Hello, March. And before matters really turn serious in college basketball, the business of regular-season conference races must be closed. Lots of variety out there, with bluebloods and newcomers fighting for the same trophies, some with tight finishes and others runaways. Time for a quick tour.
ASUN . . . .
Eastern Kentucky has clinched at least a share of its first regular-season conference title in 45 years, helped in no small part by the shot-swatting talents of Isaiah Cozart. He leads the nation with 101 blocks. That’s more than 220 Division I teams can claim. Oh, and he’s listed at only 6-7.
AMERICA EAST . . .
Vermont, who else? The Catamounts have clinched a share of their eighth consecutive season title, a championship streak second only to Gonzaga’s 11 in the West Coast Conference. Vermont is 129-15 against league opponents over those eight seasons.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC . . .
While Florida Atlantic has been the conference marquee name all season, it’s South Florida with a three-game lead and a clinch of at least a share of its first-ever regular season league title. This ain’t the same South Florida, proclaimed one banner at a recent game. They’re not kidding. Over their first 10 years in the American, the Bulls were 43-133 in regular season conference play.
ATLANTIC 10 . . .
Loyola Chicago and Richmond are tied for the lead with Dayton a game back. The Flyers visit Loyola Friday in a biggie, especially for the Ramblers who are staging a massive revival, turning a 10-21 record last season into 20-7. But keep looking lower in the standings. Fourth-place VCU, two games off the lead, has beaten all three of the teams ahead of it.
ACC . . .
North Carolina is a game up on Duke with three home games to come, and then a road finale . . . at Cameron. So stay tuned. If the Tar Heels can close the deal, it’d be their 33rd ACC season championship. Every other team currently in the league not named Duke has 28. One other oddity: Virginia still clings to third place with its slumbering offense, after scoring 44, 41 and 49 points its past three games and making eight 3-pointers in 39 attempts.
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BIG 12 . . .
Who’s No. 1? Yeah, well, the Cougars are in the newest polls, the fifth team to get there this season. But this question concerns the Big 12 standings, where Houston remains on course to win a title in its maiden voyage, with a one-game lead on Iowa State. The Cougars keep finding a way of getting by on the road, beating Texas and Baylor in overtime, Cincinnati by five and BYU by seven. Among Houston’s last four games are a visit from Kansas and a trip to those pesky trap-setters at UCF, who might be 5-9 in Big 12 play but have already upset Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
BIG EAST . . .
It’s Connecticut in command with a 2.5 game lead. Darndest thing. The Huskies haven’t won a conference title since 2006. Over the same span, they have three national championships. The most compelling storyline the final weeks of the regular season will be the crowd of Big East teams hanging around the maybe in-maybe out line for the NCAA tournament. Six teams are in the gray NET ranking zone, from No. 38 to No. 64. Nearly every night will be a bubble night in this league.
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BIG SKY . . .
All seems well for league leader Eastern Washington, up two games after starting the season 4-7. A big factor in the early woes was playing seven road games in the first six weeks at power-5 opponents. Lots of good paydays, seven losses.
BIG SOUTH . . .
High Point has clinched a share of the season title, but it’s the league tournament the Panthers badly want, since that would bring the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament bid. They make an average of 20.6 free throws a game, most in the nation.
BIG TEN . . .
Purdue, 2.5 games up on Illinois, is relentlessly marching toward its 26th season championship, which would be four more than anyone else in the league. Matter of fact, it’d be more than Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers own all together.
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BIG WEST . . .
UC Irvine and UC San Diego are in a dead heat, 2.5 games ahead of the field. UC San Diego, in its fourth Division I season, has started the same lineup all 28 games. Wisconsin is the only other team in the nation to do that.
COASTAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION . . .
Charleston leads by 1.5 games and is close to clinching but UNC Wilmington has been a stubborn challenger. The Seahawks have beaten Charleston twice, not to mention Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
CONFERENCE USA . .
Louisiana Tech and Sam Houston are tied so a lot may be decided when they play March 7 at Louisiana Tech. Sam Houston is clearly adept at change. This is the Bearkats’ third conference in four years.
HORIZON . . .
Oakland has already clinched a share of the title and its only remaining game is at home against 1-28 Detroit Mercy, so it looks good for the Golden Grizzlies to take the whole cake. That’d be a proper way to mark Greg Kampe’s 40th year as coach.
IVY . . .
It’s neck-and-neck-and-neck with Cornell, Princeton and Yale all tied and nobody else closer than four games. Yale has the scheduling edge at the end with three home games. Princeton and Cornell must still meet March 2 at Princeton.
METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC . . .
What a traffic jam, with Fairfield up a half-game on Quinnipiac and three more teams only 1.5 games off the lead.
