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Southern Conference Tournament: Full bracket, preview, and predictions

By Lukas Harkins

CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 20: Players of the Wofford Terriers celebrate following their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Dean Smith Center on December 20, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Wofford won 79-75. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 20: Players of the Wofford Terriers celebrate following their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Dean Smith Center on December 20, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Wofford won 79-75. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NC – DECEMBER 06: Parks
CHAPEL HILL, NC – DECEMBER 06: Parks /

Bottom-half of the conference

10. Chattanooga (9-22, 3-15): After a stretch of four consecutive winning seasons, this year has been a forgettable one for the Mocs. They have struggled throughout the year and enter the conference tournament on a six-game losing streak. It seems unlikely that Chattanooga will make a run in the conference tournament but weird things have happened before.

Nat Dixon (14.3 points) is an underrated scorer who can light it up from 3-point range. He makes more than two trifectas per game and shoots 39.4% from deep. With the top four scorers all in the junior year or younger, Chattanooga is a youthful team in the conference.

9. VMI (9-20, 4-14): The worst team in the conference according to KenPom, the Keydets have had a tough go of things this season. VMI’s only conference wins have come against Chattanooga and The Citadel this season as they have been unable to secure a win to hang their hat on this season. Even if a run in the SoCon Tournament is mostly out of the question, the future looks solid.

As one of five freshmen to receive consistent minutes this season, Bubba Parham (14.9 points) has emerged as a quality offensive option for the team throughout the year. He is the clear leading scorer on the team and has a bright future in the conference.

8. The Citadel (10-20, 5-13): The Citadel has had an interesting season. Despite a poor conference record and placement in the standings, they have an outstanding win over East Tennessee State on the road. The Bulldogs have shown, even if it was just once, that they have the ability to beat anyone in the conference.

Yet, they followed up that big win with back-to-back losses and enter the conference tournament losing six of their last seven games. Duggar Baucom’s team might not be in the top-half of the league this year but the future looks great. The Citadel does not have a single senior on the roster and is led by junior Zane Najdawi (15.4 points), an All-Conference player already.

7. Samford (10-21, 6-12): This has really been a disappointing season for Samford. After being picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason, the Bulldogs have struggled mightily. They have only beaten one team ranked higher than them in conference play (Western Carolina) all season long. Because of this, it does not look likely that Samford will make a deep run in the SoCon Tournament.

Thankfully, the Bulldogs have a matchup with tenth-seeded Chattanooga to open up the tournament. Winning that game could potentially get the ball rolling for Scott Padgett’s team.

6. Western Carolina (13-18, 8-10): The Catamounts have won just one of their last six games. Thankfully, that was their most recent game against The Citadel. Because of this, Western Carolina will enter the conference tournament on one of their longest winning streaks of the year: one game. Only twice all season have the Catamounts won more than one game in a row.

This does not bode especially well for a team that needs to win three straight in order to go dancing. In addition, they only have one victory over a team in the top-half of the conference. This came all the way back on Jan. 10 when the Catamounts defeated Mercer.