Chattanooga picked to win the SoCon by league’s coaches
GREENVILLE, S.C.—SoCon defending
regular-season and National Invitational Tournament (NIT) champion Chattanooga
(29-9, 15-3) was selected to repeat as the SoCon champion, according to the
league’s head coaches.
The Mocs, who won the regular-season
title, but lost 80-77 in the tournament semifinals to Furman, went on to
qualify and win the NIT and would become the first SoCon team in league history to win an NCAA sanctioned tournament.
Chattanooga comes off a season in which
it won a school-record 29 games under the direction of head coach Dan Earl, who
was in his third season leading the Mocs program. The Mocs had three players
picked as a part of the preseason All-SoCon team, with Trevecca Nazarene
graduate transfer Jikari Johnson, SEMO graduate transfer Terry Washington Jr., and
returning sophomore center Collin Mullholland all returning to the fold, as the
Mocs look to defend their regular-season title, as well as claim the program’s second
title in a four-year span.
Chattanooga will open its 2025-26 season
on Nov. 3, taking on NAIA Union Commonwealth. Some key matchups to circle your
calendar for when it comes to Mocs basketball comes on Nov. 8, when the Mocs
face off against Mountain West member UNLV, while taking on Auburn, who will be
under the direction of first-year head coach Stephen Pearl on Dec. 13. The Mocs
will look to replace their top five scorers from a year ago, and four of five
starters from a year ago.
The Mocs totaled 77 total points and five first-place votes to edge out Furman (25-10, 11-7/5th in SoCon in 2024-25) for the top spot in the preseason poll. Bob Richey heads into his ninth season at the helm in Greenville at the helm, as well as his 15th season as a part of the Paladin program, which has seen Furman him be a part of 306 total wins as both an assistant and head coach, while having claimed 181 of those wins as a head coach since taking over the head coaching responsibilities in 2017-18.
The sharp-shooting guard duo connected on
207 of the team's league-leading 380 triples last season, or just over half the
team's three-point field goals, connecting on a combined 54.4% of Furman's made
three-pointers.
The Paladins finished the season ranking
sixth in the country in threes made-per-game (10.9) and finished the 2025 SoCon
Tournament by making 42 triples in three games, which was just one off
Chattanooga's tournament record of 43 made threes in the 2023 edition, which it
did over the course of four games.
Furman, however, returns eight
letterwinners and two starters, which is second to only VMI in terms of returnees coming
back from last season. Both forward Cooper Bowser and guard Tom House, who were
a big part of Furman’s late-season run during the stretch of the regular-season,
as well as in the tournament, both return and have been named to the preseason
All-SoCon team.
The Paladins will re-open the newly
renovated Timmons Arena on Oct. 26, as the facility underwent a 40-million
dollar upgrade last season when Furman hosts a charity exhibition against SEC power
Alabama. It will mark the only non-conference power conference opponent
the Paladins will face during the 2025-26 regular season, however, there are some good
games during the non-conference slate, nonetheless.
The Paladins will take part in the
Terry’s Chocolate Challenge in late November, taking Richmond on Thanksgiving
Day, and either Illinois State or Charlotte a couple of days later. The
Paladins open the season on Nov. 3 against Big South and mid-major powerhouse
High Point, as a part of the Field of 68’s tip-off marathon at the Rock Hill
Events Center.
Samford (23-11, 12-6/4TH in
SoCon in 2024-25) enters the season with a new head coach for the first time in
five years, as the Bulldogs were one of two programs to make a coaching change
in the league.
After winning 99 games and taking the
Bulldogs to the 2024 NCAA Tournament and ’25 NIT, Bucky McMillan took his
‘ball’ to College Station, where he takes over as the newest head coach at
Texas A&M, elevating the coaching job to a whole new level.
When McMillan took over as head coach of
the Bulldogs’ program prior to the 2020-21 season, Samford was predicted to
finish eighth in the 10-team league. Five years later, Samford was picked to
finish third. Part of that elevated position in the preseason league poll is
what McMillan did to improve Samford basketball, while the other part of it is
who Director of Athletics Martin Newton hired as McMillan’s replacement, in
Lennie Acuff.
Acuff has been a proven winner at every
level, and with over 400 wins at the NCAA Division II as head coach at
Alabama-Huntsville, and level and fresh off leading Lipscomb to the 2025 NCAA
Tournament, he now returns to his home state of Alabama, where it will give him
a chance to close out his stellar coaching career coaching among friends and
family, as he enters the twilight stage of his coaching career. Acuff has a
total of 711 career wins.
Bulldogs Director of Athletics Martin
Newton already had his targets in line to replace McMillan, and for many, it
almost seemed like a no-brainer to bring Lennie Acuff back to his home state to
enjoy the twilight of his career and ride off into the sunset, while doing so
in front of friends and family.
