Conference #27 - Northeast

Conference Winner – Robert Morris

Ah yes, good old Bob Morris.  Bob returns 4 starters from last year’s team that won a play in game.  To expect the same thing this year would be par for the course but I’m thinking they get ahead of the play in game and settle in as just a normal 16 seed.

Conference #28 - Patriot

Conference Winner:  Lehigh

Stop me if you've heard this before....the class of the league is either Bucknell or Lehigh.  Seems like almost every year it comes down to these two teams.  The nice part is each has pulled some major upsets in the tournament.  Not as much star power this year though.  15/16 seed upside.

Conference #29 - WAC

Conference Winner:  UMKC Roos

Boy, has this conference fallen.  Just years ago it used to be solid with an at-large bid here or there but then it basically turned into New Mexico State and everybody else.  Now, not even New Mexico State looks like they are worthy.  Nobody in the conference returns more than 3 starters and we're going to go out on a limb and take the Kansas City team in the WESTERN conference.

Conference #30 - MEAC

Conference Winner:  Hampton

The Pirates return 4 starters from last year’s tournament team.  Hampton is probably good enough to not be a play in game but not good enough to break the 15 seed mark.  One and done material.

Conference #31 - SWAC

Conference Winner - Alabama A&M

Not much to say here; as will be the case with the first dozen or so conferences.  This is a play in game conference.  See you on Tuesday March 15th Bulldogs!

One Month Out

We are officially 1 month away from the start of College Basketball.  With that our conference picks will start coming out.  We'll start with our 1 bid leagues and work our way up to the top conference overall.  Let the countdown begin!

SEC Rising

I've been pretty bullish on the SEC the past 4-5 years only to have the league stumble through the regular season. Kentucky and Florida have made Final 4 trips while the rest of the league has scuffled.

The past two off-seasons has seen an infusion of talent on both the floor and in the coaching circles. They won't be contenders this year but Tennessee, Auburn, Mississippi State and Alabama should be better sooner than later with the additions of Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, Ben Howland & Avery Johnson.

More importantly, the talent level has increased dramatically as well. LSU has a freshman class that rivals a typical Kentucky class with number one ranked prospect Ben Simmons and five star Antonio Blakeney. Texas A&M had a surprisingly fertile recruiting period adding 4 top-100 players.

Mississippi State immediately benefited from the hire of Howland and added top prospect Malik Newman. Newman is the headliner but Howland added other top players to form a top-20 class.

Auburn didn't add a star at the level of Malik Newman but did net the league another top-20 class. Auburn has a jump start on 2016, poaching five star Mustapha Heron from NYC.

Kentucky, along with Florida have been the class of the league. The recent talent infusion will make the league deeper and tougher.  Don't fret, Kentucky still landed a top-5 class and will be a force. 

Also returning to the scene will be Vanderbilt who should be one of the most improved teams in the nation. Among their better players will be Brookfield native Riley LaChance and Luke Kornet, son of former Buck draft pick, Frank Kornet. Vandy is also building a solid 2016 recruiting class.

The league is probably a 5 bid league this year, 6 max. In a year or two, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see the league match the B1G and ACC as a possible 8+ bid league.