Small Conference Sentimental Stories to Watch
Posted by deaconcat08 on January 30, 2010
We are just a little more than a month away from the start of March Madness, so it’s time to see which Cinderella stories could emerge. The mid-major conference tournaments are the source much of the early holiday season drama, as only the tourney champion will be able to put on their dancing shoes. While almost all mid-major NCAA teams have the chance to play Cinderella come Christmas Day (aka the first round of the NCAA tourney), it is particularly special when these teams have an inspiring sentimental storyline. Often times this involves a squad making its first trip to the Big Dance (see North Dakota State last year). Other times there is a likable coach who warms the hearts of the nation (see Pete Carril in 1994). Inevitably, when the second week of March comes around, these stories will come to fruition. In the meantime, it’s worth looking at the standings and checking out which mid-major conference leaders/contenders could inspire us during ESPN’s annual championship week. These are listed in alphabetical order by conference.
Maine Black Bears (America East)- Led by sophomore standout Gerald McLemore this perennial America East doormat is currently tied atop the America East standings. They were alone at the top until today’s disappointing home loss to 2-20 UMBC, but we’ll just hope that game was a fluke. If the Bears want to earn their first trip to the dance, they’ll want to win the conference regular season so that they can get home court throughout the tourney. Besides this being a potentially incredible story, I have another reason for putting the Black Bears at #1 on this list. I track all the visitation stats for this blog with Google Analytics, and in its six-month history I have had over 1,700 visitors from 10 countries (including Iraq, India, and Australia) and every U.S. state, except for Maine and North Dakota. I do realize many ad-filtering programs prevent Google Analytics from tracking all visitation data, but you would have thought that by now at least one of the documented visits would come from there. Hopefully, with this profile on Maine Black Bear, someone from Maine will stumble their way on here.
Stony Brook (America East)-They lost to Maine by 6 on the road last week, but are still tied with them at the top of the A-East. Even though the Black Bears would have to be considered a better Big Dance storyline from this conference, the Seawolves are also a Big Dance virgin with a great shot at getting in.
Jacksonville (Atlantic Sun)- The Dolphins, which is by the way another great college nickname, haven’t danced since 1986 but are currently leading the A-Sun. Many of you probably don’t realize that Jacksonville was the surprising national runner-up to UCLA in 1970. It would be great to see a team with such an impressive Cinderella pedigree rejoin the dance.
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)- The Church of Christ school has never danced, but they are only one game back of Jacksonville.
Coastal Carolina (Big South)- The Chanticleers, which is maybe the most absurd/commonly misspelled nickname in all of sports, are leading the Big South even though they haven’t danced since 1993. It would certainly be fun to see the chaos in Myrtle Beach if Coastal went on to take the conference crown.
Harvard (Ivy League)-How is it possible that the Crimson hasn’t won the Ivy League since 1946? It should be a fascinating two-horse conference race between them and Cornell in late February and early March.
Quinnipiac (Northeast)- They’ve knocked on the Big Dance door a few times recently, but have never made it through. The Bobcats have another good chance this year, as they are tied with Robert Morris at the top of the conference standings.
Murray State (Ohio Valley)- The Racers used to be an annual Big Dance Cinderella threat, but it’s actually been 4 years since this squad has made it in. Nevertheless, they are currently sporting an impressive 11-0 conference record and 20-3 overall mark, as they could be dangerous 13 or 14 seed in March.
Western Carolina (Southern)-WCU has already claimed big wins over Louisville and Charleston thus far and are probably considered the current favorites to win the SoCon title. What’s great about the Catamounts, besides the cool nickname of course, is that they almost pulled off the great sports upset of all-time the last time they danced. In 1996, they came in as a 16-seed and had a three-point opportunity at the buzzer to knock off Purdue. It’s arguably the closes 16/1 encounter ever. Western won’t come in as a 16-seed this year, but they will definitely be a high-scoring/entertaining underdog to watch out for if they beat out Charleston for the conference crown.
College of Charleston (Southern)-Bobby Cremins back in the big dance for the first time since 1996? What else needs to be said about this current Southern Conference frontrunner.
Prairie View (SWAC)- Because of their horrifyingly abysmal athletic program in the 1990’s, the Panthers will always be a great sentimental storyline. They are currently only one game back of the conference lead.
Louisiana Tech (WAC)-With their impressive 6-1 conference record and 18-3 overall mark, this surprising Big Dance virgin actually has a shot at an at-large bid if they don’t take home the conferece tourney crown.
