With the Big South’s men’s basketball tournament set to tip off on Feb. 28, The Rotunda is taking a look at what to expect and who to keep an eye on.
The opening round sees the bottom four sides facing off, starting with No. 7 seed Campbell hosting No. 10 seed Presbyterian. Expect the Camels, fresh off their upset win over Radford, to move on to face No. 2 seed UNC Asheville two days later.
Meanwhile, No. 9 seed Longwood travels to No. 8 seed Charleston Southern with a match between No. 1 seed Winthrop at stake. The Lancers head to Charleston, S.C. in ice-cold form following 15 straight losses, but senior guards and captains Darrion Allen and Issac Belton remain confident in their teams’ abilities.
Allen, speaking after the Lancers’ 86-78 senior day loss to Charleston Southern, said, “We’ve just got to forget the past, totally different mindset. Everybody’s 0-0 going into the tournament, it’s win or go home. Everybody’s going there, coming at everybody’s necks.”
“The key is to hit on all cylinders to start,” added Belton. “It starts with defense. Once we started playing defense this second half, we got back in the game.”
The Buccaneers should still advance over the Lancers, but expect top-seeded Winthrop to breeze past either team in the quarterfinals.
On the same side of the bracket, No. 4 seed Gardner-Webb takes on No. 5 seed High Point for the second time in less than a week. The Runnin’ Bulldogs won 88-86 on the road on Feb. 25, and they should come out on top in a neutral venue on Thursday.
The final quarterfinal matchup is the most intriguing of the group, as No. 3 seed Liberty squares off with No. 6 seed Radford. Liberty may be the higher seed, but the Highlanders’ sophomore forward Ed Polite Jr. can exploit the Flames’ rebounding weakness. Polite Jr., who leads the conference with 14 double-doubles, may be the tournament’s breakout player.
Following a grueling regular season campaign, the tournament will further test the stamina of these teams, with only six days between the opening round and the final. It applies particularly to the Lancers, whose struggles with injuries have left the remaining few players working overtime this season. But both Allen and Belton view the tournament as a blank slate for each of the teams.
“It’s all or nothing, so we can’t really think about it (the fatigue), you just got to power through,” said Belton. “You never know what game’s going to be your last, so you got to leave it all out on the floor.”
“In the tournament, you just got to be real disciplined on everything,” said Allen, who became Longwood’s sixth player to score 1,000 career points this season. “On defense, we can’t press as much as we want to, because of the depth we have. We can’t play too aggressive, because we don’t want to get in foul trouble.”
While Winthrop and UNC Asheville are heavy favorites to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the Lancers’ senior captains are bullish on their chances, viewing anything short of a tournament win as a disappointment.
“A successful tournament, for me? I don’t care how many points I score, taking home a championship, that’s successful right there,” said Allen.
When asked for their favorites to win it all, both Belton and Allen had only one pick.
“Us,” the pair said, without hesitation.
