MEAC

Poll: Who Will Win the MEAC?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:18:52 -0400

College Basketball: Preseason Conference Ranking

CHN — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:43:04 -0400

After finishing 1st in the RPI the last two years, the ACC should fall back slightly thanks to the big-name departures at UNC & Wake Forest. This should allow one of the Big 12, Big Ten, or even SEC a shot at being #1. The Pac-10 is weak enough that a high-major like the A-10, MVC, or MWC could surpass it.

Chime in with your thoughts below if you agree or disagree with CHN's preseason conference ranking.

2009-10 Conference Ranking

*08-09 is last year's conference RPI. Commentary by Shawn Siegel, ranking by CHN.

	Conference	08-09*
1	Big Ten 9 of 11 teams go into season with ncaa hopes, and as many as 7 may reach that goal	2
2	Big 12 ku is the clear title contender. the bottom few teams are weak though and the middle-tier is hit or miss	3
3	ACC no dominant team like last year, but solid as always.	1
4	SEC rise of uk brings league back to prominence after down year..	6
5	Big East lose tons of big name players, and still held down by likes of depual, rutgers, etc	4
6	Pac-10 conceivable the pac-10 only receives 3 tourney bids.	5
7	Atlantic 10 should get at least 2 invites to the ncaa tournament	8
8	MVC with improvement expected from usual leaders creighton & siu, mvc should be solid all-around	9
9	MWC just about every top team loses a top player, but mwc should be one of the more entertaining leagues	7
10	Conference USA though memphis takes step back, rest of league is better than usual.	10
11	WAC after some down years, wac will once again be compeititve league	11
12	Horizon butler has top 10 hopes, but squads like csu and green bay lose key seniors.	12
13	Colonial while still 1 bid league, likes of odu, n'eastern, gmu, and vcu are all quality	14
14	Sun Belt more then just wku, the entire east division is solid	17
15	MAAC siena, niagara, and rider all have postseason hopes	13
16	WCC gonzaga and smc both worse then season ago	15
17	MAC #'s should be better than last year, but west division still a struggle	21
18	Big West led by up-and-coming long beach state. always finish around this #.	18
19	Summit darling ndsu loses a lot, so usual contenders like oru and oakland should be at forefront again	26
20	Big Sky with exception of sacramento st, this is a solid league top to bottom.	24
21	Southland underrated league always good for some non-conference upsets	19
22	Ivy cornell will be the best the ivy has offered in quite some years	29
23	Southern steph curry's departure opens up door for charleston	20
24	America East decimation of binghamton will hurt league #'s	16
25	Atlantic Sun the league's upper half is as solid as it's been for a few years	27
26	Patriot could use a rebound from former top gun bucknell.	22
27	OVC morehead st continues its improbable rise..	23
28	Big South outside of radford, not much to get excited about here..	25
29	NEC nec hasn't had much going for it in recent years	28
30	MEAC as usual, will battle swac for title of country's worst	30
31	SWAC solid jackson st gives swac hope of surpassing meac	31

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Alphabetical Ranks/Previews

South Carolina St Basketball Preview: #142

Joel Welser — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:54:25 -0400

South Carolina State Bulldogs

Overall Rank: #142

Conference Rank: #1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

2008-09: 17-14, 10-6

2008-09 postseason: none

Coach: Tim Carter (30-34 at South Carolina State, 201-202 overall)

The 2008-2009 season was supposed to be the year South Carolina State made a run at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title. The talent was there, but in the end the Bulldogs finished behind a much better Morgan State squad. Without a trio of key contributors, on paper SCSU should take a step back, but Coach Tim Carter is at the school for his third year and the team is beginning to look like his kind of team.

Key Losses: G Jessie Burton, C Josh Jackson, F Jason Johnson

Key Newcomers:

Coach Carter had to go the junior college route to fill in some glaring holes. It is possible that Tyvon Williams, a 5-11 point guard out of Monroe Community College, and power forward Rondrico Hightower could be starting from day one. Fellow junior college transfers Devon McBride and Joe Wright will add some much needed depth.

Backcourt:

Without Burton, the new star on the perimeter will be Jimmy Williams. Williams had a superb freshman campaign, tallying 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest. His do-it-all mentality will be extremely valuable to this team. Williams can hit the outside shot with consistency and will use his 6-4 frame to get to the basket. Junior Carrio Bennett is nearly as productive as Williams. His outside shot could use a little work, but Bennett still connected on one three-pointer per game and will be a threat to score 20 points on any given night. Either of those two could move to the point if necessary, but the Bulldogs hope that job can be filled by a newcomer so Williams and Bennett can worry about scoring.

