Every year, there is a mid-major conference that everyone says will pull at least one upset in the big dance. This year, that conference is the Big South. Teams like Winthrop and Coastal Carolina are almost dead locks to make the tournament. The Eagles came within one shot of sending Tennessee home last year, and Torrell Martin has already stated that it won’t happen again. How do these teams stack up?Winthrop was the best fifteen seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament. They felt shafted by the selection committee, and proved they were when they came a Torrell Martin miss away from sending Tennesee home. Martin is back this year, and was named the Big South preseason player of the year. This team is more than Martin, as Craig Bradsaw, their top rebounder, and Chris Gaynor, their top assist man. Even though Greg Marshall took the Charlston job, he did change his mind on the car ride home, and came back to Winthrop. Look for Winthrop to take the confrence, but with a huge fight of the second place team, Coastal Carolina.
Watch out for Coastal Carolina. Last season was the first for Buzz Pederson, who came within one point of sweeping Winthrop to make the tournament. Look for a lot of the same this year, with Jack Leasure back for the Chanticleers. Leasure was the best three-point shooter not named J.J. Reddick, when he hit 125 three-pointers last season, a Big South record. Coastal isn’t just Jack Leasure, though, Moses Sonko and Joesph Harris will also be vital to this team.
Another team to watch out for is High Point. They might be a young team, but they are talented and deep. They bring back Arizona Reid, who is a monster on the boards. Reid has impressive offsensive numbers, scoring almost ninteen points per game and just over nine rebounds per game. If High Point wants to overtake Coastal or Winthrop for second, Reid will have to average at least a double-double this season.
As for the rest of the confrence, it’s a shooting match. Birmingham Southern, Liberty, North Carolina-Ashville, Chareston Southern, Radford and VMI should finish in that order, but none are that impressive. Birmingham Southen might have posted an 12-4 record last season, but graduation has realy cost them dearly. Liberty will most likely have the Big South’s player of the year in Larry Blair, but they have no depth. The rest of the confrence is just horrid.
Although Blair will be in the running for the Big South player of the year, the true player to watch out for is Winthrop’s Torell Martin. Martin is best known for missing the jumpshot with 2.2 seconds left that sent the Eagles home from the NCAA Tournament. He’s aready come out and stated that he is on a mission, and nothing will stop him from trying to avenge the most painful loss of his career. Martin won the Big South Tournament MVP last season, and averaged nearly fourteen points per game and just over five rebounds per game. Another player who will make some serious noise for the player of the year will be Coastal’s Jack Leasure, who is deadly behind the three point line.
In the end, Winthrop should make the tournament with an automatic bid, and be seeded eleventh. Coastal has an outside shot at making it and getting a fifteen or a sixteen seed. High Point will be on the outside looking in, while Birmingham Southern will lead the rest of the pack who just isn’t that great. All and all this season of the Big South should be intresting to watch at the top.
One reply on “2006-2007 Big South Preview”
are you high No team would get an at-large bid and be seeded 15th or 16th. I think in the last 15 years, only once has a 14-seed been an at-large. If they are good enough for an at-large bid, they won’t be seeded lower than 13th, and they’d have to have no more than 2 or 3 losses. At 26-4 or something like that, they will not get in.
Of course, I would have argued this stupid pick had I seen the article when it came out, but any chance of it happening was almost destroyed in their first game, when they lost to Xavier 79-46. Luckilly they play a god-awful schedule the rest of the way, save Florida State, but unless they run the table the rest of the way, they’ll have no leg to stand on for an at-large bid.