Sending a personal welcome back to another year of the Morning Dish at Hoopville. Phil got it started the last two days and now we’ll continue with more quick conference capsules as the NCAA Division I college basketball season nears its (way too early) start date of Nov. 6 next week:
Conference USA is coming off its fourth straight year springing an NCAA Tournament first round upset (that’s now teams seeded 2, 3, 4 and 5 slayed by C-USA squads over the last four years). Respect has been hard to come by from the Selection Committee, though, so the league is trying something different this year with a new scheduling format of flexible scheduling at the end of the conference schedule, with the goal of increasing opportunities for higher-quality wins for the best teams and better seeds in the NCAAs. Conference USA was much-improved last year with seven 20-win teams, and Marshall and Western Kentucky are favorites this year. The Thundering Herd-which topped Wichita State in the NCAA first round-returns a prolific backcourt led by Jon Elmore but has a task in replacing shot-swatting big man Ajdin Penava, while WKU lost three starters but brings another batch of talented transfers and newcomers after its NIT semifinal appearance last year. Old Dominion will remain rugged and a tough out, and watch North Texas and Texas-San Antonio, both of who could challenge if the threes keep falling and they get enough inside play.
The Horizon League has seemed to be followed by a rain cloud in recent years, and last year it registered by far its worst-ever finish in the conference RPI (26th). One would think things can’t get any worse, but heavy coaching turnover has taken a toll and the sport’s transfer epidemic has also been a big problem. Wright State was a bright spot last year, winning the league tourney in just Scott Nagy’s second year as coach, and the Raiders should be good again with the load that is Loudon Love muscling up inside. Northern Kentucky also should again be in the mix with four-year stud and ultra-skilled big man Drew McDonald, and Illinois-Chicago will have a talented and deep backcourt.
The Ivy League slipped as a whole last year with Princeton, Yale and to a lesser extent Harvard all having underwhelming seasons to some degree. The Crimson still tied Pennsylvania for the regular season title after a 5-10 run in pre-conference play, but the Quakers won the league tourney for their first NCAA tourney showing in 11 years. Harvard is a chic pick to win it this year with six starters back-five from last year, plus Bryce Aiken, who scored over 14 ppg as the team’s point guard two years ago. Penn seems to be way too undervalued for a squad with four starters back, Princeton and Yale both have a good chance to be considerably improved with a combined nine starters back, and the bottom of the league won’t be a pushover, either.
The regular season seems to have become just an annual long prelude to Tim Cluess and his Iona squads eventually taking their regular place as NCAA representatives of the Metro Atlantic. Mr. March’s Gaels have won three straight league tourneys and have gone to the NCAAs five of the last seven years, and they’ll be right in the thick of it again this year even after making unwanted news in October with a fight between an assistant coach and player that led to the dismissal of top frontcourt returnee Roland Griffin. Rider is a heavy favorite, though, with five starters back, nine of the top 10 players, and at least five all-conference caliber players. The Broncs need to figure out success in March, though, having not gotten out of the MAAC tourney quarterfinals since 2011, or else it might be Iona Time once again.
The Mid-American Conference-the other ‘mac’, or MAC-continues to edge itself into consistent top 10-12 status among conferences, and last year finished 10th in the NCAA’s conference RPI for the second time in three years. The league also found success in the NCAA Tournament as Buffalo thrashed Arizona in the first round for its first-ever win in the Big Dance, and the athetic, attacking Bulls should be a threat to make some noise again in March. Wes Clark could prove tough to replace for UB, though, and Eastern Michigan and Toledo are no slouches and just might knock off the Bulls. EMU has added even more length to its Syracuse 2-3 zone and has one more year of double-double machine James Thompson IV, while the Rockets have all kinds of offensive firepower inside and out. The clock continues to tick since the MAC’s last at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, with this year marking 20 years since Miami (Ohio) earned a bid and promptly went to the Sweet 16 behind Wally Szczerbiak in 1999.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference has a bit different look this season as Hampton has left for the Big South, and it will look different again next year when Savannah State returns to NCAA Division II. With Hampton’s departure, North Carolina Central is unquestionably the MEAC’s steadiest program of late, with three NCAA Tournament trips in the last five years. The Eagles bring back four starters from a team that was just sixth in the league in the regular season but won the conference tourney. Most people’s favorite to win the MEAC is Bethune-Cookman, not a typical spot for a program that is looking for its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats tied for first last year in Ryan Ridder’s first year as coach and four returning seniors averaged in double figures last year. BCU’s Soufiyane Diakite and Shawntrez Davis ranked first and third in the league in rebounding, respectively.
Side Dishes
- Exhibition season continued with a host of games Thursday night. Take whatever you want from friendlies (but we’d probably advise one should take at least something from them), but non-Division I teams knocked off several D-I programs, while others threw good scares into them. Winners included Western Colorado rolling Air Force 84-64 and Indianapolis winning at Valparaiso 60-57. Ugly results for both losing teams. Also, NCAA Division III Salisbury (Md.) topped Maryland-Eastern Shore 67-60.
- Among the closer shaves, San Diego State held off Chaminade 68-63 and Wyoming squeezed past Colorado Christian 72-69. St. John’s needed a game-finishing 12-0 run to close out Maryville (Mo.) 71-57, Tulane topped NAIA member Loyola (La.) 85-74, and DePaul held off Rockhurst (Mo.) 72-65. Even Oregon had to work before pulling away late from Western Oregon 77-58.
- Among those having little problem in their preseason games, Kansas defeated the Washburn (Kan.) Ichabods 79-52, Indiana topped the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana 96-62 and Houston drilled Dallas Baptist 89-60, Nebraska also rolled past Wayne State (Neb.) 75-40, Old Dominion took care of Virginia Wesleyan 83-54 and Bradley blasted Carroll (Wis.) 81-31.
- An intriguing story this week has come from Missouri, which through unnamed sources was accusing Evansville of essentially blocking former Purple Aces guard Dru Smith from getting a waiver to play this year for the Tigers. Mizzou, like any other program that hasn’t been asleep for six months, has seen the NCAA handing out transfer waivers like Halloween candy and figured it would try on the basis that Smith supposedly left Evansville solely because coach Marty Simmons was fired in March, and thus should get a waiver. And according to the unnamed source this week, he would have if not for the Aces’ supposed pettiness.
After several days of silence, Evansville responded yesterday-strongly. Aces athletic director Mark Spencer detailed UE’s involvement throughout the transfer process for Smith, including Smith’s participation (with other Aces teammates) in the hiring process of current coach Walter McCarty and Missouri trying to get Evansville to say it had essentially pulled Smith’s scholarship and he was not welcome back to the program. Anyone with an ounce of common sense could’ve figured that wouldn’t have been the case with one of the better players in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Evansville rightfully refused to go along with Mizzou’s prodding. Schools like Missouri already have about every imaginable advantage in recruiting the Dru Smiths out of high school or poaching them away after they’ve played well collegiately. Evansville was under zero obligation to bow down, tell what some might consider just a little white lie and give them still yet one more advantage, even in the name of the supposedly sacred cow now of “student-athlete well-being.”
Have a terrific first Friday of November.
