Both University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball teams could end up in ties for first place in the Southern Conference.
Such a scenario would yield different results for the two programs.
In the final week of the regular season, the UTC women hold a one-half game lead over Mercer in the SoCon standings. The Mocs still have a game against rival East Tennessee State on Saturday, while the Bears still have home games against Wofford and Furman this weekend.
If there is a tie in the standings, the criteria would go to how both teams fared against the third-place team – in this case, Samford, which was swept by the Bears but split against the Mocs.
Not that anybody in a UTC jersey cares much about seeding at this point. The Mocs are midway through a week to prepare for the game against ETSU, and the last time that was the case, they showcased some additional depth and some new wrinkles. They haven’t lost since falling at Samford on Jan. 23.
“We have stuff to take care of this week,” UTC coach Jim Foster said. “Get a little better. The last time we had a bye week we put some new stuff in and we’ll probably do that this week, work on it diligently and then come out from there.”
The UTC men hold a one-game lead over ETSU and two-game leads over Wofford and Furman. The Mocs still have two games left to play, and as long as they earn a split of a home game on Saturday against Samford and the season finale at Virginia Military Institute, they’ll be the top seed.
UTC swept ETSU and Wofford and split with Furman, so tiebreaker scenarios would favor the Mocs.
The women’s conference tournament begins March 3 at the Civic Center in Asheville, N.C.; the men start on March 4. Should the Mocs claim the regular-season men’s title, they wouldn’t play until March 5.
Alford an honoree
UTC’s Queen Alford and Western Carolina’s Torrion Brummitt were named SoCon players of the week by the league office on Tuesday.
Alford averaged 21 points and 7.5 rebounds as the UTC women moved into first place in the SoCon with wins over Mercer and Samford. She is the team’s leading scorer in conference games at 15.3 points per game, with 24 points in the Mocs’ 67-45 win over then-league leader Mercer.
Brummitt averaged a double-double with 19.5 points and 11 rebounds as the Catamounts won at Mercer and at The Citadel. WCU has become one of the league’s hottest teams, with five wins in its last six games.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.