Ten Memorable Freshmen:
One of the unique effects that the transfer portal has had on the SoCon hoops scene this season has been that is that more coaches in the league, especially the ones that didn't have replace a lot of outgoing talent, have once again started to rely on freshmen.
The league has been able to get a higher caliber freshman talent in recent times because of power programs consistently recruiting from the portal and disregarding the high school ranks all together.
Since freshmen have had such an impactful presence at most every program in the league this season, I thought I'd take a look back at 10 freshmen that I have seen in the league, and ones that I think have been some of the best to grace the league over the last four decades.
In a follow-up to this artcile in the coming weeks, mid-major madness will also take a look at the current class of "Diaper Dandies" and how they have had a profound impact on the league this season, with that impact being shown in the way of attention the league is receiving, despite it being a down year overall in terms of strength in comparison to where the league has ranked strength-wise in recent seasons.
Since January 1972, freshmen have been allowed to play at the NCAA Division I level. Prior to 1972, freshmen weren't allowed to play on the varsity team, so most played Junior Varsity at that time. The SoCon has had some outstanding freshmen players come through the league over the past 54 years, and most of the 10 I have listed below, I have had the opportunity to see play in person. I have picked 10 freshmen that I think have had a significant impact on the league.
At the dawn of the new millennium, there were several guys that would make names for themselves in the SoCon, and I am going to take a look at some of the best freshman seasons we've seen from various guys in the Southern Conference. These aren't necessarily the 10 best freshmen in the history of the league, but 10 that left an indelible mark on their programs and on the league during their rookie campaigns.
So, without further ado, let's take a look back at some of the real greats to have come through the league over that span.
1. Stephen Curry (Davidson/2006-07)--There are enough adjectives for the word "good" to describe to you just how good he was, and you could tell that from the outset of his career at Davidson. He would help lead Davidson to its second of what would be three-straight Southern Conference Basketball titles, as he averaged 21.5 PPG and ranked ninth nationally in scoring in the 2006-07 campaign, as well as ranking second to only Kevin Durant (Texas) nationally in scoring among freshmen.
Curry is the son of former recent Charlotte Hornet Hall-of-Fame inductee Del Curry (), which wore the No. 30 to honor his father's legacy as a player in the league from 1986-2002, playing with the Utah Jazz (1986-87), Cleveland Cavaliers (1987-88), Milwaukee Bucks (1999) and Toronto Raptors (1999-2002) in addition to his time with the Hornets. Must remember Del Curry's career, however, for what he during his decade in the Queen City playing for the Hornets.
With that said, as good as folks remember Del for being as a long-range specialist in Charlotte, it was evident from the outset of Curry's career at Davidson that he was going to be an even better long-range marksman. His 122 threes as a freshman were not only a SoCon Freshman record, but also an NCAA Division I single-season record by freshman.
Curry finished the 2006-07 season posting double-figure scoring performances in 33 of 34 games, with 19 of those games seeing him score 20 or more points, which included nine-straight during a 13-game winning streak for the Wildcats, which spanned nearly two months (Dec. 1, 2006-Jan. 23, 2007).
He would score 30 or more points four times during his freshman season at Davidson, which included posting a freshman school record for scoring, as he scored 730 total points in 34 games during the 2006-07 season, shattering the previous record holder at Davidson, which was held by Chris Dodds, as he scored 500 points as a freshman during the 1977-78 season.
Curry finished his freshman campaign with the Wildcats garnering the SoCon Player of the Week honor three times and was named the SoCon's Player of the Month for the months of November, February and March.
He ranked among the SoCon's top performers in field goal percentage (14th), three-point field goal percentage (6th), and steals (4th), while leading the SoCon in scoring (21.5 PPG), free throw percentage (85.5%), and three-pointers made per game (3.59).
Curry was named the 2006-07 SoCon Media and Coaches Freshman of the Year and 2007 SoCon Tournament MVP, All-SoCon First Team Selection (Coaches and Media), CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major All-America team, CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Freshman of the Year, and SI.com All-Mid Major Team Honorable Mention.
