The Radford Highlanders are Big South basketball from the Blue Ridge Mountains — a program with three March memories and a hunger for more. The Highlanders danced in 1998 and 2009, drawing Duke and North Carolina respectively in the first round — the two bluest of blue bloods, back-to-back generations apart. And in 2018, Radford won its First Four game over Long Island for the program's first-ever NCAA tournament victory.
The Dedmon Center in Radford, Virginia, sits in one of the prettiest settings in college sports, tucked into the New River Valley. When the Highlanders are good, the building rocks with a small-school intensity that belies its size.
Radford's identity is pure Big South: tough, defensive, and built for the conference tournament grind. The program has been a consistent contender in a league where Winthrop and UNC Asheville have set the standard — and the Highlanders have proven they can beat anybody when March arrives.
The 2018 First Four win was the breakthrough: not just getting to the Dance, but winning in it. That's the next frontier for every mid-major, and Radford crossed it.
What defines the Highlanders is the mountain toughness and the First Four breakthrough. Three Dances, one March win, and a program that keeps climbing. In Radford, the Highlanders play like the Blue Ridge is watching — because it is.
The 2018 First Four win was the breakthrough: Radford beat Long Island 71-61 — the program's first NCAA tournament victory — before falling to Villanova. The banner was forever: the Highlanders had won in March.
The 1998 Duke draw was the original: the Highlanders' first Dance — against the sport's bluest blood. The 2009 North Carolina draw was the encore: two generations, two giants, same March magic.
The Dedmon Center's Blue Ridge setting is the program's charm: 3,000 seats in the New River Valley, with the mountains as the backdrop. When the Highlanders are rolling, the building shakes.
In the Big South's wars, Radford plays the mountain team with pride: the 2018 banner proves the formula — defend, grind, peak in March. The Highlanders keep believing the fourth Dance is coming.
In the Blue Ridge, Highlander basketball is about mountain toughness: the 2018 First Four win proved the formula. The Dedmon Center believes the fourth Dance is coming.
Year two of the Zach Chu era is underway, and the blueprint is clear. Chu took over a program that finished third in the Big South regular-season race in 2025–26, and for 2026–27 he kept the core — Frederik Erichsen, Gabriel Ferreira, Warren Keel Jr., and Zion Walker, entering his third year in Radford — while raiding the portal for reinforcements. Matthieu Grujicic and Jordyn Kee arrive from power-conference rosters, and Ja’Corey Robinson and Tristan Gross bring real Division I experience. It’s the modern mid-major formula: keep your culture, import your ceiling.
The schedule is not shy. Radford opens with a free exhibition against Ferrum College on October 29 at the Dedmon Center, then flies west — the program’s first trip that way since 2017, when the eventual Big South champions won their side of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. San Francisco on November 2, California on November 4 — the first meeting ever between the schools — and then a trip to Tennessee on November 9 in Knoxville, where Radford fell 72-66 the last time they met back in 2001. The home opener finally comes November 14 against Shenandoah, with Furman visiting November 18 — the Paladins’ first-ever trip to Dedmon.
The Big South slate starts with the new year: Presbyterian on January 1, Charleston Southern on January 3 — both at home — then the road gauntlet: USC Upstate, Winthrop, Longwood, and a January 9 home date with reigning regular-season and tournament champion High Point that will tell the Highlanders exactly where they stand. In this league, the regular season is rehearsal; everything funnels toward March in Charlotte.
That’s where the memories live. The 1998 draw against Duke, the 2009 date with North Carolina, and the 2018 breakthrough — a 71-61 First Four win over LIU, the program’s first NCAA tournament victory, before Villanova ended the run. Three Dances, one March win, and a fan base in the New River Valley that believes the fourth Dance is coming. Chu’s second team is built for the conference-tournament grind: defend, rebound, and peak in March. In the Blue Ridge, that’s always been the formula — and it’s still the one that works.
Under the lights at Dedmon, the Highlander formula is old-school Big South: defend the arc, own the glass, and trust that a team built for one weekend in March can beat anybody. Chu's staff has kept that identity while modernizing the offense around spacing and pace, and the portal additions were chosen to fit it — long, athletic, and comfortable guarding in space. The non-conference road gauntlet isn't tourism; it's how a mid-major builds a résumé, tests its young pieces, and finds out whether the newcomers can handle hostile gyms before the games start counting in the league race. Come January, when High Point rolls into Radford and the Big South standings start to sort themselves, the Highlanders intend to be the team nobody wants to see on their side of the bracket.