Saturday, March 2, 2019

Big South conference tournament preview

This is part 2 of a 32-part series.

Standings:
Campbell 12-4
Radford 12-4
Winthrop 10-6
Gardner-Webb 10-6
High Point 9-7
Charleston Southern  9-7
Presbyterian 9-7
Hampton 9-7
Longwood 5-11
UNC Asheville 2-14
USC Upstate 1-15

Format:
Opening round on March 5 to weed out the lower seeds (hosted at higher seed).  Quarterfinals and semis are hosted at Campbell, on March 7-8.  Then back the highest seed hosting on March 10.  Quirky format, but they probably had to reduce travel to get the final on TV.  They're usually the first ones to finish.

Matchups:
1) Campbell vs. 8/9) Hampton/Longwood
4) Gardner-Webb vs. 5) High Point
3) Winthrop vs. 6/11) Charleston Southern/USC Upstate
2) Radford vs. 7/10) Presbyterian/UNC Asheville

The stakes:
Pretty low.  Radford was the only team with a NET ranking that wasn't terrible.  They won at Texas and Notre Dame, which will get you off the 16 line, probably.  (I have them on the 15, and after natural attrition in the other conferences, they're probably a 14 seed if they win this tournament)

Alas, after spending most of the season out front, Campbell caught them at the death of the regular season for the NIT automatic bid.  Their win at Radford represents all of their Q1/2 wins.  You can safely pencil in anyone other than Radford for the 16 line, probably.  And maybe the PIGs.  Although, a few teams have decent W-L records, and there are going to be at least a couple conference champs with ugly W-L marks. 

Radford probably won't have the resume to make the NIT as an at-large.

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