SoCon Basketball: 2020 conference tournament preview and predictions

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LAWRENCE, KANSAS – NOVEMBER 19: head coach Steve Forbes of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

SoCon Bracketology

Last season, the SoCon had one guaranteed team going dancing no matter what. Wofford would have been an at-large bid had they not won the conference tournament. But they did, causing bubbles squads UNC G and Furman to miss out on the bid dance (Justice for the 2018-19 Spartans!). This season, ETSU sits in Wofford’s position. The Buccs aren’t anywhere near the locked spot that the Terriers were last year, but our bracketologist currently has them as an 11-seed, as does the Bracket Matrix, which would suggest a level of safeness as of right now.

ETSU currently sits at 40 in the NET rankings and at 29th in the AP Poll. They are also 26th in RPI for whatever that’s worth anymore. All those figures also suggest they are a team nearing lock status. They have just one “bad” loss, at home to Mercer, so they should avoid losing before the conference title game to feel safe. The win at LSU is really helpful.

UNC G and Furman are not on the bubble as they were last year. Their resumes are good but not as good as they were a year ago. Although the Spartans were a few unlucky breaks away from maybe being in the at-large discussion. Either team would get a solid seed, somewhere around 13 or even 12, if they were to win the SoCon. Western Carolina would be in the 15 range. Any other winners would probably be a 16.