It's a case of been there and done that
for Acuff, as he's coached and won at pretty much every level of basketball,
and so by Samford hiring the 60-year-old Acuff away from Lipscomb off an NCAA
Tournament bid, it was the kind of image change that was both needed and
unexpected. It allowed Acuff to one day at some point in the next decade or so,
to retire on his own terms, and being able to do so in his home state in front
of friends and family was a huge luxury and an opportunity too good to pass up.
With Acuff's son Will Acuff joining the
staff NCAA Division II Montevallo, it now will give the elder Acuff to perhaps
ensure his son can step right into some position, and even perhaps at Samford,
when he calls it a career.
After all, that's exactly what Auburn
head coach Bruce Pearl did recently by stepping down on the first day of
official college hoops practice, retiring suddenly and ensuring his son--Steven
Earl--would be given a shot to coach the Tigers in 2025-26. For now, Will Acuff
will learn the ropes under his father as an assistant and Director of Player
Development under his father.
Acuff is lauded in coaching circles, and
Furman head coach Bob Richey said no one coach had meant as much to his career
success, as Acuff had, and that Richey considers Acuff as the coach he learned
as much as any about being a head coach and his offensive philosophy.
The Bulldogs received 62 total points,
while also having two players selected to the league’s preseason all-conference
team, in Florida Southern transfer guard Jadin Booth and junior Lipscomb
transfer forward Dylan Faulkner.
The 6-10 Faulkner continues to develop as
a player, and he comes off an injury-shortened campaign, which saw him average
10.5 PPG and 5.3 RPG, while shooting an outstanding 60.8% from the field,
starting 13 of the 15 games he logged action in a year ago for the Bulldogs.
Booth is a 6-2 guard that comes to
Samford's program out of Florida Southern and will have one year of eligibility
remaining. During his time for Florida Southern, Booth was a prolific scorer
for the Mocs and ended the 2024-25 season averaging 21.5 PPG, 5.3 APG and 4.7
RPG. He was a highly sought after point guard from the transfer portal, with
teams like Minnesota, Creighton, Ole Miss, USF and conference rival Mercer all
seeking the services of Booth.
He will be an immediate impact player for
Samford and is one of the top incoming players from the transfer portal from
the Southern Conference. As a junior in 2022-23, Booth put up similar numbers,
as he garnered some NCAA Division II All-America honors after averaging 22 PPG,
4.1 APG and 4.4 RPG.
He will be in line to replace Rylan
Jones, who was outstanding leading the Bulldogs at the point guard each of the
past two seasons. Booth looks to join former Furman standout Nick Anderson
(Barry University) as the latest guard to come to the SoCon from the Sunshine
State Conference to the SoCon and blow up the league as an all-conference
talent.
Samford will open the 2025-26 season on
Nov. 3 at Tulane and have intriguing non-conference battles at Arkansas (Nov.
14) and at VCU (Dec. 5).
 |
| Rocco Miller (pictured right) of The Bracketeer interviews ETSU head coach Brooks Savage (pictured left) at 2025-26 SoCon Media Tip-off |
Catch all of Rocco's Bracketology and other college basketball content at the link below.
Sitting just one point behind Samford in
the preseason coaches poll is East Tennessee State (19-13, 12-6/3rd
in SoCon in 2025-26), which heads into its third season under head coach Brooks
Savage with a pair of 19-win seasons and looking for a return to the NCAA
Tournament for the first time since 2017, and its first 20-win season since
that historic 30-win campaign back in 2019-20 before the NCAA Tournament was
canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bucs collected 61 points and had one
player, in North Florida transfer and sharp-shooting guard Jaylen Smith, who transferred in from North Florida, named to the preseason all-conference team.
The Ocoee, FL., native finished out his sophomore season with the Ospreys in strong fashion, averaging 11.4 PPG, 5.7 APG, and 1.3 SPG, as he was able to be a factor on both ends for the Ospreys last season.
Smith finished out his sophomore campaign leading the Atlantic Sun in total assists (181), ranking as the sixth-most in a single-season in program history, while he totaled 259 total assists in just two seasons with the Ospreys rank sixth in program history overall.
During his final season with the Ospreys, Smith connected on 34.9% (62-of-179) from three-point land. North Florida's 409 made three-point field goals this past season led the nation, which was just ahead of Cal Poly's 403 made triples. Smith's solid shooting touch from long-range will also be beneficial to the Bucs, who showed awesome improvement as a team from the perimeter last season, as opposed to Savage's rookie season as head coach in the 2023-24 season.
Smith was an A-Sun All-Freshman selection two years ago, averaging 6.5 PPG , 2.4 APG and 1.4 APG, starting 16 games for the Ospreys during the 2023-24 campaign. All told, in two seasons as the primary starter for UNF at point guard, Smith averaged 8.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG and 4.0 APG, including a 1.98 assist-to-turnover ratio and 102 made threes, which included a 32% career clip from long-range.
