The tournament was originally held from 1950–53, when the Southern Conference was a large conference composed of several small schools and several large schools, the latter of which would form the Atlantic Coast Conference after the 1953 season. The event was re-established in 1984 and has been held every year since. Defending champion Western Carolina has claimed ten championships, the most of any school, with The Citadel close behind at eight tournament wins. Furman is the only other school current school with multiple championships, having won two. East Tennessee State, UNC Greensboro, and VMI have never won a title, although East Tennessee State and VMI returned to the conference in 2015 after over ten years in other conferences. Mercer claimed the conference championship in its first ever appearance in 2015.
The tournament will be played in Greenville, which has hosted four of the past eight events.[3]
Seeding and format
All nine teams will participate in the tournament, with the bottom two seeds playing a single-elimination play-in round. The remaining teams will then be divided into two brackets and play double-elimination tournaments. The winners of each bracket will play a single championship game.[4]