FBCB: Zeroed Out/All 1 Prestige Conferences/All Auto-Bids except Independents (2024)

Top 25 # Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mercer (63) 18-2 1785 1 Atlantic Sun Conference 2. Army (5) 19-3 1682 5 Patriot League 3. Rutgers 17-2 1604 4 Big East Conference 4. Mississippi Valley State (1) 17-3 1574 7 Southwestern Athletic Conference 5. Miami 16-3 1484 10 Atlantic Coast Conference 6. UNC Greensboro (1) 18-3 1415 9 Southern Conference 7. Kent State (2) 16-3 1331 12 Mid-American Conference 8. Virginia 16-3 1287 13 Atlantic Coast Conference 9. Siena 18-4 1207 6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 10. Montana 17-4 1116 8 Big Sky Conference 11. North Dakota State 17-4 1056 15 Summit League 12. Pittsburgh 15-4 981 16 Big East Conference 13. Winthrop 17-4 966 2 Big South Conference 14. Illinois 15-4 861 3 Big Ten Conference 15. USC 15-4 843 11 Pacific-12 Conference 16. UNC-Charlotte 15-4 767 19 Atlantic 10 Conference 17. Savannah State 16-5 677 22 Independent 18. Florida Atlantic 17-6 560 20 Sun Belt Conference 19. UAB 14-5 504 14 Conference USA 20. Wichita State 16-5 433 NR Missouri Valley Conference 21. Loyola-IL 15-6 340 NR Horizon League 22. North Florida 14-6 246 NR Atlantic Sun Conference 23. Utah State 14-6 153 NR Western Athletic Conference 24. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 13-6 124 NR Southwestern Athletic Conference 25. Northeastern 15-6 59 NR Colonial Athletic Association Others Receiving Votes: San Jose State 14-6 57 Western Athletic Conference Ball State 13-6 51 Mid-American Conference Fairfield 14-7 39 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hawaii 13-6 35 Big West Conference Central Florida 13-6 30 Conference USA Baylor 13-6 29 Big 12 Conference Houston Baptist 14-6 17 Great West Conference Georgia Tech 13-6 16 Atlantic Coast Conference Pepperdine 14-7 16 West Coast Conference UL-Lafayette 14-7 14 Sun Belt Conference San Diego 14-7 9 West Coast Conference Troy 14-7 7 Sun Belt Conference # Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elon 14-7 6 Southern Conference Charleston Southern 14-7 4 Big South Conference Bradley 15-7 4 Missouri Valley Conference Purdue 13-6 3 Big Ten Conference Central Connecticut State 13-7 3 Northeast Conference California 12-7 2 Pacific-12 Conference Hartford 14-8 1 America East Conference Temple 13-6 1 Atlantic 10 Conference Central Michigan 13-6 1 Mid-American Conference

The wheels really fell off on Bradley in January. The Braves went 2-7 and there were no injuries at all. They just flat-out sucked. Mercer continues to be the class of the country. Army got a buttload of great walk-on freshmen, including 4*, #24 ranked Kelly Blessing who is Yellow/Blue. Stupid, yes. Can't wait for prestige to grow enough that we don't see that bullsh*t anymore.

Anyway, Dante Morton has assumed command of scoring average lead with 22.3 PPG, Joseph Brack is second at 21.1, and Youngstown State junior juco transfer John Wilmot is right on the cusp at 20.2 points a game (He's Green/Green).

Nothing appreciably insane in the first Bubble Watch this year. Akron and Lafayette are regretting their moves as they're bottom-tier right now in their respective conferences while Old Dominion is #2 in the Patriot behind lucky ass Army. Morehead State is a literal .500 MAC team, so the Eagles appear correctly positioned.

