Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian vs. Winthrop 2/18/2012 Postgame and SoCon North Roundup

Appalachian got big games from two of its seniors as they knocked off Winthrop as part of the ESNPU BracketBusters. Ike Butts scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Omar Carter scored 15 points and added six rebounds himself. Nathan Healy and Tab Hamilton chipped in 13 points a piece.

Around the conference, Elon dropped an overtime game at home to Western Carolina and Samford held off Furman down the stretch to create a four team log jam in the North division. Two games separate second through fifth place in the standings, and there is a possibility that we could see a four-way tie before the season is over with. Elon faces the two teams that lead their respective divisions. Samford has two road games remaining. Appalachian also faces two games on the road, while Western Carolina’s remaining schedule features two home games. If Elon and Samford lose their remaining games, they finish 8-10. Appalachian could split its two games, while Western Carolina wins their two games, and we would be stuck with a four way tie. The tie is broken by the teams records against all of the tied teams. Elon would be 2-4. Samford 3-3. Appalachian 3-3. Western Carolina 4-2. It is hard to believe that Western Carolina could jump from fifth to second in a matter of days.

 

UNCG         10-6    Woff, @Elon  (Clinched top 2 seed)

Elon             8-8      @Dav, UNCG

Samford       8-8     @WCU, @UTC

App St          7-9     @Cit, @WCU

WCU             6-10   Sam, App St

Appalachian State Basketball: Appalachian @ The Citadel 2/22/2012

2/19/2012

I believe Appalachian will be favored in this game by 3 points. The Bulldogs have not been favored all season long, and have not played a team with a likeness of Appalachian at home in a couple weeks. The Bulldogs had lost 11 in a row before winning on the road in Chattanooga on Saturday. The Citadel is 5-2 at home this season ATS versus conference opponents, with those covers coming against Davidson, Georgia Southern, Wofford, Greensboro and Samford. Their losses are to Elon and Furman. Appalachian is 3-4 ATS on the road this season against the SoCon. Their wins were over Furman, Samford and Chattanooga.

02/22/2012

I was a little off here, but still very close to nailing the spread. Appalachian opened as four point favorites. In the last week or so, the lines in Appalachian games have moved around a bit. I could see this sneaking up to the 4.5 to 5 point range. The Citadel is not a good team, but they got off the snide with their win at Chattanooga. I like the even number here because it brings a push into play. One website posts that 64% of the action is heading Appalachian’s direction. I like the Mountaineers as well. They should dominate in the rebounding category. The Citadel is last in the conference in rebounding margin, and just gave up over twenty offensive rebounds to Western Carolina last week, and thirteen to Chattanooga on Saturday. That should lead to plenty easy buckets on the offensive end for the Mountaineers.

Postgame:

The Mountaineers were able to dictate their pace for the first eight minutes of the ball game before The Citadel took control of the tempo and cruised to a 62-51 win. Appalachian was crushed on the boards, and shot terribly from behind the arc. The loss moves my record to 10-13 on the season.

Appalachian State Women’s Basketball: Appalachian @ Davidson 2/18/2012 Postgame & Appalachian vs. Furman 2/20/2012 Pregame

Appalachian suffered it’s most detrimental loss on the season on Saturday. The Apps shot 33% from the field for the game, and only attempted eight free throws. The Mountaineers shot 24 times more than the Wildcats and were called for 19 fouls to only eight for Davidson. Maryah Sydnor notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Chakeitha Weldon scored 6 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and added 4 steals in the losing effort.

Davidson now sits in the catbird seat by tying Appalachian with a 15-2 record in the SoCon North, but Davidson currently holds the tiebreaker with the season sweep over the Mountaineers. Both teams face Samford and Chattanooga on the road in the season’s final weekend, and both teams host games on Monday Night. Davidson other two losses on the season came to teams they have to play a second time, Wofford and Samford.

SoCon Standings

Davidson        15-2        Wofford, @ Chattanooga, @ Samford

App State        15-2        Furman, @Samford, @Chattanooga

Chattanooga     14-3     @Samford, Davidson, Appalachian

Samford         11-5        @WCU, Chattanooga, Appalachian, Davidson

 

In order for Appalachian to win the 1 seed for the tournament, they must finish a game in front of Davidson. Both Appalachian and Davidson are guaranteed to finish in the top 3 of the conference. Chattanooga still has the opportunity to win the championship, or finish fourth, and could create a three way tie if they were to win out. At this point, working out a three way tiebreaker has endless possibilities with each team in the top 4 playing each other at least twice.