A Clean Slate: Appalachian State will try to salvage season at SoCon Tournament

SoCon Tournament, Asheville (NC) US Cellular Center

FRIDAY’S FIRST ROUND
No. 9 Appalachian State vs. No. 8 Samford, 11 a.m.
No. 10 Furman vs. No. 7 Georgia Southern, 1:30
No. 11 Citadel vs. No. 6 UNC Greensboro, 4 p.m.

SATURDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
Samford-Appalachian winner vs. No. 1 Davidson, noon
No. 5 Western Carolina vs. No. 4 Elon, 2:30
Ga. Southern-Furman winner vs. No. 2 Chattanooga, 6 p.m.
UNCG-Citadel winner vs. No. 3 Wofford, 8:30

SUNDAY’S SEMIFINALS
Quarterfinal winners, 6 p.m. and 8:30

MONDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinal winners, 9 p.m.

Posted: Thursday, March 6, 2014 7:00 pm
Tommy Bowman/Winston-Salem Journal

For Appalachian State, which has struggled throughout the regular season, this weekend’s Southern Conference Tournament is one final chance for a turnaround.

The Mountaineers (9-20, 5-11 SoCon), whose 20 losses are the most since the 2003-04 team went 9-21, will try to override disappointment beginning with today’s game against Samford (12-19, 6-10) at 11 a.m. in the tournament’s opening game at U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville.

Coach Jason Capel of the Mountaineers views the tournament as “a clean slate, a fresh start for everyone.”

“It has been a disappointing season,” Capel said. “It’s been a season where you have to remake yourself over and over again because of circumstance, injury and things of that nature. We’ve never made excuses and we’ve never stopped pursuing our goal of winning the Southern Conference championship. That goal is still at hand, that opportunity still presents itself.

“We’re going in with the mindset to prepare for the biggest part of the season, which is now, one weekend in March, which is something we have talked about throughout the year.”

Tab Hamilton, a junior guard for the Mountaineers, welcomes the opportunity.

“Our mindset is that we do get another chance,” Hamilton said. “We had a rough regular season and this is a chance to start over in the tournament. We know we won’t have another chance after this.”
Capel is in the final year of a four-year contract. Things haven’t gone as hoped and wins have been few and far between this season for a team that has had to shuffle lineups and has been plagued by poor shooting.

One bright spot has been the emergence of post player Tommy Spagnolo, who has averaged 14.3 points and 9.6 rebounds the last 12 games as a starter.

The Mountaineers have had 12 different sets of starters, and have been without different players at different times — most recently Jay Canty and Mike Neal, both of whom were suspended the last two games for violation of team rules. Neal will return today, but Canty will remain sidelined.
The Mountaineers rank last in the SoCon in field-goal percentage (42 percent), 3-point accuracy (31 percent) and free-throw percentage (64 percent).

Hamilton said the tournament is a chance for redemption. “We just want to win it for each other,” he said. “We want to win and be able to prove that we’re capable of winning and that we do have talent and that we’re not as bad of a team that it may have seemed during the season.”

The Mountaineers are 2-0 this season against Samford, but Capel said the challenge is to beat a team for a third time in a season.

“I’ve said all year we don’t fear anybody,” Capel said. “As disappointing as the season has been, we’ve had very narrow losses. In many of the games, we’ve had leads but we just haven’t been able to hold on and do the little things it takes to finish the game off. In a lot of those games we were undermanned. Again, we haven’t made excuses. We’ve fought and we’ve competed with what we’ve had to put on the court.

“I don’t mind the matchup, but I’d say that against anybody we play against. At tournament time it doesn’t matter who you play.”

This will be the final Southern Conference Tournament for Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, both of which will play in the Sun Belt Conference next season, as well as Davidson, which will move to the Atlantic 10, and Elon, bound for the Colonial.

Davidson — aiming for a third-straight championship and to extend its record number of SoCon titles to 13 — has won 12 straight games and pulled away from the pack in the regular season in a league that has dropped to 30th out of 32 conferences in RPI.

Regardless, winning the tournament and getting to the NCAA Tournament is never easy, Coach Bob McKillop of Davidson said.

“I think you talk to any coach that coaches at our level where it’s a one-and-done, one-bid league, it’s the most pressure-packed experience that you face in your career,” McKillop said.

tbowman@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7323

We have zero wins on the season against teams with an RPI under 300.

