February dawns, which means the conference races in college basketball have made the turn. What’s going on out there? A quick peek at the top of 31 leagues and what it might mean for March.
P. S. It still feels odd, not including the Pac-12.
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ASUN
Remember Florida Gulf Coast charming the masses with its Sweet 16 run in 2013? Remember Jacksonville playing in the 1970 national championship game? Okay, only AARP members could recall that last one. Anyway, they share the league lead at the moment. Jacksonville hasn’t seen the NCAA tournament in 39 years. For future league tournament reference, FGCU rallied from 24 points down in the final 18 minutes the other night to beat Jacksonville, 83-79.
America East
Bryant has the lead, but Maine is the only one game back. No team from the state of Maine has ever played in the NCAA tournament.
American Athletic
North Texas was picked to finish seventh, but the Mean Green won 10 of 11 to share the top spot with Memphis. The last time North Texas was in the NCAA tournament was in 2021. The Mean Green arrived in Indianapolis and promptly knocked out Purdue.
Atlantic 10
George Mason, the same one that showed up in the 2006 Final Four, has pushed to the lead by going 7-1 in league play, winning nine of its past 10. That includes ending Dayton’s 26-game homecourt winning streak. The defense does the heavy lifting for the Patriots. The other night, the team shot 34.4% against Loyola Chicago, went 3 for 20 from behind the arc, and missed 11 of 22 free throws. The Patriots won in overtime anyway, 58-53. Tony Skinn is the coach. Know where he played his college ball? Sure, as a guard for that George Mason Final Four team.
ACC
Duke has the lead, as expected, with a 14-game winning streak, but the surprise package is one of the teams just a game behind. Louisville has blasted into orbit with 10 consecutive wins, which means two of the eight longest such streaks in the nation are in the ACC. The Cardinals are something of a baffling statistical package. In the NCAA rankings through Wednesday, the Cardinals were 243rd in the nation in field goal percentage, 292nd in 3-point shooting and 275th in 3-point defensive percentage. But they’re also 16-5. Pat Kelsey came to a program that was 12-52 the past two seasons and stocked the roster with veterans who had played 19,989 minutes of college basketball but none for Louisville.
Big 12
Houston is first, having won 13 games in a row. No shocker. But who’s that down there in fifth? Kansas? The Jayhawks have already lost two league games at home. A third would be the first time in 36 years — and it nearly happened this week against UCF.
Big East
It’s Marquette and St. John’s neck and neck at the top, and they have yet to meet. The Red Storm are 9-1 for their best league start in 40 years. The 7-0 January was also a first since 1985. The 18-3 St. John’s overall record is not far from 21-0 in Rick Pitino’s second season, given the Red Storm lost by one point in two overtimes to Baylor, by three to Georgia and by one at Creighton, which is St. John’s only defeat since the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In other words, all is well In Pitino World.
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Big Sky
Northern Colorado’s one and only NCAA tournament spot was 14 years ago, but the Bears are certainly showing their intentions by winning nine of 10 to get the lead. A half-game behind is Montana. Northern Colorado recently beat the Grizzlies by 24 points on their own court.
Big South
UNC Asheville leads High Point by a game, and as a teaser for a possible title game matchup in the conference tournament, their meeting in early January will do. UNC Asheville won, 103-99.
Big Ten
Let’s see; it’s Michigan State winner of 13 in a row, then Purdue and Michigan. Where are the new guys? Oh, there’s UCLA, tied for fourth and on a roll. The Bruins team that lost four consecutive Big Ten games just won its fifth in a row. Next Tuesday should be interesting. Michigan State visits Westwood.
Big West
League favorite UC Irvine has a one-game lead on UC San Diego, whose team picture might be in the dictionary next to the world stability. The 18-4 Tritons have started the same lineup in all 22 games. Last season it started the same lineup for all 33.
Coastal Athletic
Towson has the lead with three chasers a game behind. The Tigers haven’t seen an NCAA tournament bid in 34 years.
Conference USA
So much for preseason polls; Jacksonville State was picked to finish eighth but leads the league. One game behind is the quartet of Middle Tennessee, Liberty, UTEP and New Mexico State. They were picked fourth, tied for fifth and seventh.
