Southern hospitality

Good morning! We’ve got more media day coverage in today’s Daily — and more coming from the Mountain West (starts at 10 am ET) and the West Coast Conference (starts at 2:20 pm ET). Let’s dive in.

1. Key takeaways from SoCon media day

Are you a fan of high-powered, fast-paced offense? Well… the SoCon is your kind of conference. This isn’t your typical mid-major league.

The Southern Conference showcased its strength during recent NCAA tournaments. in 2024, Samford had Kansas on the rails and if it weren’t a crucial call, who knows what could’ve happened? In 2023, Furman beat Virginia and then lost to San Diego State, who went on to the title game. Chattanooga came one point away from upsetting Illinois in 2022, and Wofford defeated No. 2 seed Kentucky in 2019.

As the Field of 68 crew mentioned on Wednesday, nobody wants to see a SoCon team in the NCAA Tournament.

And nobody wants to schedule them during the regular season either. That speaks volumes to just how talented this league has been. And this year, it’s no different. If you have hours to spare, the full media day coverage from the Field of 68 is below. But before you watch, here are the preseason poll and all-conference teams:

• Preseason Poll: Samford (77/6), Chattanooga (73/2), East Tennessee State (67/2), Wofford (58), Furman (47), UNC Greensboro (41), Mercer (35), Western Carolina (25), The Citadel (17), VMI (10).

• First-Team: POTY Trey Bonham (Chattanooga), Honor Huff (Chattanooga), Rylan Jones (Samford), Kyle Filewich (Wofford), Corey Tripp (Wofford).

• Second-Team: Qumari Peterson (ETSU), Jaden Seymour (ETSU), Pjay Smith (Furman), Donovan Atwell (UNCG), Collin Holloway (Samford).

For those who don’t that have much time to spare, here are the highlights…

• The Citadel has a balanced roster of cadets and grad transfers. One of the graduate students, D-III transfer John Adams, even requested to go through the cadet program. “We’re all a team and we’re all trying to win games. So I want to be the person that bridges that gap, and therefore I have to do some things and show my work ethic and prove the transfers truly respect the cadet lifestyle and respect what they’re going through,” Adams said.

• Terrence Oglesby says second-year head ETSU coach Brooks Savage is a “menace” on the sidelines. But he’ll be more toned back this year, due to having an older and more experienced team. “This team can win a championship,” Savage said. He added that Karon Boyd looks like Morpheus.

• Western Carolina has a new coach in Tim Craft. He returns one player from last year’s team and had to recruit a roster of new players. Getting back Bernard Pelote, though, was their “biggest recruiting win in the offseason.”

• Wofford is a rarity in college hoops, returning all but eight points per game from last season, including preseason all-conference players Corey Tripp and Kyle Filewich. “It speaks to the nature of college basketball that that’s in the minority now,” Dwight Perry said.

• Furman lost a lot of production and will have to be a “strength in numbers team that really guards,” per coach Bob Richey. Big man Cooper Bowser could be in for a big jump, and Pjay Smith will be stepping into the point guard role.

• Chattanooga definitely has the best backcourt in the conference, per Jeff Goodman. The tandem of Honor Huff and Trey Bonham will be key, along with several D-II transfers. Coach Dan Earl wants to stay true to who they are as an unselfish team that shoots a lot of threes, but looks to improve defensively, and thinks they will. “We’ve got longer, livelier bodies.”

• Mercer has a new head man in Ryan Ridder. Building a roster this offseason was “unpredictable,” but he likes what he has and has tried to find pieces that “fit Mercer.” Fun fact: Ridder used to have blond frosted tips.

• Samford lost seven of its top nine players but return point guard Rylan Jones, the “smartest player” in college hoops. They added some key pieces in the portal, including Tulane transfer Collin Holloway. But what it comes down to for coach Bucky McMillan to repeat as SoCon champs is an “intense desire to win from within the locker room.”

• Mike Jones and his son, Miles Jones, say being around each other is great, but it really “depends on the day.” UNCG has a key returner in Donovan Atwell, who Mike Jones proclaims the “best shooter in the country, period.”

• VMI can’t bring in transfers without three years of eligibility left and have lost a bunch of underclassman to the portal. “It’s a challenge… Get old, stay old, doesn’t necessarily hold true at VMI,” coach Andrew Wilson said.

2. Eric Reibe is ‘happy to be a f***ing Husky’

Watch every commitment announcement. None of them will end with more electricity than Eric Reibe’s embrace of UConn.

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