Getting Ready for the Conference Season

The New Year, to me, does not mean the exciting conclusion of a college football season (though, it could mean that if they ever got their acts together and made a playoff)–it means the exciting beginning of the college hoops conference season.  And, thanks to my friends at Blue Ribbon (to whom I have to give credit for most of the following information), I have compiled some of the more interesting tidbits of the conference season to get everyone ready.  Plus, a quick ranking of the best 7 conferences in the country, in my humble opinion:

#1 BIG EAST
I hate saying this, but the Big East is, without a doubt the best conference in college basketball this year.  Yes, I know that they have 16 teams, so their standing in the nation is usually diluted if you examine further, but this year it is not diluted enough to take them out of the top spot.  When more than half of the conference is better than West Virginia, it doesn’t matter how many “bottom-feeders” there are, this is an amazing conference.  There are national powers and title contenders in UConn, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Louisville.  And, there are very solid teams that can beat anyone on any given day in Marquette, Villanova, Syracuse, and Georgetown.

• If Luke Haragody wins the Big East player of the year this year, he will be the 5th Big East player to ever win back-to-back Player of the Year honors, joining St. John’s Chris Mullin (who won at least a share of it 3 times), Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing (who shared it with Mullin twice), UConn’s Richard Hamilton, and most recently, Notre Dame’s Troy Murphy.
• When Patrick Ewing was inducted in the Hall of Fame this summer, he became the first Big East player ever elected into the Hall of Fame (which is AMAZING, considering all the greats that have played in this conference).  The Big East does have five coaches that have been elected–Providence’s Dave Gavitt, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, St. John’s Lou Carnasecca, UConn’s Jim Calhoun, and Georgetown’s John Thompson Jr.
• Bob Huggins finally returns to Cincinnati as a visiting coach this year.  He did not go back last year because of the unbalanced schedule.
• Keno Davis, hired from Drake by Providence this year, becomes the second son of a Big East coach to become a Big East coach himself.  Keno’s father, Dr. Tom Davis, coached Boston College many years ago.  John Thompson III has followed his legendary father, John Thompson Jr., at Georgetown
• Mike Tranghese, the league commissioner and its first employee, is stepping down after the season

#2 ACC
I know the tried-and-true ACC readers will object, but honestly, it is not even close.  The ACC is a distant second this year.  They are a bit top-heavy, though that top is pretty good with UNC and Duke.  Miami and Wake Forest should be solid tournament teams, and Clemson and Virginia Tech are also decent teams.  No one is terrible–though UVa is close–so every night in the conference will be a test. 

• Tyler Hansbrough, who already broke Phil Ford’s scoring record at UNC, only needs a season total of 602 points (he scored 882 last year) to pass J.J. Redick for the ACC’s all-time leading scorer.  Before Redick’s accomplishment in 2006, the record stood for 51 years.
• The ACC has gone 20 consecutive NBA drafts with at least one first-round selection.  2008 was close, though, as NC State’s J.J. Hickson was the only ACC player taken in the first round (#19 to Cleveland).
• Virginia Tech ended an 11-year tournament drought in 2007, and Clemson ended a 10-year drought in 2008, leaving Florida State as the ACC team with the longest tournament drought.  The Seminoles haven’t made the Big Dance since 1998.
• Duke came into the season with the nation’s longest active home winning streak against non-conference opponents, with 59 straight at Cameron.  They have extended that to 65 so far this year, but have a test on January 7th against Davidson.
• The ACC won their 10th straight Big Ten/ACC challenge this year, though it was much closer than the other 9. 
• Roy Williams is the active coach that owns the nation’s all-time best winning percentage.
• Mike Krzyzewski is the active coach that owns the nation’s most career wins.
• Gary Williams of Maryland and Oliver Purnell of Clemson are two of the seven active coaches who have 20-win seasons for at least 4 different programs.
• The ACC tournament is back to the enormous Georgia Dome this year.  The only other time is was played there was in 2001, when they averaged more than 36,000 fans per session.

#3 BIG XII
I actually think that the “meat” of the conference is better in the Big XII than it is in the ACC, but the ACC gets the #2 spot for 2 reasons:  (1) they do not have North Carolina and (2) the bottom of the Big XII is pretty bad.  But, Oklahoma (who I believe to be the second-best team in the country), Texas, Kansas, and Baylor (probably the most underrated team in the country) may all find themselves still playing during the second weekend of the tournament.  Plus, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Missouri are all decent teams.

