You were watching the NFL Playoffs. You’ve been watching the Winter Olympics. You needed the extreme low intensity of an NBA All-Star Weekend as a detox from the high stress of said NFL Playoffs and Winter Olympics.
Whatever your secret excuse for not watching mid-major college hoops this year, your secret is safe with us. But you’re also out of excuses. You need to catch up, and fast.
Oh, right, how silly of us. You have been watching the whole time, you’re just asking for a friend. This friend really,
really wants to know what’s up with each mid-major college basketball conference as we enter the last week of February.
Well, tell your friend that this article is the place to get all of that information. (And it’s okay, you can read a little too while you’re here.)
Here are some things to watch from each mid-major conference with March just around the corner:
America East: Four letters that will change your life: N-J-I-T
Your CBB Casual friend thought that there was no way Vermont wasn’t gonna run away with the America East Crown this year. But you, the rabid college basketball fan that you are, knew they were overlooking the true league juggernaut: the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders…okay, maybe you didn’t see it coming, and maybe neither did we. (Just kidding, we would never admit that.) But if your friend hasn’t flicked on the Highlanders yet this year, you should encourage them to do so before it’s too late. (We’re not talking to you, because of course, you’ve been watching them all year long, you’re just getting this advice for your friend.)
Grant Billimeier’s Highlanders shockingly sit tied for second America East at 10-4 in league play, and have already beaten Vermont in Burlington. They’re guaranteed their first winning league campaign since posting an 8-6 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference 10 years ago. This still feels like a “believe it when I see it” situation regarding NJIT having a real shot at the N-C-double-A Basketball Tournament. KenPom seems to think so, seeing as they’re the second-luckiest team in America in success distribution per game – but with most of the league down this year, including the aforementioned Catamounts, don’t be shocked if you see those four fabulous letters on Selection Sunday. For the record, the current most likely four letters you’re going to see on Selection Sunday from the America East is a familiar set of favorites: U-M-B-C, which surged from second place to a 1.5-game lead in the conference in the last week.
American: Down year in the land of the Delta Blues
If you know a thing or two about men’s basketball in the American Athletic Conference, and also haven’t looked at the league standings all season, a) that’s a super weird combination of things, and b) you’d probably expect to see Memphis leading the way at this point in the season. Welp, you’re wrong. Penny Hardaway’s Tigers struggled through a very difficult non-conference schedule but could never really find the right combination in league play. In fact, Memphis (12-14, 7-6 in league play) is in danger of suffering its first losing season since it finished 15-16 in the year 2000.
Then again, it wouldn’t be a total shock if the talented Tiger roster could pull it together down the stretch in a league with some very good teams but no dominant ones. Right now, and overall, the best-looking team is South Florida. Since the start of December, the high-tempo Bulls have gone 15-4, with the only blemishes being two one-point losses, a three-point loss, and a competitive loss at ranked Alabama. For a while, it looked like sharp-shooting Tulsa was the team to beat, until they followed an impressive 20-3 start with three competitive losses. We’ll see if one of those two teams can complete their season with a tourney berth or if a team like Memphis or Wichita State steals it instead.
Atlantic 10: What in God’s Name is a Kilometer Billiken?
Get ready to learn, Billiken, buddy! The once proud Saint Louis men’s basketball program is back on the national stage.
Another coach, like many you’ll read about on this page, achieved an extremely impressive short-term turnaround. In this case, it’s second-year head coach Josh Schertz, who first dominated for 13 years at Division II Lincoln Memorial before turning around Indiana State in three short years, and now finds himself in a great position for his first berth in the Division I tournament with a gaudy 25-2 record. In this team, you’ll find tremendous balance: seven players average above 9 points a game, six players pull down four or more rebounds a game, and one player has the best rec specs in America. That’s right, folks, at long last, Robbie Avila will be introduced to the casual ball watchers on the biggest stage after he was robbed two years ago.
