NCAA Men's Basketball Conference Winners

Dude…

The best sport of the year is finally almost here!! College basketball kicks off November 6th! We have the Blue Bloods back on the top with Duke at #3 and Kansas at #1 in the preseason poll. We also have last years champ, UCONN coming in at #6 but isn’t projected to win the league? With a wild season destined upon us, The Dudes have your conference winners!! Don’t worry, we don’t expect to be right.

PC's Predictions

BIG 12: Kansas- Yes, I am biased. I also don’t care. The Kansas Jayhawks come in as the preseason #1 team. Even if that wasn’t the case, they would still be my pick to win this league. Kansas has the top transfer in Hunter Dickenson. They also have a few key returners in Dajuan Harris Jr, Kevin McCullar Jr., and KJ Adams. These 4 players will easily take up the starting roles. The question is who’s going to be that 5th guy? You have Nickolas Timberlake, the transfer from Towson. However, Freshman Elmarko Jackson has looked like an absolute stud. Whoever starts, the other will be the 6th man of the team. This team lost some of their depth with the Arterio Morris scandal that had him dropped from the team. However, Parker Braun, Zach Clemance, and young Johnny Furphy may play some key minutes. Obviously, Kansas has Hall of Fame coach, Bill Self, with the keys to greatness. I think the BIG 12 will be a tough league. Baylor, Houston, Texas, Kansas State and Iowa State will all compete for the BIG 12 Championship. However, with Bill Self as the head coach, don’t worry about the mules, just load the wagon!!

SEC: Tennessee- Tennessee returns almost all of their talent. The only loss comes from Oliver Nkamhoua who transfers to Michigan. The biggest concern with athletes still on the roster is how Zakai Zigler is going to be coming off that dreadful ACL tear. Zigler was a catalyst for this Tennessee offense and if he can jump right back into the starting lineup and be a factor, this team will be hard to beat. Santiago Vescovi is also a major factor. Can he be as consistent as he was last season? If those two guys continue to be the leaders of this Vols team, they will be a tough out against anyone. To really push the Vols to stardom, they need a transfer, a seasoned vet, and a Freshman to really elevate your game. Josiah-Jordan James averaged 10 points for the Vols last year, he needs to take that jump to stardom this season. Transfer, Dalton Knecht, comes from Northern Colorado where he averaged 20.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in the Big Sky. Can he elevate his game to be a factor. Finally, 6-11 Freshman, JP Estrella may have a few bumpy games getting acclimated to playing college ball. Once he does this, he should be starting and have a huge impact, especially on the glass. If these three players elevate their game and the two stars continue to be those stars, then I don’t know if a team in the SEC can keep up with them. I don’t know if a team in the NCAA could beat a team like that.

ACC: Duke- It pains me to put the Blue Devils as the favorites of the ACC. However, Duke returns key guys and has some phenomenal Freshman coming in to balance out the attack. All eyes will be on Kyle Filipowski. He averaged 15 points per game and seemed like a lock to go to the NBA. Now returning to Duke, he looks to elevate this Duke team to stardom. Not only did Filipowski come back, but Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor also returned to give Duke their big 3. These 3 have to be a 3 headed monster for the Duke Blue Devils to have a shot at the title. They also return Mark Mitchell and Ryan Young to the front court to complete the starting five. Not only do they have seasoned veterans, they have a slew of freshmen to choose from. My favorite player that will most likely have the biggest impact is TJ Power. Duke always has that one cold- ass white boy who really shows up. I believe TJ will be that prolific white boy. With all this talent, it’s hard not to pick Duke to win the whole thing. Even if you’re their biggest hater.

