All 11 Southern Conference teams will square off this weekend to declare the group's sole entrant to this year's NCAA Tournament, with Davidson the fairly heavy favorite to take home the crown for a third straight year.
Southern Conference Tournament 2014: Davidson leads weak SoCon pack
The hot-shooting Wildcats of Davidson enter the tournament on a 12-game winning streak.
Jonathan Ferrey
The Wildcats took home the regular season crown with a 15-1 conference record and their only loss in Southern Conference play came in overtime against Elon in January. Other than that, the Wildcats didn’t have many problems. They beat second-place Chattanooga by a whopping score of 94-51 and capped their regular season by defeating third-place Elon at their own court, 86-69. Davidson ends the year on a 12-game winning streak, and looks poised to run right through the conference tournament with a first-round bye.
Must Reads
Davidson is ranked 118th in KenPom.com’s rankings, with Elon (190th) and Wofford (193rd) as the only two other teams in the top 200. The Wildcats are by far the best offensive team in the conference, ranking 42nd in adjusted offense (second-best is Elon, at 176th), and played a very tough non-conference schedule that included an overtime loss to North Carolina.
While the Wildcats are without any sharpshooting Currys, they do shoot the ball very well and are led by senior forward De’Mon Brooks. The 6’7 North Carolina local leads the team in both points per game (18.4) and rebounds per game (7.0), while shooting 42.9 percent from three-point range.
Five different Davidson players are shooting at least 39 percent from deep, with the highest-volume shooters being Brian Sullivan (84 of 214, for 39.3 percent) and Tyler Kalinoski (54 of 112, for 48.2 percent). If the Wildcats hit the deep ball with consistency, they're nearly impossible to stop.
The first three rounds will stream on ESPN3, while the semifinal games will also be available on CSS. The championship game will air on ESPN2.
Friday, March 7 (First Round)
No. 8 Samford vs. No. 9 Appalachian State, 11 a.m. ET
No. 7 Georgia Southern vs. No. 10 Furman, 1:30 p.m. ET
No. 6 UNGC vs. No. 11 The Citadel, 4 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 8 (Quarterfinals)
No. 1 Davidson vs. Winner of 8/9 game, Noon ET
No. 4 Elon vs. No. 5 Western Carolina, 2:30 p.m. ET
No. 2 Chattanooga vs. Winner of 7/10 game, 6 p.m. ET
No. 3 Wofford vs. Winner of 6/11 game, 8:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, March 9 (Semifinals)
Winner of 1/8/9 vs. Winner of 4/5, 6 p.m. ET
Winner of 2/7/10 vs. Winner of 3/6/11, 8:30 p.m. ET
Monday, March 10
Championship game, 9 p.m. ET
See More:
