\"So what are they going to call it? NonPower5Madness.com?\"
In today’s era of NIL, the transfer portal, and low-majors struggling to compete, transitioning to the Division I level is a challenge even for the biggest and brightest programs. Even if an athletic department can find a way to navigate the financing, scheduling, scholarships, staffing, and all that comes with rising to DI, there’s no […]
Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s? That’s typically the question we ask entering this tournament. But Santa Clara has established itself as a viable competitor. And, hey, maybe Oregon State will turn it on and give Wayne Tinkle his much-deserved swan song. Let’s take a quick, 30,000-foot look at all 12 West Coast Conference squads. Gonzaga (1) […]
One dud can ruin a season. After a 26-5 (16-4) regular season, the Belmont Bruins looked like a sure-fire NCAA Tournament team. At a minimum, a loss in the Arch Madness Championship game would keep them in the at-large conversation — their +0.21 WAB metric ranked in the top-50 nationally. Even as the nation’s top offense […]
Get your peelers ready. Starch Madness is nearly upon us. One of the best branded conference tournaments starts on March 7 in Boise, Idaho, as the Big Sky tips off Starch Madness at Idaho Central Arena. The women’s side of the Big Sky, unlike the men’s side, has had a few different teams come out […]
This season marked the last of this iteration of the Mountain West. In came Grand Canyon before the mass exodus for the new Pac-12. The Lopes finished sixth, but the story of this season was San Diego State. The Aztecs, who won the tournament championship last season, claimed the regular-season crown this year. All eyes […]
The Big Sky regular season certainly didn’t disappoint. Filled with former NBA stars, feel-good bounce-back stories, and great basketball. Now all 10 teams pack their bags and head to familiar territory, Idaho Central Arena. For some teams, there’s a possible four grueling days of basketball ahead of them. While others may lift a title in […]
Boy, the America East sucked this year, didn’t it? In KenPom’s ratings, we ranked second-to-last among all 31 Division-I conferences. In my power ratings, seven of the nine teams ranked below 315th nationally, and three ranked below 350th. But we lost a lot of talent this year. Bryant and Lowell lost entire rosters’ worth. Maine […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Mekhi Conner may not be Sacred Heart’s top scorer, best player, or even most impactful player, but no player is more of a bellwether of the Pioneers’ success from game to game than the sophomore point guard. During SHU’s five-game winning streak in January, he averaged double-digit assists. Since then, he […]
It’s worth asking: would the Romans have chosen the Ides of March to kill Julius Caesar if they knew about Selection Sunday? Probably not, especially if the CAA was a potential two-bid league. Picture that: the senators gathered around a television, hoping against hope that the loser of the conference championship game squeaked into the […]
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mid-Major fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. The Miami RedHawks. 30-0. One win away from an undefeated regular season. The only undefeated team […]
The Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament is slated to get underway Thursday. After a three-way tie for first-place atop the standings, it’s Chattanooga (18-9, 10-4 SoCon) that won the tiebreaker and will be the No. 1 overall seed heading into the tournament, despite being upset on the final day of league play, falling 68-55 on the road […]
Gonzaga has been the class of the WCC, but this is the Zags’ last season in the league. So the question that looms over this trip to Vegas is whether the Bulldogs will ride off into the Pac-12 sunset with the title or will someone, like streaking LMU, rise to the challenge? 1. LMU (15-3, […]
If you’re not Australian, a speedskating fan, or a Wikipedia rabbit hole partaker, you might not know what “doing a Bradbury” refers to. I am neither of the former two, but I am the latter, so I’ll tell a little secondhand story. (Seriously, my Wikipedia rabbit holing is debilitating to my productivity. Someone help my […]
March is finally here! And as conference tournaments get underway, we need your help to decide our men’s player of week for Feb. 23 – March 1 by voting in the poll below. Here are our top five men’s candidates and a recap of their outstanding performances from across week 16 of the college basketball […]
The regular season for many conferences has come to an end, and all eyes turn to conference tournaments. However, there were several outstanding performances over the final week of February. The five nominees for Women’s Player of the Week are the following: Kiyah Lewis (Central Connecticut), Brooklyn Meyer (South Dakota State), Mia Nicastro (Western Illinois), […]
Before the Coastal Athletic Association madness starts at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C., one final round of regular season games needed to be completed on Tuesday night to set the matchups for the upcoming CAA tournament. With everyone but the second-seeded Charleston Cougars (21-10, 14-4 CAA) in action that meant a final attempt for others […]
The 2026 Southern Conference Tournament commences this week in Asheville, and it’s been awhile since we’ve seen a league dominated by a mix of youth and veteran leadership that has been prevalent at most programs. The youth could impact this tournament more than any in recent memory, with eight of the 10 league programs having […]
“Javion, make sure you remember that doctor’s appointment.” To start off the time I spent with Central Arkansas head coach John Shulman and Javion Guy-King, the 2025-26 Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year made sure to take care of a reminder with his starting guard. But, the truth is, Guy-King had not always been the […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Kevair Kennedy first started playing basketball at six years old. His father, Kevin, put the ball in his hands on local courts in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood and quickly signed him up to play his first organized games. Instead of playing in his own age division, Kevin signed Kennedy up to […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — There may not be a single conference in the country where the top two teams are as far ahead of the rest of the pack as they are in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. For the second straight year, Quinnipiac and Fairfield are the clear favorites heading into Atlantic City. Over […]
If you’re new here from following just the men’s side, you didn’t read that wrong. On the women’s side, the Summit League is threatening for multiple bids – and it’s not the first time either. They sent multiple teams to the tournament in 2019 and 2021 – both times, it was South Dakota and South […]
It’s been a historic year in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Central Arkansas is in the midst of its best season yet since arriving at the Division I level. Austin Peay secured its first-ever ASUN title with a co-regular-season championship. Queens is in search of its first NCAA Tournament bid since becoming postseason-eligible, while West Georgia […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — You’re going to show up bruised. You’re going to show up battered. But you’d better show up desperate. No excuses. No second chances. No margin for error. We’ve played the non-conference slate. We’ve played 20 regular-season conference games. That’s your margin for error. There’s where your excuses will land. Now? Nobody […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Carly Thibault-DuDonis talks the talk. She has consistently stated that she wants to turn Fairfield into not just one of the best mid-major women’s basketball programs in the country, but one of the premier programs at any level. She’s accomplished the first part, as the Stags are an incredible 64-2 in […]
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Brendan Coyle is too young to have fond memories of Siena’s last MAAC Tournament Championship. Fran McCaffery completed a three-peat in 2010 following a 17-1 MAAC record on the backs of some of the MAAC’s all-time great players. In the few years after, Coyle, from nearby Niskayuna, began attending games at […]