Big South Conference Tournament Odds, Preview, and Picks – UPDATED
- The Big South Conference Tournament begins play Saturday, Feb. 27 at campus sites, with the semifinals slated for Thursday, March 4 and the title game set for Sunday, March 7, at locations to be determined
- Winthrop enters the tourney as the overwhelming favorite, winning the regular season title by five games over second-place Radford
- See the seeds, bracket, and full tournament preview, below
The Big South Conference tips off its conference tournament Saturday, Feb. 27 with a pair of play-in games. Opening-round action sees No. 10 Presbyterian College (7-14, 5-12 Big South) at No. 7 Hampton (10-13, 9-9 Big South) with a tip set for 2pm ET. That one will be followed by No. 9 seed USC Upstate (5-17, 5-11 Big South) at No. 8 High Point (8-14, 6-11 Big South) at 4pm ET. The tourney title game is set for Sunday, March 7.
Big South regular season champ Winthrop features a gaudy 20-1 record and 17-1 league mark. But with a No. 71 NCAA NET ranking, it’s highly unlikely the Eagles would receive an at-large bid if they were to be upset in the conference tourney.
That’s why Pat Kelsey’s team is the heavy favorite to earn the automatic bid and return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2017.
Editor’s note: Odds updated on Mar. 2 ahead of semifinals.
2021 Big South Tournament Odds
| Team (Seed) | Odds |
|---|---|
| #1 Winthrop | -400 |
| #2 Radford | +300 |
| #3 Campbell | +900 |
| #5 Longwood | +1600 |
| #4 UNC Ashville | Out |
| #6 Gardner-Webb | Out |
| #7 Hampton | Out |
| #8 High Point | Out |
| #9 USC-Upstate | Out |
| #10 Presbyterian | Out |
The top-six teams all receive a bye directly into the quarterfinal round, which begins Monday, March 1 at on-campus sites.
No Big South team is anywhere to be seen in our NCAA Tournament odds. The Eagles advanced to the Round of 32 in 2007. But beyond that victory, no Big South team has advanced out of the first round.
Flying High
There are some seasons the Big South features parity. The 2020-21 campaign was not one of those years. Rated No. 106 overall by KenPom, Winthrop is a full 66 spots ahead of the second-best rated team in the conference, with Gardner-Webb checking in at No. 172.
The Eagles’ .952 winning percentage is the best the program has had since the 2006-07 season. That was when the Gregg Marshall-coached squad, as a No. 11 seed, knocked off Notre Dame in the first round of the tourney.
This year’s group is led by 6-foot-7 point guard Chandler Vaudrin, who earned the league’s highest honor Friday.
Chan. Mr. Triple-Double. Stat-sheet stuffer.
Call Chandler Vaudrin whatever you want but make sure to include #BigSouthMBB🏀 Player of the Year! pic.twitter.com/XFwsVT9Wy2
— Winthrop Basketball (@Winthrop_MBB) February 26, 2021
The senior lefty can do it all, ranking seventh nationally with 6.7 assists per game. He’s also third in the conference in rebounds per game (6.8) and 12th in points per game (12.3). He’s also only the second player ever in Big South history to notch two triple-doubles in a season.
Kelsey also earned conference Coach of the Year honors. If the Eagles don’t win three more games, it would be a huge shocker. And at -185, the price is fairly reasonable for such a highly-superior team.
Webb Gem
If not Winthrop, then who? The aforementioned Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs feature an intriguing price at +750 and All-Big South First-Teamer in senior guard Jaheam Cornwall. Like Vaudrin, Cornwall is one of the most versatile players in the league, ranking eighth in scoring per game (14.3), fourth in assists per game (3.8) and third in 3-point shooting percentage (.420).
He shot 60.7 percent and averaged 21.0 points in ✌️ key conference road wins!@GWU_MBK's Jaheam Cornwall is the #BigSouthMBB🏀 Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/h5F9l7hrKh
— Big South Conference (@BigSouthSports) February 22, 2021
The Bulldogs split their two games with quarterfinal opponent Campbell this season, winning 85-70 on Jan. 5 at home and losing 70-61 at home the day before. Tim Craft’s team is an above-average shooting outfit, sporting a 67th-best effective field goal percentage in all of college basketball and 59th-best 3-point percentage at 36.5-percent.
KenPom has them edging the Camels 70-69 Monday, and I’m leaning that way as well.
Longshot Pick
If you’re looking for an even bigger longshot, Hampton (at +5000) is the team in this spot. The Pirates boast the league’s leading scorer in swingman Davion Warren, who put up 21.7 point per game this season. Warren was also an all-conference First Team selection.
This is only the program’s third season in the Big South, but as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the Bucs were a semi-regular in March Madness, reaching the Dance six times over a 16-year span — even scoring one of the tourney’s all-time upsets in 2001 as a No. 15 seed when it knocked off Iowa State 58-57.
Winthrop beat Hampton 76-68 in the tourney title game last year and you can bet if it’s a rematch this year, revenge will be on the Pirates’ mind. Plus, with tourney spread out over eight days — and a home game against Presbyterian to open things up Saturday — playing four games in a short stretch isn’t overly ambitious.
The Eagles are the obvious pick here, but Gardner-Webb and Hampton could be teams to watch.
Blair Johnson is a veteran journalist and seasoned sports content creator. He has been writing and producing content as long as he can remember, with such familiar names as CNN, NFL Media and Yahoo. Blair currently lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.
