20 Dec28 - Void Warriors (PRECONFERENCE)

Volume XXV, No. 6 - 20 Dec28: PRECONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Void Warriors

We've already seen in the preseason how those teams with special home-court advantages (Duke and its "Cameron Crazies") and "home-away-from-home"-court advantages (Kentucky and its travelling "Big Blue Nation") have struggled to perform in more neutral settings. For conference play, that should apply to everyone. Traditionally, regular season conference champions are those teams with enough inner strength to play well on the road in the face of hostile crowds. "Defense travels" and "Role players blossom at home but shrink on the road" are truisms that usually are key to which teams claim the league titles. Still without many fans to speak of, those factors may not matter as much this season. Conference play should be more of an even playing field with younger teams finding it easier to step up and claim the big upset. More than any other season, players must find a way to generate their own energy and motivation to come through. This year, there won't be the home crowd to help pull off a shocking upset or to help bring a choking team back from a big deficit for a stunning comeback win. For conference play (and also likely for the all-Indianapolis-and-environs NCAA tournament), they must all learn to be "Void Warriors".

There are still some remaining out-of-conference results of note.
     Richmond's run in the national rankings ended when it tripped at home against Hofstra (@71-76 as the Pride shot 60 percent from the floor).
     As expected, Virginia proved to be no match for mighty Gonzaga: the G-Bulldogs thumped the Cavaliers (98-75 as both gCorey Kispert[32p] and tDrew Timme[29p8r] set career highs) at DICKIE'S ARENA in Ft. Worth,TX. In one of the lower profile editions of their State Title grudge match, Louisville kept Kentucky "Bluer Than Blue" as the L-Cardinals edged the K-Wildcats (@62-59). Disappointing Little Rock fell at Missouri State (77-@85 on tIsaiah Mosley[26p6a8r]'s star turn).

The FAR WEST CLASSIC at T-MOBILE ARENA in Las Vegas,NV (barely) got in enough games to declare Colorado and San Francisco "co-champions". Both teams beat "host" Grand Canyon and the Buffaloes beat conferencemate Washington in a non-league contest.

Winless Chicago State [0-9] cancelled the rest of the season over COVID-19. (Remember, they didn't play their final few regular season games last year [even before the entire NCAA season shut down].)

- - - - - -

Elsewhere, early conference play left marks that set up the shape of some league races.
     In the BIG 12, even though Baylor's form looks head-and-shoulders above the rest, Kansas hosting West Virginia was still a Top-5 clash. The Jayhawks handled the WV-Mountaineers (@79-65 sinking 16-for-37 threes).
     Meanwhile, the 20-game BIG 10 Wars promise to be the best league campaign we've seen anywhere in years with 8 teams in the Top 25. Ohio State handled Rutgers on the road (80-@68 dominating the boards 45-25). In an all-offensive shootout, Minnesota edged Iowa in overtime (@102-95[OT] as both pMarcus Carr[30p8a] and tBrandon Johnson[26p9r] dueled 32p17r from POTY xLuka Garza). Wisconsin also impressed with a road win at Michigan State (85-@76 despite 27p7r from fJoey Hauser). Northwestern escaped at home against Ohio State (@71-70).
     In the BIG EAST, Villanova already looks like the form horse, thumping host Marquette (85-@68), but second place is less certain. Creighton went a long way to securing that right away with a (squeak) home win over Xavier (@66-61).
     North Carolina hasn't looked great in the preseason and the Tar Heels started ACC play much the same way, tripping on the road at N.C. State (76-@79).
     The OHIO VALLEY had a strong preseason (no thanks to Austin Peay), but this year's OVC Wars won't be decided on one result. The Governors paid back from last week's road (blowout) loss at Murray State with this week's home (squeak) win over the Racers (@74-70 as xTerry Taylor[30p3a11r] starred).