Top 25 # Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mississippi Valley State (69) 24-3 1797 1 Southwestern Athletic Conference 2. Virginia (1) 23-4 1724 2 Atlantic Coast Conference 3. UNC Greensboro (1) 24-4 1617 5 Southern Conference 4. Savannah State 22-5 1607 3 Independent 5. North Dakota State (1) 23-5 1484 6 Summit League 6. Mercer 23-6 1421 8 Atlantic Sun Conference 7. Montana 23-6 1312 12 Big Sky Conference 8. Army 23-6 1259 13 Patriot League 9. Hawaii 21-6 1228 15 Big West Conference 10. Illinois 21-6 1151 4 Big Ten Conference 11. USC 21-6 1091 9 Pacific-12 Conference 12. Miami 20-7 1033 7 Atlantic Coast Conference 13. Loyola-IL 22-7 896 17 Horizon League 14. Siena 22-7 845 14 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 15. Troy 21-8 785 21 Sun Belt Conference 16. Winthrop 22-7 698 19 Big South Conference 17. Kent State 20-7 633 11 Mid-American Conference 18. UAB 19-8 609 24 Conference USA 19. Rutgers 20-7 451 10 Big East Conference 20. Marquette 20-7 440 18 Big East Conference 21. Temple 20-7 414 16 Atlantic 10 Conference 22. Ball State 19-8 302 NR Mid-American Conference 23. Pepperdine 20-8 260 25 West Coast Conference 24. Houston Baptist 19-8 165 22 Great West Conference 25. Texas A&M 19-8 77 NR Big 12 Conference Others Receiving Votes: Florida Atlantic 21-10 44 Sun Belt Conference North Florida 19-9 23 Atlantic Sun Conference Long Island 20-9 12 Northeast Conference Georgia Tech 18-9 9 Atlantic Coast Conference Northeastern 20-9 6 Colonial Athletic Association Elon 18-11 3 Southern Conference Bradley 20-9 2 Missouri Valley Conference California 17-10 2 Pacific-12 Conference 

Rough month for Mercer as they fall with some losses. The big story here is the Rainbow Wahine of Hawaii rising to the Top 10 for the first time all season. Evidently they woke up and remembered who they were - the team that made the title game last year (albeit thanks to fluke city) and brought in the #1 recruiting class. The Delta Devils are another team who had some solid walk-on luck, but Mississippi Valley State also pulled off the #27 recruiting class, headlined by 4* All-American Andres Knutson, and they convinced the best Mississippi talent to all stay home and attend their school rather than Ole Miss or Mississippi State.

Dante Morton stands alone at 23.5 points per game. He's a shoo-in for the scoring title and the National Player of the Year for my money. CSU-Bakersfield is 18-10 as an Independent with the 22nd-best RPI and the Roadrunners were a bad 11-17 last season. What a masterful recruiting stroke by Jerry Harvey, who is a good recruiter and an excellent scout.

Morton is also averaging 9.8 boards, so he could be the first 20/10 player. But I want to take a second to spotlight Robert Morris' 4*, #8 in the country (the rankings loved him, the scouts didn't) Louis Deacon, the Pennsylvania All-State freshman who might be the first recorded double-double guy at 15.5 points and 10.2 rebounds. The Colonials won all of 6 games last year, and are 17-12 this season (10-8 in conference play). They'll need a Cinderella conference tournament run to make the Big Dance, but it's still an impressive improvement.

Big 12: Texas A&M (beat a 2 seed)
Big East: Marquette
Big West: Hawaii (by 2 points over a 2 seed. Luck continues)
MAAC: Siena
MAC: Miami-Ohio (Beat a 2 seed)
Ohio Valley: Eastern Kentucky (beat a 2 seed by 2 points... said 2 seed beat Akron by 1 point in the semi-finals, dethroning the national champion)
Pac-12: California
SEC: Tennessee
Southland: Southeastern Louisiana
WCC: Pepperdine (beat a 2 seed)

1 vs 2 seed - 2 seed wins
Big Sky: Montana State (Those assholes again)
Big Ten: Purdue
Great West: Texas Pan-American
Patriot: American
WAC: New Mexico State

Much healthier chalk than last season. It's not enough to prevent Akron getting relegated to the 7 seed in the NIT. Oh hey, I didn't record who won the NIT last season. That's because no one cares who the 65th best team in the country is. Still that's better than Lafayette, who finished 2nd to last in the CAA, and San Francisco, who were an even .500.

