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March Madness 2019 conference power ranking

By Jacob Lane

CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 15: Duke Blue Devils forward Zion Williamson (1) dunks during the ACC basketball tournament between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels on March 15, 2019, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. (Photo by William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 15: Duke Blue Devils forward Zion Williamson (1) dunks during the ACC basketball tournament between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels on March 15, 2019, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. (Photo by William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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EVANSVILLE, IN – MARCH 09: Murray State Racers Guard Ja Morant (12) walks across the court during the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship college basketball game between the Murray State Racers and the Belmont Bruins on March 9, 2019, at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
EVANSVILLE, IN – MARCH 09: Murray State Racers Guard Ja Morant (12) walks across the court during the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship college basketball game between the Murray State Racers and the Belmont Bruins on March 9, 2019, at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

11.  Ohio Valley

Teams: 2, Belmont (11), Murray State (12)

Average seed: 11.5

Out of all the basketball I watched over the last two to three weeks, there wasn’t a non power five conference that I found more entertaining than the Ohio Valley.

We are all familiar by now with Ja Morant, a point guard who’s likely to be a top three pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. But not many people had gotten the chance to watch just how good both Murray State and Belmont were until the OVC Championship.

Even with Murray State winning that game and earning the automatic bid, due to a weak bubble, Belmont had a good chance to get into the tournament and that’s exactly what happened making it the first time since 1987 that the OVC had more than one team in the field of 68 (or 64).

Belmont, who was one of the last four teams in, will get a date with Temple in the play-in round with the chance to advance to the field of 64 to play No. 6 Maryland.

Murray State, who were the automatic bid out of the conference and earned a 12 seed, will get a matchup with No.  5 seed Marquette in what could be the most entertaining one-on-one matchup of the first round with Morant going up against Markus Howard.

Both teams in this conference are capable of pulling off big upsets in the first round, if Belmont is able to get out of the first four.

10. Mountain West

Teams: 2, Nevada (7), Utah State (8)

Average seed: 7.5

The Mountain West looked like a one-bid league up until Utah State pulled off the upset of Nevada a few weeks back at home, almost guaranteeing their trip to the NCAA Tournament. Even earlier in the year, Nevada looked like a team capable of matching the success of Gonzaga and potentially earning a top three seed with a chance of making a run to the Final Four.

While that’s not out of the question a lot has changed since the Mountain West began conference play, and as of now it looks like the Aggies have a better chance of making a run deep into the tournament with Nevada beginning to sort of crumble.

Nevada will start the tournament in a battle with Florida, a team that was able to defeat LSU in the SEC tournament and should’ve had the opportunity to go to the free throw line and at least send the game to OT against Auburn in the quarterfinals. Florida isn’t a great team, but like Nevada, they have a lot of athletes who could present a problem for a struggling team.

Utah State will matchup with the Pac 12 regular season champion, Washington Huskies, in what should be one of the more entertaining eight/nine opening games.

Neither team will likely get past the round of 32, having to face a one or a two seed (barring upsets), but getting two teams into the tournament was a big win for the conference.

9. Atlantic 10

Teams: 2, VCU (8), Saint Louis (13)

Average seed: 10.5 

The Atlantic 10 was another league destined to be a one bid league until regular season champs and conference tournament No. 1 seed VCU fell in the quarterfinals No. 8 seed Rhode Island. That paved the way for Saint Louis, the A-10’s six seed, to make a run and ultimately win the league title thus earning an automatic bid.

Even with VCU falling early in the conference tournament, that shouldn’t take away from their ability to win a game or two in this tournament. They’ll face no. 9 seed Central Florida in the opening round with a second round matchup of Duke being the prize shall they advance. 

For Travis Ford’s Saint Louis team who was able to win four games in a row to steal a bid, they’ll open up the tournament against Virginia Tech, with slim odds to move any further in the NCAA Tournament.

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