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USATSI

Which team is the biggest favorite to win a conference tournament among the tourneys tipping off this week? Not Gonzaga or St. Mary's in the WCC. Not Drake in the MVC. It's actually High Point in the Big South. 

The nine-team Big South tournament will take place entirely at Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tennessee. The opening game between No. 9 USC Upstate and No. 8 Gardner-Webb tips off on Wednesday, March 5, followed by all four quarterfinal matchups on Friday, March 7. 

Here is a look at the entire Big South conference tournament schedule, with the winner serving as the Big South's lone representative in March Madness. 

Big South Tournament Schedule

First Round (March 5)

No. 9 USC Upstate vs. No. 8 Gardner-Webb

Quarterfinals (March 7)

QF1: USC Upstate/Gardner-Webb winner vs. No. 1 High Point
QF2: No. 5 Presbyterian vs. No. 4 Radford
QF3: No. 7 Charleston Southern vs. No. 2 USC Asheville
QF4: No. 6 Longwood vs. No. 3 Winthrop

Semifinals (March 8)

SF1: QF1 winner vs. QF2 winner
SF2: QF3 winner vs. QF4 winner

Final (March 9)

SF1 winner vs. SF2 winner

High Point has never made an NCAA Tournament despite winning or having a share of the Big South regular season crown five previous times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2024). In those five seasons, High Point lost its Big South tournament games by a combined 16 points. This may be the Panthers' best chance yet to get over the hump, as they're 68 spots higher on KenPom than the next-closest Big South team (Radford). As a result, High Point is sizable -250 chalk at FanDuel Sportsbook to take home the Big South conference tournament. The Panthers are led by their big three of Kezza Giffa (14.6 PPG), D'Maurian Williams (14.5 PPG) and Kimani Hamilton (13.8 PPG). 

There is a large gap between High Point and the next batch of teams to win the Big South conference tournament, with No. 4 Radford (+850), No. 2 UNC Asheville (+900) and No. 3 Winthrop (+900) all bunched together in the next group. UNC Asheville is the only team in the conference with three players averaging at least 15 points per game, headlined by guard Jordan Marsh at 19.2. Marsh is second in the conference in scoring, only behind Charleston Southern's Taje' Kelly at 20.8 PPG.

Speaking of Charleston Southern, the Buccaneers have the second-longest odds for this tournament at +13000, only ahead of USC Upstate at +25000. Longwood, last year's Big South tournament champion as the No. 5 seed, is listed at +1600 to repeat out of the No. 6 spot. To round out the field, Presbyterian resides at +4600 and Gardner-Webb stands at +12000. 

So should you take High Point or a longer shot to come out of the Big South? SportsLine expert Thomas Casale is siding with High Point, which comes in red-hot after winning its last four games by an average of 20.2 points. But which teams are the experts backing in all the other conference tournaments? You can get the best bets for each tournament at SportsLine. You can also find the SportsLine Projection Model's simulations for every game.