BIG 10: Purdue- This team may have lost to Fairleigh Dickenson as a one seed in the NCAA Tournament, but last years player of the year, Zach Edey is returning to West Lafayette. He continues to improve his game and will be a threat again to snag back-to-back player of the year awards. His backcourt in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer are now a year older. The biggest concern with Purdue last year was their inexperience in the backcourt. With Smith and Loyer a year older, I believe they won’t fold under the pressure of March. Mason Gillis and Caleb Frust round out the starting 5. In addition to bringing back the majority of last year’s BIG 10 winner comes an intriguing new face. Myles Cloven is a 4 star recruit coming out of high school who should have a major impact coming off the bench. Once he’s use to playing college ball, he may find himself in the sixth man role. The Boilermakers are deep, lengthy, and have better perimeter shooting. They are looking for Matt Painter’s first Final Four appearance. After a devastating loss to a 16 seed, I think Purdue is going to bounce back in a big way.

PAC-12: Arizona- I think this is the year where we get primetime Caleb Love back. Love tried to transfer to Michigan, but didn’t hold enough academic standard to be able to attend the university. Now, he ends up in Tommy Lloyd’s hand, which honestly, may be a better fit for him. Not only does Lloyd have a premiere shooter and leader, he brings back a major impact player in Oumar Ballo. This duo should be a lethal pick and roll offensive unit that may be one of the best in the nation. For Arizona to win, they need guys like Pelle Larsson to step up in a big way. He flopped last year, but now had all off-season to gain those skills he lacked. I chose the Wildcats to win due to the proven winners they had transferred into their program for this year. Caleb Love, as I mentioned above, helped lead the Tar Heels to a National Championship runner up. Jaden Bradley, a transfer from Alabama, was a key role in the Crimson Tide finishing #1 in the polls last season. Finally, Keshad Johnson, who is a transfer from San Diego State, was a consistent tool in the Aztecs' tool bag to make a National Championship. All three of these transfers and the two returns are VITAL to Arizona’s success.

Big East (PC): Marquette- No, I am not picking the reigning National Champions as my favorites in the Big East. Shaka Smart has the Golden Eagles looking deadly. Smart has a top 5 back court in the nation. Leading the pack is preseason favorite to win back-to-back BIG EAST Player of the Year awards, Tyler Kolek. He has two proven guards next to him in Kam Jones and Stevie Mitchell. Kolek is going to flat out ball this season. He already turned in a hell of a year last year, but I think he’s going to improve even more. The front court also looks solid with David Johnson and violent big man Oso Ighodaro. This team is loaded with talent. Potential starters on other teams will be coming off the bench in Sean Jones and Ben Gold. This team is experienced, has depth, and has a superstar. I think it’ll be a close race at the top with UCONN and Creighton fighting for the top spot. However, Kolek is going to take over and push past the BIG EAST.

How6rd’s Predictions

Big East (How6rd): Creighton

After being minutes away from the school’s first ever Final Four appearance, the Bluejays were so close to accomplishing a huge season turnaround to the max after losing six games in a row going into the start of conference play. The near pipedream taken away from them got even more tragic when both full-time starters Arthur Kaluma and Ryan Nembhard transferred away from the team in a shocking turn of events leaving many question marks for this team soon afterwards. Yet, they lost no other big-time playmakers to the draft and retained the rest of their most common starting lineup including the man that helped them the most in 7’1” Ryan Kalkbrenner, former big mid-major transfer Baylor Scheierman, and sharpshooter Trey Alexander who was second on the team for scoring. Leading the helm for the 14th year in Creighton is Greg McDermott who in my opinion is arguably the most underrated coach in the country and grabbed some players from the portal who can help his cause. If Steven Ashworth can carry any sort of his play from Utah State and make crucial three-pointers WITH efficient passing unlike Nembhard or especially Kaluma could contribute to last season, then this Creighton Bluejays team could be even more lethal and tough to stop when going shot-for-shot with them no matter how deep this conference is in 2023-2024.

