HIGH POINT – Format for the men’s basketball tournament is expected to be discussed but no formal proposal to change it is on the agenda of the Big South Conference meetings set for today and Thursday at High Point University.

League assistant commissioner for public relations Mark Simpson said the docket includes hearing reports on this past season’s men’s and women’s tournaments and that discussion on the men’s tournament format is to be part of that.

Under the current format, first-round games are played at the four best seeds. The semifinals are at the No. 1 seed, with the finals at the highest remaining seed. The top eight finishers among nine eligible teams qualify for the tourney. Presbyterian is not eligible until 2011-12 because it is making a transition from Division II.

“We were asked to get feedback on possible neutral sites,” Simpson said. “The administrators will go over the data that has been collected and will determine which format is the best.”

Simpson said no vote is needed to keep the same format if there is no proposal to change it. If there is a decision to change to a neutral site, he said the league would have to move quickly to get bids from interested venues.

High Point University coach Scott Cherry said last month that a neutral site would eliminate travel for some teams, but that he understands the need to have the finals at the best remaining seed.

“Because the finals are on ESPN, the league needs to project the best image that it can,” Cherry said. “And if you play all the games at say, Charleston, and the two teams in the finals are Liberty and Radford, then you are likely not to have a good crowd, and that doesn’t look good for the league.”

Under the current format, a lower seeded team could play at three different locations HPU, which was seeded fifth, was eliminated in a first-round game at UNC Asheville this past season.

“It didn’t have the atmosphere that you get at a neutral site,” Cherry said. “It was like another road game for us. It didn’t have a tournament feel.”

The rest of the agenda was described by Simpson as housekeeping issues. The meetings will conclude with a banquet Thursday night at High Point Country Club’s Emerywood facility for the announcement of the league’s award winners and induction of six people into the Big South hall of fame.

The inductees are Jim Gardas of Charleston Southern (golf), Catherine Conder of Coastal Carolina (cross country/track), Guy Norcott of Coastal Carolina (soccer), Dr. Ron Bradley of Radford (basketball), Josh Pittman of UNC Asheville (basketball) and Kevin Pendley of Winthrop (golf).