Big West – UC Santa Barbara (7-1) rolled over Cal State Bakersfield, 76-58, to maintain control of the race. UC Irvine (6-1) has the weekend off and will next play at Cal State Fullerton, this Thursday night. UC Riverside (7-2) ran out of magic on Saturday as Hawai’i (6-2) got them, 67-63. Four really good teams here at the top.
SoCon – Samford (8-0) keeps winning, and even better the return of Ques Glover (out since December) occurred. Bulldogs took down Western Carolina, 74-65. UNCG (7-1) continues to hang tough in second place. The Spartans shut down Mercer in a 59-48 slugfest.
MAC – Kent State (6-0) rolled past Ball State on National TV this past Friday night. The Golden Flashes will head to Northern Illinois on Tuesday before hosting Buffalo on Friday next week. Akron (5-1) got a road win at Western Michigan on Saturday. Zips are hosting both Miami-Ohio and Ohio U. next week.
ASUN – Kennesaw State (7-1) is off to its best start since becoming a D1 school. The Owls had a nailbiting victory at Florida Gulf Coast, 65-63. Liberty (7-1) got an impressive double-digit road win at North Florida, a UNF team who is typically tough at home. KSU and Liberty only play each other once this season (Feb 16th). So we have some time before any crash collisions transpire. The Owls host Austin Peay this Thursday. Flames will host a tough Stetson team on the same night.
Big Sky – Eastern Washington (8-0) refuses to lose! The Eagles got a road win done once again on Saturday. This time it was at Northern Arizona by three. The Eagles lead the league by two games in the loss column over Montana State (6-2) and Weber State (5-2). EWU will host Idaho State this coming Thursday Night.
Horizon – Milwaukee (8-2) picked up an impressive victory over Youngstown State in a shootout, 88-75. BJ Freeman for the Panthers went for 30 points to lead the way. Northern Kentucky (8-2) stymied a solid Purdue Fort Wayne program to the tune of a 74-54 drubbing. The Norse host Milwaukee next Saturday, and the calendar is circled for that one!
MAAC – Siena (7-1) trailed at halftime, then blitzed Mount St. Mary’s in the second half and the competitive game ended up looking like a laugher, 72-57. The Saints remain one game clear of Iona (6-2), who survived a great battle with rival Manhattan on Friday night. Iona now has Sunday off and will have the showdown at Siena next Friday. Before the Saints can focus on Iona, they host Fairfield on Sunday.
Big South – UNC Asheville (7-1) and Longwood (7-1) had sluggish days on Saturday but both found a way to win. UNCA grinded back in it to overcome USC Upstate, 64-58, and Longwood was neck-and-neck with Presbyterian all day, before finally winning, 58-56. Bulldogs still own the H2H tiebreaker and remain in the forecasted NCAA bracket.
CAA – It was a Boston Tea Party at High Noon for the Charleston Cougars (9-0). Cougars thoroughly enjoyed their time in Boston as they smoked the host Northeastern, 87-61. Hofstra, Towson, and Drexel share the second-place honors at 6-2. UNCW has fallen off this past week and now has three losses.
Summit – Oral Roberts (8-0) had a test from North Dakota for a while on Saturday. Once again the Golden Eagles found a way to finish the job, 84-72. A special season is happening for the small Christian school in Tulsa. Up next is back-to-back home tilts with Denver and Nebraska-Omaha.
America East – Binghamton (4-1) is the biggest surprise conference leader on the board. The Bearcats are still ranked #312 in KenPom, but really doing what it takes to win in the conference. Binghamton is in action on Sunday at Maine, let’s see if they can get to 5-1? UMass-Lowell (4-2) is also hosting Bryant (4-2) in a game certainly worthy of your attention.