Wahoo's Comprehensive Preseason CBB Preview: Part 2

[Wahoo]

This section will begin the conference previews. We will cover the following conferences in this part:

• Atlantic 10
• Atlantic Sun
• ACC
• America East
• American
• Big Ten
• Big 12
• Big East

Read Part 1 here: 

 

 

Atlantic 10

Davidson is a legitimate Final 4 contender with 2 A-rated players and plenty of B-level support. They are not loaded with as many stars as some of the other contenders, but they have a solid top-to-bottom roster. They should also rack up wins in a conference with only 2 other Top 50 teams, which could boost their seed come Selection Sunday. Keep your eye on Saint Joe’s. While they are projected off the bubble, they have 2 of the top 3 players in the conference and could produce enough upsets for tournament consideration, especially if they beat Villanova at home in Week 1 out of conference play.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	12	Davidson
2	32	Rhode Island
3	33	St. Bonaventure
4	69	George Mason
5	76	Saint Joseph’s
6	91	George Washington
7	93	Duquesne
8	103	Dayton
9	131	Saint Louis
10	133	Richmond
11	151	Fordham
12	158	UMass
13	162	La Salle
14	166	Loyola Chicago
15	173	VCU

 

First Team All-Conference

C Paul Rodrigue	Sr	Duquesne
C Jose Molina	Sr	Saint Joseph’s
PG Nigel Piper	Sr	Saint Joseph’s
C Jason Breaux	Sr	Davidson
C Patrick Parks	Sr	Richmond

 

Second Team All-Conference

C Robert Spiegel	Sr	Fordham
PF Fred Washington	Jr	St. Bonaventure
SF Jason Newman	Jr	Rhode Island
C Edward Kinnick	Jr	Rhode Island
SF Seong Shen	Sr	George Mason

 

Top Freshman

SF David Roeder

Fr

Duquesne

Atlantic Sun

Everyone expects Jacksonville to run away with this conference. Can Florida Gulf Coast do anything to keep this race close? No other team has enough firepower to keep up with these 2 contenders. Jacksonville can’t make too many mistakes here as they have a difficult OOC schedule featuring games at Georgia, vs Washington State, vs UC Irvine, vs SMU, and the Battle for Atlantis invitational.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	44	Jacksonville
2	117	Florida Gulf Coast
3	207	Austin Peay
4	250	Lipscomb
5	258	Eastern Kentucky
6	264	North Florida
7	273	Queens
8	283	Stetson
9	294	North Alabama
10	303	Central Arkansas
11	353	Bellarmine

 

First Team All-Conference

SF Stanton Chadwick	Sr	Jacksonville
SF Cordell Mcleod	Sr	Jacksonville
C Daniel Currie	So	Florida Gulf Coast
SG James Levin	(So)	Jacksonville
PF Eli Gresham	Sr	Jacksonville

 

Second Team All-Conference

C Jeffrey Pockat	(So)	Jacksonville
SG Marlin Richard	Sr	Florida Gulf Coast
SF Willy Overby	(Jr)	Florida Gulf Coast
C Gary Cosby	(So)	Jacksonville
C Jason Anderson	So	Florida Gulf Coast

 

Top Freshman

C John Garrett

Fr

Florida Gulf Coast

 

ACC

What the ACC lacks in Top 25 teams, it makes up for in competitiveness. 11 teams are within the top 75 nationally, meaning the conference title is very much up for grabs. Pittsburgh is the only team to crack the preseason Top 25, with Syracuse and Florida State just missing out. The ACC is projected to have the most tournament bids in the country with 7, but will these teams beat each other up too much in conference play for this to become a reality?

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	22	Pittsburgh
2	27	Syracuse
3	29	Florida State
4	34	North Carolina
5	35	Notre Dame
6	43	Virginia Tech
7	45	Louisville
8	55	Duke
9	58	Miami (FL)
10	63	Georgia Tech
11	75	Virginia
12	134	Clemson
13	144	Wake Forest
14	148	NC State
15	152	Boston College

 

First Team All-Conference

C Jose Guadian	Sr	Syracuse
PF Derek Sandhu	Jr	Louisville
C Billy Richardson	Sr	Georgia Tech
C Brock Burks	Jr	Pittsburgh
C David Wang	Jr	Florida State

 

Second Team All-Conference

SF Antonio Scott	Jr	Duke
C John Larock	Jr	Georgia Tech
C Lawrence Sawyer	Jr	Syracuse
PF Rickey Brown	Jr	Virginia Tech
PG Larry Erickson	Jr	Notre Dame

 

Top Freshman

PF Paul Merrill

Fr

Duke

 

America East

If UMBC doesn’t win this conference, something will have gone seriously wrong in Maryland. UMBC has the top 8 projected players in the conference. UMBC has much higher ambitions than just a conference title though. Ranked #15 in the preseason, this team has hopes for at least a Sweet 16 run. It will come down to the Retriever’s starting lineup, as there is a big drop off in depth when the bench players step out. Jr. C Robert Lampe, projected third-team All-American, will need to produce.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	15	UMBC
2	182	Vermont
3	184	Maine
4	215	Binghamton
5	219	NJIT
6	222	Albany
7	248	New Hampshire
8	298	Massachusetts-Lowell
9	342	Bryant

 

First Team All-Conference

C Robert Lampe	Jr	UMBC
SG Derek Ignacio	So	UMBC
PG Paul Martinez	Sr	UMBC
SG Blair Stiles	(Sr)	UMBC
PF Leonardo Frederickson	(Sr)	UMBC

 

