The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team began its Southern Conference tournament week with a tradition.
The tradition, at least when the tournament is played in McKenzie Arena, is a 7:30 a.m. practice in the cold, old gym of Arts & Sciences, where the Mocs concentrated for an hour on nothing but defense.
"I knew it was coming," point guard Keegan Bell said. "I remember it from my sit-out year, and we didn't do it last year. I know Coach [John Shulman] is a superstitious guy, and I knew a CSAS practice was coming.
"I don't know if I can tell you our secret, but I can tell you that I don't know if a ball was out."
UTC is 2-0 in tournament weeks that begin with a defensive practice at CSAS. The other correlation is that UTC is 6-0 in the two years the SoCon tournament has been played in McKenzie Arena.
Simmons not coming
College of Charleston center Jeremy Simmons has not played since doctors found a blood clot in his arm early in February. He is scheduled to undergo another medical procedure this morning and is not expected to travel with the Cougars to the SoCon tournament.
"We dedicated the rest of our regular season to Jeremy, and the rest of the guys stepped up," Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. "We had to refocus. Everybody realized our situation and they did something about it."
Freshman Brent Wiedeman has started in Simmons' place, and freshman James Carolton has been the first post player off the bench during Simmons' absence.
Spring break bust
Western Carolina University is on spring break this week.
That's cool for the general student body - party!
But it has left the basketball teams in Cullowhee, N.C., with little to do this week and no promise of sun and fun in the near future.
"That's the way it's worked out," men's coach Larry Hunter said. "Our guys aren't real happy about it. They miss spring break, they miss Christmas break and they miss Thanksgiving break.
"That's the life of a college basketball player."
No clear favorite
WCU and Charleston earned the top seeds for the men's tournament, but no coach is convinced the tournament will be chalk - where all the top seeds advance. Veteran coaches, and the newcomers as well, expressed that anybody - even a four-day team - could win it this year.
"It's clearly one of the greatest fields in my time at Davidson," said Wildcats coach Bob McKillop. "It's going to be a great experience for the fans and players."