Atlantic Sun: Like rain on a sunny day…
…out of nowhere came Austin Peay (picked fifth in the preseason poll) and Central Arkansas (picked eighth). Both have completely caught fire down the stretch. Peay (15-1 in ASUN play) has won ten in a row. UCA (13-3 in ASUN play) had been on an 11-game winning streak, tied for the sixth longest in the country, until it ended in heart-stopping fashion last night in Dunk City.
Both UCA and APU are solid on both sides of the ball; Peay relies on a tandem of forwards in Collin Parker and Rashaud Marshall, while UCA features a much more guard-heavy lineup. Queens, the league’s best offensive team, is right behind and gunning for their first-ever NCAA Tourney bid along with Central Arkansas. It might get there if its defense plays better than the 331st-ranked defense in KenPom adjusted efficiency it’s displayed so far.
Big Sky: Portland State threatens the Treasure State’s dominance
Whether you prefer Regular Montana or the State variety, if you’re a fan of either of the two Division I teams in that state, you’re used to seeing your team’s name on March Madness scorebugs. Both the Griz and the Bobcats have carried the Big Sky banner to the Big Dance three times in the last seven years.
The Montana schools sit second and third in the current Big Sky table, but the top team by a full three games is Portland State. Since reinstating its basketball team in 1996 after a hiatus, PSU has won the conference regular season title just twice and made the NCAA tournament just twice (in 2008 and 2009). They are going for a third of each in 2026, and have already locked up at least a share of the regular season crown. Jase Coburn is having his best year in his fourth year at the helm, behind the conference’s second leading scorer, Terri Miller, and defending DPOY and double-double machine Tre-Vaughn Minott.
Big South: Re-tooled High Point and Winthrop are red hot
After years of High Point coming up just short of the promised land, first-time head coach Alan Hess entered the fray two years ago, coached the Panthers to 56 wins against just 15 losses, and we all got to hear HPU’s name on Selection Sunday for the first time a year ago. Well, just as quickly as he emerged, he left to become Creighton’s “coach in waiting”, but the Panthers haven’t missed a beat.
Flynn Clayman, elevated from an associate position to become a full-time head coach for the first time, has brought the Panthers back to a 25-4 record, 13-1 in league play, despite losing eight of last year’s top nine scorers from the roster. The Panthers’ current high scorer, Terry Anderson, didn’t start a game for them last year and was 10th on the team at under five points a contest; this year, he’s over 15 points a game. High Point has won ten games in a row, which only just became the longest active win streak in the league. Just like the A-Sun conference, the Big South was sporting two of the longest active winning streaks in the country, with Winthrop’s 12-game streak ending last night in a competitive loss to High Point in a battle for first place. Still, watch out for the Eagles and Logan Duncomb (“Dunk on ’em”?), who like Anderson, has exploded from a reserve role in his first three collegiate seasons (48 games played in three seasons, zero games started, under three points a game) to becoming the focal point of the offense this year (over 18 points and nine boards per game). Two of the hottest teams in the country headlining a conference tournament in the first weekend of March? Sign me up.
Big West: Cal Poly’s Big Turnaround
The Mustangs aren’t on top of the league right now, but Mike DeGeorge and his squad deserve a shoutout. At one point last year, they were sitting on a 46-game Big West losing streak over a three-year stretch. DeGeorge, in his first year last year, eventually picked up eight league wins to finish out the year, the most in more than a decade. Now, they’ve got eight league wins again with four to play. And not just that, it’s beaten three of the league leaders in three consecutive games, including a convincing road win at the current first-place team, Hawaii. This program has absolutely turned a corner, and Mike DeGeorge is a miracle worker.
Cal Poly is a dark horse to represent the Big West for what would be just the second time ever in the NCAA tournament, but the winner will more likely be one of the current three teams tied for the league lead: Hawaii, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge, which has won six in a row and had its own two-year turnaround under Andy Newman. The Big West isn’t in the at-large conversation this year like it was last year, but expect its representative in the Big Dance to give a Power team all they can handle.