2. Kyle Hines (UNCG/2004-05)--Kyle Hines was one of the most dynamic players in Southern Conference history, and it started from the outset of his career with the Spartans, as he started all 30 games for the Spartans, averaging 13.6 PPG and 8.6 RPG. He finished his rookie season with the Spartans shooting a blistering 62.1% from the field for the season, which ranked him seventh nationally.
Hines was a force on the defensive end of the floor, averaging 3.5 blocks-per-game, which led the SoCon and ranked fourth nationally. Recorded 11 double-doubles as a true freshman during the 2004-05 season. Hines' 106 blocked shots as a true freshman during the 2004-05 season marked the most in a single-season in league history, and is still the standard to this day.
The dynamic freshman became the first to ever lead the nation in scoring when he did so during the 2001-season, connecting on a solid 46.7% of his shots from the floor and 33.3% from three-point range. Conley did it on both ends, posting 82 steals while recording 67 assists. In back-to-back games during his freshman season, Conley posted a combined 50 points in games against both Virginia Tech and Kentucky.
Conley would end up being named the SoCon's Freshman of the Year for the 2001-02 season. Conley would transfer after his sophomore season, playing his final two seasons at the University of Missouri and head coach Quinn Snyder.
One of the neat things that occurred during the 2001-02 season is that the SoCon had its own version of what it was like to have when two of the top home run hitters in Major League Baseball played in the same division and both had record-breaking seasons hitting homeruns in the summer of 1998, with St. Louis slugger Mark McGuire and Chicago Cubs cleanup hitter Sammy Sosa. The SoCon had that similar type of effect with two of the top scoring freshmen in league history, as well as in college basketball, in Conley and Western Carolina's Kevin Martin.
Conley's 29.3 PPG scoring average as a freshman during the 2001-02 season ranks eighth in SoCon history in single-season scoring average.
4. Jarvis Hayes (Western Carolina/1999-2000)--Jarvis Hayes was the 1999-2000 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, and was truly a sensational player for the Catamounts. Hayes took the SoCon and mid-major basketball by storm in what turned out to be his only season in Cullowhee, as he started 26 of 28 games for the Catamounts, and the 6-7 forward finished the season averaging 17.1 PPG and 5.4 RPG.
Hayes finished his only season in Cullowhee connecting on 36.2% (54-of-149) from three-point land and shot 42.4% (178-of-420) from the field. Hayes became the first freshman in 40 years to lead the Southern Conference in scoring, playing alongside his twin brother, Jonas Hayes. Both would end up transferring to the University of Georgia to play finish out their respective careers in college basketball.
Hayes was a first-team All-SEC selection as a sophomore and junior and averaged 28.5 PPG in two NCAA Tournament games in his career. He also led the SEC in scoring as a junior, averaging 23.9 PPG, owning the distinction of leading two different conferences (SEC and SoCon) during his collegiate playing career.
However, Martin was doing his own thing and would end up scoring 22.1 PPG and ended up finishing ranked 11th overall nationally in scoring average.
He started his career with quite a bang, as he posted 44 points against Jarvis Hayes' Georgia Bulldogs in the 2001-2002 season. The native of Zanesville, OH, had found his new home in Cullowhee, N.C., playing for Steve Shurina, and though his three seasons wouldn't be all that successful in Western North Carolina, individually, Martin would establish himself as one of the top players in mid-major college basketball.
He led the Catamounts in scoring in his first nine games of his career, scoring in double figures in all 28 games over the course of the season, and he finished the campaign totaling 622 total points. When Martin and Conley met on the hardwood, it provided for some must-see SoCon Basketball, as the two scoring 33 points in the first meeting that season between the two, with that meeting having been claimed by Martin and Catamounts in Cullowhee.
In the second meeting in Lexington, VA., Conley posted 42 points, while Martin added 38 to the Catamount cause in what was a 97-91 overtime win for the Keydets at the Ramsey Center.
Martin was truly one of the top freshman players to ever play in the league. Like Curry, he would stay three seasons before entering the NBA Draft and enjoyed a successful 12-year NBA career.
