Chattanooga Preview: With Four Starters Gone, Mocs Start Over

Each day from October 23-November 3, there has been a basketball blogger/fan previewing their team in this space.  Today is the final preview, and my thanks to John of MocsMania! for making this possible.  Tomorrow, week #1 of Scanning the SoCon will be published, and you can find it right here.  

Coming off one of the worst season in program history, the Mocs are looking to start over. They were 11-21 last year with four senior starters and one other senior on the roster. It all started falling apart early in the year, though. The team played fairly well at Indiana and at Butler, before the horrendous collapse at home against Kennesaw State told us that these Mocs may not live up to expectations.

Chris Early was suspended permanently, and the Mocs went on a run. They won seven out of nine games to get to 9-9 overall. Things were starting to look up. Then, the injury bug hit, with plenty of people being injured. They lost twelve of their last fourteen games- including a remarkable 0-7 in games decided by less than six points during that stretch.

The first returnee to focus on for the Mocs is Coach John Shulman. There was a lot of pressure to make a change at the end of last season, but the athletic department chose to stick with Shulman for his ninth season. His tenure has been often plagued by fans calling for his head following a disappointing season, and successful seasons when the expectations are down.


Read the entire review here