2018-19 Big South Men’s Basketball Season: An In-Depth Guide
By Collin Giuliani// Sports Editor
On Nov. 6, the 2018-19 NCAA men’s basketball season will officially get underway. For the Big South Conference, this past offseason has been full of change. Two new teams, Hampton and USC Upstate, joined the coerence, while Liberty left the conference to join the Atlantic Sun. Multiple teams hired new coaches, including UNC Asheville, Longwood and High Point University, and some of the top players from last year, such as MaCio Teague and Andre Fox, transferred and are no longer in the conference. With all the shake-up from this past offseason, this upcoming season could be one of the most unpredictable in the conference in quite some time.
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
BUCCANEERS
Last Season: 15-16 (9-9, 6th place in Big South)
Head Coach: Barclay Radebaugh (14th season)
After finishing tied for first in the Big South in the 2014-15 season, Charleston Southern has not had a winning record in each of the past three seasons. The Buccaneers could reverse that this year with the help of arguably the best defensive backcourts in the Big South, as Christian Keeling and Phlandrous Fleming Jr. are some of the top players in the conference in generating steals. Last season, Keeling finished sixth in the conference in steals per game, while Fleming finished seventh. Charleston Southern also led the Big South in steals per game, which is the first time since the 2002-03 season that the Buccaneers led the conference in this category. It’s part of the reason why last season, Fleming received Big South All-Freshman Team honors, and why this season, Keeling was named as a First Team All-Conference selection.
However, the frontcourt for Charleston Southern this season remains a question mark. The Buccaneers had three players last season listed at 6’7” or taller; all three of those players are no longer with the team. Freshman center Sadarius Bowser, listed at 6’9”, is projected to have an immediate impact in his first season with the team, alongside freshman forward Timmy Sellers, listed at 6’8”. Getting these freshmen accommodated to playing at the Division I level will take some time. If they have trouble making this adjustment, then Charleston Southern could be beaten badly on the boards and may have to rely exclusively on their backcourt to get the job done. If, however, Bowser and Sellers live up to the hype and provide a spark to the frontcourt, then Charleston Southern could be one of the pleasant surprises in the conference this season.
HAMPTON PIRATES
Last Season: 18-16 (12-4, 1st place in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
Head Coach: Edward Joyner (10th season)
Hampton is one of two new teams to be joining the Big South Conference this season, alongside USC Upstate, and is projected to be one of the early favorites in the conference. The Pirates ended last season on a high note. After starting 9-14 and 4-4 in conference play, the team won 10 consecutive games, got the top seed in the conference, and made it all the way to the conference championship before falling to North Carolina Central by a score of 71-63. Under head coach Edward Joyner, the Pirates have been postseason regulars, making it to a postseason tournament in each of the past five seasons, including the NIT last season and the NCAA Tournament in 2015 and 2016.
For the most part, Hampton brings back much of last year’s team. Of their top five scorers from last season, four of them return, including their leading scorer, Jermaine Marrow, who received Preseason All-Conference First Team honors this season. Marrow helped lead Hampton to one of the top 50 scoring offenses in the entire NCAA last season by finishing fourth in the conference in points per game, and second in the conference in assists per game. Hampton boasts an experienced roster- of the 17 players on the Pirates, 12 of them are upperclassmen, and seven of them are either seniors or redshirt-seniors. Since the turn of the century, Hampton has finished with a losing record in conference play just once (the Pirates went 6-10 in the MEAC during the 2011-12 season). They are one of the most consistent mid-majors when it comes to conference play, and if that trend continues this season, then this experienced team should be one of the favorites to win the conference.
GARDNER-WEBB
RUNNIN’ BULLDOGS
Last Season: 14-18 (9-9, 8th place in Big South)
Head Coach: Tim Craft (6th season)
Gardner-Webb has always been consistent in the conference under head coach Tim Craft.In his previous five seasons with the program, they did not have a losing record in conference play. However, last season, the Runnin’ Bulldogs finished with an overall losing record for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The main reason was because they could not take care of the basketball. The Runnin’ Bulldogs had the second-worst turnover margin in the conference, only ahead of Longwood, and the numbers showed that when they couldn’t take care of the ball, they couldn’t win the game. When Gardner-Webb turned the ball over 18 or more times last season, they went 1-6.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs bring back three of their top four scorers from last season, including David Efianayi, who finished third in the conference in points per game, and D.J. Laster, who finished inside the top 10 in the conference in rebounds per game. While the team loses senior guard Liam O’Reilly, who finished as an Honorable Mention All-Big South member last year, his absence should be filled by guard Jaheam Cornwall, who had a very impressive freshman campaign, earning a spot on the Big South All-Freshman Team by shooting 44 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line. Cornwall started just three games last season, but now with O’Reilly gone, look for Cornwall’s role to increase.
CAMPBELL FIGHTING CAMELS
Last Season: 18-16 (10-8, 4th place in Big South)
Head Coach: Kevin McGeehan (6th season)
Entering his senior season, Chris Clemons has not only established himself as the best player in the history of the program but is close to establishing himself as the greatest player to ever play in the Big South Conference. His play last season gave Campbell a winning record in the Big South for the first time since the 2011-12 season, and for the first time in Coach McGeehan’s career. Additionally, his play helped the Fighting Camels get to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational before they eventually lost 65-62 to San Francisco.
But this season, Clemons might have to be even more of a one-man show that he was last season. He had some support last year from sophomore guard Marcus Burk, who averaged 15.6 points per game during the regular season and finished ninth in the conference in scoring average. Burk finished second in the conference with 90 3-pointers, which only trailed UNC Asheville standout guard MaCio Teague. When the two were hot at the same time, they were the best team in the conference. In a game against Liberty, both Clemons and Burk hit ten 3-pointers, and the team hit a school-record 23 3-pointers in a 94-85 victory over the Flames. However, now that Burk transferred to IUPUI, someone else is going to have to step up and be Clemons,’ right-hand man. Additionally, Campbell will need to find a way to replace forward Shane Whitfield, as the senior was the only player to start all 34 games for the Camels last season.
HIGH POINT PANTHERS
Last Season: 14-16 (9-9, 7th place in Big South)
Head Coach: Tubby Smith (1st season)
Perhaps the biggest story of the offseason throughout the entire conference was the arrival of head coach Tubby Smith to the High Point Panthers, as Smith returns to his alma mater. Smith, winner of the 1998 NCAA Tournament as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, is looking to bring High Point to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, and to the finals of the Big South Tournament for the first time since 2004. High Point has had its share of struggles in the postseason, as the Panthers have made it to the semifinals of the conference tournament just once in the past seven seasons. Now, Smith, a coach that has made it to the NCAA Tournament 18 times over his illustrious career, is looking to reverse that fortune.
High Point brings back Jahaad Proctor, a Preseason All-Conference Second Team selection who finished last season as one of the most consistent players in the conference. In 25 games last season, Proctor scored double digits in 23 of them, including 28 points in his HPU debut against William & Mary. However, if HPU is going to do better than their seventh place projection in the Big South preseason polls, then the Panthers are going to have to improve from behind the arc. The Panthers have had great 3-point shooters in recent years, from the likes of Lorenzo Cugini to Anthony Lindauer. Last season, though, HPU finished dead last in the Big South with 5.3 3-pointers per game. This total ranked 333rd out of 351 teams in Division I. With Andre Fox, who led the team among all qualified players in 3-point percentage last season, now out of the equation after transferring to South Alabama, an already tough situation from a 3-point perspective just got a bit more difficult.
The same source contributes the team logos featured on pages 7 and 8. Photos by sportslogos.net