Conference Preview: Big South

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BIG SOUTH

The race for the Big South regular season title last year was one of the more exciting conference battles in the entire nation.  At one point in February, almost the entire conference was separated by three or fewer games in the standings. The battle came down to the final week and in the end Charleston Southern and High Point tied for the championship, with the Buccaneers earning the top spot in the conference tournament.  Unfortunately, while in other leagues this exciting battle would have also had the stakes of determining who had home court advantage in the conference tournament, that was not the case in the Big South.  The tournament is held just outside of Myrtle Beach each year, on the home court of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.  Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was Coastal Carolina that rode their home court advantage to the automatic bid and a 16 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament.  Charleston Southern had to settle for an NIT bid, while High Point played in the CIT.  Gardner-Webb and Radford also received postseason invites, both playing in the CBI.

This season, Coastal Carolina figures to be among the top teams in the conference again, and will have a chance to ride their home court to the automatic bid even if they don’t take the regular season title.  Luckily for those of us that disapprove of this format, things will have to change after this season as it will be the last for Coastal in the Big South.  The Chanticleers will move to the Sun Belt next year as they begin the process of upgrading their football program to the FBS level.  Although the regular season crown has less weight than some other leagues, the pick to take it this season is High Point, which returns a deep roster including John Brown, the best player in the conference.  Coastal Carolina and Gardner-Webb should also be factors, and keep an eye out for Longwood.  Last year’s co-champs, Charleston Southern, look like they will be taking a major step back with virtually the entire roster gone.

UPDATE (10/13/2015):  Due to Coastal Carolina’s departure from the conference on less than two years’ notice, they are ineligible to host the conference tournament.  The site of the tournament will be announced sometime in November.  (11/4/2015): It will be played on Campbell’s home court in Buies Creek, NC.

Predicted Order of Finish

1.  High Point – The Panthers are led by the conference’s best player, John Brown, who is joined by three other seniors and two juniors at the top of the rotation.  On paper at least, this appears to be the team to beat.

2.  Coastal Carolina – The Chanticleers return four starters from last season’s NCAA Tournament team and once again get to host the conference tournament.  They are led by Elijah Wilson outside and Badou Diagne inside.

3.  Gardner-Webb – The Bulldogs have a solid frontcourt led by Tyrell Nelson.  They also return four senior guards, so there is no reason why they will not be right in the mix of things.  Jerome Hill’s decision to turn pro after last season may end up hurting.

4.  Longwood – Even though the Lancers only won 11 games last year and lost top scorer Quincy Taylor, they have a chance to surprise this season.  The main reason for that is Lotanna Nwogbo, back from an injury that cost him half of last season.  Nwogbo is a double-double threat every time he takes the court.

5.  Winthrop – Guard Keon Johnson figures to lead the way for the Eagles, but it will be difficult for them to make up for the loss of two double digit scorers in Keon Moore and Andre Smith.

6.  Campbell – D.J. Mason leads three returning starters.  The Camels biggest weakness last season was a lack of size.  They may have found the answer this year with the addition of Jon Ander Cuadra from Spain.

7.  Radford – YaYa Anderson and Rashun Davis will need to step things up a lot to make up for the losses of Javonte Green and R.J. Price.

8.  UNC Asheville – The good news is that the Bulldogs return four starters from last season.  The bad news is that it was supposed to have been all five until their top player, Andrew Rowsey, elected to transfer to Marquette.  Without Rowsey, just matching last season’s 15 wins would be an accomplishment.

9.  Liberty – Ritchie McKay has returned to the sidelines for the Flames and does have a double-digit scorer back in senior Theo Johnson.  He probably won’t be enough to provide any serious early success to McKay.

10.  Charleston Southern – Despite sharing the regular season crown last season, the Buccaneers could be in for a long year as they lost virtually everyone from the roster.  Head coach Barclay Radebaugh will need to cobble together a team made up mostly of JC transfers, so a major step backwards is expected.

11.  Presbyterian – DeSean Murray should score a ton of points for the Blue Hose this season, but there simply are not enough other pieces here for any serious success.