Coastal: UNCW, America’s best kept secret…
…and their head man, Takayo Siddle, might not be kept a secret for much longer. He puts the W in UNCW – in five full seasons, he’s reached 20 wins all five times. The top five scorers from last year’s veteran team departed the program to the portal or to graduation. Not to worry; this year, his squad is just as experienced, with three of his new top five scorers coming from the portal and Nolan Hodge going from sixth man last year to leading scorer this year. Now at 23-4 (13-2 in CAA play), one final game at Charleston is likely the only thing standing in the Seahawks’ way of another regular-season CAA title. Meanwhile, a huge pile-up of teams lies in the middle of the pack: nine (!) teams have conference records between 6-9 and 10-6.
Conference USA: Liberty is the best of the pool
Ritchie McKay’s Flames are, along with Miami University, the only undefeated schools in conference play across the country, with LU at a dominating 15-0. Not much to say here, other than it would be pretty embarrassing if they sat in the corner watching while a different C-USA team plowed its way to the ultimate prize of a tournament berth.
Horizon: All Gottlieb needed to do was stop hosting his radio show (?)
Everyone: pretend to be shocked that a collegiate head coaching job requires one to focus fully on that and not have another full-time job on the side. Douglas Gottlieb may have taken a year and a half too long to figure it out, but credit to him, he finally did. And a program that went 4-28 last year – losing games to No Name University along the way – sits in second place this year.
It’s a huge accomplishment for the Phoenix, who were picked to finish last in the 11-team league. But the pole position currently belongs to Wright State, who are led by its own second-year head coach and who themselves were picked seventh. And don’t forget about the untouchable experience of Greg Kampe and his up-tempo Golden Grizzlies, who probably deserve a few more people at their home games for yet another gritty season.
Ivy: They’re out to try and spoil Yale’s dream season
Yale was expected by most to be, by some margin, the class of the Ivy League this year, and if you quickly look at the metrics now, you’ll see they’re 21-4, some 75 spots clear of the second-best Ivy team in the NET and Kenpom and think “wow, they’re cruising through this league.” Well, not exactly. In fact, if last weekend’s one-point win over Harvard swung the other way, the Crimson would be a game up on their rivals, having already taken both games from Yale during the year. Instead, Yale forced a series split and maintains a one-game lead on the Crimson. All that to say, Yale will probably be the favorite heading into the four-team Ivy joust in Ithaca, but there they’ll likely have to go through an arch-rival who has played them even this year, and possibly a rabid home crowd trying to cheer its Cornell Big Red to its first tournament in more than a decade and a half. It’ll be worth your watch.
MAC: Miami’s quest for immortality
If you read that and thought about Michael Irvin smacking a wall with a belt, we’re going to need to pull you out of that rock you’re living under and rewire the football from your brain. The Real Miami University, the one in Ohio, is the nation’s last undefeated team at a truly unbelievable 27-and-(OH).
Head coach Travis Steele has been steering the ship back in the right direction for four seasons now, but I’m not sure anyone could have guessed 25 straight to start the year. The AP No. 22 RedHawks, who lead the country in scoring and effective field goal percentage, have run away from many teams (especially of late) but also have demonstrated an ability to win close games in dramatic fashion. Just ask Buffalo, twice, for example.
It’s dumb to think that a 27-0 team would have any chance of being left out of the dance, but the capitalist high-major oligarchy is saying if they were to fall in the conference tournament to, say, another fantastic mid-major team such as Akron, they’d be right on the cut line, so the RedHawks don’t have much room for error if they want a chance to re-enact their 1999 Sweet 16 run. But regardless of how this year ends, it’s been truly remarkable, beyond belief. We’ll remember this team for a long, long time.