Mid Major Conference Predictions:

America East: Vermont

It seems like almost every year in the past decade mainly outside of the UMBC year in 2018 the Catamounts have made a tournament appearance and the truth is they have, winning 5 of the last 7 conference tournament titles and being regular season champs in all 7 seasons. Vermont once again undergoes some tough departures to their roster with both their star transfer last year Dylan Penn and Finn Sullivan who both led the team in minutes and graduated after last season. Meanwhile, head coach John Becker has been with this team for 12 seasons and this is nothing new to him as the transfer portal has only made him stronger as he picked up some of the best shooters and defenders amongst the lower region of mid-major conferences. The biggest part of this team on the floor will be the two-time and reigning AE Sixth Man of the Year in Vermont returnee Aaron Deloney, as he could make a James Harden-esque jump for conference player of the year with a bigger role. If all goes right for the Catamounts as it has, they could tie Gonzaga’s two records for both most consecutive regular season conference titles and consecutive conference player of the year awards which is a high case this season.

American Athletic: FAU

If you watched Florida Atlantic in the regular season 2022-2023 you knew that this team was gonna have some sort of a run last March, but what nobody saw was them playing in the Final Four last season being two games away from a National Championship. This will be the Owls first season in the AAC and, even though they lost last regular season’s winners in Houston, will be a more difficult path than what they went through in Conference USA. Meanwhile, Dusty May is back and they only lost a solid role player in Michael Forrest but that’s IT. If we get the Johnell Davis, Vladislav Goldin, and Alijah Martin trio we saw in the tournament this year that will be a nightmare for the majority of their schedule. This is an experienced team that will be back to winning a lot and possibly the most well-built team in this conference by a wide margin.

Atlantic 10: Duquesne

If you enjoy watching a team move down the court very fast and shoot nonstop threes like the Golden State Warriors then let me introduce you to this year’s Duquesne Dukes. The Dukes haven’t made a tournament appearance since 1977 but this could be their year. The Atlantic 10 will be no cakewalk this year and Dayton, VCU, Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure, and Fordham are all very much contenders as the Dukes are this year which could mean chaos. Duquesne returns the best backcourt duo of last season in this conference with both Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III coming back bringing the spark of this team back with them, but the most intriguing part of this team is that they got a lot of length in terms of players this offseason which they were crucially missing tall forwards who could do anything. If the transfers they got including former NC State starting big Dusan Mahorcic can contribute as sold depth or even starters, then this team will survive the A10 warzone and reach their first March Madness in what would be 47 years (shoutout to those Bilikens at SLU).

Atlantic Sun: Eastern Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky is a team with a bad defense but an offense talented enough that they don’t need to worry about it in most games. The Colonels had one of the worst defenses in the country allowing 73.5 points a game, but the offense scored 78.6 per game and the 30th-ranked offense is bringing back 90% of those total points with a solid replacement in former starting Central Arkansas guard Collin Cooper. The teams that stand in their way are Lipscomb who has a deep roster, FGCU, and Austin Peay as all of those teams have a lot of experience coming back. I believe meanwhile that this team has the most high major talent within their team out of the rest of the conference led by ASUN preseason Player of the Year Devontae Blanton. If fast-paced and high-scoring games are your thing then Eastern Kentucky will be one of your favorites this season and reach the tournament for the first time in 10 years.

Big Sky: Weber State

Yes this is the school that Damian Lillard went to, and yes this is also the school that Big Sky Preseason MVP Dillon Jones currently goes to being the best player in this conference by a wide margin. Weber State lost some nice depth this offseason but dealt with much fewer departures than most of this conference. There are many dark horses in this conference with better scoring last season than the Wildcats, but this team is even older and led by second-year head coach Eric Duft who impressed in his first year finishing with a 17-14 record overall. There’s a lot of young and new talent in the Big Sky this year which will make it entertaining, but if there’s a team I believe to be most structured in this conference it would certainly be Weber State.

Big South: UNC Asheville

The Big South is full of teams with experience and even Winthrop gets key players who went down for the season with injury last year, but with the nation’s top 15 scorer in the nation coming back next season in Drew Pember this conference will probably have trouble trying to slow him down like last season. The UNC Asheville Bulldogs had one big loss in their second-leading scorer Taijon Jones and the lone transfer they received in Greg Gantt has struggled from his time at NC State to find his groove, but the rest of this team all went through battle together last season and reigning coach of the year Mike Morrell should keep the system the exact same way that terrorized defenses last season. Radford could easily give this team a run for their money this season as they lost some solid role players but keep majority of their solid lineup and even add former starting forward from Bowling Green in Chandler Turner to help that loss of depth. It’s a really tough decision between these two schools but Drew Pember couldn’t be figured out in this conference all season and I don’t know if it’ll be any better this year as the Bulldogs should be back in March Madness.

