NCAA Basketball: Picking winner of each conference tournament for 2022-23 season
By Bryan Mauro
Missouri Valley
Dates: March 2nd-5th
Enterprise Center
Top Seed: Bradley Braves
Winner: Bradley Braves
Bradley under head coach Brian Wardle flat-out wins in Arch Madness. They have only won the league once under Wardle but the Braves did win the tournament in 2019-2020 before the NCAA tournament was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This Bradley team is the best team that coach Wardle has had as a head coach. The Braves are doing it all by having one of the best defenses in the country and an efficient offense. Coach Wardle has his team playing their best basketball of the year heading into the tournament as they reeled off a ton of wins at the end of the year to capture one of the top seeds in the Valley. Bradley does not have a star, they play hard, and they play as a team. They take fantastic shots, shoot almost 40% from deep, and protect the rim at an elite level. On the floor, they have two Dutch
big men who control the paint and stretch the floor. Bradley is going to get overlooked in the NCAA tournament, but don’t do that. They are going to give a high seed a game and can have a team capable of making a deep run in March.
Sleeper: Belmont Bruins
Belmont should never be considered a sleeper. They are always good, and they are always going to be a team who can make noise and win their conference at any time. Even though is their first go around in the Missouri Valley the Bruins have not skipped a beat. They still are one of the hardest teams to prepare for because their offense has so many things to be aware of. They back-cut like crazy, have shooters everywhere and every player buys into what is being taught by head coach Casey Alexander.
Entering the tournament, the Bruins are the best shooting team in the conference and one of the best shooting teams in the NCAA. Offense is not the problem when Belmont is not winning games, this year it is defense, and when the shots are not falling can the Bruins get enough stops to win the game? Ben Sheppard is going to find himself on the all-conference team and he is going to need to play at the level he has all year for Belmont to beat one of the top two teams in the league. Even with all of that, never count out the Bruins; they have been to a ton of tournaments and their players and coaches know how to win.
Colonial Athletic
Dates: March 3rd-7th
Entertainment & Sports Arena
Top Seed: Hofstra Pride
Winner: Charleston Cougars
Charleston is a great story this year. They at one point won 20 games in a row and I had them ranked as the best mid-major in the country. They then lost two games in a row and likely played their way out of an at-large into the NCAA tournament. Charleston heads into championship week with a tournament championship or bust mentality. They did drop two games in a row but that was after winning 20 in a row, so a loss was bound to happen. The Cougars are still the most talented team in the Colonial and when they are motivated, they are a whole different beast to prepare for.
The Cougars are an interesting team because they average over 80 points per game, play at one of the fastest paces in the country, and rebound better than most teams. They lead the Colonial in rebounding, pace, and three-pointers made. They do all of this without a true star, it is going to be a different guy every night for the Cougars as all five starters average double digits, but no one is a “star.” They also start four guards and one big man and are a ton of fun to watch. Charleston is already a great team, but a motivated great team is going to be scary for the rest of the league come tournament time.
Sleeper: Towson Tigers
The Tigers had a disappointing regular season. Towson headed into the year as my overwhelming favorite to win the Colonial regular season because they returned almost everyone from a regular season league title a season ago. Heading into the year no one expected Charleston to be as good as they have been all year and Towson has come back down to reality a little bit. Even with their middle of the pack finish in the Colonial, Towson still has a ton of talent and experience and some unfinished business when it comes to the league tournament. Towson was upset early in the tournament by eventual champion Delaware.
Pat Skerry has done a great job rebuilding the Towson program and they are a team who is going to rebound the ball extremely well, never turn the ball over, and have a ton of experience that should have a chip on their shoulder. The top of the league is tough but when the Tigers are playing to their potential they are just as good as the top the Colonial.