MAAC: Is it finally Merrimack’s time?
Merrimack has been in Division I play for only seven seasons, but it feels like it should have been the Dance about four times by now. They’ve just secured a share of their fourth regular-season title by way of an overtime win over Siena on Friday night. Joe Gallo’s squad has been awfully tough to stop, both through their NEC stint and now having moved to the more crowded MAAC for the last couple of years. They won two regular-season titles in the NEC, and won the tournament in the fourth and final year of their transitional period to Division I (otherwise known as The Dumbest Rule in Sports) when they were ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. Then in the last two years, they fell in agonizing fashion in their conference tournament. There have been a few more deserving teams in that span to not have qualified for the Dance, but the MAAC tournament is well known for being a factory of chaos: in four of the last seven tournaments, a team seeded fourth or lower has been the last one standing.
MEAC: Howard’s the team to beat again
Kenny Blakeney’s Howard Bison have flashed the most potential of any MEAC team this year. They’ve really turned it on since getting second-leading scorer Cedric Taylor III back from injury mid-season, having forced overtime with aforementioned Yale in a mid-February non-conference battle and earlier on sweeping all four of their CAA opponents in consecutive games, including currently 23-4 UNC Wilmington on the road. Of course, they followed that up with consecutive losses to start league play, but have righted the ship to lead the conference by half a game. Normally, a conference regular-season title doesn’t get you a whole lot in the MEAC tournament, where all eight teams start in the quarterfinals on a neutral court, but with Coppin State banned from this year’s postseason for APR penalties, the league winner will get a bye to the semifinals. Watch out for Morgan State, who’s already beaten Howard on the road once this year. The other two teams that have beaten Howard, SC State, and UMES, are trying to reach the Dance for the first time in nearly 40 years and the first time ever, respectively.
Missouri Valley: New conference, same Belmont
Four seasons ago, Belmont and Murray State left the OVC, where they were perennial giants, for the stronger MVC, a move expected to raise the level of competition and program profile over time but also away from the security of more easily-secured tournament appearances, at least in the short term. Well, no matter because they’ve adjusted quite well. Belmont will finish its fourth year with 12 wins or more in league play, and at 15-3 has a three-game lead in the league. Murray State has cooled off considerably following a hot start, but still sits 12-7, just a half game out of second place, an improvement under first-year head coach Ryan Miller after three years of mediocre play. Now, parlaying that into the first conference tournament title for either team will be much easier said than done, as several other teams (Illinois State, UIC, Bradley, Northern Iowa) have shown the capability of making some noise in Arch Madness.
Mountain West: Something’s bubbling
After a few years of wondering whether the Mountain West had lost its swagger, the league made an emphatic statement three years in a row: we’re back. Three years ago, San Diego State made the title game. Two years ago, we had a six-bid Mountain West. Last year, New Mexico and Colorado State, after struggling in the tournament for a few years, each won a game and nearly made the Sweet 16.
Of course, this year is the last iteration of the league as we know it, with five of the league’s stalwarts bolting for the Pac-12 next year, and some others coming to replace them. What’s the tournament draw going to look like? Right now, Utah State is the only team that feels safe in the field. San Diego State (who lost last night to CSU) and New Mexico (who narrowly avoided a defeat to Fresno) are squarely on the bubble. Grand Canyon and Nevada are good enough to make a run in the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas. As it seems every year, the Mountain West will probably be a major national topic of discussion heading towards Selection Sunday.
NEC: Long Island smells blood in the water; Saint Francis’ end is nigh
Central Connecticut State might have turned a few heads with not one but two buy-game victories over “Power Conference” teams during the regular year, but this year has belonged to Long Island University. LIU and its sexy color combination will try and ride its swarming defense to become the first program nicknamed “Sharks” to appear in the Division I tournament (they made their previous appearances as the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds before they merged with LIU Post and changed their mascot). On the other side, Saint Francis University (of Pennsylvania) will be the second Saint Francis in three years to depart the NEC and Division I altogether. There hasn’t been a ton to celebrate a year removed from just their second ever appearance in the Big Dance, but if you’re hoping for a feel good miracle, they’ve pushed Long Island in both their games so far this year.
