Here in Part Two of our CBB conference previews, we are now going to hit on the two relevant new-look conferences, the Big East and American, along with the disappointing SEC and the always interesting A-10.<\/p>\n
Kentucky and Florida are very, very <\/em>good (though they haven’t shown just how good yet) and Missouri, LSU, Tennessee, and Arkansas can be good in flashes, but, generally, this conference is yet again one of the more disappointing leagues in America.<\/p>\n The Big East went from a fantastic, yet bloated and somewhat stale conference to a slimmed down, pretty solid top-to-bottom league.\u00a0 They lost a lot of star power with Boeheim and Pitino and history with Notre Dame, Pitt, and Cincinnati,\u00a0but kept a lot of the quality that gave this league the substance to go along with the sizzle of past years.\u00a0 Plus, the additions of Creighton, Xavier, and Butler just add to the all-around quality of what remains.\u00a0 I am actually excited for this league in the coming seasons – I think it might have that tunnel-visioned basketball focus that\u00a0seems to elude leagues like the SEC and Pac-12.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new American Conference debuts this year with a pretty strong cast of characters, though Louisville is only in a one-year stopover before joining the ACC next year.<\/p>\n With Temple and Xavier gone, the new-look A-10 somehow feels about the same.\u00a0 A good, deep league with a TON of intrigue.<\/p>\n Here in Part Two of our CBB conference previews, we are now going to hit on the two relevant new-look conferences, the Big East and American, along with the disappointing SEC and the always interesting A-10. SEC Kentucky and Florida … Continue reading \n
\n<\/strong>The preseason #1 team in the country resided in Lexington with all their freshmen again.\u00a0 This team appeared (and is) loaded.\u00a0 With McDonald’s All-Americans at every position, it’s hard to think of them as anything but loaded.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>Honestly, there hasn’t really been a “most impressive” team in this league because everyone has struggled.\u00a0 But, the best team in the league so far has probably been the Gators, who have wins over Kansas and Memphis and only have a 6-point loss at Wisconsin and a 1-point loss at UConn.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>TI used to think that Anthony Grant was a great coach.\u00a0 I’m not ready to give up on that belief, but I am ready to stop screaming it from the rooftops.\u00a0 This ‘Bama team is – yet again – too talented to be irrelevant, and yet they are heading down that path.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>I think it will probably take a big win for people to finally take note of what’s going on in Baton Rouge right now (St. Joe’s, UAB, and Butler don’t count), but when that happens, Johnny Jones will finally get some credit for the program he’s building down on the Bayou.\u00a0 Jones brought in stud big man Johnny O’Bryant in his first year last year and has added two more ELITE recruits this year – Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey.\u00a0 While Martin seemed like the recruiting coup (McDonald’s All-American, 5-star rating), the less heralded Mickey may be just as important a piece.\u00a0 Either way, with Martin, Mickey, and O’Bryant in the frontcourt, this Tiger team is big, talented and still very young.\u00a0 They will only get better.\u00a0 I would not want to play them in March, and if they all stick around, this might be a Top-10 team next November.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Everyone knows about Marshall Henderson at Ole Miss (though, it is kind of strange how well he’s taken to a bench role – I guess it fits him perfectly because he doesn’t have to share the ball with the second\u00a0team), but people are not\u00a0paying much attention to the rebuilding job of Mike Anderson at his alma mater in Fayetteville.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Frank Haith is doing it again at Mizzou with a brand-new set of super-guards.\u00a0 Marcus Denmon left two years ago and Flip Pressey and Michael Dixon (the latter transferred to Memphis) left last year along with nearly the entire starting five.\u00a0 But, Haith brought in two unheralded transfers and turned them into stars.\u00a0 Jordan Clarkson (Tulsa) and Earnest Ross (Auburn) are perfect for this system and Clarkson has put himself into potential SEC Player of the Year discussions.\u00a0 As for Tennessee, they have all the talent in the world, the question just remains as to whether or not Cuonzo Martin knows how to maximize it.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>Not only has the top of the league been disappointing, but the bottom has been simply dreadful.\u00a0 Northwestern State, Davidson, Manhattan, USC-Upstate, Missouri State, Utah State.\u00a0 That might be a list of decent mid-major programs, yes.\u00a0 But, it’s also a list of teams that have won road games at SEC schools.\u00a0 Quality mid-major programs or not, that is terrible.\u00a0 And, I left out the UTEPs, TCUs,\u00a0and Boise States of the world.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>This is a tough pick.\u00a0 While Florida has looked like the better team, I still think that, in the end, the talent will win out – and Kentucky has so much talent, it’s laughable.\u00a0 Gimme the ‘Cats to figure it out and take the SEC title.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBIG EAST<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n<\/strong>This was expected to be a pretty wide open league this year with Creighton (fueled by the amazing Doug McDermott) and Marquette (fueled by the media’s perennial, inexplicable love affair with Buzz Williams) receiving the most preseason hype.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>There may not be a more surprisingly good start in the nation that the one at ‘Nova.\u00a0 This was generally thought of as a borderline tournament team, but Jay Wright has this team playing smart and hard, and they look like a legit team, nationally, not just in the Big East.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>As great as the Villanova start has been, that is how disappointing the Marquette start has been.\u00a0 They have lost five games and their best two wins were a neutral-court game against GW and a road game\u00a0at CS-Fullerton.\u00a0 Their other 5 wins were home games against the dregs of the nation (Southern, Grambling, New Hampshire, IUPUI, and Ball State).\u00a0 One thing to say, though, is that none of their five losses were particularly “bad” losses, as all five teams are probably going to play in the tournament, but most of them weren’t even competitive.