Vermont skipped the entire preseason and earned a split in its opening AMERICA EAST (road) series at Massachusetts-Lowell: first, falling (65-@73 on xRon Mitchell[24p10r]'s star turn); then, bouncing back to win (62-@53).
     Memphis once again appears to be less than the sum of its parts, falling at home to Tulsa (@49-56) right away in the AMERICAN.
     The preseason hype over Northern Iowa proved to be a bust out of conference and MISSOURI VALLEY league play hasn't started any differently with a dreadful home rout loss to Missouri State (@59-79 as bIsaiah Mobley[26p4a5r]'s starred again).

The BIG WEST Series Of The Year comes right away, and UC-Santa Barbara tanked Game One at UC-Irvine (56-@75).

- - - - - -

There's no debate over this year's top team so far. Gonzaga has three elite wins in the preseason (Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia) (and Missouri is the only other team that even has two [Illinois, Oregon]). Baylor (beat Illinois) has been even more dominant against a lesser schedule. Villanova (beat Texas) stumbled against mediocre San Francisco, but looks to be the class of the BIG EAST once again. As impressive as the BIG 10 is as a whole, it's not at all clear which/how many juggernaut(s) will emerge by season's end.
     With its recent flagship programs (Virginia, North Carolina, Duke) all off to non-juggernaut starts, it's unclear whether the ACC teams will build each other up or tear each other down. Same goes for the PACIFIC-12, where USC/Oregon/UCLA could go either way.
     Houston (beat Texas Tech) has no real competition inside the AMERICAN. St. Louis (beat LSU) is the best team in a strong ATLANTIC 10. San Diego State/Boise State should battle for control on the MOUNTAIN WEST.

(With the pared-down preseason this year [probably only 40 percent of what's typical], tournament wins were hard to come by, and being "undefeated through the preseason" isn't as special as you'd like it to be. - - Ron)
     Technically, the WEST COAST had the top overall rating (25-8 in top match-ups [including 4 elite wins], 1.5 tournament crowns, 4-of-10 teams with elite [at least 4-to-1] won-loss records [including undefeated Gonzaga]). The BIG 12 was the best top-to-bottom (21-9 [2 elite wins], 3 crowns, 8-of-10 elite teams[Baylor and Oklahoma State undefeated]). The BIG 10 (27-14 [3 elite wins], no crowns, 8-of-14 elite teams[5 undefeated]) and BIG EAST (23-10 [3 elite wins], 1 crown, 6-of-10 elite teams[3 undefeated]) also rated as elite B-Majors.
     The ATLANTIC COAST (31-19 [2 elite wins], 1 crown, 9-of-15 elite teams[2 undefeated]) and PACIFIC-12 (16-10 [no elite wins], 1 crown, 5 elite teams[2 undefeated]) both were borderline B-Majors.
     Grading out as Mid-Majors was a disappointing preseason for the SOUTHEASTERN (18-16 [2 elite wins], no crowns, 7-of-14 elite teams[4 undefeated]), ATLANTIC 10 (17-17 [1 elite win], 2 crowns, only 3-of-14 elite teams[1 undefeated], [1 winless team]), MOUNTAIN WEST (10-9 [no elite wins], no crowns, 5-of-11 elite teams[2 undefeated]) and AMERICAN (10-10 [1 elite win], 1 crown, 5-of-11 elite teams[all 5 undefeated]).
     Traditional Mid-Majors CONFERENCE USA (9-6, 1 crown, 2 elites) and OHIO VALLEY (12-6, 2.5 crowns, 2 elites, [1 winless]) rated highly (on a small sample).
     Without much fanfare, the SOUTHERN (11-10, .5 crowns, 3 elites[2 undef]), COLONIAL (10-8, .5 crowns, no elites), SUN BELT (9-8, 3 elites), MISSOURI VALLEY (7-11, .5 crowns, 3 elites/undef) and MID-AMERICAN (6-8, , no elites) all had Mid-Major-rated preseasons of little note.
     This year's 1BC Red Swirl is based on limited results. Only the BIG SOUTH (, 1 crown, 1 elite/undef[Winthrop]) did anything notable. The PATRIOT (, , 1 elite), AMERICAN EAST (, , 1 elite, [3 winless]), METRO ATLANTIC (, , 1 elite/undef), BIG WEST (, , 4 elite[3 undef]) and HORIZON (, , 3 elite/undef) all were nondescript.
     Even on a small sample, these leagues established themselves as full-on 1BC Flops. The SOUTHLAND (, 1 crown, no elites), SUMMIT (, 1 crown, no elites) and WAC (, 1 crown, 2 elite[1 undef], [1 winless]) all at least showed a blip. The BIG SKY (, , 2 elite[1 undef], [1 winless]), SWAC (, , 1 elite/undef, [4 winless]) and NORTHEAST (, , 1 elite, [4 winless]) barely did anything notable. The ATLANTIC SUN (, , no elites) and MEAC (, , no elites, [2 winless]) were bottom of the bottom.

