One Bidders: Part One

Hey y'all, thanks for tuning in! This is a blog I plan on updating much more regularly, but this is the first post! With the college basketball season just three weeks away, I wanted to get into a series of picking the champions of the one bid conferences. I project 22 conferences with one bid, including some that could have a bid stealer or a race for two (Missouri Valley, Ivy, CAA).

Note: The conferences selected are in no particular order.

America East – Vermont

This is probably the most common pick of any conference. They've won five of the last seven conference championships and are returning four of their starters, including two who averaged double digits last season. This is an experienced team that knows how to win led by one of the winningest coaches in all of college basketball in John Becker.

I have high hopes for this squad being led by TJ Long and Shamir Bogues. Bogues is a top-notch point guard in his senior season who can run the floor and occasionally put up a three. Long is their shooter, with a 36.3% clip last season. Those two being able to shoot can be deadly given Vermont's very perimeter heavy offense. It's a four-out (almost a five-out) style, with a lot of ball movement looking for the open three. The staff also added impact transfer Shy Odom, who won Freshman of the Year in the MEAC and will absolutely help out their front court offense.

Prediction: 13-14 seed

Patriot – Colgate

This is not as strong a pick as it has been in the past few years, but I still believe they have the edge over other contenders, such as American and Lehigh. They lost three stars, including one who transferred to Gonzaga. But you'd be a fool to count Matt Langel out, especially after a whopping 87% win percentage against conference opponents.

Some returning starters and going need to step up, such as Brady Cummins and Chandler Baker. Cummins averaged 7.3 PPG as a sophomore and will be looking to lead the backcourt in scoring as a primarily long range shooter. His partner, Baker, is going to be given a much longer lease to let it fly. He shot over 44% last season while maintaining a bench role. Now with borderline starter minutes, the Fletcher McGee (remember him from Wofford?) comparisons are ready to go. One frontcourt piece I'm interested in watching is 6-11 center Jeff Woodward. With a lot of minutes to go around, I imagine he'll be starting most games after mostly being a bench role. After being on the all-conference-tournament team last season, the fifth-year senior is ready for a breakout role.

Prediction: 15 seed

NEC – CCSU

I remember Merrimack's first real Division One test. I watched them defeat Northwestern live 71-61, and I was enamored with this team since. So much so that as soon as they were postseason eligible, I would choose them because they deserved it in this low-major conference. However, they had other plans, and chose to join the MAAC. So Central Connecticut just became the new favorite. After rapid and exponential growth over the past few seasons, my faith is in Pat Sellers, who ran this program to a 20 win season just three years after a 5-win season.

Look no further than potential NEC Player of the Year Jordan Jones. A senior from Florence, South Carolina who spent three years at JUCO has a fifth and final year to lead this team to the promised land. Despite being just six feet even, he plays like an elite point guard, averaging multiple steals and assists per game. Other players to look out for are Jayden Brown, who started last year and averaged 8.4 PPG and almost 5 boards and transfer Jaelen McGlone from D2 East Stroudsburg.

Prediction: 16 seed (First Four game)

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