Here’s what BoilerUp89 led each of his previews with:

How many tournaments are there still to preview? At what point do I say I’m done with previewing conference tournaments for the rest of this year?

Feel free to skip to the bottom of each section if you just want to know who your Big Ten rooting interests are.

As the bolded section may imply...uh...

...well, I’d actually promised him I’d help out at some point with the herculean task of previewing all of these. And hey! Look what day it is.

Atlantic 10 Tournament Preview

• Where: Barclays Arena
• TV: ESPN+ (Tuesday), USA Network (Wednesday/Thursday), CBSSN (Saturday/Sunday)

Fifteen teams! Five days of games! Welcome to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for...

...well, an underwhelming year for the A-10. The conference has usually been good for some noise in the NCAA Tournament, with VCU getting a wild-card behind St. Bonaventure in 2021 and Davidson scooping an at-large 10-seed last year when 6-seeded Richmond won the A-10 Tournament.

This year, though, only top-seeded VCU appears to be in the Dance, with Dayton likely bound for the NIT unless some conference tournament shenanigans occur. The Rams are rolling in around a 12-seed; if Dayton wins it they feel like a 13-seed, and anyone else probably a 14 or worse.

The Favorites

VCU Rams (24-7, 15-3 A10): Just Havoc bein’ Havoc in Richmond. The Rams are one of the best defenses in college hoops thanks to that pesky press, with a line of rangy guards and swing-men getting the job done. VCU was all over the map, beating Pitt and losing to Arizona State in the Legends Classic, taking down Vanderbilt at home but turning around and losing to Jacksonville...a lot happened here. But the Rams bring a ton of defensive pressure that they hope will reverse a string of losses in the NCAA Tournament. They were a COVID scratch in 2021 and haven’t won a game there since 2016.

Dayton Flyers (20-11, 12-6): Actually rated higher in Kenpom than the Rams (74th to VCU’s 76), Anthony Grant’s Flyers have an established identity: they defend, defend, defend, and take the air out of the ball (349th in AdjT) while relying on 6’10” F DaRon Holmes inside. And it’s...kinda worked? The Flyers lost that 43-42 horrorshow to wisconsin in Atlantis as part of an 0-3 trip to the Bahamas, then got blown the fuck out by Virginia Tech, part of a non-conference where they never quite got it together. Similar struggles on the road in the A-10 (losses @SBU, @GW, @URI, @SLU, and home to VCU and GMU) hurt, though they did get a win at Richmond. With that defense, you can’t count them out.

Other Contenders

Fordham Rams (24-7, 12-6): Former Penn State assistant Keith Urgo has had a huge first year on Rose Hill, losing only to Arkansas in a very underwhelming non-conference and overcoming a slow start in A-10 play to finish 12-6 in conference play. The Rams beat only one of their fellow double-byes—Saint Louis—but play a fast pace that relies on a lot of production out of transfer F Khalid Moore and a chucker of a guard in Darius Quisenberry. Rams haven’t danced since 1992, when they won the Patriot League.

Saint Louis Billikens (20-11, 12-6): Travis Ford’s devil-babies are right there again, coming off an NIT season in 2022. Wins over Providence, Memphis, and Drake, but non-competitive in losses to Maryland, Iona, and Boise State. Scuffled to a finish, but beat Dayton in the final game of the season.

George Mason Patriots (19-12, 11-7): Ain’t beat nobody in the non-con—blowout losses to Auburn and Boston College, a last-place finish in a weak Paradise Jam—but ran off their last six straight A-10 games—wins at Dayton and over Fordham—to nab the five seed and stare up at scuffling SLU. Kim English’s team doesn’t do a ton great but has a monster inside with F Josh Oduro.

Chaos Option

Loyola Chicago Ramblers (10-20, 4-14): That transition to the A-10 went poorly for the Ramblers. Drew Valentine’s club struggled with something, whether it was the pace of play or the travel or—shhhh—the fact that he’s an average coach with a below-average roster. But I’m ready for Sister Jean to capture my heart again. AMDG.