6. Tim Smith (ETSU/2002-03)--If Martin and Conley hadn't been enough excitement for SoCon hoops fans in the 2001-02 season, then surely a year later Tim Smith would help move the needle for you.
If Smith couldn't excite you as a fan of mid-major hoops, I'm not sure you're alive! For ETSU fans, the diminutive Smith, who was named the 2002-03 SoCon Freshman of the Year, brought back memories of former ETSU standout Keith "Mister" Jennings, which also happened to be a golden era for ETSU basketball during the late 1980s and early 90s.
During his freshman campaign, Smith ended up scoring 475 points, dished out 114 assists and recorded 73 steals, while helping the Bucs to a runner-up finish in the SoCon's North Division behind Davidson, despite tying both the Wildcats and Appalachian State with an 11-5 record during that season.
However, when Smith and the Bucs arrived at the North Charleston Coliseum for the 2003 Mountain Dew Southern Conference Tournament, it would be the 5-10 guard that would be the catalyst in the helping the Bucs cut down the nets at the end of the tournament for the first time in 11 years, helping the Bucs knock off Wofford (W, 80-75), College of Charleston (W, 65-55) and a 97-90 win in the championship game against Chattanooga.
Smith's 25-point effort in the championship game was enough to garner him SoCon Most Outstanding Player and would lead the Bucs in a near-upset of Cincinnati in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before dropping an 80-77 contest to the Bearcats. He finished the season averaging 15.3 PPG, 3.7 APG, 3.7 RPG, and 2.4 SPG.
7. Fletcher Magee (Wofford/2015-16)--When you start mentioning the greatest shooters in SoCon history, you don't get far beyond Stephen Curry before you start to utter the name Fletcher Magee. In the 2015-16 season, he would begin his onslaught of MVP level play for four-straight years in the league, and was named the 2015-16 consensus Freshman of the Year.
I remember the same season that Magee was a freshman some 11 seasons ago, I was interviewing former assistant coach and current Appalachian State head coach Dustin Kerns for a story, and we didn't get too far into our conversation before the subject of freshman Fletcher Magee came up.
I remember Kerns telling me in our conversation that he'd never coached a player with the same work ethic and dedication to improving his craft as a shooter than Fletcher Magee.
During his freshman campaign with the Terriers, Magee started 22 of 32 games, averaging 13.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 1.5 APG, scoring 443 points in his true freshman season. In his first season at Wofford, Magee would connect on a blistering 47.9% (91-of-190) from three-point range, ranking third in the nation at the end of the season in three-point field goal percentage. His 91 threes would be just the beginning of a career that would see him finish his career as the all-time NCAA three-point king, connecting on 509 triples in his standout career.
Magee also finished his freshman campaign leading the nation in free throw shooting, as he connected on 92.5% (86-of-93) for the season, and finished off his rookie campaign with 23 double-figure scoring games.
8. Jonathan Moore (Furman/1976-77)--Jonathan Moore was one of the top big men in the history of Furman basketball, and went by the nickname of Jonathan "Stitch" Moore, and he would go on to put together one of the top freshman seasons in the history of Furman basketball, as he averaged 20.5 PPG and 11.2 RPG and finished the campaign totaling a Furman freshman record 561 points.
Moore would finish the season with 229 made field foals, recorded 314 rebounds, and shot an outstanding 55.4% (229-of-413)in his first season donning the Purple and White.
During Moore's time starring for Joe Williams' Paladins of the mid-1970s, it was a time before the SoCon's "Freshman of the Year" award was given out, but conventional wisdom probably would have told you that, if there had been such an award, Moore would have been the recipient.
Moore's efforts were vital for the Paladins and coach Williams during that 1976-77 campaign, as he helped the Paladins to an 18-10 record and a tie for the SoCon regular-season title along with VMI atop the SoCon standings. That same VMI team would go on to become one of three teams in league history to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament,
Moore's 20.0 PPG ranked second to only teammate Bruce Grimm in terms of scoring average, as his big man teammate averaged 24.0 PPG during that 1976-77 season. It would be the only season of his four that he would not lead the Paladins in scoring.