Ohio Valley: Step right up and claim your title!
Since the previously-discussed departure of Belmont and Murray State (see: Missouri Valley Conference), the conference is now more winnable to many more teams than before. Last year, second-place SIU Edwardsville, after years in the conference cellar, swooped in to nab the OVC autobid over regular-season champs Southeast Missouri. This year, both are in the mix again, part of a traffic jam of schools at the top of the league. In fact, at the time of writing this, the top four teams are separated by just one game. Tennessee State (who won at UNLV this year), SEMO, and Morehead State are at 13-5, while UT Martin (who also won at UNLV this year and still looks for its first-ever NCAA tourney bid) sits at 12-6. Reigning OVC tourney champs SIUE and Division I newbie Lindenwood are right behind at 10-8. This will be a really fun one to keep your eye on down the stretch.
Patriot: Midshipmen try to sink Colgate dynasty
Death, taxes, and Colgate representing the Patriot League in the NCAA tournament. (Since 2019, anyway.) The Raiders finished first or tied for first in league play six of the last seven years and have won five of the last seven conference tournaments. Maybe the only thing more surprising than Colgate not winning it last year is that head coach Matt Langel still hasn’t been poached after this run of dominance.
But Navy, picked to win the league in the preseason, is playing like a favorite on the court. An overtime road win over Colgate in overtime on the road last Saturday helped them clinch their first regular-season crown in a full season since 2000. Preseason POY Austin Begnini is second in the league in scoring, center Adrian Kehoe averages a double-double and leads the conference in field goal percentage, and if anyone is going to stop the Mids from their first tournament appearance in almost 30 years, they’re going to have to do it inside a raucous Alumni Hall in Annapolis.
SoCon: ETSU might be back
Can you believe that in the last 15 seasons, ETSU has only been in the NCAA Tournament one time, in 2017? Of course, COVID cheated a 30-win Buccaneer squad (that had already won the conference tournament) out of a tournament appearance in 2020. This year, though, they might be back. The league’s most consistent team on both sides of the ball, they have a three-headed scoring monster with Blake Barkley, Brian Taylor, and Cam Morris each averaging just over 14 points a game. Asheville has been full of surprises on tournament weekend before, but it feels likethe time for ETSU’s glorious return.
Southland: A two-horse race (and is SFA back?!)
A wave of schools left the Southland Conference in 2021, only for several of them to return three years later to resurrect a league that they had left on life support. While they were gone, Will Wade took over a McNeese program and in less than two years turned them into a juggernaut, reaching the NCAA Tournament twice and winning a game last year.
That McNeese program is continuing the momentum it has built over the last two years, posting several respectable wins in non-conference and a 16-3 record in league. But that’s not good enough for the top Southland spot. No, that currently belongs to Stephen F. Austin. The Prodigal Son of the Southland, SFA put the conference on the map with two NCAA tournament wins last decade, but left to pursue greener pastures. They returned last year, and after a poorer-than-expected showing last year caused them to move on from longtime coach Kyle aKeller, all Matt Braeuer has done in his very first year at the Division I level is lead the Lumberjacks to a 25-3 start (18-1 in league play). The Southland has two fantastic teams, either of which will be a threat on a national stage.
Summit: North Dakota State better than expected
The Bison were expected to be in the top half of the league. They’ve done that and then some, having clinched the league title outright already over preseason favorite St. Thomas. It’s been a balanced attack as NDSU’s top seven scorers average between seven and 14 points per game. David Richman’s team is one of four teams with double-digit road wins, and they’re playing their best ball of the season, having won 12 of their 13 league contests.
