Early Conference Tournament Breakdowns
The month of March is a very active month for college basketball. At any time during the next couple of weeks there will be loads of competitive college basketball to watch.
The increase in games can be attributed to the large amount of conference tournaments going on. Thirty-one conferences (The Ivy League uses the regular season conference champion) across the country compete in individual tournaments, where the winner of each tournament receives an automatic bid to participate in March Madness.
The use of conference tournaments gives everyone one last shot to play their way into the NCAA tournament. Since conference tournaments started on Tuesday, I felt it was necessary to take a look at some of them.
Atlantic Sun Conference
Dates: March 3 through March 8
Location: Higher seed’s home gym
Regular Season Champion: University of North Florida, 20-11 (12-2)
The Skinny: According to CBS Sports’ conference RPI ranking, the Atlantic Sun comes in at number 30 out of 33. The Atlantic Sun only features three teams with overall records above 500. Since the Atlantic Sun will only send one team to the NCAA tournament, I fully expect the conference tournament to be overly competitive.
Breakdown: It’s hard to pick against the Atlantic Sun regular season champion, North Florida. The Ospreys dominated conference ball. However, North Florida lost two conferences games this season, both to South Carolina Upstate.
The USC Upstate Spartans have shown glimpses of competitiveness this year, beating Georgia Tech (59-54 Road) and Mississippi State (53-51 Neutral). The Spartans also hung on, but fell late to both Maryland and Memphis by 10 during the non-conference part of their schedule.
Although I want to go with the favorite, North Florida, I just have a feeling USC Upstate will pull off run.
Pick: USC Upstate
Horizon League
Dates: March 3 through March 10
Location: Higher seed’s home gym
Regular Season Champion: Valparaiso University, 26-5 (13-3)
The Skinny: The Horizon League is one of the better mid-major conferences in the country. Though the conference only has four teams with overall winning records, a chance to play in the NCAA tournament should be incentive enough for teams to step up.
I am really interested to see how the top four teams in the Horizon League duke it out. Valparaiso is joined by Green Bay, Oakland and Cleveland State as teams that could run the table.
Breakdown: I would watch out for Green Bay in this year’s Horizon League tournament. The Phoenix are led by senior guard, Keifer Sykes. The Chicago native helped Green Bay knock off a ranked Miami Florida (68-55 Road) earlier this year.
Sykes has been on a blistering hot streak averaging 24.5 points in his last four games. I feel crazy going with back to back upset picks, but that’s what happens come March. I’m picking the Phoenix.
Pick: Green Bay
Patriot League
Dates: March 3 through March 11
Location: At site of higher seeds
Regular Season Champion: Bucknell University, 18-13 (13-5)
The Skinny: The Patriot League might be one of the more disappointing conferences this year. With only three teams barely over 500, it hasn’t been the best year for the conference.
Breakdown: No one in the Patriot League really jumps out at me. The conference is filled with mediocre teams, and that is why I believe Bucknell will continue their winning ways and pick up a conference tournament championship.
The Bison lost five conference games on the year, but four of them were close as two went into overtime and the other two were decided by less than three points.
As far as sleepers go, I’m going with Navy. You may think I’m crazy thinking Navy could pull this off, but the Midshipmen have been on the wrong side of a lot of close battles this year including a two point and one point loss to Bucknell.
I’m not saying Navy will win the tournament, but I think they could make some noise.
Pick: Bucknell
Big South Conference
Dates: March 4 through March 8
Location: Conway, South Carolina (Coastal Carolina University)
Regular Season Champion: Charleston Southern University, 19-10 (13-5)
The Skinny: The Big South saw a very competitive conference season this year. Charleston Southern and High Point tied at the top of the Big South rankings at 13-5. The race for first was cut-throat as Coastal Carolina, Radford and Winthrop missed out at 12-6 in conference play.
Breakdown: After taking some time to look at the Big South, I couldn’t help but be impressed by High Point. The Panthers have no problem scoring.
Junior John Brown helps carry most of that offensive load. Brown is averaging 18.6 points per game, but has been playing really well as of late. However, the Panthers are still trying to get a sour taste out of their mouth. High Point lost a chance at an outright Big South title when they lost a triple overtime game to Charleston Southern.
The Panthers aren’t the only team that I circled when looking at the tournament bracket. My sleeper is Gardner-Webb. The Bulldogs already have impressive wins over Clemson and at Purdue. Gardner-Webb is a team that loves to share the ball, as they rank in the top 10 in the country in assists per game (16.6).
Though I think the Bulldogs could give High Point and Charleston Southern a scare, I don’t think they will be able to win it all.
Pick: High Point
American East Conference
Dates: March 4 through March 14
Location: At site of higher seeds
Regular Season Champion: University at Albany, 21-8 (15-1)
The Skinny: The American East was dominated by Albany all season long. The Great Danes didn’t see much competition as the closest team behind them was three games back (Stony Brook).
Breakdown: I’ve really liked New Hampshire this season. The Wildcats have played some tough basketball and gave Albany a scare both times they played (lost by two and one). New Hampshire is one of best rebounding teams in the country notching nearly 40 boards a game.
Though New Hampshire has a lot to offer, there is no way I’m not going with the Great Danes.
Pick: Albany
Northeast Conference
Dates: March 4 through March 10
Location: At site of higher seed
Regular Season Champion: St. Francis College (NY), 21-10 (15-3)
The Skinny: St. Francis (NY) had no trouble winning a regular season title. The Terriers won 15 games during conference play, and the three that they lost were by no more than 10 points.
Breakdown: When looking at the NEC, Robert Morris is a team that jumps out at me. The Colonials have three starters averaging 15 points per game: Rodney Pryor, Marcquise Reed and Lucky Jones.
Pryor, Reed and Jones will have to continue to dominate if the Colonials hope to go dancing. Although I wanted to stick with the regular season champion, St. Francis (NY), I couldn’t.
Pick: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley Conference
Dates: March 4 through March 7
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Regular Season Champion: Murray State University, 26-4 (16-0)
The Skinny: The Ohio Valley Conference tournament is set up in a way that results in a double bye for the top two seeds. With that in mind, I don’t see how Murray State and Eastern Kentucky won’t meet in the conference tournament championship game.
Breakdown: The Ohio Valley Conference is definitely an interesting conference to keep an eye on, but I don’t think there is much question as to who will win the conference tournament. I am going with Murray State.
The Racers have been one of my favorite teams to watch this season, and I think they will make a deep NCAA tournament run. The Racers know how to share the ball and how to score, and if they win out they will be carrying a 26 game winning streak into the tournament.
But what if Murray State lost? Would they still get into the tournament? Well, that is up for debate, but if the Racers don’t get the automatic Ohio Valley bid, I think they will still get into the tournament by taking a spot from a bubble team.
Pick: Murray State
Follow Uloop
Apply to Write for Uloop News
Join the Uloop News TeamDiscuss This Article
