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The Southern Conference tournament tips off Friday with 10 teams looking to secure an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. Jerry Palm's latest bracketology update on CBS Sports has this as a one-bid league. Since the conference abandoned its divisional format, the conference tournament winner has also either won the regular season title or a share of it. Chattanooga secured the regular season crown and is looking to win the conference tournament for a record 13th time. Here's a look at how the SoCon tournament bracket sets up.

Southern Conference Tournament Schedule

First Round

No. 8 Mercer vs. No. 9 Western Carolina
No. 7 VMI vs. No. 10 The Citadel

Quarterfinals

QF1 - No. 1 Chattanooga vs. No. 8 Mercer/No. 9 Western Carolina
QF2 - No. 2 UNC Greensboro vs. No. 7 VMI/No. 10 The Citadel
QF3 - No. 3 East Tennessee State vs. No. 6 Wofford
QF4 - No. 4 Samford vs. No. 5 Furman

Semifinals

SF1 - Winner of QF1 vs. Winner of QF4
SF2 - Winner of QF2 vs. Winner of QF3

Final

Winner of SF1 vs. Winner of SF2 

Chattanooga (+270 to win on DraftKings) enters the tournament on an 11-game winning streak. The Mocs haven't really been tested during that stretch either, with only two games being decided by five points or less. Five of the victories were by double digits. Chattanooga is the second-best scoring team in the conference with four players averaging double figures, headlined by guard Honor Huff. UNC Greensboro (+380) is the opposite of Chattanooga, featuring the conference's best scoring defense. The Spartans can hit the triple though, with their top three scorers all shooting better than 40% from 3-point range. UNC Greensboro is the most efficient perimeter shooting team in the conference overall at 37.6%, and concedes the fewest turnovers per game.

Despite finishing fourth in conference play, Samford (+330) could be in position to make a run. The Bulldogs are the top scoring team in the conference, and create the most turnovers per game. They are only behind UNC Greensboro in three-point shooting efficiency, and they have wins over the Spartans and Mocs this season. However, Samford did lose both games to Furman (+750) in the regular season, the team it will face in the quarterfinal round. East Tennessee State (+600) has won four straight and seven of its last nine entering the tournament, and has the conference's leading scorer in Quimari Peterson (19.5 ppg).

Despite losing seven of its last nine games, Mercer (+7500) could be a potential longshot play. The Bears are third in points per game in the conference, anchored by Ahmad Robinson (16.9 ppg) and Tyler Johnson (16.1 ppg). They are also second in turnovers forced per game.

SportsLine expert Thomas Casale likes UNC Greensboro to win the SoCon conference tournament. But which teams are experts backing in the other conference tournaments? You can get the best bets for every conference tournament at SportsLine. You can also find the SportsLine Projection Model's simulations for every game.