2014–15 Southern Conference men's basketball season

2014–15 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	ESPN, ASN
Regular Season
Season champions	Wofford
Season MVP	Karl Cochran
Top scorer	Jalen Riley
Tournament
Champions	Wofford
Runners-up	Furman
Tournament MVP	Lee Skinner

2014–15 Southern Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Wofford †	16	–	2		.889			28	–	7		.800
Chattanooga	15	–	3		.833			22	–	10		.688
Mercer	12	–	6		.667			19	–	16		.543
Western Carolina	9	–	9		.500			15	–	17		.469
East Tennessee State	8	–	10		.444			16	–	14		.533
VMI	7	–	11		.389			11	–	19		.367
Samford	6	–	12		.333			13	–	19		.406
The Citadel	6	–	12		.333			11	–	19		.367
UNC Greensboro	6	–	12		.333			11	–	22		.333
Furman	5	–	13		.278			11	–	22		.333
† 2015 SoCon Tournament winner

The 2014–15 Southern Conference men's basketball season began on November 14, 2014, and concluded in March with the 2015 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament played at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

Following the previous season's departure of Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Davidson, and Elon from the league, three new members were added - East Tennessee State, Mercer, and VMI. Both ETSU and VMI had previously competed in the SoCon, as the Buccaneers left for the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2005, while VMI spent eleven years in the Big South. Mercer came from the Atlantic Sun as well. With ten league members, the conference schedule featured a full round-robin with two games against every opponent, totaling eighteen, up from sixteen the previous season.

Wofford, the preseason favorites, cruised through the SoCon regular season with a 16–2 conference record en route to their second straight conference tournament title. Wofford senior guard Karl Cochran was named Player of the Year, while fellow Terrier Lee Skinner was named tournament MVP.

Awards and Honors

• Player of the Year: Karl Cochran, Wofford
• Freshman of the Year: Devin Sibley, Furman
• Defense Player of the Year: Justin Tuoyo, Chattanooga
• Coach of the Year: Mike Young, Wofford

All–SoCon Teams

All-Conference Team

Name	School	Pos.	Year
Ashton Moore	The Citadel	G	Senior
Jalen Riley	East Tenn. State	G	Senior
Stephen Croone	Furman	G	Junior
Darious Moten	Mercer	F	Senior
Ike Nwamu	Mercer	G	Junior
Casey Jones	Chattanooga	G	Junior
Justin Tuoyo	Chattanooga	F	Sophomore
James Sinclair	Western Carolina	G	Senior
Karl Cochran	Wofford	G	Senior
Lee Skinner	Wofford	F	Senior

All-Freshman

Name	School	Pos.
Jake Wright	The Citadel	G
Devin Sibley	Furman	G
Christen Cunningham	Samford	G
Daniel Fowler	Furman	G
Stephon Jelks	Mercer	F

^[1]

Postseason

SoCon Tournament

2015 SoCon Men's Basketball Tournament Seeds and Results
Seed	School	Conference	Overall	Tiebreaker	First Round March 5	Quarterfinals March 7	Semifinals March 8	Championship March 9
1	Wofford ‡	16–2	25–6		BYE	#8 UNC Greensboro	#4 Western Carolina	#10 Furman
2	Chattanooga	15–3	22–9		BYE	#10 Furman
3	Mercer	12–6	17–14		BYE	#6 VMI	#10 Furman
4	Western Carolina	9–9	14–16		BYE	#5 ETSU	#1 Wofford
5	East Tenn. State	8–10	16–13		BYE	#4 Western Carolina
6	VMI	7–11	11–18		BYE	#3 Mercer
7	The Citadel	6–12	11–18	3–1 vs. UNCG, Samford	#10 Furman
8	UNC Greensboro	6–12	10–21	2–2 vs. Citadel, Samford	#9 Samford	#1 Wofford
9	Samford	6–12	13–18	1–3 vs. Citadel, UNCG	#9 UNC Greensboro
10	Furman	5–13	8–21		#7 The Citadel	#2 Chattanooga	#3 Mercer	#1 Wofford
‡ – SoCon regular season champions. Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.

Bracket

^[2]

	First round Friday, March 6					Quarterfinals Saturday, March 7					Semifinals Sunday, March 8					Championship Monday, March 9
						1	Wofford	70
						8	UNC Greensboro	52
	8	UNC Greensboro	81
	9	Samford	76
											1	Wofford	73
										4	Western Carolina	61
						4	Western Carolina	67*
						5	East Tennessee State	61
																1	Wofford	67
																10	Furman	64
						2	Chattanooga	67
						10	Furman	69
	7	The Citadel	56
	10	Furman	73
											10	Furman	52
										3	Mercer	49
						3	Mercer	89
						6	VMI	61

* denotes overtime period

NCAA Tournament

Seed	Region	School	Second Round	Third Round	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
12	West	Wofford	L Arkansas 56–53
		1 bid	0–1 .000	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	TOTAL: 0–1 .000

College Basketball Invitational

Seed	Bracket	School	First Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
		Mercer	W Stony Brook 72–70	L UL Monroe 71–69
		1 bid	1–0 1.000	0–1 .000	0–0 –	TOTAL: 1–1 .500

Head coaches

Will Wade, Chattanooga Chuck Driesell, The Citadel Murry Bartow, ETSU Niko Medved, Furman Bob Hoffman, Mercer

Scott Padgett, Samford Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro Dan Earl, VMI Larry Hunter, Western Carolina Mike Young, Wofford

References

1. "Men's Basketball Awards Announced". SoConSports.com. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
2. "2015 SoCon Men's tournament bracket" (PDF). Southern Conference. Retrieved December 8, 2014.