It’s conference tournament time! Meaning by Sunday afternoon, these power rankings won’t matter, but we know you love them! So, here’s our Big South basketball power rankings as we enter the conference tournament. First game is Wednesday at noon between Winthrop and Liberty.
Note: Division ranking in parenthesis. National rankings are courtesy of KenPom.com. Arrows denote movement in overall Power Rankings. since previous power rankings.
1. (1st North) High Point 16-13, 12-4 #249 1
The Panthers jump to first in this week’s power rankings as they enter the Big South Tournament the #1 seed from the North Division. Should High Point lose in the tournament, they would get an automatic birth into the NIT due to finishing with the best record in conference play. A remarkable job by Scott Cherry after HPU lost Allan Chaney early in the season. The Panthers lost 9 straight Division I games after Chaney went down. They have since won 12 of their past 14 games.
2. (1st South) Coastal Carolina 18-12, 11-5 #248 1
The Chanticleers swept their games this week against Presbyterian and Charleston Southern to earn the #1 seed in the South. Coastal will also have the luxury of playing the tournament on their home floor though that didn’t help last year when they lost to Liberty in the first round. The Chanticleers had 3 players finish in the top 13 in the conference in scoring.
3. (2nd N) VMI 18-11, 11-5 #226 2
VMI has to be considered one of the teams to beat as we enter the conference tournament. The Keydets dropped a narrow 3-point decision on Wednesday night in High Point resulting in VMI’s #2 seed from the North Division in the Tournament. VMI’s high octane offense will face the winner of Gardner-Webb and Longwood on Friday where we could see a rematch of that thrilling 4 overtime game between the Runnin’ Bulldogs and Keydets.
4. (2nd S) UNC-Asheville 16-14, 10-6 #223 no change
Asheville has been up and down all season, and concluded the final week of the regular season in the same fashion. The Bulldogs lost to Winthrop in overtime before beating Gardner-Webb on Saturday. Asheville’s win over G-W resulted in UNCA getting the #2 seed from the South Division and a first round bye. Andrew Rowsey scored 37 points on 8 made 3-pointers against Winthrop.
5. (3rd S) Gardner-Webb 17-14, 10-6 #244 no change
Under first year head coach Tim Craft, the Runnin’ Bulldogs had an impressive regular season finishing 10-6 in the league. Gardner-Webb will play Longwood in the first round finale Wednesday night. G-W defeated the Lancers 82-62 in Farmville on January 29th.
6. (4th S) Winthrop 17-12, 10-6 #228 no change
Hoping to regain some of Gregg Marshall’s magic, Pat Kelsey guided the Eagles to their first winning record in conference play since their championship season of 2010. Winthrop has won 7 of their past 9 games including 2 wins this past week over Asheville and Presbyterian.
7. (3rd N) Radford 20-11, 10-6 #251 no change
Radford is the only team in the Big South to finish the regular season with 20 wins, and, believe it or not, it is the first time the Highlanders have EVER finished a regular season with 20 wins. Head coach Mike Jones seems to have his team on the path to success. Radford won just 6 games in Jones’ first season on the job, a number that increased to 13 a year ago, and 20 this season in his 3rd year. Coach Jones returns all major contributors next season when the Highlanders should be a challenger for the conference championship. But first things first, as Radford, behind Javonte Green, has a chance to make a run this year.
8. (5th S) Charleston Southern 12-17, 6-10 #245 no change
I keep thinking Charleston Southern will turn it on at some point, but the Buccaneers are running out of time. CSU has not won consecutive games against Division I competition all season. Unless Barclay Radebaugh can get his troops geared up for a tournament run, this season will be looked at as a failure for the preseason Big South South Division favorites.
9. (4th N) Liberty 11-20, 5-11 #288 no change
The Flames enter the conference tournament coming off a win over Longwood and a loss to Radford on Saturday. Dale Layer hopes he can repeat last season’s magical championship run towards another conference tournament championship. Liberty plays in the first game of the tournament against Winthrop on Wednesday at noon.
10. (5th N) Campbell 12-19, 6-10 #331 no change
Yes, Campbell is below Liberty despite their better record. The Camels have a lower KenPom ranking, were swept by the Flames in the regular season, and are playing worse than Liberty (if that’s possible). Campbell is 2-8 in their past 10 games including losses this past week to Radford and High Point. The Camels face Charleston Southern at 6pm in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday evening.
11. (6th N) Longwood 8-23, 3-13 #345 no change
Who’s the worst team in the conference? An argument can certainly be made for the Lancers who finish 3-13 in conference play, narrowly above Presbyterian’s 2-14 mark. The Blue Hose also own the head-to-head win over Longwood, but we’ll give the Lancers the slight edge here. Neither team should be expected to win a game in the conference tournament.
12. (6th S) Presbyterian 6-25, 2-14 #349 no change
Same story for the Blue Hose who lost to Coastal Carolina and Winthrop this week. Presbyterian has been outscored by an average of 27 points in their last 3 games. Radford looks to do the same to PC in the first round of the Big South Tournament. The Highlanders beat Presbyterian 83-66 in Clinton on February 8th.
