Big South Mid-Season Report: A Two-Team Race, a Friendly Whistle, and a Tournament Formula
- Tyler
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
We are officially (just over) halfway through the Big South slate, and the league has clarified into a familiar, but sharper, picture.
High Point University (20–4, 8–1) and Winthrop (16–8, 8–1) sit tied atop the conference standings, separated not by record, but by style, tempo, and how games are officiated. Everyone else is fighting for seeding, matchup luck, and the right to play spoiler in March.
For High Point, the storyline remains continuity through change. When Alan Huss departed for Creighton, questions followed. Flynn Clayman has answered them emphatically, not just with wins, but with where and when those wins have come.
Most notably, Clayman has already conquered two venues that haunted the previous regime: wins IN Asheville and Farmville.
The team has yet to drop back-to-back games and when questions arise so does the teams’ intensity and performance. And almost all of this has been done in conference play without their most talented player, Cam Fletcher.
📸 High Point University: Mid-Season Snapshot
Record
20–4 overall
8–1 Big South (tied for 1st)
National Identity
High Point remains the league’s ultimate chaos engine — forcing turnovers, accelerating tempo, and overwhelming opponents before structure can settle.
⚖️ Panthers So Far
➕The Good (Strengths)
Chaos travels.HPU forces turnovers at an elite rate and converts them instantly. When the Panthers are dictating pace, the game stops being a chess match and becomes survival.
Closers exist.Terry Anderson has become the stabilizer this offense needs — a scorer who can close games when chaos turns into half-court basketball.
Road demons exorcised.Winning at Asheville and Farmville isn’t trivia. It’s the difference between being a regular-season bully and a legitimate champion profile.
➖The Bad (Concerns)
Half-court stagnation still exists.When transition dries up (as it did in stretches vs. Longwood), High Point can become overly dependent on shot-making.
Bench compression is real.In close games, the rotation tightens more than last season. That increases variance when foul trouble or cold shooting enters the equation.
😗 The Friendly Whistle Report: Logan Duncomb (Full Deep Dive)
Let’s be clear at the outset: Logan Duncomb is the Big South Player of the Year frontrunner.
The production is real. The efficiency is real. The usage is massive.
What separates Duncomb from every other frontcourt player in this league, however, is not just talent, it’s how the game is officiated around him, particularly once conference play begins. And this isn’t anecdotal or perception-based. The data is unequivocal.
Conference vs. Non-Conference: The Whistle Shift Non-Conference Play
Free Throw Attempts per Game: 6.43
Fouls Committed per Game: 3.29
Big South Conference Play
Free Throw Attempts per Game: 12.00
Fouls Committed per Game: 2.44
That change is staggering.
Free throw attempts nearly double
Fouls committed drop by ~26%
Same player. Same role. Same physicality. Completely different officiating.
This is not random variance.It is a structural shift in how Duncomb is refereed in conference games.
Net Whistle: The Stat That Actually Matters
The cleanest way to quantify officiating impact is net whistle — the gap between fouls drawn and fouls committed.
Using per-40 minute data from conference play:
Fouls Drawn / 40: ~9.7
Fouls Committed / 40: ~4.9
Net Whistle: +4.8 per 40 minutes
At the Big South level, that is extreme.
For context:
Most starting centers in the league operate between +0.5 and +1.5
Duncomb is functioning at three to four times the typical positional differential
Simplified Comparison
Net Whistle = Free Throws Drawn − Fouls Committed
Logan Duncomb (Conference Play)
FT Attempts: ~12.0
Fouls Committed: ~2.44
Net Whistle: +9.6
Typical Big South Center
FT Attempts: ~3.2
Fouls Committed: ~2.9
Net Whistle: +0.3
That gap is enormous and unprecedented within the league this season. It’s on par with how Zach Edey was officiated in his time at Purdue.
Why This Is So Isolated
This is not about questioning Duncomb’s ability. He has been dominant.
The point is how unique his whistle profile is:
Other starting centers average ~3 free throw attempts per game
Duncomb averages 12 free throws per conference game
No other Big South big combines:
Top-tier usage
Elite interior efficiency
A positive whistle margin of this magnitude
Even high-usage interior players like Jonah Pierce, Toyaz Solomon, or Jacob Hogarth do not receive anything close to this level of officiating insulation.
