College Hoops Preview 2017-2018

Do you smell that smell? That smelly smell. That smelly smell that smells...smelly. *GASP* BASKETBALL!

As a result of the long-awaited arrival of the new college basketball season, we here at Head In The Game are bringing you a conference by conference (well, at least seven of them) preview of the season. In addition, each conference will receive one award apiece in the category that they are most deserving of. We'll just go ahead and jump right in on our 100% accurate conference standing predictions (plus or minus 100%) and awards.

American

1. Wichita State
2. Cincinnati
3. UCF
4. SMU
5. UCONN
6. Temple
7. Houston
8. Tusla
9. Memphis
10. Eastern Carolina
11. Tulane
12. South Florida

Wichita State is the clear favorite here. The Shockers and Cinci are the only two that seem to be locks for the tournament, with most of the rest of the conference living in the bubble or simply trying to build for future seasons.

Award: The "Eh" Award
This award is awarded to the most "eh" conference, aka the conference that is the most average or generally uninteresting to watch. When asked about how they feel about receiving the award, AAC officials are noted as saying, "Eh, it is what it is."

ACC

1. Duke
2. North Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Miami
5. Virginia Tech
6. Virginia
7. Georgia Tech
8. Louisville
9. Wake Forest
10. Florida State
11. Syracuse
12. North Carolina State
13. Clemson
14. Boston College
15. Pittsburgh

The ACC will be competitive as always. The quartet of Duke, UNC, ND, and Miami will be battling it out for the majority of the season. Louisville may have found themselves in the conversation if it was not for the events of recent months.

Award: Battle Royale Award
This prestigious award is given to the conference that will most likely be beating itself up all conference season long. On a teleconference earlier this week where these awards were announced, it was overheard somewhere in ACC HQ that someone was screaming "Peeta!" before a large crashing sound occurred and several arrows were fired.

Big East

1. Villanova
2. Xavier
3. Seton Hall
4. Creighton 
5. Providence
6. Saint John's 
7. Marquette
8. Butler
9. Georgetown
10. DePaul

The Big East is set to continue their success in recent years and will remain one of the most entertaining leagues around. Nova is set to win the league again, while teams like Butler and Georgetown will need to take some time to get used to their new coaches.

Award: Cinderella Curator
This is an award that won't become clear until March, but heed my warning: when there's a major conference Cinderella team in the tournament, it will come from the Big East. Fun fact, instead of the normal gift basket or skywritten thank you, the Big East sent over 17 singing mice to the award committee; they did a wonderful rendition of Smooth Criminal.

Big Ten

1. Michigan State
2. Purdue
3. Minnesota
4. Maryland
5. Northwestern
6. Iowa
7. Michigan
8. Indiana
9. Wisconsin
10. Penn State
11. Illinois
12. Ohio State
13. Nebraska
14. Rutgers

Michigan State may be the best team in the nation and should run away with the league. While they should win easily, teams 2-10 are anyone's guess. The only thing we know for a fact (other than MSU winning) is that Rutgers will finish last.

Award: Dumb Decision Award
The Big Ten was bestowed this award due to their decision to move their conference tournament up a week and to play two conference games in early December. Soon after the announcement of these awards, the Big Ten made a press release saying that for the month of February, the ice hockey teams will play on soccer fields and the soccer teams will be practicing on the ice.

Big 12

1. Kansas
2. TCU
3. West Virginia
4. Baylor
5. Texas
6. Oklahoma
7. Texas Tech
8. Kansas State
9. Iowa State
10. Oklahoma State

Few things are constant in life; death, taxes, the ability of animal shelter commercials to make people cry, and Kansas winning the Big 12. This is even more amazing considering that the Big 12 has had an insane amount of parity the past few years. Any team is dangerous any night, but this seems like how things will shake out.

Award: Most Likely To Lose To Kansas

This award signifies that once again Kansas will be the champions of the league. The other 9 schools were asked to comment, but Kansas quickly hushed them and ushered them out of the room.

PAC-12

1. Arizona
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. Oregon
5. Stanford
6. Arizona State
7. Utah
8. Oregon State
9. Colorado
10. Washington 
11. Washington State
12. California

Arizona seems like the best team in the league, with spots 2-4 having a lot more competition. I think Oregon would be a dark horse to win the league, but the fact that they only bring back 19% of the minutes from last year's Final Four team is enough to scare me off.

Award: Kiddie Pool Award
The PAC-12 got this award due to the relative lack of depth in the conference. We here at Head In The Game hear your concerns, but don't worry, we checked; they did wait half an hour before getting in the pool.

SEC

1. Kentucky
2. Florida
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Arkansas
6. Vanderbilt
7. Missouri
8. Georgia
9. South Carolina
10. Mississippi State
11. Auburn
12. Tennessee
13. Ole Miss
14. LSU

In a classic SEC move, Kentucky and Florida will finish one and two in the league. The more interesting thing to watch in the league is seeing how good Vandy and Mizzou will be.

Award: Help! I'm Trapped In A Swamp
This is not a joke. I am actually trapped in a swamp. Please help, it smells, it smells really bad.

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