All told, the Bucs must replace nine of
their top 12 producers from a year ago, with guards Maki Johnson, Allen
Strothers and Gabe Sisk, who form a core group that veteran leadership and
program equity that has been loyal to Savage.
The 2024-25 SoCon Player of the Year Quimari
Peterson opted to make the move to the power conference level and Washington
Huskies to play his final season of college basketball, while the Bucs’ other
first-team all-league pick, Jaden Seymour, is out of eligibility. The 2024-25
SoCon Defensive Player of the Year Karon Boyd moved on to Wichita State to
finish out his career following the 2024-25 season.
On Oct. 29, ETSU will welcome back former
head coach and Savage’s mentor Steve Forbes back to Johnson City for a charity
exhibition, as the Bucs will face off against ACC foe Wake Forest. The game
will give Bucs fans both a chance to celebrate Forbes’ accomplishments over
five seasons, which saw the Bucs win 130 games and win a pair of SoCon titles
from 2015-2020. It will also be a nice test for his team, which once again has
high expectations and an unwavering standard of success heading into a new
hoops season.
UNC Greensboro (20-12, 13-5/2nd
in SoCon) has the second-most wins (218) and most SoCon wins (128) over the
past decade, and head coach Mike Jones now heads into his fifth season having
won 78 of those games, including winning 20 or more in each of the past three
seasons, however, the one thing that has eluded Jones and the Spartans is
success in the postseason tournament, as UNCG fell to 0-4 in the SoCon
Tournament last March with a 64-57 loss to VMI.
The Spartans, which collected 43 points
and were selected 5th in the preseason poll, must replace its top 10
scorers from a year ago due to graduation and the transfer portal, and Jones
and staff will face their biggest challenge yet in five seasons at the helm in
the Gate City.
VMI (15-19, 8-10 SoCon/7th in
SoCon), which ended UNCG’s season abruptly in Asheville, was the SoCon’s Cinderella
team last March, and were sitting in that dangerous No. 7 spot. The Keydets
were selected sixth with 41 points heading into the season.
Head coach Andrew Wilson has finally
settled into his position as head coach, and the confidence and comfort level were
both notably different during this season’s media day, and no team returns more
in the league than the Keydets, which welcomes the return of nine of their top
10 players from a year ago.
Included in that top 10 returning players
from a year ago is the league’s preseason Player of the Year, in Rickey Bradley
Jr., who became the first Keydets player selected as a preseason player of the year
since Sam Okoye was chosen as the 2012-13 preseason Big South Player of the Year.
Bradley is also the first player to be named SoCon Player of the Year (preseason
or postseason) since VMI returned to the league as an official member in the 2014-15
season, as well as the first since Jason Conley garnered co-SoCon Postseason Player
of the Year honors in 2000-01 after posting a nation-leading 29.3 PPG scoring average
as a freshman.
Bradley Jr., who returned to VMI after
spending his sophomore season at Georgia State, had a big return to the league
in 2024-25 after ranking fifth in the league in scoring at 16.3 PPG a year ago,
Bradley Jr. ranks as the top returning scorer in the league heading into the
2025-26 season.
With nine of its top 10 players back this
season, the Keydets return to the second-highest production in the country, with
only Purdue returning more.
Highlighting VMI’s 2025-26 schedule is an
early trip to SEC country, facing off a Missouri (Nov. 9), and will take on Buffalo
(Nov. 24) and Bowling Green (Nov. 25) as a part of the Sketchers Fort Myers
Tip-off.
Picked to finish in the No. 7 spot was Western
Carolina (8-22, 4-14/9th in SoCon in 2024-25), who is under the leadership
of second-year head coach Tim Craft, collected 32 points and it was a team that
improved significantly throughout the 2024-25 season.
The Catamounts won just eight games, but
if you saw the WCU play Milligan in its last non-conference game in comparison
to their mid-February win over East Tennessee State, the improvement was
notable.
A big part of that improvement was the offensive
explosion that preseason All-SoCon selection Marcus Kell provided over the
final month of the season.
All told, Kell's 352 points scored during
the 2024-25 campaign ranked second to only that of senior forward Bernard
Pelote, who finished out his final season in the purple and gold averaging 14.2
PPG and scored a total of 426 points. Kell’s 44 triples also ranked him fourth
on the team in that category, while his 38% efficiency clip from long-range led
the team.
Much like the 2024-25 season, when the Catamounts
played Top 10 foes, in No. 1 Tennessee and No. 10 Marquette, Craft’s squad once
again faces a tough non-conference slate. The Catamounts will play four
high-major foes, starting off the season against a couple of those, with trips
to Cincinnati (Nov. 3) and Duke (Nov. 8), while facing Virginia Tech (Dec. 11)
and Georgia (Dec. 18) in their final two non-conference games.
