RE: AP Top 25 BB Teams by Confernce
games at boise state, wyoming, SDSU, Nevada, New Mexico have good teams playing in front of 8-10,000+ fans with a lot of local attention. might not be kentucky, louisville or indiana, but they certainly compare in caliber and energy to Penn St, Rutgers, NW, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, TCU, Baylor, etc... your mid to lower sized P5 programs.
Really, the theme this year is parity-it's an overused word in sports but applies this year. West Coast, PAC12, MWC are very comparable. The top 2 teams out west are not from the PAC12 and the middle of the MWC and West Coast are pretty solid. The Atlantic Sun and the Southern Conf each have 2 teams in the top 60 and the Southern has 5 in the top100. The IVY has 2 top 100 teams. The MAC has the #12 team and 4 in the top 100. The SWAC has a team that has beaten typically strong programs from the Big12 and PAC12 on the road. There are typically strong SEC and ACC programs sub 200 in the rankings. Just noticed 2-6 Montana St won today at 6-2 PAC12 Wash St...
I think we are seeing a little bit of a response to the increase in player transfers and the decline of many hard core fan bases. Players with options are sometimes choosing programs from smaller conferences that emphasize basketball or have a good program culture or fan base because the experience is as good there as it is at many of the power conference programs (outside of the blue bloods). A power conference school that signs a top recruit often loses them in a year or two to the draft if they excel, or to a transfer if they don't feel comfortable there.
Finally, this might be a one time things so to speak for the MAC. The top MAC teams so far - UB, Kent, Toledo, CMU, Ball St- are loaded with good seniors. Next year will involve a lot of rebuilding and there weren't a bunch of stud recruits signed in the early period by MAC schools.
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2018 09:04 PM by pono.)
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