Last Year’s Dancer(s)

Davidson (at-large, 10-seed, lost first round to Michigan State) and Richmond (tourney champs, 12-seed, notably and hilariously beat Iowa)

Never Made the Tournament Club

Everyone’s accounted for!

B1G Connections and Fun Stats

How the fuck did you do all this, BoilerBot89?

• Dayton lost to wisconsin, SLU got BTFU’d by Maryland, Davidson hung with #1 Purdue.
• Foster Loyer plays for Davidson. I’m told he has a history with the Big Ten.
• Archie Miller coaches for Rhode Island, and yes that is the return of Fran Dunphy, longtime Temple coach, at Big Five rival La Salle.

TL;DR B1G Rooting Interests

Bubble Teams/NIT Teams: The A-10 is a one-bid league—VCU or Dayton would need a lot of help to get an at-large. Root for the Rams to hold so that Nebraska can make the NIT.

Picks

MNW: I think the Rams should do it, but Dayton grinding out a title with a 55-51 championship game wouldn’t surprise me at all. Watch out for George Mason, too, if the Patriots can keep that momentum going.

ACC Tournament

• Where: Greensboro Coliseum
• TV: ACCN, ESPN2, ESPN

Here is the conference we laugh and laugh and laugh at for just going full-stupid in 2022-23. Having moved itself down to Greensboro, the ACC Tournament consists of three or four solidly bubble teams trying to avoid a bad loss—and there is potential for a BAD loss here.

The Favorites

#13 Virginia Cavaliers (23-6, 15-5 ACC): You already know what you are getting. Nothing has changed. It’s the same Virginia—Kihei Clark is still here, Jayden Gardner is still here, they are good at shooting. Beat Illinois and won at Michigan, reached #2, lost to Houston and Miami.

#14 Miami Hurricanes (24-6, 15-5): Sure! Why not! Ancient-ass Jim Larranaga! The Canes are elite on offense and indifferent on defense, with a great recruiting and transfer class only dropping one non-conference matchup—to Maryland, of all teams. Wins over Rutgers and Providence got them into the Top 20, where they’ve hovered most of the season.

#21 Duke Blue Devils (23-8, 14-6): The scrappy Blue Devils got scrappier with the addition of transfer C Ryan Young and first-year head coach and long-time floor-slapper Jon Scheyer. And things...uh...well. Duke started at #7 and tumbled following a loss to Purdue. Wins over Ohio State and Iowa helped, but the Blue Devils have faltered against top competition, splitting the pair with Miami Fluoride and dropping one to Virginia. Better on defense but way slower than multitalented Duke squads of old.

Other Contenders

Pittsburgh Panthers (21-10, 14-6): I do not get it either. The Panthers are very good on offense and very “meh” everywhere else. Tons of turnover but a great transfer class that scuffled early—three straight losses to WVU, Michigan, and VCU—before shooting Northwestern into oblivion in Welsh-Ryan and getting off to a hot start in the ACC, prompting Jim Boeheim to complain that Jeff Capel bought this roster.

Like I said, the ACC is dumber than usual.

Clemson Tigers (22-9, 14-6): The Tigers have a double-bye in the ACC Tournament and are currently not even cracking most at-large projections. Let that tell you what it will.

North Carolina Tar Heels (19-12, 11-9): Still on the bubble, the Tar Heels added Pete Nance and got worse. Hubert Davis struggled. Guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis will score like it’s their job, but the Heels have lacked that killer instinct much of the season. Early-season wins over Ohio State and Michigan don’t look great, and that four-game swoon—including a loss to Indiana—took UNC from #1 to unranked in record time. It is objectively hilarious, and I hope they miss the Dance entirely.

Chaos Options

Louisville Cardinals (4-27, 2-18): Historically, laughably, beautifully bad. An almost entirely-new roster. Started the season 0-11. Kenny Payne and Danny Manning as coaches. THIS WAS ALL SO UNFORESEEABLE. I hope they win it all.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-20, 3-17): Mike Brey is on his way out and the Fighting Irish are Bad, but this is the Cinderella shit the ACC gets off on. Until they play Duke, of course.

