Good morning.
Continuing Hoopville’s quick look at all 33 NCAA Division I conferences as we close in on Election Day, er, Opening Day on Tuesday:
Some schools may feel a window of opportunity in the Patriot League this year after Bucknell lost three decorated senior starters (Stephen Brown, Nana Foulland and Zach Thomas) who had outstanding careers and last year combined for over 50 points per game. Perhaps regular Bison sparring partner Lehigh, which has four starters returning and finished strong last year, can get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since C.J. McCollum and Co. stunned Duke in 2012, or maybe Colgate can win its first title since the Adonal Foyle years behind talented inside/outside big man Will Rayman. Or maybe Bucknell just might still be the best team anyway, and the talent on the beautiful campus in Lewisburg, Pa., is so deep that all the remaining returnees have needed is a chance to showcase it.
The SEC has fully put behind it those dark times from just a couple years ago when it was struggling to put more than three teams in the NCAA Tournament. The conference was maybe the deepest it’s ever been last year when it sent eight to the NCAAs and the top 12 were separated by just six games in the league standings. All that football TV money has finally filtered into big-time success in hiring coaches, and the league also has scheduled smartly in non-conference play and capitalized on it. Kentucky (as usual) is getting the most attention entering this season followed by Auburn and Tennessee, both who were major surprises last year and many expect in the top 10 again this year. The middle of the conference may not be quite as strong with teams like Missouri and Texas A&M suffering substantial losses, but programs like LSU and Mississippi State could rise right up in their places making potentially the top half of the league even better.
Long past the days when it was considered Davidson’s playground with an occasional dose of Tennessee-Chattanooga thrown in, the Southern Conference continues to be as a whole at its deepest and best in decades, maybe even since the likes of Virginia Tech and West Virginia were in the conference in the 1960s. The last two years have seen East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro emerge as legitimate national tough outs with some serious talent and athleticism, and both will be in the mix again, including the defending champion Spartans who nearly dusted off Gonzaga in the NCAAs last year. And both may not even be the favorite this year; for many it might be Wofford, which returns five starters including one of the country’s very best shooters in Fletcher Magee.
Stephen F. Austin continues to carry the banner for the Southland, building a program that expects to beat anyone, has started winning some heavyweight recruiting battles, and even got Alabama to agree to come to play AT the Lumberjacks, the latter a borderline amazing feat in these days of scheduling collusion. SFA has legit top 40 potential and maybe more, with an outstanding trio (Shannon Bogues, Kevon Harris and T.J. Holyfield), an experienced point guard and plenty of depth to continue its ultra-aggressive denial defense all over the floor. After the Jacks, Jay Ladner has built a nice program at Southeastern Louisiana and has a must-watch mighty-mite in 5-foot-9 Marlain Veal, but there’s plenty of room for upward mobility beyond those two.
The SWAC might have a changing of the guard after Mike Davis departed Texas Southern to take on a project at Detroit Mercy. The Tigers made four trips to the NCAA tourney over the last five years, though enough talent is back for new coach Johnny Jones (formerly of LSU and North Texas) that TSU just might win it all again anyway. If not Texas Southern, then maybe Grambling’s Tigers are the team to beat. The team that notably stunned Georgia Tech last year also won the conference regular season title but was ineligible for the postseason due to NCAA APR penalties, but this year the Tigers are eligible and could nab their long-awaited first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Side Dishes
- Among teams playing exhibitions Saturday, Georgia Tech pummeled Florida Tech 87-36 while Colorado State handled Colorado State-Pueblo 87-67.
- A number of other results were much closer. Colorado squeezed past Colorado School of Mines 66-57, while MAAC favorite Rider also got a challenge from NCAA Division II West Chester (Pa.) 87-81, and Rider coach Kevin Baggett was not happy about it after. Also, Illinois State got a good push from Augustana (Ill.) in an 82-74 win over the No. 3-ranked team in NCAA Division III, and Detroit Mercy needed a buzzer-beater from Josh McFolley to defeat Wayne State (Mich.) 79-76.
- Mississippi Valley State became the latest Division I program to lose an exhibition, falling to nearby NCAA Division II foe Delta State 70-67. The Delta Devils lost both of their warmups, also falling to Tougaloo (Ala.) earlier in the week.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
