Commentary: Tournament

shaped up for Mocs exactly right
By Steve Behr, sports editor

Chattanooga just beat College of Charleston 80-69 for the Southern Conference Tournament championship Monday night.

Let the howls of protest begin.

OK. So maybe there won’t be that much howling. Certainly there will be grumbling.

There always is when Chattanooga, Tenn. hosts the tournament. The Mocs don’t make things easier on the league by winning the tournament, having done so in 2005, the other year Chattanooga served as hosts.

Don’t blame the Mocs. They played where they were told. Everybody knew where the tournament was going to be back in November when the season started. Everybody knew the chance that they could be playing a road game against Chattanooga.

I hate to be the one to break this news, but teams win games on the road all the time. Ask Duke, which lost to North Carolina in one of the toughest venues in sports, Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ask Appalachian State, which went to Wichita State a few years ago and shocked the Shockers in one of the most hostile environments they’ve played in the 10 years I’ve covered the team.

The Mountaineers didn’t complain about the crowd. The thrived because of it. And they beat a good basketball team in spite of it.

McKenzie Arena is a nice place, but it not nearly as hostile as Duke or Wichita State. It’s not even close.

Instead of grumbling about any big McKenzie advantage, place the blame where it’s deserved, at the rest of the Southern Conference teams for not being strong enough to knock Chattanooga off.

Blame Davidson, who apparently can beat any southern mid-major except College of Charleston.

Blame The Citadel, which won 14 games in a row, but stumbled in the first round to Samford and avoided a semifinal showdown with the Mocs.

And blame the North Division for allowing a team that finished 11-9 in the SoCon to win the division.

Oh, I know they enjoyed an advantage by playing in their own gym in front of their home crowd. And they got to stay in their own beds instead of a hotel.

None of that helped Chattanooga’s women’s team, which lost to College of Charleston in the semifinals Sunday. In 2005, the Mocs lost to East Tennessee State in the quarterfinals.

Shut up and play the games.

Let’s face it. Things lined up perfectly for the Mocs this weekend.

Start with the fact that Chattanooga only played teams that pulled off upsets to advance to the next round. It started when the Mocs, the No. 1 seed from the North Division, didn’t have to beat Wofford, the No. 4 seed from the South Division and a team that won 5-of-6 games at the end of the regular season.

Elon did it for them, and then the Phoenix could not score a basket in the final 18 seconds in its 79-78 loss to Chattanooga on Friday.

Then, instead of facing a Citadel team that was the hottest in the conference during February, they played Samford, an Elon clone that needed a road win at Appalachian State to finish third in the same North Division the Mocs won despite losing their final two conference games of the season.

Then, as if the basketball gods were playing a cruel trick on SoCon basketball teams wearing bright red, three-time league champ Davidson, led by All-American guard Stephen Curry, fell flat on its face in a loss to College of Charleston for the second time this season. Curry, after torching Appalachian State for 43 points one night earlier, scored 20 against the Mocs, 11 less that the other Stephen, as in Stephen McDowell, who eventually was the tournament MVP.

Incredible.

Chattanooga then breaks a halftime tie in the finals on a 20-0 run at the start of the second half and whips the Cougars to win the tournament and reach the NCAAs.

Similar things happened in 2005. Davidson, the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament, lost to UNC Greensboro in the semifinals, allowing the Mocs to not have to play the top team in the league to win the league championship.

They don’t get that kind of luck — except for when Dontaye Draper scored 38 points in a semifinal game against Appalachian State at the same time that ASU guard D.J. Thompson had a career-worst game — when they’re in the North Charleston (S.C.) Arena. That place might as well be renamed Davidson South Arena. It seems to be the only place the Wildcats can win a league tournament.

And College of Charleston can’t seem to win a tournament in its own backyard, even if technically the Cougars don’t play on that court during the regular season.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it today. The Chattanooga crowd didn’t block one shot, make one 3-pointer or make one bad call. They may have given the Mocs an emotional lift in an emotional game, but mentally strong teams overcome things like that.

Focus. Concentrate. Win the game. Appalachian State did it in Wichita, Kan.

You want to keep Chattanooga from winning a conference tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn. Start by making them finish third or worse in the conference. Make them play four days instead of three. Furman, Elon and College of Charleston have reached the final of the current tournament format without earning a first-round bye.

All have lost in the finals.

Chattanooga has won 10 of these tournaments, so the Mocs don’t need any extra advantages. It’s up to the rest of the league’s teams to make sure homecourt advantage is eliminated before they reach the finals.

If they can’t, they only have themselves to blame.