Like Division III Schools, the Ivy League offers no scholarships. Yet the conference has clearly risen to the status of “mid major,” as one of seven conferences that can go toe-to-toe with the seven power conferences.
Columbia just gave Kentucky a scare. Yale has already stunned UConn for state bragging rights. Harvard has a potential Sweet 16 team and Player of the Year in Wesley Saunders, who has a Value Add rating of 10.87, meaning he would be worth almost 11 points per game no matter how good his level of competition.
Below are the several all-conference teams for each of the mid-major conferences.
The top two mid majors are the Atlantic 10 and the West Coast Conference–who can both make the case that they are actually better than the American Athletic Conference based on www.kenpom.com.
Kevin Pangos has the fourth best Value Add at 11.48, meaning he is worth over 11 points to Gonzaga, which looks like an Elite 8 team. BYU has had some disappointing near misses. But has the talent to be a solid NCAA team.
VCU has also dropped three games after the disappointing first-round exit from the tournament, but can use havoc to threaten anyone. Wichita State has two guards in the top-50 players in the country and could be a national contender.
Here are the early all-conference teams for all seven Mid-Major Conferences:
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Conf | Pos | Early All-Conference | Team | Value Add | Rnk |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A10 | PG | 2 Briante Weber | VCU | 7.64 | 56 |
A10 | SG | 32 Melvin Johnson | VCU | 6.81 | 82 |
A10 | SF | 22 Micah Mason | Duquesne | 8.95 | 24 |
A10 | PF | 10 T.J. Cline | Richmond | 7.29 | 65 |
A10 | C | 33 Alonzo Nelson-Ododa | Richmond | 8.22 | 38 |
Horz | PG | 25 Steve McWhorter | Milwaukee | 7.59 | 60 |
Horz | PG | 24 Keifer Sykes | Green Bay | 5.95 | 122 |
Horz | PG | 3 Trey Lewis | Cleveland St. | 4.54 | 258 |
Horz | SF | 32 Joe Thomasson | Wright St. | 4.92 | 220 |
Horz | PF | 25 Alec Peters | Valparaiso | 5.86 | 129 |
Ivy | PG | 20 Javier Duren | Yale | 5.68 | 143 |
Ivy | SG | 12 Maodo Lo | Columbia | 4.61 | 254 |
Ivy | SF | 23 Wesley Saunders | Harvard | 10.87 | 6 |
Ivy | SF | 0 Kyle Castlin | Columbia | 6.16 | 110 |
Ivy | PF | 30 Hans Brase | Princeton | 4.11 | 307 |
MAC | PG | 1 Mike Talley | Eastern Michigan | 4.68 | 243 |
MAC | SG | 23 Derek Jackson | Kent St. | 6.84 | 78 |
MAC | SF | 2 Connar Tava | Western Michigan | 5.85 | 131 |
MAC | PF | 1 Tucker Haymond | Western Michigan | 5.47 | 160 |
MAC | C | 53 Nathan Boothe | Toledo | 5.46 | 163 |
MVC | PG | 23 Fred Van Vleet | Wichita St. | 7.92 | 47 |
MVC | SG | 31 Ron Baker | Wichita St. | 9.56 | 15 |
MVC | SF | 11 Marcus Marshall | Missouri St. | 7.88 | 50 |
MVC | PF | 33 Sean O’Brien | Southern Illinois | 5.74 | 137 |
MVC | C | 55 Egidijus Mockevicius | Evansville | 7.16 | 70 |
MWC | PG | 14 Josh Adams | Wyoming | 6.58 | 95 |
MWC | SG | 33 Deshawn Delaney | New Mexico | 5.01 | 214 |
MWC | SF | 34 Chris Smith | Utah St. | 5.64 | 148 |
MWC | PF | 22 Larry Nance | Wyoming | 7.99 | 46 |
MWC | C | 14 Jalen Moore | Utah St. | 6.82 | 80 |
WCC | PG | 4 Kevin Pangos | Gonzaga | 11.48 | 4 |
WCC | SG | 1 Johnny Dee | San Diego | 7.63 | 58 |
WCC | SG | 5 Gary Bell | Gonzaga | 6.45 | 98 |
WCC | SF | 3 Tyler Haws | BYU | 5.04 | 211 |
WCC | C | 11 Domantas Sabonis | Gonzaga | 5.53 | 155 |