College Basketball Preview: Fringe Conferences Part One

Outside of the power and high major conferences exist 22 other Division 1 conferences in college basketball. They are the schools you might not know of, those with witty nicknames, the Cinderellas and those who will not even make the smallest blip on most of society's radar.

So here today is part one of taking a look at those leagues, their top players and top teams.

AMERICAN EAST

Vermont has been, for some time, in their own class here in the American East, even if they didn't happen to get the conference's bid that year. This year, it should be clear that the Catamounts run away with all five starters returning. Stony Brook possesses a solid three-man front, but I just don't see them topping Vermont.

Bernard Thompson could lead another very high profile run.

ATLANTIC SUN

People are calling Torrey Craig from USC Upstate a possible can't miss NBA Draft steal come next year. I'm going to pass, because this league is CLEARLY ALL ABOUT FLORIDA GULF COAST. The have the hype, they have the interest and they are the only thing salvageable about the A-SUN. They return four starters, Brett Comer and Bernard Thompson are back and Jamail Jones is going to be the best frosh. No stopping this team, who may be the next Butler or Gonzaga when it comes to Tournament time.

BIG SKY

This is like looking at Vermont in the American East because Weber State is insane. Kyle Tresnak is a beast inside at 6'10'', 255 and Davion Berry is the best player in the league. Kareem Jamar will be unseated this year and his Montana team doesn't have the depth to stop Weber State, who could easily see their second straight 30-win season and could even win all 20 conference games.

BIG SOUTH

I am a big fan of Javonte Green at Radford, and I really think he could be a breakout star because of the fact that he, like Demarquelle Tabb (Alabama A&M – SWAC), plays so much bigger than his mid-size guard frame. But VMI is my pick to topple High Point for the conference crown because of big man DJ Covington and his point man Rodney Glasgow. I'm also intrigued to see newcomer Trey Chapman at VMI, who could add a lot to this dry conference.

BIG WEST

The “Cali League” could be a very a close one this year with an array of UC teams at the top in any particular order between Irvine, Santa Barbara and Davis. And perhaps just out of sheer love for their mascot, the Anteaters, I am going to go with UC-Irvine this year. Will Davis II will be strong inside for this team and although I don't think they have a top-5 league player and Davis himself may be 8^th or 9^th best, they have some strong depth. The best part is, behind Davis are players of 6'10'', 7'2'' and 7'5''. That is a lot of REALLY BIG depth. Corey Hawkins and UC Davis will be a close second, while Hawaii could end up being the spoiler for Cali.

COLONIAL

Drexel couldn't shoot to save their lives last season, but I expect them to remedy that this season behind POTY candidate Damion Lee. They were 7^th in the Colonial last season, but they are so much more experienced now and bring back a lot of scoring. I expect a duel between them and Towson to come down to the wire for the Colonial, with the possibility that one could win the regular season and the other could head to the field of 68. Towson's Jerrelle Benimon is explosive and has the right pieces behind him in Four McGlynn and Marcus Damus.

CONFERENCE USA

That is right, I am throwing Conference USA into the world of fringe. Part of that is the now seemingly constant flux of the teams. There are eight....that's right, EIGHT new teams this year and next year, they will add another one while losing three of this year's teams. That is ridiculous. That said, maybe Southern Miss? It is hard to tell exactly what happens here. I go with Southern Miss because of their depth, which is why I pick most of these conference winners, but this may be the one conference where depth doesn't matter. I am intrigued by Rob Rucker of UAB, but I question if he has enough leadership qualities outside of his on-court play to help UAB rise to the top. I expect Louisiana Tech to be the top challenger to Southern Miss this season.

HORIZON

Consistency from top to bottom is the key in the Horizon, where the best players are on middle of the road teams. Youngstown State should be happy that they have such a dynamic player in guard Kendrick Perry, they should go back to the drawing board in that they basically have nothing else. Kelsey Barlow is a fantastic newcomer who could be what takes Illinois-Chicago to the top of the league by the time he graduates, but this is not the year.

I'm going to go with Wisconsin-Green Bay to rise to the top. The 5'11''/7'1'' combo of Keifer Sykes and Alec Brown bookends a deep squad that should rise over Wright State and Cleveland State in a league that has lost some flare since Butler's exit.

On a Horizon League side note, I am really intrigued to to see how Oakland does in this new league. They may provide the flare that the league needs and doesn't have. Greg Kampe has done such a fantastic job in his years at Oakland, making them a threat and perennial top team in the Summit League. I can only imagine he will do the same in the Horizon.

Tommy Amaker has changed the entire
way of thinking at Harvard.

IVY LEAGUE

OK, so Harvard wins and everyone else is busy in class. Does that about sum up the Ivy League in the Tommy Amaker era. Wesley Saunders is miles above anyone else in the Ivy League and Siyani Chambers is a strong play maker.

MEAC

Norfolk State proved two Marchs ago to be the top team in the MEAC and they will pick that up this year as one of the best fringe teams in the realm of having the potential to run away with a Cinderella story again. Pendarvis Williams is phenomenal and should destroy anyone who tries to guard him

METRO ATLANTIC

One of the many low level leagues completely up for grabs. Canisius, Iona, Niagara and Marist could all be top dogs here. I'm going with Canisius only because I think that senior guard Billy Baron, who is quite versatile in how he plays, could be the type of guy to give them a March moment coming off a 20-win season in 2012-2013. Chris Perez, a transfer from the often-transferred from Stetson, will help as well.

Coming Tuesday, Oct.29: Fringe Conferences Part Two
Coming Thursday, Oct.31: Major Conferences
Coming Friday, Nov.1: Final Analysis before Tipoff

>Summit League result dissapoints but may offer best opportunity

Let me first say that I am not happy with the outcome of the Summit League tournament title game. I have never been a fan of North Dakota State and never even pretended to like conference Player of the Year Ben Woodside.

On the other end of the spectrum, you could call me somewhat of an Oakland fan (I know Dane, you don’t have to say anything.)

I think Oakland was the perfect team when it comes to the conference. They have a terrific, experienced coach in Greg Kampe, a stellar quick point man in Jonathan Jones, a lights out shooter in Eric Kangas, a high energy post in Keith Benson and the intangible guy in Will Hudson. Around ALL of that, they also have stellar freshman Drew Maynard and a defensive juggernaut in frosh Blake Cushingberry. Not to mention senior Dan Waterstradt, who was out of this world in the opening round against IPFW.

That to me is the perfect prototype for a Mid-Major and I, as a fan of basketball, would have been proud to have that team represent the Summit League in this year’s field of 65. But I also know the conference’s best chance at winning a tournament game comes in the form of NDSU.

This Bison team is everything that Cinderella could hope to be. They are from a smaller conference, in their first full year of NCAA Division I eligibility. But at the same, with a record of 26-5, they are not exactly too far off the radar. After winning the conference tournament, NDSU had a chance to win a game in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

That is something that neither Oakland or even defending league champion Oral Roberts would do.

So I feel bad for Oakland, but know that sans-Kangas and Waterstradt, they will all be back to power through the conference next year. Not to mention, their best player Derrick Nelson didn’t even play this year.

And for NDSU, they may not be the team I wanted to see advance, but they are the Summit’s best chance. Even before the field of 65 was announced this past Sunday, people all around college basketball were calling on the Bison to be the potential upset special this post-season. That seemed to die down some when they drew defending National Champions Kansas.
But I don’t see why.

Kansas as an opponent does not change all of the good things that NDSU brings to the table and to me, they will still be the ‘Cinderella’ team when all is said and done. More importantly, even a single win by them will given instant credibility to the league.

Hope the Bison don’t let down.