Sun Belt: Massive logjam up and down the standings
You thought the OVC was a bunched-up race? Seems fake, but it’s true: all but one of the 14 teams in the conference is within four games of first place. Five teams are within one game of first place. Sixth through 12th are separated by just 2 games. Buckle up for Pensacola, Fla., because if you have any idea who will emerge, you’re better than us. App State is in first right now. Marshall, Troy and South Alabama are all a half game back with the surging Texas State Bobcats, winners of six in a row, at one game out. And each game really matters – don’t forget that a couple of years ago, the Sun Belt saw the WCC’s ten-team Super Ladder and said, we can do this for 14 teams!
SWAC: Bethune-Cookman goes for its first-ever Big Dance
The SWAC preseason favorite Wildcats started the season with a near shocking upset over an Auburn team that today still sits solidly in the tournament field. They’ve continued that momentum to a two-game lead in the conference entering the final month of the season. Former NBA star and veteran coach Reggie Theus has really gotten his guys to play for him, especially defensively (they’re the only top 150 team in the SWAC in adjusted defense).
They’ll have a good shot to advance to the Big Dance for the first time, but like a lot of conferences out there, the conference tournament tends to be a crapshoot. The regular season champion has only won the tournament two of the last seven years. Johnny Jones’ Texas Southern seems to always be a threat, no matter where they finish during the year. Truly, anything is to be expected come March, but regardless of conference tourney result, Bethune has a chance to win just its third-ever regular-season title in its Division I history.
WAC: Will Utah Valley be freed from its timeout?
When it looked like several conferences, at one point or another, could become completely washed out by conference realignment, in the end, the WAC is the one that is truly ending. Sorta. Technically, its merger with five teams from the ASUN to create the “United Athletic Conference” next year will be the continuation of the WAC, but with a different geographical footprint and a new name, it feels like a completely new thing from the conference that had so much history and great teams over the last six decades or so.
Still, the seven-team league, in its final year as the “WAC”, didn’t gain much sympathy with its call last week to completely freeze out departing Utah Valley, which it claims is avoiding its agreed-upon exit fee, from all remaining league championships this year, including basketball. Utah Valley, after years of being on the doorstep, had a great shot at going dancing for the first time, currently leading the league by half a game. Instead, if the move stands, Cal Baptist (featuring the electric 5’10” Dom Daniels; if you haven’t seen his highlights, please do) and Utah Tech, both relative newbies to Division I, would seem to be the frontrunners, but with just six teams left in the league, literally anything feels possible.
West Coast: A three-bid WCC, for old time’s sake?
Mid-major programs in the West Coast Conference have an advantage that their equals in most other conferences do not get: a couple of elite resume boosting opportunities every year. Unfortunately for them, those powerhouse teams – Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, and BYU for a time – didn’t give up too many of those opportunities. BYU has since left, and another sizeable chunk of that goes away after this year, with Gonzaga finally accepting an offer to jump to the reborn Pac-12. Since Gonzaga’s dominating streak of consecutive NCAA appearances began in 1999, just five times has a program not in the Big Three advanced to the NCAA tournament. Three of those were in an at-large fashion, and just one of those came since 2002: Todd Golden’s San Francisco four years ago.
Before the power dynamics of the league change next year, we have a rare opportunity at new blood while the Zags reign of terror still exists, Santa Clara, who hasn’t appeared in the dance since Steve Nash ran point for them in 1995, has racked up a 23-6 record, with wins over McNeese, Nevada, Xavier, Minnesota and, most recently, Saint Mary’s as part of a 14-2 tear to start league play. It’s a fun-to-watch, top 30 team in adjusted offense for Herb Sendek, who’s trying to personally return to the NCAA tournament since going with Arizona State in 2014. Unfortunately, they came up a little short in both their tries against Gonzaga, so their tourney hopes may rest on their second game against Saint Mary’s, and both teams are squarely on the bubble.
