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March Madness: Friday’s conference tournament breakdown

Mike Hugueninby:Mike Huguenin•03/04/22•

MikeHuguenin

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Chattanooga guard Malachi Smith was the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2021-22. (Derek Daniel/Chattanooga Athletics)

To true college basketball aficionados, the real “March Madness” already has started. That’s because the “lesser” conference tournaments have begun; those are the leagues in which you must win your conference tourney to even get into the Big Dance. The pressure is immense, and a marvelous regular season can mean nothing.

Here’s a look at the tournament that starts Friday, in the Southern Conference. Two more begin Saturday and another opens Sunday. (Here’s a look at the complete conference tournament schedule. All hail March Madness.)

Southern Conference

When: March 4-7 (the schedule is here)
Where: Harrah’s Cherokee Center, Asheville, N.C.
TV for final: March 7, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Regular-season champ: Chattanooga
Format: All 10 teams qualify.
Projected NCAA bids: 1.
The buzz: Chattanooga (24-7) won the regular-season title by two games over Furman (20-11), and everybody else was at least two more games back. Chattanooga wins with defense, while Furman shoots (and makes) a lot of 3-pointers. Chattanooga swept the season series between the teams because Furman couldn’t handle Mocs G Malachi Smith, who had 41 points and 18 rebounds in the two games; the SoCon’s player of the year, the 6-foot-4  Smith averaged 20.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game in league play. Furman has attempted 968 3-pointers this season; almost 52 percent of the Paladins’ shots have come from beyond the arc. Those 968 attempts are fourth nationally (interestingly, Nos. 2 and 3 in the category are VMI and Western Carolina — and they are seeded fifth and 10th, respectively, in this tourney). Furman hits 38.6 percent of its 3s, which is eighth nationally. But in their two losses to Chattanooga, the Paladins hit just 28.2 percent from beyond the arc. Third-seeded Samford has won six of its past seven, though the loss was by 13 to Chattanooga; the Bulldogs split the season series with both Chattanooga and Furman. There are some dangerous offensive teams in this conference because of the preponderance of 3-pointers; if a lower seed gets hot ….
The pick: Furman.