Horizon
There are five teams in the nation with current winning streaks of 12 or more games: Bigwigs Duke, Houston, Michigan State, Auburn and also . . . Cleveland State. The Vikings haven’t lost since Dec. 5, running off 13 victories in a row and opening a 2.5-game lead in the Horizon. Only two of those victories have come by single digits.
Ivy
Yale has moved to the top as the James Jones era thunders on. The Bulldogs once went 53 years without an NCAA tournament spot, but if they return this season, it will be the fifth time with Jones since 2016.
MAAC
The Big Three: Marist, Quinnipiac and Merrimack are tied at the top at 8-1 in the league, with everyone else at least three games back. Merrimack is in the mix despite starting the season 1-6 overall.
MAC
So Akron is in first, coached by John Groce. Miami is a game behind in second, coached by Travis Steele. Why is that unusual? They’re brothers. Their only regular-season meeting was last weekend. Akron won, 102-75. Take that, little bro.
MEAC
Norfolk State is on top, and Howard is right behind, which figures. Those two have split the past four MEAC tournament bids between them.
Missouri Valley
Drake and Bradley share the lead, two games ahead of the field. Funny thing. UIC, tied for third, has beaten them both.
Mountain West
New Mexico and Utah State combine 36-6 overall and share the league lead at 9-1. They meet Saturday night, though New Mexico has already won in one competition, 5,312-4,534. That’s the elevation in feet of Albuquerque and Logan. They don’t call it the Mountain West for nothing.
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NEC
Central Connecticut moved into first place this week. The Blue Devils have won nine road games this season. Nobody in the nation has won more.
Ohio Valley
Morehead State leads the league at 9-3. Two of those losses have come to fifth place Tennessee Tech.
Patriot
Sometimes, it’s just your year. American kept its lead in the Patriot League with a somewhat mystical 68-67 win over last place Lehigh the other night. The Eagles were down seven points with only 28 seconds left but scrambled to win in the final seconds, 68-67.
SEC
In the fairest league of them all, the pack is chasing No. 1 Auburn, though Alabama remains in dogged pursuit, only a half-game back. Sounds like it should be November and football. The Tigers already have seven wins against top-25 opposition. The entire ACC has five.
Southern
UNC Greensboro and Samford are tied at the top. Remember Samford last March? Kansas probably does. The Jayhawks needed a friendly whistle at the end to escape the Bulldogs in the first round, 93-89.
Southland
It seems to be all McNeese, with the Cowboys galloping three games ahead of the rest of the field. They have won 21 conference games in a row going back to last season, the longest such streak in the nation by a bunch. It nearly ended at 20, but McNeese survived 15 lead changes last weekend to escape Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 74-73.
SWAC
Southern took its lumps in a non-conference schedule, including stops at Iowa, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, USC and Nebraska. The Jaguars’ first home game against a Division I opponent was Jan. 11. But it must have toughened them to start league play 7-0.
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Summit
Any spare trash cans in the garage? Omaha was picked eighth in the league and started the season 4-9 but has rallied to get a share of the Summit lead with St. Thomas-Minnesota. A postgame ritual during the surge involves assistant coach Kyan Brown kicking, hitting and throwing trash cans in the locker room. No, you couldn’t make that up. Anyway, Saturday is Bring Your Own Garbage Can night, presumably for popcorn and not for throwing. This was already an odd race at the top since St. Thomas-Minnesota is making the rare jump from Division III to Division I.
Sun Belt
An NCAA tournament bid would be big for league leader Arkansas State, since the only previous one came in 1999. The Red Wolves already made it a memorable season in the non-conference portion, upsetting No. 16 Memphis 85-72, the highest-ranked opponent they’d ever beaten.
West Coast
Okay, the league race can eventually begin. Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga meet for the first time this season on Saturday. The last time anyone else got their hands on a share of the season title was 23 years ago. But Saint Mary’s has a two-game lead and seems unwilling to share anything with its rival. The Gales just overwhelmed Santa Clara with a 30-0 run in a 13-point win.
WAC
It’s Utah Valley by a game, and the Wolverines dream of the program’s first NCAA tournament bid. They also dream of completing a memory wipe on 2023, when they won the WAC season title but were evicted in the tournament semifinals after blowing a 23-point lead in the second half to Southern Utah and losing on a four-point play in the final seconds.
