Conference USA
Conference USA is playing its games in Frisco, Texas. Who is in Conference USA? Fair question. No one really knows but it was a pretty good league this year. 10th best in KenPom.
The champ was Florida Atlantic. FAU is 28-3 and 27th in KenPom. They should be a lock over say, Wisconsin, but we know how this works. Based on Brian’s latest bracket, I think they’re a lock.
Not a lock is North Texas and UAB. Both are 46th and 58th in KenPom. UAB needs to win the tournament to get in. They were swept by UNT and split with FAU. I’ll take UAB for the mass chaos it’ll cause amongst some of the big boys.
MEAC
Howard won the league but North Carolina Central has the best KenPom number at 195. Norfolk State is 204 and all games are played in Norfolk. However, North Carolina Central has won 7 straight while Howard and Norfolk State have stumbled to the finish line. Give me LeVelle Moten and the Eagles.
SWAC
The SWAC is playing its games in Birmingham. Alcorn State is the 1-seed by virtue of a win over Grambling State. Both finished 15-3 in league. Alcorn State also has wins over Wichita State & Stephen F. Austin. They’re 239 in KenPom.
Grambling State is 173 in KenPom and has a win over Colorado and Vandy. They’re the pick here. No other team has a winning record overall and only 3 others are top-300 in KenPom.
MAC
The MAC begins their tournament on Thursday from Cleveland. The regular season champ was Toledo who is 84th in KenPom. Kent State finished second and is 80th in KenPom.
On January 10th, Toledo went into Kent State and lost 75-63. They’ve reeled off 15 straight wins since then. That includes 2 double-digit wins over 3-seed Akron. The Zips are 110 in KenPom.
The pick is Toledo. The Rockets have won their 3rd straight regular season title under Tod Kowalczyk. They haven’t danced since 1980. That ends this year and they win a game next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment