SoCon

The Southern Conference begins its tournament on Friday from beautiful Asheville, NC. This is the longest running conference tournament. This should be a two-bid league but won’t be. Instead, we’ll get Purdue or Indiana or Marquette. Boo

The regular season champion was East Tennessee State who went 27-4 (16-2). They are very good. They’re 67th in KenPom and won at LSU. They are riding a 9-game winning streak. Their two conference losses were as Furman and a weird loss at home to Mercer.

Speaking of Furman, the Paladins finished second, 25-6 (15-3). They’re 72nd in KenPom. They don’t have the resume they did a year ago but did take Auburn to overtime. In 3rd place was UNC-Greensboro who was 23-8 and has wins at Georgetown and Vermont. They’re 86th in KenPom.

One of those 3 should win but it’s possible Chattanooga or Western Carolina could steal a bid. Both can shoot. Western Carolina pushes the pace and are probably a fun as hell team to watch. Western Carolina is coached by Mark Prosser, son of the late Skip Prosser. Neither are any good on defense but hot shooting over a weekend and all.

The Pick: East Tennessee State