Player Of The Year is a runaway for stat-monger cLuka Garza(Iowa); but bAyo Dosunmu(Illinois) has been special as well. Golden Child Of The Year is bJalen Suggs(Gonzaga) so far without much competition. Graduate Tranfer Of The Year falls to pCarlik Jones(Radford->Louisville). (Regular) Transfer Of The Year tips towards fJoey Hauser(Marquette->Michigan State). Pat Kelsey(Winthrop) is the early frontrunner for Coach Of The Year.

- - - - - -

Here's a detailed look at the conferences after the preseason:

B-MAJOR
1. BIG 12 - Baylor (elite win) and Oklahoma State (made noise) both were undefeated; Kansas (elite win), West Virginia [3:nXOVER] (good win), Texas [3:MAUI] (made noise), TCU [2:CBE], Texas Tech and Oklahoma all were excellent. Iowa State and Kansas State both skirted .500.
2. BIG 10 - Minnesota (elite win), Ohio State (good win), as well as Michigan State and Rutgers (both made noise) plus Michigan all were undefeated; Wisconsin (elite win), Iowa (made noise) and Maryland all were excellent; Penn State (elite win), Illinois (made noise), Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern all starred. Nebraska skirted .500.
3. WEST COAST - Gonzaga [rr2:FT.MYERS] (elite wins) was undefeated; BYU (elite win), St. Mary's (made noise) and Santa Clara all were excellent; Portland and Pacific both starred. San Francisco .5[rr2:FAR.WEST] (good win), Loyola Marymount (made noise) and Pepperdine all skirted .500. (San Diego was a flop.)
4. ATLANTIC COAST - Clemson [2:nSPACE] and Wake Forest both were undefeated; Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh (both elite wins) as well as Louisville and Syracuse (both made noise) plus Florida State, North Carolina State and Miami(Florida) all were excellent; North Carolina and Georgia Tech (both made noise) and Virginia all starred. Notre Dame (made noise) skirted .500. (Boston College was a flop.)
5. BIG EAST - Connecticut (elite win), Xavier and DePaul all were undefeated; Villanova [2:2K.E] (elite win), Creighton and St. John's all were excellent; Marquette (elite win) and Providence (made noise) both starred. Seton Hall and Georgetown both skirted .500. (Butler was a flop.)
6. PACIFIC-12 - Washington State and Arizona (both made noise) both were undefeated; Oregon and USC (both made noise) as well as Colorado .5[rr2@KS-W/L.APPLE] .5[rr2:FAR.WEST] all were excellent; UCLA (made noise), Utah, California, Stanford and Oregon all starred. Arizona State skirted .500. (Washington was a flop.)
7. SOUTHEASTERN - Missouri (elite wins) as well as Georgia and Arkansas (both made noise) plus Tennessee all were undefeated; LSU, Texas A&M and Mississippi all were excellent; Auburn (made noise), Florida and Vanderbilt all starred. Alabama (good win) and Mississippi State both skirted .500. (South Carolina and Kentucky both were flops.)
