Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Southern conference tournament

This is part 11 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament.  These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.

The final standings:
Davidson 15-1
Chattanooga 12-4
Wofford 11-5
Elon 11-5
Western Carolina 10-6
UNC Greensboro 7-9
Georgia Southern 6-10
Samford 6-10
Appalachian St 5-11
Furman 3-13
Citadel 2-14

Tournament format:
UNC Ashveville will be the host for this tournament, in Asheville, obviously.  The tournament will go for four straight days from March 7-10.  Simple, elegant format.  All 11 teams are in this one, so top 5 teams get a bye.

The matchups:
8) Samford (12-19) vs. 9) Appalachian St (9-20)
7) Georgia Southern (13-18) vs. 10) Furman (9-20)
6) UNC Greensboro (14-17) vs. 11) Citadel (6-25)

1) Davidson (19-11) vs. 8/9 winner
4) Elon (18-13) vs. 5) Western Carolina (17-14)
2) Chattanooga (18-13) vs. 7/10 winner
3) Wofford (17-12) vs. 6/11 winner

The stakes:
The winner here is likely headed to the 16 line, and maybe even the play-in games.  Don't be fooled by Davidson's name.  RPI around 125, but they did beat Georgia on a neutral and won at Charlotte...but that's it.  They played big names and got ran.  This team is nowhere as good as their better teams of the last decade.  They may be able to avoid the 16 line, no one else can.

Overall, the SoCon was a trainwreck.  In conference RPI, they beat the SWAC, MEAC, and...that's it.  30th.  Ouch.  This will lead to bad seeds, period.  Chattanooga led this league for awhile with a completely hideous profile with an RPI noth of 200.  There's just nothing here to work with.

For CBI/CIT purposes, with 4 eligible teams seeded 2nd through 5th in this tournament, one or two of them will get looks, but their overall profiles are so bad that Elon and Wofford are the only ones that merit even a look.  Depends if the CIT values conference finish, I suppose.  WCU has an RPI of 241.  Lord.

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