Conference Mayhem Preview

ACC Tournament

Favorite: Duke
Watch Out For: Maryland, Clemson
Dark Horse: Wake Forest

Dick Vitale will be thrilled this season because once again, the Dukies are the clear favorite in the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils have a solid combination of offense and defense, and are in the top-20 in the nation in scoring and the top-40 in scoring defense. Most notably, they are No. 1 in the country in defending the three-point shot, making it hard for teams to catch up when Duke gets an early lead. Maryland is also gifted offensively, and is just outside the nation’s top-10 in scoring offense, but their defense is lacking; they’re 10th in the 12-team ACC in scoring defense.

Atlantic 10 Tournament

Favorite(s): Temple, Xavier
Watch Out For: Richmond, Dayton, Rhode Island
Dark Horse: St. Louis

The resurgence by the A-10 this season has made this possibly the most difficult conference tournament to figure out. The teams here seem to have clear identities; for example, Temple and St. Louis are 12th and 13th in the 14-team league in scoring offense, but they are a respective first and second in scoring defense. Xavier does seem to have the most complete team, with solid defense and rebounding, and a scoring offense among the top-20 in the nation

Big East Tournament

Favorite: Syracuse
Watch Out For: Villanova, West Virginia, Pittsburgh
Dark Horse: Connecticut

If the A-10 is among the most difficult of conferences to figure out heading into their tournament, the Big East is not far behind. Syracuse has been the best team all season, but West Virginia, Villanova and Pitt are not to be ignored. This 16-team behemoth of a league features a little bit of everything and has a team in the top-10 in the country in virtually every significant statistical category – Villanova, Providence and Syracuse are all in the top-10 in scoring offense; Syracuse is No. 1 in field-goal percentage and Georgetown is No. 4; Notre Dame and Marquette are in the top-10 in three-point field-goal percentage; West Virginia is in the top-10 in rebounding margin; Syracuse and Notre Dame are second and third, respectively, in assists per game; Notre Dame, Marquette and Seton Hall are in the top-10 in assist-turnover ratio; UConn, Rutgers and Syracuse are in the top-10 in blocked shots per game; and Marquette and Notre Dame are in the top-10 for fewest turnovers per game. See? We told you it’s a tough league.

Big 10 Tournament

Favorite: Ohio State
Watch Out For: Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin
Dark Horse: Minnesota

Purdue was looking like the co-favorites next to Ohio State, but they lost Robbie Hummel, who was an all-around threat that could score and rebound with the best in the conference. So the Buckeyes, with all-everything star Evan Turner, are the clear favorites here, but it is never, ever wise to look past the Spartans from Michigan State. They wear their toughness on their sleeve, and the Tom Izzo-led squad plays together; they are in the top-five in the nation in rebounding margin, and top-10 in assists per game.

Big 12 Tournament

Favorite: Kansas
Watch Out For: Kansas State, Baylor, Missouri, Texas
Dark Horse: Oklahoma State

Colonial Tournament

Favorite: Old Dominion
Watch Out For: Northeastern, William & Mary
Dark Horse: Virginia Commonwealth

Old Dominion is the favorite here because they do one thing better than most other teams in this conference: play defense and rebound. ODU is among the top-five in the country in both scoring defense and rebounding margin. William & Mary is also very dangerous, but for different reason. They lead the conference and are among the top-10 in the country in three-pointers made per game, and they also don’t turn the ball over often; in fact, only 11 teams have fewer turnovers than they do.

Conference USA Tournament

Favorite: UTEP
Watch Out For: Memphis, UAB, Marshall
Dark Horse: Tulsa

Previously, you didn’t even need to think about this one. Nobody was beating Memphis, and that was that – period. But John Calipari left for Kentucky in the offseason, and something funny happened: they lost to UTEP. The Miners are now the top team in the league, with just one conference loss, and though Memphis has played a tough schedule, they’ve been beaten by nearly all of their tough opponents. The Tigers have played, and fallen to, Kansas, Syracuse, UMass, Tennessee and Gonzaga. A team to specifically keep an eye on is Marshall. They’re among the highest-scoring teams in the nation, and lead the country in blocked shots thanks to Hassan Whiteside, who turns away 5.5 per contest.

MAC Tournament

Favorite(s): Akron, Kent State
Watch Out For: Buffalo
Dark Horse: Central Michigan

This is not a good league overall, and it’s likely that you really only need to choose between Akron and Kent State to pick your conference tournament winner. Statistically, very little separates the two schools, so the only thing to go on so far is Kent State’s 87-70 win at home in late January, with the schools playing their regular season finales before getting started with conference tournament play.

Missouri Valley Tournament

Favorite: Northern Iowa
Watch Out For: Wichita State, Illinois State
Dark Horse: Missouri State

The Missouri Valley has seen better years, with Northern Iowa the obvious favorite. The reason? Defense. Only Princeton allows fewer points per game than UNI does, and they also take care of the ball well, and have the 14th-fewest turnovers per game. Keep an eye on Missouri State. They lead the conference in scoring and have wins this season over solid teams like Tulsa and St. Louis.

Mountain West Tournament

Favorite: New Mexico
Watch Out For: BYU, UNLV
Dark Horse: Utah

With its recent win over BYU, New Mexico took both games against the Cougars, and those two losses happen to be half of the season total for BYU. New Mexico has just two losses in conference play, and those came in their first two conference games. Still, BYU is exceptionally dangerous. They are in the top-five in the nation in the following statistical categories: scoring offense, scoring margin, three-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage while also claiming a spot in the top-10 in field-goal percentage.

Pac-10 Tournament

Favorite: California
Watch Out For: Arizona State, Washington
Dark Horse: Arizona

The Pac-10 is the worst it’s been in years, with every team sporting at least nine losses, and at the end of the conference tournament, there will be only one team in the league with a possibility of having fewer than 10 losses. The most likely team to come out of the depths of the utter averageness is California. Simply put, they’ve been the most consistent team in the league all season even though they lost all of their most difficult non-conference games.

1455 blg

Conference Mayhem Preview

admin

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Related Posts

Leave a Reply Cancel reply