Sunday, March 1, 2020

Horizon League and Patriot League

Horizon League
The Horizon League begins conference tournament play this Tuesday. The first two rounds are played at the higher seeds home gym until the Final 4 teams meet on March 9-10 in Indy. The women play those days, too. It’s a neat setup for a low-major.

Wright State won the league title outright by 2 games, going 15-3. Northern Kentucky finished 2nd, UWGB 3rd. Wright State is 122nd in KenPom and Northern Kentucky is 153rd. No other team is in the top 200. The 1-seed hasn’t won since 2015 and has only won 3 times in the past decade and those teams are no longer in the league. Anyone other than Wright State or NKU is a 15-seed at best. Wright State swept the regular season matchup, trouncing NKU at home and then winning by 2 at NKU on Friday, denying them a share of the regular season title.

The Pick: Wright State (Scott Nagy should be highly sought after following this season)

Patriot League
The Patriot League starts their conference tournament on Tuesday as well. It’s spread out over 8 days, culminating with the title game on March 11. All games are played at the higher seed. Colgate is the favorite and was the regular season champion by 2 games. They challenged themselves in the non-conference, losing to Auburn, Syracuse and Clemson. They managed a win over Cincinnati. They were swept by Lafayette and could see them in the semi-finals.

Colgate is 121st in KenPom and second place finisher Boston is 162nd. American, who tied for 2nd, is 200th. They are the only teams in the top 200. The league would be best served by Colgate winning. Colgate is the defending champion and the 1-seed has advanced the last 3 years after a few years of chaos.

The Pick: Colgate

No comments: