SoCon
All but two teams in the conference finished with a record of 16-17 or better last season, but the conference saw a drop in defense with Samford being the only team that ranked in the country’s top 120 in points allowed on a per possession basis.
Samford’s 29 wins last season were a program record, having never won more than 24 games at the Division I level en route to the NCAA Tournament. And though point guard and assists leader Rylan Jones is back, five of last season’s top six scorers are gone.
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Western Carolina’s 22 wins last season tied a program record, but the team lost coach Justin Gray in the offseason, replacing him with Gardner-Webb coach Tim Craft. The new lead man will be tasked with replacing each of last season’s top four scorers and over 90% of the minutes from last season.
Wofford and East Tennessee have the most returning production from last season. Wofford brings back all eight of the team’s top scorers from last season, while East Tennessee ranked 21st in offensive rebound percentage last season and has four of its top five scorers back.
Chattanooga is looking for its backcourt to do big things, as the group returns its top two scorers from a squad that attempted 50.5% of its field goals from 3-point range, the third-highest rate in the country while its 37.8% 3-point shooting on the road was 12th in America.
UNC Greensboro tied with Chattanooga for second in the conference behind Samford, and has won at least 20 games in seven of the past eight seasons with its win total improving in all three seasons under coach Mike Jones. But the Spartans lost their top two scorers from last season.
After coaching last season at UT-Martin, Ryan Ridder takes over as Mercer’s new coach and is tasked with replacing all of the top five scorers from last season.
