NCAA Basketball: 2023 Myrtle Beach Invitational preview and predictions

Expectations

One of the beautiful things about this tournament is that it’s hard to look at this field and expect one of these teams to dominate everyone else. Again, there are no power conference programs, but does that really matter? There will be three days of exciting basketball and some potentially really even matchups along the way.

It’s easy to generalize when picking favorites, but there are a couple teams that stand out among this field. After their phenomenal performance last season, and their victory in last year’s Charleston Classic, it’s hard not to get excited to see Charleston at play. They are missing major pieces from last season, though the same could be said of Liberty who should also attract attention as a favorite.

This tournament is a major opportunity for all eight of these teams, as few of them have been really challenged at all in the first week and a half of the season. Programs like Saint Louis and Wichita State can be considered the bigger names in the field, but can you say they’ve really been on the same level as someone like Charleston of Furman in recent years?

Anyone can win this tournament, especially among those five teams we’ve mentioned. Programs like Vermont simply know how to win games, while others are still coming together as a team and will get major experience from this tournament. It’s hard to say that one of these eight teams winning or losing would be a shocker; it just is a pretty even field of talent.