The Southern Conference Basketball Tournament will tip on Friday, March 6, when these teams will begin playing games at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Chattanooga won this tournament in 2025, but the Mocs are one of the worst teams in the conference this year. East Tennessee State sits atop the standings and the oddsboard when looking at this conference, and the team is looking to win this tournament for the first time since 2019-20. However, this is a very deep conference, so a bunch of teams are alive in the quest to take an automatic bid in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Keep reading to see the program we like to finish on top.

How to Watch the Southern Conference Tournament

When: March 6-9

Where: Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina

Format: Teams seeded by records within conference; top-six seeds get opening-round byes

Watch: ESPN+ on Mar. 9 at 7:00 p.m. ET

College Basketball Odds | College Basketball Betting Splits | Greg Peterson’s Daily Lines | Steve Makinen’s Power Ratings

Southern Conference Bracket

Coming soon.

Southern Conference Tournament Seeds, Teams and Odds

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  1. East Tennessee State Buccaneers (+185)
  2. Mercer Bears (+475)
  3. Wofford Terriers (+800)
  4. Samford Bulldogs (+500)
  5. Furman Paladins (+425)
  6. Western Carolina Catamounts (10-1)
  7. UNC Greensboro Spartans (35-1)
  8. Chattanooga Mocs (40-1)
  9. The Citadel Bulldogs (500-1)
  10. VMI Keydets (900-1)

(odds from DraftKings Sportsbook accurate at time of publish)

Favorite To Win Southern Conference Tournament

East Tennessee State is the top-seeded SoCon team after going 13-5 in conference play. The Bucs have a top-40 EFG% (55.1) in the nation, they don’t turn the ball over often (15.1% turnover rate), and they’re shooting a strong 56.7% on 2s. Defensively, they’re a tough rebounding team (27.0% defensive rebound rate), they cause a good amount of turnovers (18.5% turnover rate defense), and they’re No. 2 in the conference in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency (108.9). This team also has three extremely reliable players in Brian Taylor II, Blake Barkley, and Cam Morris III. ETSU is undoubtedly the most likely team to win this tournament, but the odds look a little off. This is a team that lost a bunch of games in conference, so a 35.09% implied probability seems a bit high.

Southern Conference Tournament Darkhorse

Western Carolina is sixth when looking at the tournament seeding, but the Catamounts beat the Buccaneers twice during the regular season. Western Carolina also earned wins over Furman and Mercer, so this team has proven that it can beat some of the best programs the SoCon has to offer. The Catamounts are also on a six-game winning streak entering the tournament, so they’re going to enter this thing with confidence. Western Carolina is a good offensive rebounding team (34.4% offensive rebound rate, 61st in nation) and has a few interesting offensive players. The Catamounts will just need one of them to get hot in order to have a chance of making a run.

Betting Pick to Win the Southern Conference Tournament

Samford looks like the right value play to win this conference. The Bulldogs aren’t perfect but they’re 54th in the nation in 3-point rate (45.5%) and knock down 35.3% of their 3s. That makes them a dangerous offensive team, especially with their turnover rate (13.3%) being a top-10 mark in the country. Samford just needs to be a bit better defensively this week, as the team is 274th in the country in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency (113.8). However, the Bulldogs did have some bad 3-point luck during the regular season, with opponents shooting 35.9% from deep against them. Samford should do a better job of defending the 3-point line in a win-or-go-home tournament setting. The Bulldogs also happen to have the conference’s top scorer in Jadin Booth, who is averaging 21.2 points per game and can steal a victory on any given night. In fact, in the final regular-season game he played, Booth went for 40 in a win over UNC Greensboro. Oh, and Dylan Faulkner is a guy that can dominate the game from the inside.

Makinen Power Ratings for Southern Conference

Coming soon.

  • Single-digit favorites in the opening round of the Southern Conference tournament are on a 23-8 SU and 22-9 ATS (71%) run since 2011.
  • The SoCon quarterfinal round has been lower scoring of late, 14-6 Under the total (70%) in the last five tournaments.
  • The Southern Conference tourney semifinals are on a 17-7 Over the total run (70.8%).

More Steve Makinen Conference Tournament Betting Trends.

Check out the other previews in our 2026 College Basketball Conference Tournament Betting Guide.

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