We may beat Samford and lose close to DC, but that is best case.

I've posed this before, but what happens with Capel if the team manages to make a run this weekend and win the tourny? Does he get renewed? Should he?

HeffnerIV wrote:I've posed this before, but what happens with Capel if the team manages to make a run this weekend and win the tourny? Does he get renewed? Should he?

If App wins the Tourney and goes to the Dance then I would bet Capel returns. Of course it might snow in Key West today too!

Go Apps!

So far, we don't look too sharp with the ball. As has been the case all year, we can't shoot the ball.

We look terrible. Hoping for the best, but cannot wait for this Capel debacle to be over with. GO APPS!

Well, the end was much like the rest of the season. Just a very forgettable year. I guess I'm glad the snow kept me in Virginia.

No

Thank heaven its over, now go warm up the U-Haul.

Finally, the end of an Error.

Oh no folks, there is a scuffle down cout side. It seems that the fat lady and Dandy Don Meridth is scuffleing over the microphone, and Dandy don has it."Turn of the lights, thr partys over.....

JTApps1 wrote:Finally, the end of an Error.

Mercifully, this season has come to an end. It was just painful to watch this team in person; or to listen to the play-by-play of 15+ turnover, 35% shooting and 60 point games. No team can expect to crack the top 150 RPI with those numbers.

Doesn't seem like the "clean slate, a fresh start for everyone" thing went too well. Hope there is a For Sale sign in the yard and a moving van already parked in the driveway.

Very disappointing year for Men’s basketball. We use to have pride in our teams back in the 80’s & 90’s – I hate that we have lost that. Varsity gym would be packed, and the students were involved – but sadly not any more. We are too great of a university to let this happen, and the leadership needs to find a way to turn this program around. There are many factors (places to point fingers), but someone needs to stand up and say “no more”. The past several years have been just sad, with no spirit, no pride and zero enthusiasm….

IM4ASU wrote:Doesn't seem like the "clean slate, a fresh start for everyone" thing went too well. Hope there is a For Sale sign in the yard and a moving van already parked in the driveway.

Yeah. The lack of urgency and intensity was just never there. I think everyone knew what was going to happen and the players, and coaches, had already given up. I think Capel is a good guy, and may even be a good coach one day, but we made a mistake in hiring him for a job that he was not ready to do.

I have never been anti-Cobb like some people here, but this next hire will be very important for CC.

ASUMountaineer wrote:

IM4ASU wrote:Doesn't seem like the "clean slate, a fresh start for everyone" thing went too well. Hope there is a For Sale sign in the yard and a moving van already parked in the driveway.

Yeah. The lack of urgency and intensity was just never there. I think everyone knew what was going to happen and the players, and coaches, had already given up. I think Capel is a good guy, and may even be a good coach one day, but we made a mistake in hiring him for a job that he was not ready to do.

I have never been anti-Cobb like some people here, but this next hire will be very important for CC.

With the entire athletic department at its weakest point in many years, at the worst possible time, CC needs a good basketball hire or he could be the next one feeling the heat.

feel for Capels, seemed to be a good guy, but it obvious he was over his head. If there was a sllver lining in this, Capels was one of the lowest paid head coaches in the country, CC was smart to sign him to a minimal paid contract, he wanted Capels to prove he was a good head coach before he would give him the money. I know Im reaching here for positives, but its all I got.

moehler wrote:feel for Capels, seemed to be a good guy, but it obvious he was over his head. If there was a sllver lining in this, Capels was one of the lowest paid head coaches in the country, CC was smart to sign him to a minimal paid contract, he wanted Capels to prove he was a good head coach before he would give him the money. I know Im reaching here for positives, but its all I got.

Is that extra "s" for savings?

moehler wrote:feel for Capels, seemed to be a good guy, but it obvious he was over his head. If there was a sllver lining in this, Capels was one of the lowest paid head coaches in the country, CC was smart to sign him to a minimal paid contract, he wanted Capels to prove he was a good head coach before he would give him the money. I know Im reaching here for positives, but its all I got.

Unfortunately App got what it paid for. CC has to hire someone that at least brings some energy and excitement to the program. I think App has some decent talent but really needs to be coached up. The next coach has to get the students involved much like Cremins did when he took over a program that was every bit as down as this one.