89-65 getting 20 points from Kellen Brand to lead the way.
• Chattanooga (11-6): The Mocs are riding a six-game winning streak and a 3-1 SoCon record after defeating UNC-Greensboro 58-45 on January 11^th thanks to 14 points from Ty Patterson. Chattanooga kept its winning streak in tact after Keegan Bell knocked down a huge three as time expired to shock the Citadel at home, 56-54, on January 14^th. Bell finished the game with 11 points to lead the Mocs.
• College of Charleston (10-6): The Cougars are also riding a nice four-game win streak thanks to two more conference victories this week. Two road wins for the College of Charleston improve its SoCon record to 5-0. The first was a win over the Citadel, 61-55, thanks to 22 points from Andrew Goudelock. The Cougars then beat Samford 78-67 on January 14^th with Goudelock leading the way with 23 points.
• Davidson (8-9): The Wildcats went 1-1 this past week losing at home to Appalachian State, 78-68, but earn a nice road win against Furman, 86-81, on January13^th. Will Archambault scored 15 points in the victory. The Wildcats are still trying to find out its identity in the Southern Conference looking for that signature win.
• Elon (3-13): The Phoenix are currently on a seven-game losing streak and only 1-4 in the SoCon. Elon was defeated by Wofford, 72-55, and lost to Appalachian State, 89-65, in the past week. Elon will be looking to break its losing streak in the upcoming weeks.
• Furman (8-8): The Paladins have lost two-straight conference games to drop to 2-3 in the SoCon. Furman was defeated on January 9^th against UNC-Greensboro, 88-78, but Amu Saaka scored 31 points in the loss. On January 13^th Furman lost to Davidson 86-81 with Saaka getting 34 points in that loss.
• Georgia Southern (4-14): The Eagles earned its first win in conference after defeating Western Carolina at home 81-76. Willie Powers lead the Eagles with 19 points in the victory. The win against the Catamounts stopped a nine-game losing streak for Georgia Southern. On January 14^th the Eagles lost to Wofford 71-57 on the road to fall to 1-4 in the SoCon.
• Samford (7-9): The Bulldogs went 1-1 last week earning a victory against Tennessee-Temple, 62-52, getting 19 points from Bryan Friday in the victory. On January 14^th lost at home, 78-67, to the College of Charleston falling to 1-3 in the SoCon.
• The Citadel (8-9): The Citadel lost two-straight conference games this past week losing to the College of Charleston at home, 61-55, and losing a heart-breaker against Chattanooga, 56-54, on a last second three pointer. The Citadel did get 28 points from Cameron Wells in the loss against the Mocs.
• UNC-Greensboro (3-14): The Spartans went 1-2 in the past week ending the week by losing to Western Carolina 79-69 to fall to 2-4 in the SoCon. The Spartans started their week off well, defeating Furman 88-78 at home but fell to Chattanooga on January 11^th 58-45 on the road getting 10 points by Brandon Evans in the loss.
• Western Carolina (13-3): The Catamounts started the week with a tough road loss against Georgia Southern, 81-76, with Kendall Russell scoring 18 points in the loss. Western Carolina bounced back with a nice home victory over UNC-Greensboro 79-69 on January 14^th.
• Wofford (11-7): Wofford has won four straight games and three straight conference games to run its SoCon record to 3-2. On January 14^th the Terriers defeated Georgia Southern 71-57 earning its eleventh win of the season. Two of the victories came on the road for Wofford at UNC-Greensboro on January 7^th (79-62) and at Elon on January 9^th (72-55).

Justin Glover is the RTC correspondent for the Southern Conference.

Updated Standings:

NORTH   (CONF/ OVERALL)

1. Western Carolina  2-0/12-2
2. Chattanooga  1-1/9-6
3. Appalachian State  1-2/7-7
4. Samford  1-2/6-8
5. Elon  1-2/3-11
6. UNC Greensboro  1-2/2-12

SOUTH   (CONF/ OVERALL)

1. Charleston  3-0/8-6
2. Furman  2-1/8-6
3. Citadel  2-1/8-7
4. Davidson  2-1/7-8
5. Wofford  1-2/9-7
6. Georgia Southern  0-3/3-13

Quick Hits – The Southern Conference has started the new year off right with a huge upset over #9 UNC thanks to the College of Charleston. There are currently six teams who have eight or more wins; Citadel (8-7), Furman (8-6), College of Charleston (8-6), Chattanooga (9-6), Western Carolina (12-2), and Wofford (9-7). Clearly the Catamounts and Cougars are playing the best basketball early in the conference season, but with so many games to come, who knows what will happen in the upcoming weeks.

