You can use this index to easily access all of my season preview posts.

Signing up and Posting

Games and Events

Final Preseason Bracket Projection

Seven Storylines to Watch
A Game a Night: November 2009
A Game a Night: December 2009
A Game a Night: January 2010
A Game a Night: February-March 2010
Spreading the Wealth: The Conferences and 2009 Exempt Events
The Growth of Round-Robin Multi-Team Events
Early Season Event Preview
Going Round the Clock on November 17
Blogging the Bracket's Early Season Travel Plans

Players and Coaches

Preseason All-Freshman Teams
Preseason All-Transfer Teams
Preseason All-America Teams
Coaching Carousel Recap

Conference Previews

America East
Atlantic Coast
Atlantic Sun
Atlantic 10
Big East
Big Sky
Big South
Big Ten
Big 12
Big West
Colonial
Conference USA
Great West/Independents
Horizon League
Ivy League
Metro Atlantic
Mid-American
Mid-Eastern Athletic
Missouri Valley
Mountain West
Northeast
Ohio Valley
Pacific-10
Patriot League
Southeastern
Southern    (part 2)
Southland
Southwestern Athletic
Sun Belt
Summit League
West Coast
Western Athletic

Yes, my friends, our long wait is almost over.  Tomorrow, there will be actual games to watch.  Right now, I want to invite you to join me over at the SBNation NCAA Basketball page.  On just about every night of the season (except for a few when my posting will be limited when I'm in California), I'll be delivering updates and commentary as the games go on.  I'll still be posting game previews, brackets, and commentary here, but on game nights, I'll be focusing a lot of my efforts there, as well as on Twitter, @bracketdobber.

But, since tomorrow's televised games are all part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, a hybrid multi-team event or MTE, I figured I'd better get my post covering the bevy of early season tournaments up.

At the beginning of my season preview series, I posted an analysis of the growth of MTEs over the past couple of seasons.  The other day, I noticed another DC area hoops blogger, Dan Hanner, built on this with a truly great post that did a nice job of breaking down who's going where over November and December.

One thing both Dan and I call out is the growth of events that exist solely to skirt the exempted tournament rule.  Sure, there are a few events--like the ones the Gazelle Group and Basketball Tournaments, Inc. have set up--that separate major and non-major schools when it comes to determining a champion.  There are also hard-to-figure out quasi-round robins like the Glenn Wilkes Classic and Philly Hoop Group Classic.  But the biggest scheduling trend of this offseason is the growth of four-team round-robin tournaments like kudzu across the land, something I wrote about here.  

Now, I didn't realize that there were quite so many of these until I started doing conference previews.  Not only did BCS schools like Oregon, Providence, Texas Tech, and Washington, get into the act, but the non-BCS schools may be even more guilty. Illinois State, Missouri State, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Southern Miss are just a few of the non-power schools who have taken advantage of the rule. (My favorite quirk of these events is the fact that UAB will meet crosstown rival Samford, in a tournament in Athens, Ohio.)  However, this does provide these schools an opportunity to get a few extra home games (always good for an athletic budget), while helping out some of their non-major brethren by giving them some neutral site games against similar teams.

Now, since I'm old school and prefer my tournaments to follow an actual bracket, this preview will exist without these round-robins.  Plus, the number of hybrid MTEs and traditional eight-team tournaments out there make it plenty long enough. So, you'll find a quick and not-so dirty guide to each of these events after the jump.

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Editor's Note: I say this is a sort of preview because I had written a full preview yesterday for release today, but when it posted here at 3 p.m. Eastern, I noticed that the entire section on the Independents, as well as my all-Great West team didn't appear.  It appears the story editor had some coding issues.  However, I don't have time to completely rewrite the post.  So, I now present you the introduction, and a brief rundown which teams are which.

The last independent to qualify for the NCAA Tournament was DePaul in 1991. That's epochs ago in hoops, and conference realignment, terms. The early 90s concluded a process that began with the formation conferences such as the Metro, Atlantic 10, and Big East in the late 70s and early 80s. More and more schools started to realize that maybe having 14 to 18 games a season already on the schedule was the way to go. Plus, the bigger schools also figured that playing better schools regularly might help them at a time of serious tournament expansion. In the end, everyone who "mattered" found themselves for the most part grouped with schools of similar means, size, and academic profile.