Last Year’s NCAA Dancer(s)

#2 Duke (#2, beat MSU and lost to UNC in the Final Four); #8 UNC (an improbable championship appearance, lost to Kansas); #10 Miami (lost in the Elite Eight to Kansas); #11 Notre Dame (beat Rutgers in the First Four, upset Alabama, lost to Texas Tech); #11 Virginia Tech (lost to Texas in the first round).

Never Made the Tournament Club

Can you imagine a team in a major basketball conference that has never made the NCAA Tournament? That’d be humiliating.

B1G Connections

• Jacob Grandison and Ryan Young made their way from Illinois and Northwestern, respectively, to Duke. Gross.
• Armaan Franklin, formerly of Indiana, is at UVA.
• Jim Phillips, former Northwestern AD, is the ACC Commissioner. Things are going well, I’m sure!
• I ran out of gas and care as we did this. There was a thing called the B1G-ACC Challenge. The ACC won that, 8-6, and went 13-12 against the B1G as a whole.

TL;DR B1G Interests

Bubble Teams: Root for UNC, NC State, Pitt, and Clemson to lose. The Pack and Pitt are “Last Four Byes”, UNC is “First Four Out”, and Clemson is “Next Four Out”, per Lunardi. The sooner they lose, the better for you.

Picks

MNW: Virginia. The water torture of college basketball.

Western Athletic Conference Tournament

• Where: Michelob Ultra Arena (first round), Orleans Arena (all other)
• TV: ESPN+ and ESPN

ALL HAIL WACtion! It’s been a weird year out west—having jettisoned Chicago State, the WAC found a new whipping boy in New Mexico State, which hired a JUCO coach and promptly lost all control of its basketball team and forfeited the rest of the season.

The WAC Tournament incorporates Kenpom rankings for their seeding:

Teams will be seeded using the WAC Resume Seeding rankings. The WAC Resume Seeding rankings are an advanced analytic developed by Ken Pomeroy that incorporates the performance of teams in both conference and non-conference games. Rankings were initially released on December 5. While seedings are determined using the WAC Resume Seeding System, the top 12 teams that qualify for the tournament will be determined based on conference league records. Since New Mexico State suspended its season, the remaining 12 teams will participate in the tournament.

That means Utah Valley gets the WAC’s NIT auto-bid, but Sam Houston gets the one-seed in Paradise:

The Favorites

Utah Valley Wolverines (24-7, 15-3 WAC): A legitimately fun team—the Wolverines, an NMTC member, play some fast hoops with MARK FUCKIN’ MADSEN as their head coach. Valley got a big rivalry win at BYU and surprised folks with an upset with at Oregon, then whipped fellow WAC contender Sam Houston to open the season. UVU locks down on defense (35th in Kenpom) and has legit size in 7-foot C Aziz Bandaogo along with a trio of volume-scoring guards. Oh—and did we mention Utah Valley has Never Made the Tournament?

Sam Houston Bearkats (24-6, 14-4): The tempo opposite of Valley, the Bearkats wrestle things out, sending a message with an opening-season win at Oklahoma (52-51) and holding half their non-conference schedule under 50 points a game, including a 65-55 win at Utah. Offense is a concern, but the Bearkats have won seven straight.

Other Contenders

Southern Utah Thunderbirds (20-11, 12-6): You feel the need? The need for speed? The THUNDERBIRDS have even more of it (AdjT 13th). A weak non-con means we don’t know a ton about them outside an 82-76 loss at KU—seriously, does every WAC team schedule La Verne and West Coast Baptist?—but SUU has a volume chucker in Tevian Jones who can keep the ‘Birds in games.

Grand Canyon Lopes (20-11, 11-7): Imagine Sam Houston, but worse.

Chaos Options

Outside New Mexico State coming back, anyone else would be chaotic. Utah Tech (13-18, 5-13)—formerly Dixie State—is the low-seed here, but everyone else is pretty bad. Tarleton can go to hell, too, but like Utah Tech, they’re ineligible for the NCAA Tournament until 2024-25. That would mean CHAOS, I guess, if Tarleton or Utah Tech won.

Last Year’s NCAA Dancer(s)

Never Made the Tournament Club

Chaos would include UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (15-16, 6-12), card-carrying members since 1968-69. Other members include the aforementioned and ineligible Tarleton and Utah Tech, as well as newly-eligible Cal Baptist and our footing interest, Utah Valley.

