Southwestern Athletic Conference
Team to beat: Mississippi Valley State — The Delta Devils won the regular-season title and are the No. 1 seed. Junior guard Standford Speech leads a balanced team that also features 7-foot senior Ronald Alexander.
Sleeper: Southern — Southern swept Mississippi Valley State and split with Jackson State. DeForrest Riley-Smith leads the team, which also has a solid guard tandem in sophomores Chris Davis and Steffon Wiley.
Prediction: Jackson State — Trey Johnson is as prolific a scorer as there is in the country. The senior guard puts up 27 points per game and can single-handedly lead the No. 2 seed to the Big Dance.
Tournament Schedule (Birmingham Jefferson County Civic Center) All Times CST
Wednesday, March 7
Game 1: No. 2 vs. No. 7, 2:30 ET
Game 2: No. 1 vs. No. 8, 8 p.m.
Thursday, March 8
Game 3: No. 3 vs. No. 6, 2:30 ET
Game 4: No. 4 vs. No. 5, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 9 — Semifinals
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 — Championship
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5 p.m.
Geeks's all-conference picks
Player of the Year: Trey Johnson, 6-5, 220, G, Sr., Jackson State
Rookie of the Year: Trant Simpson, 6-0, 165, G, Fr., Alabama A&M
Coach of the Year: James Green, Mississippi Valley State
All-SWAC team
Trey Johnson, 6-5, 220, G, Sr., Jackson State — 27.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.7 spg
Christopher Moore, 6-8, 220, F, Sr., Texas Southern — 14 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.7 apg
DeForrest Riley-Smith, 6-6, 215, F, Sr., Southern — 14.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.9 apg
Standford Speech, 6-2, 190, G, Jr., Mississippi Valley State — 12.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2 apg
Andre Ratliff, 5-10, 175, G, Jr., Grambling State — 16.6 ppg, 4 apg
Mid-American Conference
Team to beat: Toledo — The Rockets earned their first regular-season title in 27 years. Stan Joplin's team is led by senior guard Justin Ingram. Toledo went to the title game last season for the first time in a decade.
Sleeper: Western Michigan — Joe Kreitz gives the Broncos a solid inside threat while freshman David Kool is one of the top guards in the conference.
Prediction: Akron — The Zips have a pair of LeBron James' former high school teammates, seniors Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce, leading the way. If LeBron rubbed off on these guys at all, which he did, I'm taking these guys.
Tournament Schedule (Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland OH)All Times EST
Wednesday, March 7 — First round
Game 1: No. 8 Eastern Michigan vs. No. 9 Ball State, 1 p.m. ET
Game 2: No. 5 Ohio vs. No. 12 Bowling Green, 3 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Central Michigan vs. No. 10 Buffalo, 5 p.m.
Game 4: Western Michigan vs. No. 11 Northern Ill., 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 8 — Quarterfinals
Game 5: No. 1 Toledo vs. 8/9 winner, noon
Game 6: No. 4 Miami vs. 5/12 winner, 2 p.m.
Game 7: No. 2 Akron vs. 7/10 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 8: No. 3 Kent State vs. 6/11 winner, 9 p.m.
Friday, March 9 — Semifinals
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 9 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 — Championship
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 7 p.m.
Geek's all-conference picks
Player of the Year: Romeo Travis, 6-7, 220, F, Sr., Akron
Rookie of the Year: David Kool, 6-3, 200, G, Fr., Western Michigan
Coach of the Year: Stan Joplin, Toledo
All-Mid American team
Romeo Travis, 6-7, 220, F, Sr., Akron — 15.1 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 bpg
Justin Ingram, 6-3, 185, G, Sr., Toledo — 14.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2 spg Giordan Watson, 5-10, 175, G, Jr., Central Michigan — 18.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, 3.1 rpg Jerome Tillman, 6-6, 240, F, Soph., Ohio — 15.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg
Joe Reitz, 6-7, 255, C, Jr., Western Michigan — 13.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg
Conference USA
Team to beat: Memphis — There's little chance that anyone ends up winning the conference tournament other than John Calipari's team. There's that much disparity in talent from Memphis to the No. 2 team in the league.
Sleeper: Southern Miss — I don't really believe that Larry Eustachy's team can win the tournament, but he has a pair of outstanding freshman in Jeremy Wise and Sai'Quon Stone.
Prediction: Memphis — The Tigers are probably bigger favorites to win their league tournament than anyone else in the nation. Cause the rest of the conference is Low to Low-Mid Major.
Tournament Schedule (FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN) All Times CST
Wednesday, March 7 — First round
Game 1: No. 7 Rice vs. No. 10 UTEP, noon CT
Game 2: No. 6 Southern Miss vs. No. 11 SMU, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 8 Marshall vs. No. 9 UAB, 6 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Tulsa vs. No. 12 East Carolina , 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 8 —Quarterfinals
Game 5: No. 2 UCF vs. Game 1 winner, noon CT
Game 6: No. 3 Houston vs. Game 2 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: No. 1 Memphis vs. Game 3 winner, 6 p.m.
Game 8: No. 4 Tulane vs. Game 4 winner, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, March 9 — Semifinals
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 3:30 p.m. CT
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 — Championship
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 10:35 a.m.
Geek's all-conference picks
Player of the Year: Chris Douglas-Roberts, 6-5, 180, G, Soph., Memphis
Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Wise, 6-2, 165, G, Fr., Southern Miss
Coach of the Year: John Calipari, Memphis
All-Conference USA team
Chris Douglas-Roberts, 6-5, 180, G, Soph., Memphis — 15.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg
Joey Dorsey, 6-9, 260, C, Jr., Memphis — 8.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.5 bpg
Morris Almond, 6-6, 215, G, Sr., Rice — 26.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg
Paul Delaney III, 6-2, 200, G, Jr., UAB — 15.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 5.1 apg
Jeremy Wise, 6-2, 165, G, Fr., Southern Miss — 17.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.1 apg
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1 comment:
The "staff" was 2-1 here.
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