But there have always been a few schools who didn't quite fit for whoever reason, and they've formed the group of Independents that has acted like a yo-yo dieter since 1990. The Independents pool generally serves as the first Division I home for teams transitioning from another level of collegiate competition. Occasionally, a school might spend a season or two here in between leagues. For these schools, seasons are filled with random home and home series, and A LOT of time on buses and planes, all for the pure joy of the game, as there just aren't the postseason opportunities available.

Several independent institutions banded together to form the Great West Conference in the summer of 2008. It begins play this season with the aim of earning an automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament. However, given that it will undergo almost immediate membership changes, that date may change. In the meantime, this season's champion will earn an automatic bid to the fledgling CollegeInsider Tournament.

Seven teams will compete for this bid as part of the Great West.

Chicago State (last NCAA: none): Full D-I members
Houston Baptist (last NCAA: 1984): The Huskies are returning to D-I after some time in the NAIA.  They'll be full D-I members in 2014-15.
NJIT (last NCAA: none): Full D-I members.
North Dakota (last NCAA: none): The Fighting Sioux will be full D-I members in 2012-13.
South Dakota (last NCAA: none): The Coyotes will also be full D-I members in 2012.13.  They're headed to the Summit League.
Texas-Pan American (last NCAA: none): Full D-I members
Utah Valley (last NCAA: none): Full D-I members

Six teams will compete as Independents this season.

Cal State-Bakersfield (last NCAA: none): The Roadrunners will become full D-I members next season.
Longwood (last NCAA: none): Full D-I members.
North Carolina Central (last NCAA: none): The Eagles will become full D-I members in 2011-12.  They'll rejoin the MEAC next season.
Savannah State (last NCAA: none): The Tigers are full D-I members, and have a membership application under review with the MEAC.
Seattle (last NCAA: 1969): The Redhawks, whose 1958 team, featuring Elgin Baylor, finished as National Runner-up, will be full D-I members in 2012-13.
SIU-Edwardsville (last NCAA: none): The Cougars are OVC bound.  They'll play a full schedule in that league in 2011-12, and be a full D-I member the following season.

Editor's note: As the story editor isn't keeping my College of Charleston preview when I insert it into the main SoCon preview, here it is, along with my 2009 preseason All-SoCon team.

College of Charleston (last NCAA: 1999) Last season, the Cougars came very close to returning to the Dance for the first time in 10 years. Despite the loss of two key forwards--Jermaine Johnson and Dustin Scott--who combined to average 18.5 points and almost 15 boards a game, they could break down the door this season. Bobby Cremins has an abundance of backcourt talent returning, even for a league filled with good guard unit. 6-1 junior Andrew Goudelock (16.7 ppg) is a contender for conference Player of the Year, and he and PG Tony White (12 ppg, 2.7 apg) are both serious outside threats. 6-1 Donavan Monroe (8.7 ppg) can provide a spark off the bench. 6-7 junior Antwaine Wiggins (8.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and 6-8 reserve Jeremy Simmons (6.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg) will anchor the frontcourt, while 6-8 senior Florida State transfer Casaan Breeden and 6-6 frosh Willis Hall will see significant action alongside them immediately. The highlight of C of C's schedule is a trip to Hawai'i for the Diamond Head Classic, where they'll open with the hosts, then face either SMU or UNLV. Trips to Clemson and Tennessee are also on the slate.

The Cougars are my pick to take the overall SoCon crown, so they'll appear in my Final Preseason Bracket, which I'll release tomorrow evening.  To close this post, here is my preseason All-SoCon Team.

Preseason All-SoCon Team

Player of the Year: Andrew Goudelock, 6-1 G, Jr. (College of Charleston)

Remainder of the Team
Kellen Brand, 6-1 G, Sr. (Appalachian State)
Noah Dahlman, 6-6 F, Jr. (Wofford)
Harouna Mutombo, 6-4 G, So. (Western Carolina)
Cameron Wells, 6-1 G, Jr. (The Citadel)

The Southern Conference, and the nation, got a little taste of what life without Stephen Curry would be like when the College of Charleston knocked off Davidson in last year's conference semifinals. The Cougars then lost to Chattanooga on the Mocs' home floor, extending the Cougars tournament drought to 10 seasons, while simultaneously making UTC the third league team to claim multiple tournament bids during the 00s. The Mocs represented the conference in 2005, former member East Tennessee State won back-to-back crowns in 2003 and 2004, and Davidson first won in 2002 before claiming three straight between 2006 and 2008. The 2008 Elite Eight squad managed the conference's only three NCAA wins in the decade. Seeing as this squad was the only conference champion to escape the bottom four seed lines during the 00s, that's understandable.

Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro were the other two SoCon qualifiers during the decade. They represented the league in the 2000 and 2001 tournaments, respectively.

Even with Curry gone, the Wildcats will challenge for the title, especially with the conference tournament shifting to their backyard (Charlotte) this season. However, look to two of their South Division competitors, Bobby Cremins' Cougars and their crosstown rivals, The Citadel, fresh off their first ever postseason berth. to lead the way. In the North Division, Buzz Peterson is back at Appalachian State, and he has some talent at his disposal, while Western Carolina brings back all five starters from a team that tied for the division crown last time around.  

As you can see, there's still plenty to watch in this conference, even after the player who may arguably be its greatest ever has moved on to the NBA. More on all 12 teams after the jump.

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Robert Morris was the final NEC team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament during the first decade of the 21st century, and like all of the others, they failed to register a win in the field of 64, falling to Michigan State in round one.  Monmouth and Mount St. Mary's were the only team to register a tournament win in the decade, as they both won the Opening Round games, in 2005 and 2008 respectively.

The Colonials and Mountaineers will again be threats to claim the Northeast Conference's (probable) only bid, while Quinnipiac, who's never made the Tournament during their short time in Division I, are a serious threat to break down the door.  However, the same fate undoubtedly awaits which ever team gets in, a low seed (though hopefully not a spot in the Opening Round) and yet another early exit. 

Or is it?  Perhaps this is the year when the bottom of the league finally gets its act together, boosting the league's RPI?  Or it's the season where one of the contenders claims some major conference victims in the early weeks of the season?  Such is life in one of the most disrespected D-I leagues...one spent daydreaming of the miraculous campaign that will finally bring national respect.

In membership news, the NEC adds one more team to the club of dreamers, as transitional D-I member Bryant plays a full league schedule.  However, they still have a three-year wait for tournament eligibility. 

More on all 12 teams after the jump.

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North Carolina claimed the conference's 11th national title last season, but thanks to major personnel losses, they'll be hard pressed to repeat.  The Tar Heels aren't alone, as the overwhelming majority of teams in the ACC lost at least one key player during the offseason.  Not only will Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, and Ty Lawson not be in the league next year; players like Alade Aminu, Brandon Costner, Toney Douglas, Gerald Henderson, James Johnson, Jack McClinton, Terrence Oglesby, Greg Paulus. K.C. Rivers, Jeff Teague, and A.D. Vassallo will be missing as well.  But as is traditional, plenty of high-profile recruits have signed on with the league's 12 teams--with Derrick Favors, John Henson, Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumley, Durand Scott, and Michael Snaer the most prominent newcomers. 

These freshmen will join several returning stars who have already shown brightly in the ACC universe, like Al-Faroq Aminu, Trevor Booker, Ed Davis, Malcolm Delaney, Gani Lawal, Sylven Landesberg, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, and Greivis Vasquez.  Those are the type of impact players who can keep the league at the forefront of the national conversation for yet another season.

The big question is whether one of the teams can get the old and new to mix well enough to claim the conference's 12th crown in Indianapolis in April.  More on the 12 contenders after the jump.

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Last season, the Mountain West's eternal Utah rivals represented the conference in the NCAAs, with both Utah and BYU falling in the first round.  The Utes fell victim to in a now-traditional 12 over 5 upset, while the Cougars lost to Texas A&M for the second straight tourney.  San Diego State could've been the third pick MWC team to make the field of 65, but the Committee passed on the Aztecs, despite their run to the conference title game.  SDSU recovered to make it to the NIT semis.  UNLV looked to be a solid bet for the tourney midseason, but a 4-6 finish to the MWC season, featuring three losses to the Aztecs, doomed them to the NIT as well.

 

Teams like the Utes, Aztecs, Rebels, and New Mexico all lost significant contributors during the offseason, but they also brought in plenty of new blood.  How quickly they can integrate their talented newcomers will determine if they can pose a serious threat to BYU, the team who lost the least after 2008-09, at the top of the league.

 

When you add in Wyoming, who managed to finish 7-9 in the league last season, six of the league's nine members have gotten to the point where they're competitive night in and night out.  That means TCU and Colorado State really need to raise their games and the league can only hope that Air Force can get back to the level they reached back in the early and mid-00s. 

On the schedule front, there will be one big change this season.  In a bid to improve non-conference scheduling and attract more national attention, the Mountain West and Missouri Valley conferences will face off in their first-ever challenge series this season.

 

More on the nine teams of the Mountain West after the jump.

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