Men's Basketball - Who wins out?
There are currently 5 teams tied atop the SBC standings at 10-5. All of them have 3 conference games remaining.
Arkansas State - WKU, UNO, Troy
Florida Atlantic - @Troy, WKU, MTSU
Middle Tennessee - USA, @FIU, @FAU
North Texas - UALR, ULL, @ULM
Troy - FAU, @UALR, @ASU
Of the five teams currently tied at the top of the standings, rank them in order of how likely you think it is that they'll finish the year 13-5.
As usual... Exclude your own team. Here's my guess:
1) Middle - The Florida road trip is brutal, and not many teams managed to sweep it this year. But USA is struggling with the injuries and playing at the Murphy Center. There's one major challenge and two (relative to everyone else's schedules) minor ones, so I think Middle has the best shot.
2) Arkansas State - WKU and Troy are two very tough games. The one against the rejuvenated Toppers is particularly daunting. But all three are home games, and ASU has been great at home this year.
3) Troy - I have them as almost a toss-up with ASU for 2nd on the list. Basically, I think it's slightly more likely that ASU wins at home against WKU than it is that Troy wins on the road at ASU.
4) FAU - Probably the toughest schedule remaining of anyone. ASU gets a game against UNO, Troy gets one against UALR, Middle gets one against FIU. But FAU has three games with no "easy" opponents left. I have a lot of respect for the Owls, but I just don't know that they can get through those three games unscathed. I don't know if anyone in the conference could at this point.
Because of our schedule, I think we (North Texas) has a better chance of winning out than not. Not to disrespect any of our remaining opponents, but UALR and ULL have not been good on the road this year, and ULM has dropped a few questionable games at home.
Everyone else... I have no idea how things are going to play out once the other 4 teams at the top (plus Western Kentucky) get done beating up on each other. I think MTSU might go 3-0, but I wouldn't put money on anyone else doing it.
Thoughts? Particularly in the East... How does everyone see the season ending?
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