Big West: UCSB

There are many teams who either have high flyers, sharpshooters, and players with lighting speed throughout their team, but nobody comes close to having such a strong mix of all three of those like the University of California Santa Barbara does in the Big West. The Gauchos were the best in the conference last year at making shots and creating turnovers and this year they have nearly everyone back who made both of those possible last year aside from their former versatile big in Miles Norris. Their speedy back court duo in Ajay Mitchell and Josh Pierre-Louis come back, in which both of them could be playing in the Power 6 if they wanted to, and even get former 5 star commit to Auburn in 6’11” Sophomore Yohan Traore. Not to mention the former 3 star talent in former Creighton commit Ben Shtolzberg, this team has some ridiculous depth and no longer the young team in the conference besides their transfers which if both of their transfers even get close to the ceiling they’re projected to have it can be a dominant season for UCSB.

Colonial Athletic: Charleston

You want to talk about a team where the team as a whole was producing equally well then Charleston fell right at the top of that category under the most underrated coach in the U.S. Pat Kelsey. The Cougars ranked in the top 20 nationally in points scored per game, three-pointers made per game, and rebound margin per game and all their main starters averaging at least 10 points a game which is rare for any school to have. The supposed “leader” of the scoring in Dalton Bolon has graduated, but the leading rebounder and versatile big man in Ante Brzovic and third-best scorer Reyne Smith who is as confident as anyone in the nation in his shot both return in 2024. Charleston’s work in the portal was fantastic as well as they potentially could be even deeper in depth than their squad last year, and even with UNC Wilmington being just about as loaded I put my belief more in Pat Kelsey to take a second consecutive Colonial regular season title at the very least.

Conference USA: Liberty

I’m going to be blunt, this conference is a mess with the departures of North Texas and FAU and thankfully the five-time ASUN regular season champions in the Liberty Flames have came in to add something to this seemingly downward trend in the conference. I do think a team like Louisiana Tech has good talent and a solid transfer portal period to gain a few players including talented former Texas Tech big man in Daniel Batcho who could take Conference USA by storm. Although this group gave FAU two tough games, I believe that the Liberty Flames have the best defense as usual in this conference thanks to their talented head coach Ritchie McKay. Even with the departure of their nationally ranked scorer Darius McGhee, this team has nearly all of their starters back and competition as tough as what they dealt with in the ASUN. The player I believe can take charge of the squad this year is Colin Porter who was easily the most talented freshman this team has had in a while last year. The competition may not run deep from what this conference had last season, but the Liberty Flames are no joke making their conference debut this season.

Horizon: Wright State

This team didn’t only gain back all of their starters and key players from last season, but they even gained former Raiders star Tanner Holden who didn’t work out for Ohio State last season. Unfortunately, it is questionable if Holden will be cleared to play for this upcoming season which would make this team’s outlook look quite different without him. Still, this team has all they need to win the conference again after a disappointing season last year as the 20.3 points per game hooper in Trey Calvin still leads this squad for his Senior season. Scott Nagy has experienced both highs and lows (but mostly highs) in his time at Wright State if his team is locked in early this could be a huge turning point for the Raiders to claim back their throne in the conference. Meanwhile, Milwaukee is a dangerous team as well with many key players returning on their side and after an impressive 22-12 season last year, they have all the right to be called champions which is why the Tanner Holden decision could be huge.

Ivy League: Yale

One thing these mid-major predictions have lacked so far is any recognition of a true freshman going into this season, but the Bulldogs have a first year big man worth talking about in Samson Aletan who had offers from Kansas State, Houston, Texas, A&M, and Texas Tech. He’s no 5 star prospect to rave about yet he is a solid big who thrives near the rim whether it’s shot blocking or using his size to put the ball through the net. Aside from having a potential Ivy League Freshman of the Year on their hands this team is completely loaded from how they ended last season as they were in the top 100 schools last season for almost every statistical category you can think of including a 25th ranked defense. To even add more onto that they only lost one of their top 5 scorers from last season in EJ Jarvis who led the team in rebounds, but if Aletan can fill that role for them this year their top two scorers from last year in Matt Knowling and John Poulakidis are more than capable of putting up even better seasons making this squad a powerhouse in the Ivy League.

MAAC: Iona

Now the average team who has only one returning player and a new coach would be in a “code red” situation going into the next season, but the Iona Gaels might have the best case scenario for a mid-major team in this instance. As legendary coach Rick Pitino moves on to be a coach for St. John’s, new coach Tobin Anderson just happens to be the FDU mastermind behind the huge upset against Purdue and orchestrating a plan that completely gave player of the year Zach Edey fits long enough to beat the 1-seed Boilermakers. Anderson flipped a team that had 4 wins total one year to being one of the final 32 teams to remain in one season and it’s safe to say he can get the new looking Iona Gaels on the same path this upcoming season. For a team that gained amongst the most transfers in the entire country headlined by former Harvard pure scorer Idan Tretout, their one returnee is arguably the most unique big man in the country in Osborn Shema who is as talented of a defender as he is as a playmaker on offense at 7 feet tall. Iona is going to play FAST under Tobin Anderson if we remembered anything he did at Fairleigh Dickinson, and just when this conference looked to be wide open soon after Pitino left it seems like it isn’t going to get any easier for others in the MAAC in this new era for the Gaels.

MAC: Kent State

There’s realistically four teams I can see having a great chance at winning this conference as Kent State, Akron, Ohio, and Toledo all are returning key pieces to their team with some good transfers along with that. Meanwhile, the Kent State Golden Flashes are the one team who gained the most this offseason after losing their three top scorers yet retaining all of their best defenders. The transfer list is clearly headlined by last year’s MAC Freshman of the Year in scoring machine Reggie Bass and the long time head coach of this team in Rob Senderoff is not only the architect for the reigning MAC champions, but he also hasn’t had a losing season his entire tenure and has enough tools to easily keep that streak going. Before reaching the tournament last year this team ended the season red hot winning six straight games and even more impressively not losing a single home game in their last 22 games at their own house. Their schedule isn’t an easy cakewalk like last season, but if there’s anything that Senderoff has prepared this team for every year it’s to be prepared for anything that comes in their way.

MEAC: Howard

I swear I show no bias with this pick for the MEAC, but in all seriousness this team was pretty young last year overall and now after losing two of their top scorers from last year’s powerhouse offense the former MEAC Rookie of the Year Shy Odom is destined to take the conference by storm. This team was on fire for three-point shooting last season and all but one of their top shooters returns to the team this season, and former Harvard sharpshooter in Seth Towns comes over from having little playing time at Ohio State looking to get back to his old roots. The reigning MEAC champions lost only three conference games last year and by the looks of it they only retooled their roster a year ago under the MEAC Coach of the Year Kenny Blakeney. Norfolk State is a dangerous team as well this year that could be a huge threat to the Bisons’ repeat hopes, but it’ll be a large task for them this year to do that especially if the second-year Shy Odom becomes the talented leader he seems destined to be.

Missouri Valley: Drake

Not only was the transfer portal a period of regaining what they lost for the Drake Bulldogs, but they seem to even look better on paper from the acquisitions they added to an already loaded roster from last season including two nightly double-digit scorers from fellow mid-major schools. With two 3 star recruits joining the team as well this team is heavily loaded up with good depth along with keeping their star player in the coach’s son Tucker DeVries who could be headed to the NBA after this season if he continues to shine once again. It’s rare to see a head coach and his player son both be outstanding for a team but that’s the exact case for Drake as the Bulldogs are 122-48 all-time under coach Darian DeVries and this team may be his best yet. With all the conference winners I’ve mentioned there are only a couple of teams I’d say have more talent than this team, and the talented Missouri Valley this year will really put to the test how resilient this team is to make yet another appearance in the March Madness tournament in 2024.