• Though they finished 3rd in the overall conference RPI, the Big XII was probably the most successful conference last season.  They had the most tournament victories (12) and the highest winning percentage of multi-bid conferences (.706).  They also led the nation in non-conference victories over ranked opponents and 10 of the 12 teams finished above .500 for the season. 
•  There were more players from the Big XII (10) selected in the 2008 NBA draft than of any other conference.
• Kansas State’s Michael Beasley became the third straight Big XII player to be selected #2 overall, following a pair of Longhorns, Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge.
• Beasley became the first K-State player drafted since 1990 (Steve Henson, second round).
• The Big XII’s 6 Final Four teams since 2002 is more than any other conference. 
• Kansas’s title last year was the first national championship for the Big XII conference.  Kansas had won two prior championships, including 1988, but that was while they were a part of the Big 8.
• Baylor made its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1988 last year–and they return just about everyone of significance.
• Oklahoma State’s Marcus Dove (the lone loss for OSU) won his second straight Big XII defensive player of the year award last year, becoming only the second player to ever win a major Big XII award in consecutive seasons (KU’s Raef LaFrentz won back-to-back player of the year awards in 1997 and ’98).
• There had been 10 coaching changes in the past two season in the Big XII, but this offseason saw only one–Travis Ford taking over at Oklahoma State.

#4 BIG TEN
This should show how thin the other major conferences are because I usually am very down on the Big Ten, but I could not find any reasons to put them behind the SEC, Pac-10 or Atlantic 10.  Everyone knows that Purdue and Michigan State are national powers this year, but the biggest surprise has been Ohio State–led by freshman sensation, B.J. Mullens.  Also, Wisconsin will always be good as long as Bo Ryan is employed there.  Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota have talent, and Penn State should be much improved.  Though, Indiana and Northwestern are dreadful.

• The only new coach is taking over during the darkest days of the most storied program in the conference, as Tom Crean tried to right the ship at Indiana after the Kelvin Sampson flat-out mess.
• Two Big Ten freshmen, IU’s Eric Gordon and OSU’s Kosta Koufos, were picked in the first round of the NBA draft. 
• B.J. Mullens will probably be the third straight Ohio State freshman center to be drafted in the first round in 2009, as Greg Oden went in ’07, and Koufos went last year.
• Purdue’s Robbie Hummel is the only 2008 first-team all-Big Ten player that is back for 2008-09.
• Last year marked one of the lowest points in the Big Ten conference, as they only placed 4 teams in the NCAA tournament and finished 6th in overall conference RPI. 
• Though, the teams that did make the tournament–with the exception of Indiana, in peril–did well, as both Wisconsin and Michigan State made the Sweet 16, and Purdue won its first round game.
• Michigan State’s Sweet 16 appearance was their 6th in the last 10 years, which is tied with UCLA and Kansas for second during that time, behind only Duke’s 8.
• The Big Ten is the only conference to have 5 different programs reach the Final Four this decade (Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, and Michigan State 3 times).  The ACC, Big East, and Big XII each have had 4.
• In 2006-07, Wisconsin set a school record with 30 victories.  Last year, they broke that record with 31.  Their 61-11 record over the last two years is the fifth best record in the nation over the last two seasons.

#5 SEC
Maybe I’m just down on the SEC right now, but I really think that the SEC West is pretty bad and the East is not good enough to compensate.  Tennessee is great, again, and Florida should be greatly improved.  Vanderbilt and Kentucky are talented, but the West is led by Ole Miss, LSU, and Mississippi State–all of which will probably not make the NCAA tournament.  This is looking like a 4- or 5-bid conference–which is not good for the SEC.

• Remember Darrin Horn from the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers when they made the Sweet 16?  Well, Horn is now coaching South Carolina.  The other new coach is Trent Johnson, who left his fanastically successful job at Stanford to try and bring LSU back to national prominence.
• Both Auburn and Arkansas dismissed their best players from the team (the Tigers’ Josh Dollard and the Razorbacks’ Patrick Beverley) for undisclosed violations of team rules.
• Both Alabama and Tennessee were worried about losing their best players to the NBA draft (the Tide’s Ronald Steele and the Vols’ Tyler Smith), but both withdrew their names from the draft and decided to return to campus for this season.
• Kentucky has made 17 straight NCAA tournaments (though they were dangerously close to missing it last year), which is the longest streak in the SEC, the 3rd longest in the nation currently, and the 5th longest of all-time.
• Florida lost its 10-year streak of making the Dance last year, but they did go all the way to the semis of the NIT, before losing to UMass.
• In the last 6 seasons, all 12 SEC teams have made the tournament at least once.