Yes, that means only Hawaii has a shot at putting together something resembling a dynasty. But we'll get to that in just a second.

Virginia is a paper tiger. #2 ranked offense but their defense is completely garbage. That said, they have a good shot at advancing to the Elite Eight because this region is total ass. That said, I really like Troy. The Trojans have great 3 point shooting wings and are a pretty balanced, efficient squad. North Dakota State is criminally underseeded at #10. They have a High School All-American 5* #10 overall recruit in PG Rayford Maxson and they're Top 50 on offense, Top 100 on defense. The Bison got dinged for a weak schedule - just 3 Quad 1 games, where they were 2-1.California doesn't have elite talent but they were Top 70 in both categories, and the Golden Bears could well walk out with the region.

I'm annoyed to see Wichita State had a High School All-American walk on. Whatever. I'm moving on before I get mad again.

Fred Hargett (Green/Blue), Gene Everett (Yellow/Green), and David Hoke (Yellow/Green) form an elite freshman triumvirate for Hawaii who took a while to get respected, but that's an incredibly talented team, and the Rainbow Wahine boast the #16 offense with just outside the Top 50 defense. Heavy, heavy favorites to get back to the title game and win it this time.

Delaware is without Robin Bowling, who was the nation's leader in steals and that really hurts the Blue Hens' opportunity for a massive upset. New Mexico State has Bertram Gross, the 5* recruit they stole from Texas, and a solid all-freshman backcourt, but I don't see the Aggies pulling off the upset in the second round against Hawaii. This isn't Pennsylvania/Temple from last season.

f*ck USC for having their two best players be walk-ons, including another HS All-American. And Air Force is too inefficient to beat them. How the hell Marquette put together a 2 seed All-Red team with the #4 defense and 6-1 Quad 1 record I'll never know. Oh right. God-tier 100/100 coach. Bradley's PG pair studs should be able to knock them off in the second round, though. Sweetheart draw for Dante Morton's team - I could see them making it to the Elite 8 easily where they'll get squashed by Hawaii.

The committee screws over the #1 overall seed for the second year in a row. And Erich Battle, the Delta Devils' best player (Green/Green and a walk-on of course) is hobbled with an 80% injury. Fortunately it's a soft draw until Pepperdine in the Sweet 16 by my projections, the Waves having walked on the #20 player in the country.

I really like UAB. The Blazers have a 5* recruit in HS All-American Charlie Meadors (#15 in the country), and a 1* Yellow/Yellow gem in Carlo Epifanio from Italy. You already know about Mercer, who should have been a 1 or 2 seed on pure talent. Great matchup against American, who has a 5* recruit in Gary Jung. I could possibly see an upset there, as stacked as the Bears are. Temple is again Top 62 on both sides of the ball, but the Owls' second-best player is out for the tournament, which will prevent their run.

Any number of teams could make it out of this stacked region. It's easily the deepest group. I think I like Mercer most if they can get past American.

I don't blame you if you're like who the hell are these guys outside of Army? UNC-Greensboro worked the juco transfer circuit to bring in stifling defenders that are #6 in the country, and found Joshua Stillman, a 1* Yellow/Green stud there. But the Spartans' starting SF is out, and I still don't know how they have the 63rd best scoring offense in the country. These guys aren't that good.

I swear almost the entire HS All-American team walked on, so f*ck Siena for that. The Saints have arguably the best two-way player in the country in Charles Hamman, a juco transfer ranked #29 though. Savannah State went from the #2 offense last year to the #5 offense this year. Their actual talent sucks, though.

Just about everyone in this region is dealing with injuries. It's pretty hilarious. Too bad Southeastern Louisiana has sh*t coaching that made them winless in Quad 1 games. There's a lot of talent on these Lions and I actually like them to upset the Tigers.

Truth be told, every team in this region pretty much sucks outside of Siena and Southeastern Louisiana. And with all the injuries, this is definitely the worst bracket by far. The No-Name Region is well deserving of its pitiful, pitiful nickname.