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SoCon Basketball: 2023 Conference Tournament preview and predictions

By Elijah Campbell

CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 14: Jalen Slawson #20 of the Furman Paladins is defended by Dawson Garcia #13 of the North Carolina Tar Heels at Dean E. Smith Center on December 14, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 74-61. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - DECEMBER 14: Jalen Slawson #20 of the Furman Paladins is defended by Dawson Garcia #13 of the North Carolina Tar Heels at Dean E. Smith Center on December 14, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 74-61. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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SoCon Basketball UNC Greensboro Spartans guard Keyshaun Langley Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
SoCon Basketball UNC Greensboro Spartans guard Keyshaun Langley Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

One of the sneaky best mid-major conference tournaments tips off on Friday in Asheville. Last year’s SOCON Basketball Tournament ended with one of the highlights of March when David Jean-Baptiste hit a prayer at the buzzer to send UT-Chattanooga to the NCAA Tournament and send Furman home without a tournament bid once again.

The conference has produced some thrilling games and sneaky-good tournament teams over the past few years. There are obvious things here at stake: a conference championship, a trip to the NCAA Tournament, a chance to be on One Shining Moment for head coaches, this specific conference tournament championship has directly resulted in a job upgrade. In 2019, Wofford won the SOCON Tournament, beat Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and then head coach Mike Young landed the Virginia Tech job.

The next season, East Tennessee State won the SOCON Tournament and head coach Steve Forbes landed the Wake Forest job after the tournament was canceled due to COVID. In 2021, UNC Greensboro earned a tournament bid by virtue of winning the SOCON and Wes Miller earned himself the Cincinnati gig. Last season, UT-Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris parlayed a SOCON championship into a head coaching job at South Carolina.

Will the trend continue this year? There are a few coaches on the rise and a few teams that can scare the soul out of their first-round opponent. Furman is looking to break a historic NCAA Tournament drought and is the odds-on favorite to win, Samford and UNC Greensboro have been the other teams in that top tier this season and there are a few teams that can play spoiler as lower seeds. This league is not short on high-quality players either so let’s start off with the best players and teams to watch in this event.