SoCon Basketball: 2021 Conference Tournament preview and predictions

LEXINGTON, VA - JANUARY 10: The Southern Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Furman Paladins and the Virginia Military Keydets at Cameron Hall on January 10, 2019 in Lexington, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

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SoCon Basketball Virginia Military Institute Keydets Dan Earl Michael Thomas Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports /

Southern Conference Bracketology

The weakness of the Southern Conference does not help any of its members. The Southern Conference will receive an automatic bid from the winner of the conference tournament. The expectation, whether it is Wofford or UNC Greensboro, or VMI, is seeding as high as 12 and as low as 14.

If the winner of the Southern Conference does get a 14 seed, they will be facing a three seed. In some projections, that could mean a team like Florida State which would mean a quick exit for the Southern Conference representative. Finally, in case someone was wondering, the Southern Conference will not be receiving an at-large bid.

First-round

Friday, March 5th GAME 1: #8 Citadel vs. #9 Western Carolina

Citadel and Western Carolina will face off for the 82nd time in their schools’ history. Western Carolina currently leads the all-time series 37-44. However, Citadel comes into this game as the higher seed with a slightly better conference record than Western Carolina. In the season series, the teams split with Western Carolina winning their first contest by 1 and Citadel winning the second contest by 11. Citadel is a better offensive team but they are coming off two terrible losses to Mercer and Furman to close out their season.

Western Carolina 85, Citadel 78

Friday, March 5th GAME 2: #7 Mercer vs. #10 Samford

Mercer won both of their contest against Samford in overtime. On February 8th, Mercer went into two overtimes before coming out with a seven-point win. Two days later, in a single overtime game, Mercer beat Samford by seven points again. Despite losing by double digits in their last game of the season, Mercer has too much firepower for Samford.

Mercer 79, Samford 77