With the departure of Virginia Tech to the Big East, the league will align
itself into one 11-team division this year. (Next year, Richmond comes in and they will again
split back into two divisions.)
Xavier has enough horses to keep ahead of the earthbound
likes of Massachusetts and Temple.
Dayton made the biggest splash of any conference team in the
preseason, but overall it hasn't been a dominant performer.
Xavier has been more consistent with some minor splashes on
the national scene. St. Bonaventure has been solid when it had the chance. Temple's big-time
schedule in the preseason was too much for their personnel.
With 34 of 45 starters returning, the league will be deep from top to bottom. Six teams are
legitimate threats. Only Georgia Tech, Clemson and Florida
State won't be factors. Maryland can win big games, but
they'll need to be solid in the little games in order to pass
Duke for the conference title.
Duke has the best individual talent, but both
Wake Forest and Virginia
have been extremely impressive in the preseason. Conference play is less conducive to runaway
attrition-style games, so the latter two will have it a bit tougher duplicating their numbers
inside the league. Maryland wasn't able to pull off any name
victories in the preseason, but their numbers are as good as the other top league teams. Both
North Carolina and
Georgia Tech have shown enough to play spoiler but neither can
take control of games well enough to hold its own throughout league play.
Illinois has all its starters back but must adjust to new
coach Bill Self (ex-Tulsa). Meanwhile, Michigan State
has a talented supporting cast returning and needs to adjust to new stars leading the way.
Wisconsin's gimmick style makes them good enough to play
spoiler. Iowa has the intangibles on its side with the
collapse of the program in Indiana.
Michigan State has its sights set on bigger things than
conference honors, but first things first. Illinois played
the toughest preseason schedule of any team in the country and they came through very well.
Wisconsin won big games in the preseason despite the loss of
their coach (and despite a rule change aimed against their physical style of play).
Iowa pulled off some key wins at home. Penn State and
Indiana had moments, but neither figures to break through past the top teams.
Last year might have been the best season this league has ever had. Only
Kansas returns intact at the same level.
Missouri is a solid second.
Oklahoma, Texas and
Iowa State are still dangerous, but are shadows of
themselves a year ago.
Kansas is the glamour program, but the lasting impression
from the preseason was a blowout loss. Missouri has
battled well against all levels of talent. Iowa State's
perimeter attack has stood them in good stead. Texas and
Oklahoma will also be in the mix. Baylor went undefeated
against a schedule of nobodies.
A plane crash took the lives of 10 people associated with the Oklahoma State basketball team
(including 2 players). The tragedy has affected the entire conference.
Virginia Tech joins the league from the Atlantic 10. That makes an even 14
teams in the conference now, so they've split into two divisions, East and West. Personnel-wise,
there's been a huge turnover in the league. Expect new faces and teams at the top.
Notre Dame and
Seton Hall should rule the West, while old favorites
Connecticut and St. John's will top the East.
Connecticut should dominate the East; St. John's doesn't
appear to have the goods to make a challenge in conference play. In the West,
Notre Dame has the best player but they're not significantly
better than the other strong teams. Syracuse
had the most impressive preseason. Seton Hall is talented but
unfocused because of their youth. Georgetown and
Boston College went undefeated against weak competition but
they'll be spoilers at the least.
Weber State had a good enough preseason to show they'll be contenders in this very evenly
balanced league. Eastern Washington and Cal St-Northridge
will also be right there.
3 / 8: BIG SKY TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND/QUARTERS at Northridge, CA
(Only the top 6 teams advance to the conference tournament; the top 2 teams receive first
round byes with the top team earning the right to host the tournament.)
DePaul may be able to sneak through this season while
Cincinnati is on a down cycle after the disappointing end
to last year. Keep one eye over on Memphis just in case new coach John Calipari can work a
one-year miracle. (As it is, the Tigers should be good enough to lead the National Division.)
Cincinnati reached higher than DePaul during the preseason,
but neither was dominant so the American Division could go either way. UNC-Charlotte may sneak
through past both. Among the National Division teams,
South Florida started to turn things around after a slow
start; Southern Mississippi pulled off some surprising
wins but may not like being the hunted.
Penn went winless in the preseason, but with only one Ivy team (Harvard) even sporting
a winning record heading into conference play, the Quakers still qualify as league favorites
until proven otherwise.
