SoCon Tournament
A few notes and quotes going into this weekend’s Southern Conference Tournament in Charlotte:
Donald Sims on ASU’s mindset heading into the tournament – “You have to have that swagger and confidence going into the tournament. We have that now, but I don’t think we’re crossing that line of being too cocky. We know what we can do, we know we can play with anybody in this league, we just have to go out there and do it.”
Coach Buzz Peterson on the fact that the Mountaineers have eight of their last nine regular-season games – “Our guys really came together the last few weeks of the season. As a coach you like to see your team improve and I saw that from our guys. We had our roller coaster, up and down, early but when February rolled around we started playing better basketball.”
The Mountaineers took two days off after concluding the regular-season last Saturday. A week between games – the gap between the end of the regular-season and the start of the tournament – will offer some rest for all the teams but, for a team on a hot streak, there is a risk of breaking momentum.
Peterson said that he isn’t too concerned about going a week without a game, that the confidence his team has built is still intact.
“Confidence is the biggest thing,” Peterson said. “That’s where these guys have gotten a lot better. They now believe in themselves and their teammates, and they believe they can finish games.”
Sims is not only the Mountaineers’ leading scorer, but leads in minutes play with an average of 34.1 a game. He said that some rest was nice, but that he would have been ready to go regardless.
“I’ve always believed you rest in the offseason,” said Sims, the SoCon’s media player of the year. “Two days off were good, but we’re ready to get back at it.”
Peterson took away his team’s practice jerseys to motivate them earlier this season when things weren’t going so well. But he rewarded them before last Saturday’s final regular-season game for their late-season winning streak.
He acquired some unique shoes, a Jordan brand black-and-white model with a block A on them, and distributed them among players to show his appreciation for their hard work down the stretch.
The SoCon Tournament will be in one city but two sites this year. First-round and quarterfinal games will be played at venerable Bojangles Coliseum on Independence Boulevard in Charlotte and semifinals and championship game will be downtown at Time Warner Cable Arena, the home of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Coaches aren’t making an issue of a split site for the tournament.
“It’s the same for everybody,” Bobby Cremins of College of Charleston said.
“Everyone is on the same page,” Davidson’s Bob McKillop said. “Everyone is dealing with the same situation so whether it’s Bojangles or whether it’s Time Warner…”
Peterson hopes that the close proximity to Charlotte for ASU fans will be a boon to support for his team.
“We’re expecting a pretty good crowd,” Peterson said. “I’m sure the more you win the more people will come out. Hopefully we can get a good draw from our alumni base in that area.”
Peterson hasn’t been too enamored with the number of fans at ASU home games this season. Attendance for home games has averaged 2,007 in the 8,350-seat Holmes Center.
“I wish that I could get the students more involved, bigger crowds at the game,” Peterson said. “The place is so big and the weather hasn’t been great most of the time but we’re sitting there the No. 1 team in the North Division and I just feel like the attendance could have been a lot better.
“A lot of times when we travel off the mountain we get a lot of people to see us but during the weekdays and weekends I don’t feel like we get the support we need…. That’s something that has probably disappointed me more than anything, student attendance and turnout for the games.”
Peterson has an idea that might help.
“This may sound crazy but there is a 100-spot parking lot beside the arena and they need to make that a parking deck and build a walkway into the arena,” he said. “I think you could get students to drive down there and get more people come to the games that way.
“People have to park up the street a little bit and they don’t like that walk to the Holmes Center. I hear that all the time. I think that parking deck is something that has been talked about but right now we have to have the money to build it. I think that would solve a lot of problems.”
Wofford has never won a Southern Conference Tournament title in its eight seasons in the league, but probably has its best chance ever this season. The Terriers are 23-8 and won the South Division, and many consider them the favorite.
“As far as target on our back…Fantastic, give me that,” Coach Mike Young said. “This team has adhered to the thought of, ‘The heck with you hunting us, we’re going to hunt you. We’re going to come after you and give it our best shot.’ I don’t think this weekend will be any different.”
Sims thinks his ASU team, which is 20-11 and won the North Division, has a legitimate shot.
“We’ve done a lot, but we’re not done yet,” Sims said. “We still have goals to accomplish. To go to Charlotte and not come back with a championship will be disappointing.”
Players from past all-tournament teams (first and second team) in this year’s field: Bryan Friday of Samford (2009); Andrew Goudelock (2009), Jeremy Simmons (2009) and Tony White Jr. (2008 and 2009) of College of Charleston; and Sims (2009).
SoCon titles per team (year last won): Chattanooga 10 (2009), Davidson 9 (2008), Furman 6 (1980), Appalachian 2 (2000), College of Charleston 1 (1999), UNC Greensboro 1 (2001) and Western Carolina 1 (1996).
Top single-game performances this season: Points – Sims, 44 vs. Davidson; 3-pointers – Antonia Hanson (Georgia Southern) 9 vs. Elon; Rebounds – Ben Stywall (UNC Greensboro) 19 vs. Samford.