Photos courtesy of RU Athletics
Carlik Jones had a career-high tying 33 points in the tournament semifinal loss to Hampton.By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
The curse of the top seed in the Big South men’s basketball conference tournament continues as the top-seeded Radford Highlands men’s team fell 86-78 this past weekend to Hampton University. For three straight years, the top seed has not reached the championship game.
Radford Coach Mike Jones pointed out this was the third time the two schools have met this season, and it has been tough in every contest.
“They are an explosive offensive team. We know it’s never easy to stop them and at any moment they can go off,” the head Highlander said. “[Jermaine] Marrow was playing with a lot of confidence after last night’s win and shot the ball extremely well. Give credit to them and their coaching staff for getting them ready, and to their players for what they did. But I’ll rock with my guys any day. I love these guys and their effort. We played for 40 minutes and these guys never quit. That’s what we preach every day and I’m proud of their efforts.”
As the top seed that failed to win the tournament, the Highlanders automatically receive the conference’s bid to the National Invitational Tournament. Radford will learn its landing spot for the NIT on Sunday, March 15, in the NIT Selection Show aired on ESPNU at 8:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Radford University women (18-11, 14-6 BSC) defeated Hampton (17-12, 15-5 BSC) on Saturday afternoon in the season finale on Senior Day. The Highlanders’ victory over the Pirates secured the team’s number-two seed in the upcoming Big South Women’s Basketball Tournament.
With the win Radford will host “Pod B” of the tournament and will receive a bye. The Highlanders will face the winner of the No.7/No.10 game on Thursday, March 12, at 6 p.m.
Campbell, which is the host of the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of Pod A in the tournament, claimed its first Big South regular-season title since 1991 and will be the No. 1 seed in the annual event. The Camels enter the postseason with a 16-4 conference record and in search of their second Big South Tournament title.
High Point and Hampton tied for third place with identical 14-6 conference records. The Panthers swept the regular-season series with the Lady Pirates, so HPU earned the No. 3 seed, while HU landed in the No. 4 seed line. High Point enters the season on a five-game winning streak while Hampton won six of its last seven to close out the regular season.
Gardner-Webb ended the year with a 13-7 league mark and claimed the No. 5 seed. The Runnin’ Bulldogs enter the tournament with a four-game winning streak and earned the final bye of the tournament.
UNC Asheville, which has played in four straight semifinal rounds, will be the No. 6 seed based on its 9-11 conference record. Winthrop and Longwood drew even with identical 8-12 Big South campaigns. During the regular season, the Eagles swept the Lancers, so Winthrop claimed the No. 7 seed, while Longwood drops to the No. 8 seed. All three teams will host first-round matchups.
Presbyterian College (No. 9), USC Upstate (No. 10) and Charleston Southern (No. 11) round out the field and will travel for their first-round contests.
Some changes are in the works for the Big South tournaments of the future.
This was the final year top seeds had the opportunity to host the tournament. Mark Simpson with the Big South Conference said conference officials are moving to a pre-determined, neutral site starting in 2021 at the Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., with a combined tournament for the next three years (2021-23).
“Our administrators, presidents and coaches have been interested in pursuing a neutral site format for the past few years, which finally came to fruition when we announced the format change in November,” he said.