MID-AMERICAN . . .
Toledo is not going gently. The Rockets are three-peaters as season MAC champions and are tailgating Akron a game behind with four to go. They split their two meetings.
MEAC . . .
Norfolk State is in charge with a two-game lead. The Spartans own a piece of NCAA tournament lore, being one of the few No. 15 seeds to knock out a No. 2. Their moment came in 2012 against Missouri.
MISSOURI VALLEY . ..
It’s been 24 years since Indiana State won a conference championship but the Sycamores are getting close, leading Drake by one game with two to play. Indiana State has the highest effective field goal percentage in the land.
MOUNTAIN WEST . .
Just maybe the wildest conference race out there, with six teams within 1.5 games of the lead. Boise State shares the top spot with Utah State, who was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll. It doesn’t take much to slip in the Mountain West. Colorado State was an Associated Press top-25 team, dropped two games, and is now in seventh place.
NORTHEAST .. .
Merrimack has a one-game lead over Central Connecticut going into the final weekend. The Warriors have never played in an NCAA tournament.
OHIO VALLEY . . .
Little Rock, Morehead State and UT Martin share the lead. Just a game behind is Western Illinois, winner of 10 true road games which is the Leathernecks’ most since 1958 and tied for the most in the nation this season.
PAC-12 . . .
Looks like something of an odd couple might decide the final Pac-12 season championship. Arizona has the lead and there’s no surprise there. The Wildcats were picked to win it. A half-game behind is Washington State, predicted to finish 10th. Arizona has four games left with three on the road while Washington State has three home games remaining. So the door could be ajar for the Cougars to grab at least a slice of their first conference season title since 1941.
PATRIOT . . .
Colgate, Colgate and more Colgate. The Raiders have their fifth consecutive league title in the bag with a four-game lead. In the past four seasons, Colgate is 67-6 against Patriot competition.
SEC . . .
And down the stretch they come with Tennessee and Alabama at the top, Auburn and South Carolina a game back, Kentucky and Florida two games off. Quite a league, with 10 different teams ranked in the AP top-25 at some point this season. If Tennessee pulls off a title run the Vols will have earned it. Their four-game finish is Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky, all ranked. Tennessee is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense, and will need all its resolve since Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn are 1-3-20 in the nation in scoring. Auburn is 21-6 with all 21 victories by double digits.
SOUTHERN . . .
Samford, with the fourth-highest scoring team in the nation, has the season title clinched and will now try to earn its first NCAA tournament bid in 24 years.
SOUTHLAND
They’re all chasing the McNeese Cowboys, who have a three-game lead and are No. 1 in the nation with a 19.4 scoring margin. Forward Christian Shumate has made eight appearances this season on the ESPN SportsCenter top-10 plays of the day.
SWAC . . .
Grambling started the season 2-10 but now leads the conference by a game over Southern. The Tigers have bigger goals in mind, having never played in the NCAA tournament, though they were close enough last year to almost see their name on the bracket. But they were upset in the SWAC tournament by Texas Southern, a team they had beaten by 13 and 19 points during the regular season.
SUMMIT . . .
The South Dakota Jackrabbits can pack their bags with a clear idea of the mission ahead. They lead North Dakota by one game and North Dakota State by two, and visit both of them this last weekend.
SUN BELT . . .
From opening day when James Madison upset Michigan State in East Lansing, the Dukes have been a team to watch. But they haven’t been able to get past Appalachian State to the top of the Sun Belt, trailing the Mountaineers by one game with a final weekend to go. James Madison has a shiny 26-3 record but two of the defeats are courtesy of App Stat. The Mountaineers have had an interesting journey, beating James Madison twice but losing to Texas State (tied for 12th in the Sun Belt), Northern Illinois (11th in the MAC) and Oregon State (last in the Pac-12).
WEST COAST . . .
Is it time? At 14-0, Saint Mary’s has the only perfect league record left in the nation. The Gaels are also two games ahead of their pals at Gonzaga and have already clinched a title share. One more win and they’ll get the WCC outright, and end Gonzaga’s 11-year-run as champion – though Saint Mary’s shared two of them. If the Gaels can beat Pepperdine, their season finale at home against Gonzaga will not be for the title but just a chance for one final punch to the Zags.
WAC . . .
Grand Canyon was rolling along at 24-2 but then dropped two in a row, giving Tarleton State a chance to get within half a game. One of those Grand Canyon losses was 77-74 to Tarleton State, a team the Lopes had pounded 74-48 in January. The Texans have put together a 20-7 record despite missing head coach Billy Gillispie all season to health reasons. The WAC’s photo finish will be decided in the coming days. They all will.