B1G Connections

• Cal Baptist took Minnesota to the wire in San Juan Capistrano. Instead “sucks/swallows” joke here.
• That was the only B1G-WAC matchup, and I’m not looking for transfers.

TL;DR B1G Interests

Bubble/NIT Teams: This is a one-bid league — Utah Valley is a projected 13-seed, and that’s about where Sam Houston would slot in if they won. The problem for the marginal NIT teams like Nebraska or wisconsin comes in if Sam Houston wins the WAC Tourney: there would go another NIT slot.

Picks

MNW: I can’t pick against an NMTC member OR a Minnesota Timberwolves legend. Gimme Mad Dog and gimme the Wolverines. ROLL THE GIF, JOHNNY:

MAAC Tournament

• Where: Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
• TV: ESPN+ (Tues-Thurs), ESPNews (Fri), ESPNU (Sat)

We’re gonna speed through this one, because if Iona doesn’t win it, I’d be genuinely surprised.

The Favorites

Iona Gaels (24-7, 17-3 MAAC): Rick Pitino: shitty person, good basketball coach! The Gaels do everything Pitino’s teams have always done well, but just slightly lower-quality. They should win the whole thing this year; of course, we said that last year, and Iona lost in the first round to #9 seed Rider. Not much has changed—the Gaels lost to marginal mid-majors like Hofstra, Santa Clara, New Mexico, and SMU in the non-conference and are cruising for a 13-seed. G Walter Clayton Jr. and F Nelly Junior Joseph are the players to watch; the former shot 42.3% from deep and the latter nearly averaged a double-double.

Other Contenders

Rider Broncs (16-13, 13-7): The Broncs...uh...can be efficient on offense? When they’re not, though, they lose to Rutgers 76-46. And that’s more or less what the MAAC is. Rider’s lost four of their last six, though they beat fellow dark-horse Siena and narrowly lost to Iona in that stretch. G Dwight Murray Jr. is a consensus All-MAAC player.

Quinnipiac Bobcats (20-11, 11-9): The Pride of Hamden, CT...exists. The Bobcats won at Rhode Island and in road/neutral tourney games with Stephen F. Austin and Montana State, fell narrowly to Hofstra, and are generally a fast-paced MAAC team who needs a hot-shooting night. They’re an NMTC member, though, so go ‘Cats.

Siena Saints (17-14, 11-9): Abysmal on offense, strong on D, and slow. Now that the Saints don’t get the benefit of playing the MAAC tourney on home ice every year, we’ll see how they fare.

Chaos Options

See below.

Last Year’s NCAA Dancer(s)

Saint Peter’s Peacocks (12-17, 7-13): Maybe it was Shaheen Holloway. The Peacocks, as the 2-seed, only had to face the 5-, 11-, and 4-seeds to win the MAAC Tournament, then benefited from the fact that Matt Painter truly has no idea what the fuck he’s doing in March.

Never Made the Tournament Club

Quinnipiac (since 1998-99).

B1G Connections

• If any of these schools are in New Jersey, Rutgers probably played them to avoid having to face a real non-conference schedule.
• Rider lost to Rutgers. So did Fairfield (in an exhibition). Canisius lost to Penn State by 30.
• Siena has Sveinn Birgisson, who’s not B1G-connected but is from Iceland, as well as Michael Baer of Bettendorf, Iowa, who without any other information I’m going to assume is related to former Hawkeyes hunchback Nicholas Baer.

Rivalry I Learned About

Niagara! Canisius! THE BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE! FOR THE CANAL CUP! God bless upstate New York.

TL;DR B1G Interests

Iona winning keeps the MAAC from scooping an NIT berth. Pretty simple, as usual. They’d be a 13-seed, anyone else is likely a 15- or 16-seed.

Picks

MNW: And it’s hard to pick against the Gaels, last year’s MAAC tourney notwithstanding. Two of Iona’s losses were on the road, and they have won their last 11 straight.

Big West Conference

I am physically tired.

