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Getting Ready for March: Bid-Stealers, Part 2

Here's the next 5 Mid-Major conferences and who could steal the bid

Big West

Favorite: UC Santa Barbara

Bid Stealers: UC Irvine, UC Davis

The Gauchos are pretty far ahead of every other team in the Big West, and they'd be farther ahead of them if they hadn't somehow blown a 23-2 lead over Cal Poly, a team that is just terrible. However Max Heidegger and Leland King are two really good players and the Gauchos should absolutely be the favorite in the Big West. UC Davis would be a more legitimate threat for this bid if Chima Moneke hadn't gone and got himself suspended, they are still dangerous, but less so. UC Irvine had a slow start to the year, but they've pulled themselves together in conference play to become the chief challenger to the Gauchos, Eyassu Worku and the Anteaters are one of the most dangerous bid stealers in a single bid league.

Colonial

Favorite: College of Charleston

Bid Stealers: Towson, Northeastern, Hofstra, William & Mary, Elon, UNC Wilmington

Oh boy, this tournament is gonna be a must watch. After starting the season incredibly slowly, Charleston has gotten their act together in conference play and have started to resemble the chic Cinderella pick they were in pre-season, however, the rest of the CAA is a completely cluster. Towson at their best can win multiple NCAA tournament games, but they've fallen off a cliff in conference play. Northeastern has been good this year, but how deep in the CAA tourney can they go? Seems like a low ceiling team to me. Justin Wright-Foreman and Rokas Gustys can definitely carry Hofstra to the tourney, but the Pride have been inconsistent at best. Bill & Mary can win the CAA if Nathan Knight plays out of his mind in the CAA tourney, but they play 0 defense as they're ranked 336th in the country at defensive efficiency, so can they get enough stops in the tourney to steal a bid? Elon is a sleeper team, but they could sneak into the tourney final if things break right, but they're gonna have to win at least 1, maybe 2 tough games to get into the NCAA's. UNC Wilmington is very much like Sacramento St., they're bad, but Devontae Cacok is a monster and Jordon Talley is a solid Robin with serious tourney experience, don't count the Seahawks out. This tourney is probably gonna be a bloodbath and a heck of a time, get your popcorn out!

Conference USA

Favorite: Middle Tennessee

Bid Stealers: Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, Marshall, UAB, UTSA

Middle Tennessee is the clear favorite in C-USA, and they might just have an at-large bid locked up if they don't lose again in the regular season, a C-USA tourney final appearance and a 28-6 record with no really bad losses is going to be hard to ignore in a bubble discussion. Western Kentucky shot their at-large chances in the foot with a loss to UTSA, so the C-USA tourney is now pretty much all they have. Darius Thompson, Dwight Coleby, and the rest of the Hilltoppers are good no doubt, and can definitely steal a bid from the Blue Raiders. Old Dominion is a dangerous team that could win 1 or 2 NCAA tournament games, don't count the Monarchs out. Marshall is an interesting case for bid stealing, they might have the best trio in all of mid-major basketball, Ajdin Penava, C.J Burks, and Jon Elmore are a trio of juniors that could change the course of the entire C-USA tournament, plus they've already beaten the Blue Raiders once, they might be more interesting if they compete with the Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro on March 3rd. UAB has fallen off a cliff recently, but they are still really good, this is the senior version of that extremely young UAB team that upset Iowa State in 2014, they know how to win in March, give them more than a once over. I don't know how legit UTSA is, but a win over Western Kentucky is a pretty good sign, give them a look as well.

Horizon

Favorite: Northern Kentucky

Bid Stealers: Wright St., Oakland, Illinois Chicago

The Horizon is terrible this year, but the Northern Kentucky Norse are a legit quality squad, the only problem is they are super inconsistent, when they are on, they could sneak into the Sweet 16 in the NCAA's. It all revolves around the play of Drew McDonald, he is a feast or famine stud, but he needs to focus and dominate in the Horizon tourney to get the Norse to March for the second consecutive year. Wright St. has surprised everyone by being so good this year, they even own a win over the Norse, but they have the least talent of the top 4 teams in the Horizon, I think they'll need a couple breaks to win the bid. Oakland was THE pick for pre-season cinderella, heck they got AP votes in the pre-season. Kendrick Nunn, Martez Walker, and Jalen Hayes may be the best trio at any school in the country, Power conferences included, but the Grizzlies need to learn to play defense, they can absolutely still be the cinderella they were expected to be, but they have to get better on D. UIC was just terrible to start the year, then they got embarrassed, and I do mean embarrassed by Northern Kentucky, and they've pulled themselves together since then, though a home loss to Cleveland St. is unexplainable to say the least, Dikembe Dixson can ball though, the Flames have a shot at the tourney.

Ivy

Favorite: Harvard

Bid Stealers: Penn, Princeton, Yale

The Ivy is super down this year, and everybody expected Yale to run away with it, but Makai Mason's injury has derailed the Bulldogs season. Enter Harvard, without Bryce Aiken, the Crimson have pulled together and just beat Penn to establish themselves as the favorites, the Crimson have more than their fair share of bad losses though, George Washington and Holy Cross chief among them, but they've also competed well against teams like Kentucky and Vermont, so the Crimson are either going to be eliminated in the Semi's, or they're going to win a game in the NCAA tournament. Penn was supposed to be the team to replace the void left by the Ivy's big 3 all essentially rebuilding in the same year, and for the most part they've looked like that team this year, they're even the number 1 Ivy team at KenPom, but the loss to Harvard has shown me they probably don't have the highest ceiling as a team, they'll probably win the tournament and get jumped in the first round by whatever 2 or 3 seed they play, not feeling the Quakers this year. Princeton has by far the best win of any Ivy team with a road win over USC and a 2 point loss to Middle Tennessee, but they have so many bad losses that it's hard to trust the Tigers to do anything consistently, Devin Cannady is still really good, but I don't think the Tigers have enough to get to the NCAA's. Yale is by far the most interesting team in the Ivy, the Bulldogs haven't had Makai Mason, a likely Ivy POY candidate the entire year and it shows in their record, but they might have him back in time for the Ivy tourney, if they make it, and that alone might make them the most dangerous team in the Ivy, Miye Oni is an NBA prospect, and if he can go back to being a number 2 option, the Bulldogs might have enough to sneak into the tourney as a 16 seed, and they would a VERY dangerous 16 then.

Part 3 will be up tomorrow!

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