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If the regular season is any indication, several teams can win the Southern Conference championship -- just none of the teams that finished middle-of-the-pack or worse in the league.
The team perhaps most likely to win the tournament and head to the Big Dance is regular-season champion Wofford, which lost just twice in conference play. The Terriers have won 12 of their last 13 and won the conference by one game over Chattanooga. The Mocs were the last team to beat Wofford, nearly a month ago, and are winners of six straight.
Mercer sits just two games behind Chattanooga, and while the Bears struggled down the stretch, they are no strangers to March -- remember, Mercer upset Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
Oddly enough, those are the only three teams to finish above .500 in conference play. Western Carolina is the SoCon 4 seed, but finished 9-9. Everyone else was 8-10 or worse.
The format
All 10 teams qualify for the SoCon tournament, with the top six teams earning first-round byes. In one of the two first-round games, the 8th and 9th-place teams face off for the right to get the regular season champion. The 7 and 10 teams meet in the second game to face the second-place team.
The teams
1. Wofford
2. Chattanooga
3. Mercer
4. Western Carolina
5. East Tennessee State
6. VMI
7. The Citadel
8. UNC-Greensboro
9. Samford
10. Furman
The bracket
The full SoCon Tournament bracket can be found here.
Schedule and Results (all times Eastern)
Friday, March 6
Game 1: No. 8 UNC-Greensboro 81, No. 9 Samford 76
Game 2: No. 10 Furman 73, No. 7 The Citadel 56
Saturday, March 7
Game 3: No. 1 Wofford 70, No. 8 UNC-Greensboro 52
Game 4: No. 4 Western Carolina 67 No. 5 East Tennessee State 61 (OT)
Game 5: No. 10 Furman 69, No. 2 Chattananooga 67
Game 6: No. 3 Mercer 89, No. 6 VMI 61
Sunday, March 8
Game 7: No. 1 Wofford 73. No. 4 Western Carolina 61
Game 8: No. 3 Mercer 49 No. 10 Furman 52
Monday, March 9
Game 9: No. 1 Wofford 67, No. 10 Furman 64