• Where: Dollar Loan Center (Henderson, NV)
• TV: ESPN+ (Tues/Thurs/Sat 7:15am Nepal Time), ESPNU (Sat 9:45am Nepal Time), ESPN2 (Sun 7:45am Nepal Time)

Really happy our friends in Kathmandu can watch the Big West with their breakfast.

And look, it’s been a long article. Right? I’m at 2938 words and we haven’t done the previews below. So let’s just get through this together as we acknowledge that the Big West is a wide-open mess.

The Favorites

UC Irvine Anteaters (22-10, 15-5 Big West): The 1-seed by dint of splitting with UC Santa Barbara and going 2-0 against Riverside, the next-highest seed, the Anteaters are an NCAA Tournament classic that you might remember for longtime HC Russell Turner’s commitment to “being tall” — the ‘Eaters have shown up in the Dance in 2015 and 2019 with big men like 7’6” Mamadou N’Diaye, 7’2” Ioannis Dimakopoulous, and 7’1” Solomon Ruddell, playing some hardnosed defense. That includes this year, when they’ve allowed opponents to shoot just 38.4% behind 7’ C Bent Leuchten while still playing at a nicely up-tempo clip. It’s guards DJ Davis and Dawson Baker that score in bunches, though, and the Anteaters clipped Oregon in Eugene and gave San Diego State everything they could handle in the non-con.

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (24-7, 15-5): The Gauchos grind things to a halt in the THUNDERDOME, with G Ajay Mitchell and F Miles Norris plays at the rim, rather than from the perimeter, but are efficient at getting to the hoop.

Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors (22-10, 13-7): Pop something hallucinogenic if you’re going to watch the ‘Bows. God love Eron Ganot’s squad—and I do—but they are boring as hell despite having figurative unicorn Kamaka Hepa on the roster. The ‘Bows are long, they’re lock-down on D, but they’re slow and offensively inefficient. They’ll need a lot more from Hepa and G Noel Coleman to survive the West and a tough draw in Fullerton, then (likely) Irvine.

Other Contenders

Long Beach “The Beach” (17-15, 11-9): IT’S DAN MONSON!!! The Beach had a rough non-con, losing to Montana State and North Texas, but reeled off 7 of 8 in the middle of the year before dropping four of their last five against Riverside, Hawai’i, and Santa Barbara along with a 2OT loss at Davis. The change of scenery could challenge The Beach, who did little away from the Walter Pyramid and rely on forwards Lassina and Aboubacar Traore along with high-volume but awful-shooting guards Joel Murray and Marcus Tsohonis. When we say “awful”: The Beach shot 29.6% from deep in 2022-23.

UC Riverside Highlanders (21-11, 14-6): The Highlanders...uh...are here. One of the results-defying teams of the Big West in 2022-23, Riverside went 5-0 in games decided by a single basket, going an additional 2-1 in overtime. But maybe that luck holds!

Cal State Fullerton (18-12, 12-6): With a transfer-reliant roster, Fullerton had a learning curve early: they survive Vermont and Pacific, both in double OT, before losing five straight to Utah Tech, North Dakota, Seattle, USC, and Southern Utah. Woof. It’s a trio of talented guards for the Titans, with Latrell Wrightsell Jr. the one most likely to go off from deep. But the Titans more likely grind it out, too.

UC Davis Aggies (18-13, 11-8): A breath of fresh air, the Aggies run. It doesn’t end well against most good teams, but they’re at least a little more up-tempo of a chaos option.

Chaos Options

Transitioning member UC San Diego is ineligible for the Big West tournament, so it’s reliant here on #10 seed Cal Poly (7-24, 1-18) making a run. The Mustangs won’t, though.

Last Year’s NCAA Dancer(s)

Fullerton upset The Beach in the conference final for the autobid in a one-bid league.

Never Made the Tournament Club

UC Riverside (since 2001-02), UC San Diego (eligible 2024-25)

B1G Connections

I don’t think the Big Ten played a single Big West team. I don’t see any transfers.

There is only Dan Monson.

TL;DR B1G Interests

One-bid league, root for regular-season champs UC Irvine to win it all and avoid snatching the NIT bid.

Picks

MNW: Give me Hawai’i in a slight upset.