SoCon improvement

[Paul C]

SoCon is now 10th ranked conference per Pomeroy. Above the A10, Mtn West, Ivy, MVC and Sun Belt....

[apaladin]

SoCon is now 10th ranked conference per Pomeroy. Above the A10, Mtn West, Ivy, MVC and Sun Belt....

Good for the league, not so good for the Paladins when we have a pretty good team and would be one of the favorites heading to Asheville most years.

[dinhead]

There was a lot of gnashing of teeth and foaming at the mouth when Davidson, CoC, Elon, App and GSU left the SoCon to be replaced by ETSU, Mercer and VMI.

Yes, it clearly hurt in football but the surprising thing is how the SoCon has risen in basketball since this afforementioned teams stopped dragging us down.

Using KenPom as a barometer, here is the SoCon over that last 5 years with the former members compared to the 5 years since.



So today, per Pomeroy we are ranked 14th of all 32 D1 conferences. Looking at SoCon ranking history....

2010 w Dav and CoC etc - 19
2011 w Dav and CoC etc - 20
2012 w Dav and CoC etc - 26
2013 w Dav and CoC etc - 28
2014 w Dav/GSU/App - 30
2015 current lineup - 25
2016 current lineup - 19
2017 current lineup - 14
2018 current lineup - 22
2019* current lineup - 14

Avg ranking in 5 years w Dav, CoC, App, Elon, GSU = 22.6

Avg ranking in the 5 years since they left = 18.8

So at least from a basketball perspective, it's been a great move.

Only two SoCon wins this year against major colleges: Furman over Villanova and Woffy over USC.

However the SoCon is 27-0 against the following teams:
Hiwassee (4)
Kentucky Christian (2)
Cumberland (2)
Johnson and Wales (2)
Carver (2)
Bob Jones
North Greenville
Southern Weslyan
Washington College
Goucher
Mars Hill
Bryan
Piedmont
Brewton-Parker
Greensboro College
Mid-Atlantic Christian
Johnson (no Wales)
Reinhardt
Miles
Alabama A&M

That's 1/3 of all SoCon non-conference wins against mostly D-3, NAIA D-2 and unaffiliated Christian conference schools. We might as well go ahead and invite Hiwassee to join the conference they play almost half as many SoCon road games (4) as the teams in the conference.

For the SoCon to ever be taken seriously this has got to stop. Only the weakest conferences in the country (Big South, MEAC, SWAC etc.) feed at this trough. Lessor conferences like the Patriot and Northeast prohibit their teams from playing any non D-1 games and the SoCon needs to do the same.

[Fessor]

Sir, Are you questioning the integrity of yet another 20 win season that has been delivered unto of our beloved institution by Saint BR? How dare you! You, sir, certainly don't understand or abide by the rules of decent society and you certainly don't love Furman. You are a ruffian and a scoundrel. Amen.

[cavedweller2]

I agree. I haven’t been able to enjoy the success of the program as opposed to last few decades because the schedules have been tainted.

[Furmanoid]

D2s can be really good but not he ones you mention. Actually I’d love to see us play nearby top level D2s like Augusta and USC-Aiken. But we avoid them and that might be smart. Augusta beat USC Cola this year in exhibition (Coach Martin complained that they tried too hard). I think both teams would be in the middle of the SoCon but can’t tell for sure. Played a thriller last night. But then again I’m clueless and need a brain scan according to true Furman fans.

[MidlandsPaladin]

D2s can be really good but not he ones you mention. Actually I’d love to see us play nearby top level D2s like Augusta and USC-Aiken. But we avoid them and that might be smart. Augusta beat USC Cola this year in exhibition (Coach Martin complained that they tried too hard). I think both teams would be in the middle of the SoCon but can’t tell for sure. Played a thriller last night. But then again I’m clueless and need a brain scan according to true Furman fans.

One could argue that no D2 is going to improve our (or the SoCon's) strength of schedule.

One could also argue if you are going to bother scheduling a D2, why schedule a good one and risk a loss.

[Jasper]

Sir, Are you questioning the integrity of yet another 20 win season that has been delivered unto of our beloved institution by Saint BR? How dare you! You, sir, certainly don't understand or abide by the rules of decent society and you certainly don't love Furman. You are a ruffian and a scoundrel. Amen.

You forgot TRAITOR.

[Fessor]

Sir, Are you questioning the integrity of yet another 20 win season that has been delivered unto of our beloved institution by Saint BR? How dare you! You, sir, certainly don't understand or abide by the rules of decent society and you certainly don't love Furman. You are a ruffian and a scoundrel. Amen.

You forgot TRAITOR.

Yes, worse than Yankees in Tara, there are traitors in the UFFP.

[Jasper]

Sir, Are you questioning the integrity of yet another 20 win season that has been delivered unto of our beloved institution by Saint BR? How dare you! You, sir, certainly don't understand or abide by the rules of decent society and you certainly don't love Furman. You are a ruffian and a scoundrel. Amen.

You forgot TRAITOR.

Yes, worse than Yankees in Tara, there are traitors in the UFFP.

AUX BARRICADES

[Paul C]

There was a lot of gnashing of teeth and foaming at the mouth when Davidson, CoC, Elon, App and GSU left the SoCon to be replaced by ETSU, Mercer and VMI.

Yes, it clearly hurt in football but the surprising thing is how the SoCon has risen in basketball since this afforementioned teams stopped dragging us down.

Using KenPom as a barometer, here is the SoCon over that last 5 years with the former members compared to the 5 years since.



So today, per Pomeroy we are ranked 14th of all 32 D1 conferences. Looking at SoCon ranking history....

2010 w Dav and CoC etc - 19
2011 w Dav and CoC etc - 20
2012 w Dav and CoC etc - 26
2013 w Dav and CoC etc - 28
2014 w Dav/GSU/App - 30
2015 current lineup - 25
2016 current lineup - 19
2017 current lineup - 14
2018 current lineup - 22
2019* current lineup - 14

Avg ranking in 5 years w Dav, CoC, App, Elon, GSU = 22.6

Avg ranking in the 5 years since they left = 18.8

So at least from a basketball perspective, it's been a great move.

Only two SoCon wins this year against major colleges: Furman over Villanova and Woffy over USC.

However the SoCon is 27-0 against the following teams:
Hiwassee (4)
Kentucky Christian (2)
Cumberland (2)
Johnson and Wales (2)
Carver (2)
Bob Jones
North Greenville
Southern Weslyan
Washington College
Goucher
Mars Hill
Bryan
Piedmont
Brewton-Parker
Greensboro College
Mid-Atlantic Christian
Johnson (no Wales)
Reinhardt
Miles
Alabama A&M

That's 1/3 of all SoCon non-conference wins against mostly D-3, NAIA D-2 and unaffiliated Christian conference schools. We might as well go ahead and invite Hiwassee to join the conference they play almost half as many SoCon road games (4) as the teams in the conference.

For the SoCon to ever be taken seriously this has got to stop. Only the weakest conferences in the country (Big South, MEAC, SWAC etc.) feed at this trough. Lessor conferences like the Patriot and Northeast prohibit their teams from playing any non D-1 games and the SoCon needs to do the same.

Yet despite all that the SoCon is the 10th best of the 32 D1 conferences by objective methodology

[tya1]

The Patriot League is #23 and the Northeast is #31 of 32 D1 leagues in the latest Sagarin ratings.

Also, both of those leagues are in the northeast, where there are many lower rated D1 opponents in close proximity. The distances are greater in this part of the country. We played two Greenville County non D1 schools and one school that isn't much farther away.