Expanda-Draft Part Two - The Rest

The Expanda-Draft aspect of this contest was put in for several reasons - to allow players to pick up teams that surprised everyone and are marching towards an NCAA birth, to add the possibility of "tweaking" your squad to improve your chances, and to give players a chance to pick up mid and low major conference teams that look like they are going to stomp their way into the Big Dance.

As we think about our draft options, consider these point rules:

- A team that wins a major conference regular season earns 7 points
- A team that wins a non-major conference regular season earns 6 points
- A team that wins a major conference tournament earns 5 points
- A team that wins a non-major conference tournament earns 4 points
- A team that completes the regular conference season undefeated earns +3 points.

This is where a mid or low major team can be worth drafting - they win a dozen games (12 points) plus win their conference (6 pts) and tournament (4 pts). Plus keep in mind...

- Each team that makes the NCAA tourney receives 4 points

So while picking up a major conference team like Marquette or North Carolina St has the advantage of possible points against Duke or Pittsburgh, they won't likely see any of the points above.

So to the Babbanalysis - "Mid-Majors"

• #16 Temple 16-3 (4-0 Atl 10) - I would be shocked if they weren't the first team drafted. They are the only ranked team not owned by a player, their A-10 run includes wins over Rhode Island and Xavier, they have wins over Villanova, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech. Their three losses: Georgetown, St. Johns, and Kansas.
• Rhode Island 15-2 (3-1 Atl 10) - while we are on the Atlantic 10, you can't ignore Rhode Island's success this year. They are 15-2! Those two losses? A two point loss on the road to Virginia Commonwealth, and a four point loss in overtime to Temple. Basically, they've never been blown out. Have they had any significant wins? Oklahoma St, Boston College, Providence. They play Saturday at Xavier, lets see how that turns out.
  
• Other Atlantic 10 teams worth considering: Charlotte 13-5 (3-1) beat the poop out of Louisville back in December, and their five losses are all to pretty decent programs (Duke, Ga Tech, Tennessee, Xavier, Old Dominion). St. Louis 12-6 (3-1) is probably more of a fluke.
• New Mexico 17-3 (3-2 Mountain West) was ranked in the Top 25 for a while, when they were 12-0 it was hard to deny them. A loss to Oral Roberts may have bumped them out, but the Lobos only other two losses were to San Diego State and UNLV. They have quality wins over Louisiana Tech, California, Texas A&M, Creighton, Dayton, and Texas Tech. Their coach is an a-hole, but unless you are from Iowa, you might want to consider picking these guys up.
  
• UAB 16-2 (4-0 Conference USA) UAB is turning into a team to look at. Their only losses are an early tournament loss to Kent State and a road game at Virginia. They haven't gotten to the "tough" part of the CUSA schedule, but they have wins over Georgia, Cincinnati, Butler and Arkansas. Can they win the C-USA?
  
• Marshall 15-3 (4-0 Conference USA) Another surprise, but when you look at the teams they have beat, the 15 wins isn't that impressive. Their three losses are to Old Dominion, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Check the Marshall-UAB game Saturday (1/23) to see if either team is "hot".
  
• UTEP 12-5 (3-1 Conference USA) why not? Good wins over Oklahoma and Memphis. Losses to New Mexico St, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, BYU and Houston. Can they win the CUSA?
  
• Wichita State 17-3 (6-2 Missouri Valley) - The CEO had the smart pick in the MVC with UNI, but could Wichita St make a play for it? Only Pitt, Illinois St and Creighton have beaten them so far. About the best win though is Texas Tech, but they did beat Bradley, Drake and a bunch of other mid and minor teams.
  
• Louisiana Tech 17-3 (5-1 WAC) - Jut took Utah State and Jaybird took Nevada, but Louisiana Tech is the WAC team that has marched to a 17-3 record and top of the WAC. Do they deserve it? Their 10 game winning streak was just snapped by a loss to San Jose St (10-8), their only other two losses were at Arizona and at New Mexico. They have wins over TCU, Houston, and Nevada, but nothing of higher quality than that. The question now is can they win the WAC?
  
• New Mexico State 12-7 (5-1 WAC) - the Aggies had a rough start with a relatively tough schedule but have won 9 of their last 10 games to give them a strong start in the WAC.
  

The Mid-Majors here have a shot at taking their conferences, but also benefit from possible player v. player games in every conference. This is not always the case with the "Low Majors". If they don't win their conference, they weren't worth taking.

Some Low Majors to think about:

• Vermont (14-6, 5-1 AmEast) and Maine (13-6, 5-1 AmEast) are in heavy competition for this conference. Maine took out Boston College earlier in the season, and got creamed by Syracuse and UCONN. Vermont's best win was over, well, Maine.
  