Second Team All-Conference

SF Caleb Burton	(Jr)	UMBC
PG Michael Borsch	Fr	UMBC
PF Jeremiah Lewis	Fr	UMBC
PG Jerome Cameron	Sr	Binghamton
PG Andrew Reade	Jr	Vermont

 

Top Freshman

PG Michael Borsch

Fr

UMBC

 

American

The American conference is in an interesting place with no true top team and enough bubble teams to fill up a cozy bathtub. The conference only projects for 2 bids, with Tulane and Wichita State looking to have enough talent to comfortably make the tournament. There is not much separating these 2 teams, and they only play once in conference play. The game at Wichita State could be a deciding factor in who wins the conference. SMU has 2 chances to make noise before conference play (at Baylor, at Wisconsin), and may need to win at least one of those games to boost their resume off the bubble.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	28	Tulane
2	30	Wichita State
3	53	SMU
4	66	Memphis
5	70	Temple
6	83	UTSA
7	88	Rice
8	107	USF
9	110	East Carolina
10	112	UAB
11	135	Tulsa
12	145	Charlotte
13	153	Florida Atlantic
14	161	North Texas

 

First Team All-Conference

PF Raymond Alloway	(Jr)	Temple
PF William Hallmark	Sr	Charlotte
SF Elton Peak	Sr	SMU
PF Chris Sica	Sr	Florida Atlantic
SF Gregory Stephens	Sr	UTSA

 

Second Team All-Conference

PG Frederick English	Jr	Rice
SF Greg Son	Sr	Wichita State
SF Charles Eisner	Jr	USF
PG Jorge Hernandez	Sr	Rice
C Mark Wenzel	Sr	East Carolina

 

Top Freshman

SF Matthew Cooper

Fr

Tulane

 

Big Ten

What an exciting conference race this will be. Not because it is a mystery who will win the conference - don’t bet against Wisconsin or Purdue - but because these are 2 of the best teams in the country, hands down. It gets dreary when you look at the rest of the members of this conference, with only Ohio State projected to also make the tournament. Of course, we will never get tired of watching projected Wooden Award winner Christopher Merlo play. Wisconsin at UC Irvine to start the season is a game you can’t miss.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	5	Wisconsin
2	7	Purdue
3	47	Ohio State
4	59	Penn State
5	71	Indiana
6	77	Nebraska
7	82	Michigan
8	85	Rutgers
9	86	Michigan State
10	90	Illinois
11	118	Minnesota
12	126	Maryland
13	132	Iowa
14	170	Northwestern

 

First Team All-Conference

PF Christopher Merlo	Jr	Nebraska
PF Pedro Rodriguez	So	Purdue
PF Jeramy Booth	Sr	Wisconsin
C Gregory Carden	Jr	Minnesota
C Gabriel Glover	Jr	Purdue

 

Second Team All-Conference

SF Adam Puryear	Sr	Ohio State
PF Barry Clark	Sr	Michigan
PG Amos Quinn	Jr	Wisconsin
C Larry Peterson	Sr	Indiana
PG James Outlaw	Jr	Penn State

 

Top Freshman

PF Paul Sauer

Fr

Michigan State

 

Big 12

Four great teams will compete for the conference title; just don’t look beyond them. The dropoff between the contenders and the rest of the conference is astounding. The 10 100+ ranked teams leaves the Big 12 as the 11th best conference. A softer conference schedule could boost Kansas in pursuit of a high bid, especially if they record OOC wins at home vs Utah and Villanova. 

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	6	Kansas
2	13	Iowa State
3	17	BYU
4	19	Baylor
5	116	Cincinnati
6	121	West Virginia
7	130	Oklahoma State
8	138	Kansas State
9	141	Texas Tech
10	143	Houston
11	146	TCU
12	147	UCF
13	150	Texas
14	154	Oklahoma

 

First Team All-Conference

SF Craig Bennett	Jr	Iowa State
C Justin Wright	Sr	Iowa State
C Qiang Ramirez	Sr	Kansas State
PG Todd Bailey	Sr	BYU
PG Ramin Scott	Sr	UCF

 

Second Team All-Conference

C Thomas Kesler	Sr	Houston
PF Michael Self	Sr	Houston
PG Jimmie Coleman	(Sr)	Kansas
C Thomas Powell	Jr	Cincinnati
SF Donald Perez	Sr	Kansas

 

Top Freshman

C Shankar Chen

Fr

West Virginia

 

Big East

The Big East is home to the top team in the country. Villanova’s roster doesn’t boast any preseason All-Americans, but the balance and top talent will be hard to match up against. Seton Hall has the most to challenge the Wildcats and should be a surefire tournament team. We favor DePaul to also sneak into the tournament. St. John’s will need Sr. PG William Smith - our top rated player in the conference - to step up if they want to shake up these top 3 teams.

 

Conference Rank	National Rank	Team
1	1	Villanova
2	24	Seton Hall
3	48	DePaul
4	61	St. John’s
5	95	Providence
6	96	Creighton
7	102	UConn
8	109	Georgetown
9	149	Xavier
10	155	Marquette
11	159	Butler

 

First Team All-Conference

PG William Smith	Sr	St. John’s
SG Brian Bennett	Sr	Villanova
PF Todd Moore	Sr	Xavier
SG Justin Brunner	Sr	Seton Hall
C Michael Deluise	Jr	Villanova

 

Second Team All-Conference

C Timothy Kovalcik	Jr	Providence
SG Antonio Will	Jr	Villanova
C Brandon Dahal	Sr	Creighton
PG Jason Kohler	Jr	Marquette
SF German Ferguson	Sr	Seton Hall

 

Top Freshman

PF Jesse Strickland

Fr

Georgetown

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Wahoo