One Bid League Tournament Preview Explosion

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 SUNBracket

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 SOUTHBracket

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 LEAGUEBracket

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

 

MAACBracket

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 CONFERENCEBracket

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 EASTBracket

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 SUMMITBracket

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.

  1. 6 – Wichita State
  2. 3 – Davidson
  3. 2 – Boston
  4. 2 – North Dakota State
  5. 2 – Robert Morris
  6. 2 – Vermont
  7. 2 – Green Bay
  8. 2 – Iona

For fun, I have ranked the 1 seeds in the conference tournaments from most to least likely to win.

  1. Wichita State
  2. Vermont
  3. Green Bay
  4. Davidson
  5. Delaware
  6. Robert Morris
  7. Iona
  8. Boston
  9. Belmont
  10. North Dakota State
  11. Florida Gulf Coast
  12. High Point

Enjoy the games, everyone.

About Scott

I write Bearcats Blog and also on the Student Section.

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