Big South Basketball: In-depth look at USC Upstate star Tommy Bruner
By Bryan Mauro
Entering year three of their transition to the Big South, USC Upstate has high expectations, led by guard Tommy Bruner.
Big South basketball doesn’t have the biggest arenas, as the league has the two smallest arenas in the game in the Buc Dome at Charleston Southern which seats 880 fans, and the Hodge Center at South Carolina Upstate which seats 818 people.
The league does not receive the fanfare that a lot of other teams get and they don’t get the exposure that many other conferences get. What the league does have is a lot of extremely fun teams with a lot of great individual talent.
Over the last three seasons, the league has some of the games most explosive scorers and one of those players led the NCAA in scoring his senior year and was one of the most prolific scorers in NCAA history in Chris Clemons.
The conference has also seen its fair share of players graduate from their current schools and transfer up to one of the power schools. The most recent player to leave their school was Benjamin Stanley, who left his Hampton squad to transfer to play for the Xavier Musketeers.
Stanley joined former Radford standout Carlik Jones as stars to leave the league. Jones transferred to Louisville earlier in the offseason. With those players gone it is time for a new crop of players to step up and stake their claims as one of the best low major players in the country.
Who is the best player in the conference currently? Look no further than Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the South Carolina Upstate Spartans. Sophomore guard Tommy Bruner is assaulting the record books after only one season in college and he is looking to do more damage in his sophomore season.
The Spartans have some high expectations as a team and finally look to have a team that is capable of a consistent run of success in the Big South.