Predicting 2018 Conference Races

Author's note: I haven't posted on here in ages, but I'm planning to make it at least a semi-regular thing moving forward. Bracketology and bubble watch are both tentatively planned. I'm considering doing a weekly ranking for teams in smaller conference -- an even deeper look than VolleyballMag's excellent Mid-Major Poll offers, by eliminating more of the top conferences.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions for what I should do next? Want to yell at me because I'm blatantly disrespecting your team? You can easily find me on Twitter: I am the human operating the VBScores fan account which I'm always happy to answer questions from, or you can also find me through my personal account, DawgoneCrazy, if you don't mind seeing lots of tweets about Seattle sports, especially the Huskies and the Mariners.

Conference play is upon us -- in fact, the Metro Atlantic started conference play last weekend. 30 of the 31 remaining conferences will start this week, with the MEAC waiting until next week. There's a month of results to base predictions on, so here's a fun little projection on what the season will bring.

Listed below are my top 3 projected finishers in each conference. These are based off of a few different things: preseason coaches polls, computer ratings generated by MasseyRatings, and the good 'ol eye test. The conferences are sorted by confidence in the top pick, from most to least:

West Coast: Brigham Young, Loyola Marymount, San Diego
Summit: Denver, North Dakota, South Dakota
Big West: Cal Poly, UC Irvine, Hawaii
Atlantic 10: Dayton, VCU, Davidson

Atlantic Coast: Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame
Big 12: Texas, Baylor, Kansas State
Southern: ETSU, Wofford, Furman
Ohio Valley: Austin Peay, Murray State, Morehead State

Pacific 12: Stanford, USC, Oregon
Conference USA: Western Kentucky, Rice, UTSA
Mountain West: Colorado State, Wyoming, Boise State
American Athletic: Wichita State, UCF, Cincinnati

Metro Atlantic: Fairfield, Marist, Rider
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Howard, Bethune-Cookman, Maryland-Eastern Shore
Atlantic Sun: Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, FGCU
Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa, Illinois State, Missouri State

Ivy: Princeton, Yale, Harvard
Southwestern Athletic: Alabama State, Alabama A&M, Texas Southern
Sun Belt: Texas State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina
Big South: High Point, Radford, Winthrop

Southland: Stephen F. Austin, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist
America East: Albany, Stony Brook, New Hampshire
Big East: Creighton, Marquette, Villanova
Mid-American: Miami-Ohio, Ball State, Western Michigan

Southeastern: Florida, Kentucky, Georgia
Colonial: College of Charleston, James Madison, Hofstra
Western Athletic: New Mexico State, UTRGV, Utah Valley
Big Ten: Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin

Northeast: Sacred Heart, Bryant, Long Island
Patriot: Navy, American, Lehigh
Big Sky: Northern Arizona, Idaho, Northern Colorado
Horizon: Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky, Oakland

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