MVC

In-season tournaments can be tricky to analyze when the dust settles. Sometimes the winning team can build on the experience and move on to bigger and better things, with last year's Connecticut team (Maui Invitational champs) being a prime example. Others, like Minnesota (last year's Puerto Rico Tip-Off champs) can temporarily hide flaws that get exposed later in the season. Essentially these early season results should be taken with a grain of salt, because while we see flashes of teams in reality it's a small sample size.

Much has been made of Long Beach State playing five non-conference opponents who were ranked in the Top 15 of the major preseason polls. Many wondered how Dan Monson's team would navigate such a slate in spite of the fact that this experienced group went through a similar schedule last season. If Wednesday night showed anything about the 49ers it's that they're ready for the challenge, as they handed Pittsburgh its' first loss in November or December at the Petersen Events Center in the history of the arena.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs have some impressive offensive performers that Washington State likely made themselves very aware of in preparation for their game at midnight. Elias Harris and Robert Sacre are formidable frontcourt players while Marquise Carter is a jet-quick point guard who is more than willing to attack defenses. But if the Cougars had a plan for how to slow down freshman guard Kevin Pangos it sure didn't look like it.

One big reason why so many were hesitant to peg Vanderbilt for a trip to the Final Four has been their toughness, of both the mental and physical variety. After being able to run freely around the floor for much of their 78-64 win over Oregon on Friday night, those spaces closed up a great deal against Cleveland State on Sunday. And to be frank the Commodores didn't handle it well, shooting just 29.4% from the field in the first half and trailing 37-24 at the break.

The Non-BCS Top 25 is a weekly companion to the popular CHN Top 50 ranking, taking an in-depth look into the underrated universe of teams outside of the big six.

Non-BCS Top 25: November 9th

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In the latest installment in our 2011-12 preview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel took some time selecting his preseason all-conference selections for 31 conferences as well as the Independents. Below are the picks for the final 16 conferences, and Part One can be found here.

MAC
G: Trey Ziegler (Central Michigan)
G: Zach Filzen (Buffalo)
F: Justin Greene (Kent State)
F: Julian Mavunga (Miami-Ohio)

After going over the teams expected to win their regular season titles, we move on to talking about the top freshmen in each conference. Will all automatically take over and become the stars of their respective teams and leagues? It's tough to say at this point in the season, but that doesn't mean that we can't discuss it. Below are the picks for final 16 conferences, and Part One can be found here.

MAC: Kris Brewer (Kent State)

With the college basketball season finally on the horizon, the game that's been overlooked by many in conference realignment will once again have the center stage. Perennial contenders will once again make a run at a national title while some new faces will pop up as well. The first four-part preview will focus on the conferences, and more specifically who will win each of the 32 leagues.

Creighton could have a lot to say about that

Note: To make sure there is no confusion here is the link to the piece written by Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com on Thursday.

While many teams across the country look to begin the process of building towards an NCAA Tournament berth with trips outside of the country in the summer, not everyone has the same set of circumstances to deal with once the season begins.