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>All five starters back, a ton of talent, back-to-back Top-10 recruiting classes, and a national championship coach.\u00a0 How is this team not better?\u00a0 They have to be good, right?<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Butler and Xavier are going to cause headaches for every opponent they face, particularly on their home floors, and Providence has one of the best inside-outside combos in the country in Bryce Cotton and Kadeem Batts.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>The one Hoya gone – Otto Porter – from last year leaves a pretty huge hole in this team, but whole rest of the roster returns to a team that did get a 2-seed.\u00a0 Was Porter that<\/em> good?<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>DePaul is always bad – and this year is no exception.\u00a0 But, Seton Hall?\u00a0 What is going on there?\u00a0 They have already lost to two of the worst teams in the nation – Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Peter’s…at home.\u00a0 There may not be a team other than Grambling that I would expect to lose home games to those two programs.\u00a0 And, this is Seton Hall!<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>I went back and forth on this one and finally came up with the Blue Jays because I just think that McDermott is that much better than anyone else in this league.\u00a0 So, with the best player on the floor every night, it’s hard to pick against them\u00a0over the long haul.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAMERICAN<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n<\/strong>The defending national champs were the clear-cut favorites to take the first ever AAC title.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>Louisville did lose to UNC, but other than that has been as good as advertised.\u00a0 But, UConn – until a home loss to Stanford – has looked as good, if not better, than the Cardinals.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>The loss of Mike Rice is certainly being felt at Rutgers…too soon?\u00a0 Well, this team is dreadful.\u00a0 They have lost\u00a04 home games to mid-majors already, including one to the atrocious Fairleigh Dickinson (yes, the same FDU that beat Seton Hall on the road, but trust me – they’re BAD).<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>I have said it a thousand times – if I had to win one basketball game tomorrow and I could have anyone in the world coaching my team, I would pick Larry Brown.\u00a0 And, now, he actually has a couple players down in Dallas, so watch out.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>The Bearcats are kind of the forgotten team around these parts, but they are still a solid team that should be in contention for this title, even if it’s in an ugly fashion.\u00a0 I put Temple here maybe as a homer pick, but I do think that this team is getting better and might have something to say about this conference race before it’s all said and done.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>The beauty of this conference is at the top, where you have two bluebloods in Lousiville and UConn and then you have a Cincy team that is always good, an SMU team that is burgeoning, and a Memphis team that has somehow been nationally relevant forever without ever playing in a legitimate conference.\u00a0 Well, the Tigers are for real this year – let’s just see if Josh Pastner actually knows\u00a0how to do anything other than charm the media.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>The non-beauty of this league lies in these two teams.\u00a0 Rutgers is terrible (see above), and Houston might be worse.\u00a0 They have losses to Texas Tech, San Jose State, and Louisiana-Lafayette and near-losses to Texas A&M-Corpus Cristie and Rice…ouch.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>IThe league is good, and I wouldn’t be completely shocked if UConn or Memphis won it, but in good conscience, no one should pick against the Cards in this conference this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nATLANTIC 10<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n<\/strong>Havoc.\u00a0 Many thought the Rams were Top-10 good this year, and easily the best team in the A-10.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>While VCU has struggled, UMass has been ROCK-solid and should have no trouble going to their first tournament since the ’90s.\u00a0 Chaz Williams is the real deal, but the rest of the team is solid, as well.\u00a0 Great job by Derek Kellogg at his alma mater.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>After an exciting (and kind of fluky) Sweet 16 trip last year, the expectations were sky high for Dr. Giannini and the Explorers.\u00a0 They only lost one starter and should have better health.\u00a0 But, it hasn’t exactly gone as planned, as the Explorers have lost tough games (all to decent, but not great\u00a0teams) that\u00a0are seriously jeopardizing any at-large consideration they could possibly have.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Lost in the preseason love for VCU and the non-conference season love for UMass is the most experienced and, quite possibly, the most talented team in the league.\u00a0 I love the Billikens this year.\u00a0 They were playing at a nationally elite level last year and only lost one starter – Kwamain Mitchell – who was hurt for much of the season last year.\u00a0 Don’t sleep on the Billikens.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>A talented team with an overrated coach (St. Joe’s) and a scrappy team with an underrated coach (Richmond) could each cause different kinds of problems for the top of the A-10 this year.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Dayton actually found themselves in the AP Top 25 earlier this year – and justifiably so – after a phenomenal showing in Maui.\u00a0 GW is on the brink of cracking the Top 25 right now after a 10-1 start that includes wins over Maryland and Creighton.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>No surprise here – these two teams are the perennial dregs of the A-10.\u00a0 Hey, at least Duke fans can watch their senior point guard (T.J. McConnell) leading the #1 team in the nation.<\/li>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>Call me crazy, but I think SLU is the best team in the league, so I am going to pick them to win it.\u00a0 I’m not selling VCU, and I am believing in the legitimacy of UMass.\u00a0 I just think that this SLU team is so underrated that they are the best team in a very <\/em>good league.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"