The Bottom Line
Logan Duncomb isn’t just winning with skill — he’s winning within an officiating framework that tilts the math in his favor once conference play began.
That doesn’t invalidate his production. It contextualizes it.
And in a league where conference and tournament games are often decided at the line, that whistle profile matters as much as any box-score stat.
Why It Matters Against High Point
This is where the rivalry tension becomes real.
High Point thrives when:
Physicality is allowed on the perimeter
Chaos creates transition chances
Whistles stay consistent both ways
Winthrop thrives when:
The game slows
The paint is tightly officiated
Bonus situations arrive early
Duncomb is the fulcrum. If he’s allowed to:
generate contact without counters
avoid foul accumulation
and live at the line
Winthrop can neutralize High Point’s greatest weapon: pace.
That’s why they aren’t just a challenger — they’re the designated spoiler.
🏆 Mid-Season Awards:
Player of the Year🌟 Logan Duncomb (Winthrop)The production, efficiency, and offensive gravity are undeniable — even if the whistle is part of the equation.
Coach of the Year🧠 Quinton Ferrell (Presbyterian)Limited resources, maximum discipline. PC plays controlled, connected basketball and is a nightmare draw in March.
Defensive Player of the Year🛑 Owen Aquino (High Point)The anchor behind one of the
nation’s most disruptive defenses.
Big South All-Conference Teams
🥇First Team All-Conference
Logan Duncomb (Winthrop) – POY frontrunner; offensive engine, elite efficiency, league-warping usage
Terry Anderson (High Point) – closer, two-way guard, best player on the league’s most explosive offense
Kameron Taylor (UNC Asheville) – carried the offense and has overtaken Toyaz Solomon as the team’s main option
A’lahn Sumler (Charleston Southern) – elite shot-maker, league-leading perimeter gravity
Dennis Parker Jr. (Radford) – pure bucket-getter; single-handedly keeps Radford competitive
🥈 Second Team All-Conference
Owen Aquino (High Point) – DPOY impact; rim protection + defensive quarterback, a gifted passer for a big man
Jonah Pierce (Presbyterian) – interior efficiency, rebounding, and discipline
Toyaz Solomon (UNC Asheville) – inside-out scoring, physical presence
Kareem Rozier (Winthrop) – secondary creator who benefits from Duncomb gravity
Elijah Tucker (Longwood) – elite finisher, defensive activity, efficiency spike in league play
🔭 Tournament Outlook: The Two-Rule Formula
History tells us Big South champions almost always meet two conditions:
Rule 1: Offense travels
Nearly every champion enters March with a Top-150 adjusted offense. Defense helps but scoring wins this tournament historically.
Rule 2: The champion is already elite before March
Big South champions are almost always Top-3 in the conference entering the tournament. True Cinderella runs are rare here.
What That Means in 2026
High Point fits the model.
Winthrop fits the model.
Everyone else is chasing exceptions.
Tier Breakdown
Tier 1: The Frontrunners
High Point
Strength: chaos, pace, shot-making
Vulnerability: half-court stagnation, whistle variance
Outlook: co-favorite
Winthrop
Strength: Duncomb’s interior gravity + whistle leverage
Vulnerability: guard play, pace control
Outlook: co-favorite / HPU’s worst matchup
Tier 2: The Challengers
Radford — star-driven volatility
UNC Asheville — scoring punch, defensive questions
Presbyterian — high floor, grinder identity
Longwood — defensive pest, offensive droughts
Tier 3: The Spoilers
Charleston Southern — three-point variance
USC Upstate — experienced, limited ceiling
Gardner-Webb — rebuild mode
Final Verdict
At the halfway point, the Big South has crystallized. This league runs through High Point and Winthrop.
High Point owns the best overall profile and the most complete tournament résumé.
Winthrop owns the one variable that can bend the bracket: a dominant interior scorer whose whistle changes how games are played.
High Point is the favorite. Winthrop is the problem. Does a rematch in Johnson City away?
Meanwhile the rest of the league is hoping March brings a night where neither gets what they want.