SoCon Notes Ahead of Tournament Championship Game With Mocs and Furman
(soconsports.com) – No. 1 seed Chattanooga is in the final of the Ingles SoCon Basketball Championship for the 19th time overall but the first since 2016, when it won its last title and 11th overall. The Mocs’ 2016 title came with via a 73-67 win over No. 2 seed ETSU. UTC was the No. 1 seed.
– No. 2 seed Furman is in the title game for the 11th time overall and first since 2015, when the Paladins made a run as the No. 10 seed before falling to Wofford 67-64 in the championship tilt. Furman is seeking its first tournament title and NCAA berth since 1980, when it topped Marshall in the SoCon title game, 80-62.
– After two years full of upsets at the SoCon tournament (between the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, there were nine upsets over 18 games), this year’s edition has nearly been chalk, with No. 9 seed The Citadel beating No. 8 seed ETSU in the first round the lone exception.
– Furman and Chattanooga will be meeting in the tournament title game for the first time. The Paladins played in the first three editions of the tournament (1921-23) when it was an invitational before joining the league in 1936 and participating in the tournament as a member for the first time in 1952. Chattanooga joined the SoCon in 1976 and participated in the tournament for the first time in 1978.
– The No. 1 seed in the SoCon tournament has reached the final every year since 2015, going 6-1 in that span. UNCG had the lone loss in 2017, to third-seeded ETSU.
– Since returning to traditional seeding in 2013 after moving out of divisional play, the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds have met in the title game just three times (2016, 2018, 2019), with the No. 1 seed winning each time.
– If Chattanooga tops Furman on Monday, it will mark the fourth straight season that the SoCon tournament champion will have swept the regular-season series and earned a third win against the same opponent in the title game.
– With Furman’s women’s team also reaching the SoCon title game this year, there have now been 20 instances in which a SoCon school put both of its basketball teams in the finals in the same season. The Paladin women fell 73-54 to Mercer on Sunday. Just once has a school put both teams in the finals and both lost – ETSU in 2018.
League strength
– Prior to last year’s COVID-affected season, the SoCon had produced four 20-game winners in each of the previous four seasons. Only UNCG (21-9) reached the benchmark in 2020-21, but three squads have done so this year in Chattanooga (26-7), Furman (22-11) and Samford (21-11). Wofford just missed at 19-13.
– Chattanooga has been ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Top 25 all season, with seven weeks spent in the top 10. Furman spent six weeks in the poll, peaking at No. 16, and Samford spent one week at No. 25.
– SoCon squads picked up six wins over Power 5 conference opponents this season, bookending the beginning and end of nonconference play. The Citadel opened the season with a 78-63 win at Pittsburgh on Nov. 9, followed by Furman beating Louisville 80-72 in overtime on Nov. 12. To cap nonconference play, Samford topped Mississippi on 75-73 on Dec. 21, with ETSU downing Georgia 86-84 the next day. In between, Samford dropped Oregon State 78-77 on Nov. 18 and Wofford edged Georgia 68-65 on Nov. 28.
– Ohio Valley Conference champion Murray State, now ranked No. 22 and sitting on 30 wins, has just two losses on the season – to then-No. 12 Auburn on Dec. 22 (71-58) and against ETSU on Nov. 22, 66-58, in the Naples Invitational, which the Bucs won.
NCAA Championship
– The SoCon has never received an at-large bid.
– The SoCon has had just four single-digit seeds since the NCAA began seeding the bracket in 1979: No. 6 Appalachian State in 1979, No. 9 Chattanooga in 1983, No. 8 College of Charleston in 1999 and No. 7 Wofford in 2019.
– Wofford’s 84-68 win over No. 10 seed Seton Hall in the Midwest Regional first round in 2019 was the SoCon’s first win in the tournament since 2008. It was the Terriers’ first in school history.
– Davidson famously made a run to the Elite Eight with Steph Curry on the roster in 2008. Chattanooga reached the Southeast Regional semifinals in 1997. VMI reached the regional final (what is now known as the Elite Eight) in 1976, as did Davidson in 1968 and 1969.
– In 1959, Jerry West’s West Virginia team played in the national title game, falling 71-70 to California.
