Conference Watch 2/8: mid-eastern conferences

Patriot

This league's conference standings are drunk.  Right now, everyone is between 8-4 and 4-7.  This means their seed will be wrecked in March (probably a 15 for whoever wins).

The contenders:
Colgate (10-14) (8-4) RPI 195 SoS 176
Bucknell (11-12) (7-4) RPI 181 SoS 157
Lehigh (12-10) (7-5) RPI 152 SoS 170

Really, I could list everyone.  The best two teams by RPI are Lafayette and American, who are buried in the standings at 6-5 and 6-6, respectively.  No one's going to end up in the top 100, though, so it's mostly academic.  It's really anyone's guess as to who ends up with postseason bids in general.  Logic would probably say Lafayette and American are the two main candidates, with an outside chance for Lehigh, as it stands.  Army is well above .500 with a very low SoS.

Colonial

They're not the train wreck they've been in the past couple of years.

The contenders:
William & Mary (13-8) (9-3) RPI 78 SoS 130
Northeastern (16-9) (8-4) RPI 121 SoS 191
UNC Wilmington (12-10) (8-4) RPI 155 SoS 211

We also have Hofstra and James Madison among those at 7-5, and who figure to at least get postseason invites somewhere.  William & Mary obviously represents the conference's best-case scenario to avoid a 14 seed or worse; I'm not sure anyone else can avoid that fate.  And even W&M's profile isn't all that great.  In any event, this race should be tight to the end.

SoCon

We've covered Wofford already, so we'll focus on the rest of the conference, which is buried in the mid-20s in the conference RPI, even with Wofford around.  Ouch.

The contenders:
Wofford (18-5) (11-1)
Mercer (12-11) (9-3) RPI 199 SoS 279
Chattanooga (14-9) (9-3) RPI 158 SoS 239

With 6 to go, I think everyone is already too far out of reach of Wofford.  But this illustrates a clear picture:  Wofford wins the conference, will get a probable 11 seed.  Anyone else, you're going to the 16 line.  Pretty clear stakes.  No one else behind these top 3 are even probable postseason invite threats at this point.  Wofford still has to play the other 2 teams once more this season, so stay tuned.

MEAC

It's North Carolina Central's world.  Or, at least mostly, as Norfolk St is trying to keep up.

The contenders:
North Carolina Central (15-6) (10-0) RPI 110 SoS 296
Norfolk St (14-9) (9-1) RPI 156 SoS 261

Third place is 6-3 in this conference right now, and only one other team is barely above .500.  These will be your two postseason teams out of this conference.  NCCU scheduled relatively tough in the non-con and figure to get rewarded with the 15 line, I think.  Everyone else obviously would go to the 16 line.  By the way, it's not an easy feat to be as high as 150 in the RPI this time of year in this conference, so kudos to Norfolk St as well.