Basketball Big South outlook

Flames predicted to be fourth in the preseason polls

It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. After quick starts by rivals Liberty University and Coastal Carolina, neither team was able to come out on top at the Big South tournament, as the UNC Asheville Bulldogs took the title.

After winning a record 13 conference games, Liberty faltered late in the season, losing five straight games. One of which included an early exit from the Big South tournament, losing to the High Point Panthers in the first round. Coastal, at one point of the season, had won 21 straight games and became regular season champions. However, a loss to UNC Asheville in the tournament final placed them in the NIT.

Starting the season mediocre with a 2-5 record, the Bulldogs finished off the year with a six game winning streak, including a Big South title and an NCAA tourney birth before losing in the second round to the Pittsburg Panthers.

This year is a different story. Liberty is projected to finish fourth in the preseason polls while UNC Asheville is considered to win for the second consecutive season. Led by preseason Big South Player of the Year, Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm the Bulldogs are primed to defend their title. However this year’s conference looks as wide-open as ever.

Among other teams who are willing to make a run in the Big South are VMI, a team who led the NCAA in scoring, putting up about 88 points per game. Also, the frisky Winthrop Eagles team is no stranger to making the NCAA tournament with eight appearances since 2000.

Jesse Sanders, last year’s Big South Player of the Year, is the lone Liberty player to make the Big South preseason team. Sanders is joined by UNC Asheville’s Dickey and Primm, Presbyterian’s Al’Lonzo Coleman and High Point’s Nick Barbour.

With John Brown and Sommy Ogukwe sidelined for the year and a team full of youth, Liberty will look for other contributors. With only two seniors, Sanders and David Minaya, Antwan Burrus and junior college transfer Tavares Speaks are other pieces that must fit Liberty’s formula for success. The last time the Flames made an NCAA appearance was in 2004, and as an apparent underdog, the Flames have stiff competitions this year.

But anything can happen in the Big South. A new year means a new opportunity for 11 teams, all capable of making noise toward the end of the season.