Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Revisiting preseason top 15 mid-majors for 2019-20

By Jake Verboven

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - MARCH 23: Head coach Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs looks on during their game against the Baylor Bears in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 23, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - MARCH 23: Head coach Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs looks on during their game against the Baylor Bears in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 23, 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 25: The BYU Cougars bench celebrates a score during the second half against the UCLA Bruins at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 25, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 25: The BYU Cougars bench celebrates a score during the second half against the UCLA Bruins at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 25, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

#12 East Tennessee State (8-2)

Key Wins

  • 11/14 vs. Winthrop 61-58

Losses

  • 11/19 At. #4 Kansas 63-75

Top Performer: Bo Hodges: 13.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.3 APG

East Tennessee State looked like the favorite in the SOCON in the preseason, and have only solidified that in their first 9 games. They look like one of the deeper teams in mid-major basketball and return almost all of their scoring and minutes from a successful campaign last year. Like their rival within the conference UNCG, they played Kansas tough for most of the game. Forbes has a lot of options at guard this year and that should be enough to wear down most teams in the Southern Conference. A UNCG – ETSU conference matchup should be fun.

UNCG may have the best player in the conference in Isaiah Miller, but the Buccaneers are clearly the team with the most talent from top to bottom and have shown that so far in the early season. It looks like Steve Forbes is going to go with a mainly 8 man rotation with every player seeing at least 20 minutes a game. With an even scoring attack of Williamson (10.7 PPG), Hodges (13.4 PPG), Boyd III (13.7 PPG), and Rodriguez (10.4 PPG), ETSU will beat opponents with full team efforts night in and night out.

#11 Western Kentucky (7-3)

Key Wins

  • 11/9 vs. Austin Peay 97-75
  • 11/23 vs. Illinois St. 83-69
  • 12/7 vs Arkansas 86-79 (OT)

Losses

  • 11/22 vs. Bowling Green 75-77
  • 11/29 vs. #2 Louisville 54-71
  • 12/3 At. Wright State 74-76

Top Performer: Charles Bassey: 15.9 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.7 BPG

Rick Stansbury is back with a roster primed for the NCAA tournament in 2019-20. The Hilltoppers have the best player in the conference in Charles Bassey, and a multitude of guards to match. It was evident that the one issue with the C-USA favorites last year was point guard play. It looks like this could be an issue again this year with Taveion Hollingsworth as the lead ball-handler for the second consecutive year. While a fantastic player, he is not a point guard and it has shown early in this season (3.2 TO- 3.0 AST). Western Kentucky was expecting Lipscomb transfer, Kenny Cooper, to fill that position, but the NCAA has yet to make a decision on his waiver. IF they get him back, the Hilltoppers should be one of the most dangerous mid-majors in the country.

Stansbury has put together a pretty good non-conference slate so far with Bowling Green, Louisville, and Wright State; however, they have whiffed on all of those opportunities. Lucky for them they have a few more with: Arkansas, Rhode Island and Belmont coming up this month. The Hilltopper’s top issues seem to be point guard play and Size. With their second tallest rotation player being 6’6, it looks like Bassey will have to avoid any foul trouble if they want to compete with teams in the power conferences– and if the NCAA ever wants to clear Kenny Cooper, that could be pretty important as well for their point guard play.

#10 BYU  (7-4)

Key Wins

  • 11/15 At. Houston 72-71
  • 11/25 vs. UCLA 78-63
  • 11/27 vs. Virginia Tech 90-77

Bad Losses

  • 11/9 vs. San Diego St 71-76
  • 11/20 At. Boise St. 68-72 (OT)

Top Performer: Jake Toolson: 16.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.6 APG

Back in the summer, it looked like BYU was set to make a run at an at large bid. They were bringing in two key transfers in Alex Barcello (Arizona) and Jake Toolson (Utah Valley). They were also returning TJ Haws and Gavin Baxter to go with the surprising return of Yoeli Childs. Then Childs was suspended nine games for issues with his agent during the draft process. Then Baxter went down with a season-ending injury in practice. Now a team that was expected to dominate the paint will have to rely more heavily on their guard play. The nine games without Childs were a complete rollercoaster, ended with them being 5-4 with big wins and bad losses.

Childs is back now and immediately contributed with 29 points and seven rebounds in just 25 minutes, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the Utes in Overtime. It’s clear that Pope and company have a lot to work on if they want to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2014-15 season. I have confidence that they will start clicking now that they have their “Big 3” of Haws, Toolson and Childs together for the first time this season. The Cougars conference schedule also gives them many opportunities for quality wins.

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