#6 PAC 10
After probably the best year in the history of this great conference, the Pac-10 only has one true elite team this year–UCLA.  The two Arizona schools are solid and should make the Dance, and the two Washington schools could be good, if things go right.  Also, the other LA team, USC, has tournament-caliber talent and should be tough all year.  But, the NoCal schools should struggle (though, we’ll see if the extreme talent in coaching can make up for a lack of talent on the floor), Oregon is pretty bad, and Oregon State is really bad.

• Last year saw all 10 Pac-10 coaches return, but this year shows 4 new coaches among the 10 teams–Johnny Dawkins at Stanford, Craig Robinson (the brother-in-law of our great president-elect) at Oregon State, Mike Montgomery at Cal (fantastic hire), and Russ Pennell as the interim coach at Arizona, replacing the legend Lute Olson.
• The Pac-10 set records with 7 first-round picks and 12 overall in the ’08 NBA draft.  This also included picks #3, #4, and #5 (respectively, USC’s O.J. Mayo, and UCLA’s Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love).
• A record 9 of the 10 teams went to the postseason last year, including a record-tying 6 to the NCAA Tournament (tying the mark set in 2002 and, again, in 2007).
• The Pac-10 is 26-19 in the tournament over the last 3 years.
• Arizona extended the nation’s longest streak of year in the NCAA Tournament, as last year was their 24th consecutive appearance.  However, their 20-year streak of consecutive 20-win seasons came to an end, as they finished 19-15.
• Sophomore James Harden, of Arizona State, is the only returning first-team all-conference player, and is also the top returning scorer in the conference.
• Washington State has led the conference in scoring defense for 5 consecutive years.  Last yeat, they posted the lowest mark in the conference (56.4 ppg) since Oregon State in 1981-82.
• The 2007-08 Oregon State Beavers became the first team in the history of the conference to finish 0-18 in conference play.

#7 ATLANTIC 10
The conference that is too good to be called “mid-major,” but not good enough to be called “major,” checks in at #7 this year, solidly.  In the late-90’s/early 00’s, the A-10 was good enough to challenge for a top 6 spot, and then in the mid-00’s, the A-10 was probably bad enough to be considered lower than conferences like the Missouri Valley or the Colonial, but last year and again this year, it is back solidly to its conference purgatory between Big Conference heaven and mid-major hell.  Xavier is a very good team that should remain nationally-ranked for most the season.  Temple, Rhode Island, St. Joe’s, and UMass should at least be in the discussion for at-large bids in March.  LaSalle is much improved, and Charlotte and Dayton can rise up and beat anyone on any given night.  The problem is that Fordham, Duquesne, and St. Bonaventure are pretty awful.

• Four A-10 teams will have at least 7 newcomers on their roster this year–St. Bonaventure (9, including 5 transfers), St. Louis (8), Xavier (7), and Duquesne (7, all freshmen).  In fact, the Bonnies may have an opening-day starting lineup that includes no one that was on the team last season.
• Both Xavier and St. Louis landed talented 7’0″ recruits this season (Kenny Frase for XU and Brett Thompson for SLU).
• Derek Kellogg, who was the point guard on the UMass team that broke into national prominence, has taken over the head coaching duties at his alma mater.  During Kellogg’s four years at UMass, under John Calipari, the teams went a combined 111-24.
• Probably the biggest obstacle to the A-10 in its quest to reach “major conference” notoreity is the fact that whenever a coach succeeds at an A-10 school, he is often wooed by more money and more prestige at a bigger program.  Well, this offseason, four A-10 programs (including the two most important programs) locked up their coaches to long contract extensions to try and keep them in-house–Temple’s Fran Dunphy, Xavier’s Sean Miller, Charlotte’s Bobby Lutz, and Duquesne’s Rob Everhart.
• St. Joe’s is done in the tiny, little Fieldhouse, and is awaiting their new facility to be completed.  Meanwhile, they will be playing their home games on the campus of University of Pennsylvania, in the most storied college basketball arena in the world–The Palestra.