8. ATLANTIC 10 - St. Bonaventure was undefeated; St. Louis [rr2vSL/BILLKEN] (elite win) and Dayton both were excellent; Richmond [rr2@K-W/BLUEGRASS] (good win), VCU (made noise) and George Mason all starred. [Fordham hasn't played yet.] La Salle (made noise), Davidson, Duquesne and Rhode Island all skirted .500. (St. Joseph's was winless.)
9. AMERICAN - Houston [rr2:SOUTHWEST] (elite win), Tulane (made noise), East Carolina, SMU and Temple all were undefeated; UCF (good win) and South Florida both starred. Tulsa, Memphis, Wichita State and Cincinnati (good win) all skirted .500.
   MID-MAJOR
10. CONFERENCE USA - Marshall (good win) and UAB both were excellent; Western Kentucky (made noise), Rice [rr2@IW/CARDINAL], UTEP et al. starred. North Texas, Texas-San Antonio et al. skirted .500. (Middle Tennessee was a flop.)
11. OHIO VALLEY - Belmont [rr2@PARADISE] (made noise) and Eastern Kentucky .5[rr2:NCS/WOLFPACK] both were excellent; Jacksonville State [rr3@SA/JAGUAR] and Austin Peay both starred. Murray State et al. skirted .500. (Southeast Missouri [made noise] et al. were flops; Tennessee Tech was winless.)
12. MOUNTAIN WEST - New Mexico and Fresno State both were undefeated; San Diego State and Boise State (both good wins) as well as Wyoming all were excellent; Nevada [rr2@N-C/GOLD.WNDO] and Colorado State both starred. Utah State (made noise) and Air Force both skirted .500. (San Jose State and UNLV both were flops.)
13. SOUTHERN - Chattanooga and The Citadel both were undefeated; Mercer (made noise) was excellent; Western Carolina .5[rr3@NCA/BULLDOG] and Furman both starred; Everybody else (including UNC-Greensboro [made noise]) skirted .500.
    1BC
    (SPLASH) - - - - -
14. MISSOURI VALLEY - Missouri State (made noise), Drake .5[rr2@KS-W/L.APPLE] and Southern Illinois all were undefeated; Bradley and Loyola(Illinois) both starred. (Northern Iowa was a flop.)
15. SUN BELT - In the East, Georgia State and Coastal Carolina both were excellent; Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and South Alabama all starred. Troy skirted .500.
         In the West, Louisiana was excellent; Texas State starred. Little Rock et al. skirted .500. (Lousiana-Monroe [made noise] was a flop.)
16. COLONIAL - Drexel (made noise), UNC-Wilmington .5[rr3@NCA/BULLDOG] and Elon all starred. Hofstra (good win), Delaware et al. skirted .500.
    (SWIRL) - - - - - -
17. PATRIOT - Army-West Point (made noise) was excellent; Navy starred. [Most of the league {including Colgate} played no preseason games.]
18. BIG SOUTH - Winthrop (good win) was undefeated. Campbell [rr3@J/DOLPHIN], Presbyterian and High Point all skirted .500. (Everyone else [including UNC-Asheville] was a flop; South Carolina Upstate was winless.)
19. BIG WEST - Nobody even so much as made noise. Hawaii, newcomer {UC-San Diego} and Cal State-Fullerton all were undefeated; UC-Santa Barbara was excellent; UC-Riverside starred. UC-Irvine et al. skirted .500.
