High Point, Winthrop top seeds as Big South men’s tournament tips off Thursday
When the Big South tournament tips off Thursday at Campbell’s Gore Arena in Buies Creek, there’s no clear favorite to win the title and its all-important automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
At one point this season, six teams – Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Liberty, UNC Asheville and Winthrop – were in contention to win the regular-season title.
High Point and Winthrop eventually shared the conference’s regular-season championship, with the Panthers taking the No. 1 seed into the Big South tournament. But Coastal Carolina and UNC Asheville – both past tournament champions – finished a game behind the leaders.
What’s at stake
The winner gets a coveted automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The losers must hope one of the other postseason tournaments – National Invitation Tournament, College Basketball Invitational or CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament – calls.
Favorites
▪ High Point: The preseason choice to win the title, the Panthers made a late run to share regular-season title, get No. 1 seed in tournament.
▪ Winthrop: A surprise tournament finalist last year, the Eagles could return to NCAA tournament for first time since 2010.
▪ UNC Asheville: After missing the postseason the past three years, the Bulldogs are in position to win their first tournament title since 2012.
Don’t be surprised if ...
▪ Coastal Carolina repeats as tournament champion, especially since this is the Chanticleers’ last season in the Big South.
▪ Only two or three teams make it into postseason tournaments. Only two teams have 20-win seasons and two others are on the bubble.
▪ Gardner-Webb pulls off an upset or two. The Bulldogs were in the running for the regular-season title until the final weeks.
Three to watch
▪ John Brown, forward, High Point: Two-time conference player of the year also named league’s defensive player of year. First player to make first-team all-conference four years.
▪ Chris Clemons, guard, Campbell: Conference’s Freshman of the Year averaged 18.8 points per game, sixth-best among freshmen nationally.
▪ DeSean Murray, forward, Presbyterian: Northside Christian graduate led conference in scoring (20.1 per game) and was second in rebounding (7.4 per game).
Worth mentioning
▪ Eight teams in conference history have advanced to the NCAA tournament: Campbell, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Radford, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro and Winthrop.
▪ The only Big South qualifier to advance past the full opening round of the NCAA tournament was Winthrop, which upset No. 6 seed Notre Dame, then lost to No. 3 seed Oregon.
▪ UNC Asheville has the most NCAA tournament wins in Big South history with two, having won opening-round games in 2003 and 2011.
▪ Winthrop has the most NCAA tournament appearances from the Big South with nine.
Pairings
Thursday: No. 8 Longwood (9-22, 5-13) vs. No. 9 Charleston Southern (9-20, 5-13), 2 p.m.; No. 7 Radford (16-14, 9-9) vs. No. 10 Presbyterian (10-19, 5-13), 4:30 p.m.; No. 6 Gardner-Webb (15-15, 10-8) vs. No. 11 Campbell (12-17, 5-13), 7 p.m.
Friday: No. 1 High Point (20-9, 13-5) vs. Longwood-Charleston Southern winner, 12 p.m.; No. 4 UNC Asheville (19-11, 12-6) vs. No. 5 Liberty (13-18, 10-8), 2 p.m.; No. 2 Winthrop (21-8, 13-5) vs. Radford-Presbyterian winner, 6 p.m.; No. 3 Coastal Carolina (18-10, 12-6) vs. Gardner-Webb-Campbell winner, 8 p.m.
Saturday: Semifinal games, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Sunday: Championship game, 2:30 p.m.
This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 3:05 PM with the headline "High Point, Winthrop top seeds as Big South men’s tournament tips off Thursday."