2026 Air Force Reserve Men's Basketball Championship Seedings Announced
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The seedings and pairings for next week’s Air Force Reserve Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn., have been determined following the conclusion of the conference’s regular-season schedule this afternoon.
BRACKET
Regular-season champion
High Point (15-1) is the No. 1 seed –- its third consecutive No. 1 seed in the Big South Tournament and the first league member with back-to-back-to-back top seeds since Winthrop from 2005-2007.
Winthrop secured the No. 2 seed with its 13-3 Big South record, while
Radford clinched the No. 3 seed with its 9-7 finish in the conference.
UNC Asheville and
Longwood tied for fourth in the standings at 8-8, and the Bulldogs earned the No. 4 seed based on their season sweep of the Lancers (No. 5 seed).
Presbyterian ended league play in sixth-place at 7-9 and will be No. 6.
Charleston Southern (6-10) secured the No. 7 spot for the final auto-berth into the quarterfinals.
USC Upstate finished the league slate at 5-11 for the No. 8 seed
, with
Gardner-Webb (1-15) at No. 9. Those two teams will go head-to-head in the first round on Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30pm.
The Upstate-GWU winner will advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, March 6, and play No. 1 High Point at 12:00pm. No. 2 Winthrop vs. No. 7 Charleston Southern will follow at 2:30pm, with No. 4 UNC Asheville vs. No. 5 Longwood at 6:00pm. No. 3 Radford vs. No. 6 Presbyterian will conclude quarterfinal action at 8:30pm. The semifinals will be Saturday, March 7 at 12:00pm and 2:30pm, with the Championship game on Sunday, March 8 scheduled for 12:00pm.
The 2026 Air Force Reserve Big South Men’s Basketball Championship will be televised on ESPN+ Wednesday-through-Saturday, while Sunday’s Championship game will air live on ESPN2. The title game will also be broadcast nationally on Westwood One Sports. The Big South’s Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Conference Championship schedule is below, and tickets are available at
www.BigSouthSports.com/Tickets.
First Round - Wednesday, March 4 - ESPN+
Game 1: (8) USC Upstate vs. (9) Gardner-Webb, 7:30pm
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 6 – ESPN+
Game 2: (1) High Point vs. 8/9 winner, 12:00pm
Game 3: (2) Winthrop vs (7) Charleston Southern, 2:30pm
Game 4: (4) UNC Asheville vs. (5) Longwood, 6:00pm
Game 5: (3) Radford vs. (6) Presbyterian, 8:30pm
Semifinals - Saturday, March 7 – ESPN+
Game 6: Semifinals – HPU-8/9 Winner vs. AVL-LWU Winner, 12:00pm
Game 7: Semifinals – WU-CSU Winner vs. RAD-PC Winner, 2:30pm
Championship - Sunday, March 8 – ESPN2
Game 8: Championship – Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 12:00pm