It’s March 1, which means it’s time for the start of March Madness in a number of leagues, including the Big South. Your quarterfinal matchups:

(8) Gardner-Webb at (1) Coastal Carolina
(5) Winthrop at (4) VMI
(6) Charleston Southern at (3) UNC Asheville
(7) High Point at (2) Liberty

Let’s start with the lineups for tonight’s LU-HPU game:

HIGH POINT (11-18)
Nick Barbour (G, 6-3, 175) 17.9 ppg/2.9 rpg
Shay Shine (G, 6-2, 195) 14.0/4.2
Tehran Cox (G, 6-1, 170)  6.9/2.5
Earnest Bridges (F, 6-6, 225)  5.0/3.9
Travis Elliott (F, 6-8, 245)  1.7/2.7

LIBERTY (19-12)
Jesse Sanders (G, 6-3, 200)  11.2/6.0
Evan Gordon (G, 6-2, 185)  14.5/2.9
David Minaya (G, 6-6, 205)  10.9/3.3
John Brown (G, 6-4, 195)  11.5/10.7
Antwan Burrus (F, 6-6, 235)  6.4/4.2

Thoughts, notes, etc.

1. On the all-conference voting ... I still don’t know what to think about the whole Desmond Holloway situation. To me, it’s intellectually dishonest to have a five-member all-Big South first team and not recognize him in some way. He was one of the five best (two best, actually) players in the conference this season, and for him to not even get any sort of all-league recognition just seems wrong. Then again, it was Coastal Carolina’s decision not to put him on the ballot. As I tweeted, I had no choice in the matter. Couldn’t vote for him if I wanted to. I’ll say this. From talking to coaches and assistant coaches around the league, there was some sort of split on the player of the year thinking. Jesse Sanders was in the conversation even before Holloway got suspended. I still think Holloway would have won it. I’ve been around the league long enough to know that if you lead the league in scoring and your team wins the conference championship by three games, you’re going to be named POY.

2. Speaking of Coastal Carolina, I think people are grossly underestimating the Chanticleers. They may be depleted. But they’re talented, at home and now playing with a massive chip in their shoulders.

3. Alan York tells me that Liberty C Joel Vander Pol did practice yesterday and today, but in a limited manner. He’ll play tonight, but coach Dale Layer isn’t sure how much.

4. Liberty’s Antwan Burrus is the ultimate X-factor for the Flames in this tournament. He has to get going offensively, especially since Liberty is facing a High Point team with a depleted frontcourt.

5. To call this season a disappointment for Liberty should the Flames lose tonight would be harsh. But certainly, all of the accomplishments the team had this season—league coach and player of the year, conference record in Big South wins, etc.—would ring really hollow with a loss.

6. John Brown’s quote that appeared in my story today, where he said, “It’s business time,“ made me yearn to watch reruns of the HBO show “Flight of the Conchords.“

7. High Point’s cheerleaders and band are here tonight, not surprising since it’s only a two-hour ride up U.S. 29 from High Point to Liberty.

8. My quarterfinal picks—Liberty, Coastal, VMI, Asheville. Yeah, I’m going all chalk tonight. There’s an overwhelming sentiment from some coaches that I know that VMI has no shot of beating Winthrop twice in four days though. Should be an interesting one up in Lexington.

9. Your shooters to watch:
a. Liberty’s top 3-point shooters: Evan Gordon (66-194, 34.0 percent); David Minaya (21-64, 32.8); John Caleb Sanders (32-93, 34.4); Jeremy Anderson (22-63, 34.9).
b. High Point’s top 3-point shooters: Nick Barbour (63-175, 36.0); Shay Shine (51-125, 40.8); Tehran Cox (16-51, 31.4); Xavier Martin (10-29, 34.5)
c. Liberty’s top free-throw shooters: Gordon (80-105, 76.2); Jesse Sanders (122-162, 75.3); Minaya (68-87, 75.9); Chene Phillips (22-29, 75.9).
d. High Point’s top free-throw shooters: Barbour (123-153, 80.4); Shine (74-99, 74.7); Cox (53-72, 73.6); Justin Cheek (19-24, 79.2); David Campbell (16-21, 76.2)
e. Liberty’s worst free-throw shooters: John Brown (45-80, 56.3); Antwan Burrus (48-71, 67.6); Joel Vander Pol (38-65, 58.5); John Caleb Sanders (4-12, 33.3); Sommy Ogukwe (3-13, 23.1).
f. High Point’s worst free-throw shooters: Earnest Bridges (29-47, 61.7); Martin (45-67, 67.2); Travis Elliott (15-29, 51.7).

10. A few Liberty trends worth noting:
a. Jeremy Anderson is 7-for-13 from 3-point range in his last four games.
b. Jesse Sanders is 7-for-19 from 3-point range in his last six games. He had only hit six 3s in his first 25 games, so that’s a significant jump.
c. Sommy Ogukwe played a season-high 24 minutes at Presbyterian College last Saturday.

11. As always, follow along on Twitter @ChrisLangLNA if you’re interested in in-game updates.