The Big South tournament begins today with a new format. The lower four seeds play each other today in a single-elimination format, sending the winners into the double-elimination format, which begins Wednesday. Radford, Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville and High Point battle today as one-or-dones while Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, Liberty and VMI take a break.

The tournament would seem to be Coastal Carolina's to take, considering the Chanticleers are 44-11, a virtual lock for hosting an NCAA Regional and just wrapped up the regular-season title with two wins last weekend at Winthrop, the same site as the tournament. But then again, maybe the Chants will be on cruise control this weekend — if they don't win the tournament, big deal: they're still in the Big Dance. Plus, the regular-champion hasn't repeated as tournament champion since 2002.

Second-seeded Winthrop was an at-large NCAA team last year but has regressed this season, replacing several four-year starters with new faces and new talent. The Eagles are 31-25 and had a good shot at winning the regular-season crown, until a 14-1 Big South start dissolved into a 1-5 finish. Winthrop is aching to get back to the NCAA tournament and at times this year, the Eagles have looked like a tournament team. The only problem is, they have to hit and pitch well at the same time, instead of just having one part perform. Also, the host team hasn't won the Big South tournament since 1992.

Liberty enters as a third seed and is riding a surge of momentum. The Flames effectively killed Winthrop's hopes of an at-large NCAA bid with a three-game sweep two weeks ago and just beat in-state rival VMI two of three games. This is also the same team that won one game at Coastal and had eighth-inning leads in the other two games before the bullpen collapsed. They've won five of six and they've got the emotional boost — they're playing for late school chancellor Jerry Falwell, who passed away last week.

VMI is 34-19, which might have gotten an NCAA look, but its RPI is below 100 and the Keydets finished a paltry 10-11 in the Big South. This team was 17-4 but got swept at Winthrop in late March and was never the same afterward. One of their biggest problems is a lack of offense — VMI hits . 277, although they're second in the conference with 37 homers. The Keydets' pitching is solid, but without the bats, it's a question of how many 2-1 games can they win? One advantage (or curse) — their first game is against Liberty, which they just finished playing.

High Point went 26-28 this year, its 16th straight losing season, and failed to improve on last year's 14-10 Big South finish, its best-ever in the league. But things are looking up. Coach Sal Bando Jr. has inspired his troops and they're dangerous, taking Coastal and Winthrop to the wire in each game although they went 1-5 against the two. Watch out for Eammon Portice on the mound today — he leads the conference with 113 strikeouts and has been overpowering at times.

UNC Asheville entered the tournament last year at Coastal a fifth seed and walked away with its first NCAA appearance, so why can't it happen again? It can, but it may not be the Bulldogs who accomplish it. UNCA is again a fifth seed and enters the tournament having lost 13 of its past 16. They rank in the bottom third of the Big South in hitting, pitching and fielding. Outside of slugger Rob Vernon (.397) and workhorse pitcher Alan DeRatt, the Dogs are limited. Also, they're not going to catch anyone by surprise this year.

Seventh-seed Charleston Southern, led by ex-Winthrop and ex-Florida assistant Jason Murray, enters on a three-game winning streak. The bad news was it was against the worst team in the league — eighth-seeded Radford. The Bucs have been playing .500 ball down the stretch and face UNCA in the opener, with the winner facing either Winthrop or Coastal Wednesday. CSU is gritty and they play hard, but after the first game, it may be a case of too much talent to overcome.

Radford's Highlanders round out the field and are hoping for one last glimpse of glory before they fold the uniforms. Checking in at 10-25 (2-19 Big South), the season hasn't been good to the Highlanders, who have lost six straight and 18 of 20. Still, there's some pop in this group. I saw them play Winthrop in early April — it was so cold in Radford, I slept between the mattresses in my hotel room — and Alex Gregory was still tattooing baseballs in the frigid weather. He plays for the worst team in the league and is hitting .430 — go figure.