Frontcourt:

It is in the frontcourt where there are bigger concerns. Losing Jason Johnson and Josh Jackson is huge. Johnson alone averaged 13.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Jackson was a nice compliment to him, tallying 8.0 points per and 4.7 boards. However, the frontcourt cupboard is not bare. Jason Flagler is really a 6-4 wing, but he has the strength to battle in the paint and play the four position. By the end of the year Flagler was battling with Johnson in both the scoring and the rebounding department and should be able to average 14 points and eight rebounds during his senior season.

Who to Watch:

However, no matter how strong and productive he may be, Flagler is still only 6-4 and cannot move from the three spot to the five spot. There is not much else on the roster as far as forwards go and that will put a lot of pressure on newcomers Hightower and Wright. Those two will have to manage nearly all the minutes at the five spot and that is asking a lot from two relatively untested players. If Hightower is not ready to play the five spot at the Division I level and Wright cannot give the team a force off the bench, South Carolina State will not win the conference.

Final Projection:

But otherwise there is enough talent here to make a nice little run at in the MEAC. Williams, Bennett and Flagler are all players who have proven that they can play basketball and will step up big time now that they will be forced to become the leaders on the team. The key is how well Coach Carter can fill in the holes at center and point guard. Those are a couple important positions, but the coaching staff did a good job giving itself plenty of options.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Tyvon Williams, Junior, Guard, DNP last season

Carrio Bennett, Junior, Guard, 7.3 points per game

Jimmy Williams, Sophomore, Guard, 8.6 points per game

Jason Flagler, Senior, Forward, 12.8 points per game

Rondrico Hightower, Junior, Forward, DNP last season

College Basketball Preview - 144 Teams in 144 Days - Preview Interviews

NCAA Basketball Conference Ranking: 2008-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:30:46 -0500

CHN's 31 conference ranking, including 10 year historical averages based on average RPI finish. For more information on historical RPI averages, check out the Conference Data Page. Links lead to league preview pages.

Big East

10 Year Average: 3

10 Year Average: 1

10 Year Average: 2

10 Year Average: 5

10 Year Average: 6

10 Year Average: 4

10 Year Average: 10

10 Year Average: 7

10 Year Average: 9

WCC

10 Year Average: 12

11 Conference USA

10 Year Average: 8

12 Colonial

10 Year Average: 14

13 MAC

10 Year Average: 13

14 WAC

10 Year Average: 11

15 MAAC

10 Year Average: 17

16 Horizon

10 Year Average: 15

17 Southern

10 Year Average: 19

18 Sun Belt

10 Year Average: 16

19 Big West

10 Year Average: 18

20 Patriot

10 Year Average: 23

21 Southland

10 Year Average: 27

22 Ivy

10 Year Average: 24

23 Big Sky

10 Year Average: 20

24 America East

10 Year Average: 21

25 Summit

10 Year Average: 26

26 OVC

10 Year Average: 22

27 NEC

10 Year Average: 28

28 Atlantic Sun

10 Year Average: 25

29 Big South

10 Year Average: 29

30 MEAC

10 Year Average: 30

-Independents

31 SWAC

10 Year Average: 31

MEAC Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:54:32 -0500

Conference Rank: 30th

Conference Page

All-MEAC Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Tywain McKee	Coppin St	Sr
G	Reggie Holmes	Morgan St	Jr
G/F	Corey Lyons	Norfolk St	Sr
F	Marquise Kately	Morgan St	Sr
F	Jason Johnson	So. Carolina St	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
none		Points: Tywain McKee 16.6 Rebounds: Jason Johnson 7.5 Assists: Joe Ballard (FAMU) 3.8

MEAC Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

126	Morgan State*	MEAC	1	NCAA
167	Hampton	MEAC	2
197	Delaware State	MEAC	3
240	Norfolk State	MEAC	4
254	South Carolina St	MEAC	5
283	Florida A&M	MEAC	6
301	Coppin State**	MEAC	7
310	NC A&T	MEAC	8
317	Howard	MEAC	9
319	Bethune-Cookman	MEAC	10
339	UMES	MEAC	11

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the MEAC?

Other MEAC Content

Conference Media Poll

Other

Rise & Fall: MEAC

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the MEAC?

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:07:25 -0400

Rise & Fall: Low-Major Conference Review

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:52:22 -0400

In recent weeks, the Rise & Fall series has chronicled the progress (or regress) of college basketball's major conference teams. But if I equated each team to a civilization, I was mistaken. It is really the NCAA conference that equates to a burgeoning civilization or nation, each with its sometimes stable and sometimes rotating member states. Like civilizations, the prestige and power of conferences wax and wane..

Today, I'll start with the status of the low-major conferences before moving up to the big boys.

