Big South Power Rankings: Three Teams Vault to the Top

Well, it's not a seven-way tie any more but it's still pretty crowded at the top of the Big South with just two weeks of regular season play left. Who will come out on top in this race for seeding in Myrtle Beach?

1. Charleston Southern Buccaneers (16-9, 10-4, LW 4): Barclay Radebaugh's Bucs find themselves atop the Big South in a three-way tie after knocking off Coastal in the Buc Dome and barely getting by Longwood in a one point road win. The bad news is that star Saah Nimley may have hampered his Player of the Year chances by only posting 6 points. Campbell and Presbyterian await this week which means a chance for Nimley to claw back into the race and for CSU to get a stranglehold on the standings heading into the final week of the season.

2. Radford Highlanders (19-8, 10-4, LW 5 ): Radford has now won 10 of their last 11 after beating Longwood and Presbyterian this week by a combined margin of 11. Competition stiffens this week for Mike Jones' squad as they host Coastal Carolin on Monday night before heading to Asheville on Saturday to take on a Bulldogs team that beat them by two in the conference opener.

3. High Point Panthers (19-7, 10-4, LW 7): High Point remains tied for first but for some reason this teams victories just don't feel as impressive as some of the others around the rest of the conference. Basically John Brown is dominating right now, scoring 55 points this week, but isn't getting that much help. High Point should've dominated Campbell but struggled a bit in the first half before finally pulling away late in the second. The Panthers get to stay in the Millis Center this week with a pair of home games against Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian.

4. Winthrop Eagles (14-11, 9-5, LW 2 ): Winthrop fell by one against High Point and then responded nicely with a win over Gardner-Webb powered by 27 points from Keon Moore. The Eagles will look to build off of Saturday's win with match up against Asheville and Longwood, two teams Pat Kelsey's squad has already beaten this year.

5. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (18-8, 9-5, LW 3): All the Charleston Southern loss did to Coastal was make them mad as they thumped Liberty by 40 points. The Chants shot 55% from the field in that big win and Badou Diagne lead the way with 17 points. Coastal hasn't played consistently since January and that's what they'll be looking for this week with a trip to Radford and a home match up against Campbell in the mix.

6. UNC Asheville Bulldogs (13-12, 9-5, LW 6): After beating Gardner-Webb on Monday, Asheville missed a golden opportunity to be in first place losing to Presbyterian at home on Thursday night. Andrew Rowsey had the shot to put the Bulldogs on top but missed when it counted despite a huge second half. UNCA will have to step up fast with Winthrop and Radford on the slate this week.

7. Gardner-Webb Bulldogs (16-11, 8-6, LW 1 ): The Bulldogs chances at a first round bye are evaporating after losing to Asheville and Winthrop this week.  Jerome Hill is trying to carry the team but Tim Craft needs to slow down his offense and realize he has the best frontcourt in the Big South. A win at High Point and beating Liberty for a 2-0 week would be huge for the Bulldogs.

8. Presbyterian Blue Hose (9-18, 5-9, LW 8): Presbyterian showed this week why no one will want to see them in Myrtle Beach if they are healthy. PC's win over Asheville gives them an outside shot of clawwing their way out of the 8/9 game in the opening round but it will be tough with road match ups at Charleston Southern and High Point this week.

9. Longwood Lancers (7-20, 3-11, LW 9): Lancers fans received a bit of a surprise about 30 minutes before tip-off on Saturday when it leaked out that ODU transfer Jason Pimentel would suit up for the first time all season after being suspended indefinitely. Pimentel had 6 points and 5 rebounds in his Longwood debut and will be a key piece for the Lancers down the stretch. Longwood continues to be a tough out losing to Radford by 5 and Charleston Southern by 1.

10. Campbell Fighting Camels (9-18, 3-11, LW 10): While Presbyterian and Longwood are tough outs in the bottom portion of the Big South, Campbell seems to be going the other way losing to Liberty in High Point this past week. The next three games are absolutely brutal for the limping Camels in the Creek.

11. Liberty Flames (7-20, 1-13, LW 11): The story for the Flames should be finally winning and then giving up a historic 40 point beat down to Coastal but instead it's Dale Layer's antics. Layer sat on timeouts the whole second half against Coastal but then started burning them and pressing the last minute of the game. Then bizarrely Layer when down to Coastal's bench for postgame handshakes with plenty of time left on the clock and left the floor. He just looked like a guy that wanted out early.