Big South basketball tournaments set to return to the Queen City next month

Dancing. Madness. Upsets. Cheers. Tears.

This is just a small sample of what the experience of the Big South Basketball championships provided in March 2022 at Bojangles Coliseum. For college basketball fans at any level, the conference tournament is what made March Madness. Next month — on Sunday, March 5 — the Big South Conference, a 39-year-old Division I league headquartered in Charlotte since 1997, is again crowning two champions in the Queen City with the grand prize of the league’s automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

For student-athletes, coaches, fans, alumni and everyone in-between, a conference’s college basketball postseason tournament is the final reset to a season – one final chance to play for your team, your school and your community. Dreams of cutting down nets and punching tickets into the NCAA tournament all come down to a week in March.

It is agonizing and exhilarating all at the same time.

Last year – the first time in 20 years that the Big South held its basketball conference championship in a neutral city – showcased an energy and competitive spirit the conference’s leadership long imagined for its marquee event. Of the 22 games played in the six days at Bojangles Coliseum, 15 were decided by single-digits, and six (!) went into overtime.

The men’s first-round day of four games had a record three overtime contests, plus a fourth won by the No. 12 seed on a buzzer-beater against the No. 5 seed. ESPN’s “SportsCenter” devoted the first six minutes of its show that night to the Big South’s epic opening round.

The women’s quarterfinal contests the following day were just as captivating, as two of the four matchups were one possession affairs, as well as the No. 1 seed needing overtime to survive and advance. The No. 11 seed in the women’s tournament, UNC Asheville, provided the “Cinderella” moment of the week by reaching the semifinals from the first round with victories against the No. 6 and No. 3 seeds.

In the end, it was the Longwood Lancers who took home both trophies and bids to the NCAAs.

Griff Aldrich, Longwood’s men’s head coach and the 2022 Big South Coach of the Year, was a member of the UMBC coaching staff that pulled of the sport’s all-time stunner in 2018. The No. 16-seeded Retrievers upended No. 1 seed Virginia in the NCAA tournament in Charlotte up the road from Bojangles Coliseum at Spectrum Center. Aldrich summed up last year’s championship run at the Big South’s media day.

“Getting the opportunity to compete at the BoPlex and then actually winning it was really special. There’s just something that’s very unique and special about a tournament atmosphere. There’s a different level of energy and enthusiasm … and so it’s a neat experience not only for the players and the coaches, but also our fans, and so last year was extremely special. We had a lot of people travel to Charlotte to support their Lancers both on the men and women’s side and it’s just a wonderful experience for a university, community and our program.”

Added Chase Claxton of Winthrop University, whose Eagles fell short against the Lancers in the title game, “The whole season you play to win a championship and when you’re actually in the tournament, the whole season is coming down to one game. The intensity level of that one game, the team you probably played twice already, it’s like a feeling you can’t explain. Going first round, second round — it just gets more intense and more intense to the championship, it’s amazing.”

The Big South tournaments tip off March 1 with the first round of two women’s games followed by two men’s contests. Fans can take advantage of affordable pricing for the five days of action, as ticket books for all 18 games costs just $100 – an average of $5.56 per game. Single-session seats cost $20 per day and cover the entire slate of each session (four games Wednesday-through-Friday). Courtside seats cost $75 per game and are available in full booklets, and group plans are available. All tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com and Bojangles Coliseum.

After years of conducting its basketball championship with different formats, the Big South Council of Chief Executive Officers approved the move to Charlotte in November 2019.

Charlotte is at the center of the Big South’s footprint. With 10 member institutions based in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, the longest distance to the city is four hours (Farmville, Va.). Several league members are within a two-hour drive of Charlotte – Winthrop University, Gardner-Webb, High Point, USC Upstate and UNC Asheville, and the overall proximity allows for easy travel to witness a chance at history.

Experiencing the conference tournament in a neutral city such as Charlotte as different meanings to different people.

Charleston Southern men’s basketball head coach Barclay Radebaugh led his No. 12-seeded Buccaneers to that first round upset against No. 5 UNC Asheville last March. A Lincolnton native in his 18th season leading the Bucs, Radebaugh said that playing in the conference championship in Charlotte “means the world to me.”

“I grew up 20 minutes from here,” said Radebaugh. “I’ve been to a ton of games here, watching ACC teams play in this arena many years ago. To have the opportunity to coach here in a place that was such a big part of my childhood is just amazing to me.”

“My favorite moment [last year] was just being able to look up behind our bench and seeing the floods of red and black in the stands as far as our fans and family go,” added Alex Simmons, head coach of the Gardner-Webb women’s program.

Simmons has her squad firmly atop the conference standings and contending for the regular-season title and No. 1 seed. She won a pair of National Championships as player at Tennessee, but could experience a new favorite moment next month.