Some big-name college basketball teams have yet to play a game outside their home arenas, but Southern Conference squads will step into conference play tonight and through the weekend.
A few other conference games are sprinkled through the rest of the month before the SoCon slate begins in earnest on Jan. 3.
Furman opens the SoCon season tonight with a game against Elon.
By Sunday morning, all SoCon teams will have played two of their 18 conference games.
“A year ago, we were 2-0 against the SEC but 0-2 in our own league,” said Mike Young, coach of defending champion Wofford. “I refuse to put a whole lot of stock in whether we win these two or lose these two. This is a long deal, with a lot of peaks and valleys.”
The season is especially long for Young. He watches his team and its opponents during the day and other teams when he leaves the fieldhouse and heads home.
“I’ve got no life,” he joked. “Through a lot of games, I’ve seen one team that I thought was great – Duke – and another that’s really good in Ohio State.
“Relative to all levels, I think all of us are a work in progress here during the first week of December.”
Young said he’s OK with the fact his Terriers are still learning and improving.
“I think we’re going to be good at some time,” he said. “I’d have greater concerns if we came out of the block really fast.”
Davidson duo develop
Davidson traveled to one of the sweetest preseason tournaments in all of college basketball – the Puerto Rico Tipoff.
The Wildcats earned wins over Nebraska and Western Kentucky during their trip to San Juan.
“We’ve had a great laboratory,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “We’ve traveled quite a bit, we’ve played outstanding teams and learned a lot about ourselves.”
Davidson’s Jake Cohen and J.P. Kuhlman were named to the SoCon all-freshman team last year but have had slow starts.
“They didn’t come out of the gate blazing,” McKillop said. “But they’ve steadied themselves and showing the progress we expect.”
Weekly honor to Wells
The Citadel guard Cameron Wells was named SoCon player of the week Tuesday. He averaged 23.5 points per game as the Bulldogs split games against High Point and Coastal Carolina.