• Campbell (12-6, 7-2 AtlSun) beat Babblemur's Jacksonville (10-8, 7-3 AtlSun) and sits a half game ahead of the Dolphins in the Atlantic Sun. I would say that it would be a risky and foolish gamble to draft Campbell, except for the fact that they are the "Fighting Camels". Dude.
  
• The Big Sky is wide open, but no clear leader. Weber State (12-7, 6-1) sits a half game up on Northern Colorado (17-4, 6-2). NoCol came within one point of knocking off Oklahoma. Weber St lost to BYU by 17 and UNLV by 9. Northern Colorado won the only match up between these two so far.
  
• Coastal Carolina (18-3, 8-1 Big South) - Zing! What a record! Eat your heart out, Radford! Their only losses are to Duke, Cal St. Northridge, and, um, well, Radford. Select at your own risk.
  
• In the Big West, Turtle took a chance with Long Beach St that isn't playing out. Take a chance and try and steal the conference with Pacific (11-6, 4-1) or UC Santa Barbara (9-7, 4-2) but every other team here has a losing record. Pacific has wins over Nevada and San Diego St. Santa B has wins over Weber State and Pacific. Meh.
  
• William & Mary (14-5, 6-3 Colonial) at one point had a 10 game winning streak, with big wins over Richmond, Wake Forest, Maryland and Radford. Now they've hit a two game slide in the Colonial. Can they turn it around? They obviously got the right stuff. But don't write off Northeastern (13-7, 8-1 Colonial) who is riding an 11 game winning streak and tied for first in the conference.
  
• Harvard (13-3, 2-0 Ivy) - the conference without a tournament, best record wins it. Cornell is hot hot hot, is Harvard even worth a shot? They have wins over Boston College, George Washington, William & Mary. Their three losses are to Georgetown, UCONN, and Army. Still, they can't beat Cornell.
  
• Fairfield (14-5, 7-2 MAAC) - I wasn't going to include them at all because Siena is already 9-0 and likely to go undefeated to take the MAAC. However, consider that Niagara is a player team as well in the MAAC, meaning you might actually pick up a few points here.
  
• In the MAC you can take your chances. No clear dominant team here. Jaybird's Akron is probably the best of the bunch. Buffalo (10-6, 3-2) or Kent St (12-7, 3-2) could give them some trouble.
  
• Morgan State (13-7, 5-0 MEAC) is running away here, with Bethune-Cookman (12-7, 5-1 MEAC) hot on their tail. Props to Morgan State for beating Arkansas, for what its worth.
  
• Robert Morris (12-8, 7-1 NEC) have a half game lead over pre-season favorite Quinnipiac (12-6, 6-1 NEC), but keep your eye on Sacred Heart (12-7, 5-3). Ha Ha Ha!
  
• Can Murray State (17-3, 9-0 Ohio Valley) pull off the undefeated conference record? Their 3 losses are to California, Western Kentucky, and Louisiana Tech, all pretty good teams. Morehead State (14-6, 8-1 Ohio Valley) is ready to step in if Murray State stumbles.
  
• Lafayette (13-7, 4-1 Patriot) and LeHigh (13-7, 4-1 Patriot) are duking it out. Note that Lehigh just beat Lafayette 75-57 Saturday, so this will be a barn burner.
  
• College of Charleston (13-6, 8-0 Southern) is shooting for the undefeated conference record, and is at least 2 games up over the competition even if they stumble. Oh, and they beat North Carolina 82-79 in overtime.
  
• The Southland Conference has two undefeated teams in Texas A&M Corpus Christi (9-8, 4-0) and Sam Houston State (11-5, 3-0). Two other teams are going to fight for this conference as well - Stephen F. Austin (13-5, 3-2) and Texas San Antonio (12-4, 2-1). Sam Houston knocked off Auburn, Texas A&M-CC finished 7 points down against Texas. San Anton beat Houston and Iowa, SF Austin lost to Minnesota by 40 points.
  
• Prairie View A&M (9-7, 4-1 SWAC) is the only team in the conference with a winning record. But Texas Southern (9-9, 5-1), Jackson State (7-11, 5-1) and Arkansas Pine Bluff (4-12, 4-1) all are making a play for it. I'd stay far far away from this fluster cluck.
  
• IUPUI (14-7, 7-1 Summit) look like the only challengers to The CEO's Oakland, who are carrying an undefeated conference record.
  
• The Sun Belt is a colossal mess, and I'm not going to try to sort it out. Jaybird's Western Kentucky has their hands full with competition from Denver (13-7, 6-3), North Texas (12-7, 5-4), and a hand full of others. This conference is a huge risk.
  

All in all I don't think there are any really strong picks anywhere in the Mids or Lows. Everyone is a gamble at this point. Who will win the conferences? Who will win the conference tournaments? Who can nab you some quick points, or flame out on you?

The Expanda-Draft begins Monday January 25 at sunrise - last place player picks first, etc.