John Shulman doesn’t know which team his Mocs will face Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
It will be Elon or Wofford, who will square off Friday at 7 p.m. in McKenzie Arena.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach isn’t thrilled with either scenario.
“The good thing is that they both whipped our tails,” Shulman said. “So it will be easier to get our kids mentally prepared to play one of those two.
“Who do I want to play? Neither.”
The Mocs split their games with both teams. Wofford won in Chattanooga in a game the Mocs should have won, but the Mocs won in Spartanburg when the Terriers should have won. Elon split the UTC series with each team winning at home.
“You don’t want to play anybody when it’s do-or-die,” Shulman said. “But you have to earn your way to the Big Dance.”
Divisional divide
UTC and Western Carolina earned the two first-round byes from the North Division with 11-9 league records, while the College of Charleston at 15-5 and Wofford at 12-8 from the South must play in the opening round.
“A year ago we would have got a bye (when they were awarded regardless of division), but we could be on the other side of the coin in a year or two,” Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. “That’s the way it is and that’s the rules. I really don’t have a problem with it.”
Nor does Wofford coach Mike Young.
“It doesn’t affect me in any way, shape or form,” Young said. “I am a proponent of divisions. Next year, Chattanooga, Western and Samford could have the best teams and we’d have a similar situation.
“I think those things have a way of ironing themselves out.”
Feeling good
The SoCon coaches and media association will release their lists of all-conference awards later this week. Here are my selections:
Player of the year: Stephen Curry, Davidson.
First team: Curry; Noah Dahlman, Wofford; Nicchaeus Doaks, UTC; Andrew Goudelock, Charleston; Demetrius Nelson, The Citadel.
Second team: Andrew Lovedale, Davidson; Stephen McDowell, UTC; Harouna Mutombo, Western Carolina; Junior Salters, Wofford; Cameron Wells, Citadel.
Coach of the year: Ed Conroy, The Citadel.
Freshman of the year: Harouna Mutombo, Western Carolina.
— David Uchiyama
Wofford has never finished with a winning SoCon record until this season, when the Terriers finished 12-8. And this is the first time Young has thought his team had a chance at winning the tournament.
“If we had advanced to the second or third round before, then wow, we caught lightning in a bottle and we were lucky,” Young said. “We could get beat in the first round and drive back down I-75.
“But I’ve never felt as good about both ends of the floor, who we are and where we are.”
Day trip
Samford is scheduled for an early-morning shoot-around Thursday but doesn’t tip off against Furman until about 9:30 p.m. Friday. The Bulldogs will pass on the practice and drive to Chattanooga from Birmingham after their classes Friday morning.
“If we go to our shoot-around, then what do you do? Sit in the hotel and go crazy,” Samford coach Jimmy Tillette said. “When we played at Chattanooga, we did our walk-through here and drove up. Given the rest of the travel we have, it’s not Herculean.”
Tillete just hopes he gets at least one night of sleep in Chattanooga.
Curry wins again
Davidson junior guard Stephen Curry was named player of the week for the eighth time this season Tuesday. He averaged 26.7 points and 5.3 assists in the Wildcats’ three wins last week.
