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The SoCon Conference Tournament is set to get started on Friday, March 5 with two games making up the first round. All 10 teams are invited to Asheville, North Carolina, and the one-bid league will crown its champion on Monday, March 8 to determine which squad advances to the NCAA Tournament.
We’ll be taking a look at some of the best teams in each conference, and providing picks and predictions for each conference tournament. Plenty of favorites will win, but we’ve got some sleepers to consider that might be able to pull off a big upset on the way to the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s the bracket for the SoCon Conference Tournament with TV listings, dates and times.
Favorite: UNC-Greensboro
The UNC-Greensboro Spartans enter the conference tournament with the best record in conference play at 13-5, and they might be the team to beat, though this was a relatively competitive regular season race at the top with teams not playing the same amount of games. The Spartans are the best offensive rebounding team in the conference and play very good defense. Struggles on the offensive end is where Greensboro can be vulnerable.
Sleeper: Chattanooga
Despite coming into this tournament as the No. 4 seed, the Chattanooga Mocs finished the regular season with the best overall record at 18-7 including non-conference opponents. Chattanooga will make teams pay from the free throw line where the Mocs are shooting 78.7%, which leads the conference. There’s a lot to like about this team if you’re looking for a bit of an under-the-radar team.
Dark Horse: Mercer
Duke’s worst nightmare, the Mercer Bears could shock America again at a much lesser scale than their 2014 NCAA Tournament upset of the Blue Devils. Mercer is the No. 7 seed in this conference tournament with an 8-9 record in conference play. However the Bears have a 15-10 record and have the fourth best mark in road games in the conference, which is important heading into a neutral site tournament. They have the second best field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage in the conference, so if this team gets hot on the offensive end, they could be a tough out.