Hello, friends. As some of you may know, I moonlight on the site Run the Floor. Since conference tournament play is starting, I figured I would give a little taste what I do over there. Be sure to check it out. There are some fine writers. Enjoy.
We got a little taste of conference tournament play when Cornell and Lafayette advanced in the Patriot League tournament. As someone who loves the small conference tournaments, let me guide you through many of the one bid league tournaments that start this week. The only one that I have excluded the is the West Coast Conference tournament, but there will be more on the site about that.
Here’s a rundown of when they start, who the top dogs are, who the upstarts could be and who the players to watch are.
ATLANTIC SUN – Bracket
Start: March 4
Venue: Campus Sites
1 Seed: Florida Gulf Coast
2 Seed: Mercer
Top Offense: 1.15 PPP – Mercer
Top Defense: 0.95 PPP – Mercer
Top Scorer: 18.3 – Rashawn Rembert, East Tennessee State
Top Rebounder: 9.3 – Ricardo Glenn, USC Upstate
Top Passer: 5.7 – Langston Hall – Mercer
Prediction: Mercer
Dark Horse: Lipscomb
HORIZON – Bracket
Start: March 4
Venue: Higher seeds, quarter and semis at Green Bay, finals at highest seed
1 Seed: Green Bay
2 Seed: Cleveland State
Top Offense: 1.12 – Cleveland State
Top Defense: 0.95 – Wright State
Top Scorer: 21.1 Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Top Rebounder: 8.5 – Anton Grady, Cleveland State
Top Passer: 7.3 – Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Prediction: Green Bay
Dark Horse: Valparaiso
BIG SOUTH – Bracket
Start: March 5
Venue: Conway, South Carolina
1 Seed: High Point / Coastal Carolina (divisions)
2 Seed: UNC Asheville / VMI
Top Offense: 1.15 – High Point (VMI is also at 1.15 but HP is more efficient 115.3 to 115.2)
Top Defense: 1.02 – Coastal Carolina
Top Scorer: 23 – Andrew Rowsey, UNC Asheville
Top Rebounder: 10.9 – DJ Covington, VMI
Top Passer: 6.7 – Lucas Woodhouse – Longwood
Prediction: Coastal Carolina
Dark Horse: VMI
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Start: March 5
Venue: Higher seeds host
1 Seed: Robert Morris
2 Seed: Wagner
Top Offense: 1.12 – Bryant
Top Defense: 0.94 – Wagner
Top Scorer: 21.7 – Karvel Anderson, Robert Morris
Top Rebounder: 9.7 – Alex Francis, Bryant
Top Passer: 8 – Brent Jones, St Francis (NY)
Prediction: Robert Morris
Dark Horse: Bryant
OHIO VALLEY – Bracket
Start: March 5
Venue: Nashville, Tennessee
1 Seed: Belmont
2 Seed: Murray State
Top Offense: 1.19 PPP – Belmont (Murray St also averages 1.19 PPP but Belmont’s offensive efficiency was higher 119 to 118.8)
Top Defense: 1.04 PPP – Morehead State
Top Scorer: 26.5 – Patrick Miller, Tennessee State
Top Rebounder: 10.8 – Jarvis Williams, Murray State
Top Passer: 5.8 – Lucas Nutt, Southeast Missouri State
Prediction: Belmont
Dark Horse: Eastern Kentucky
PATRIOT LEAGUE – Bracket
Start/Resume: March 5
Venue: Higher seeds
1 Seed: Boston
2 Seed: American
Top Offense: 1.08 PPP – Lafayette (3 teams are at 1.08 but Lafayette has the highest efficiency)
Top Defense: 0.97 PPP – American
Top Scorer: 18.2 – Kyle Wilson, Army
Top Rebounder: 7.5 – Dave Dudzinksi, Holy Cross
Top Passer: 6.6 – Maurice Watson, Jr., Boston
Prediction: Boston
Dark Horse: Bucknell
Start: March 6
Venue: Springfield, Massachusetts
1 Seed: Iona
2 Seed: Manhattan
Top Offense: 1.19 PPP – Iona
Top Defense: 0.95 PPP – Manhattan
Top Scorer: 25.7 – Billy Baron, Canisius
Top Rebounder: 11.3 – Ousmane Drame, Quinnipiac
Top Passer: 6 – Billy Baron, Canisius
Prediction: Iona
Dark Horse: Canisius
MISSOURI VALLEY / ARCH MADNESS – Bracket
Start: March 6
Venue: St Louis, Missouri
1 Seed: Wichita State
2 Seed: Indiana State
Top Offense: 1.16 – Northern Iowa (Wichita St is at 1.16 as well, UNI 116 efficiency, WSU 115.6)
Top Defense: 0.91 – Wichita State
Top Scorer: 21.9 – DJ Balentine, Evansville
Top Rebounder: 8.8 – Egidijus Mockevicius, Evansville
Top Passer: 5.4 – Fred Van Vleet, Wichita State
Prediction: Wichita State
Dark Horse: Northern Iowa
COLONIAL – Bracket
Start: March 7
Venue: Baltimore, Maryland
1 Seed: Delaware
2 Seed: Towson
Top Offense: 1.14 – Towson (William & Mary was also 1.14 but Towson was 114.2 to 114.1)
Top Defense: 1.01 – Charleston
Top Scorer: 21.6 – Davon Usher, Delaware
Top Rebounder: 12.6 – Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
Top Passer: 5.1 – Frantz Massenat, Drexel
Prediction: Towson
Dark Horse: William & Mary
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE – Bracket
Start: March 7
Venue: Asheville, North Carolina
1 Seed: Davidson
2 Seed: Chattanooga
Top Offense: 1.22 PPP – Davidson
Top Defense: 0.97 PPP – Davidson
Top Scorer: 20.5 – De’Mon Brooks, Davidson
Top Rebounder: 10.2 – Z Mason, Chattanooga
Top Passer: 4.4 – Trey Sumler, Western Carolina
Prediction: Davidson
Dark Horse: Western Carolina
AMERICA EAST – Bracket
Start: March 8
Venue: Albany, New York. Title game at highest seed
1 Seed: Vermont
2 Seed: Stony Brook
Top Offense: 1.15 PPP – Vermont
Top Defense: 0.82 PPP – Vermont
Top Scorer: 15.4 – Rodney Elliot, UMBC
Top Rebounder: 9.1 – Jordan Reed, Binghamton
Top Passer: 5.9 – Brian Voelkel, Vermont
Prediction: Vermont
Dark Horse: Albany
THE SUMMIT – Bracket
Start: March 9
Venue: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1 Seed: North Dakota State
2 Seed: IPFW
Top Offense: 1.16 PPP – North Dakota State
Top Defense: 1.0 PPP – North Dakota State
Top Scorer: 17.1 – Taylor Braun, North Dakota State
Top Rebounder: 7.1 – Jordan Dykstra, South Dakota State
Top Passer: 4.3 – Chris Udofia, Denver
Prediction: North Dakota State
Dark Horse: South Dakota State
Here’s a little fun inside the numbers. Out of these leagues, here are the teams that won their leagues by multiple games.
- 6 – Wichita State
- 3 – Davidson
- 2 – Boston
- 2 – North Dakota State
- 2 – Robert Morris
- 2 – Vermont
- 2 – Green Bay
- 2 – Iona
For fun, I have ranked the 1 seeds in the conference tournaments from most to least likely to win.
- Wichita State
- Vermont
- Green Bay
- Davidson
- Delaware
- Robert Morris
- Iona
- Boston
- Belmont
- North Dakota State
- Florida Gulf Coast
- High Point
Enjoy the games, everyone.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
