Know your NCAA conference tournaments

BY ED BARKOWITZ, Daily News Staff Writer barkowe@phillynews.com
Posted: March 05, 2013

THE FIRST TWO conference tournaments begin Tuesday with the Big South and the Horizon getting under way. The first two bids go out on Saturday when the Atlantic Sun and Ohio Valley settle their league championships.

From today until next Thursday, March 14, the Daily News will preview conference tournaments as they start. Let the wonderful madness begin.

Big South

Regular-season champs: High Point (17-12) won the North Division and Charleston Southern (17-11) will be co-No. 1 seeds.

Big Doings: Charleston Southern would get the automatic NIT bid should it fail to win the conference tournament because it beat High Point. Charleston declined to cut down the nets after wrapping up the regular-season crown however, saying their eyes are set on winning the Big South tourney . . . High Point lost leading scorer John Brown for the rest of the season because of a foot injury he sustained last week . . . VMI senior forward Stan Okoye was the league's MVP after winning player of the week a record five times. Okoye, a 2,000-point scorer, serves as a vice president of the VMI Honor Court, which sounds like a place VMI cadets would be better off avoiding . . . The championship is Sunday.

Big Dance prospects: The winner of this league appears headed to Dayton for a play-in game with another 16-seed.

Horizon League

Regular-season champ: Valparaiso (24-7) will host the tournament as long as it's alive. The Crusaders have won eight of their last nine with the only loss coming against dangerous Detroit.

On the Horizon: Detroit threw a scare into Temple last Thursday before Khalif Wyatt scored 12 points in the final 2 minutes to help the Owls escape. Junior guard Ray McCallum led the Titans in scoring (19.2 per). He's the coach's son and, at 6-3, has gotten attention from pro scouts. McCallum was the Horizon Tournament MVP last year as the Titans went dancing for the first time in 12 years . . . Alec Green, a 7-1 junior center/forward has more than 1,100 points, 600 rebounds and 200 blocks. He had 28 points in a win earlier this year, which included four three-pointers . . . The Horizon League is Butler's former conference . . . The championship is Tuesday, March 12.

Big Dance prospects: This is a one-bid league that is looking at a 13- or 14-seed in the NCAAs. That favored team better beware if Detroit is sitting there.

Wednesday's previews: Atlantic Sun, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, West Coast.

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