CHARLESTON, SC – Getting the media to agree on anything unanimously is almost impossible. But that was not the case as Tim Smith received all 44 votes for MVP of the SoCon tournament for the second straight year.
A long time SoCon reporter said he could not ever remember that happening. Smith made it an easy choice, as he averaged 25.6 points for the tournament – not to mention he joined ETSU’s 1,000 point club Saturday as well.
ETSU ended the tournament the way they began – taking home all the trophies. When they played on Thursday afternoon, Zakee Wadood was presented his Player of the Year award from the commissioner. The regular season All SoCon Team was presented their award, and the regular season trophy was presented to them as well.
Tournament play creates champions and sometimes forces gold to glitter – enter Travis Strong for an injured James Anthony on Friday. Anthony, who put up 18-points against Furman Thursday, fell hard on his shoulder and had to sit out most of the semifinal and all of the final game.
“It’s feeling a lot better today,” Anthony said. “We’ve got to get some x-rays. Hopefully, maybe I can get back for the Big Dance.”
Strong, a native of Memphis and product of the basketball powerhouse Memphis White Station High School, scored in double figures against Davidson and UTC.
“We see Travis knocking down shots everyday in practice,” Anthony said. “We are very deep team and everybody is getting into the game.”
The quarterfinals may have been the Bucs’ biggest challenge. Furman had taken ETSU down to the wire in early January. Smith hit a running shot to give them the victory by one over a young Paladins crew. Not only did the Bucs win their games but they won all of them by double digits. They put at least four players in double figures every game – five the final two.
“It feels good to go dancing again. I’m about to pass out,” said Jerald Fields after ETSU’s 27th victory. “It came across my mind that it was going to be tough to beat Chattanooga three times. I didn’t have any doubt we were going to win the game. Zakee and I sat up all night and didn’t get a wink of sleep thinking about it.”
Some critics have said that Ashley Champion’s absence would have garnered a much closer game. Even if Champion would have scored his average of 18 ppg, they would have been tied at 78. Add Anthony’s average and ETSU still comes out the winner.
Zakee Wadood, the SoCon Player of the Year, broke Greg Dennis’s blocking record against Furman. He passed the former record of 174 against the Paladins. He averages 1.59 per game.
By way of schedule, ETSU’s 1 p.m. game on Saturday was the first final of Championship Week to be decided. Not only did ETSU get excellent air time, but they entered the dance first.
“I’m a big believer in fresh legs,” said Bartow when asked if ETSU would be ready to play with a long layoff. “We will practice hard but we believe in periods of rest also.”
Confidence is a major factor for success. Rarely does ETSU looked rattled – it appears that they are ready to play any team they draw in the tournament.
“My teammates look up to me. They look to me, Jerald and Timmy,” said Wadood. “If they see we are rattled, they will be too. We might be rattled, but we are not going to let anybody see it.”
“I think on any given day we can play with anybody. As far as mid-majors, we have been ranked high all year. We have 27 wins – the numbers speak for themselves.

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