Mountain West: San Diego St

Now the Aztecs may be ranked as the 17th best basketball team in the country, but this conference will be anything but easy for a team even as strong as they look after playing in the National Championship last season. That being said, this team kept many players that brought them so far in the tournament most importantly Lamont Butler who hit the game-winner vs FAU and their head coach Brian Dutcher is now all too familiar with both regular season and postseason success. Although there is some questions regarding their big men this season aside from the shifty Jaedon LeDee, this team is STACKED with guards adding on to their already loaded backcourt unit with 4 star recruit BJ Davis and former USC sixth man in Reese Dixon-Waters. As I said before there is no shortage of tough competition in the Mountain West per usual this season as Boise State, New Mexico, Nevada and the quickly rebuilt Colorado State all look to shock the College Basketball fandom and take the MW title this season. On the other hand, trying to put down such a team striving best as one unit will be very difficult for any team to put up easy buckets on the Aztecs once again.

Northeast: Sacred Heart

If you aren’t from anywhere near the state of Connecticut I’m sure you haven’t ever heard of this school let alone that the school has a basketball team, but that’s ok because since joining Division 1 for athletics in 1999 the Sacred Heart men’s basketball team has never reached the NCAA Tournament. Fairleigh Dickinson lost their main mastermind to Iona this offseason and it looked grim at first, but in a rare case they returned many players they had last season and could run back what was a gritty team. This now brings us to Wagner who’s already been through a year under a new coach and having questionable scoring going into this season. Wagner is a good defensive team, but I would say Sacred Heart is probably the most strong team returning a lot of starters from last year’s group headlined by 6’ 6” shooting guard who can shoot from anywhere and dunk on anyone in Nico Galette. Anthony Latina’s offense is one of the most unique ones in the country having an equal mix of three-point attempts and drives to the basket and with now such an experienced team in the same offense could be difficult for the average team in the NEC to figure out. I think if FDU or Wagner return to their old ways it could be a battle between those two teams, but don’t be shocked when I tell you now that this is the year Sacred Heart pulls off their first March Madness appearance.

Ohio Valley: Morehead State

The regular season was an impressive victory for the Owls as they were the top team before the tournament by three games in the OVC standings, but then the OVC tournament happened. The Eagles had an automatic bid to the Semifinal of the tournament and got completely outworked by 5th seed SEMO getting a huge reality check, which allowed for what looked like a 14th seed OVC champion path for Morehead State turn into a 16th seed play-in OVC champion with a workhorse of a Southeast Missouri State team. This year should be what they should’ve finished last year and overtake the Ohio Valley Conference once again as they return their versatile backcourt tandem in two-way point guard Mark Freeman and one of the best playmaking and rebounding guards in the country Drew Thelwell. They also have a 3 star prospect in Eddie Ricks who happens to be the best recruit out of Tennessee and a really good sharpshooter that this team was severely missing last year. If they can get any help for their shooting with much of their defense and rebounding returning this 2024 Eagles squad could even have a better conference record than last season’s 14-2.

Patriot: Colgate

The “toothpaste school” is going to the tournament again and just as they have going into the past four seasons they look like by far the best team on paper out of the Patriot League. Head coach Matt Langel is as consistent as it comes to keeping pure shooters on his team and even though they had two big backcourt losses, they returned just about everyone else from last season's team who had one (1) loss in conference by one point and dominated the rest of the conference after that both by points and by wins. If the passing and scoring is anywhere near to as efficient as it was in the second half of the season they could go undefeated in the conference this time around. They struggled against Texas on the big stage last year, but when this team is hitting shots they’re one of the most exciting teams in the country being arguably the most pure three-point shooting team in the country.