LOW-MAJORS

AMERICA EAST - DECLINING (SLOWLY )

For whatever reason, the AE's RPI rating swings wildly compared to most leagues.. anywhere between 16th and 29th in the last seven years. When teams like Delaware, Drexel, and Hofstra bolted for the CAA after 2001, it seemed like an iminent disaster (and was for a moment in 2002 with that 29th RPI). But Tom Brennan's great Vermont teams really saved the league's prestige. However, now that Vermont is still trying to regain form under Mike Lonegran and Albany's Jamar Wilson era is over, the league is retreating back into the mid-twenties RPI range where I expect them to finish in 2009.

ATLANTIC SUN - DECLINING

While Belmont was solid last year, it was an abysmal year for the ASun. The league's decline has mainly been do the negative effects of a changing league membership. Central Florida, FAU, and Georgia State have all left in recent seasons for "bigger" leagues, replaced by D1 newcomers like Kennessaw State and North Florida. Last year, 6 teams in the league finished with an RPI below 290th. This led to an overall RPI of 29th, one of the worst seasons in the league's history, and a stark change from the usual range of 20th to 23rd that the ASun enjoyed just a handful of seasons ago.

BIG SOUTH - RISING (SLOWLY)

Basically, this is all about the emergence of Winthrop in recent years. In the last 90's and early 00's, the Big south was right there with the MEAC and SWAC as the last rung on college basketball's ladder. But Greg Marshall's amazing success at Winthrop has the been the main catalyst for the league's overall improvement. While its unclear whether Randy Peele can continue Marshall's success, and UNCA might slip after last year's solid run, those worries can't overturn the league's positive momentum.

BIG SKY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

This is one of the few low-major leagues to have finished above 15th in overall RPI (ie, the top half) in the last two decades. The league isn't quite as strong as it was just a few years back though, as the subtle switch of losing Northridge to the Big West, in place of horrid Northern Colorado has hurt. For the first half of the decade, it seemed like one Big Sky team always was a serious mid-major contender, highlighted by Montana's 2006 Tournament win (and Weber's big upset back in 99). But such an upset seems highly unlikely right now.

IVY - DECLINING

The Ivy has had better success over the last decade than any low-major league, and its arguable that they should really count in the "mid-major" category. Regardless, the glory days of Penn/Princeton dominance has come to an end, and now the conference isn't really any better than geographical rivals like the Patriot or America East. Cornell is the league's main hope in the present (perhaps to be joined by Amaker's Harvard?) as Penn and Princeton try to resurrect past glory. A repeat of the Ivy's 2002 RPI finish of 13th won't come around for awhile.

MEAC - RISING (SLOWLY)

It wasn't always a given that the SWAC and the MEAC would finish dead last in the RPI. While never good, they were just one of a handful of low-level leagues like the Big South and Southland conferences. But over the last handful of years, its become a certainty that either the MEAC and SWAC will be the bottom of the barrel. Despite being 30th out of 31 conferences last year, it was actually the MEAC's most successful season of the century. Todd Bozeman has turned a dismal Morgan State program (4-26 in 2006) into a winner (over 20 wins last year) while Hampton knocked off legit programs like Tulsa and VCU. Due to these wins, the league's non-conference RPI of 28 tied their high-water mark of the last decade.

NORTHEAST - STATUS QUO

The league is slightly better than it was a handful of years back, but a repeat of last year's success is unlikely. With an RPI of 20th, it was one of the NEC's better performances due to quality seasons from Robert Morris and Wagner. But the win totals put up by those schools and others was really more due to smoke and mirrors, as the NEC's non-conference SOS was one of the worst in the nation. A usual finish around 26th in the RPI should be expected this time around.

OHIO VALLEY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

Last year's RPI of 28th and .227 non-conference winning %, were some of the worst in league history. Though a small bounce back should be expected in 08-09, the OVC has been in a steady downwards trend. Not to long ago, it seemed like two teams in the league (usually Murray State or APSU) were legitimate Top 100-120 programs that could compete with the big boys. While APSU is still decent, Murray has lost the luster of a few seasons back due to coaching changes.

PATRIOT - RISING (SLOWLY)

The Patriot is coming off of two of their best seasons in recent history, with RPI finishes of 16th and 17th. The great non-conference winning % is a bit misleading though, because they played the worst schedule of anybody in the country (even the independents somehow managed to find better competition.) Thus while American's win over Maryland was cute, and Navy's continual improvement is nice to see, there's still serious room for (more legitimate) improvement.

