Thursday, March 01, 2007

Thoughts from Thursday's SoCon tourney action

-While there still might be issues about attendance in this Charleston conference tournament, the local media has embraced it in a great way. The local paper has put a lot of energy behind their coverage of this tournament, and Charleston’s Comcast Channel 2 has bought the feed for tomorrow’s semifinal games from ESPN FullCourt. That channel had special tournament coverage tonight. Even the Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler is down here covering this baby!

-It has been great to see so many Davidson employees in the North Charleston Coliseum today. However, I did hear reports from Davidson that many students were at the Baker Ticket office today looking for ways to get tickets. No one there seemed to have Jamie Hendricks’ cell phone number. The athletic department needs to do a little bit of a better job covering the home front.

-If Davidson’s quarterfinal game against Chattanooga was turned into a battle of the bands, the Wildcats would have been blown out. The Mocs’ band was exceptional as always. I love their rendition of the theme of SportsCenter.

-This year’s tournament could sport one of the biggest mid-major games of the season if ASU and Davidson meet in the finals. One more day will tell if the local sports community will come out and embrace some of the best Southern basketball outside of the ACC. If the College of Charleston isn't playing, local fans often don't put forth the effort to come out and watch. Davidson has reportedly sold their allotment of tickets, so here’s hoping that the state of NC will bring its fan base down to SC.

-Starting this year, the women’s side of the tournament is being hosted in the North Charleston Coliseum in the morning. Although these games started on Tuesday and are being played in the early morning, I think that this change is a good thing. Last year, there seemed to be no communication between McAlister Field House and the Coliseum about game results, and many of the men’s fans are also the primary women’s fans. It is really bad to have to split them up in the early rounds.

-There have been no upsets of note in this tournament so far. In their tourney preview insert, the local paper had a picture of roulette wheel, saying that the championship was anyone’s to win. So far, it really isn’t anyone’s to win. You can only say that a league has parity when any given team can beat anyone else on a given night. I really just don’t believe that applies to Davidson, ASU, CofC in the men’s bracket or Chattanooga and WCU in the women’s bracket. We will have one of the conference’s best teams represent it in the NCAA tournament.

-For those of you who attended today’s games, feel free to send or post any comments that you might have. Thank you to everyone reading the blog today. Your readership is a testament to the electricity and excitement of this Davidson basketball team.

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