20. AMERICA EAST - Nobody even so much as made noise. Maryland-Baltimore County was excellent. [Vermont hasn't played yet.] Hartford and New Jersey Tech both skirted .500. (Everyone else [including New Hampshire] was a flop; Albany, Maine and SUNY-B[Binghamton] all were winless.)
21. METRO ATLANTIC - Marist was undefeated. [Siena, Canisius and Manhattan all haven't played yet.] Quinnipiac (made noise), St. Peter's et al. skirted .500. (Monmouth, Rider and Fairfield all were winless.)
22. HORIZON - Youngstown State, IUPUI and Purdue-Ft. Wayne all were undefeated. Wright State starred. Illinois(Chicago), Milwaukee and Northern Kentucky all skirted .500. (Everyone else was a flop; Cleveland State, Green Bay and Oakland all were winless.)
23. MID-AMERICAN - Nobody even so much as made noise. Kent State, Bowling Green, Ohio University, Akron and Eastern Michigan all starred. Buffalo et al. skirted .500. (Northern Illinois and Western Michigan both were flops.)
    (FLOP) - - - - - -
24. WESTERN ATHLETIC - Nobody even so much as made noise. New Mexico State was undefeated; newcomer {Dixie State} was excellent. Seattle [rr3@P/PILOT], Texas-Rio Grande, Grand Canyon et al. skirted .500. (Utah Valley was a loser; Chicago State was winless [and cancelled the rest of the 2020-21 season].)
25. SOUTHLAND - Abilene Christian [rr3:GULF.CST] (made noise) and McNeese both starred. Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin both skirted .500. (Everyone else was a flop.)
26. ATLANTIC SUN - Florida Gulf Coast (made noise), Liberty and {North Alabama} all starred. Jacksonville, Lipscomb and Kennesaw State all skirted .500. (Everyone else [including newcomer {Bellarmine}] was a flop.)
27. SUMMIT - Nobody even so much as made noise. South Dakota State .5[rr3:vDAKOTA], newcomer Kansas City and Oral Roberts all skirted .500. (Everyone else [including North Dakota State .5{rr3:@DAKOTA}] was a flop.)
28. BIG SKY - Sacramento State was undefeated; Southern Utah was excellent. Northern Colorado, Montana, Weber State, Idaho State and Montana State all skirted .500. (Everyone else [including Eastern Washington] was a flop; Idaho was winless.)
29. NORTHEAST - Bryant was excellent. [Long Island and {Merrimack} both haven't played yet.] (Everyone else [including Mount St. Mary's {made noise} and Fairleigh Dickinson] was a flop. Sacred Heart, St. Francis[New York], Wagner and Central Connecticut State all were winless.)
30. MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC - In the Northern, only Morgan State and Norfolk State even skirted .500. (Delaware State was winless.)
         In the Southern, (everyone [including Florida A&M {made noise}] was a flop. South Carolina State was winless.)
31. SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC - Alabama State was undefeated. [Alabama A&M hasn't played yet.] (Everyone else [including Texas Southern] was a flop. Alcorn State, Jackson State, Southern and Mississippi Valley State all were winless.)

