Southern, CAA, Summit League Conference Tournament Previews
The guys (@GamblingPodcast) continue their college basketball conference tournament preview series doing their Southern, CAA, Summit League Conference Tournament preview podcasts. They’re joined by Colby Dant (@TheColbyD) from The College Basketball Experience. March is here, March Madness is alive! More college basketball conference tourney picks will be made in this episode.
SoCon Conference Tournament Preview
Chattanooga won this conference last year but doesn’t seem to have the tools to do this again for sure. Furman was 15-3 in conference and looks promising. The bottom four seeds of this conference have to play an extra game but besides that everything is pretty standard, with a neutral site being used. Eastern Tennessee State is another team to watch out for as they have a very impressive defense.
Citadel/Mercer: Mercer -6
Mercer has a top three conference defense and seems to be the better overall team.
VMI/Chattanooga: Chattanooga -12
VMI is the bottom of the conference by far in many aspects and doesn’t show much ability to win a conference tournament game.
Western Carolina/East Tennessee State: Western Carolina -1
Both teams are close the neutral site so the crowd will be rocking. Western Carolina is the most experienced team in this one.
Wofford/UNC Greensboro: Greensboro -5
Across the board Greensboro is a sound defensive team and has played well down the stretch. However, Wofford has been playing good ball and has been forcing tight games.
CAA Conference Tournament Preview
The teams at the top, Charleston and Hofstra, seem like safe bets but teams like Towson can make a push. Delaware also won last year and still plays solid ball and is slated as a better half of the conference.
Monmouth/Hampton: Hampton -2
Monmouth had gotten hot but still finished the regular season with one of the worst field goal percentages in the country. Hampton should handle this one.
William & Mary/Elon: William & Mary -1
William & Mary shoots the three very well, but Elon finished their last 10 games 6-4. However, they did lose to William & Mary when they last played.
Stony Brook/North Carolina A&T: NCAT -2
When these teams last played, Stony Brook won by 10 against NCAT. Stony Brook also hits their free throws at a higher clip than NCAT.
Delaware/Northeastern: Delaware -4
Delaware has won 4 of their last 5. With conferences that aren’t too great, taking the favorite is always smarter.
Summit League Conference Tournament Preview
Oral Roberts seems to be on a completely different level when compared to the rest of the conference. They have hardly had any close in-conference games. The teams with the best chance to compete with them are North or South Dakota.
North Dakota/Denver -2:
North Dakota won this game by 23 the last time they played but Denver did win the first game they played.
Nebraska-Omaha/Kansas City: Kansas City -1
Nebraska has won one game since January 14th and Kansas City beat Nebraska twice this year.
St. Thomas/Western Illinois: Western Illinois -4
St. Thomas holds onto the ball well and has a solid offense and could definitely cover the plus points.
South Dakota/North Dakota State: North Dakota State -5.5
On February 2nd, South Dakota won this matchup and has the ability to get hot from behind the line.
SoCon Locks
Kramer: Mercer -6
Sean: UNCG -5
Colby: UNCG -5
CAA Locks
Kramer: Stony Brook: +2
Sean: Delaware -4
Colby: Elon +1
Summit League Locks
Kramer: North Dakota ML
Sean: North Dakota +1
Colby: North Dakota ML
Dogs:
Kramer: South Dakota ML
Sean: St. Thomas ML
Colby: St. Thomas ML
Podcast Transcriptions
