College hoops is home! The whole world changed in mid-March and it surely impacted college basketball. Not only was the entire NCAA Tournament cancelled but this season was delayed and teams are playing less games than they usually do. Much like we've seen with the college football season, games will be postponed or cancelled outright, that's just the nature of this season. Heck the Ivy League isn't even going to play Winter Sports. Yet there will be a season and there will be an NCAA Tournament. Things will look much different than normal but the rims are still 10 feet tall, it's the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country.
We'll be going conference by conference giving who we think will win the conference, other championship contenders, and quick thoughts on the league.
American East
Conference Champion: Vermont
Other Contenders: UMBC, Albany
One Thought: John Becker is one of the best coaches in college basketball that no one talks about and has Vermont poised to win the league. UMBC will often get the headlines due to their famous upset but Vermont is the true class of the American East.
American
Conference Champion: Houston
Other Contenders: Memphis
One Thought: A league often caught in the middle ground between Power Conference and Mid-Major, the AAC has a very strong front runner in Houston and a handful of other teams that can make a run at making the tournament.
Atlantic Sun
Conference Champion: Lipscomb
Other Contenders: Liberty
One Thought: After being one of the final teams last season to remain undefeated, Liberty looks like they won't be the clear favorite to three-peat in the league. Lipscomb has the potential to have a very potent offense that can knock off the Flames.
Atlantic Ten
Conference Champion: Richmond
Other Contenders: Saint Louis, Dayton
One Thought: The A-10 loses the National Player of the Year but gets teams in Richmond and Saint Louis that could spend time in the Top 25.
ACC
Conference Champion: Virginia
Other Contenders: Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Louisville
One Thought: Yes ACC fans, the regular season is more important than the conference tournament. The ACC is coming off of their worst season in over a decade and shouldn't be too much better as everything falls off after the fifth team.
Big 12
Conference Champion: Baylor
Other Contenders: Kansas, Texas Tech, West Virginia
One Thought: The Big 12 should be a dog fight at the top with all four of the teams listed most likely being top 15 squads.
Big East
Conference Champion: Villanova
Other Contenders: Creighton
One Thought: The addition of UCONN to the league only makes it more competitive but Villanova is the clear favorite for the league despite Creighton being a very good team as well.
Big Sky
Conference Champion: Eastern Washington
Other Contenders: Montana, North Colorado
One Thought: The Big Sky is similar to the Ohio Valley where the top three should be very competitive with themselves but the rest of the league will struggle to keep up. Eastern Washington should be the favorite in this league but will face a stiff battle from Montana and Northern Colorado.
Big South
Conference Champion: Winthrop
Other Contenders: UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern
One Thought: Winthrop is the easy favorite in the league. There's some talent below them but it would be hard to see them coming close to Winthrop in the final standings.
Big Ten
Why don't you just read our Big Ten specific preview you goofy goober.
Big West
Conference Champion: UC Irvine
Other Contenders: UC Santa Barbara
One Thought: It'll come down to the Anteaters and the team from the hometown of the greatest TV Show ever produced. *Gus from Psych voice* You know that's right.
Colonial
Conference Champion: Hofstra
Other Contenders: Charleston, Northeastern, Towson
One Thought: The CAA will only receive one bid to the NCAA tournament but the top of the league will be very competitive with each other.
Conference USA
Conference Champion: Western Kentucky
Other Contenders: North Texas, Louisiana Tech, Marshall
One Thought: Western Kentucky's roster is head and shoulders above the rest of the league with four senior starters and multiple all-conference team contenders.
Horizon
Conference Champion: Wright State
Other Contenders: Youngstown State, Northern Kentucky
One Thought: After a multi-year battle between Wright State and Northern Kentucky for conference dominance it looks like Wright State has won out for this season. With their addition to the conference, it'll be interesting to see what IPFW and Robert Morris add to the league.
Ivy League
One Thought: The Ivy League isn't playing Winter Sports this year so don't get a conference preview this year.
MAAC
Conference Champion: Siena
Other Contenders: Iona, Monmouth, Saint Peter's
One Thought: Siena is the most talented team but the big storyline of the conference is Rick Pitino's return to coaching college basketball.
Mid-American
Conference Champion: Bowling Green State
Other Contenders: Buffalo, Akron, Ball State
One Thought: The single A MAC should be ultra competitive this year with many very guard heavy teams. Justin Turner returning the BGSU after toying with the transfer market is huge for the league as he got a lot of interest from some major conference teams.