- - - - - -

The AMERICAN can clinch its abbreviated CHALLENGE with the SEC if Wichita State can beat Mississippi State at home (Saturday).

Kansas hosts Texas (Saturday). In the BIG 10 Wars, Minnesota has a huge week: hosting Michigan State (Monday), visiting Wisconsin (Thursday) and hosting Ohio State (Sunday); meanwhile, Iowa hosts Northwestern (Tuesday) and visits Rutgers (Saturday). Missouri can prove its stellar preseason was no fluke with a home win over Tennessee (Wednesday).
     Virginia hosts Virginia Tech (Saturday). Florida State hosts Duke (Saturday).
     In the OVC Wars, Belmont hosts Murray State (Wednesday) while Austin Peay hosts Eastern Kentucky (Saturday). MWC/UNLV hosts San Diego State (Thursday, Saturday) in its biggest series of the season.
     .
     The BIG WEST race may be over before it gets going if UC-Santa Barbara can't win at UC-Irvine (Monday) in Game Two of the Series Of The Year.

- - Ron

P.S. Happy New Year, everybody!

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Minnesota-MichiganSt, @Wisconsin-Maryland, @UCIrvine-UCSantaBarbara(CA),

Tuesday:

Northwestern-@Iowa, @WVirginia-Buffalo, @Duke-Pittsburgh,

Wednesday:

@Missouri-Tennessee, @Belmont-Murray St, @Towson-MorganSt(BaltimoreMD)-rescheduled,
[P]PILOT INVITATIONAL CoolDown2 @ PortlandOR/Portland/ -(@Seattle-Portland; Idaho, {WilliamJessup}),

Thursday:

Minnesota-@Wisconsin, SanDiegoSt-@UNLV,

Friday (NEW YEAR'S):

@Akron-KentSt(OH)(NEO)-rescheduled,

Saturday:

@Kansas-Texas, @Rutgers-Iowa, VirginiaTech-@Virginia(VA), SanDiegoSt-@UNLV, @FloridaSt-Duke, @AustinPeay-EaKentucky, SEC[?0-0?]/AMERICAN[?0-0?] ALLIANCE on-campus - - AMERICAN leads 1-0
-(Houston-@SCarolina;
   @SMU-Vanderbilt;
   Sat: @WichitaSt-MississippiSt),

Sunday:

@Minnesota-OhioSt,

- - - - - -

Monday week:

(None).

---

Top 25 - 20 Dec28: PRECONFERENCE - [] Column

1. Gonzaga (7-0) [rr2:FT.MYERS] (:JIMMY.V) (:SANFORD)
2. Baylor (6-0) (:JIMMY.V)
3. Kansas (7-1) (:CHAMPS) (vBIG12)
4. Minnesota (8-1) (vACC)
5. Missouri (6-0) (vBRAGGIN')
6. Rutgers (6-1) [rr2vNJ.HOOPS] (vACC)
7. Villanova (8-1) [2:2K.E] (@BIG.E) (vHOLY)
8. Northwestern (5-1)
9. Houston (7-0) [rr2:SOUTHWEST] (vSEC)
10. Wisconsin (8-1) (vACC)
11. Ohio State (7-2) (@ACC) (vCB/SPORTS)
12. Virginia Tech (7-1)
13. West Virginia (7-2) [3:nXOVER] (@BIG.E)
14. Iowa (7-2) (vACC) (vIA/CY-HAWK)
15. St. Louis (7-1) [rr2vSL/BILLKEN]
16. Texas (7-1) [3@MAUI]
17. Michigan State (6-2) (@CHAMPS)
18. San Diego State (5-1)
19. Illinois (7-3) (@ACC)
20. Creighton (7-2) (vNE)
21. Louisville (6-1) (vKY)
22. Xavier (8-1) [rr3vX/MUSKETEER] (@XTOWN) (vBIG12)
23. UCLA (5-2)
24. Tennessee (6-0)
25. Texas Tech (7-2)

Honorable Mention:

Hofstra (4-3).

Richmond (6-2) [rr2@K-W/BLUEGRASS],

Clemson (6-1) [2:nSPACE],
TCU (7-2) [2:CBE],
Drake (10-0)/Colorado (6-1) [rr2@KS-W/L.APPLE],
Nevada (6-3) [rr2@N-C/GOLD.WNDO],

Seattle (5-5) [rr3@P/PILOT],
Colorado (6-1)/San Francisco (6-4) [rr2:FAR.WEST],
Belmont (8-1) [rr2@PARADISE] (@BOB),

Jacksonville State (6-2) [rr3@SA/JAGUAR],

Abilene Christian (7-2) [rr3:GULF.CST],
Western Carolina (7-2)/UNC-Wilmington (6-3) [rr3@NCA/BULLDOG],

Campbell (4-3) [rr3@J/DOLPHIN],
Eastern Kentucky (7-1) .5[rr2:NCS/WOLFPACK],
Rice (6-2) [rr2@IW/CARDINAL],
North Dakota State (2-6)/South Dakota State (5-3) [rr3:@vDAKOTA].