Other Notes — Keep an eye on Samford and Wofford who are both at 1-2 in the conference but have played teams tough. Wofford owns victories over South Carolina and Georgia. Samford has won three out of its last four games to improve its record to 6-8.

Most Disappointing Teams — The UNC-Greensboro Spartans have really struggled of late losing eight straight games including a conference loss to Wofford. The Spartans are 1-2 in the SoCon but only 2-12 overall and sorely need to earn some more conference wins in the upcoming weeks. Georgia Southern continues to struggle losing nine straight games falling to 3-13 in the SoCon. The Eagles have lost all nine contests by ten points or more and are the only SoCon team without a win in conference so far.

Sizzling players — Junior Andrew Goudelock is making a solid case for SoCon Player of the Year after his performance against #9 UNC. Goudelock helped jump start a 12-1 run by the Cougars including a clutch buzzer-beating three point to send the game into overtime. Freshman Jake Cohen has been a solid surprise for Davidson who has averaged 13.4 PPG, which leads the team and is eighth in the SoCon.

Upcoming Important Match-ups:

• Sat. Jan. 9th — Charleston @ The Citadel, Charleston, S.C.  7 p.m. – Conference rivals meet down the road after the huge upset win over UNC.
• Sat. Jan. 9th —  Wofford @ Elon, Elon, SC 7 p.m. – Wofford looks to even its conference record against Elon.
• Wed. Jan. 13th — Davidson @ Furman, Greenville, SC 7 p.m. – Furman hosts Davidson in a huge conference match-up for the Paladins.
• Thurs. Jan. 14th —  Charleston @ Samford, Birmingham, AL 9 p.m. – Another key test for College of Charleston on the road against the Bulldogs.

Team Breakdowns:

Appalachian State (7-7): The Mountaineers enter the new year on a three-game losing streak that includes a home loss against the Citadel, 62-58 on January 6th. Donald Sims scored 22 points in the loss as Appy State fell to 1-2 in the SoCon. Need to be more consistent in every way on the road.

Chattanooga (9-6): The Mocs are playing their best basketball of the season riding a four-game winning streak with wins over Tennessee-Temple, Long Island, Eastern Kentucky, and a road conference win against Georgia Southern. Ty Patterson scored 25 points in the win versus Georgia Southern as Chattanooga improved to 1-1 in conference play.

College of Charleston (8-6): The Cougars are riding a two-game winning streak including one of the biggest wins for the Southern Conference against #9-ranked UNC 82-79 in overtime, in case you hadn’t heard. Charleston proved to a national audience (sort of…it was on ESPN-U) that it could play with high-level competition. Andrew Goudelock scored 24 points including that insanely long game-tying three to send it to overtime.

Davidson (7-8): The Wildcats have really improved over the past two weeks going 4-1 with its only loss in overtime against Cornell, 91-88. Davidson is riding a four-game win streak with wins over Hofstra, Penn, Massachusetts, and conference foe Samford. The Wildcats are 2-1 in conference play.

Elon (3-11): The Phoenix have not won a game since December 5th against Chattanooga, losing five straight games including a home loss against Furman, 53-48, to drop its conference record to 1-2.  Elon has struggled on the road and are hoping things will improve at home so they can end this losing streak.

Furman (8-6): The Paladins are playing steady basketball of late winning three straight games including a nice road victory against Elon on January 7th, 53-48. The other two wins during the streak were against Utah Valley 77-69 and Erskine 62-53. Furman improved its SoCon record to 2-1 heading into the bulk of the conference season.

Georgia Southern (3-13): The Eagles have the longest losing streak of all the SoCon teams at the moment riding a nine-game losing streak. The Eagles are 0-3 in conference and have dropped seven straight road games during the losing streak.

Samford (6-8): Samford is one of the more improved teams in the last couple of weeks, earning wins against Shorter College, Eastern Michigan, and Chicago State. The Bulldogs lost its second conference game on the road against Davidson on January 4th, 66-56. Bryan Friday scored 16 points in the loss.

