The Southern Conference Tournament is upon us again and the Lady Bucs are a difficult team to figure.
Although their overall record of 7-19 is somewhat depressing, it is also somewhat misleading.
All seven wins came in Southern Conference games, leaving the team with a fairly respectable 7-10 conference record and the No. 6 seed in the tournament, no small accomplishment for this team.
The team does have some statistics in its favor. The ladies come in on a slightly positive note, having won three of their last five games. Talented, ball-handling guards are invaluable come tournament time and the Lady Bucs have three good ones in Racquel Ellis, Erin Thurman and senior Chris Forman (the team’s leading scorer at 12.5 points per game).
Although the team will probably have fewer fans and support at the tournament than their some of their opponents, this shouldn’t pose a problem, as the ladies posted a better conference road record (4-4) than home record (3-6).
They defend reasonably well, holding opponents to 46 percent shooting and 37 percent from behind the three-point line. The girls are a tough bunch that has learned how to play in the crunch, winning several games at the buzzer.
However, they shoot barely 40 percent (40.4) and the two top scorers, Forman and Thurman, are below that mark (39 percent and 36 percent, respectively).
The team does not handle the ball well; the overall assist-to-turnover ratio is atrocious (0.69 assists for every turnover). Every player on the team has more turnovers than assists.
The team has been consistently outrebounded; on average their opponent won on the glass by 4.1 boards a game. The guards take a lot of shots, sometimes too many. Nevertheless, this team could go somewhere in the tournament.
Unfortunately, the Lady Bucs face UNC-Greensboro in the first round. Greensboro is 20-7, 14-4 in the conference, and has an all-time 6-2 tournament record, the best of any current conference member.
However, the only reason the Spartans weren’t the regular-season champs was ETSU’s 53-51 win over them on Feb. 19.
In other words, Greensboro is good, but ETSU has upset them before.
My prediction – UNC-Greensboro, 70-60.

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