Big South tourney seeds set; Winthrop No. 2

Winthrop will play the winner of Radford-Presbyterian in the second round of the Big South Conference men’s basketball tournament Friday in Buies Creek, N.C.

The Eagles finished tied for first with High Point but the Panthers took the top seed thanks to a head to head tie-breaker. The Eagles were 2-2 versus Coastal Carolina and UNC Asheville, while the Panthers were 2-1, giving them the top seed.

Winthrop and High Point’s tie for first place gave the Big South its third shared regular season championship in the last four seasons, indicative of the parity that has taken over a league dominated for a decade by the Eagles. The shared championship was High Point’s fourth straight, marking the third time in league history that’s happened. Winthrop’s share of the regular season title was the Eagles’ first since 2006-07.

The tournament’s first round begins Thursday at Campbell’s Gore Arena with six teams in action; High Point, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina, UNC Asheville and Liberty join the fray on Friday. Some notes on the upcoming tournament:

▪ Winthrop has been the Big South tournament’s No. 2 seed four times. In 1986, the Eagles lost in the semifinals, but in 2000, 2001 and 2008 they won the conference tournament as the second seed.

▪ Winthrop’s trips to the Big South final the last two seasons came out of the No. 4 seed from the South Division in 2014 - the last year of a two-division system - and last year as the fifth seed. Coastal Carolina, a No. 1 seed playing on its home floor, beat Winthrop on both occasions.

▪ By virtue of winning the Big South regular season title, High Point clinched an NIT bid should it not win the conference tournament and accompanying NCAA tourney berth. The Panthers haven’t won a Big South tournament game since 2012.

▪ Winthrop’s 10 Big South tournament championships are the most in conference history. Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville have won four, and Liberty three.

Radford and UNC Asheville have lost in the conference tournament championship game a Big South-high four times. Winthrop has finished runner-up three times, losing to Coastal Carolina on each occasion, while Charleston Southern, Campbell, Coastal have also finished second three times.

▪ Winthrop has won its first game of the Big South tournament each of the last six seasons. The Eagles are 19-10 all-time in first games of the conference tournament.

▪ Big South Conference awards will be released Tuesday afternoon and it’s highly likely that High Point’s John Brown will be player of the year after another excellent all-around season for the Panthers.

But only six times in Big South history has the regular season player of the year ended up as the tournament MVP too. Coastal Carolina’s Tony Dunkin did it twice (1990-91, 1992-93), while Eric Burks achieved the feat for Charleston Southern in 1994-95. Winthrop’s Greg Lewis won both awards in 2001-02 and High Point’s Danny Gathings did it in 2003-04. Radford big man Art Parakhouski was the last to do it in 2008-09.

▪ Speaking of Brown, there hasn’t been definitive word yet on the extent of his injury suffered last Thursday night against Winthrop. Brown didn’t play in High Point’s win over Presbyterian Saturday that sewed up a conference title.

▪ Get tickets for the tournament online at http://gocamels.com/tickets/index or by calling Campbell’s athletic office at 910-893-1459.

2016 Big South Conference tournament pairings

First round, Thursday, March 3 - Big South Network

Game 1: No. 8 Longwood vs. No. 9 Charleston Southern, 2 p.m.

G2: No. 7 Radford vs. No. 10 Presbyterian, 4:30 p.m.

G3: No. 6 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 11 Campbell, 7 p.m.

Quarterfinals, Friday, March 4 - ESPN3

G4: No. 1 High Point vs. G1 winner, 12 p.m.

G5: No. 4 UNC Asheville vs. No. 5 Liberty, 2 p.m.

G6: No. 2 Winthrop vs. G2 winner, 6 p.m.

G7: No. 3 Coastal Carolina vs. G3 winner, 8 p.m.

Semifinals, Saturday, March 5 - ESPN3

Game 8: G4 winner vs. G5 winner, 1 p.m.

Game 9: G6 winner vs. G7 winner, 3 p.m.

Championship, Sunday, March 6 - ESPN2

G10: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 2 p.m.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Big South tourney seeds set; Winthrop No. 2."