MEAC
Conference Champion: North Carolina Central
Other Contenders: Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, Morgan State, Howard
One Thought: Howard made headlines this offseason with the commitments of 5-Star recruit Makur Maker (younger brother of Thon Maker) and top transfer Nojel Eastern (from Purdue). HBUCs (which make up the majority of the MEAC) have often struggled to recruit due to a lack of financial resources but things like this make it look like the tide is turning on the height of their recruiting levels.
Missouri Valley
Conference Champion: Loyola-Chicago
Other Contenders: Northern Iowa
One Thought: One of the few conferences that was able to complete their tournament before everything got canceled, the MVC should be a two horse race with two very talented teams. Northern Iowa was competing for an at-large bid last season and Loyola-Chicago is going to start five seniors.
Mountain West
Conference Champion: San Diego State
Other Contenders: Utah State, Boise State, Colorado State, UNLV
One Thought: SDSU was one of the teams the have to feel for most once the tournament got canceled. They should still be a very strong team, just not as great as last year.
Northeast
Conference Champion: Fairleigh Dickinson
Other Contenders: Bryant, LIU, Mount Saint Mary's
One Thought: As much as I like how the NEC will be very competitive at the top of their league, I am too busy trying to start a justice for Merrimack movement. In their first season as a Division One school Merrimack won the conference outright but we're eligible to compete in the conference tournament or the NCAA/NIT tournaments due to an outdated rule of the NCAA where teams cannot compete in NCAA sponsored post-season tournaments for the first one-two season in D1.
Ohio Valley
Conference Champion: Murray State
Other Contenders: Austin Peay, Belmont
One Thought: The OVC was one of the few conference that were able to complete their conference tournament last season so we know Belmont would've gone dancing. This year will come down to what it has each of the last few years, to the trio of Murray State, Austin Peay, and Belmont.
Pac-12
Conference Champion: Oregon
Other Contenders: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State
One Thought: The Pac-12 was the surprise Power Six conference of last year and have five teams that have a legitimate shot at the conference crown.
Patriot
Conference Champion: Colgate
Other Contenders: Loyola Maryland, Boston, Bucknell, Lehigh
One Thought: The Patriot was the last conference to be able to play their tournament title game before being shut down. Colgate played in that game and will be the favorite to win a league that will have a very competitive top half.
SEC
Conference Champion: Kentucky
Other Contenders: Tennessee
One Thought: After a down year in 2019-20, the SEC looks to have bounced back with two title-contenders and an additional six team with a chance at the tournament.
SoCon
Conference Champion: Furman
Other Contenders: UNC Greensboro
One Thought: The SoCon has been a delightful league the past few seasons and they'll once again be super competitive. Expect to see some power conference teams lose to SoCon teams in nonconference play.
Southland
Conference Champion: Stephen F Austin
Other Contenders: Nicholls State, Abilene Christian
One Thought: Stephen F Austin has been a powerhouse in this league the last decade and, while Nicholls State and Abilene Christian will be competitive, that dominance won't fade this year.
SWAC
Conference Champion: Texas Southern
Other Contenders: Southern, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State
One Thought: After a few years of dominance it looks like someone will finally take over at the top of the SWAC from Prairie View A&M.
Summit
Conference Champion: South Dakota State
Other Contenders: North Dakota State, South Dakota
One Thought: The Jackbunnies return nearly everyone from last year's conference co-champion making them the clear favorites.
Sun Belt
Conference Champion: Arkansas Little Rock
Other Contenders: Georgia State
One Thought: There are really only one team in the Sun Belt that looks like it can compete with Little Rock and that is Georgia State. Both teams are capable of taking down power conference teams should they get the chance to play them.
West Coast
Conference Champion: Gonzaga
Other Contenders: BYU, San Francisco
One Thought: Gonzaga is easily the class of this conference, possible all of college basketball. Other contenders were only listed out of obligation.
WAC
Conference Champion: New Mexico State
Other Contenders: Grand Canyon
One Thought: The question for the WAC is the same is it is every year: can anyone compete with New Mexico State? The Aggies have won the regular season title in 6 of the last 7 seasons and have represented the conference in 8 of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
To stay up to date on the newest Head in the Game articles (and general sports commentary), follow @headingameblog on Twitter. You can also find us on Twitter @T_RoyStory (Troy) and @G_Tingley (Grant)
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