As we now hit November, we continue our look ahead to the conferences this college basketball season with a few more today.
The Big East will have an interesting look with many teams losing a lot of production and experience, but it should still be Villanova’s to lose. However, the defending national champions won’t be the pick of many to make another Final Four run due to significant personnel losses. They could also get pressed by the likes of St. John’s, thanks to getting Mustapha Heron eligible immediately, as well as Marquette based more on returning talent. Providence is intriguing with some key pieces lost but also some returning and some good young talent, as is Seton Hall, who will have a new look, and Butler should be pretty good as well. Georgetown is trending up, while Xavier will have a new look on the bench and on the floor.
With most of their team back, Montana will be a fairly comfortable favorite in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies have four senior starters returning, three of whom earned All-Big Sky honors last season. Weber State, another traditional powerhouse, should chase them along with Northern Colorado, who won the CIT last season, and Eastern Washington, who returns four starters from last season’s runner-up.
You can expect the Big South to be intensely competitive once again, as has been the case often in recent years, as Hampton joins them. Radford could very well repeat, as Mike Jones’ club returns most of their key pieces from last season’s championship team. Traditional contender Winthrop should be right there, and Hampton could contend right away. Campbell will be a sleeper, but also worth watching as they have the nation’s leading returning scorer in senior Chris Clemons.
The Big Ten was down last year, and doesn’t look like it will make a quantum leap at first glance this time around as a lot of production was lost. Michigan State remains the team to beat, as the Spartans will have a great perimeter unit and get Nick Ward back up front. Their best challengers look like Michigan, who will try to reload around Charles Matthews, and quite possibly Indiana as they add Romeo Langford to a few good returning pieces. Purdue has been mentioned a lot, but the Boilermakers need multiple pieces to emerge alongside Carsen Edwards as they lost a ton of production and experience. Nebraska will try again, Wisconsin could be better but just took another injury hit, while a healthy Minnesota could be interesting and Maryland and Iowa hope to be relevant again this year.
Out west is the Big West, a conference that is always fun to watch late at night and should be even more so this season given that several teams return a lot of production. At first glance, it looks like a three-horse race between UC Irvine, who returns all five starters, last season’s tournament champion Cal State Fullerton and last season’s regular season champion UC Davis. UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State can’t be easily dismissed.
Finally for today, there is the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). While defending champion College of Charleston should still contend with two of the conference’s best players, Northeastern is the favorite with all but one significant piece returning from last season’s regular season co-champion. Look for Hofstra to give them a good push with a terrific perimeter unit, and William & Mary is a team you pick to have a down year at your own peril given their track record under Tony Shaver.
Side Dishes
As alluded to earlier, Wisconsin still can’t catch a break health-wise after injuries hit them hard last season. Aleem Ford will be out indefinitely after surgery on his knee, and losing the promising sophomore will hit their depth up front. They have bodies, but will have to play differently if guys like Charlie Thomas or Alex Illikainen have to take on expanded roles.
Virginia Tech has also taken a hit in the frontcourt, but of a different nature as Christopher Clarke was suspended indefinitely. The senior forward was one of the top reserves in the ACC last season and figured to start this year, but he was not listed on the team’s roster as of Wednesday afternoon, a troubling sign with regard to whether or not he will return, or when. It would be a significant blow to a team that projects as an NCAA Tournament team and a team that could give the likes of Duke, Virginia and North Carolina a push.
Tonight’s Menu
Exhibition games are winding down with the start of the regular season just days away. Indiana, who we mentioned earlier, hosts Southern Indiana in one of them this evening.
