2009 Big South Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/03/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The four-time defending Big South Conference Tournament Champion Winthrop Eagles may be giving up their seat at the top of the hill this season as the league's 24th annual tournament kicks off on Tuesday, March 3rd.

The Eagles find themselves far from the favorite and are not even in the top half of the seedings. In fact, Winthrop will actually be on the road on Tuesday when the quarterfinals begin as the fifth seed drops in on fourth- seeded UNC Asheville. Winners of this tournament a total of nine times, the Eagles (11-18, 9-9) are at least heading into the event with some momentum, sporting a five-game win streak, but being last in the Big South in scoring margin (-5.2 ppg) may not help matters.

As for the Bulldogs (14-15, 10-8), a team that has two tournament titles to their credit, they lost both of their regular season meetings to Winthrop this year, so they still might not have the ability to get past the Eagles. Nevertheless, Second Team All-Big South performer Reid Augst has definitely shown that he can be a leader for the canines with his 15.1 ppg.

Earning themselves the top seed in the tournament are the Radford Highlanders (18-11, 15-3) who overcame a troubled non-conference slate to storm the rest of the Big South and win all but three of 18 league bouts. Prior to losing the regular season finale to Liberty on Saturday by a 92-85 final, the Highlanders ran off nine straight victories and 14 over the course of 15 outings. Radford, which won this event for the first and only time in 1998 versus UNC Asheville by a scant two points (63-61), led the league this season in field goal percentage (.463) and was also first in the field goal percentage defense (.397), taking its cue from Artsiom Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr who both made the All-Big South First Team, the former averaging 16.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest. Parakhouski was also named the league's Player of the Year.

Settling in against Radford in the quarterfinals are the eighth-seeded High Point Panthers (9-20, 4-14). The squad is still waiting for its first Big South Tournament crown and sports an 8-7 record in the event having made it to the title game in both 2002 and 2004. Sporting strong interior play, the Panthers placed second in the conference in rebounding (38.2 rpg), second in rebounding defense (34.1 rpg) and were first in blocked shots (4.41 bpg), thanks mostly to Cruz Daniels who led the league with 2.72 blocks per outing.

The offensive powerhouse of the league, second-seeded VMI settles in against seventh-seeded Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Led by senior guard Chavis Holmes (22.1 ppg) who was named to the All-Big South First Team and brother Travis Holmes (19.0 ppg) who made the cut for the all-conference Second Team, the Keydets (22-7, 13-5) were again the most aggressive team in the nation on offense this season, posting an amazing 94.3 ppg. To put that in perspective Liberty, which finished second in the league in scoring, came up with just 75.9 ppg. However, factor in the team's defensive efforts, or lack thereof (86 ppg), and it wasn't always easy for the group to come up with lopsided victories.

The Chanticleers (11-19, 5-13), a team that split with VMI this season and both times scored in triple digits to be competitive, are led by Joseph Harris who placed eighth in the conference in scoring with his 15.5 ppg and was one of three players in the league to average a double-double with his league- leading 11.3 ppg as he earned a spot on the All-Big South First Team. Coastal Carolina has the third-most Big South Conference Tournament titles with three, but the last of those came in 1993 and the team has a record of only 11-18 over the duration.

Although he takes a back seat to his big brother over at Davidson, there's no doubt that Seth Curry is a budding star for third-seeded Liberty as they get ready to host sixth-seeded Gardner-Webb. Curry, who was named the Big South's Freshman of the Year, found a spot on the All-BSC Second Team for the Flames (21-10, 12-6). Curry finished the regular season ranked second in the league in scoring with 20.6 ppg and was second at the free-throw line as well with his 84 percent accuracy. Because of Curry's efforts Liberty, which won the second of its Big South Tourney titles in 2004 in a rout of High Point (89-44), ranked second in the conference in scoring this season with 75.9 ppg and was also second in scoring margin at +5.4 ppg.

As for the Runnin' Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb (13-16, 9-9), the formers members of the Atlantic Sun Conference, they are getting their first taste of Big South Tournament action. The team was fourth in the league in scoring (73.9 ppg) and played very well as a team as it registered 16.38 assists per game to rank second in the conference. Senior guard Aaron Linn made his way onto the All-Big South Second Team by placing 11th in the conference in scoring with 14.7 ppg, just ahead of teammate Grayson Flittner (14.6 ppg).