Tuesday, March 3 (games at higher seed)
No. 8 High Point @ No. 1 Radford
Radford beat High Point the two times they played them this year, yet strangely enough with their 15-3 conference record, Radford's only losses came at home. However, High Point shouldn't be too much of a challenge for Radford, so I'm saying Radford wins this game.
No. 7 Coastal Carolina @ No. 2 VMI
Coastal Carolina has been a tough matchup for VMI, as both games went to the end and were both decided by fewer than four points as they split the series over the regular season. However, Coastal Carolina has lost four in a row and is going to be on the road against a very tough team in VMI, so I don't see them turning it around in this game...VMI wins.
No. 6 Gardner-Webb @ No. 3 Liberty
The regular season matchups were split, but since Gardner-Webb didn't win an away game in February and Liberty is just coming off of an away win vs. Radford and having the scoring power of Seth Curry, I see it hard to bet against Liberty come tournament time, especially in this matchup, so Liberty wins.
No. 5 Winthrop @ No. 4 UNC Asheville
Winthrop won both of the matchups in the regular season and is on a five-game winning streak going into the tournament. This is the game that should probably be the closest due to rankings, but it seems to me to be the most one-sided—I give the edge to Winthrop in this one.
Thursday, March 5 at the Dedmon Center (Radford, VA)
No. 2 VMI vs. No. 3 Liberty
This game is what I believe is the Championship game from the beginning...VMI showed that they had talent with their very early win over Kentucky, and Liberty has a freshman star in Seth Curry.
VMI destroyed Liberty @ Liberty late in the year, while Liberty won by 11 at VMI...Seth Curry scored 14 in the loss and 35 in the win, so he seems to be the deciding factor. After seeing the way his brother played in the tourney, I decided that the Big South tourney is Curry Time, and Liberty wins in a closer game than what these two teams are used to having against one another.
No. 5 Winthrop vs. No. 1 Radford
Radford has beaten Winthrop both times they played each other in the regular season and have won nine of their last 10, so obviously are a lock in this game, right? But it's March, and crazy things happen in March, and for some reason I feel Winthrop pulling off the upset and getting into the Championship game...Winthrop wins a thriller.
Saturday, March 7 (at highest seed)
No. 5 Winthrop @ No. 3 Liberty
The regular season was split between these two teams, but were split where the winner was always at home...so I guess I am going to have to keep riding the Curry train to the NCAA tournament...Liberty wins pretty comfortably by about nine or 10 and heads to the NCAAs.
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