SOUTHLAND - RISING

Last year was the SLC's best season in recent memory.. and two of its best RPI seasons in the last decade have come in the past three years. SFA knocked off Oklahoma and NCAA Tournament team San Diego. Sam Houston beat higher-level programs like Texas Tech, Saint Louis, and Fresno. And those teams didn't even win the conference, as Texas-Arlington took the honors. While an overall conference RPI of 19 might not seem amazing, it represents a major improvement for a league that has barely outperformed the independents in the past ten years.

SUMMIT - STATUS QUO

Despite the new name, the Summit is no better than it was as the Mid-Con. Never the worst conference out there, it also never seems to have a break out year and hasn't finished above 20th in the RPI in quite some time. Oral Roberts has obviously been the leader in recent years, while Oakland and IUPUI have shown some positive momentum. But there's too many duds in the league membership (Centenary, WIU, etc) to expect a serious break from form any time soon.

SWAC - STATUS QUO

The SWAC's .085 winning percentage against non-conference teams is the worst of any team in the twelve seasons that I have stats for. In fact, previous marks of futility set by the SWAC are the only near competitors (.096 in 2000 for example.) But futility is nothing new for the SWAC, which has been the lowest ranked conference the last four years (by a large margin).. thus it deserves the Status Quo.

- Note that league power isn't quite as fluid as team power, so seemingly small baby steps end up counting more..

- Up Next: Mid-Majors

BCS

ACC

Big 12

Big East

Big Ten

Pac-10

SEC

High-Major

Atlantic 10

Conference USA

MVC

MWC

WAC

Mid-Major

Big West

Colonial

Horizon

MAC

MAAC

Southern

Sun Belt

WCC

Today's Poll: What is the Worst Conference?

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:49:03 -0500

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the MEAC?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:33:52 -0400

Daily Dribble: 12/27

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 14:15:53 -0500

Today's Dribble is all about random thoughts.. Colorado and Minnesota are the lone BCS teams under .500 at this point. The Buffs are 3-6 and have even lost 4 home games already. Richard Roby (even if he was never going to be a 1st round pick) probably wishes he went pro last summer. The Gophers are 5-8, but at least have been playing decent ball of late, having won 3 of 6. The SWAC and the MEAC don't even have one .500 team amongst their 21 members. Alabama A&M and Florida A&M are officially 5-5 and 6-6 respectively, but each of those records include 3 wins over non-D1 teams. So basically no one is close to being .500 against D1 teams in those leagues.. The league with the most 10-win teams? The Big Ten with six of its eleven teams in the double-digit club. The Big 12, Big East, and Pac-10 have 5 teams.. though of these, the Pac-10 deserves more credit because its the smaller league. While Colorado and Minnesota are the lone under .500 BCS team, Rutgers is merely .500 against D1 teams. One of their 6 wins is against D2 St Thomas Aquinas. The Knights play UNC next and will no doubt join Colorado as the lone BCS teams under .500 against D1 competition. Its only a matter of time before 7-6 Miami joins the above teams in the under .500 club. The Hurricanes will be lucky to win 3 conference games this year. The only non-BCS league with all their members at .500 or better? The Missouri Valley. At 5-4, Creighton has the worst record in the league. This is pretty odd considering the Bluejays were the lone Valley team ranked in the preseason Top 25. The other league that's close is the Mountain West, who has 1 lone team under .500. Utah's struggled to a 5-7 record, but they at least have wins over BCS teams Virginia and Washington State already. If this is the conference's worst team.. then this conference is very, very, good. There's 25 players scoring over 20 ppg in the country. This is just less than .7% of all all college players. Only 5 of those 25 high-scorers play in BCS leagues. Kevin Durant, Jarrius Jackson, and Mario Boggan of the Big 12, Alando Tucker of the Big Ten, and Chris Lofton of the SEC (Lofton leads all BCS players at 22.5 a game). The Big East's highest scorer is Demetis Nichols at 19.6, the ACC's is Jared Dudley at 18.8, and the Pac-10's is Tajuan Porter at 18.2. Porter is 65th in the country. My guess is that the freshman Porter will end the season at about 14 ppg. 14 players are at 10+ rebounds per game. Six of those eight are from BCS teams, led by Geoff McDermott at 11 per game. The sophomore McDermott is arguably having the country's most underrated season. Besides hauling down 11 boards per game despite being just 6-7, McDermott is scoring 11 per game, and more impressively averaging 5.7 assists per game. He's also shooting 50% from the floor, 40% from three, and adding 2.2 steals per game. Right now, McDermott is 1st amongst qualifiers in the Big East in boards (though Kentrell Gransbery of USF is averaging more in just 4 games) and 2nd in Assists. I don't know if anyone's ever led the conference in both rebounds and asissts.. if anybody knows, please email me. - Double Dribble for the Soul -