Key games:
2 / 9: @ Harvard 77 Penn 62
2 / 9: @ Dartmouth 57 Princeton 56
2 /10: Penn 75 @ Dartmouth 62
2 /10: Princeton 69 @ Harvard 67
2 /13: Princeton 67 @ Penn 53
2 /16: Penn 59 @ Cornell 57
2 /16: @ Columbia 59 Princeton 42
2 /17: @ Columbia 69 Penn 57
2 /17: @ Cornell 66 Princeton 49
3 / 2: @ Brown 85 Penn 77
3 / 3: Princeton 64 @ Brown 55
3 / 6: @ Princeton 68 Penn 52
There's just something about this league that doesn't ever generate a team that can break
through on the national scene. The play is competitive and they're dangerous opponents, but no
one seems to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Same thing this time around.
Marshall and Kent State in the East, and Ball State and
Toledo in the West look to be the favorites.
Both Detroit and Butler have 4 starters back from last
year. The difference: Butler lost its coach to Nebraska
(on the heels of the near upset of Florida in last year's
NCAA tournament). That shifts the edge back to the team from Motor City.
Indiana State's resurgence to the top of the league a year ago won't quite be repeated again
this year, but they'll still be in the thick of contention with 4 starters back. Look for
Creighton to sneak back to the top spot (behind guards Ryan Sears and Ben Walker). Evansville
will be itching to spoil things.
Revamped Utah should have more than enough talent to stay
ahead of the returning veteran squads at UNLV and BYU. The
Mountain West tournament champion gets an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament this year.
Several teams had solid records in the preseason. Neither UNLV nor Utah is operating with the
coach who started the season. BYU seems the best poised to
do well in conference play.
Middle Tennessee State left the conference to join the Sun Belt.
Austin Peay should be able to stave off a rebuilding
Murray State team for the league title.
Arizona has the most complete team in the country. Plus, they
get to play Stanford at home first. Both
UCLA and USC are talented
enough to put a scare in the top two, but not enough to win the league title over the long haul.
Stanford had a dominant preseason.
Arizona has plenty of talent but losing their coach
indefinitely makes their prospects suspect. USC played OK,
but didn't dominate its opponents. Forget UCLA.
Tennessee is the favorite in the East Division, ahead of
Florida and Kentucky. In
the West, look for resurgent Arkansas and
Alabama to fight it out for the top spot.
Tennessee had an outstanding preseason.
Florida was also quite good. Both teams have enough talent
to get past the lodero style of Kentucky in the East. In the
West, Mississippi turned in a very good preseason, but both
Arkansas and Alabama have
enough talent to overtake them.
New blood infuses the conference as ex-OVC New Mexico State
and ex-Big West New Mexico State and Nevada come in.
Louisiana-Lafayette has 5 returning starters from last year's great run but will have a tough
time fighting off a challenge from South Alabama and New
Mexico State in the West. In the East, Louisiana Tech is better than Western Kentucky.
An important conference game already took place.
South Alabama had a decent preseason but, as evidenced by
the loss to Lousiana-Lafayette, they're not necessarily the class of the league.
1 / 6: @ We Kentucky 79 LA-Lafayette 62
1 /10: @ S Alabama 74 We Kentucky 66
1 /11: @ LA-Lafayette 66 New Mexico St 65
1 /16: @ We Kentucky 72 New Mexico St 61
1 /18: @ We Kentucky 55 Louisiana Tech 47
1 /21: @ S Alabama 72 New Mexico St 63
1 /27: S Alabama 58 @ LA-Lafayette 55
2 / 1: @ New Mexico St 87 LA-Lafayette 80
2 / 3: Lousiana Tech 60 @ S Alabama 54
2 / 8: @ Louisiana Tech 81 LA-Lafayette 75
2 /10: @ New Mexico St 70 S Alabama 66
2 /10: @ Louisiana Tech 73 We Kentucky 72 (OT)
2 /17: New Mexico St 77 @ Louisiana Tech 72
Pepperdine is a program on the upswing that passed
Gonzaga last season. The Zags' brief run in the sun
probably played out last year.
This is the only league in the country that has its teams play home-and-home games back-to-back.
Look for it on January 17 & 20 and then again January 31 & February 3. It's also one of the few
(along with the Ivies) where teams regularly play on back-to-back nights,
Friday and Saturday.