Research shows freshmen rule and point guards rock

Alas, I'm not optimistic we'll see such again this season.

A scan of the rosters seems to indicate this could be a season of regression for some of the more relevant non-BCS leagues, evidence being how I only have one MVC school (Southern Illinois), one Colonial school (Virginia Commonwealth) and eight other non-BCS schools (Memphis, Gonzaga, Butler, Xavier, New Mexico State, Davidson, UAB and Western Kentucky) in our magazine's preseason Top 50.

The Mountain West placed three teams in the NCAA Tournament last March, but this season I have it projected as a one-bid league primarily because UNLV, BYU and Air Force combined to lose 16 of their top 20 scorers ... plus a coach. There's no way to find the good in that.

And while I'm certain a Missouri Valley team will emerge as a surprise and join Southern Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, it's difficult, at this point, to project which school will take one of the 34 at-large bids.

That's why I have but one multi-bid non-BCS league in my preseason bracket.

It's Conference USA.

But I feel less confident about that prediction today than I did a week ago given how five UAB Blazers were arrested early Friday after an incident inside something called Club Red and two Memphis players were arrested early Sunday after an incident outside something called the Plush Club.

The only good news is that the Memphis players seem to have been on the same side of the scuffle, which is more than UAB has going for it considering its players were reportedly shoving each other.

So though team chemistry is probably still OK for John Calipari's Tigers, Mike Davis clearly has some issues to settle because there's no way the Blazers can hold off Southern Miss and Houston for rights to second place in C-USA if they're less focused on beating opponents than they are on beating each other.