Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Predicting all 32 regular-season conference champions for 2018-19

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate their overtime win over the Providence Friars during the championship game of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: The Villanova Wildcats celebrate their overtime win over the Providence Friars during the championship game of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 10, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 27: Trevon Woods #5 of the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds dribbles past Roland Nyama #24 of the Stony Brook Seawolves in the second half at Madison Square Garden on November 27, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 27: Trevon Woods #5 of the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds dribbles past Roland Nyama #24 of the Stony Brook Seawolves in the second half at Madison Square Garden on November 27, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) /

Northeast Conference

2017-18 regular season champ: Wagner

2018-19 favorite: Saint Francis (PA) – Biggest threats: Wagner, Saint Francis (NY), and Long Island University

There might not be a program affected more by transfers than Robert Morris, who has lost a countless number of players to other teams. It happened again, with leading scorer Dachon Burke transferring to Nebraska. Had he not left, the Colonials would’ve been contenders for the Northeast title.

The transfer bug also afflicted defending champion Wagner, who lost leading scorer Blake Francis (17.3 ppg) to the Richmond Spiders. Although big man Romone Saunders comes back, the Seahawks will take a step back in the conference. Saint Francis (NY) also lost their best scorer and rebounder Rasheem Dunn to Cleveland State, hurting their chances at climbing to the top.

Then there’s LIU Brooklyn, who lost 20 ppg scorer Joel Hernandez the natural way (graduation). Rising senior Raiquan Clark (17.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg) is a Player of the Year candidate for the Northeast Conference but there will be more production needed from other Blackbirds for them to have a realistic shot as well.

The team who didn’t lose anyone is the Red Flash of Saint Francis (PA), who returns the star duo of Jammal King (18.2 ppg) and Keith Braxton (17.2 ppg and 9.5 rpg). The team was an elite offensive unit and should be even better with a now-healthy Isiah Blackmon returning to the fold. Since they are the only contenders that haven’t lost their leading scorers, the Red Flash gets the nod as the preseason favorites.

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