SoCon: Western Carolina

This seems to be known by many as a sleeper team out of this conference to make the tournament, but in my opinion they look like a very talented team this season in the SoCon and will enter the consistent Furman and UNC Greensboro conversations for best SoCon teams. They’re led out by former JUCO product Vonterius Woolbright, who is amongst both the best passers and scorers in the nation, and a guard who can score from anywhere past the half-court line in Tre Jackson. They had a huge loss losing double-double machine Tyzhaun Claude to Georgia Tech, but possibly gained back a player who can help fill that role in LSU transfer Corneilous Brown who came in as a 3 star freshman last season and redshirted having four years of eligibility left. The Catamounts only have one NCAA tournament appearance back in 1996 and given the roster this teams brings back they can do a lot more damage especially how close they were to beating the eventual conference champs in Furman. With Justin Gray bringing this team winning success in what was just his second season, WCU could be to more than the top-four finish they had in the conference last year.

Southland: McNeese State

If you’re wondering what Will Wade’s life is like now after he was accused of multiple Level I NCAA violations and was fired from building the LSU basketball brand back up again, he is now the head coach of the team with the largest turnaround this offseason in McNeese State. The Cowboys lost a good portion of their guard depth from last season including their talented two-way starting guard Zach Scott, but they replaced all of that with talent that was getting buckets like Utah transfer Mike Saunders Jr. and a point guard who put up double-figure games in the Big 12 which is TCU transfer Shahada Wells. Not even to mention one of the best freshmen in Conference USA last season DJ Richards Jr., this team took a whole 180-degree turn after Wade was hired and being the coach he is this team will get it together very fast. Even the frontcourt pairing this season is improved after being the strong suit of the team last year, as they retain the conference’s double-double king and leading scorer in Christian Shumate and add Cal State Bakersfield's leading scorer from 2022-23 in 245-pound center Antavion Collum. While New Orleans has one of the best pure scorers in the nation coming back to them in Jordan Johnson, they aren’t as deep and don’t have nearly enough postseason experience that Will Wade can give to this team and overtake what was not a strong conference in previous years for however long he would like to.

SWAC: Jackson State

As Deion Sanders took his talents from the football team over to Colorado, the basketball program looks due for a huge season in 2023-2024 and in my opinion will overtake Texas Southern’s dynasty in the SWAC conference. They have former Ole Miss highly touted recruit in Daeshun Ruffin who given the minutes and the right spot to strive in a big role leading his team out being probably the best transfer coming into the SWAC this season. Aside from JSU’s third-leading scorer in Trace Young they also bring back all of their key pieces to last year’s team for this upcoming season and are led by a very talented head coach in former NBA All-Star Mo Williams. Williams was changing Alabama State’s team for the better prior to taking the Jackson State job last season and the JSU Tigers already have made a trend upwards going from 6th to 3rd place in the conference after his first season. This is a talented group of players who are more than capable of putting up way more points than they did last year after acquiring Daeshun Ruffin and keeping many players from what was a talented defensive unit a year ago.

Summit: South Dakota State

One name is most important in this prediction, and that is Zeke Mayo. Leading the team in 18.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.4 assists a game last year Mayo was a the heart and soul of the Jackrabbits in his Sophomore season at South Dakota State and he’s only getting older an better by the looks of it. The rest of the Jackrabbits team from last year nearly all returned aside from their second and third leading scorers, but now everyone on this team who were producing and creating one of the nation’s best defense as freshmen like William Kyle III and Matthew Mors are both just in their second year being huge role players right out the gate. I really like what I see from the team this year reminding me of the mixture of leadership and developed talent around their star player such as the Mike Daum era had, but I believe their coach this time around in Eric Henderson has been massively successful from once being an assistant as this team had the most turnovers created in the conference by a wide margin and has became very fast. Now that Oral Roberts has lost their head coach and a majority of their team including star talent Max Abmas the Summit League is looking for who will take the conference by storm next, and the Jackrabbits can take back the throne they claimed in 2022 going back to the NCAA Tournament this upcoming season.

