The Big South is a league we don't think about except...
When Gardner Webb knocks off Kentucky...
When Coastal Carolina gives Virginia an NCAA tournament run for its money...
When John Smith does this...
That's the plight of conferences like the Big South, back-burnered for much of the season by their big-conference peers.
It's a shame, really, because we're missing not just the essence of college basketball, where athletes go to, you know, college for four whole years, but also some really entertaining hoops.
This past season, for instance, seven of the league's 11 members finished within three games of first place. The race to win the regular season was tight, the fight for the tourney title and automatic bid even tighter. All but two games in the Big South tournament were decided by 10 or fewer points.
Beyond that, as the rest of the college basketball viewing public rung its collective hands over the death of scoring, the Big South was making buckets. Lots of buckets. Four teams finished in the top 50 in the nation in scoring -- Garder Webb (30th), Charleston Southern (35th), Winthrop (42nd), and Radford (49th), with UNC Asheville just missing the cut, coming in at 55th.
In other words, the games were fun to watch. What a concept.
Favorite
The Panthers have been the class of the Big South for two years running and have nothing to show for it, still waiting for that first NCAA Tournament bid. Last season, Gardner-Webb ended High Point's NCAA hopes in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament; the year before that, it was Winthrop in the quarterfinals. But with senior forward John Brown, the Panthers have a man on a mission, and the mission ends on Selection Sunday.
Sleeper
Presbyterian College Blue Hose
OK, this might be more like Sleeping Beauty, but why not the Blue Hose (who hasn't asked that question before?)? In leagues like this, the team that can ride a player's hot hand can rise to the top. Presbyterian has such a player in DeSean Murray, the Big South's freshman of the year last season. The guard averaged 15.7 points and 8.2 boards per game.
Team that could fall on its face
The Chanticleers didn't win the conference regular season last year. Didn't win it the year before that, either. They just won the Big South Tournament each time, earning the league's coveted automatic bid. But this time around, they'll have to reboot without leading scorers Warren Gillis and Josh Cameron, who graduated. There is plenty for coach Cliff Ellis to work with in Elijah Wilson and Shivaughn Wiggins, but when you're at the top, there's only one way to go.
Top pro prospect
Brown, High Point
The dunk specialist is more than a showman; he's a complete player, as he's shown in three seasons at High Point. He averaged 16.4 points per game as a freshman, 19.5 as a sophomore and 19.3 as a junior, rarely failing to produce for the Panthers. Two years ago, Brown was Big South player of the year. Last year he was runner up, and this year he ought to win it again.
Projected all-conference team
G: David Robertson, UNC Asheville Bulldogs
F:Badou Diagne, Coastal Carolina
F: DeSean Murray, Presbyterian
F: John Brown, High Point
C: Tyrell Nelson, Gardner-Webb Bulldogs