Tuesday Conference Tournaments: The Mid-Major Edition

Things get mad starting Tuesday as we have multiple leagues tip-off, some continuing and a few ending. Let’s look at the mid-majors as we’ll give the big boys a deeper look.

A-10

It’s kind of sad to include the A-10 in this but they’re the 12th best KenPom league, between the WAC & Sun Belt. The tournament will be played in Brooklyn and is a one-bid league in 2023.

VCU won the league and is 75th in KenPom. Runner-up Dayton is 72. They’re very close according to the analytic. No other team is top-100 in KenPom. St. Louis is close at 103 and has a talented roster. Despite that, they’re 5-5 in their last 10.

Fordham and Duquesne have had impressive seasons. It would be wild to see one of them win the tournament. I’ll take VCU.

Big West

The Big West tips Tuesday from Henderson, NV. The Big West may have one of the more entertaining tournaments this season. UC-Irvine is the 1-seed. The Anteaters are 100 in KenPom and have a win over Oregon. 

The 2-seed, UC-Santa Barbara is 107 in KenPom. The 3-seed is UC-Riverside who is 144 in KenPom. The 4&5 seeds, UC-Fullerton and Hawaii, 117 and 126 in KenPom are the 4-5 game and either one can win this.

The pick is Irvine but this thing is wide open.

MAAC

Our friends in the northeast begin Tuesday live from Atlanatic City. Iona won the league going away and is 78th in KenPom and the proverbial team no one wants to see.

Only 2 other teams are top-200 KenPom. They are 2-seed Rider at 197 and 3-seed Quinnipiac at 171. Siena is the 4-seed at 203. I’ll argue it’s better for the league and the tournament for Iona to win and they’re the pick. That said, this league tends to produce some upsets, including St. Peter’s last year.

WAC

The WAC has been good this year. As mentioned earlier, it’s better than the A-10. They have 2 top-100 KenPom teams. 1-seed Utah Valley is 79 in KenPom. They own wins over Oregon and BYU. They also have a win over 2-seed Sam Houston St. in their only matchup.

Sam Houston State is 66 in KenPom with the nation’s 15th best defense. Southern Utah is 102 in KenPom. They split with the other two teams. Grand Canyon is 120 in KenPom and Stephen F. Austin is 129. 

Another late night league, like the Big West, this tournament ought to be a lot of fun. I’ll take Sam Houston State