Sun Belt: Southern Miss

If you’re interested in watching a team exciting like the Grizzlies making highlight plays every game then the Southern Miss Golden Eagles is going to fit exactly in that category this season. I can see a few other teams winning this conference as well and Louisiana and James Madison both are very reasonable to be the popular picks, but the Golden Eagles have followed the formula for College Basketball success with retaining good players and gaining good talent from the transfer portal. The high flying showstopper Austin Crowley goes into his senior season staying with Southern Miss after being the teams leading scorer averaging 16 points per game and even being a nice on-ball defender getting nearly two steals a game as well. The transfer portal brought this squad former St. John’s starter Andre Curbelo who led his team in assists last season and averaged two steals a game making anywhere outside of the post a nightmare for ball handlers going against him and Crowley. Only losing two key starters as well this team returns a lot of players who were expected to finish dead last in the conference before last year, but with the impressive job of head coach Jay Lander getting this team to fight through that noise and have a dominant second half to the season this squad can very likely be on top by the end of the regular season pushing past all the doubt once again. There season came to a sour end last year being the number 1 seed and losing their first game of the tournament to 8th seed South Alabama by 17 points, but they already were way past what was expected last season and have the tools to do the same thing this year in what could be anybody’s conference once again in the Sun Belt.

WCC: St Mary’s

“Wait… b-but isn’t this the conference that Gonzaga plays in” is what you’re probably saying right now and you’re correct, but I’m also here to tell you that they aren’t gonna be the best team out of the WCC this regular season for the first time since 2012. The St. Mary’s Gaels have been on Gonzaga’s heels for two years now and with the loss of Drew Timme and their second leading scorer in Julian Strawther it’s difficult to really see who will take the star role on this team, especially when it more than likely could be someone like Ryan Nembhard they got in the transfer portal. Meanwhile, the Gaels already have their answer in point guard Aidan Mahaney who wasn’t just the best freshman in the conference last year, but one of the best in the entire country as he averaged over 13 points a game and shot 40% behind the arc making three’s better than most. The loss of Logan Johnson does sting but that was their only key player they lost and one of two they lost from last year’s team overall, and the talented head coach Randy Bennett with a team full of familiar faces is a lethal recipe. With how much we saw teams with good defenses dominate last season the Gaels ranked 5th in the country for scoring defense and most of that jail cell squad comes back this season. The San Francisco Dons also are no team that Gonzaga nor St. Mary’s should take lightly given how much they did in the transfer portal, but this conference like last year most likely will come down to the Bulldogs and Gaels and if you had me put my money on either team to take the conference…I’d have to put it down on Randy Bennett and his developed St. Mary’s squad to finally end the long time regular season reign of Gonzaga.

WAC: Grand Canyon

If I had to choose a team that is going to shock everyone and be this year’s FAU (no I’m not saying they can make the final four more so a great team in a lower mid-major conference) then I would put all my chips on the Grand Canyon Lopes. This team dealt with injuries a good portion of the second half of their season in early 2023 and still fought out for impressive wins and eventually the WAC championship ending their season giving Gonzaga a little scare in the tournament for a half. This team’s star is clear as day in Rayshon Harrison, who averaged 17.8 points and 3.6 assists per game last season both leading his team and even came up huge through the conference tournament on defense creating multiple turnovers and fast break with his constant pressure. This team also loaded in the transfer portal including a huge big formally starting at Louisville in 6’ 8” 270-pound Sydney Curry, and former 4 star Kansas JUCO commit shooting guard Tyon Grant-Foster who is finally 100% cleared to play basketball after missing time at Depaul for medical reasons. The biggest acquisition though from the end of the Lopes last season is gaining the former leader of this team yet still playing a huge role this season which is point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. as he is the mortar of this team not only with his playmaking but with how consistent and talented he is on the defensive side. Led out by their head coach and son of Scott Drew, Bryce, GCU added on to what was a talented squad last year especially when healthy. With only Stephen F. Austin and Seattle providing any threat in this conference, it has all the makings to be a huge year for the party in Phoenix, Arizona as the Lopes look to take the country by storm.