The Catamounts will also face a trio of
good mid-majors, with two of those on the road, facing games at Lipscomb (Nov.
22) and at High Point (Nov. 29), while also facing UNC Asheville (Nov. 19) at the
Ramsey Center in the annual Blue Ridge Rivalry game.
Mercer’s second season under head coach
Ryan Ridder will see the Bears selected a spot lower than the No. 7 position they
were picked in Ridder’s inaugural season in Macon.
However, Ridder believes the talent he
brought in during the portal signing period exceeds the first signing class he
brought, which included the likes of guard Ahmad Robinson and Tyler “Chip”
Johnson as a part of a talented backcourt. The Bears generated more than 70
possessions per game last season, which led the SoCon.
The Bears finished just two points behind
Western Carolina in the preseason poll, with 30 points. The Bears sent the
Catamounts home from Asheville after only one game, winning a thrilling opening
round game, 67-66, contest last March.
Palmetto State programs Wofford (19-16,
10-8/6TH in SoCon and reigning 2024-25 Tournament Champions) and The
Citadel (5-25, 0-18/10th in SoCon) rounded out the 2025-26 preseason
coaches’ poll, with the Terriers finishing with 21 points, while the Bulldogs
finished with 10.
Wofford, which has won the title six title
six times in the past 15 years, including the latest of those coming last March
with a 92-85 win over Furman in a dramatic title game, just fired and hired a
coach within a three-week span, bringing in former player and assistant coach
Kevin Giltner to replace Dwight Perry in a stunning early-mid September college
basketball hot mess.
The Terriers are the first team to likely
ever win the league only to be picked second-to-last in the league the
following season. Wofford became the
first No. 6 seed in league history to cut down the nets last March.
A member of the Wofford basketball
program from 2008-12, he helped the Terriers to two back-to-back titles as a
player and another three as an assistant coach on Mike Young's staff. Giltner
has spent the past six years serving as Young’s right-hand man at Virginia
Tech, which included helping Young and the Hokies to the 2022 ACC Tournament
title.
Giltner's philosophy will be much like
his mentor and former coach, Mike Young was, which is placing a premium on
defense and perimeter shooting and a slower, half-court style on the offensive
end. As a player for the Terriers, he was a "glue guy" on the 2010
and '11 championship teams, and his ability as an on-ball defender and elite
perimeter threat were two things that no doubt influences the way he coaches to
this day.
Wofford will open 2025-26 and the Kevin
Giltner era on Nov. 3 against George Mason and will also face off in a high-major
matchup with Auburn (Nov. 11), as well as facing off against Wichita State
(Dec. 17) just eight days before Christmas.
No team had it worse than Ed Conroy’s Bulldogs
last season, as The Citadel will look to put an end to a 22-game losing streak,
which it ended the season on. It marks the longest losing streak in school history.
If you're looking for a place the long
losing streak might end, this date might be one to highlight, as the Wolves
finished just 6-25 a year ago and finished ranked 350 out of 366 NCAA Division
I teams, which was just five spots ahead of the Bulldogs in the KenPom final
released rankings for the 2024-25 season.
The Wolves are still making the
transition from the NCAA Division II level to the NCAA Division I level. The
Bulldogs finish out the SoCon-A-SUN challenge on Nov. 24, hosting Bellarmine,
which offers another excellent chance for a win, as the Knights matched The
Citadel's win total with just five wins a year ago.
Stay tuned for a full preview, including
quotes from players and coaches, as well as some interesting storylines
entering the season. I am aiming to have the preview completed by the middle of
October so be sure to check back on my blog or on mid-major madness.
2025-26 Southern Conference Preseason
Coaches Poll
Team (1st-place votes) Total
1. Chattanooga (5) 77
2. Furman (5)
73
3. Samford
62
4. ETSU
61
5.
UNCG
43
6. VMI
41
7. Western Carolina 32
8. Mercer
30
9. Wofford
21
10. The Citadel
10
2025-26 Preseason Southern Conference Player of the Year
Rickey Bradley Jr, Sr., G, VMI
2025-26 Preseason All-Southern Conference team
Jaylen
Smith, Jr., G, ETSU
Cooper Bowser, Jr., F, Furman
Tom House, Sr., G, Furman
Jadin Booth, Gr., G, Samford
Dylan Faulkner, Jr., C, Samford
Jikari
Johnson, Gr., G, Chattanooga
Collin
Mulholland, R-So., F, Chattanooga
Teddy
Washington Jr., Gr., G, Chattanooga
Rickey Bradley Jr, Sr., G, VMI
Marcus Kell, R-Jr., F, Western Carolina
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