The SoCon basketball tournament might be the most wide-open of all league tourneys, especially among the mid-majors. Of the 14 tournament brackets that are set, the SoCon is the only one with more than four teams that have odds of +800 or shorter to win it, per college basketball betting odds via BetMGM.
Led by Chattanooga at +220, there are six teams that have a real shot at securing the SoCon’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The odds illustrate what the league tournament has been over the past decade. A different team has won the past six tourneys, but it has been the No. 1 seed that has won every tourney since 2017.
The Mocs enter this year’s edition as the top seed, taking control of the league in the second half of conference play. They are currently on an 11-game win streak, which is tied for the second-longest streak in the nation. Can they keep it rolling or did they peak at the wrong time?
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SoCon Basketball Tournament Odds
| Team | BetMGM Odds |
| Chattanooga | +220 |
| UNC Greensboro | +320 |
| Samford | +400 |
| ETSU | +600 |
| Wofford | +650 |
| Furman | +800 |
| Mercer | +6600 |
| VMI | +12500 |
| The Citadel | +25000 |
Odds via BetMGM as of March 5
SoCon Basketball Tournament Prediction
Unlike some other leagues, it’s hard to envision one of the first-round teams pulling off a few upsets here on its way to a conference championship. The top half of the conference is much stronger than the bottom half, and there’s a reason that there’s a large gap in the odds between the top six teams and the rest of the pack.
I imagine Chattanooga and UNCG will have relatively light paths to the semifinals, but who they will meet in those games will be interesting to see.
Third-seeded ETSU has been playing well lately and is on a four-game win streak. The Buccaneers will likely draw a tough Wofford team. They split the season series and the total difference between the two meetings was eight points. I’m a firm believer in ETSU senior guard Quimari Peterson, however, and I think he’ll carry the Bucs to the SoCon championship and perhaps even the NCAA tourney. He should be named the league’s Player of the Year when the awards are announced.
The matchup between No. 4 Samford and No. 5 Furman will be intriguing. You can’t really trust the Bulldogs, but they’ve lost to Furman in both meetings this season. It’s hard to beat the same team three times in one season, and I can’t imagine Samford would lose to the evenly-matched Paladins three times this year. Furman has won four in a row, but I think the Bulldogs get some revenge here to advance to a date with Chattanooga in the semis. I think the Mocs will knock off Samford to advance to the SoCon Basketball Tournament championship.
Considering the run that No. 1 seeds are on in this conference tourney, and the way that Chattanooga is playing, it’s hard to disregard the Mocs capturing their conference-leading 13th SoCon title. However, I think ETSU is the team to fear in this tournament. Aside from Peterson — who leads the league in scoring at 19.5 points per game — the Bucs have Jaden Seymour, one of the other top offensive threats in the league, and they also have the best defense in the league.
Big-time players make big-time plays, and the 6-foot-1 Peterson is as big a playmaker as they come. Between him and ETSU’s stout defense, the Bucs are the best bet to make at 6/1 odds. Chattanooga’s win streak doesn’t necessarily have to end, but I think it will when the Mocs meet ETSU in the title game.