Stitch Moore would lead the Paladins in scoring in six out of their first eight games to start the season, as well as being the top rebounder on the team in five of the first eight. Moore posted a 27-point effort in his collegiate debut against Presbyterian and then posted a season and then career-high 34 points and 14 rebounds in an 87-83 home loss to Georgia at the Memorial Auditorium.
Moore, a native of Charleston, S.C., would collect his first of four All-SoCon citations in his career, and was also a member of the 1976-77 SoCon All-Freshman team.
Moore would go on to become one of the greatest players in both Furman and Southern Conference history over the next three seasons, winning SoCon Player-of-the-Year twice (1978-79/1979-80), as well as garnering a place in the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame (1985), a place on the Greenville Memorial Auditorium All-Time Team (1958-95) and was named to the SoCon's 2021 100th-year anniversary team. Moore's 974 career made field goals still ranks fourth in SoCon history.
He would be a third-round draft pick of the Detroit Pistons in the 1980 NBA Draft.
A shot-blocking, dunking and scoring machine, the 2004 ETSU Hall-of-Fame inductee was associated with arguably the greatest era of hoops experienced by any team over a four-year span in the league, as the Bucs won four-straight SoCon tournament titles being a part of all four during his five seasons spent in Johnson City.
Dennis and the Bucs wouldn't win the title during his freshman season, however, he along with teammates and classmates Major Geer, Keith "Mister" Jennings, and Alvin West, would help lay the foundation for the historic run, by helping the Bucs to a third-place finish in the league (9-7), despite having a losing record (14-15) overall for the 1987-88 campaign.
Dennis himself was sensational as a freshman during the 1987-88 campaign, garnering the SoCon's Freshman of the Year honor after averaging 16.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.5 APG and 1.1 BPG, while shooting 54.6% from the field and 72.9% from the charity stripe as a true freshman. He finished off his freshman campaign by scoring 475 points on 177 made field goals and 121 made free throws.
Dennis would go on to finish his career as the greatest scorer in ETSU history, finishing his career with 2,204-career points. He was a three-time All-SoCon selection, as well as being a four-time all-tournament team selection, including his final three being a first-team All-Tournament pick.
10. Jay Joseph (UNC Greensboro/2000-01)--When Fran McCaffery coached in the Southern Conference, he notably had a knack for finding talent from the Northeast to come play in the Southern Conference, with the notable recruitment of some of UNCG's greatest stars, such as Kyle Hines (2004-08/Sickerville, N.J.) and Jay Joseph--a player from Philadelphia--that would end up helping the Spartans reach the NCAA Tournament, posting a 19-12 record and defeating Chattanooga, 67-66, in a thrilling championship game at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
Joseph put together a strong freshman campaign for the Spartans, as he started all 31 games and averaged 13.3 PPG and 4.9 RPG, while he was a notable three-point threat during his time with the Spartans. He shot 42.4% (59-of-139) from three-point in his first season with UNCG and would go on to finish his career as one of the better three-point shooters in terms of percentage in program history.
Joseph's performance in the 2001 Southern Conference Tournament was instrumental in seeing the Spartans be able to break through and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since joining the Southern Conference prior to the 1997-98 season.
His 79-foot pass to David Schuck was on the money, and Schuck put up the game-winning shot as time expired, lifting UNCG to a dream, buzzer-beating finish at the Well. In addition to making that long pass to Schuck to book the game-winning points in the championship game, Joseph also posted 10 points in that championship game.
Joseph finished of his four standout seasons in the Gate City garnering SoCon Freshman of the Year honors. He would score 400 or more points in three out of his four seasons at UNCG, including posting 412 points in his first season at UNCG, as well as connecting on a total 152 field goals for the season, shooting 45.1% (152-of-337) for the season.
Stay tuned next week for an article about the league's current dynamic freshman class, and the impact they are having and the opportunity they are getting in the ever-changing transfer portal era of college basketball.
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