Sunday, March 8, 2020

A-10 & Southland

The A-10 conference tournament begins Wednesday in Brooklyn. This is an important tournament for a few reasons. Dayton is playing to lock up a 1-seed, Richmond is playing while squarely on the bubble and other bubble teams are watching to see if there is a bid-thief.

Dayton finished undefeated in the regular season and is 4th in KenPom. I don’t care what league you play in, that’s impressive. Richmond finished 2nd and is 46th in KenPom. The Spiders have won 9 of 10 and own a victory over UW-Madison.

The concern over a bid thief is legit. The A-10 cannibalized itself a bit. The middle of the league is good. 3rd place Rhode Island is 65th in KenPom, 4th place St. Louis is 60th, 7th place Davidson is 68th and 8th place VCU is 73rd.

I’m feeling a bid-thief in this league.

The Pick: St. Louis

Southland

The Southland starts its conference tournament on Wednesday as well. Like CUSA, they will be playing in Katy, TX. Stephen F. Austin went 19-1 and 28-3 overall and has that win at Duke. They’re 102nd in KenPom. Only two other teams are in the top 200 of KenPom. Abilene Christian is 186 and Nichols State is 193.


The Lumberjacks lone loss was a 1-point home loss to Texas A&M-Chorpus Christi. They’ve won 15 in a row. They’re a menace.

The Pick: Stephen F. Austin

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