The Citadel (8-7): The Citadel has won two-straight road games against Savannah State 54-47 and a conference win against Appalachian State, 62-58, on January 6th. Junior Cameron Wells scored 21 points in the victory to improve to 2-1 in SoCon play. The Bulldogs will play a couple of tough conference match-ups in the upcoming weeks.

UNC-Greensboro (2-11): After playing three-straight ACC opponents, the Spartans welcomed Wofford to town but lost the game, 79-62, to fall to 1-2 in the SoCon. The Spartans have lost eight straight games hoping to earn some conference wins to get back into the race.

Western Carolina (12-2): The Catamounts have had a terrific season to date with its only two losses against Texas and Clemson, and those were on the road. Since losing to Clemson, Western Carolina has won two straight, against UNC-Asheville (87-76) and then Berea College (124-53) on January 5th. WCU is ranked #7 in the mid-major College Insider poll.

Wofford (9-7): Wofford is coming off its first conference win, which was against UNC-Greensboro, 79-62, on January 7th. The Terriers have won four out of their last five games to improve their record to 9-7. Noah Dahlman continues to play very well, averaging 18 PPG, which is second in the SoCon in PPG.

Doing the Charleston.  Charleston 82, #9 North Carolina 79.  We tweeted this during the game, but it bears saying again here: America, if you didn’t know him before, may we introduce you to Andrew Goudelock.  He is a 6’2 junior guard from Lilburn, Georgia, and he plays for the Charleston Cougars.  No, that’s not a minor league baseball team.   Despite their 8-6 record, it’s a pretty good basketball team that knocked off the 9th-ranked Tar Heels on Monday night.  We single out Goudelock for three reasons.  First, when you put up 24 points on 10-20 shooting (including 4-8 from behind the three-point line) against North Carolina, you deserve a mention.  Second, we had him fourth on our pre-season all-Jeff Fryer team as one of the best three-point shooters in the nation and he made us look like freakin’ geniuses.  Lastly, it was his three from distance with two seconds left in regulation that forced overtime.  You have to see this shot.  Fading away, Ed Davis challenging, just short of 30 feet, so high we’re sure it showed up on NORAD radar.   All string.

In fact, when Carolina was up by 11 at the final TV timeout, this just looked like a moral victory for Charleston.  The lead was cut to eight, and Goudelock went on an 8-0 run by himself (including the long three) to close the scoring in regulation.  It wasn’t like he didn’t have any help, though.  Senior forward Casaan Breeden was impressive as well, adding 15/7/5 blocks, including one block of an Ed Davis shot late in regulation that must have sailed, as ESPNU color commentator Bob Wenzel said, “about 16 rows deep into the crowd.”  Indeed, every single one of Charleston’s starters scored at least 13 points (they only played eight players, and got only two points from their bench), also accounting for all 13 of their threes.  As for Carolina, they were guilty of poor game management late in both regulation and overtime.   They waited too long to foul when they needed to foul, fouled too quickly when they didn’t need to foul, got caught sleeping on an important in-bounds which led to an easy late bucket for Charleston, and missed a couple of close, easy shots in important situations despite owning the paint for most of the game.  Most intriguing, though, was the glaring disparity of threes and free throws between the two sides.  Charleston was 13-32 for 40.6%. UNC was ONE FOR SIX (16.7%).   Their streak of 421 straight games with a three-pointer was doomed until Larry Drew, II, hit one with a minute left in overtime.  From the free throw line, UNC shot 24-34 (70.6%), while Charleston was only three for six!  Charleston played a tough man defense for most of the game, but didn’t seem to be doing anything special to defend the three.   It looked like UNC just didn’t want to take them.  Unfortunately for them, 24 free throws simply cannot compete with 13 three pointers.   There’s no doubt Carolina will recover from this, since they were playing without Will Graves and Marcus Ginyard, and life in the ACC will teach the young Tar Heels all that they need to know.  They’ll be fine by March.  But that shouldn’t take away from Charleston’s victory.  Goudelock showed that he’s not just about the three, Charleston showed that they’re better than their 8-6 record (3-0 in the Southern Conference, by the way) and are brimming with new confidence — and the Charleston fans showed that they can rush a court with the best of them:

(Ed. note:  This RTC is approved under Provision IV of the Modified Forde Criteria.)

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